St Joseph's Primary Dig Deep for Climate Week

Published: 7 October 2019

Green-fingered pupils at St Joseph's are doing their bit to improve air quality by planting a tree as part of an initiative that has seen over one hundred primaries and early years establishments gifted pollution absorbing perennials by the council to mark this year's Scottish Climate Week.

Native Species

Whilst St Joseph's will be caring for a hawthorn tree, other schools have been delivered of similar native species or blueberry bushes, with a mass planting event taking place this Thursday that will see hundreds of pupils digging deep to make safe, secure homes for their new plants.

Improving Air Quality

On hand to help the pupils of St Joseph's was Cllr Anna Richardson, City Convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction who said:

"It's fantastic that our Sustainable Glasgow team is highlighting Climate Week by providing so many trees and involving a huge number of schools across our city. Urban trees offer many benefits - in addition to improving air quality, they help reduce flood risk and provide a valuable home and sustenance for our wildlife. I'm sure the pupils will enjoy planting their trees and nurturing them over the coming years. The pupils at St Joseph's are clearly very keen environmentalists and are highly engaged in the steps we can all take to reduce air pollution."

Learning Opportunity

Susan Allan, Head Teacher at St Joseph's Primary School said;

"We are continuously exploring engaging and creative ways of delivering Learning for Sustainability, an entitlement for all learners. To be gifted of a tree from the council's Sustainable Glasgow team is a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to learn more about how this native species can help with climate change and help combat air pollution.  It will be a fantastic learning experience for our pupils to find out how to care for their tree and ensure it is properly nurtured over the coming years."

In addition to this latest initiative, the council has implemented a raft of measures to improve air quality, including Scotland's first ever Low Emission Zone which was introduced at the end of last year. Our city centre LEZ is being phased in and by December 2022 it will apply to all vehicles entering the zone. A wider geographical area is also set to benefit, as cleaner vehicles heading for the city centre pass through outlying areas.