Kids come to Ceres and learn how to see webs of life in a bucket of water they pull from the old dam or in the handfuls of soil they dig from the market garden.

They learn that the azolla, the tadpoles, the mosquito fish, the worms, the millipedes, the fungi, the vegetables and us are all connected and that the way we live impacts the webs of life.

And they also learn ways to take care of these interconnected webs; they learn to see land through indigenous eyes, they learn how to make compost and grow food, they learn to generate power from sun, wind and water.

But this coming Friday, September 20th instead of teaching biodiversity down on the Merri Creek or pedalling the stationary generator bikes in the Human Powered Classroom, Ceres’ Teachers are closing the park.

On the 20th September Ceres’ Teachers believe the place children can best learn about caring for our earth is by joining their fellow students at the Treasury Gardens for the School Strike 4 Climate.

On Friday Kristie from NUCA, a climate group for neighbours, sent me the guide below about how everybody can get involved in the Climate Strike

For parents of kinder kids

·  Join the kinder kids contingent meeting at Treasury Gardens

·  Consider putting up a poster at your kinder and speaking with staff about engaging kids in a banner making session

For parents of school aged kids 

We have developed a school action plan  which is pretty comprehensive. In short, there are three key ways we recommend school parents can promote the strike: 

·        Ask to put something in your school newsletter in the community notices section

·        Post something in your school parents Facebook group linking to the event

·        Put up posters outside the school and/or hand out flyers to parents arriving/leaving school, outside school grounds. 

None of these suggestions conflict with the official Department of Education position which is that they can’t encourage students to miss school, which many principals will feel bound by, so none of these should be controversial.

For business owners/organisations/workers/tertiary students

– Get together and pledge with other organisations – from software giants like Atlassian to the volunteer run Collingwood Toy Library in signing the ’This is not business as usual’ pledge – or – take leave for the afternoon so they can attend the strike

At two Climate Strike rallies I’ve watched my sons stand with their peers and call on their leaders to protect the webs of life we all depend on and thought, “Yeah, this is a good day’s learning.”