Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

There's no question that Highland's Eco-Team has made massive progress this year in their school and around the community. They have mobilized and organized to effectively implement school-wide composting, recycling, battery collection, broom pulling (invasive foreign plant species destruction), fund-raising, and awareness campaigns. The Eco-Team has even created their own website to organize their efforts further and help new recruits become educated faster. The Eco-Team even has a delegation that sits in on Comox Town Council meetings to offer youth perspectives on environmental and development initiatives.  It has been a year of steady building and hard work but what they have achieved in such a short amount of time is remarkable. Well done team! Thank you for being community leaders who make a positive difference.

Highland's Eco-Team has become a family for me this year. Although I was unable to attend all of the meetings, after school, and weekend gatherings, the team was extremely motivated to push through some really tough challenges on their own steam. Initiating a compost program in a school is tricky because it requires students to pick up the compost buckets from classrooms each day and hand wash them each week. This year members of the Eco-Team rose to the challenge every single day to make that happen. The effort has paid off. Thousands of pounds of solid waste has been diverted from the landfill. In September there will be tons of fresh, homemade, nutrient rich dirt to play with. Everyday is Earth Day at Highland Secondary.

To send your best to Highland please leave a comment on this blog and then visit the team's website http://highlandecoteam.com where you can order a Highland Eco-Team shirt to show your support. Have a happy Earth Day today.

“Zac has been an inspiration to Highland's Eco Team. His support and ability to network with other organizations has been instrumental in our success as a group of individuals seeking action and systemic change. It is because of Zac we have a professional looking website, and it is because of Zac our fall school wide assembly was deeper in scope and more informative than it would have been without him.
Zac has been a coach, an advisor, our own special guru and a role model. We consider him an integral part of our Eco Team and are grateful he is such an active member of our community. It is the bringing together of such individuals that will catalyze the change needed to improve our world.”

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management (CSWM) service invites residents to the Comox Valley compost education centre this month for free workshops covering a variety of gardening and lawn care topics.    

The Saturday workshop topics will cover creating healthy soil for healthy plants with Ron McNaughton from Trumpeters Landscaping and container growing with a demonstration by Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) contract educator Patty Rose. Wrapping up the month, the centre will host guest speaker Anthea Kennelly from the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) who will discuss the nutritional importance of fresh produce for a healthy community.   

Each workshop will start at 10 a.m. at the compost education centre located at 4795 Headquarters Road, Courtenay.   

In addition to the workshops, Megan Halstead A. AG., from the Garden Institute of BC Urban Agriculture project, will be on-site on Saturday May 15 and May 22 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to answer any of your gardening questions.   

Workshop Dates and Topics 

May 15 – Ron McNaughton of Trumpeters Landscaping shares his knowledge on amending your soil organically as part of the CVRD Nature Works pesticide awareness education program.   

May 22 –Patty Rose, CVRD contractor educator will discuss how to grow vegetables and herbs in small spaces.  No garden is too small try container growing.   

May 29 – Anthea Kennelly from VIHA will discuss nutrition in fresh produce and participates can receive a free package of organic vegetable seeds when they join the pledge to “Plant A Row – Grow A Row” for the local Food Bank.  Master Gardeners will be on-site throughout the day to assist in planting techniques of seeds and seedlings.  

For more information on workshops and presentations delivered through the CSWM’s compost education centres including this month’s features visit www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/backyardcomposting .

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management (CSWM) service is a function of the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) and is responsible for two regional waste management centres that serve the Comox Valley and Campbell River, as well as a range of transfer stations and smaller waste-handling and recycling facilities for the electoral areas of the CVRD and the Strathcona Regional District. The CSWM service manages over 100,000 tonnes of waste and recycled material and oversees a number of diversion and education programs. 

Media contact:
Koreen Gurak
Manager of communications
Comox Valley Regional District
Tel: 250-334-6066

This  February and March I had the distinct pleasure of teaching an entire Social Studies 11 Environment Unit to Jouska Lockquell’s Mark R. Isfeld class. This experience was a real honour and thrill for me because I was able to work with youth for six consecutive classes and cover an intense survey of international, regional and local environmental issues involving solid waste, water and pesticides. By the end of the unit, we were taking individual action to better the planet in some way. There were letters written, phone calls made, projects planned and positive strides being made to heal the earth. The experience was amazing and I’m having a hard time finding the words to describe it. After looking over the feedback from the students, I think they say it best. Here are some comments.

“I thought your presentations were very effective and fascinating. There were many things that I learned that changed my point of view in many ways. The presentations definitely made me want to look at ways to make a change. I liked your sense of humour and the fact that you had everyone involved in the discussions.”

 “Your presentation has made me a bit of a paranoid angry mess, and I love that. I have never been so aware of what is going on around me. I have been recycling like mad, and spending my time more wisely. By that I mean not shopping when I’m bored or to make myself feel good. Thank you so much!!!”

“Your teaching style ensured that I will remember this for a long time.”

“I felt that your overall class lessons were superb.”

“I enjoyed the unit because it was presented in a way that made me understand. You definitely know how to get us thinking and get us excited to change something.”

“I enjoyed this unit immensely, thanks so much for coming! I quite enjoyed learning where my clothes were made and how I can shop smart and reduce cotton poison in India.”

“Thanks for sharing your knowledge and stories with us! I thought you did a great job sharing/showing all the different things that go on that we don’t know a lot about. I don’t really think there is much you could improve on. You were really easy to talk and listen to! It was really inspiring!”

“I really like how you could connect with us and keep us engaged. After your presentations I always feel like I have the power, and your personal experiences and movie clips you made showed me that everything is attainable.”

“You were really interesting; you have a good style of teaching.”

“I really enjoyed the story about the Air Jordans. It made me realize how even simple changes in our lifestyles can change the lives of people all around the world.”

“I very much enjoyed these presentations. Your passion is contagious, and many conversations with my friends have opened from the issues you raised in this unit. I can honestly say that I am more knowledgeable now…”  

It’s that time of year again. It’s time to figure out what to do with the dried out, needles falling off all over the place, crusty pitch ball Christmas Tree in your living room. Well, there are a few places to take your tree to dispose of it properly for a good cause.

The Town of Comox will be chipping on Saturday, January 2nd and Sunday, January 3rd from 10am-4pm. They will pick up your tree for a minimum $5 donation Comox Firehall (250-339-2432) is located on 1870 Noel Avenue in Comox.

The City of Courtenay will be chipping on Saturday, January 2nd and Sunday, January 3rd from 10am-4pm. They will pick up your tree for a minimum $5 donation Courtenay Firehall (250-334-2513) is located on 650 Cumberland Road in Courtenay.

The Village of Cumberland will be chipping on Sunday, January 3rd from 10 a.m to 3:00 p.m at the Cumberland fire department located at 2679 Dunsmuir Road in Cumberland.

Campbell River will be taking trees in two locations on Saturday, January 2nd from 10am-4pm. Drop your tree with a donation for the Campbell River Hospital Foundation at the Sportsplex on 1800 South Alder St. in Campbell River or to the #1 Firehall on 675-13th Avenue in Campbell River.

If you cannot make any of these times or location please feel free to drop your tree, free of charge, to the Comox Valley Waste Management Centre on Pidgeon Lake Road in Cumberland or at the Campbell River Waste Management Centre on 6700 Argonaut Road in Campbell River.

Christmas trees that are cut in 3ft lengths can be picked up on regular yard waste pick up days in Courtenay and Comox starting on January 4th, 2010.

Thanks for making a difference by disposing of your tree properly for a good cause.

Carihi High in Campbell River is setting goals of zero-waste in 2010 and taking action to make it happen. Today I visited several classrooms to deliver one hour presentations about the globalization of garbage and local solutions to rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle our way to a cleaner planet. It was an inspiring day today because so many positive initiatives happened in such a short amount of time.

After each presentation students had questions but more importantly they were taking action to implement a full blown composting program at the school before the end of the day. To help things along I brought along some equipment to make it happen. The Power Of R and Comox Strathcona Waste Management donated two Earth Machine composters, two battery collection bins and twenty classroom compost buckets to the school.  By the end of lunch hour the composters were installed, the buckets were distributed and the principal’s door was being knocked on by students to report what they were up to. I didn’t even know it was happening, it just did.

I spoke The Green Team Environment Club over lunch hour about actions of other schools on Vancouver Island and ways to connect with those schools to strengthen their own programs. The club remarkably tripled its membership today and hopefully that enthusiasm will continue to bring Carihi High closer to its goals. The school is setting a good example for other schools, businesses, and households in Campbell River. I’ve seen this positive momentum build before in past projects and I can guarantee that Carihi High will change the environmental legacy of Campbell River in 2010.

Before the Christmas break at their annual Turkey Dinner Night the Green Team will announce its initiative to the rest of the school. Over one hundred students are already moving the project forward for school wide recycling, composting and battery collection. The Green Team will also meet with Highland Secondary’s Eco Team in 2010 to collaborate their efforts and share strategies. I’ll work with these clubs to help prepare them for presenting to other secondary, middle and elementary schools in SD71 and SD72. By the end of the New Year hopefully every school will be involved in this incredible Power Of R movement.

Here is what the Green Team teacher sponsor Wayne Demerse had to say about the day:

Get your school involved in The Power Of R movement by booking a presentation or workshop by emailing me at powerofr@gmail.com today.

There’s really no other way to describe it. Highland Secondary’s Eco Team is on FIRE! Coached by master teacher Jill Peacock and myself with The Power Of R, Highland Eco-Team is setting new standards for rethinking, reducing, reusing and recycling in schools on Central Vancouver Island.

Every Monday at lunch hour a group of 12 students meet to plan their next project. Naturally, big projects require several after school meetings also. These dedicated young men and women are so hardcore that they only eat vegetarian pizza, recycle everything, and shut off all of the lights except one reading light for meetings, “just to save a bit of power.” Why not?

There are over 1000 people at Highland Secondary. Over the past two years Highland’s Eco-Team has hosted two major Earth Day Celebrations and started to extract invasive plant species around the school. They have planted native plant species and brought awareness of environmental issues to the school and community. That’s impressive but since September 2009 they‘ve really started to heat up.

Pizza boxes have been a big problem at Highland along with food packages and paper bags. Paper products alone were filling multiple dumpsters a week. The Eco Team decided to start a recycling program for paper products and cardboard at the school. Inevitably everyone has adopted the idea. Several dumpsters a week are being diverted from the landfill due to these efforts. Students and Eco Team members handle the emptying of cardboard bins each lunch hour to make the program work.

Composting was the next item on the agenda. There are over 200lbs of compost per day that are sent to the landfill from Highland. Old apples, fruit peels, and carrot sticks get tossed into the garbage to live out their eternity compressed in an airtight sludge. The Eco Team decided to change all of that by adding compost buckets to classrooms around the school. Power Of R and Comox Strathcona Waste Management then donated some composters and some composting education to the Eco Team.

So then the hard part began. The Eco Team deliberated on how to launch this new concept to the school. “How do we go about it? What approach will work best? Will people even do this?” There were many questions but after several after school meetings and lunch hours and pizzas and discussions, an assembly at the school was called. I was honored to be the guest speaker for the event. I talked about the longevity of trash in the landfill. Taking simple steps to sort our rubbish is the difference that the world needs because almost everything can be reused or recycled. The presentations throughout the assembly were great. Dramatic poems, effective addresses, passionate solutions introduced a new way of life for Highland that would only be new for one day.

Today Highland’s Eco-Team is expanding its membership. Composting is a hit. A battery collection bin has been placed at the front entry way for household batteries. Highland’s Eco Team has been attending Comox Town Council meetings to make Comox carbon neutral by 2012. To compliment their effort, Comox has just announced a Blue Box recycling program and pick-up for every school in Comox. Not only is this is a major accomplishment, it is precedent setting for a school in the Comox Valley. The Eco Team is now recycling ink cartridges in the office, computer labs and library to reduce plastic trash. Vending machine products are soon going to be under threat for their packaging material choices. Energy use in the school is also going to be addressed in a serious and now creditable manner. Highland’s youth are taking control of their planet. Their school is simply part of it. I’m proud to be involved in such an incredible group of youth in this time of history. On top of all that, other schools are taking notice. Carihi High will soon be launching an extensive compost program of their own. They’ll also be collecting batteries and recycling their trash. Politics… are just around the corner.

For more information and to include your school in the next evolution of environmental action contact me at powerofr@gmail.com

 

Today I met up with a cool crew at Highland Secondary in Comox, BC to strategise their upcoming assembly. The environmental themed assembly is set to launch their new composting and recycling programs at the school. Yes, you heard that correctly - composting... at school... wow! The school is really receptive so this Friday we will meet again to create posters and figure out clear messaging.

The Highland Eco-Team is an incredible group of motivated youth from grades 9-12. Their passionate sponsor teacher Jill Peacock is so excited, and she should be. Comox Strathcona Waste Management donated composters and education to the Eco-Team to get them underway. The team members are collecting leaves to mix in with the green compostables throughout the school year. Highland is definitely setting a solid example to other schools and businesses. They have plans to plant a garden in the spring. I will keep you posted on all of this in the coming year.