Environmental Science Challenge 2023-24

Each year Greener Henley runs an Environmental Science Challenge for schools and students in the Henley area.  We put forward a particular theme or question to consider, encouraging them to be as creative as they like in the way they apply themselves to the subject. We aim to publicly display the resulting works and this usually forms part of our annual Great Big Green Week celebrations.

To give all schools a greater opportunity of taking part in 2024 we have chosen a theme which can be tied into many subject areas that students are already studying in their curriculum: Pollution.

This year we have been fortunate enough to display the work as part of the wonderful exhibition, The Beautiful Blue at Henley’s River & Rowing Museum. This waterside arts and ecology project unites artists, charities and communities in celebration of rivers and raises awareness of pollution. The launch exhibition showcases the artwork by our local school children in response to our 2024 theme, Pollution, alongside an exploration of the full Beautiful Blue project to come.

Pollution of various kinds is having a significant impact on society and the environment.  For instance we know that air particulates have contributed to the increase in asthma and other respiratory diseases in humans, but did you know that insects such as butterflies, moths and bees are affected too by the clogging of their antennae making them unable to sense/smell a mate or find food?

Likewise, light pollution is causing major problems to many species – such as not being able to find a mate as in the case of glow worms, not being able to navigate using the stars such as dung beetles and turtles, a 52% decline in caterpillar populations due to street lighting.

And so it is with all other forms of pollution.  But let’s not be disheartened.  Let’s have a look at what the young of our town have come up with and see if we can all work together to make our world a cleaner, better world for all who live here.

The theme for our 2023 challenge was Hedges – why do they matter?, and in 2022 students addressed the question How important are insects?‘ 

Involvement with our local schools

Perhaps you would like someone from Greener Henley to come in to your school to talk to a class, or do an assembly about one of the issues we cover. If you have ideas about how the environmental challenge could benefit your school, would like to get involved in the challenge, or if your school simply has a project you’d like to let Greener Henley know about, please do get in touch at [email protected]