April 2009 E-news

Sustainability Tips for April!

Hey change-maker!! Happy Earth Month! This is a time to renew our commitments to protecting the Earth, or maybe, make NEW commitments? Check out these tips with some really simple, easy ways that you can help! Rock the change!

Cleaning Up Our Atmosphere and Our Biosphere:

1. Depending on where you live, cars can be convenient. However, more often than not, we can rely on other methods of transportation to get us to work, school, our friends’ houses and then home again! How about walk, ride your bike, organize a car pool, or catch public transit instead of driving!
2. If you have to use your car, use it efficiently, reduce air pollution and save gas! Ask your parents to buy an eco-friendly car if they are looking to get a new one. Lighten your vehicle’s load by clearing the trunk and removing the roof racks if they are not needed. Drive smoothly instead of braking at a high speed. Ensure your tires are filled to the maximum recommended air pressure, and have your car serviced regularly.
3. Use your electrical appliances wisely, so that you can save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by: washing with cold water and doing so only when the washing machine is full; using your clothes dryer only when it is absolutely necessary; switching off your television, games and computer when you are not using them; as well as using low wattage bulbs (compact fluorescents!) and turning your lights off when you leave the room.

The New Green Street Youth Action Centre Blog!!

Green Street has long had the goal of connecting with youth to help empower them to be a part of the change towards a greener, and more socially-conscious way of living. Along with the Youth Engagement Program, and as a part of the new Green Street website, we would like to formally introduce you to the Green Street Youth Action Centre Blog!

We have created a blog to allow students the opportunity to expressing their questions, concerns and opinions to other students all across the country. It is an opportunity to get inspired and see what other students like you have been doing! You are able to get new ideas, sort out problems and even communicate with these youth to get their advice on action projects!

There will be upcoming events, cool videos, and inspirational stories about a variety of social justice action projects. Remember, it is not JUST about the environment; every social justice issue is connected to environmental issues as well.

The ultimate purpose of this blog is to give Canadian youth a place to voice their opinions and have them heard by an environmental education program that is making waves across the country and creating more globally conscious young people. We want you to feel like you are a part of the activities and programs with which Green Street is involved. The blog is interactive, so you can get in touch with Green Street Youth Advisory Committee members and get the scoop on current issues as well!

So, to access the Youth Action Centre blog, go to: gsyouthactioncentre.wordpress.com! If you want to get in touch with the blog facilitators or write an article for us, please e-mail: youthaction@green-street.ca. We hope to receive your posts soon!

YEA! Raising Environmental Awareness on the Rock!

In 2005, a grade nine student volunteered to become Site Coordinator for the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Clean Up in Baie Verte, Newfoundland. Back then, Thomas Howard could not have foreseen where this would all lead. The beach cleanups continued each year, and Thomas and his friend Justin Hewitt recruited several friends to take their efforts to the next level. In 2006, YEA! (Youth for Environmental Awareness) was formed and the group of young people are still moving leaps and bounds!

Most recently, in February 2009, YEA! was successful in securing a Provincial Health and Wellness grant to help make their community the first idle-free town within all of Newfoundland and Labrador! The group is dedicated to reducing engine idling in their town, and creating a healthier environment by reducing the release of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

YEA! has been involved in several initiatives, even in the short time since the group’s formation. By doing some basic research, YEA! learned that the local grocery store was spending $50,000 per year on plastic shopping bags; most of which were ending up in the landfill. The group got to work, and through presentations and partnering with the grocery store, reduced the number of bags being used by customers. They partnered with the store to encourage the use of re-usable bags, and that trend is STILL growing!

The local Sears department store came on board with YEA! in 2007, agreeing to accept any of their distributed catalogues that were returned to the store. YEA! organized a catalogue drive and in February 2009, a junior high school class in Baie Verte organized a catalogue recycling drive as well. The students collected 565 glossy magazines and catalogues that were boxed and shipped by Sears for de-inking and recycling.

YEA! is looking forward to planning more projects that will raise awareness about the simple everyday things that ordinary people can do to make a difference. Living in remote and rural communities, like Baie Verte, that do not have recycling programs, means finding creative and innovative ways to encourage people to make environmentally-responsible choices. By working with community partners, YEA! is dedicated to finding solutions that will offer people eco-friendly options. Thomas Howard believes that, “youth can be a very powerful influence in making a difference. Adults most often respond favourably to dedicated youth, and are inspired into action by committed and passionate young people.”

Youth for Environmental Awareness (YEA)! is looking forward to continuing making a difference, and is excited about building the membership base and getting young people involved in upcoming household battery recycling drives, tire pressure clinics, and being activists on environmental issues! We will be very busy next year and in the future! For more information about the group, check out the YEA! website at: enviroyouthnl.com

Resource Review: TED Talks

TED talks started out in 1984 to bring together people in the technology, entertainment and design fields at an annual conference at Long Beach. Since, they have launched a website. TED Talk’s website was created to help ideas circulate so that those who cannot attend the conference as many of the speakers have been recorded. Over 50 million have watched TED talks, and it is said that 2009's conference will seat 1 450 people. This event is moving, inspiring, incredible and exhilarating.  To find out more visit their website at: www.ted.com. Explore the website and don’t be surprised if you find yourself inspired by these interesting and provocative talks!

Check out this inspiring talk by Cameron Sinclair. Unlike many architects who focus on creating the gems and unforgettable buildings, he focuses on understanding how innovative and sustainable design can make differences in communities. He believes strongly that all problems are local and all solutions are local. His open source business model is about accessibility, where anyone in the world can get involved. Thousands of architects and designs around the world are getting involved in humanitarian work. From creating transitional houses in post-conflict Kosovo to mobile clinics in Africa, you’ll bound to be inspired by Sinclair’s creativity and enthusiasm.

Check out his TED talk at about open sourcing and architecture: www.ted.com/index.php/talks/cameron_sinclair
_on_open_source_architecture.html

Cameron Sinclair started Architecture for humanity: www.architectureforhumanity.org

The Millennium Development Goals - Where Are We?

In the year 2000, the United Nations developed a new plan to alleviate global poverty and improve standards of living, called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There were eight goals: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development. These goals had specific targets, all to be reached by the year 2015. They all had the potential to do so, if their concrete action plans were followed. These goals were praised and those who had developed them were full of hope and promise. The world had finally come together to fight poverty.

However, at the rate we are going, it is unlikely that all of the MDGs will actually be met by 2015. An unwillingness by developed countries to take on the challenge and contribute to the cause and the inability of many developing countries to help themselves has hindered their progress. There is another problem: many experts think that the MGDs are not ambitious enough. To make a real impact on poverty, they say that the goals need to have higher targets.

It would probably be possible to meet all of the goals, on time, if a real commitment was made to them. As Marc Kielburger (of Free the Children) said at Me to We Day 2008, “Our world is going to spend $18 billion this year on makeup, but according to the United Nations it will only take an additional $17 billion to ensure a child wouldn’t die of poverty every two seconds. We don’t have a money problem; we have a values and priorities problem.”

You may be wondering what all of this has to do with Earth Day (it is April, after all). Well, first of all, one of the MDGs is to ensure environmental sustainability. This goal recognizes that a healthy natural environment will contribute to healthier humans and an improved standard of living in the long run. Second, climate change is having a devastating impact on impoverished developing countries in Africa. Droughts in these areas have become longer and more frequent, making it harder for parents to sell crops to make a living and feed their children; climate change is contributing to poverty in these countries. It is important to understand that most of the pollution that causes climate change is actually coming from developed countries, like Canada, not the developing countries which are experiencing droughts.

This probably seems like a HUGE, complicated problem but that does not mean that we should give up. The United Nations, while very effective at some things, has never been very good at fighting poverty in any meaningful way, so it is unlikely that the answer will come from them. Independent and grassroots organizations are doing much more to fight global poverty and suffering in ways that have a more positive impact. Even people just like you can do a lot to help. Volunteer with an organization that fights poverty, donate money or organize a fundraising event- maybe even start your own non-profit organization! Even just educating yourself about the issue of poverty and spreading awareness does a lot. We don’t have to wait for politicians to start caring before we can do something. If everyone does something, even something small, maybe we can end poverty after all.

As Dr. Seuss said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”

For more information, you can refer to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals website at: www.un.org/millenniumgoals. Be sure to check out three organizations that have done an amazing job at working to fight poverty internationally: Free the Children (www.freethechildren.com), Oxfam Canada (www.oxfam.ca) and Kiva (www.kiva.org).

We would love to hear what YOU think about the Millennium Development Goals! Are they attainable? What are the issues that you think need to be addressed a lot more? Go to the Youth Action Centre Blog and give us your opinion! 

Submitted By: Rachel Ginsberg, YAC Member

Hope 2 Others (H2O) Canada

Hope 2 Others Canada is a non-profit organization which aims to help motivate ordinary students to do extraordinary things. Through H2O, we have developed the “Be the Change Challenge” program, which mobilizes youth to impact their own communities. Our goal is to raise funds, as well as awareness, regarding global and environmental issues. We have made presentations to schools in our community, who agreed to implement our program; we designed and implemented environmental surveys for over one thousand students! Through this, we have been able to start “Green Teams” at schools and help students get involved in special events such as contests and workshops. We work with leadership teams at local school to create action projects, including campaigns for litterless lunches and community-wide composting.

To launch our “Be the Change” theme at an assembly, we worked with students to develop puppet shows and skits, in addition to a drumming performance and rap called “Trash Talk”. We helped students to create “Be the Change” movies, which were shown at assemblies and parent nights at local schools. We helped them prepare for a Fine Arts presentation in lieu of a more traditional winter concert for their community. We had five hundred students write down one “green act” that they would commit to this year, which are displayed on a “Be the Change” tree in their hallway. This visual helps students understand that although one act might not seem like much, together they make a huge impact. Through the “Be the Change Challenge”, it has been rewarding to see over one thousand five hundred students mobilized, after increasing their awareness of global issues, helping them become more engaged in meaningful, socially-responsible projects, and in turn, watching them impact the attitudes and behaviours of their families and friends.

Last year, we launched a website (www.h2o-canada.ca), blog and Facebook group in and effort to spread our message and engage more youth. Through Hope 2 Others Canada, we wrote and developed the Surrey, BC Sustainable Schools Initiative, and made several presentation to our superintendents and school trustees, as well as other school groups. We were the ONLY students invited to participate in the BC Sustainable Schools Forum, which brought together school district leaders from around British Columbia, in an effort to achieve sustainability in our province’s school system.

The H2O Team has made several presentations to community groups like Rotary Clubs; and have been invited to partner with some of them over the next five years to fundraise for our African water filter project. Furthermore, the H2O Team is currently in Ghana, Africa, implementing their water filter project. In addition to working with locals to build and install the filters, we are delivering much-needed school supplies and sports equipment!

We believe that, in general, society has low expectations of what teenagers can accomplish. We want to see other young people grow as leaders and citizens in their communities and in the world, by taking on meaningful projects. Through H2O, youth are being provided with opportunities to have a positive impact on the world. We have recently made a video that summarizes some of our projects, which is featured on the BC Green Games website (www.bcgreengames.ca). The Hope 2 Others Organization was also recently featured in a television show called “GenWhy?” and in a couple of local newspaper articles (www.bclocalnews.com). Besides raising significant amounts of money and raising awareness of global issues for lots of people, we hope the H2O projects will continue to mobilize thousands of youth to impact their communities and “be the change they wish to see in the world”.

We ARE “Environmentally-Concerned Students”!

As a 17-year old student who is living through this present climate crisis, John Park could not help but see obvious room for improvement. This was the same case for Graham Clark, Adam Kelner, Payal Patel and Joanna Salsberg. That is how Environmentally Concerned Students (ECS) was created. We wanted to be heard as a student voice for the environment. There is so much science and knowledge out there – enough to prove that climate change is happening at an incredibly disastrous rate. We wanted to show that the care and concern were there too.

Most importantly, we wanted to take action. The incredible amount of scientific knowledge that people have acquired is not at all balanced by the required action. There are some individuals, and organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, who are setting the much needed examples of successful global action. But as long as the climate is changing, as long as species are perishing every day, and as long as the Arctic keeps melting at record rates, we can always do more.

A few months ago we embarked on a campaign that we call ‘Blue Beaufort’. The Beaufort Sea, off the northwest shore of Canada, is a critical habitat for many key arctic species and the home to the indigenous Inuvialuit people. Large parcels of seabed have been auctioned off for oil and gas exploration. As things stand, there are no sufficient oil spill response plans for ice covered seas such as the Beaufort. A spill there could be catastrophic. This is clearly an issue that needs increased attention and timely action.

We have two main goals – and they are very simple. First, we want to raise public awareness of the issue. With heightened collective awareness, our goal is to build a stronger voice that will be heard by the government and the oil companies. We are giving presentations around Toronto – in schools, churches and in other communities as well. Secondly, we want to directly urge Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to delay the sales of oil and gas rights until more realistic, reliable and tested oil spill response plans and necessary infrastructure are in place. For this purpose, we have put together a petition.

ECS has been giving passionate presentations for a couple of months now, and the reaction already has been inspirational. It was exactly what we wanted to reveal in the first place – that people actually care. Other youth, even from different parts of the country, have stepped up and offered to help in spreading the word and distributing the petition.

We have a long way to go. As the name of our campaign, Blue Beaufort, suggests, we will keep speaking out until the Beaufort Sea, and ultimately the whole Arctic which is so critical to our planet’s health, will remain blue and unspoiled – free from the black stains of oil activity and irresponsible development. As students, we don’t have as much knowledge as scientists do, and we don’t have as much control over government policies as lawyers and politicians do. But we do have the passion, concern and ability to raise awareness and show the decision makers that people care. And that’s what we are striving to contribute to the concerted efforts towards a more sustainable future.

Submitted By: John Park, Bayview Secondary School

Embracing Species Diversity!

Here in Canada, we are very fortunate to be very close to such a big piece of the Arctic Circle. Not only are there useful resources and diverse landscapes, but also, unique and fascinating wildlife. When you think of animals in the Arctic, a polar bear, Arctic fox, or perhaps a small lemming, would come to mind. Personally, when I think of Arctic wildlife, I imagine a sleek beluga whale gliding through the water with her calf. Whales are magnificent, majestic and gigantic creatures that are scattered throughout the Canadian Arctic; and they all have interesting stories to share.

The bowhead whale is the second largest whale species in the world; the Blue Whale being the largest animal species ever to exist. They can grow to be sixty feet in length, and their tongue alone weighs about one ton (907 kg!)! The bowhead is a type of baleen whale, which means that they eat by filtering small prey, such as plankton, through their numerous baleen plates. Zoologists do not know the actual life span of the bowhead whale, as they live much longer than humans do. To give you an idea, a couple of bowheads found over the past ten years off the coast of the North-Western United States and North-Eastern Canada had European harpoon heads embedded in their skin that would have been used during the 1890’s.

The killer whale lives up to its name - it eats anything that it can sink its teeth into. Killer whales are known for preying on fish and beluga whales and are capable of bringing down a polar bear. Field researchers have even found killer whale bite marks on the tails of bowhead whales! They are fairly small compared to an average-sized 50-foot bowhead whale, at an average size of 15-25 feet in length. They prefer deep water, but due to the recent decrease in sea ice content, killer whales are beginning to enter Hudson Bay. Scientists have been placing sound recorders near James Bay to listen for killer whale calls, and have actually detected their presence. In the future, killer whales may be seen as an exotic species in Hudson Bay, by stressing food sources and preying on beluga whales.

These are just a few points that may be of interest to you about some pretty incredible animals. If you are interested and want to find out more about marine wildlife, you can search the internet, or if you live near a large body of water, get out and check out the wildlife! Believe me - a land-locked prairie girl - you will learn a lot.

Submitted By: Beth Ferreira, YAC Member