Education for Sustainability students at Grey High School chose fast fashion as their issue to research and address. They addressed it in a very creative way, upcycling old material destined for landfill to make new tote bags. They also wanted to raise money for a good cause and they chose the West Coast Penguin Trust.
Haamiahly Priestly-Hall and Fearne Richards developed the project supported by Caitlin Shields, who brought the idea of protecting penguins to the project. Together they cut up fabric, learned how to use sewing machines, dyed some of the fabric, made bags, used fabric paints to hand paint permanent penguin designs and then sold them at the first youth spring market in Greymouth.
They were the only students selling for the benefit of a charity with 100% of the income destined for the penguin trust – and they were the first stall to sell out!
They didn’t stop there though, making many more bags and selling them at school, raising a final magnificent amount of $432, from bags priced at $5 and $10 and some generous donations thrown in too.
The West Coast Penguin Trust is acutely aware of the problems caused by our throwaway society, including the increasing risk of fatal plastic ingestion or tangling by seabirds and marine mammals.
Manager, Inger Perkins, said “Not only is the donation a superb effort and a wonderful contribution to the work of the trust, but the efforts by these students to do something about waste, focussing on fabric and fast fashion, and raising awareness of penguins at our coast at the same time, is outstanding.”
With the support of Education for Sustainability teacher Lara Thompson, as well as drama teacher Susanne Smith and others in the GHS team along the way, Haamiahly, Fearne and Caitlin have researched the issue, considered and rated possible courses of action, chosen and implemented the tote bag option, chosen a very worthy cause and used the project to raise awareness about the smallest penguins that live along our coastline, diverted waste from landfill AND delivered a fabulous donation to the West Coast Penguin Trust.
As Caitlin brought the passion for penguins to the group, having become aware of them and their plight as a young girl, Miss Thompson asked her to have a think about the best way to spend the donation. It was agreed that the donation could go towards extending the penguin protection fence north of Punakaiki. Ms Perkins explained: “There are a few gaps in the fence that need to be filled before the 2023 season, so this donation will go to keeping penguins safely off the Coast Road.”
“These students can be very proud of the work they have done – from start to finish it has been an excellent collaborative project based on valuable principles. A huge thank you from the Trust to the team from Grey High School and Papa Taiao Earthcare”.
The Trust wishes Haamiahly and Fearne well in their future endeavours, having just left school, and wishes Caitlin another excellent year in her final year at school, including more Education for Sustainability at Greymouth High School and training from Papa Taiao Earthcare, led by Miss Thompson. Caitlin will be increasing her skills in growing native plants, starting from seed collection, as well as learning bee-keeping through a Papa Taiao Conservation and Earthcare course at the West Coast Trades Academy.
Most penguins form lifelong partnerships - known as partner fidelity. Pairs work together to protect and nurture their young and some, including the emperor penguin, cooperate with others for the wellbeing of the group. This is translated to time invested in building long-term relationships, and being dependable and dedicated.
Penguins live in a variety of habitats and zones from equatorial Galapagos Islands to southern Australian and New Zealand coasts, South American and south African coasts to sub Antarctic islands and the Antarctic, in other words, they have evolved to live in many different climates and live successfully in water and on land. PIC too pride themselves on their adaptability, agility and providing innovative solutions.
The emperor penguin, the largest of the 18 species of penguins, are tougher than most species, withstanding long Antarctic winters and months without food. Again, PIC aligns itself with this remarkable bird in its strength in harsh economic conditions and volatile markets. The little or blue penguin, the main penguin on the West Coast, is the smallest of the penguin species, but resilient in its own small way.
PIC's charity partners are very relevant to their clients, focussing on older age and mental illness. But their charity committee also considers providing support to other charitable trusts and, late in 2022, the committee approved a generous donation to the West Coast Penguin Trust for penguin conservation. The approach to PIC was prompted by a personal connection in England, which just goes to show that you never know where any of us might bump into a new donor or sponsor, and we always need to be ready to invite and enable donors to help penguins!
The Trust is reliant on donations and grants and this year will be investing in improvements to the penguin protection fence north of Punakaiki and developing our foraging study to better understand the life of and threats to little penguins / kororā at sea off the Charleston coast. That is in addition to all the business as usual including monitoring breeding success and managing threats to both little penguins and Fiordland crested penguins / tawaki, and our education and awareness programmes. So the support from PIC is immensely valuable in maintaining and growing our penguin conservation efforts.
Not only does PIC recognise the wonderful qualities of penguins but they are also very strongly ethical and environmental in what they do, which the Trust values very highly.
PIC are investing in solar/renewable energy and decarbonising the economy, supporting social housing and universities, and has future generations in mind as they do business. PIC employees can also take two days paid leave each year to work on volunteer projects of their choosing.
The West Coast Penguin Trust is hugely grateful for the wonderful support from PIC and congratulates the company on their various community and environmental initiatives.
