Geraldton is in an international biodiversity hotspot, one of only 30 in the world and local teacher Dan Clarke of Strathalbyn Christian College is helping students take care of this area of vital importance.

“When people first come to Geraldton they tend to think there’s not much here as far as fauna but this is just because it’s a really tough place to live and the wildlife is not obvious”.

Dan Clarke was the winner of the Education Award at the 2013 Goodness Awards and says, “I was stoked last year getting the award, there are people in this town who seem to think what we are doing is worthwhile and it’s not just me that thinks so it’s our town that is celebrating this”.

For the last three years Strathalbyn College has been offering sustainable living as part of the curriculum.

“We look at the whole global issue then break it down to a personal level, like what do we do with our waste, what do we do with our rubbish, what do we do with our water and where does our electricity come from” says Mr Clarke.

They have a vegetable garden at school and try to grow what they can and this teaches the kids how hard it is to grow and how much effort has gone into getting the food to the table.

In their secondary school the focus is on biodiversity and ecology with a special cynosure on the Muir Arboretum which they have been working with for the past ten years.

In the first semester of 2014 Strathalbyn did water monitoring at the Chapman River and some baseline research which will allow targeting of things like phosphates and nitrate levels more effectively next year.

Since last year Dan Clarke has run a unit on behaviour change which he says changed the way he teaches and his students have really connected with it.

The hardest part is overcoming cognitive dissonance from some kids who think that they are already doing their bit for the environment and that it’s other people who are the problem.

Mr Clarke says, “everyone is at a different stage; first of all you’re in denial, then you say there is a problem but it’s too tough, then we say it’s a problem and I could do something about it but I’ve got other more important things on my mind, then gradually you say yeah I can do something it and it just becomes a habit you start doing without thinking about it”.

“If we can just empower the kids then nothing will stop them and they know they can make a difference within their school and within their families and it gets them out doing practical stuff which is really where it counts”.

Dan Clarke will once again be taking part in this year’s Goodness Festival where he and other local teachers intend to run a stall on the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative.

Of the Goodness Festival Mr Clarke says, “what a crazy, beautiful thing to celebrate, I don’t want to celebrate anything more than goodness in our town”.

—

This post was written by Steven White, Freelance Journalist.