Ecological use of the Web

Instead of Googling a search, try out Ecosearch. Ecosearch is a search engine that helps programs to reforest trees and safeguard water resources in the Amazon region, which constitute today one fourth of the fresh water reserves of our planet.

By using Ecosearch you help the non-profit association Aquaverde (Switzerland) and the French Cœur de Forêt. In Spain, Ecosearch collaborates with Fundación Canaria para la Reforestación (FORESTA).

How it works?
For every search in Ecosearch, you contribute symbolically to reforest one leaf.
For every 10.000 searches, Ecosearch and Aquaverde plant a tree in the Amazon and in the Canary Islands.

Why not try Blackle too. Blackle is a search engine that claims to save energy because the screen is predominantly black. Why not give it a whirl.

Eco Group minutes

Minutes from the 22nd January Eco-group meeting in 8Z classroom:

1. Feedback on website www.recyclezone.org.uk
Delegates hadn’t looked at it. They’ll do this for next week.

2. Paper recycling in the school: 2 eco-delegates from every class to collect paper twice a week and place in the blue bins in the corridor. We need delegates to tell Julio when the bins are full and they need emptying in the skip.
Single delegates from each class were chosen to empty waste paper twice a week. 8Y students were chosen to tell Julio if the bins were full and get them emptied into the skip. SBA to find more boxes.

3. We need help for the display board. Computer designs. We will print out and you can have some times at break to put up the display. Jon Victor and Claudia will coordinate the work and contribute to the work on the display board. Other delegates to give their things to them and SBA and TBE will print out pictures.

4. Badges - membership cards. Can you come up with a design for a badge by next week and we’ll make the badges/cards for you. What info should the badges/cards have? Students will come up with designs for cards by next week.

5. Can eco-delegates make sure that lights in the classrooms are turned off when not in use. Also remind the teacher to turn off the whiteboard etc. See instructions in classrooms. Agreed.

6. Computer initiatives: blackle.com , switching off the screens when not in use, black screen savers, ecosearch.com engine that helps ecology.
Agreed. Also delegates explained that teachers could work on the interactive board with black and white text to save energy. We need to explain this to teachers.
SBA and TBE to send message to teachers and explanation of how to do it.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Tuesday is Holocaust memorial day, a time to reflect on the horrific events that led to the deaths of over 6 million Jews and other minorities as a result of the Nazi extermination campaign during the Second World War. Unfortunately similar atrocities have continued to occur. This hard-hitting video looks at the issue and provides us with plenty of food for thought.

The Ecology Group

As you know we have established an Ecology group in the school. Here are the minutes of our latest meeting:

Suggestions for future focus:

1. An ecology day. Looking at www.recyclezone.org.uk for activities and at activities done on Wangari Maathai day: making ashtrays out of cans, making wallets out of comics, making soap out of old oil, etc.

2. Organise a visit to a recycling centre or to a natural park like Valsain, Boca del Asno.

3. Presentations for other students: primary, the family, other families, with activities. Maybe using video to create little spots like pro-ecology advertising campaigns.

4. Make the display a bit more exciting.

5. Organise for waste paper collection in the classes and get in contact with Pozuelo to arrange waste paper collection with skips in the playground and proper wastepaper containers in the classroom.

6. All members of the group were asked to look at the recycle website and come up with feedback and suggestions for next week’s lesson.

· SBA said that he would have the blog site up and running by next week.

· TBE agreed to take minutes of future meetings and we would put them on the blog until the meetings were established and a /various students could take over.

Martin Luther King Day

Monday 19 Jan is Martin Luther King day. He was one of the most important figures in the fight for equal civil rights for black people in the United States in the 1950s and 60s. King, a baptist minister, led a famous march on the capital Washington DC in 1963 where he made his “I Have a Dream” speech - an impassioned call for human justice that helped earn him a reputation as one of the greatest orators of modern times.

You can take a look at this video of the whole speech here.



King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. This was the last speech he made shortly before dying.