Hello and welcome to The Future is Green.

Today we’re talking about a special project to make

schools more environmentally friendly. We have a pupil from Year 12, Michael James, to tell us
about it. Hi, Michael, and thanks for talking to us today. M: That’s OK. I’m missing a few lessons,
so I don’t mind at all. P: Ha ha! Now, can you tell us about your project? How did it begin? M:
About a year and a half ago, one of our teachers started an after-school club called Friends of the
Planet. At first, it was just for pupils from our school, but then we contacted other schools in our
area. Now our Friends of the Planet group has members from six other secondary schools. We
meet once a week and for the last six months, we’ve been working on this special project. P: I
see. What exactly is this special project? M: Basically, we’ve designed an eco-school of the future.
We worked with a group of architects who are planning to build a school that is more
environmentally friendly. The architects contacted our group because they wanted to involve
young people and together, we’ve made a model of how this eco-school will look. P: It sounds
very exciting. Michael has brought the model of the eco-school into the studio with him. Can you
explain it to our listeners, please, Michael? M: Sure. First of all, we have solar panels on the roof
of the school – there are fifty panels altogether. P: And will they provide power for the whole
school? M: Yes, that’s the idea. It will save a lot of money on electricity. P: Ah yes, I can imagine.
Tell me about the garden. M: Our eco-school will grow vegetables and we’ll use them for school
dinners. So our school dinners will be very organic and much cheaper than buying food from the
local supermarket or even from a local farm. We’ll also have chickens, rabbits and ducks. P: And
will they go into the school dinners too? M: Ha ha, no! That would be terrible. They’ll be pets and
they’ll be useful. They’ll eat the leftovers from the kitchen and the chickens will provide eggs. P:
Very good. So what other plans do you have to make the school more environmentally friendly?
M: We’ll use low-energy light bulbs in all the classrooms. We’ll also have recycling bins in every
classroom and in the school grounds. P: And what about your lessons – will they be different
from non-eco-schools? M: Most of our lessons will be similar to lessons in any secondary school.
But in our Science lessons we’ll focus more on environmental issues like climate change and
global warming. Then, in our Technology lessons we’ll learn about things like renewable energy
and even how to make solar panels. P: I see. Well, we’ve almost run out of time. Thank you for
talking to us about your project. It’s very nice to meet a teenager who is so concerned about the
environment. In my experience, most seventeen and eighteen-year-olds are only interested in
gadgets and games. M: Well, I like gadgets and games too, but I probably worry about the
environment more than my friends. P: We must stop there – thank you, Michael. Your project
sounds fascinating, and I’ll look forward to visiting your eco-school when …