Educators, who recently returned from a four-day environmental conference in Virginia, said this week they were so "overwhelmed'' by what they heard and saw at the event that it had further motivated them to make the whole community more environmentally conscious.

"It was a tremendous experience,'' senior education officer Mr. Ray Latter said.

The opening keynote speaker was US Deputy Secretary of State for Education Mrs. Madellina Kunin.

And Saltus Junior teacher Mrs. Kay Latter said "her message that environmental education is a must was loud and clear''.

The teachers, Mrs. Cathy Bassett, Miss Susan Busby, Mrs. Patricia Chapman, Mrs. Maxine Saunders, Ms Mary Strong, and Mrs. Latter, all left the conference with several messages and ideas.

One of the ideas was a local environmental conference during the 25th anniversary of the original Earth Day, Mrs. Latter said.

In addition to inviting speakers from the Virginia conference, she said Bermuda could tap into its own resources which included people who knew much about the importance of protecting the local and global environment.

Mr. Latter said he hoped to have a interdisciplinary environmental programme set up in middle and senior high schools under the reformed school system.

By having such a programme, he explained, students could look at the entire school in an environmental manner.

"For instance,'' Mr. Latter said, "they could see if there's a better way to use electricity. They could make sure the cleaners used in the school were not harmful to the environment and so on.'' But, he added "if you involve them, you have to listen to them''.

Mr. Latter noted that students who were encouraged to get involved in similar programmes in US schools made recommendations that saved the schools $5,000 to $6,000 a year.

"It's about giving students real problems,'' he said. "They're doing research and giving real solutions. '' Mrs. Saunders, who is running a pilot scheme for Harrington Sound Primary's environmental club, said she tried to show the importance of tree planting, the importance of clean water supplies, and the whole issue of pollution.

Through the club, Mrs. Saunders said, she hoped to expose children to more environmental issues such as keeping the Island beautiful and preserving it so that the children would be proud to be Bermudian.

Mrs. Chapman, of West End Primary, said she was impressed with the idea of partnership programmes between governments, businesses and schools and the inter disciplinarian approach to addressing environmental issues in the classroom.

She noted that there were workshops showing how special and problem children were included in "hands-on'' activities.

And even a video showing a playground in an inner-city neighbourhood was designed according to the children who used it, Mrs. Chapman added.

"Overall the conference heightened our awareness,'' she said. "We brought back a lot of literature and pamphlets -- all applicable for students from kindergarten to tertiary.'' Mrs. Latter, who is also an active member of Keep Bermuda Beautiful, said she was impressed with the idea of sustainable development.

"That is,'' she explained, "meeting our needs without jeopardising the ability of future generations to do the same.'' She said director of Friends of the Earth Mr. Johnathon Poritt's statement that "it was too late to think about six-year-olds being educated about the environment. We've got to get the 16-year-olds,'' was also profound.

All the teachers agreed that they had a difficult time deciding on which of the 100-plus workshops to attend.

But they were clear about what needed to be done to raise the level of environmental consciousness in Bermuda.

And Mr. Latter said: "Our work now will be to create some sort of structure or consortium of all interested parties''.

While admitting that this would not happen overnight, he said the educators would use forums and any other opportunity to spread their message and gather support.