The Enviro 2017 event at Wollongong Botanic Garden’s Discovery Centre celebrated 32 years of council’s popular Rise and Shine campaign.

Rise and Shine is an annual campaign to raise awareness of the simple changes that students and community members can undertake to help make the city a great place to live.

Council’s acting environmental strategy and planning manager Jason Brown said more than 800 students from 18 local schools attended Enviro 2017.

‘’The students will take part in workshops that are all linked to this year’s theme,’’ he said.

“Connecting People To Nature’’ is the theme for World Environment Day 2017. All 25 workshops offered for primary school students to participate in at Enviro 17 were designed to coincide with this theme.

The workshops ranged from ‘Living with Fire’  to ‘Chicken are Magicians’.

The environmental expo also presented students with an opportunity to learn about how air and water pollution affects our quality of life; the meaning of biodiversity and the need to protect wildlife; the importance of recycling and the need to think globally and act locally.

‘’Rise and Shine is a great campaign to help show students and community members the connection between our local challenges and the global environment, such as learning how to use our beaches in a more environmentally sensitive manner by reducing the amount of litter and plastics,’’ Mr Brown said.

The Rise and Shine campaign in Wollongong started in 1986, and each year comprises a number of key programs and features.

One of the campaign’s most popular is the Spring Clean Up program, where volunteer community groups and individuals remove rubbish and litter from public areas such as parks, creeks and beachfront reserves.