World Environment Day activities at Kangan Batman TAFE
05 May 2003
Broadmeadows campus tree planting
Staff, senior management and students of Kangan Batman TAFE will be rolling up their sleeves to plant 100 indigenous trees and shrubs at the Institute’s Broadmeadows campus for World Environment Day on Thursday 5 June 2003.
"This mass tree-planting is part of our commitment to providing a clean, green environment for staff and students at Kangan Batman TAFE”, says Kangan Batman TAFE Director John Parish.
“Aside from beautifying the campus, we will be helping improve the global environment by contributing to improvements in air quality. Increasing vegetation is a great way of counteracting the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change”, he said.
“Activities such as these also help raise awareness of environmental issues to our staff and student body. We have the potential to plant many more trees at various locations on our campuses, and this is something we will be doing more of in the future.”
The tree planting has been sponsored by Kangan Batman TAFE’s Staff Health and Well-being Committee, and organised by the Workplace Risk Management & Environment Unit, the ECO Quality Improvement Team, and the Horticulture and Facilities departments as part of Kangan Batman TAFE’s commitment to the environment.
“Kangan Batman TAFE is strongly committed to providing an environmentally friendly study and workplace for our staff and students. Last year we became the first Victorian TAFE institute to attain ISO 14001 Environmental Management System certification,” Mr Parish said.
“This certification is an assurance to our staff, students and customers of our systematic approach to monitoring and reducing our organisation’s impact on the environment.”
Just some of Kangan Batman TAFE’s environmental initiatives include: paper recycling at all of its six main campuses; the use of LPG in fleet vehicles; composting of food waste from the student training restaurant, Richards Restaurant, for fertilizer for the Horticulture Department’s gardens; and the recycling of metal vehicle components, tyres and batteries at the Richmond and Coburg automotive training campuses.
Facts from Greenfleet – www.greenfleet.com.au
- The average car on Australia's roads uses 1920 litres of fuel each year and emits 4.3 tonnes of CO2 greenhouse gas that contributes directly to global warming and climate change.
- Science shows that 17 native mixed species of trees can, over their lifetime, absorb the CO2 emitted by the average car in a year, locking up the carbon in the wood, and releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere. These trees will absorb the greenhouse gas emissions that the average car produces in a year (based on 4.3 tonnes of CO2).
When/where: The planting will take place in the main courtyard of the Broadmeadows Campus, Pearcedale Parade, Broadmeadows, from 12-2pm on Thursday 5 June 2003.
Photo opportunities can include CEO/Director John Parish planting a tree.
Richmond campus student theatre performance
The Kangan Batman Institute of TAFE Student Association (KITSA) has organised a theatrical performance to raise awareness of the problem of recycling bin contamination and the importance of putting things in the correct bin.
Four students will be dressing up as giant human-sized cans, while two others will be dressed as a giant tomato and a sandwich. The cans will be dancing around a bin and a specially-made oversized can, until someone throws their leftover lunch (the giant sandwich and the tomato) into the bin.
Then the cans start screaming, “RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! INCOMING CONTAMINATION! IT’S THE HUMANS AGAIN, USING THE WRONG BIN!”
The cans that are struck by the sandwich and tomato start rolling around on the ground, the cans that do not get struck by the sandwich and tomato are hugging each other on the sidelines.
The performance will take place on World Environment Day, Thursday 5 June 2003 at Kangan Batman TAFE’s Richmond Campus, in the Student Cafeteria, where the campus’ plastic, glass and aluminium recycling bins are located. The aim of the performance is to educate in the importance of using the correct bin. The performance has also been video taped for viewing by students at other Kangan Batman TAFE campuses.
The students’ human can costumes have been created by stringing together 500 normal cans. The oversized can, which is 1 metre high and .5 metres in diameter, has been constructed by sheetmetal apprentices from the Richmond campus with the assistance of their teacher John Egan.
Photo opportunities: The performance can also be staged any day, at any time to suit your photographer in the lead up to World Environment Day.
