The Minns Labor Government is investing $2.3 million to plant thousands of trees, shrubs and bush tucker gardens to help combat urban heating in more than 150 schools over the next four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve also expanded the Cooling the Schools program to the Illawarra\u2013Shoalhaven, Hunter and Central Coast regions because urban heating is an issue beyond Greater Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This expansion will give thousands more kids a chance to benefit from cooler, green spaces in schools for learning and play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The program is increasing tree canopies in schools while also giving thousands of students the opportunity to learn firsthand about the environmental and cultural benefits of planting native trees for urban cooling, biodiversity and First Nations cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cooling the Schools program has to date planted more than 70,000 native trees and shrubs across 306 schools, benefiting over 20,000 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has also run close to 100 Cultural education sessions helping students connect with Country while learning about sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cooling the Schools program is funded by the Minns Labor Government and delivered by Greening Australia in some of the hottest areas of metropolitan NSW with cooler outdoor spaces and hands\u2011on learning opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schools can check eligibility and register at: https:\/\/www.greeningaustralia.org.au\/projects\/cooling-the-schools<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The builds on Greening Our City grants which has to date awarded $46.8 million to 164 greening projects across Greater Sydney Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra-Shoalhaven to build climate resilience, improve air quality, and connect communities with nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPlanting trees in schools is one of the simplest and most effective ways combat urban heat to cool our schools, suburbs and improve the health of our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis program has already made a real difference in hundreds of schools, and we\u2019re pleased to extend it for the first time to schools across the Illawarra\u2013Shoalhaven, Hunter and Central Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greening Australia Restoration Operations Hub Lead Nicola Masters:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKids love learning in this program, which is active, outdoors and fun! We aren\u2019t just creating wildlife habitat and cooler schools, we are helping to build \u2018GenGreen\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re teaching kids about taking local action to bring biodiversity back into our city landscapes, and there are a lot of schools, so all those local actions add up to a big impact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Minns Labor Government is investing $2.3 million to plant thousands of trees, shrubs and bush tucker gardens to help combat urban heating in more than 150 schools over the next four years. We\u2019ve also expanded the Cooling the Schools program to the Illawarra\u2013Shoalhaven, Hunter and Central Coast regions because urban heating is an issue … Continue reading “Cooler, greener playgrounds: 150 schools to benefit from expanded tree planting program”<\/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":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39287","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=39287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39288,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39287\/revisions\/39288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}