Thousands of New Zealand students took action!

On Friday October 23rd 2009, thousands of young New Zealanders took a 350 school action, calling for a fair global climate treaty that meets the science and gets us back to 350ppm.  The action photos that each school took will be used alongside photos from 5500 similar actions across 181 countries - all to build the voice for strong action on climate change, in the lead up to December's Copenhagen summit. If you took an action but haven't yet uploaded the photo, visit www.350.org.nz for some simple instructions. Here's just a snapshot of the school actions that went down around the country...

In Wanaka, Mount Aspiring College's Junior School planted hundreds of trees (and took a 350 photo afterwards!), and Wanaka Primary's EnviroTeam coordinated six sets of schools, staff and parents (!) to run a collective 350km.

In Dunedin, both Queen's High and Otago Girls' High ran lunchtime jams designing 350-themed poster for the major Dunedin 350 event, while Warrington School conducted a community clean using homemade eco-cleaners! East Taieri School pupils made 'care codes' for the school grounds and designed posters with a conservation or recycling message, and over 350 vegetable seedlings are being raised to highlight sustainable living and the "food miles" issue. Dunedin's Rudolf Steiner School made home-grown vegetable soup on their yurt classroom's waste wood burner! And in South Canterbury, Morven School ran an eco-working bee in an old cemetry, planting loads of fruit trees.

In Blenheim, Marlborough Girls' College encouraged 350 students to bike to school, which Nelson's enviroschools pooled resources and created 350-themed art out of 1 million milk bottletops. They even convinced Climate Change Minister Nick Smith to join in the fun!

In Wellington, a whole bunch of high schools took action, inspired by the Enviroschools-supported Wellington Youth Climate Forum. Wellington High School, for example, sold blue and green cupcakes (with flags and eco tips - proceeds to 350 Aotearoa) and had a climate wish tree inside. 'People wrote wishes, quotes and sayings about climate change on paper leaves and we tied them to the tree which we will then plant in the school grounds.' Samuel Marsden had an climate-themed mufti day with a gold coin donation, a bake sale and sausage sizzle using as many organic ingredients as possible (proceeds to 350 Aotearoa), and a massive rubbish collection around the school and the whole of Karori at lunchtime! Queen Margaret held an entire week's worth of activities (including awards for those using green transport), while Tawa College got on board with a big litter clean up and a wave of 350-themed competitions... All of them took pics to build the global voice!

Further north, a number of schools in Masterton got 350-active, including Fernridge School which celebrated the day alongside Greater Wellington Regional Council, Wairarapa Road Safety Council, Masterton Police and Masterton District Councillor, Chris Peterson, with a Walk to School 350 Friday. In Rotorua, Western Heights High lugged a big 350 banner around all the local primary schools, collecting handprints in support of a safe climate future. The banner will be displayed in the local library. In Gisborne, it was flags rather than banners - Makauri, Awapuni, Wainui, Campion College, Manutuke, Lytton High School, Te Hapara, Riverdale & Rutene Road Kindergarten all pitched in to create 350 flags for the 350-themed community picnic in the park. In Hamilton, Youth Council members got active creating a massive 350 human sculpture in Garden Square. And in Raglan, it was Whaingaroa Youth Movement that led the 350 Flash Mob that ground Bow St. to a halt!

In Auckland, the active TravelWise team ensured it was safe, low carbon transport that became the theme of the day! May Road, Massey High, Mt. Roskill, Milford School, Rangeview Intermediate, Sunnyvale, St. Francis, and Westmere were amongst the schools taking a 350 travel-focussed action. Willowbank School took to Queen St. and performed a song for the public (photo below!), while Western Springs took an action on the Northern Motorway to raise awareness amongst motorists of the impact their driving is having. Manurewa Intermediate planted trees, and Marist and Rutherford College both took a creative approach and created 350 murals. On the North Shore, Northcote College focused their action on fundraising to help four young delegates from Kiribati have their voice heard in Copenhagen.

Further north still, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Te Rawhitiroa in Whangarei had a whole day of entertainment, tree planting, good local kai and fun! And in Kerikeri, Oromahoe students planted a mandarine tree, 'to absorb CO2, produce oxygen and save petrol by growing fruit in our own back yard.'

What's 350 all about again?!

350ppm is the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide that scientists say is the safe upper limit for humanity. We're currently at 389ppm, and rising at 2ppm per year. This December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen to decide on a global treaty that will determine how the globe responds to the climate change challenge. Many scientists are calling these the most important international negotiations ever, suggesting it could be the world's last chance to avert dangerous climate change.

More action!

Check out www.350.org to see the photos from other actions around the world! And keep your eyes on this site for more opportunities to get involved. And if you'd like to keep building the call for climate action, and keen to create something that will make it all the way to Copenhagen, decorate 350 paper lanterns for WWF to take to the conference!