Earlier this month, Green Party Co-Leader Caroline Lucas visited Glenaire School in Lower Baildon to see the excellent work being done by the school staff and the local community to improve the schools environmental credentials.
The School has already achieved Silver Eco-school status and Jo Wilkinson, the school’s head explained to Caroline that this was only the start of her ambitious plans for Glenaire.
Central to these plans is the Run on Sun Fun(d), a local community initiative which is raising funds to pay for solar panels on the school’s roof.
John Anderson, one of the trustee of the trust set up to raise funds, said that his aim was “to inspire and energise the pupils of the school and its community about solar power, renewable energy and the need to combat global warming. We have a model which we will publicise to other schools: it works!”
Jo took Caroline on a tour of the school grounds where they plan to create vegetable gardens, teach the children about food growing and provide the canteen with fresh ingredients.
Caroline has said “it is inspiring to see the work being done by Jo, the school staff and the local community. Glenaire really is an ambassador for how our schools can help teach our children that there is an alternative to the status quo.
“Shipley has been badly hit by the effects of climate change with the devastating flood of 2015 and it is more crucial than ever that we start taking our environment seriously if we are to avoid a catastrophic climate breakdown”.
Hawarun Hussain, Green Party Councillor for the Shipley Ward in which Glenaire School sits said that she welcomed the opportunity to “show her the great work being done here to tackle the much larger problem of climate change.
“This initiative shows that local communities want to invest in renewable energy despite the government’s hostility to renewable energy and tackling climate change. The Green Party embraces new ideas because we need start doing things differently right now.”