Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

Early this morning I met up with NIDES students and parents at Oyster River Enhancement Society's Hatchery to learn and talk about freshwater ecosystems. This is a particularly exciting time of year because volunteers are harvesting and fertilizing Pink salmon eggs. Our tour was led by Charlie, a knowledgeable and inquisitive fellow.

The kids made several keen observations and assertions like "you keep the environment clean with no cigarettes," and "slugs are our friends." We discussed where water comes from and why it flows downhill - important foundational things like that.  Charlie taught the kids what a healthy salmon egg looks like and gave them the clear (dead) eggs to carry around. What an exciting journey and a great way to learn about the greater context of clean, fresh water in the Regional District. 

I set up this field trip in collaboration with Alissa Pratt, a teacher from NIDES, as part of a three lesson workshop for her distance learning students. The PowerOfR.ca presentations and workshops are free for students of SD71 &SD72. If you would like to invite myself or Gayle to present in your class around the topics of Solid Waste and Water - email powerofr@gmail.com for more information. 

A whole new season of The Power Of R is firing up this September and I'm taking bookings right now for free classroom and school presentations in the 2010-2011 school year. I'm looking really forward to making an impact together with the youth of School District 71 and 72 this year. Power Of R presentations and workshops can be specifically designed to work with your curriculum and PLO's so you don't fall behind schedule. Please ask about this option.  If you would like me to speak with your class please send an email to: powerofr@gmail.com. I'm looking really forward to booking with you soon. Photo by: Tash Baycroft

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.”

"I am often telling people about Zac Whyte and what a great speaker he is, however, every time he presents, he never ceases to blow my mind. The students are simply captivated, resting on his every word.”

In late April I was invited to speak at Valley View Elementary School. My presentation  addressed issues of garbage and actions we could take locally to shift the growing consumer trend that has doubled our per-capita garbage output by 100% in only 10 years. I spoke about our responsibility as an educated and capable nation of individuals to lead initiatives that 'better the planet' in every sense of the phrase.  The presentation really resonated with the youth and teachers in the room that day because what happened next... well let's just say that it makes me proud to be surrounded by such an incredible group of community leaders.

The entire school rallied over the next two weeks to fulfill the schools 2009-2010 theme of "Making A Difference." Hours upon days of debate and discussion followed the presentation about the issues addressed in my talk. The school decided to hold a penny drive. " I thought the kids would raise about $80," teacher Andrew Ferneyhough told me after the fundraiser, "I was taken aback when they raise almost $100 per division." The week following the penny drive united the school in further discussions about the Comox Valley, Canada, and the rest of the world on the whole, as they rolled a staggering $1500 worth of pennies together. Students were led by teachers and explored the history of pennies, properties of copper, the significance of Queen Elizabeth II, and the origin of money among other topics. It was "applied learning, the best type of learning" Grade 6 teacher Jay Bridges commented.

On May 13th the students invited me back to the school because they had a surprise for me. I was presented a hand crafted cheque for $1400 and a wagon of neatly rolled and boxed pennies to endorse it. "We used a $100 to celebrate with pizza," one of the kids blurted out. "Was it fun to celebrate your accomplishments and make a positive difference in the world," I asked. The room collectively cheered "yes!" It was energizing. The school had chosen to donate the pennies to fresh water, education, health care and alternate income projects in Kenya through a Canadian child rights organization called Free The Children.

These are the moments that I love. I love to see the shift in the eyes of kids when they make a connection or realize the individual power they have to direct positive change in their world. It gives me chills, good chills. What's interesting, is when it happens for a majority of the kids - it's not during the talk, during the fund raising,  or during the learning, penny rolling (in this case) or in the camaraderie they feel with their friends united together in their common goal - it's when they reflect on their journey and see how their journey has impacted the world. Actions like this are outside of ourselves and I am grateful that today the earth has found over 400 new harbingers of her true spirit.

Congratulations Valley View Elementary on taking ownership of your home and becoming a powerful part of your global community. Let's celebrate that everyday from now.

Now is your chance to get rid of those hazardous materials in your house. 

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management service (CSWM) is hosting household hazardous waste drop off days in both the Comox Valley and Campbell River.  The events will be held on Saturday, May 29th in the parking lot of the Driftwood Mall in Courtenay from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and in Campbell River on Saturday, June 5th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot behind the Ironwood Mall.

CSWM will be enlisting the services of HAZCO Environmental Services to manage these events. Acceptable materials include household hazardous waste items such as solvents, pesticides, gasoline, cleaners and batteries. For full details on the hazardous waste drop off events visit comoxvalleyrd.ca.

Items that can be diverted to other locations will not be accepted at the hazardous waste clean up event.

·         Residents can return paint in its original container to the Comox Return Centre – Paint Exchange at 678 Anderton Road, Comox or to the Campbell River Bottle Depot at 1580F Willow Street.  However, paint that is not deemed acceptable by these facilities will be accepted at the clean up events. 

·         Electronics can be returned to the Courtenay Return Centre on 1255 McPhee Avenue, and also to  the Campbell River Bottle Depot

·         Oil and oil containers can be returned to locations that are listed on www.usedoilrecycling.com

For more information on recycling other material and to find the closest recycling location to you call the Recycling Hotline at 1-800-667-4321.

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

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

So I've given these re-useable produce bags a try the last few times I've been grocery shopping. They definitely work well and turn a lot of  heads in the broccoli isle. I'm actually very impressed with these little bags called TazzyTotes. I use them for a majority of my shopping in the produce section and I even put a couple  Chorizo sausages in one to see how well it worked for deli stuff. The woman behind the deli counter was confused, "can we use this... is this legal... is it food safe?" "That's an interesting question," I replied. "I promise I won't sue you for living on the edge."

It's really amazing to look around the grocery store and see all of the packaging, I mean, actually see it for what it is. It's insanity. When I got home with my reusable bags and put them in the fridge, I went out to the garage and perused my overloaded recycling bins. About 95% of the stuff in my bins is food packaging. I'm not sure what to say about that except I think something is wrong with this picture.

Food security is a huge issue in our country and you only have to contract dysentery once to figure out why. Clean food is not something we really have to think about every day, save the listeria outbreak last year in Maple Leaf meat products.  The thing that bothers me the most though is our obsession with wrapping foods, even vegetables, into a state of total plasticity. Fancy plastic packaging is taking over what used to be a very natural and  "organic" daily routine.

When the woman at the deli counter contemplated the possibility of being fired for giving me two pieces of dried meat in my own bag, I had to give my head a shake. Our society is so safe that we can walk around like a bunch of lemmings and never really worry about falling over a ledge. It is possible to go through the day to day in Canada without actually being present until American Idol comes on and you need to wake up and become an expert singing judge for an hour. The Canadian legal system has done a very efficient job of separating our own consciousness from reality. Especially when it comes to grocery shopping.

For me, the grocery store is like a zombie land most of the time. I walk around there, buy stuff, and I don't really know where I've been until I arrive home. It's at that point I snap out of my consumer hypnosis and remember the organic green onions in the thick plastic bags saying ,"buy me I'm organic and pretty," the cauliflower saying "I can double as a bowling ball and I promise that I'm tasty," the California strawberries saying "we're flavorless and watery so that's why we need a plastic fish tank to keep us together in shipping... buy us anyways"  Really, where's the choice when the produce talks to you. Our brains are being buried in synthetic marketing.

We just need to wake up and make the experience of shopping a discerning process again. At the very least, talk back when we're being told what to do by a pile of plastic wrapped cucumbers. Maybe if we peel all of the plastic off the vegetables before we buy them, the stores will put pressure on the suppliers to stop sending veggies wrapped in petroleum products.  The grocery store would amass so much garbage that things would have to change. Give a reusable bag a try next time you go shopping, they don't talk back I promise.