Last Tuesday, pupils and teachers at Bishop Bavin College came together for a special ‘green’ assembly.
During the assembly, which was held in the school’s main hall, Bedfordview resident Mrs Ella Bella Constantinides – Leite addressed pupils on the importance of taking care of the planet.
Affectionately known as Ella Bella to many pupils in schools around Gauteng, Mrs Constantinides – Leite is the founder of Generation Earth, an organisation aiming to make a difference towards climate change.
She urged pupils not only to be responsible citizens, but to take part in making the difference needed.
In the schools she has visited, Mrs Constantinides – Leite has launched councils and Bishop Bavin is no exception.
“I ask you today to join us if you haven’t already. I cannot emphasise enough how much people need to reduce, reuse, recycle and respect. The environment needs us to protect it. At the end of the day we are the ones who are creating the demand manufacturers are working endlessly to meet. We are the ones creating a demand for the electricity. We need to take care of our environment because climate change is very real,” said Mrs Constantinides – Leite.
During her presentation, she showed pupils video footage of natural disasters in parts of the world.
“People don’t believe that these are caused by climate change. Most importantly, they don’t believe they can make a difference in anyway, which is sad,” she said.
Mrs Constantinides – Leite also has councils at Assumption Convent, Sacred Heart and Saheti.
She said one of her ultimate goals is to see the pupils becoming responsible professionals.
“I would like to see you become that one engineer who will take green architecture seriously. That events manager who will consider the environment when staging events. Let’s all stand up and create a legacy,” said Mrs Constantinides – Leite.
