The Pioneers statue celebrates the canal builders who founded Ellesmere Port and was cast in bronze by Liverpool artist Stephen Broadbent.
Workshops give youngsters an insight into air quality
| In the latest of our articles to raise awareness of air quality in the borough, The Messenger takes a look how young people are being involved in the council's efforts to care for the environment...... |
SCHOOLCHILDREN are being invited to pay their part in monitoring air quality in the borough.
A new initiative being launched by the borough council, Chester College and Cheshire Landscape Trust aims to teach children about the impact air quality has on plants and how this knowledge can be used to find clues from nature about how clean our air is.
The borough council's Air Quality Co-ordinator explained: 'Trees and lichens, which are small plants that are often found growing on tree trunks and walls, are sensitive to air pollution and therefore act as great natural indicators of the quality of our air.
'For example, some species can't grow if sulphur dioxide levels in the air are too high, so their presence can give us a clue about what is in the air that we breathe.'
The idea of the initiative is for workshops to be held for teachers and information packs supplied so that back at school youngsters can learn how to identify certain plants and lichens and discover what their presence means in terms of the quality of the air.
Pupils will then be encouraged to explore their school's grounds and plot on a plan where they find trees and lichens, so that they can monitor their growth and any changes to air quality.
The information they gather will then be compared with the council's own monitoring records.
David Jeffreys said: 'Our state-of-the-art monitoring equipment keeps telling us that the local air quality is consistently good.
'Hopefully by making use of naturally occurring species which are permanently exposed to the elements, we will be able to back up our claims and demonstrate major improvements really have been made over recent years to the air that we breathe.'
As a thank you to all the schools that join the project, Cheshire Landscape Trust will be donating a selection of native trees to plant in the school grounds. As well as making school grounds more pleasant, the trees will act as natural filters of the borough's air. All schools have already been contacted about the project which is due to start in spring.
If you'd like to know more, phone the council's Air Quality Co-ordinator on 0151 356 6633 or e-mail environmental.protection@epnbc.gov.uk
