I am a tree hugger and proud of it!

Today I spent some time at WESSA with the students I will be tutoring at the Wild Coast as they do their School Experience in August. We had a talk on ECO schools and then they workshopped some of the ideas they want to put into practise in their schools.

I felt homesick and wanted to get going and organise all their projects. I really miss working with Environmental projects. I ran the ECO schools programme for 8 years and it was one of the most fulfilling parts of my job at St Nics. It's one of those unpopular areas in most schools and with most kids - and teachers. I think because it's not glamorous and often involves getting your hands dirty. It means looking at uncomfortable areas - like waste and self-indulgence. I regularly got into trouble for criticising the purchase of pretty little non-indigenous trees for the garden, when we are an ECo school, for suggesting moving to energy saving light bulbs, for pushing for the installation of a solar heater when we needed to replace a geyser. I was unpopular when I asked the gardener to help with something that would make a difference to the biodiversity of the school. Poor Mal got into terrible trouble when we decided to dig a compost heap and install recycling bins. tree huggers are NOT popular with people who like things to be 'pretty"!

But when I got a card from a Grade 8 at the end of the year, who told me he had learnt to love the environment because I'd been so enthusiastic, I knew why I carried on the fight - despite no money, no support and no resources. When I took a group of Gr 8s on an outing, and they arranged to go and cut down the bugweed in a teacher's garden for her, I knew why I did it.

When I was awarded a certificate by ECO Schools for service to the organisation, I knew that I had made a difference, and that my work wasn't un-noticed - even though it often seemed to be in my own school.

And I learnt so much - how to save energy, what Eco Systems services are, how to organise a hack-attack, what was important about healthy eating and the importance of cutting down on meat for the sake of the world.

I'm so glad to be able to work on starting Eco Schools at these rural schools - what a privilege.

I'm glad to be a tree hugger.