Minding the future by learning from the past

They went in search of nasty smells, intrusive sounds, traffic congestion, and buildings etched by acid rain. The worst sight to greet their eyes was the blackened statue in the car park of St Andrew's Church, in Dublin's city centre. "It was totally eroded - the face was black and weathered."

Acid rain had discoloured the white oolitic limestone and the gypsum deposits, explained the young environmental reporters. In nearby Dame Street, a twominute traffic survey yielded up the expected congestion.

The Transition Year students from High School, Rathgar, Dublin, were taking part in the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) programme, which was developed by the Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe. An Taisce administers the programme in Ireland.

Ideal for Transition Year, the programme is cross-curricular, taking in elements of science, geography, civil and social studies as well as communications. Projects can be undertaken by an entire class or by small teams. They undertake investigations relating to one of six themes - agriculture, cities, energy, waste, coastline and water.

There are two levels of participation, explains Anne Wilkinson, projects manager with An Taisce. At local level, `young reporters for the environment' research a local environmental issue. They must then report their findings and display them in a public area such as a library or community centre. They also issue press releases and try to get coverage in local or national media.

At European level, students use the Internet to communicate with other schools and to produce co-operative articles for the website.

High School students Ellie Fry, Kara Cramp, David Collins and David Duggan speak simultaneously, filling in each other's sentences as they explain their project. The entire class took part in an urban trail, with the theme of "living stones". They spent half a day in the city looking at the effects of acid rain and pollution on buildings.

"Everyone in the class wrote an article," says Ellie. "Then we pooled the pieces and printed a collective article for the project website." Six of the students became further involved and linked up with two schools in France and Greece - Lycee Victor Hugo in Poitiers and the First Experimental High School in Athens.

The team in Athens investigated the effect of air pollution on the Lysicrate's monument which dates from 344 BC, while the French team looked at Poitier's Notre Dame la Grande, dating from 1100. In comparison, the High School's monument, St Andrew's Church, in Dublin, is a mere baby dating from 1670.

The teams shared their information and produced an article headed Living Stones: Athens, Dublin, Poitiers - Different Ages, Same Problems, Common Future? The Irish team wrote the common story, while the team in Athens edited it.

YRE students who participate in the project at European level using the Internet may also be offered an opportunity to join a European mission, where they travel as mission envoys to a different country to carry out special investigations into particular environmental issues.

Ellie Fry travelled to Portugal - to Oerias near Lisbon - to take part in an urban environment project to "understand how Oeiras is facing the challenge of sustainable development." After a number of site visits, she and her fellow mission envoys had to compile a press release and hold a press conference. They also compiled a report.

Last April, An Taisce hosted a waste mission here. Eight mission envoys from Cyprus, France, Portugal, England, Ireland and Denmark travelled around the country investigating waste management in both urban and rural settings.

THE students in High School are enthusiastic about their participation in YRE, although it was challenging. "If you think you have problems with co-operative articles in the class, try organising three schools across Europe - the web site was a little hard to get into - it was worth getting involved - you could walk around town and you wouldn't notice anything normally, until you go to research it."

As for teacher Philip Irwin, he said he was not very computer literate when he got involved in the project. His real interest is in the environmental side of the project.

High School has been involved in YRE for the past four years and he has attended various in-service sessions including a session in Aarhaus, Denmark, where he and about 100 teachers from other European countries investigated an environmental issue.

Irwin is now attending IT classes under IT2000 but, he says, IT is only a tool for YRE. He is a geography teacher and used the project as an environmental studies aid. As for the students, their conclusion in their composite report is all-embracing: "We, the youth, believe that mankind will have a better future if we protect our heritage and learn from our past!"

CONTACT: Young Reporters for the Environment, An Taisce, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2. Phone (01) 670 5810. Email antaisce@connect.ie Website: www.ac.grenoble.fr/yre/