This article is from page 31 of the 2009-03-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 31 JPG
PARENTS, children and teachers from all over Clare and south Gal- way are being encouraged to take the economic and environmental option when travelling to schools.
In the latest evolution of An Taisce’s Green School initiative, a programme has been started to encourage people to look at different ways of getting around.
Almost 200 children, parents and teachers took part in a mass walk-to- school at Inagh National School last Wednesday. The walk was organised to highlight the different benefits of children walking all or even some of the way to school.
“We really want to give every-
one an option of taking part in this programme – from the people who might want to walk or cycle all the way, to the people who want to start a park and stride – which means driv- ing some of the way and walking the rest,’ said Roisin Ni Ghairbhith, An Taisce’s Green Schools Travel Of- ficer for Clare and south Galway. “When children take part in any form of exercise on the way to school it has been shown that they are more focused and awake when they get to school. As well as this one in 20 chil- dren suffer from obesity problems.” Out of the 170 school’s involved in the Green Schools project in Clare, 15 are at present going for Taisce’s new travel flag. Each participating school is being offered funding for
professional cycling lessons for it’s students.
“Last week in Inagh we all walked the 600 metres from the church to the school as part of the programme. We had a great time; the children and teachers did a great job. It may not seem like a lot but even that small walk can have a great impact,” con- tinued Roisin.
“We estimate that people drove around 70 kilometres less because of the walk. For every kilometre less a car drives it mean the equivalent of 13 large balloons, filled with carbon dioxide, that won’t be released into the environment.
‘So even this small thing can make a large change. If people take even a small bit off their journey it can have
a big impact. It also makes great eco- nomic sense. With the high costs of fuels these days it just makes sense to drive less.”
Participating schools will take part in WOW Days over the next few months, where children, parents and teachers will be encourage to walk or cycle to school on one day a week.
For more information on_ this project check out www.greenschool- sireland.org.