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Green Campus Committee

Home 9 About Us 9 Green Campus Committee

On this page you’ll find what our Green Campus Committee has been up to and what they have been doing to help us all earn the Green Campus Flag.

The Green College logo, to the right, was designed by our own Graphic Design Student, Hannah Shen

Green Campus Flag Awarded to Dunboyne College

Green Flag Presentation

Welcome to DCFE’s Going Green Page.

Dunboyne College is proud to be a Green Campus College,  awarded the Green Flag in May 2022. We are dedicated to creating a more sustainable and eco-friendly FET College of the future. We always welcome new members. Please contact Orla O’Dea if you are interested in joining us at [email protected]

A big thank you to Dara Dever, from An Taisce, who presented Dunboyne College with their Green Campus flag. There are only 20 of these in the country! Congratulations on all the hard work by DCFE’s Green Campus Committee, management, support staff, our students and everyone else who is helping to make our campus greener and more sustainable.

Staff: Orla O’Dea, Sheila Fagan, Gillian Duff, Emma Flynn, Annalise Durant, Clare Carolan, Milicia Traljic
Students:
Raphael Pascual
Rebecca O’Reilly
Rose Farrelly
Cian Duffy
Clodagh Gaddren
Stef McDonald Gibson
Ci Yang Tai
Jamie Carroll
#ThisisFET, #BeginHereGoAnywhere, #DunboyneCollegeFE, #GreenCampus, #AnTaisce

For more information about the work that has been carried out by staff and students, you can read the articles below:

Climate Changes

Climate Change effects on wildlife and how elephants benefit us

Climate Change and Agriculture, what farmers can do to help out

Global Warming

WHO report claims that thirteen deaths occur per minute globally due to air pollution

Impact of Influencers on Climate Change

The Drought Of Lake Mead

Species are becoming extinct 100 times faster than they would without human impact

Deforestation, When will it end?

 Is Overpopulation Inevitable?

“The spread of wildfires and its devastating effects.”

The push for wind energy

A Silent Sky-The decline of an Irish icon

Events 2022-23

Beewise workshop

Clothes Swap shop

Litter Pick

Green campus members, Animal care students and staff

Coynes Bike to work scheme for staff Green week 2023

Student Winners Week 1

Events 2021-22

Tree Planting with Easy Treesie

During National Tree Week DCFE planted trees, donated them to staff, worked with local scouts groups and St Peter’s College, planting over 1,000 trees in total

Cookery Demonstration with Gillian Duff

Our very own Professional Cookery teacher, Gillian Duff, showed different ideas for lunches and snacks the students could make using leftovers. This not only reduces food waste but can make very tasty dishes. These included Chicken & Rice salad, Couscous salad and Pasta Salad.

Sustainable Development Goals workshop

Sustainability

Dunboyne College of Further Education hosted a Sustainable Development Goals workshop to help inform students on different aspects of sustainability and how to achieve them.

Staff & Students litter picking

Litter Collection

Despite the inclement weather, Orla, Emma and the Journalism students lead the litter pick up at 11’o’clock break in aid of Green Week. Thank you to all the staff and students who braved the elements with them!

Podcast

Our Podcast recorded with Journalism and Media Film students on their concerns around the Environment is now available on Spotify and other podcast providers.

Gallery

Birds nesting here in Dunboyne college in the bird house built by students in our Beewise Workshop, it’s a Pied Wagtail nesting.

2023 – Instagram Photo Competition 

“Nature on your Doorstep”

1st place – Clodagh Gaddren

2nd place – Samantha O’Hara

3rd place- Siobhan Melia

2022 – Instagram Photo Competition 

Biodiversity

Record number of trees planted by Dunboyne College in 2023

Dunboyne College Green Campus Committee is delighted to work with national schools, secondary schools, community groups, scouts, men’s sheds and tidy town committees across Meath, Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Westmeath planting trees in 2023. Working with Easy Treesie supported by Coillte, 2,000 trees were delivered and distributed from Dunboyne College campus. We aim to plant chiefly native saplings in our locality and be part of Easy Treesie’s nationwide campaign to plant 1 million trees across Ireland by 2024. 

Dunboyne College Green Campus aims to increase the number of trees planted every year, not only raising awareness of the benefits to our environment of planting trees but also taking positive action to make this a reality. It is a truly rewarding experience to see members of local communities coming together to change the world around us for the better. 

For more information see www.easytreesie.com for planting advice and more.

Tree planting by students in Gaelscoil an Mhuilin, Mullingar

Our winter herbs for biodiversity

Tomatoes and chillis in our Green house

The Green Charter

 

Young Reporter for the Environment Competition Winners

The Young Reporter for the Environment Competition 2023.

Congradulations to Journalism student Finn Mahon who placed 3rd in this year’s Young Reporter for the Environment Competition 2023 for his article on Climate change and Motorsport.  Winning Article

The Young Reporter for the Environment Competition 2022.

Congratulations to Daniel Rogers from Journalism, Digital Media and PR who placed in The Young Reporter for the Environment Competition 2022. Winning a €150 One for all voucher, a goodie bag and exposure on The Young Reporter for the Environment website. Danny commented on how much he enjoyed his time in DCFE and the ‘endless opportunities’ studying there has given him. 

His article on farming and the environment can be read on their exposure website

READ HERE

By Jack Sullivan

Current student of Journalism, Digital Media and Public Relations

Dunboyne college is going green! Thanks to the work of the Green Campus Committee, we are now starting to see incredible change around the college campus. I reached out to Eilish Lavin, a teacher at the college and member of the committee, to find out more about the goals and achievements of the committee. When asked about the environmental issues that needed to be addressed on campus, here is what she had to say:
“As a college, we use a lot of resources to light, heat and power the college and equipment such as computers.  We also produce a lot of waste, for example, with so many people on campus at one time, there can be empty crisp packets, cans, and plastic bottles.  A lot of paper is used throughout the college as well, for class notes, exams, and assignment briefs.  I think some of the main areas to be addressed are reducing waste and being more conscious of recycling correctly and of switching off lights and equipment that are not in use.”

To this up, the next question would of course have to be how exactly the issues have been or will be tackled by the committee. There have been many efforts made so far since the committees founding a year ago. Eilish mentions that:

“Clearly labelled recycling bins are now located throughout the college, including food waste bins, which we did not have previously.  We now make assignment briefs available through Moodle, meaning that it is not always necessary to have hard copies, unless required by certain students or class groups.  Assignments can now also be submitted digitally, avoiding the need for students to print these as well.  We have also had bulbs planted in the college grounds under the, ‘All Ireland Pollinator Plan’.”

Finally, I wanted to find out what kind of changes that the committee hope to see or already have seen because of these actions. She responded with:

“We have made all of these efforts so far, to highlight the fact that we are aware of our duty to be more sustainable as a college campus and to do our bit for the environment.  We also hope that if students form good habits around being conscious of the environment while they are studying with us, they might take these good habits with them in their future studies and careers and continue to pass them on to others.”

After hearing all of this, you can see all the effort put into making Dunboyne College and its community a much greener place. Doing this will affect not only the college, but the mindset of the people around. Helping others to understand the importance of recycling, saving energy and many other environmental issues. This is a step in the right direction for Dunboyne College of Further Education.