March 5, 2010 - Thornlea - SharpSchool

Rethinking the way we consume….
It would be interesting to see how our consumption patterns would change if we were
forced to live with everything we wanted to toss away for a period of one year! Many developing
nations are actually ahead of us when it comes to successfully dealing with waste
by seeing it as a commodity and thinking of ways to repurpose items, not only for waste
reduction, but also as a means of generating income. Necessity, as is said, is the mother
of invention. As we attempt to teach our children to be proactive with their lives and anticipate
future challenges before they arrive, we need to
think globally and challenge our own consumer habits before
global challenges end up in our laps.
At Thornlea, students involved in Global Citizenship are
launching a campaign to increase awareness of these concepts.
Along with this, all staff and students will be encouraged
to challenge the way we think about items we
no longer want or need. We will be featuring some of our
activities with you in the next few months, but we would
like to give you a bit of a peek into two of the creative and
innovative ideas we have seen so far:
Our newly renovated school store, Pharley’s is now featuring
items that are in great shape but no longer needed by
their current owners. These items are available for minimal
purchase, with 100% of all profits going to charity.
Students can buy, donate or trade items. So far we have
received jewellery and novelty items.
Our Thornlea Sewing Club, with the help of Ms Cluderay, has teamed up with this project
to introduce their colourful and socially responsible bags. These are still in the
‘prototype’ phase, but will
be available shortly for
purchase by students,
staff and parents. All
profits again will go to
charity! This is the kind
of creative and innovative
thinking that is certainly
an asset for students to
learn to develop.