L’école

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day is an annual event dedicated to raising awareness and inspiring action to tackle the various environmental challenges facing our planet. This day is also a time to celebrate those who have done a lot to help the environment.
Over 193 countries celebrate Earth Day around the globe, with more people getting involved every year. In many places, Earth Day forms part of Earth Week, which is a longer period of climate awareness that includes activities and campaigns.
Did you know that Earth Day is marked by more than a billion people a year? Yes, a billion! The official Earth Day website says that “Earth Day is widely recognized as the largest secular observance in the world, marked every year as a day of action to change human behaviour and create global, national and local policy change.”

When is Earth Day 2023?

Earth Day is held on 22nd April each year. Earth Day 2023 falls on Saturday 22nd April 2023.

What is the Earth Day 2023 theme?

Each year, Earth Day has a central theme, signifying a new focus on a particular environmental concern. The Earth Day 2023 theme is 'Invest in Our Planet'. This theme is designed to persuade businesses, governments and citizens around the world of the need to invest in our planet to improve our environment and give our descendants a better and safer future.
 
How can we celebrate Earth Day 2023?

Earth Day is celebrated in many ways across the world. Here are some ideas for how to celebrate Earth Day:

• Volunteer: Millions of people will take part in Earth Day, and it is hoped that many will volunteer to improve the environments where they live. This could involve anything from cleaning up litter to helping plant new trees.
• Be an artist for the Earth: Creating art can play a huge part in capturing the public’s imagination and helping to spread the message of environmental urgency.
• Focus on education: It's only by focusing on the next generation that the environmental fight can continue. Education about environmental challenges and individual actions we can all take, such as recycling, can all help.
• Host or join events: Awareness events, such as street rallies and marches, will bring the causes of Earth Day to the awareness of people throughout the world.
• Plant a tree: Planting a tree in a local park or garden is a simple but effective way to celebrate Earth Day.

At Ecole Jacques Prévert, we are invested in celebrating Earth Day 2023, we are launching our “Let’s Keep our School Tidy Competition” (guidance below) which was one of the actions raised by our Eco-Committee formed by our Eco-Delegates students supported by their teachers. This links to our approach to Education for Sustainable Development (Education au développement durable) as we are mobilised in the fight against climate change and in favour of biodiversity.

To that effect, in March, the CM students were treated to a workshop that explored issues with climate change and air pollution. It addressed the serious issues of climate change in an interactive and dynamic way. Children took part in role play activities such as dressing a child up as the world and then wrapping them in different layers to represent the gases. It was an immersive experience that encouraged much audience participation. The finale involved children taking part in the show ‘How to Train a Viking.’ As Nitrogen Dioxide and Particulate levels are high in London, this workshop encouraged children to think of how they can travel to school in a safe and sustainable way and to also think about their life choices. The main objective was to highlight to children how their life choices directly impact the environment.

Pupils are thus called upon to be major players in the ecological transition, and the Eco-Committee intends to undertake three actions to protect the environment such as put a plant in each classroom, add bird houses and keep the courtyard paperless.

“Let’s Keep our School Tidy Competition” guidance: Create a poster with a drawing and slogan

1. Keep the School Tidy Competition from 19^th April to 2^nd May (Deadline: 2^nd May!)
2. Entries on A4 paper portrait layout - full name and class on the back please
3. Posters to be given to the class teacher by 2^nd May
4. Polling days – Thursday 4^th & Friday 5^th May
5. The 15 favourite posters will be announced and displayed at school.

We are looking forward to showcasing these inspiring projects very soon and are proud of the efforts and determination of our Eco-Delegates for their commitment to lead our school to become more eco-friendly.

Best wishes,

Mrs Weber