May 2007 E-news

An Update on Earth Day Celebrations!

From to Merritt, B.C. to Corner Brook, Newfoundland and from Whitehorse, Yukon to Ajax, Ontario, Canadians celebrated Earth Day with every sort of event and action you can imagine! The organization Earth Day Canada, one of the Green Street Providers, helped people all across the country organize, publicize and participate in events ranging from tree planting eco-fairs and lake/beach/creek cleanups to green film festivals, e-waste recycling and even an interspiritual salmon blessing.

Get more ideas for celebrating Earth Day all year round by learning what others did this year with Earth Day Canada’s Event search engine and download their “Action Packs” for communities, schools and workplaces! Check out their website.

Earth Day Canada’s Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day (and not just once a year either!!)

1. Park It: Leave your car at home for a day (or a week or a month) and try walking or biking. If work is too far away to walk, take public transit or carpool.
2. Shut Down: Turn off the lights, the computer and the TV when they are not in use.
3. Where's The Beef?: Try eating meat-free at least one day a week.
4. Eat It: Choose foods produced organically, locally and in season.
5. Let It Rot: Put a composter in your backyard or use your green bin to reduce household waste.
6. Don't Be Idle: Turn off your car's engine if stopped for more than 10 seconds.
7. Keep Your Eye On The Temp: Set your thermostat above room temperature in the summer and below room temperature in the winter.
8. Bright Ideas: Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs).
9. Don't Dump It - Blue Box It!: The simple act of recycling has more impact on the environment that the average Canadian thinks.
10. Tell Someone: This is a great opportunity to brag.
    

Congrats to the Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Winners!

The Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Program encourages and rewards graduating Canadian high school students and Québec junior college students who have distinguished themselves through environmental community service, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and academic excellence. We’d like to say extra huge congratulations to those winners who are also members of our Youth Steering Committee (YSC) (their names are marked down below)…

This year’s top environmental stewards are:

Kristine O'Rielly: St. Brendan's, NL
Sheralynne Deveaux: Coxheath, NS
Giroflée Chrétien Arsenault: Saint-Hyacinthe, QC
Véronique Barry: Québec, QC
Olga Lositsky: Montréal, QC
Amélie Verville: Sorel-Tracy, QC
Caryma Sa'd: Mississauga, ON
Nathan Putnam: British Columbia
Margaret Knight: Victoria, BC (*Margaret is from Esquimalt High School, and she’s one of the students involved in the Sustainable High Schools program featured in this newsletter)
Kathryn Lapenskie: Winnipeg, MB
Megan Paavola: Winnipeg, MB
Kelsi Prince: Port Hope, ON (*YSC member)
Yvonne Su: Newmarket, ON (*YSC member)
Gracen Johnson: London, ON
BobbyJo Bodnar: Saskatoon, SK

Way to go all of you!

Is your School Sustainable?

Does it ever bug you that you don't know if your basketball team uniforms were sewn in a sweatshop or if the coffee at your school is organic and fair trade? Do you ever feel a bit alone in caring for the environment when you are surrounded with the apathetic attitude of your classmates, and the bullying, cliques and peer pressure?

Well, have no fear! The Sustainable High Schools Project is here! The Sierra Youth Coalition have adapted their Sustainable Campuses "Sustainability Assessment Framework" for use in high schools so that you can measure exactly how sustainable (or unsustainable!) your school is and get the info and tools you need to create transformative change in how your school is run. Nik Parent, a former Green Street Youth Intern and an executive committee member of the Sierra Youth Coalition, has been running a pilot project at his high school in Ontario, while former SYC staff Emily Menzies has been working with the wonderful folks at the Sierra Club B.C. Chapter's Education Program in getting BC high schools involved through mentoring high school clubs and delivering class presentations on sustainability in terms of Water, Energy and Economy & Wealth.

The Sustainable High Schools Project enables high school students to engage their peers, teachers, administrators, parents, and other school staff in envisioning, assessing and working together to improve the level of sustainability at their school. It empowers students with the skills, tools, and resources to lead successful high school initiatives that will generate greater social equity, ecological integrity and economic accountability through classroom projects, policy creation, and infrastructure upgrades.

What Schools Are Involved?

Here are just a few of the amazing schools and the projects they’re working on:

These youth leaders have been forming a network of schools sharing tips, success stories and lessons learned while working to make their schools models of just and sustainable communities. They will be evaluating the project so far at a camp this summer, sharing feedback and planning how to make the project even better for next year!

I Want More Info!
If you'd like to get involved, check out www.sustainablehighschools.ca or contact Emily at emily@sierraclub.bc.ca.

For those interested in joining SYC or the Sustainable Campuses Project check out www.syc-cjs.org.

Some Thoughts On Bottled Water

By Liz from our Youth Steering committee

In 1999 Canadians bought more than 700 million litres of bottled water (Colabrese:2000). There are many issues that are associated with this enormous industry, including the safety of bottled water, the cost, and the environmental impacts. Not to mention that too few people have taken the time to think about the moral implications of the commodification* of water.

Safety
The safety of drinking bottled water is debatable because the government of Canada classifies it under its Food and Drug Regulations, not water regulations (Health Canada: 2000). Water regulations are very strict, while the restrictions for bottled water are relatively relaxed. The tap water in Peel, Ontario is tested numerous times every day for the quality – can we say the same for every type of bottled water we find on store shelves? Probably not, and this is just one difference from the regulations for bottled water versus tap water.

Economics
Economically speaking, bottling one of Earth’s most valuable resources is a great idea, if you’re not the consumer. By charging around $2.50 for a 1 litre bottle, these companies are effectively charging almost 3000 time the price of Toronto tap water (David Suzuki Foundation: 2006), and much more than the price of gas, all while making a large profit in the process. This market for bottled water is growing very quickly all over the world.

Morals
An underappreciated issue is the moral justification for the commodification of water. There are people all over the world in desperate need of water, so it seems of rather poor character to allow large corporations to gain control over a basic human right. The United Nations warns that almost 2 billion people will live without access to water beyond 2025 (Inter Press Service: 2005). Thousands and thousands of people will be without access to clean water (and already are), and even if the water was sent overseas, it most likely wouldn’t be sent to those who need it, but those who can afford it.

The bottled water industry is not only ridiculously overpriced but ethically unsound. It is in good conscience that many people are choosing to revert back to drinking tap water.

Want to Know More?
Check out the David Suzuki Foundation’s webpage on bottled water.

And then check out Health Canada’s thoughts on bottled water.

International Youth Internships

From working as an Eco-Housing officer in India to a Local Connections Coordinator in Egypt, you could find yourself with the experience of a lifetime when you participate in the International Youth Internship Program. You’ll learn tons of new skills, help contribute to Canada’s development goals, and when you’re done your internship, your sponsorship organization will help you look for new work! Sounds incredible eh?!

Check out more information and the internship opportunities available on their website at www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/internships.

Activist Book Launch

Greystone Books invites you to the official launch parties of Notes from Canada's Young Activists: A Generation Stands Up for Change. The book featuring some incredible young activitists from across Canada.

Some of the folks you might meet include:

Severn Cullis-Suzuki
Kris Frederickson
Ahmed Kayssi
Cynthia Mackenzie
Daniel Aldana Cohen
Jessica Lax and The Otesha Project

Where’s the Launch?
In Toronto
RSVP to: youngactivistslaunch@yahoo.ca
Where: Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina, 4th Floor
When: Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 6pm

In Vancouver
RSVP to: actioncanada@sfu.ca
Where: Joseph and Rosalie Segal Centre, Room 1400, Simon Fraser University, 515 West Hastings
When: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 from 5-7pm

Global Mindshift’s Wombat Video

The good folks at global-mindshift.org have put together a lovely video of a wombat’s short take on the state of the world. Make sure to check it out at:
www.globalcommunity.org/multimedia.shtml (there’s a cool video called An Extraordinary Moment on the same page).

And go to global-mindshift.org to see the online community of conversations, ideas and great short videos like Planet of Peril, Planet of Promise.

Adopt an MP

The Canadian Youth Climate Change Coalition (CYCC) has a new program called “Adopt an MP!”. Youth (and others) commit to adopt our local Members of Parliament (MP) to educate them about climate change and help them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

The whole campaign is non-partisan (i.e. doesn’t favour one party over another), and no MP will “graduate” from the program until Canada has met our Kyoto commitments! Each month the CYCC forwards out an MP Challenge of the Month. Challenges could be as small as trying to get your MP to sign the Youth Declaration on the Climate, or bigger tasks such as doing in-office assessments of your MP's light bulbs or mode of transportation to work.

Your job is to get your MP to carry out the assignment and report back on your findings by the end of the third week of each month. If you feel like you can support those MPs that are constructively engaging in the climate change debate and educate those MPs that need to step up to the plate and take concrete action, then check out the program on their website.