This year Kinsale Community School has made a new appointment of Klaus Harvey as school Sustainability Chaplain. His role is to both teach sustainability and oversee a transition of the school towards a goal in which all stakeholders, staff, students, parents and BoM are engaged in creating a whole school ethos of sustainability. He is currently teaching TY students the Eco-Unesco ‘Youth for Sustainable Development’ programme which not only gives the students an understanding of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and an awareness of their own impact on the environment, but also builds their confidence and capacity to lead. When they have completed the programme they will be tasked with mentoring the first years in the topic, and after three years every class group should have a good grasp of the challenges we face and the kinds of solutions and actions needed to deal with them.

The role also entails facilitating a Sustainability Advisory Board which will steer the school towards reducing its overall carbon footprint, teaching students about organic food growing in the newly constructed greenhouse and planting hedgerows as wildlife corridors and wild flower patches for pollinators around the school campus.

Klaus will also liaise with members of staff to visit their classes and give talks on best sustainable practices and what changes we can all make to reduce our carbon footprint. He is also organising links to local community groups such as Transition Town Kinsale and Kinsale Tidy Towns.

The new role is ground breaking for a post primary school and it could be seen as a very positive and important step in the direction towards having sustainability as a core subject at all levels of secondary education. Many young people are suffering from climate anxiety and we need to give them the knowledge and tools which will help dispel their fears for the future and empower them to take action. If we want to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises that humanity is facing this is the kind of change we need to see in schools right across the country.