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Beatha agus Slainte article on Green Mile

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Introduction

Each year the Transition Year students of CBS Secondary School, Charleville submit a project to the Young Social Innovators Showcase (Y.S.I). There is a number of project categories within Y.S.I. and we decided to enter in the Environmental Section, in which innovative solutions to problems relating to our environment are presented.

Our project, entitled 'The Green Mile' was begun by the 2007 - 2008 Transition Year class and submitted to Y.S.I. in Summer 2008. While the goals of the project had been achieved by the end of this school year, most notably a measurable reduction in car traffic volumes on the streets of Charleville town during the designated Green Mile Week in May 2008, students and teachers together with the school Management felt that with further development this project had enormous potential to yield real benefits on a local, regional and even national scale. For this reason, a number of students have continued to work on this project during the 2008 summer holiday period. The 2008 - 2009 Transition Year class group have now taken it on to carry it a stage further.

During this school year it is hoped to further develop contacts with Cork County Council (to whom a formal presentation of the project has already been made and who have been very supportive), local politicians and national politicians (particularly at the Departments of the Environment and Transport) in order to drive forward our vision for a viable and sustainable approach to school transportation in Charleville, Cork and the whole of Ireland.

Summary and Background

Our Y.S.I. Project, 'The Green Mile' , began in the school year 2007 - 2008 with the planning of a 'Green Mile Week' in our local town of Charleville. The purpose of the week was to encourage secondary school students to walk, cycle or carpool as a means of transport to and from school each day during the designated week and even beyond. By encouraging the student population to walk, cycle or carpool we hoped to reduce the amount of car traffic in Charleville town and by so doing cut down on carbon emissions (CO2) and reduce our carbon footprint. We wanted to tackle the growing and very worrying issue of damage done to our environment through the effect of greenhouse gases. In addition, we wished to contribute in a positive way to overcoming the growing problem of obesity among young people by encouraging students to exercise more.

We decided to tackle the social problem of carbon emissions for a variety of reasons...
The idea first surfaced following a series of talks given to our class in Autumn 2007 by Mr Pat McMahon on his return journey from his voluntary work with the poor of India. On a field trip to Millstreet Recycling Centre and Country Park we had the chance to study the area of recycling and biodiversity. Both experiences highlighted the serious damage caused to the environment by the burning of fossil fuels. In Charleville town we witness ever-increasing amounts of traffic on the streets, particularly around the school pick-up and drop-off times. Taking all of this into account our group decided to tackle head-on the whole issue of school transportation, starting with the local secondary schools and getting support from local businesses and the residents of Charleville town.

We conducted a car count survey at the school peak times on the two main streets in Charleville town (Main Street and Bakers Road). The count took place over one week in February 2008, Monday to Friday and cars were counted between 8:30 and 9:15 in the mornings (school drop-off time), and between 3:30 and 4:00 in the evenings (school pick-up time). The full results are included in an appendix to this report. Combined totals revealed very high numbers of cars travelling both north and south on each road.

We drafted, planned and administered a School Transportation Survey to all Junior Certificate students in the three secondary schools in Charleville, to determine the distance they lived from their school and the modes of transport used to and from school daily. Again, the results are included in a later appendix. As an example, in one first year class fourteen out of twenty two students availed of a lift to and from school each day of the school week.

The results revealed that:

• the majority of students surveyed live within 0-3km of their school i.e. well within walking/cycling range.
• The most common modes of transport used by students are (1) Car, (2) Bus, (3) Walking.

These results gave us great confidence that a significant reduction in the numbers of cars on the roads associated with school transportation could be made.

The final phase of the project for 2007 - 2008 involved the designation and promotion of the Green Mile Week. It was decided that this would run from 12th May to 16th May 2008. Through direct communication with the other two secondary schools in Charleville, notices and a live interview on local radio and a number of articles and advertisements in local newspapers, the general public and Charleville secondary schoolgoers in particular were encouraged to walk or cycle to school / work. A number of students at our own school took a course in bicycle maintenance and repair in preparation for the Green Mile Week. Minister for Education Mr. Batt O'Keefe attended the launch on Main Street, Charleville on Monday 12th May, adding greatly to the profile of the event in the local media.

During Green Mile Week traffic volume surveys were again carried out at the same locations and at exactly the same times as the previous survey done in February 2008. The results are shown in an appendix to this document.