By JESSE GRAHAM
ENVIRONMENTAL connectivity was at the heart of a special camp that brought students from the Dandenong Ranges to the Yarra Valley and up into the mountains.
Earthkeepers is a three-day school camp program run with the Yarra Ranges Council’s Learning for Sustainability team and Moora Moora Co-Operative Community.
Students travel up to Moora Moora, located on Mount Toolbewong outside of Healesville, and take part in the adventure camp, which features activities, discussions and mysteries to solve.
A Grade 5 class from The Patch Primary School made its way to the camp last week, and spent the three days adventuring and learning about the world around them.
In one of their activities, students were designated an animal or plant and had ropes to connect themselves to different elements that affected them – by the end of the exercise, every student was connected to one another by a labyrinth of rope.
The Patch Primary School teacher Michelle Rayner said the Earthkeepers camp gave the kids real, hands-on experience in looking at the environmental impacts humans can make.
“They were so engaged by the activities, which are all so diverse,” she said.
“When trying to deal with complex issues, but really simplifying it, this camp has got it over every other learning curriculum I’ve seen in the area.”
The students at the camp are trained as “Earthkeepers” and learn about the connectivity of humans and animals to the environment, according to Yarra Ranges Council’s Simon Woodland.
“They go home knowing that everything they do in their day-to-day life has an impact and makes a difference,” Mr Woodland said.
“This all leads them to being able to make better lifestyle decisions, we hope, in the future that will save them money and reduce their impact on the environment.”
Earthkeepers, according to Mr Woodland, teaches students to live sustainably at home and at school.
The council’s Learning for Sustainability team run the Earthkeepers camp, and are calling for more schools in the Yarra Ranges to get involved and for volunteers to assist.
For more information, or to volunteer with the program, contact Saba or Simon on 1300 368 333.
