St. Al's x Boston College High School - Sustainability and COP26

Last week, some of our Eco group pupils participated in the first Digital Exchange with Boston College High School – speaking to them via conference call at a distance of over 3,000 miles and sharing important information about sustainability and the environment.

First, at St. Al’s, our pupils thought about environmental issues affecting us globally. Working together, we discussed practices that negatively affect our environment, and as a result, negatively affect our planet. We discussed how deforestation and fast fashion are not only affecting human life, but also much of the wildlife that we share our earth with.

When we linked up with our friends from Boston College High School – we discovered that they too brought up similar issues, including the use of fossil fuels and their severe impact on the planet. We offered solutions on how these issues can be combatted, such as a focus on more renewable energy sources, before turning our thoughts to more local issues.

Both schools turned their minds to our home cities, Boston and Glasgow, and thought about the different issues facing them. With COP26 on its way to Glasgow – now is a pivotal time in raising these and looking for solutions. We found that most issues that face our cities are the same – with pupils citing traffic congestion, poor public transport usage, and litter dropping as common problems.

We then partook in sustainability audits for each school. These Digital Exchanges allow us to work together to help tackle environmental issues – but also open our minds beyond our current surroundings – and how we can help one another. We were surprised at how many similar issues we both faced.  Now we will work hard to implement as many sustainable choices to our school life, and will continually work as a group to strive to become greener. 

Mr. McLean, head of the Eco group commented: ‘The common threads of concern across the world can be seen between our two schools and with our caring for our common home we can make a difference on the global and local scale.’