Ancient wisdom, modern action

The end of the school year has seen the most amazing effort at Forktree by students from a number of schools. Over the course of the week, 166 students from four different schools got stuck in to a range of sustainability and service learning activities across the Forktree site - and what an impact they had:

• in the nursery, about 3,000 pots were washed and filled, and 5,000 native grasses, shrubs and trees were propagated;

• on the terraces, planting areas were weeded and tended;

• and thousands of reusable bricks were salvaged and sorted as part of Forktree’s ongoing circular economy drive.

Key to the students’ experience was a developing awareness that, while the climate crisis is a modern-day problem, the benefits of purposeful action tap into philosophy as old as the hills. Their sustainability service learning allowed for an exploration of the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia: the fulfilment gained from striving for something bigger than oneself and of contributing to the common good.

Many thanks to all the students who contributed so positively to the Forktree effort, and to their teachers for making their visits possible.

The nursery tables looking even fuller after a week of student input.