16 May 2005Times of Oman
The 'English for Life' competitions took the road this week in order to judge a special competition for community schools in Oman. Community schools as far away as Sur, Nizwa and Muladha travelled to Muscat Private School in order to compete in the 'Global Warming' competition. Since Saturday lunchtime the 'English for Life' team have visited a host of community schools around Muscat in what has been a gruelling schedule. The judging panel led by Ahmed Al Adawi, water resources expert at the Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment & Water Resources, started off on Saturday lunchtime and completed their judging late yesterday. The 'English for Life' competitions are being organised by the Educational Programmes Section, Department of Private Schools, Ministry of Education. The competitions are sponsored by the Times of Oman and Al Shabiba (Media sponsors) Ominvest (Gold sponsor), Nawras (Silver Sponsor), KPMG (Bronze sponsor) Swiss International Airlines, the Al Bustan Palace Hotel, Salman Stores, Centre for British Teachers, Al Omaniya Financial Services, Al Manahil Educational Consultancy (www.almanahil-books), Amouage, National Mineral Water Company (Tanuf & Salsabeel), The Flower Shop, Sabco and www.thenejd.com (all cosponsors). Students were required to make a presentation on 'Global Warming' and how they would address the crises that the world is facing due to the impact of gobal warming on our environment. Power point presentations together with a variety of aids like models, satellite images, posters, realia, live demonstrations, etc. were exploited to great effect by all participating students. One school had actually created its own greenhouse as a backdrop for the presentation. Others created the most wonderful models and had ingeniously managed to create fumes coming out of factory chimneys. The same group had also succeeded in creating a river that indicated the level of pollution and a sea that demonstrated the rising of sea levels around the world. Incidentally, the level of pollution was highest where the river was in closest proximity to the factory that had been churning out fumes. Some students had created a model of the Artic Circle complete with melting ice caps. Many groups had models that compared the world's natural situation before and after the Industrial Revolution. Others conducted experiments in order to get across salient points. Some participating groups had created the most beautiful realia to go with their presentations. Classroom stools had been magically transformed into the sun and the earth. Animations really helped to get across a plethora of very interesting but hard facts. The presentations was of such a high standard that the judging panel had a very tough challenge in deciding who should come first, second, third, fourth and fifth. This was a very closely fought competition and it is to the students' credit that there was much debate as to who the winners should be. Students, by and large, started off their presentations with a definition of global warming. Then they went on to elaborate on the effects of global warming on our society. The major consequences included the melting of glaciers, the subsequent rising of sea levels and the sinking of coastal areas, the changes in agricultural patterns, the shifting of climatic cycles, the loss of bio-diversity and the adverse effects on flora, fauna, animals and mankind. There were some excellent slides, photos, graphs, diagrams depicting 'The Greenhouse Effect'. Sources listed as causing global warming included factory waste products, cooking, use of electrical appliances, gasoline driven vehicles, deforestation, the use of chemical fertilisers, the burning of fossil fuels, CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons), HFCs (Hydro fluorocarbons), PFCs (Per fluorocarbons) and SF6 (Sulphur hexafluoride) to name but a few. Pollution, bad resource management, urbanisation, the overuse of fossil fuels, consumerism, the growth in population with the resultant increase in need for electricity and other resources were all identified as contributing factors to The Greenhouse Effect. Students stressed the need for urgent action to be taken if planet Earth is to be saved from destruction. Advice concentrated on a number of steps that human beings could take in order to reduce the effects of global warming. These included the establishment of a non cooperative movement with an agenda to implement a programme of afforestation and industrial integration planning. Solar desalination and the active use of hydrogen run cars and pre electrolysed fuel were high on students' agendas of what should be standard practice. Plantation projects and tree farms that would involve the planting of lots of trees with people being actively encouraged to sponsor a tree were also included in the list. The use of solar and methane cookers was also recommended. The use of transport systems were also highly recommended and all stressed the need for people to make use of pool cars in order to minimise the emission of carbon monoxide. Unnecessary and wasteful food packaging was targeted as one way in which global warming could be reduced. Recycling and the establishment of centres for the recyling of waste materials like metal, glass, paper and plastic was stressed repeatedly. Leaf cups and plates as opposed to plastic ones were high on the agenda of the majority of presentations. The Environment Club in one school has actually conducted a campaign to rid the school of all its plastic cups. A campaign was waged. Then a vote was taken and the motion to get rid of plastic cups won. Now, there are no plastic cups in the school. Students bring their own bottles with them to school and fill them up at the water dispenser as required. There was a strong emphasis on eco friendly alternatives like eco brushing and eco housing. The Neem tree is a repellent rich water efficient source that grows in Oman and was strongly recommended as an alternative to regular toothpaste. The judging panel were led through the plans of an eco house in one school. All the materials that were to be used in the construction of this eco house were bio-degradeable. The use of composite heaps were also stressed by the same group of students. It was heartening to hear that this is already well underway here in Oman. What was very interesting was the fact that one particular group of students took a very different approach to the topic of global warming. Their presentation was based on research conducted by William F. Ruddiman 'How Did Humans First Alter Global Climate' that hypothesises that it was our ancestors' farming practises that kicked off global warming thousands of years ago before we even started burning coal and driving cars. Students cited various sources of information like Encarta. The Kyoto Protocol was referred to frequently. GOES (Geostat Operational Environmental Satellite) was cited as a source of information on the measurement of global warming. Suggested reading included an interesting book called Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive"by Jared Diamond. Websites were also cited. One of these was Dave Mathews Band SaveOurEnvironment.org. All students were unanimous that the most effective method of combating the negative impact of global warming was in the creation of a mass awreness campaign. Ethical education and promotion were the key words. Students asserted that Environment Studies and Environment Protection should be deemed compulsory school subjects. Ahmed Al Adawi, the main judge for this event, was so impressed with all the presentations that he has suggested that the various groups should visit other schools, colleges and ministries in order to demonstrate the degree and depth of their knowledge and understanding of this highly complex issue. He also applauded all the groups and spoke about their very professional presentations and the depth of their research into what is a very challenging subject. "Others could learn a lot from all of the participating schools. I appreciate the tremendous efforts being made by all the schools to ensure that their presentations were of the highest possible standard. Each of the participants has really done their school and their community proud."
