The Tread Lightly Charitable Trust was established in 2007 to ‘inspire New Zealanders to live sustainably’. It works towards this goal by providing environmental education programmes to Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau primary schools.
At every Tread Lightly teaching session, students aged 5 to 12 years make pledges to protect and nurture the environment and are encouraged to involve their whanau in implementing them. A key message young people take home is that small actions such as picking up litter, having shorter showers and putting rubbish in the correct bins can make a big difference.
All activities integrate Te Ao Māori and Western Science perspectives and are fully compliant with the NZ primary school science curricula. Since December 2009, the TLC has visited more than 300 schools across Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau and hosted more than 100,000 students.
School demand for the Tread Lightly teaching experience is stronger than ever with the TLC fully booked in 2024 however it would not be possible to cover the costs of school visits without financial and in-kind support from sponsors.
Tread Lightly would like to take this opportunity to thank The Jenkins Foundation and other sponsors for their grants this year which have enabled the Trust to expand, develop and deliver its environmental education programme.