ECOSCHOOL’S IN FOR A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT

ECOSCHOOL'S IN FOR A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT

Learning about the environment and developing innovative solutions to environmental issues will be made easier for students at schools across NSW, Deputy Premier and Minister for Climate Change and the Environment Carmel Tebbutt said today.

Ms Tebbutt made the announcement at Rydalmere Public School, one of 60 schools to share in the Environmental Trust's $150,000 Eco Schools grant program for 2008/9.

"With over one million school students in NSW there is an opportunity for us to make a significant difference to future community attitudes by investing now in the environmental education of the next generation," said Ms Tebbutt.

"Rydalmere Public School already has strong green credentials, having developed their own School Environment Management Plan (SEMP) and linked into the NSW Government's Sustainable Schools program.

"This $2500 grant will help the school to build a greenhouse or ‘eco' classroom, which will benefit not only the children of the school but the wider community as well," she said.

The EcoSchools grants are awarded each year by the Environmental Trust, an independent statutory body established by the NSW Government to support exceptional environmental projects.

Ms Tebbutt said that the 2008/9 Eco Schools funding was just part of an expected $90 million the Environment Trust is already investing in environmental projects and programs across the state.

"These projects and the many others like them across New South Wales are making a real difference to local environments at the grass roots level," said Ms Tebbutt.

For more information about the Environmental Trust visit -