Parents and students urged to ‘Fight for Planet A’

The man behind ABC’s War on Waste and #FightforPlanetA, Craig Reucassel, is bringing his message to the Far North as part of the Sustainable Schools Summit, supported by Cairns Regional Council.

The free online event on Monday 19 October will showcase environmental education at Trinity Bay and Smithfield State High Schools and provide information and inspiration about tackling climate change.

In addition to Mr Reucassel, speakers include co-founder of the Cairns Australian Youth Climate Action Coalition, Garrett Swearingen, and young founder of the social business enterprise, ‘tell someone who cares’, Holley Somerville-Knott.

Students who participated in last year’s Cairns Youth Climate Summit, run by Council, will give a presentation and run a workshop on the day for local year 5 students at the Council Chambers about how they can make a difference in their school or community.

Summit tickets are available to all parents, students and teachers of North and Far North Queensland schools by registering at this link: https://events.humanitix.com/connecting-regional-queensland-sustainable-schools-summit

Sustainable Schools Network CEO and summit organiser Katie Norman said school communities could lead change, not just in education, but also in the environment, the economy and in health and wellbeing.

“Our communities interact through our schools - 2,794 of them in Queensland – and while they are centres of learning they also consume water, electricity and generate waste,” said Ms Norman.

Sustainability isn’t just about the environment. It’s also about our economy and our society and we believe educating for sustainability is the pathway to building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ms Norman.

The Connecting Regional Queensland Sustainable Schools summit is organised by the Sustainable Schools Network, supported by Cairns Regional and Townsville City Councils, Ergon Energy, with partners, Glowing Green Australia, Solar Schools, the Australian Association of Environmental Education, Kids Teaching Kids and the Reef Guardians School Program.