Last week, six students representing Murdoch College and Serpentine Primary School played a key role in the 2009 CASANZ (Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand) Conference held at the Perth Conference and Exhibition Centre.

In a departure from the heavily science and research based topic streams, AirWatch was invited to deliver an hour long presentation about its schools activities. After AirWatch staff had presented on the program’s origins and recent developments, the real stars of the show, the students, captivated delegates with an account of their experience with the latest AirWatch project, Energy Smart for Air. 

Energy Smart for Air, a 2009 pilot project, draws links between our energy use, the enhanced greenhouse effect and climate change. The project culminates in an action-learning approach to reduce participating schools’ greenhouse gas emissions.

The students from Murdoch and Serpentine did their schools proud as they presented on the results of their school energy audits and the behaviour change strategies they had developed to reduce energy consumption across the school community. “The project has been hugely successful in that it has increased awareness and given us a sense that we can affect a change,” said students from Murdoch College. “We are left with a sense of the magnitude of the possibility for positive change – if we can make a reduction at school and at home, so can everyone.”

The exceptional quality of the students’ presentations drew an enthusiastic and warm response from delegates, and helped to raise the raise the profile of the work AirWatch does in Community Education. Good work team, a job well done!