"Our desire to know our world is the genesis of all knowledge; our determination to understand and control it, the basis of science and technology; and our recognition of its complexity and beauty, the origin of spirituality. Thus 'the Environment' has never been outside the ambit of the educational process... however, we have taken it for granted". (Joyce Glasgow, Caribbean Educator)
The growing understanding of the extent of Environmental degradation and its inherent dangers has prompted the realisation that the most effective tool for combating and perhaps reversing this trend is Environmental Education. For such education to be successful, it must begin with the largest stakeholders, the children, whose health is easily impaired by poor conditions and upon whose shoulders will fall the burden of attempting to undo the damage wrought by preceding generations.
It is therefore incumbent on us, who have created and perhaps even benefited from the destruction of the Environment, to empower them to deal with the situation. They are often well aware of the problems they are inheriting, and their feelings run very deep even, or perhaps especially, amongst the very young. Environmental Education must therefore form a vital part of the curriculum of every school; it must nurture the understanding that the future depends on how responsibly we act today.
But Environmental Education must go beyond our schools to the wider community, to ensure that more responsible and informed decisions on critical Environmental matters will be made both now and in the future. At Bishop Anstey High School, the significance of Environmental Education has long been understood; a survey of the leading Environmentalists in our nation will reveal that Environmental Education is not a new aspect of the curriculum. Names like Avril Siung-Chang, Rosina Wiltshire and Carol James are well known; a legion of younger Hilarians is currently following in their illustrious footsteps and amongst the present generation of students, an encouraging number are already at work to keep this valuable tradition alive.
We are attempting to develop, within the parameters of the whole curriculum, a meaningful programme of Environmental Education for all our students; in place of Geography, our Form III students now pursue Environmental Studies. They work with great interest, enthusiasm and commitment, and there is a sense that they fully appreciate the significance of what they are learning about such topics as population growth, global warming, ozone-layer thinning, the effects of excessive use of chemicals and waste management, all of which will exert a profound influence on their collective future. Numerous parents will testify that there is a very real 'carry-over' from the classroom to their homes and lives.
We also encourage those who so desire, by appropriate subject choices at the relevant stages of their school careers, to pursue University courses in such vital areas as Environmental Science and Environmental Engineering. To this end also, we are seeking a modification of the National Scholarship system (see Addendum below), such that Form VI students who have excelled in the Environmental subjects, particularly Geography and Biology, are not excluded from scholarships by the system itself, as obtains at the present time. Students of a high intellectual calibre have not infrequently been frustrated by this system in their attempts to qualify themselves in an area of such obvious importance to our national development; the inevitable consequence is that the brightest and most able pursue subjects where Scholarships may more easily be obtained. Lest there be any doubt concerning the relevance and value of Environmental Studies at Tertiary level, the following are among the topicsstudied: Food, Nutrition and Population, Environmental Seismology, Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment, Hydrology and Hydrogeology, Environmental Economics, Accounting and Management and Environmental Law.
Our students are encouraged to involve themselves in extra-curricular Environmental activities, as and when these can be made available; we hope to revive S.T.E.P. - Students Tackling Environmental Problems - an action-oriented group which undertakes small research and other projects. We aim to ensure that neither Earth Day (April 22) nor World Environment Day (June 5) passes unnoticed. This year, our students will go to All Saints' Church on World Environment Day for a special service; you will read more on this in your next BAHS Update.
We also try to ensure that our students are involved in whatever Environmental events may be taking place outside of School. For World Environment Day in 1992, we sang and marched around the Savannah behind our own very green banner which proclaimed our Environmental concerns - a little noisily perhaps, but our message was not missed! We were represented on the Gaia, a vessel modelled on a Viking ship, when it visited our shores en route for UNCED '92 at Rio. We toured the Rainbow Warrior last year, presenting the crew with a special gift expressing our wishes for their safety, and we lent our active support to GreenPeace's attempts to keep plutonium from the Caribbean. Our students regularly attend lectures on Environmental topics at such diverse places as UWI, the American Centre, W.A.S.A., and at our own and other schools.
We participate in competitions and displays, such as that organised by N.I.H.E.R.S.T. last year, where our Young Leaders showed the Environmental dangers of many products in everyday use like disposable diapers, asbestos, batteries, insect-killing or deterring devices and household cleaners, and they produced Environmentally-friendly cleaning fluids as a substitute. Also at this forum, Form IIIB thrilled their audience with their play about the life and work of Chico Mendes. The Young Leaders '95 taught children from primary schools about a number of Environmental problems and produced very striking murals to ensure that their message remains long after the completion of their project. That Royal Bank has understood the importance and appeal of the Environment is reflected in its theme for the Young Leaders '96 contest; our Young Leaders have just completed their documentary film 'World War III - Man versus The Environment'. We wish them all success and congratulate them on the initiative they have shown; we also thank them for their generous donation toward Project BAHS 2000 - a very exciting topic on which you will soon be able to read more.
However, our most substantial and effective effort at Environmental Education outside the classroom came last April, with the staging of a fully Environmental variety concert entitled 'Circle of Life' - we believe this to have been a first in Trinidad and Tobago, and probably the entire Caribbean. We took our inspiration from Elton John's beautiful song 'Circle of Life', which speaks to us about the Environment; a key phrase 'never take more than you give' is surely nothing less than a simple restatement of today's major Environmental theme - sustainable development, or the need for caring and careful stewardship of the finite, vital resources of our God-given home, the Earth. Participants were drawn from throughout the School and a group of very committed LVI students, led by Elisha Bartels and Crystal Bacchus pulled it all together; there was drama, singing, fashion, dance, calypso, poetry and skits, interspersed with appearances by the inimitable Captain SPEEF (Super Pollution Eradicator and Environmental Fighter). The entertainment was enjoyed to the full on the two concert nights by the audience of students, parents and friends and by those actively involved; the boost it gave to both School spirit and to Environmental consciousness was palpable.
In its secondary purpose of raising funds for the proposed new Science Complex, of which the Environmental Sciences Building is a part, the 'Circle of Life' was understandably less successful. With these very necessary new facilities, our capacity to deliver quality science teaching will be greatly enhanced; this will permit us to continue, or even amplify our long-standing Bishop's tradition of producing the Environmental Scientists our country so desperately needs, thereby endowing the message 'never take more than you give' with real meaning. It must, however, be noted that the new facilities will be used for the teaching of all the sciences; they will not be exclusively for the specifically Environmental Sciences. Funds for initiating the construction of these new Science facilities are still urgently required; we must find one third of the rapidly escalating cost.
Our most successful fund-raising venture last year was certainly the inaugural Gala Charity Ball, held on May 27 at the Country Club under the patronage of Miss Shurland, our Principal from 1964-1981. A delicious dinner and music provided by Blue Ventures, the Police Band and Hurricane George, guaranteed that Hilarians and friends of all generations thoroughly enjoyed this event; as they were leaving in the small hours of the morning, many were already begging us to ensure that the Ball becomes an annual event and were promising to be there again next year (i.e. 1996), bringing even more members of the Hilarian community with them. So, we know that we can look forward to another highly successful Gala Ball on May 25 1996, planning for which is already well underway, as we continue to work toward the provision of Science facilities appropriate to the twenty first century.
Perhaps the major reason for this focus on the Environment is that we believe that education is of little value if it fails to give us an understanding of the world that God created for us. As the first steps towards achieving this, we try to give our students a reverence for life as God's creation, and an awareness of their individual and corporate responsibilities. By fostering Environmental literacy and sensitivity, we hope to empower our future leaders to effect the necessary changes in both attitudes and practices to ensure that life itself is sustainable as we approach the new millennium.
Addendum
We are profoundly satisfied and happy to be able to record that our efforts, which began in 1991, to bring about a modification of the National Scholarship system by the inclusion of a new subject group 'Environmental Studies' have finally borne success. Minister of Education, Dr. Adesh Nanan, recently announced to Parliament the creation of such a group, to be effective from 1998. We await clarification of the full details by circular from the Ministry, but assume that the incoming LVI students next September will be eligible for this award. We must now be prepared to accept the challenge and work towards this new goal. It would bring the greatest satisfaction to many of our Environmentalists, past and present, to see a Bishop's student gaining the first national Scholarship in Environmental Studies, thereby continuing the invaluable tradition of this School in providing the Nation with the necessary expertise in this critical area.
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