Toby’s winning design turned into cartoon

Toby’s winning design turned into cartoon

7 July 2021

A CROSSGAR primary school pupil has designed a winning eco-hero in the Housing Executive’s Schools’ Energy Awareness Programme.

Toby McFarland, a P7 pupil at Glasswater Primary School, won the eco-hero design category for Global Perspectives’ with his eco-hero called, Veggieman the Greenhouse Gas Vanquisher. 

Schoolchildren across the province in P7 and Year 8 classes took part in the programme, partnered with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and Eco-Schools NI.

Promoting awareness of energy efficiency in the home and school, pupils designed a local eco-hero character while illustrator, Mark Reihill, brought the five winning designs to life. 

Five key topics of energy efficiency, water, renewables vs. fossil fuels, climate action and global perspectives are highlighted through the five winning eco-hero designs. 

This year’s competition received 450 entries and each pupil who designed a winning eco-hero won a personal laptop, £500 for his or her school and a tree for planting. 

Toby’s eco-hero, among many other things, can fly through the air at the speed of light and then detoxify it.

And he can turn any Greenhouse gas into oxygen just by clicking his fingers and Veggieman’s Job is to try and stop a hydrocarbon called Methane (CH4), which is one of the four greenhouse gases.

Housing Executive chairman Professor Peter Roberts, who was part of the judging panel, said he was encouraged by the number of entries. 

“Every action helps and, as well as entering our eco-hero competition, don’t forget that saving the environment is about us all working together. This is your planet Earth. It is your future, and we need everybody to do the right thing. Millions of small actions can make a huge difference,” he added.