Survey

Using our survey, as well as getting our team's opinion, we got opinions from our school community, making them a part of our team too by asking for their input.

Q3. How could you be encouraged to plant a tree/plant? Please explain who you think should encourage people to plant them (e.g. town, school etc.) and suggest how they could do so.

RESPONSES

- "in primary school we were encouraged a lot to plant trees and i think its a good idea. the school could do this by putting up posters or having students donate to associations who plant trees"

- "i could be showed how to save money and the environment by growing plants/trees. schools and different businesses around the town such as garden centres, etc, should encourage people to grow a tree/plant by informing the public more so about the environment and implement how it is better for the environment by growing trees/plants. suggest that maybe by planting apple trees, you can save more money from buying apples in shops and grow your own which also reduces the use of plastic packaging."

- "You could be encouraged by social media or other media platforms. You may also be encouraged by environmentalists activists and ads on TV.I think schools should teach students more about the environment and how to plant a tree."

Q7. If you said yes to the previous question, how do you think our town can deal with this? (The previous question asked whether there is a lot of littering in our town)

RESPONSES

- "More bins around town and not just in the center"

- "put more bins around the outskirts of the town in areas like arcadia and coosan"

- " The litter wardens have to be more present on the streets and more clean up initiatives and more bins need to get catered for. The younger generations also need more guidance and education on littering provided through the Green Schools Programme."

Q8. How do you see our town in 2050 in terms of sustainable development?

RESPONSES

- "Ì think that if the bright and young minds of our society would be able to have an influence, 2050 could be a brighter and cleaner year for Athlone"

- "I feel we won’t really develop that much in terms of sustainable development. I don’t think it’s encouraged enough ."

- "I see our town as a highly developed area in terms of technology which may possibly be used to increase sustainable development in the future, for example: the decrease in the use of cars around the town to stop the use of fossil fuels, by the majority of the population in the town using public transport such as trains, buses, etc."

- "I think if it’s encouraged enough we will be sustainable"

Q9. Is there anything you have taken away from this survey after completing it, be it recognising your daily habits or how a little bit of encouragement can help us do good things for our environment?

Over 70% said yes! And the other 30% must already be helping our planet!Including this survey with our project has done a number of things to our project. It gives us various opinions from our school community. Some positive and some criticisive comments came in on our sustainability, and with an open mind, we included some of both. There are always two or more sides to every story after all!