Climate Leadership Coalition (CLC), Economic Information Office TAT, the Finnish National Agency for Education and Myrskyvaroitus-Storm Warning invite all schools in Finland to mark Zero Emissions Day (ZeDay) on 21 September.
“This year again, the world badly needs a 24-hour moratorium on the use of fossil fuels: we need to successfully reduce emissions to be able to stop global warming before it’s too late,” says Sari Siitonen, who is responsible for coordinating ZeDay events.
Many schools have already begun preparations for ZeDay. Pohjois-Tapiola Upper Secondary School in Espoo and Sakarinmäki Comprehensive School in Helsinki are examples of schools marking ZeDay. Pohjois-Tapiola Upper Secondary School planted seedlings in the school terrace garden and prepared for the ZeDay event in Otaniemi. Sakarinmäki Comprehensive School has joined forces with energy company Helen to organise a campaign where pupils on elective courses encourage pupils and the school staff to cycle or walk to school each day. The aim is to get more people to walk or cycle to school and improve their own wellbeing in the process. Each class will calculate the number of kilometres cycled and walked.
THE COMPETITION THEME IS TO COMPARE THE PAST WITH THE FUTURE
A ZeDay competition, “We do things coolest”, has been planned for schools. The idea behind the competition is to get students to think about positive climate actions that they can adopt to behave better than earlier generations. The competition was launched on 20 August and will close on 12 September. The competition theme is to compare the world gone by with the future one. Competition entries can be in the form of a drawing, handicraft work, cartoon, photo collage or other work of which a photo can be sent to the competition jury for assessment. There are three series in the competition for schoolchildren and students of different ages. You can find out more information about the competition in Finnish here.
The best ideas and photos will receive a prize on Zero Emissions Day in Otaniemi. CLC member companies will provide the winners in the different competition series with visits, including bus transfer and lunch, as follows:
Pre-school education and lower stage schools, 1st prize:
Forest visit organised by Stora Enso. The forest is about an hour from Helsinki or if necessary can be arranged elsewhere in Finland. The purpose of visiting a forest is to tell about the importance of responsible forest management in combatting climate change.
Upper stage schools, 1st prize:
Visit organised by the S Group to Inex’s logistics centre in Sipoo. The logistics centre is the largest and most advanced of its kind in Finland: it is more than 30 times the size of the Finnish Parliament House. The centre is the newest example of the achievements of automation, robotics and AI. A particular feature of the centre is its advanced self-sufficiency in energy, and its heating and cooling energy is almost carbon neutral.
Upper secondary level (vocational institutions and upper secondary schools), 1st prize:
Visit organised by KONE to their production facility in Hyvinkää. The production facility is an energy-efficient, ISO 14001-certified “flagship facility”, where all most complex, customised solutions for the global elevator market are made. Besides this, there is an LEED Gold-certified visitor centre in conjunction with the facility where visitors can learn about KONE’s solutions.
The competition entry in all series getting the most Facebook likes:
Visit organised by Lassila & Tikanoja to their recycling facility in Kerava. Visitors to the facility will learn among other things about recycling returned bottles and about wood chips supplied energy plants.
NOTIFY YOUR OWN COMPANY FOR ZERO EMISSIONS DAY CELEBRATIONS
To date, already 17 CLC member companies have notified that they will be marking ZeDay. Besides the companies mentioned above, OP bank is activating Finns to use DriveNow car sharing and IBM and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland are encouraging their own employees to adopt climate-friendly transport and dining. Sari Siitonen at sari(at)clonet.fi is responsible for coordinating ZeDay at CLC.
Picture: Sitra
Recent Comments