“In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught.”
― Baba Dioum
― Baba Dioum
environmental sustainability - at the core of ALFA
Repurposing - the final wall of the temporary building is taken down for relocation as foundation for the new classroom.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose
On a daily basis, students are committed to reducing the use of unecessary paper and packaging, recycling paper and plastics and composting in student-built compost bins to reduce the waste stream and build healthy soils. The ALFA classroom itself is a model of repurposing as it was created when students, parents and teachers worked together to tranform a redundant temporary building into a warm and welcoming classroom.
On a daily basis, students are committed to reducing the use of unecessary paper and packaging, recycling paper and plastics and composting in student-built compost bins to reduce the waste stream and build healthy soils. The ALFA classroom itself is a model of repurposing as it was created when students, parents and teachers worked together to tranform a redundant temporary building into a warm and welcoming classroom.
Examples of the students' handiwork - wrought iron candlestick holders
Build Your Own
Students create their own outdoor benches, pizza oven, table tennis table, iron-wrought candlesticks, stained glass, raised beds, ceramics, knitwear and more. In the process, they minimize packaging and transportation costs
Students create their own outdoor benches, pizza oven, table tennis table, iron-wrought candlesticks, stained glass, raised beds, ceramics, knitwear and more. In the process, they minimize packaging and transportation costs
Students building the raised beds for the organic garden.
Grow Your Own
Students tend an organic garden on the grounds of ALFA. A €500 Grow It Yourself grant helps students build a greenhouse.
Students tend an organic garden on the grounds of ALFA. A €500 Grow It Yourself grant helps students build a greenhouse.
photo courtesy of www.thevillage.ie
Schools for Resilience Project
Davie Philip, from Cloughjordan Ecovillage, will be starting a partnership with ALFA students in the 2015-2016 academic year to help them understand how they can contribute to the resilience of the local East Clare community. Students will learn to link local issues to global sustainability and will be encouraged to seek out new opportunities to actively participate in their community.
Davie Philip, from Cloughjordan Ecovillage, will be starting a partnership with ALFA students in the 2015-2016 academic year to help them understand how they can contribute to the resilience of the local East Clare community. Students will learn to link local issues to global sustainability and will be encouraged to seek out new opportunities to actively participate in their community.
Green School Committee News
ALFA is in the process of seeking Green School certification. Stay tuned to this page for news of our progress.
"We must move away from the notion that the earth is ours to be managed and towards a humbling recognition that it is us and our ‘human desires, economies, politics, and communities’ that are in need of management." ― David Orr