Walk to School:

Benefits of giving vehicles a slip

Students with eye catching banners

During the walk

The World Environment Day (WED) fell on June 5. This year's theme was Green Economy - Does it Include You?

We know that economic activities are often not ‘green’, meaning not eco-friendly. One of the major environmental problems that economic activities have caused is the pollution of air, water, land and visual and auditory environments. Travelling is one of the activities either as a direct economic activity or as one that is associated with other economic activities.

Travelling mostly involves burning of fossil fuels such as petrol, diesel, natural gas or to a lesser extent, coal. When burnt, these fuels emit a lot of harmful gases such as carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide and solid particles such as unburnt carbon. These things pose threats to human health, from mere upper respiratory tract irritations to serious long cancers, cause widespread problems such as global warming due to which sea levels are expected to rise resulting in even Sri Lanka losing its magnificent beaches and cause acid rain which has already taken toll of many forest areas and historical monuments worldwide perhaps including the die-back of cloud forests on the Horton Plains in Sri Lanka.

Since we are contributing to increased air pollution through the mode of our travel, it is high time that we re-think about it. We will definitely be included in greening up the economy, as the WED theme asks, if we cause less air pollution. As we have amply seen, the city and suburban areas of Sri Lanka carry a heavy load of traffic especially in mornings and evenings. Nugegoda is one such area with a lot of big schools, tuition classes, offices, shops and other businesses are thriving. Consequently, the Nature Club of Lyceum International School, in line with the WED theme for year 2012, thought of a public awareness campaign titled Walk to School.

Among many ways of reducing air pollution caused by travelling in vehicles, one way that brings multiple benefits is walking. It includes: contributing less to pollute the air we breathe, improving health, saving money directly on fuel and saving indirectly on medical expenses, air pollution reduction ad improved productivity due to less congested roads.

As per economic benefits, the participants are presented with the following figures: if 50 percent of the student population in Lyceum International School, Nugegoda, alone walks just one kilometre to school daily, it will save United States Dollar (USD) 5,000+ per year! (Taking Rs 15 per km as the average rate, Rs 170 as conversion rate and nine 20-day months of schooling per year).

In the programme Walk to School, the students, the teachers and other officers of Lyceum International School, Nugegoda walked to school simultaneously from four locations, each one kilometre away from the school. The locations were: Supermarket premises, Nugegoda, Lyceum Kohuwela, near Odel Warehouse, Kirulapone and near Glitz car park, Jambugasmulla junction. Participants got down, at any of the four locations convenient to them, on their way to school, before being caught up in the city traffic. The private vehicles they travel in, were expected to go back, be parked there, or (if on another journey) to continue using least congested routes. The walking is along the pavement only, to avoid traffic congestion due to it. Walk to School aims at conveying the message to public, and inculcating the habit among participants, that ‘short distances can be walked rather than using a vehicle'.

The participants carried banners and placards prepared by them using the least environmentally intrusive techniques. The members of Lyceum Nature Club, the students who study Environmental Management as a subject for the Cambridge Ordinary Level (O/L) exam, and other talented students stayed after school, or gathered during the interval and at other times when they were excused by the respective subject teachers to draw the banners and placards. The banners and placards carried slogans formed around the central message: Walk to School, Driving Pollutes – Walking Doesn't, One secret for a longer life-walking, I Walk: I Save – me, money and environment are some of them. The same slogans were adapted in to Sinhala as well.

Walk to School made participants aware of the benefits of avoiding vehicles as much as possible, especially travelling short distances. The programme is expected to be an annul event of the school. Finally, the Lyceum Nature Club would like to say ‘We do walk: What about you?’