deep with me. I wrote to the local council, offering to clean up my local patch if they would provide a jacket, litter picker and gloves. It was with huge delight I put on the high visibility jacket announcing my new identity – Gaia the Garbage. To go into a public place alone and start litter-picking


brings up an odd mixture of emotions. Ridicule I had dealt with through my chosen moniker. Mostly, people ignored me which was fine. What I dreaded was being challenged. The Outer Hebrides of Scotland is still heavily patriarchal where the unspoken law is don’t put your head above the parapet. To have the support of the local council and its Zero Waste department eased this feeling. Those people who spoke to me often confessed – and by their demeanour and tone of voice it did feel as if they were indeed confess- ing to being secret litter pickers. This confirmed a collec- tive attitude to litter picking which is part of environmental amnesia. Do it if you must, but don’t be seen doing it. What- ever you do, never talk about it! My partner and I tried to start a local litter-picking


group, using local media and posters to publicise an initial meeting. After all the upsides are exercise, fresh air, the companionship of others and sometimes even the beach- combers’ reward – finding an item of real value. Just three people attended a meeting that was well publicised. The promised local representatives from official bodies – Keep Scotland Beautiful, Scottish Natural Heritage, Marine Con- servation Scotland and Zero Waste Scotland, did not turn up. At the last moment, the venue was nearly withdrawn. This is subtle, and suggests a general apathy. But it left me in no doubt that what we were trying to do was not wanted or approved. The head of Zero Waste summed it up: You have a moun-


tain to climb. I disagreed. What we had to do was find a way to make


litter-picking a want-to-do. One thing that ‘sells’ ideas is humour. To change the attitudes surrounding litter-picking,


to change its image, was key. My partner took our new digi- tal camera to the beach and photographed me with some of the more unusual objects the sea deposited. I found myself mentally captioning the photographs, humorously. In so doing, I seeded the best idea I’d had so far, for a Children’s Photography Competition.


Local Business Support The remit was to raise awareness of the importance of com- munity involvement to tackle the litter-problem that horrifies visitors to the Western Isles, and therefore does little for the tourist trade. So at the outset, I felt there was a good chance local businesses would be in favour of the idea. To take the children’s photography competition to the next level, the images needed to be presented humorously captioned. This would draw on the creative skills of pupils, something I per- sonally feel is, as Sir Ken Robinson says, more important than literacy for the future.1 When my idea was enthusi- astically received by the majority of local businesses, who offered very generous prizes, I felt vindicated. Occasionally, even elated and surprised at the recognition – at last – of the importance of caring for our shared environment.


The school situation In Western Isles schools, there is a person responsible for


ecological co-ordination, but that does not translate as sup- porting an initiative sourced outside the school programme. As ever, to have any chance of success, all possible public- ity outlets were covered, all schools informed three times, the deadline put forward a month – with increased publicity – to encourage entries. Just one school, Sir E. Scott School in Harris, supported the Children’s Humorously Cap- tioned Photography Competition by setting it as homework. With their teacher’s help, they provided the most innova- tive images and captions in a competition that attracted 49 entries. To extend the life of this project, a calendar of the


GREEN TEACHER 109 Page 13


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52