Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

It’s amazing how many batteries we actually use. It seems like everything these days is powered by a battery of some kind. Laptops, ipods, cameras, toys, flashlights, and watches are used in many households. The scary thing is that these amazing technologies, that fuel our appetite for batteries, are filling our landfills with poisons.  I’m not saying stop using electronics but I am saying let’s make sure that the dead batteries that run our gadgets stay far away from the landfill.

I found a few old batteries in my garage. You’ve likely seen old batteries before but it only adds to my point of being diligent with your disposal practices. Batteries contain different chemicals that can cause explosions and even burn holes in your skin. That’s not pretty. The batteries here in the picture are the most common sizes. Billions of them enter landfills each year around the world. I don’t know about you but that freaks me right out.

When a battery goes in the landfill it doesn’t take long before its metal casing gets crushed by heavy objects, it rusts in the rain, and then corrodes enough to release the toxic paste inside. The toxic paste dissolves into rain and ground water. Once the poison is in the water, animals and humans might drink it and contract cancer or sickness from the dissolved poison crystals.  

Collect your old batteries in a cardboard box and make sure that they don’t get thrown into the landfill. If you go to a school that has a battery collection program make sure you support it. Tell your friends and family about the dangers of batteries in the landfill. Once your battery box is full or every six months, take the dead batteries to your local Waste Management Centre recycling area. You don’t want to have batteries like the ones in the picture above lying around your home.

I’m really proud of all the schools that are participating in this program. Keep up the great work!

Southgate Middle School has been a real focus for me this year. So far I have presented to over 10 different classes there on various topics and given multiple leadership workshops.  Southgate has been battling a tough mentality around the school that produces more than desirable amounts of litter in the schoolyard. Building a greater sense pride in ownership of the school is important to all of us. We don’t like spending our day surrounded in garbage. It was high time to get serious and rethink the solid waste that is literally making mountains around us at the school yard and in our community.

Good inroads are being made around the school and kids are feeling more empowered to engage the problem of litter head on, in and out of the school. When our consumption habits are compounded by irresponsible waste management, scary things happen around the world.  There is currently a giant island of plastic that is twice the size of Texas spinning around in the Pacific Ocean. This is affecting sea life and our life by getting into the food chain and poisoning the environment. The amount of garbage that makes its way to the ocean is staggering. Over 2 million water bottles are being consumed and tossed every 5 minutes in the United States, and over 4 million coffee cups are being thrown away each day in Canada. Although most of these items sadly end up in our landfills, a percentage of them also make their way to the ocean after being carried by rainwater. Even a small percentage is a huge amount when you’re dealing with numbers like that. That’s why litter is such concern. It’s time to fall in love with tap water and travel mugs permanently. The students at Southgate are now making the move to clean up “the swamp.” Go Gators Go!

“You totally had kid’s attention the entire time – and that says something for Middle School kids. Your knowledge and passion were passed along effectively. The kids really remembered what you said and took to heart your thoughts and ideas.”  - Marjorie George – Teacher

Litter is also a concern for Highland Secondary’s Eco-Team. Highland has been working hard to manage garbage awareness along Guthrie in Comox. Irresponsible customers and the introduction of new fast-food chains on Guthrie have amplified the amount of litter alongside of the road.  Plastic cups and plastic wrappers are making their way into the dairy farm field that spans the stretch between Anderton and Pritchard. It may not seem like a big deal at first glance, but it is… it’s a very big deal. Each year the farmer cuts his field for silage (a fermented grass that is used to feed cows) and sometimes plastic based litter hides in the grass when it’s cut. This plastic gets chopped up and eventually is eaten by dairy cows on the farm. Cows are a ruminant animal, which means that they have multiple stomachs. Any plastic in their food can actually kill them because it lodges between their stomachs and plugs their digestive system. Dairy cows, or any cow for that matter, can get sick and die because people are littering. It’s a major problem that can be easily solved with common sense and diligence. Hold your friends accountable the next time they litter anywhere. You are the solution that the world is waiting for.

It’s always a great pleasure to meet like minded people who are passionate about what they do. Great things come from these types of people and there is one of them in each of us waiting to get out and play. These last couple of weeks I have had the great pleasure of accompanying Keith and Renee representing Free The Children from MeToWe to participate in a series of performances and leadership workshops in schools around Central Vancouver Island. The experience united like minded youth around the pressing issues of our world. Some of those issues, like the environment, obviously played a major role in our discussions so I gladly joined in.

The environment is connected to every global issue: poverty, violence, economy, human rights, animal rights and disease to name a few. These connections were brought to light by the students themselves in each school workshop. By the end of each day, groups of active students were beginning to understand deeper, act more decisively, and speak with more passion. The real power of understanding and education is in the decision to act effectively. The students who attended the MeToWe camps with The Power Of R made decisions that day to change their environment, starting with their schools, their communities and ultimately their planet.

I joined the tour with Keith and Renee to visit Highland Secondary, Southgate, and Mark R. Isfeld. In every school there were different outcomes but I watched several kids find their voice for the first time. A grade 8 girl spoke out about the environment, then animal rights and then homelessness and then found out there were others like her in the room. I spoke with her after the session and she had been recruited to the Interact club by some grade 12s and the Eco-Team by some grade 11’s. Sweet Tofurky, that’s awesome! There were several similar stories like that.  A grade 11 youth from Germany on exchange exclaimed how appalled he was when he arrived in Canada to see people watering their lawns. “You would be called an eco-terrorist crazy person if you did that in Germany,” he said.  “People have gardens but they certainly don’t water their grass. That’s just a waste of water.” I couldn’t help but pump my fist and bight my bottom lip with in a silent over exuberance.

Since these workshops took place environment clubs have been popping up at each of the schools we visited. I received a great email from Carihi High, an additional school that Keith and Renee visited. The email stated that they wanted to start a more extensive composting program at their school because Highland had one. “Perfect, let’s start a battery collection, recycling and education series for the school while we’re at it.” This is how action happens and the only words I can think of are “this is juicy!” Needless to say the ball is rolling fast thanks to these workshops.

Keith and Renee flew back to their home town of Winnipeg for a short break in their 80 school MeToWe Tour. They will continue to play guitar around the world and use music to create dynamic connections with their audience. They’re funny and talented. It’s cool to see people doing what they love to do because after talking to them it is hard to imagine them doing anything else. There is a lesson in that for all of us. Saving the planet sounds cliché but it’s what I love to do. The planet needs saving so let’s work together, PowerOfR, MeToWe, you, me, and one little planet. For more information in getting your school involved with The Power Of R email powerofr@gmail.com