Royal College shortlisted for Zayed Future Energy prize:

Royal College green zone– saving the environment, an award winning success:

A breath of fresh air

By Sureshini Pilapitiya

Principal Upali Gunasekara viewing the green zone

Bio diversified project

Having a green zone within Colombo city is nothing short of a miracle, for it is unlikely to happen in a crowded, noisy and urban city like Colombo moreso in a school. Turning Colombo city to a world of greenery is like swimming against the tide but Royal College has made it a dream come true. When you enter the College it is as if you have entered a world of greenery. It reminds you of some fairy tale picture and is indeed a sight for sore eyes.

The Royal College green zone is the place if you want to enjoy peace and serenity and also the beauty of nature. What with their butterfly garden , the bio gas plant , and the vegetable garden , they have showed that they are capable of doing the impossible, as Royalists always do.

The butterfly garden is special among their projects , because it is the only butterfly garden in a school. Looking at the butterflies coming to drink liquid from the nectar of the flowers it reminds you of the saying, ''a thing of beauty is a joy forever ''.

Upali Gunasekara Principal

Kamal Abeysinghe Chairman EDEX

Aruna De Silva , warden and master-in-charge of Chess and environment

Being a boys' school , Royal College has made a lot of improvement on keeping the environment clean , encouraging students to grow trees and flowers and also explaining the scientific effect of specific plants . At the College premises you can enjoy a breath of fresh air and be amazed at the cleanliness, the passageways , the halls and the classrooms, creating an example to all schools islandwide. They have made a separate project for cleanliness by introducing a three colour bin system to dispose waste. For a school of 8000 students , it might seem like a difficult task , but it is the vision of one man along with the whole academic staff, past pupils and students which made this dream a reality, after years of hard work and dedication. Everybody contributed with all their might to turn Royal College into an eco friendly institution. As a result of their hard work , it has gained international recognition.

Royal College, Colombo is known for their innovative projects and this time too, they have done it again, by becoming one of the four finalists of the high schools category across five geographical regions.

A total of 31 finalists have been shortlisted for the 2015 edition of the Zayed Future Energy prize, the world's foremost award for innovation in renewable energy and sustainability. Fifty nine entries have been short- listed by the review committee in five categories, including large corporation, small and medium enterprise, non profit organization, lifetime achievement and global high schools.

The Zayed Future Energy Prize represents the vision of the late founder and president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed in Sultan Al Nahyan, who championed environmental stewardship. Royal College, being an example to all schools across the country believes in creating a better and healthy environment by introducing eco friendly innovations and projects which gives a tremendous boost to the environmental field and creates a new dimension.

The Sunday Observer spoke to the principal of Royal College, Upali Gunasekara, warden and master- in-charge of chess and environment, Aruna De Silva and chairman of EDEX, Kamal Abeysinge, about their achievement and the on-going projects at the College. This achievement has not been received overnight, but came as a result of hard work, dedication and teamwork. The Sunday Observer also had the opportunity of having a close look of the beautifully and well kept green zone, the butterfly garden and the urban forest.

It was a pleasure to have such an experience and one cannot imagine that such a creative project can be created in the city which is mostly a concrete jungle. These projects are the brainchild of principal Upali Gunasekara, with the able support from the academic staff, students, and the OBA. Kamal Abeysinghe said all the waste is recycled in the College itself. The school has solar power, garbage recycling, and other environmental projects. Humans are in danger because of their careless activities. Cutting down forests, and the daily use of chemicals in factories and air pollution are examples.

It has a impact on global temperature and global warming arises as a result. The aim is to produce students who will be responsible global citizens. There are three main categories which makes a student a global citizen - self consciousness, environmental consciousness and social consciousness.

In today's world, everybody's thinking of financial gains, not about the dangerous results that it will bring health wise and environmental wise. They need to prepare the next generation to meet the challenges. They have a sustainability master plan for Royal college. It can be divided in to four sub categories. TG Expo, RC Green initiatives sustainability campaign, National Green Energy and Technology cent-re, Sustainability “TG Sustainability hut” and “Green fund”. All stakeholders, parents , students and teachers are a part of this process.

They invited all the companies in Sri Lanka , including green manufacturing and agriculture based companies. Their aim also has a scientific dimension , that is to create renewable energy and a technology centre. It's a science centre, therefore it will focus on water, soil, waste, agriculture , construction as well as tourism. They want to open this centre to the public and inspire students to understand the importance of being eco friendly. They hope to have lectures, conduct workshops , and create awareness among the public of the gravity of environmental pollution. People are willing to fund this project and the prize itself consists of one hundred thousand dollars, so if they are able to win the prize, it will be a dream come true. Aruna De Silva , warden and master in charge said that the principal Upali Gunasekara started this system. They started recycling separately , and all the degradables , though they cannot recycle polythene and paper there.

The goal is to educate students about sustainability and sustainable living to create a sustainable society. Every class has been given a three colour bin set, to put all the waste.

This is to teach the students their responsibility. It was a 2.5 million project and they believe other schools will follow. They are establishing partnerships and have not sought sponsorship from for the project. Among their green themed projects Royal has the liquid fertilizer, rain water harvesting , to create awareness to save water. Royal College is the only school which supplies power to the national grid. They produce solid compost without any chemical addition and is the only school to stop fizzy drinks from being consumed. Principal Gunasekera wants to change all bad food habits and have achieved it to a great extent. Royal College's effort should be appreciated because in modern times, most people tend to consume junk food . Students are given a conjee drink and a healthy meal made of natural ingredients and clearly told to stay away from junk food.

There is a huge ecological footprint. When transporting imported food items considerable expenditure is incurred. By consuming local food the ecological footprint can be reduced. When you become a conscious person you become a responsible citizen. Even if you're an architect you have to look at green building . If we take this fact into consideration, all these green jobs will require different skills.

Thus, entrepreneurs will also develop and in an ecologically harmless manner they will run the entrepreneurship camp. By joining the green theme, the unemployed can be self- employed without waiting for jobs since there are enough economic opportunities. By consuming local products , we have a lot of health benefits as well.

Aruna De Silva said that they have cultivated the sharing habit among students- such as sharing books. EDEX has given 65 libraries islandwide. They have helped many rural schools and have increased their infrastructure facilities. They have done many projects such as planting vegetables in roundabouts , maintaining the garden in the Mulleriyawa hospital, and the compost program which has been picked by the educational ministry as an initiative to spread to other schools. They even did paddy cultivation in a paddy field in Malabe for two years. All this shows their enthusiasm for protecting the environment and encouraging the public to take maximum advantage of natural resources.

Their talent for making use of natural resources is shown by producing compost from the garbage that is thrown away in school.. The Education Ministry is in collaboration with Royal College regarding this project, and if it succeeds in the long run it will bring in a good income.

They also have a good crop of vegetables but are only distributed within the school premises because they do not have a sufficient crop to supply Colombo city. Walking along their green zone , bio gas plant and butterfly garden also added a new experience. In the butterfly garden , there are nectar plants where butterflies drink the liquid. These plants attract all varieties of butterflies. Along with the nectar plants there are hose plants too. It is indeed heartening to note that there is such an environment within the city of Colombo.

This was principal Upali Gunasekera's brainchild from about a year and a half ago..

The existence of butterflies is biodiversity and supports the environment. This is the only school which has introduced an innovation like that. Showing a glass vase of the Nepenthes plants decorated with pebbles and weeds they said it was supposed to be an ornamental object. Nepenthes , also known as the pitcher plant became virtually extinct and lost to cultivation until the early 1980's. However, efforts have been taken by several conservationists to make these plants available.

Royal College also affiliated with a duo of conservationists, Diana Williams and Robert Cantley , in attaining such plants as well as valuable consultation in cultivating them within the college premises. As the next phase of this project, the RCG 2003 intends to cultivate such plants on a larger scale within the College premises.

In the vegetable garden one can see how they have made use of unwanted waste such as plastic bottles. An insect trap made out of plastic bottles which was a creative invention could be seen.

He said. that students love to come to this section of the school. A change of attitude has been inculcated and it took some time to convince students to participate in these projects. Once they change their attitude they take it to the home front too, because they never thought that such a series of changes will happen in Colombo 7.

In the hostel kitchen , there is a garbage crusher which is another interesting innovation.

They crush the garbage and food items and send it to the bio gas plant where it produces methane when the food waste and bacteria gets collected. There are two bio gas plants, and these days they're using the smaller plant since the other is yet to be repaired. Speaking about the rain harvest project, the warden, De Silva said that they are using all the rain water which gets collected for agriculture.

According to Kamal Abeysinghe , there should be timely changes in the school curriculum. Global warming is occuring and we have to change fast.

At present the school follows the UNEP model for sustainability. Principal Upali Gunasekara said that the aim was for children to have plenty of opportunities. To create an eco friendly environment and prevent the depleting of resources.

Undergraduates and students are in a frame when they engage only in academics. Local and international companies should take some action and even the corporate sector. The media has to play a big role as well.

Royalists have installed rain water units in other schools too, which shows that t they are also concerned about the welfare and developing facilities of other schools.

There are many students here who can make creative innovations. Recently an innovative exhibition was held in the school premises which was open to all schools to produce their innovations. Gunasekara said "It was a total culture change. Every school should follow this example.

They are ‘'swimming against the tide'’ but are determined to carry on with their work . We must have a sustainable life and a strong society. If we do not follow this , someday disastrous consequences will follow ".

We have to prepare ourselves from now on. A sustainability month has also been declared. With technological advancement, we had a throw- away culture, which wasted everything and caused pollution . Abeysinghe said that with the advent of technology, as much as it has done good things it has also causeed harm. We have to reverse it.All these efforts have not been in vain for they have been recognized internationally for their hard work .

Last year's Zayed Future Energy prize jury consisted of Sir Richard Branson , Ratan Tata, Dr. Hang seung soo , former prime minister of Korea, Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, Minister of Transportation and former Minister of Energy for South Africa , Adnan Amin, director genreral of international renewable energy agency and Ahamed Ali Al Sayegh , chairman of Masdar. Royal's goal is to bag the Zayed Future Energy Prize !