David Newton, head of physics at Christ’s College, recalls his own son sharing these feelings of hopelessness.
“He came home and said, ‘Dad, I’m not going to have any babies because the world’s stuffed…’,” Newton recalls.
This spurred Newton into launching a local response, and in 2016 he founded the Eco-Action Nursery Trust, aimed at restoring Canterbury’s native forest 5000 trees at a time.
Through the Trust, Christ’s College provides seedlings to 28 nearby schools which act as ‘satellite nurseries’.
“This gives them a bit of practical horticulture, and more than just drawing a poster about the ecological damage that is occurring, or climate change, they can actually do something about it,” Newton explains.
Students at Christ’s germinate the seeds initially, and ‘prick them out’ into small pots, a delicate procedure which takes horticultural skill.
They, then pass them on to other schools along with a nursery kit.
“These little seedlings are big enough to be pretty robust even in the hands of little wee bumblebees [kids] running around, who can barely hold a pot up, but can pot up these little plants and have success,” he adds.
After a full season growing at their satellite nursery, Christ’s College students, along with those from Rangi Ruru Girls’ School and St Margaret’s College, pick up the seedlings to be planted.
“The Canterbury Earthquakes levelled quite a bit of Christchurch and that was red zoned [for housing], and so we are planting that up in native forests over time,” Newton explains.
And just as the seedlings grow into large trees with many branches, the Eco-Action Nursery Trust has grown from a small group of interested teachers and Christ’s College students, into a community-wide collaboration.
In addition to the students from 29 schools, residents from several aged care facilities lend a hand, as well as local volunteers living with disability, or people completing community service.
“So we’re planting 60,000 trees a year currently,” Newton says.
Award-winning educator David Newton has been leading the Eco-Action Nursery trust eight years, linking schools with the wider community to revegetate parts of Christchurch.
Acclaimed as “an extraordinary leader in environmental education and community engagement”, Newton recently received a 2024 ISNZ Honour’s Award.
“You don’t do these things for awards, you do it for the students and just for the purpose of mitigating climate change as well as educating children, but the award is nice,” Newton says.
He hopes the work of the Eco-Action Nursery Trust not only helps to mitigate climate change, but also climate change anxiety in young people.
“[Students] have reported that they are less anxious because they can do something about it, they feel a bit more in control,” he says.
“And we’re planting beside trees that are now six years old, so they can see what happens over time.”
