Will YOU host Just Forests’ Wood of Life exhibition?

Just Forests has produced a new interactive Wood of Life exhibition, which churches and schools are invited to host.

The new Wood of Life is a hands-on, interactive exhibition on the social, economic and environmental importance of the world’s forests through development education and education for sustainable development.

Everyone in the world depends on nature and ecosystem services to provide the conditions for a decent, healthy, and secure life. Just Forests use the state of the world’s forests as a tool to establish links between development and poverty.

It is an excellent exhibition and everyone will learn something new from it. For example, did you know that every second of every day an area of rainforest the size of Croke Park pitch is destroyed? That’s 86,400 Croke Park pitches of rainforest per day, or over 31 million Croke Park pitches of rainforest lost each year!

And did you know that over 8,000 tree species, 10% of the world’s total, are threatened with extinction?

The Wood of Life exhibition has a very broad appeal and impacts many social disciplines. The exhibition is suitable for pupils from 5th and 6th class primary and students in the junior and senior cycle post-primary. Transition year students, woodwork and construction studies students and students of architecture/agriculture/engineering/biology/science/geography/religion are also encouraged to explore the exhibition.

There are 22 very colourful large-format panels in the exhibition along with numerous wood samples from around the world and Casper Elder – the talking tree.

This is a hands-on exhibition and students are encouraged to handle and examine all the exhibits. Ample time is also allowed for a Questions & Answers session.

The UN has designated 2011 as the International Year of Forests. To encourage much-needed tree planting in Ireland, Coillte, the Irish Forestry Board, has agreed to donate 10 native trees to all schools who visit the Wood of Life Exhibition.

For further info see http://www.justforests.org/exhibitions/ or contact Tom Roche on 086 8049389 or email [email protected].