Green Limerick: ‘LEAFing’ nothing to chance

Between 800 and 900 native Irish trees, over a foot and a half tall, stand at the front of Thomond Community College, after being planted by students and staff with funding from Irish Cement.

The establishment of Thomond Community College happened in 2016 when the Salesian Secondary School and St Nessan’s Community College amalgamated.

The campus is nestled behind the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Moylish campus and while staff and students struggle for space for their Green School's activities, they have no shortage of ongoing projects.

The Living Woodland will soon increase the biodiversity of the inner city campus, enticing more wildlife to live within the school campus whilst providing cleaner air to counteract ongoing pollution.

“Nature doesn’t work on our timetable,” Veronica Lavin, Green School's co-ordinator at Thomond Community College says, looking out over the Living Woodland.

“People sometimes forget that. We think we can get these trees to grow faster but that’s not how nature works.

“We have to respect that,” she mentioned while inspecting the mixture of native Irish trees

The Living Woodland isn’t the only small forest within the school grounds as six years ago a number of trees were planted in the back of the school to form An Choill Bheag (Little Wood). The woodland now occupies a small corner on the school’s grounds and provides biodiversity in the city.

In the six years that the trees were planted in conjunction with LEAF (an organisation which seeks to reconnect students with forests), the trees have grown to tower over the average human’s height but still maintain a look of youth about them.

“These are all native Irish trees,” Ms Lavin said.

“The wildlife in this area has increased tenfold since the planting of the trees,” Ms Lavin added, pointing out a butterfly that you “so rarely see” in the city.

Both of the small woodlands are used for curriculum purposes.

“We have woodwork, metalwork, engineering, art and all these classes use the woodlands,” Ms Lavin said.

“The woodwork teachers use the woodland out the back to show students something physical and show them how the tree forms.”

One of the more interesting additions at the school has been the creation of a geodome at the side of the campus grounds.

Geodomes are structures which provide the capability of growing and harvesting fruits and vegetables throughout the year, similar to a standard greenhouse.

The geodome itself was funded by the school’s catering company and is in its first year of use.

“It has been very hit or miss this year. It takes a lot of learning,” Ms Lavin said walking towards the spherical structure.

A number of fruits and vegetables were planted in the geodome and many have been eaten by insects which have access to the dome.

“Lots have been lost but some have grown. We had these lovely heads of lettuce before they were all eaten by slugs,” she added.

Ms Lavin also mentioned the difficulties with planting due to weather conditions in the geodome as a number of plants died off during the cold spell during winter.

“It’s different in the city than out in the countryside,” Ms Lavin mentioned. She spoke about how growing fruits and vegetables would be learned by observing for children in rural areas - watching their parents plant in the garden as there is more space to do it.

“City children don’t have that so everything we’re teaching them here they’ve never really seen before,” she said.

Education on the topic of climate change has grown according to Ms Lavin but it “varies”.

“Students have always been interested in climate change. The conversations are being had in schools. Yes, education is beginning to change but I don’t think it’s changing fast enough in terms of what’s happening with the climate,” she said.

“In a lot of cases, people don’t understand the terms or gravity of what’s coming.”

Ms Lavin and a number of teachers at Thomond Community College will continue to educate students on biodiversity and climate change under the Green School’s programme and intend to achieve their sixth green flag in the coming months.

“It's not just one person, we have so much help from other teachers and students. We're all in this together,” Ms Lavin said.

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