{"id":21154,"date":"2023-05-12T12:15:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T12:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=21154"},"modified":"2023-05-12T12:15:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T12:15:59","slug":"hands-on-lessons-help-sow-the-seeds-for-a-new-generation-of-environmental-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2023\/05\/12\/hands-on-lessons-help-sow-the-seeds-for-a-new-generation-of-environmental-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands-on lessons help sow the seeds for a new generation of environmental champions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Students swapped the classroom for the great outdoors today during a hands-on lesson about urban biodiversity delivered by City of Newcastle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost 100 Year 4 students from St Therese’s Primary School, New Lambton pulled on their gardening gloves to plant 2,000 native ferns, flowering shrubs and grasses beneath six 100-year-old fig trees at Lambton Park, before learning about the importance of vegetation, fauna, and water health during a biodiversity “treasure hunt” for bird nests and insects along Lambton Ker-rai Creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cr<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The children were also encouraged to get creative with a fun art activity highlighting sustainability and the value of nature-based solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said City of Newcastle was committed to investing in and caring for our diverse natural environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“During the past four years, City of Newcastle has invested $7.8 million in caring for our bushland, watercourse and wetland assets through the design and delivery of on-ground habitat restoration works and community engagement programs,” Cr Nelmes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In addition, the City has invested $6.3 million in street and park tree replacement planting, and growing our urban forest program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe greening of our urban landscape has a positive impact on Newcastle and improves our community sense of wellbeing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Dr Elizabeth Adamczyk said the outdoor classroom event would help create a sense of connection between the students and the environment in which they live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCity of Newcastle cares for a wonderful array of natural ecosystems, including 80 kilometres of creeks, 512 hectares of bushland and over 113,000 street and park trees,” Cr Adamczyk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese natural assets help absorb and store carbon, provide food and shelter for native wildlife, and keep our air and water clean, while also making our city a cooler, more beautiful and pleasant place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Engaging students in hands-on outdoor classroom activities is a fantastic way to increase their knowledge and passion for the local environment, leaving a legacy of expanding the urban forest and biodiversity in their local park that they can be proud of in years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the past four years, City of Newcastle has invested $7.8 million in caring for our bushland, watercourse and wetland assets through the design and delivery of on-ground habitat restoration works and community engagement programs. In addition, the City has invested $6.3 million in street and park tree replacement planting, and growing our urban forest program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City of Newcastle is committed to becoming an International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) City with Nature, recognising and enhancing the value of our natural surrounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students swapped the classroom for the great outdoors today during a hands-on lesson about urban biodiversity delivered by City of Newcastle. Almost 100 Year 4 students from St Therese’s Primary School, New Lambton pulled on their gardening gloves to plant 2,000 native ferns, flowering shrubs and grasses beneath six 100-year-old fig trees at Lambton Park, … Continue reading “Hands-on lessons help sow the seeds for a new generation of environmental champions”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21155,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21154\/revisions\/21155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}