Joanna, founder partner of leading Sussex-based green architecture firm Ecotecture Ltd, has so far approached more than 80 schools to join the scheme.

 The Eco School Registry will enable participating schools to swap news and information to pursue projects that teach children how to conserve resources and protect their environments and the planet.

   Joanna said: “It’s vital, as children are our future and our planet’s future, for them to join together and increase their environmental awareness.

   “I want the young people of Sussex to learn from each other about the valuable work being done in some schools in a bid for a more sustainable future. By sharing information, schools can increase their own environmental awareness and take action to improve the way they do things which affect the planet.”

   Joanna was inspired to start the Sussex Eco School Registry after reading a Cambridge University report – Community Surroundings - which revealed the enormous stress seven to 11 year old children in Britain today were under with anxieties about school testing through to worries about the world they were growing up in with its threats of global warming and terrorism.

   The Cambridge study, based on 700 interviews with youngsters, teachers and parents, echoed a report from Unicef, which put Britain at the bottom of a league table when it came to children’s well-being in developed countries.

   As a highly qualified and experienced ‘green’ architect, Joanna is well placed to help schools become greener for the benefit of this and future generations. Bolney-based Ecotecture Ltd, which she runs with business partner Jake White, specialises in building with minimal harm to the environment. Their many projects across the South-East have included the incorporation of wind generators, rainwater recycling and ground heat storage in domestic and public buildings and the use of sustainable products for everyday building needs.

   Joanna said: “The harm human existence is causing to our environment should be everyone’s concern from the very youngest to each of us who can alter the way we live to cause less long-term damage.”