UAE climate change minister leads the way on Car Free Day
▶ Greater ecological awareness is needed in the home and classroom, experts say
Residents in Dubai, Al Ain, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah left their car keys on their tables and hopped on to public transport yesterday to take part in the ninth annual Car Free Day.
The Dubai Municipality initiative expanded this year to include three more emirates and leading the charge on UAE Environment Day was the Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Thani Al Zeyoudi.
Hussain Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality, travelled from Etisalat Metro Station to Union Metro Station to inaugurate the day at Union Metro Park along with Mr Al Zeyoudi and Abdullah Al Basti, Secretary-General of the Executive Council in Dubai. The men were accompanied by officials from local and federal government departments.
“Each vehicle, with a full tank of fuel of 15 gallons, emits nearly 140 kilograms of carbon dioxide, taking their annual emissions to four tonnes,” Mr Lootah said. “The campaign will contribute in our objectives of UAE National Agenda 2021 in preserving air quality.”
Mr Lootah used the occasion to launch the first environmentally friendly mobile air quality monitoring station and an environmental sustainability guide for Dubai’s industrial sector.
From recycling plastic bottles to growing food sustainably, teachers from across the country became pupils yesterday – UAE Environment Day – to learn about sustainable development.
The workshop, held by Target4Green Educational Consultancy and Training at Jumeirah Baccalaureate School, taught participants about environmental stressors, their effect on humanity and the school environment and United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs).
“The programme has been really useful,” said Gemma Sykes, a science teacher from Repton School in Dubai. “What’s really important about these events is the networking opportunities that you get, the discussion generated from them and the ideas you get from them.”
Ms Sykes, who heads her school’s recently established eco-committee, said children were the driving force behind change.
“We’ve just launched our recycling initiative,” she said. “But there is still a lot that needs to be done, like changing everyone’s mindset because then it becomes a habit for people.
“Children are now teaching their parents and the message is coming from them – they asked for the eco-committee, so it’s an eye-opener.”
Brijeethamma Joseph, who teaches physics and chemistry in Years 8 to 10 at New Indian Model school in Dubai, said the school aimed to foster a sense of environmental responsibility by engaging pupils in projects as often as possible.
“We have a garden at the school where we grow organic food and different projects,” she said. “They make their own manure and we’re trying to start a recycling facility for plastic bottles. We need to start creating awareness among children from KG upwards.”
The workshop was also a platform for teachers to learn from one another.
“It’s been very interesting,” said Jincy Poulose, a physics teacher from the Elite English School. “Some of the teachers here are incorporating the SDGs in their lessons, so I will start doing that too from now on. I will concentrate more on clean energy because so much can be generated from it.” She said passion was a vital aspect of teaching. “The teachers should be aware of the SDGs and be passionate about it to be able to pass it on to the children,” she said.
“I am passionate about the environment. I know I can’t change the entire world but I can start by changing what I can here by giving some morals to my students and even my colleagues and friends.
“It’s important to get children involved because giving nutrients to a big tree doesn’t help that much, but if you give nutrients to a sapling, it will grow.”
One of the great challenges is to increase participation by teachers. Only four of the 13 who registered for the course actually attended yesterday.
“What does this say?” said Peter Milne, founder and director of Target4Green. “I worked here for 10 years on this and I’ve seen a lot of progress. The education aspect is critical and maybe that’s not quite being prioritised as much. Some schools don’t even know what the SDGs are.
“There’s so much pressure on them and it’s about prioritising. The idea was to bring teachers together to share ideas, from them and my own experiences as a teacher, environmental co-ordinator and environmental education consultant, to share good practice and give them lots of ideas that they can engage with in their own schools.”
The workshop discussed teachers’ challenges and gave advice on how to engage more with pupils.
“We look at ways to link the curriculum more so that more teachers are involved in the school,” Mr Milne said. “And we’re also looking at organisations out there that can support them further by coming into schools and engaging with pupils more.”
He said children needed to be educated about the environment from as young as three years old in a way that best appealed to them.
“We talk to them about the effect of waste on camels and turtles – such as plastic bags. Children that age get it and they want a solution,” Mr Milne said.
“That message has to come from them and they have to feel empowered. Teachers have to feel motivated and that comes from understanding the support.”