Plant a seed on June 5
Hundreds of primary and high school students around the country will hit the shopping malls and footpaths on World Environment Day, selling bundles of river red gum seeds. Greenpeace initiated the June 5 project as a contribution to World Environment Day, and to raise funds for its global warming campaign.
Seed Day coordinator Richard Green was pleasantly surprised by the number of schools agreeing to participate: he had expected about 300 replies, and got 800. In the lead-up to June 5, teachers are being sent educational materials on global warming issues, so their students can confidently explain themselves to the public as they sell the seeds.
The educational activities include making tallies of peak-hour cars carrying only one person (to learn about greenhouse emissions), and wrapping ice blocks in different materials and comparing their rates of melting in the sun (to study methods of passive heating for buildings). The education kits are available from Greenpeace Action Australia, phone (03) 860 4666.