Environmental Education Resources

There are many fantastic resources available to assist in educating children and others about the environments of Far North Queensland. 

Information has been compiled in these topics, with contact names provided to help you in the tables below:

1. General Sustainability
2. Water (Fresh and Marine) and or Waste
3. Wildlife
4. Biodiversity
5. Energy and transport

This resource list was originally compiled by Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre and has been updated on this website on 23 October 2012,   to support the regions education networks. 

1. General Sustainability

Agency	Contact	Telephone	Email	Resource
Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre	Sandra Charlton, Earth Smart Science Facilitator Julie Williams  Administration Officer	0457516103 40559300	email email	“Gutful of Plastic” Whale Display (Waste Education) - contains a poster and some of the plastics recovered from a whale off the coast of Cairns. Energy Meters- used to compare electricity use of different home appliances. Portable Waterwise Demonstration Unit- connects to garden hose to provide practical comparisons between water saving devices in homes. (Water Wise Education) Recycling Display Bin- wheelie bin with perspex front containing examples of recyclable materials. Solar Oven- recipes also provided. www.hollowayseec.eq.edu.au
Cairns Regional Council (CRC)	Maree Grenfell, Sustainability and Climate Change Co-ordinator	4044 3312	email email	Information on sustainability and climate change in the region including building design. Climate change and sustainability presentations for schools and partnership opportunities for programs involving biodiversity, energy, water and waste. Manages Council’s annual Climate Change and Sustainability Grant (opens Oct, closes November).
	Terry Genever,  Land Management Officer	0438010209	email	Supply of trees and assistance in revegetation projects
	Matt Birch, Land Management Officer	0408746447	email	Supply of declared plant and animal pest extension material and class/field presentations. Integrated land management practices and property pest management planning.
The Cairns Post	Margaret Ashworth,  NiE Co-ordinator	40526302	email	Supply of free class sets of newspapers. Lessons on newspaper styles of writing and recycling of newspapers. Publication of articles written by students in Post-Ed.
Gordonvale State School	Helen Underwood, Deputy Principal	40433666	email	Bookings for borrowing the drain stencilling kit, recycling display bin, water catchment model and Whizzy the Waterdrop costume. Advice on developing whole community approach to sustainability.
	Nicole Douglas,  Head of Curriculum	40433666	email	Advice on sustainability and the school curriculum.
Cairns and Far North Environment Centre	Anna McGuire,  Sustainability & Climate Change Campaigner	40321746	email	Information on local environmental issues and projects, including information on plastic bags and their impact on our waterways and marine life.
Mulgrave Landcare and Catchment Group	Bruce Corcoran,  Coordinator	40561205	email	Presentations to classes, provision of trees, fertiliser, water crystals, tools for school tree planting.
James Cook University	Hilary Whitehouse, Associate Professor	40421421 0409325851	email	Support and class presentation regarding frog ecology and frog pond installation, curriculum and pedagogy advice.
Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA)	Lana Pickering Project Officer,  Community Engagement	40520533	email	WTMA can provide teachers with educational materials such as: • Rainforest Explorer – student and teacher curriculum based activities about the Rainforest in DVD format from ages P to grade 10. Also available on our website. • A2 set of 10 poster series - Wet tropics Habitats (10) and Animals (10). • Cassowary DVD – Aboriginal significance of the cassowary to the Girringun Aboriginal people. (50min) • Images CD – photos of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. • With partners we undertake school competitions – such as the “Keep it Wild” poster competition and Young Cassowary Awards, an event that honours the hard work and dedication of students, classes and schools in the field of environmental education and community action.
Clean-up Australia Day		02 81973414		1) Clean Up Australia Day involvement Clean Up Australia can be off assistance to you. The flagship Clean Up Australia Day event is held on the first Sunday in March, however we encourage communities, schools and businesses to organise their own Clean Up Day events at any time of the year and we are happy to support them. To register the Clean Up Site visit our website: http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/register/ For more information on registering a site please visit: http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/about-the-event/year-round-clean-up Alternatively you can wait and see if someone else registers in your area and join them. You can search for existing Clean Up Sites here: http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/join 2) Educational Resources Clean Up Australia has developed a Schools Climate Kit and curriculum based lesson plans. As background, the Schools Climate Kit provides teachers with a comprehensive set of lesson plans around sustainability themes. There are curriculum-based lesson plans on Schools Clean Up Day for each state and territory as well as a great range of creative learning activities and resource links, helping teachers to satisfy key learning outcomes as outlined in the relevant State Profile. You can view these educational resources online at http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/about/about-the-event/clean-up-for-schools.
The Missing Link	Kim  Forde	0448939009	email	- eco-efficiency audits/evaluations and recommendations for action; - assistance to develop action plans - assistance to implement action plans - assistance to integrate into curriculum and - assistance to integrate into schools operational business plan.
Kids Teaching Kids	Cathy Oke	0393 293 736	email	The Kids Teaching Kids Program offers students, teachers and schools with a variety of ways to showcase their learning through a range of exciting events. Kids Teaching Kids is an education model that uses local environmental issues as a theme for learning. Kids Teaching Kids starts in the classroom and extends into the community through the Kids Teaching Kids Learning Model and Program. When schools register to participate in our free 2011 Kids Teaching Kids Week (August 29 – 2 September) program we can offer support via our education kits, access to our education team, mentors, event planning, media and formal recognition processes.
School Solar	Dalia Mikhail	0419773640	email	Dalia is the founder of the solarschools.net service and can assist schools in the area of energy efficiency and solar generation in schools. By 2012 all QLD State Schools will have their solar photovoltaic systems installed. The energy data can be found on the www.eq.solarschools.net website and Dalia can book a 30 minute over the phone/by the computer training session to assist teachers in the use of the real time solar and energy consumption data in the curricular. www.eq.solarschools.net is an excellent maths and science tool and has cross curricular resources loaded to the site. She will explain the full functionality of the website, the resources and how to access and use the data within the classroom.

2. Water (Fresh and Marine) and or Waste

3. Wildlife

4. Biodiversity

5. Energy and Transport