Greenrock Rep attends Global Environmental Conference

Abbie Caldas of Greenrock joined almost 100 representatives from 60 countries at the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) General Assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark earlier this month.

FEE, a non-governmental, non-profit organization, is active through its five environmental education programmes: Blue Flag, Eco-Schools, Young Reporters for the Environment, Learning about Forests and Green Key. Greenrock is the official Bermuda designate for FEE programmes, including Eco-Schools.

During the conference, which addressed environmental education as well as education for sustainability worldwide, global environmental leaders joined forces to create policies, determine strategies and highlight priorities to implement in member countries.

Ms. Caldas stated, “The three-day event took place at UN City in Copenhagen, which is an LEED certified Green Building. Members discussed past achievements and areas of focus for FEE. The organization places an emphasis on understanding its members' needs and receiving continuous feedback. The delegates participated in strategy workshops focusing on implementing environmental education into programmes and discussed which priority areas to tackle. We also addressed what it means to ‘live well within the limits of our planet’, an area which must be explored deeply in Bermuda.

“Greenrock was assigned a new mentor from the US who has experience with Eco-Schools, our first FEE programme. In the near future, we will determine what the next FEE programme will be for Bermuda."

Ms. Caldas who is the Eco-Schools Programme Manager noted that eight schools are currently participating in FEE's Eco-Schools programme: Bermuda College, Elliot Primary, Sandys Secondary Middle School, Somersfield Academy, Stepping Stones Preschool, Victor Scott Primary, Warwick Academy and West Pembroke Primary.

She concluded by thanking Greenrock for supporting her attendance and the CV Zuill Scholarship for providing partial funding for her participation in the conference. “I truly appreciate the support I received to be a part of the annual FEE conference. The funding given by the CV Zuill Scholarship went a long way to ensuring that Bermuda, and specifically Greenrock, was in attendance. FEE selects only one member organization per country and Greenrock was invited to attend as Bermuda’s representative. Our participation ensures we have the knowledge, capability and international support to guarantee our programmes meet international standards and best practices and are in keeping with FEE’s global requirements. I met people who are working in their respective countries to address environmental issues and learned how they created opportunities to embed the FEE programmes into the fabric of their communities.”