March 5th was a great day for all as ECO-UNESCO celebrated National Tree Week in Merrion Square. The event looked at "Trees and Climate Change - How do they relate?" and was filled with games, fun, discussion activities and tree planting! In all 25 young people from several different schools participated: Manor House School Raheny, St Mary’s Killester, Our Lady's Terenure, Catholic University School, Kings Hospital Palmerstown and Drimnagh Castle.

The events began at 2.00pm with a tree planting ceremony. The young people were formed into smaller groups and with the expert help of Dublin City Council tree planting staff they planted their trees. This proved to be very popular with the young people and was a new and fun experience for them. Other popular activities included Trees and Mythology, the aim of which was to learn about various trees and their significance in Irish folklore.

There was also a Tree Trail where participants had to collect cards hidden in the park containing information about trees. While doing this they also had to collect a variety of natural materials for the next activity. Volunteers from the groups read out the information from the cards and a discussion took place on trees, climate change and deforestation. Finally, the young people used the natural materials they had collected to create a picture of a tree with some very interesting results!

The day concluded with the naming of the trees that had been planted. Using a cardboard tag, the young people used their fingerprints to identify their trees, they named their trees and wrote down what the tree represented for them and for the world. The tags were then attached to the trees and participants had their photo taken with "their" tree.

Some quotes from the day:

"I thought the tree planting part was most interesting – it was very practical"
"The tree planting was fun!"
"Trees rock!"