Malfroy Primary School students erected this sign on the banks of the Utuhina Stream. Photo/Stephen Parker
Warriors come in all shapes and forms. Sometimes they look just like primary school kids with rubbish bags.
Today the Rotorua Daily Post reports on the "Utuhina Warriors", a class from Malfroy Primary School who have so far removed more than 450kg of rubbish from the Utuhina Stream, including a
shopping trolley, car bonnet, car tyre, microwave, television, and (the grossest part, according to one), dead possum.
It's all part of studies into sustainability, with their teacher working with the Rotorua Lakes Council and the local community to teach the kids, in a hands-on way, about looking after their environment.
It's a cliche, but the younger generation are our future. If teachers such as Helen Ramsdale can instil in them a passion and understanding for sustainability at a young age, it augers well for the future.
Picking up rubbish - getting wet and cold in the process - is no one's idea of fun, let alone 10 and 11-year-olds. But Mrs Ramsdale seems to have inspired her kids - yesterday was meant to be about erecting their signs, but they couldn't leave the stream without giving it a clean up.
