Posts tagged with environment.

ABC and hug a tree

Kathy Dobson, August 5, 2009 at 10:31 AM

Tin, plastic, cardboard, paper. It's become a reflex. Whenever I empty a glass jar, or one of the kids finish a box of cereal, we wouldn't even think about pitching it into the garbage. Recycling has become ingrained in our daily routine.

It's hard to believe it hasn't always been that way. For my family, it all started in the schools.

It was my daughter's Grade 2 teacher, Sandy Winchester, who more than a decade ago helped transform an entire community into a greener place.

Thanks to its naturalization project, Rothwell-Osnabruck Public School in Ingleside was awarded the Toyota Evergreen Learning Grounds Award of Excellence for 2002. Flower beds, natural pathways, dozens of trees and even an outdoor fitness center turned the school's grounds into a showcase for the environment.

But perhaps even more important than the newly planted trees and bushes, this teacher created an entire generation of environmentally-conscious students. Who in turn, started educating their parents about how to go green, as well.

My daughter is now headed into her second year of university. But she still remembers that Grade 2 teacher, and the lessons she learned about how each of us need to do our part to help save the planet.

"That egg carton is recyclable, you know," my then-seven-year-old daughter would be quick to remind me and her dad. "And Mrs. Winchester says you can just cut the bottom out of that pizza box, and then you can recycle it."

More than ten years later, Grade 8 students from my 13-year-old son's school in Kitchener are preparing a Wetland Appreciation event for October 17th.

Along with Grade 8 teacher Duane Heide, and other volunteers from the community, my son will be helping to clean up the wetlands. The group will also learn how to preserve the 20-hectare natural area for the geese, ducks, barn swallows, and even two Great Egrets, which are on the threatened species list.

"It really is a gem in the middle of our community," says Duane Heide.

For this generation of students, it seems completely normal for their teachers to get involved with these kinds of events. And to encourage their students to volunteer as well.

In addition to their ABCs, today's students are learning how to minimize their ecological footprint.

One pizza box at a time.

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