Up2me for kids at school gives you ideas on how to live more sustainably. This means that by signing on, you will learn how to reduce your waste, energy use, car travel and water use. You will also be given ideas on how to grow your own food and take care of the biodiversity of your home and school environment. This will help you to leave a smaller ecological footprint on the Earth (Find out your Ecological footprint here). It’s about protecting the Earth for your future. So take the challenge now and do your bit for the planet.

Please email us your stories about what you are doing to help protect our planet. We'd love to hear from you and feature your stories on the website.

As the serious impacts of climate change are being felt, Tasmanian schools have taken on the challenge to become more sustainable by reducing their energy use, water and waste. The Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI) is helping 12 schools to achieve their sustainability goals. New Town High School grade 9 students, concerned about the water quality in the New Town Rivulet, are using a data logger to record different aspects of the water quality. The Green Team (pictured) mentor students from South Hobart Primary School.

Many schools have started food gardening programs. In the case of Princes Street Primary School, parents took the initiative and have since involved students and teachers (see picture at right).

Molesworth Environment Centre continues to offer a sustainability program to teach other schools about sustainability, how a vegetable garden and worm farm fit into the sustainability picture, what is the difference between recycling, reducing and reusing and how to audit and reduce paper use. Students will also get the opportunity to make recycled paper products to take home (see left). More information about Molesworth

• A laptop computer used 5 hours each day generates around 40 kilograms of greenhouse gas each year. Desktop computers used the same way can generate between 200 and 500 kilograms. More than half of this is from using the monitor.
• An LCD panel monitor generates around half as much greenhouse gas as a conventional monitor. And adjusting its brightness lower can cut emissions to a quarter.
• Switch computers and equipment off when they’re not in use. This cuts greenhouse gases, extends product life and avoids a potential fire hazard.

Remember - screensavers don’t save energy: switch the monitor off or use power management to control it.

For more information go to http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/gwci/electronics.html