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02 December 2003

Traffic Pollution gets Filtration Plants

A South Yorkshire schoolgirl’s project to raise awareness about climate change has provided cash to plant one hundred trees at a Barnsley comprehensive school close to the M1 motorway.

Fourteen-year-old Sarah Bowler from Rotherham funded the tree planting at Kingstone Comprehensive School on Tuesday December 2nd with money pledged to help soak up carbon dioxide emissions generated by air travel. The money came from Childnet, a charity which promotes safe use of the internet by youngsters. The charity held an awards ceremony in London earlier this year and brought dozens of award winners to the city from all over the world.

Sarah, who won third place in the individual category for her Cool Kids for a Cool Climate website www.coolkidsforacoolclimate.com , asked the organisers to pay for tree planting to help offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the air travel to and from London made by award winners. Prize winners came from Australia, Egypt, Sierra Leone, USA and Canada.

Sarah is working with the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership. The tree planting at Kingstone School is one of dozens of National Tree Week events taking place in South Yorkshire between 26th November and 7th December.

Jeff Wragg, a teacher at the school, said,

“The tree planting will have many benefits. It will help screen the steel fencing on the edge of the school grounds and because they are native broad-leaved species, they will attract a lot of extra wildlife. The trees will also soak up air and noise pollution from the motorway and it is a great practical project for the students to get involved in.”

Mr Wragg runs a wildlife group at the school for Year 9 students. They meet outside school hours and are involved in a number of practical projects including making nest boxes for a local park and carrying out surveys of their use. Students from these groups planted the one hundred trees.

Sarah Bowler said

“Childnet have been wonderful and have had faith in me and my project. They have helped me improve my website and got the tree planting off to a great start. Now we want other people and businesses to help.”

Trees are nature’s air purifiers, they soak up carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and give off oxygen and so help to slow the global warming effect. The website has a tree calculator which shows how many trees you have to plant to soak up the carbon dioxide produced by different types of travel.

Sarah added,

“Help to slow down climate change, plant trees with Cool Kids For A Cool Climate. You can send £6 for each tree you want planted, to us c/o South Yorkshire Forest Partnership, Estate Office, Thorncliffe Park, Sheffield, S35 2PH or you can donate through the website www.coolkidsforacoolclimate.com.”

Stephen Carrick-Davies, Chief Executive of Childnet, said,

“When Childnet honoured Sarah Bowler earlier in the year for her wonderful ‘Cool Kids For A Cool Climate’ website, we promised we would plant trees for each of the other winners who joined Sarah from all around the world. We are thrilled today that so many trees are being planted and hope that other organisations who are involved in international travel use the tree calculator on Sarah’s website to support the environment.”

For National Tree Week the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership has launched a free booklet ‘Tree Things’. It lists hundred of ways people can help maintain and expand the South Yorkshire Forest and lots of projects and events to get involved in. It is available from main libraries (Central Library in Barnsley) and Tourist Information Centres or you can get one by post by ringing Samantha Robb-King at the SYFP offices 0114 257 1199.

Maria Wilding of the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership said:

“We are happy to work with Sarah on this project. South Yorkshire is very lucky to have a keen, young enthusiast on our side encouraging people to plant trees in the area. Sarah and people her age are the future carers for our woodlands, we hope for National Tree Week more young people will visit Sarah’s website or contact us for a copy of Tree Things to find out about all the fun ways for them to participate in the week.”

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