Eco Update: Jan-Apr 2021

The StargazerNews

January

The Eco Team has been busy this year and even though meetings were virtual this year, the team worked enthusiastically to promote awareness and help the environment.

January was especially busy and dedicated to planning. The team started by creating an Eco Code to raise awareness about the importance of the environment and to help both the Eco Team and the school community.

January 13th marked the Eco Team’s First Assembly of 2021, where students were introduced to EcoSchool’s Young Reporters for the Environment Competition and encouraged to participate.

Later that month students participated in a fun flex block planned & executed by the Eco and Arts Prefects, Giorgia and Ashley. They discussed 'Canadian Species at Risk' as a group, played a fun Kahoot Game and wrote down pledges about how they would help endangered species. Students were also challenged to submit photos of themselves building homes for wildlife to be entered in a draw. Phoenix Fagan was the lucky winner of an Indigo gift card.

On January 25th, the whole school participated in Earth Hour between 1pm and 2pm. Students were asked to sit near a window to allow natural light in in lieu of using electricity.


February

February 4th marked National Sweater Day. Each classroom chose their own theme and reminded their families to lower the thermostat to save on energy.

Throughout the month students were encouraged to save their pop tabs and batteries and to bring them to school so they could be recycled safely. House points were offered to all eco-conscious participants.

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March

In March, Meatless Mondays were back! With the support of the cafeteria, all students had two meatless options to choose from throughout the month. What’s Meatless Monday? This is a global movement with a simple message: “cut the meat one day a week". The movement was launched in 2003 as a non-profit initiative, working with the Center for a Livable Future (CLF) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal is to reduce meat consumption by 15% for our personal health and the health of the planet. Since its inception, Meatless Monday has been embraced in over 40 countries and in over 20 languages! How cool is that?

The Great Gulp Assembly took place on March 19th. The whole school celebrated the importance of Tap water and the use of reusable water bottles. Students also discussed the importance of water in their lives and in the community.


April

April is celebrated as Earth Month all over the world and on April 7th, the Eco-Team hosted a Virtual Eco Conference. This year’s theme evolved around Restoration Ecology, with keynote speaker, Dr. Marc Johnson. Dr. Johnson is an Associate Professor at University of Toronto Mississauga, the Canadian Research Chair for Urban Environmental Science, and the Director of the Centre for Urban Environments.

Dr. Johnson’s presentation on The Importance of Preserving and Enhancing Nature in the Urban Jungle was a huge success. We are living in an increasingly urbanized world. Over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. As cities continue to grow across Canada and the world, they are dramatically altering the environment we live in, which has a cascading effect on the life that co-inhabits cities with us. The growth of cities also drives resource use and environmental change globally. During his presentation, Dr. Johnson discussed how urbanization alters our environment and answered three important questions. First, can we make cities kinder on the environment? Second, can we make cities healthier for humans? And finally,what can you do to help promote a healthier urban environment for all life. The answers to these questions are at the heart of living sustainably on Earth in future.

To make the remainder of the day a success, Grade 9 Science students did a wonderful job preparing various presentations for MS students, with topics ranging from Deforestation in the Amazon to Reforestation in Australia and from Oil Spills to Coral Reefs. The presenters did a wonderful job engaging their audience. Thank you to everyone who made this day a success.

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