Meet the ecoMentors : a Green Street program provider

ecoMentors Training Workshop
Come on out for an action-packed day of hands-on learning and take the first step towards becoming an ecoMentor. You could be taking students on a nature walk, creating artwork or smoothing the way to a classroom debate on sweatshop-free clothing. You could deliver a few workshops a semester or a few a week. It's all up to you!

ecoMentor workshops are offered by Earth Day Canada, a Green Street Provider. They train high school students to deliver environmental education activities and projects in elementary school classrooms in the Greater Toronto Area. Once you’ve been trained, you can:

• Gain valuable work experience
• Fulfill co-op or volunteer requirements
• Explore career choices in a ton of fields that might be new to you
• Help elementary school students discover the planet
• Meet other students like you who want to help the environment

When you’re at a workshop, you’ll receive training with other ecoMentors about ways to teach environmental issues, how to talk to the public, and most importantly, how to find the issues you’re especially passionate about… and the more passionate you are, the better a teacher you’ll be. Plus, there’ll be other ecoMentors there to answer your questions and share their experiences.

To register:
Register online at www.ecomentors.ca, and let them know that you’re interested in having a workshop. You might need to bring together some other students - they’re currently taking about 20 students per workshop. They’ll even send you a special ecoMentors Program Handbook before attending the workshop (sent to you upon registration) so that you know what to expect and what you’ll be doing.
If you know any teachers and elementary students who might be into this too, they can register to have an ecoMentor in your classroom online at ecomentors.ca.

If you have any questions, email Earth Day Canada at ecomentors@earthday.ca.

YC3 Conference Update

So the Youth Climate Change Conference (YC3) happened from July 3rd to 6th in Victoria, B.C. There was about 70 youth from 7 different provinces and territories, and a few from the United States, Scotland and Wales. People spoke English, French and Inuktituk, and some even performed some traditional throat singing from Iqaluit, Nunavut – a very cool experience.
While the conference was on, youth and presenters learned about climate change, its causes, its effects on people and the environment, and real solutions actions that are taking place around the globe.

Since the conference, there are all sorts of new plans on the go:

• creating mentorships for the YC3 students to link up with climate change experts
• having a website chat room and forum so people can keep in touch with each other and the projects they’re working on… plus listing new climate change info and activities on the website

And the youth who participated have got big stuff going on too. Here are some of their ideas:

• “I’ve decided I don’t need a car.
• “I’m currently writing a curriculum for some presentations I want to make a local schools”
• “I am organizing a sponsored bike across Canada”
• And tons and tons of other ideas…

A big shout out to Sunny Zhai and Tania Cheng who attended the YC3 conference with Green Street sponsorship!

To read more ideas that came out of the conference check out the YC3 website.

Makin’ Wind

This comes to us from a Donnan Elementary-Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta. They participated in a Pembina Institute workshop on renewable energy, and they couldn’t believe that they managed to make their own energy! This is what they had to say…

In our grade 9 science class we learned about renewable and nonrenewable energy. We discussed the different ways of generating electricity. Then our class built wind turbines from the Re-energy.ca site (www.re-energy.ca). We made a total of six turbines and they all generated electricity! We all followed the directions in detail, you can't miss a thing or something will go wrong. We had to do a lot of adjusting to get it just right. Every time a model was completed and the LED light lit up the group cheered.

We were able to view the electricity being generated by attaching some probes to the turbines, which sent information to some computer software. Then we used a LCD projector to view it at the front of the class. We could actually see the alternating current being generated, how much, and the shape of the waves. We discussed the differences between the turbines, and could offer suggestions to increase the amount of electricity generated.

-Swanky!-
Sincerely,
Mr. Schmidt's Grade 9 science class.

YEN National Youth One-Tonne Challenge

YEN National Youth One-Tonne Challenge Program Grants!
Deadline for applications is October 30th, 2005!!!
The Youth Environment Network (YEN), a collective of youth groups and activists from across Canada, is helping to deliver the One-Tonne Challenge (see www.climatechange.gc.ca/onetonne)... And they’re looking to give money for great project ideas! If you have a project idea, the YEN wants to help you make a life-long commitment to environmentally sustainable behaviour by supporting your ideas and your passion.

Check out YEN’s One-Tonne Challenge (OTC) website – www.CO2zilla.ca – to get information on climate change and the kinds of actions you can take to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. If you get a grant, also keep an eye on this site for ideas and forums to report how you’ve reduced greenhouse gases. Funded projects can start in mid-November 2005 and must be completed by the end of February 2006.

While you’re working on a funded project, you won’t be alone… YEN National and Regional Program Coordinators can help organize you to identify solutions to challenges as they come up and help you measure and evaluate your program. The coordinators will help relay information, keep in touch with YEN and keep groups on the up with what’s going on with other OTC projects in their areas.

What YEN’s Looking For
There’s a bunch of different criteria that YEN identified your project should met. For example:

• Is it youth-led, youth-oriented and youth driven?
• Does it benefit many people and/or groups, not just a few?
• Does it help reduce greenhouse gases?
• Is it original and fun?

**In addition to these, there’s other criteria you should know about as well as great tips on how to get letters of support and how to fill out the application (like did you know there’s a YEN OTC Super-CD that can help you?). If you’re thinking of applying, email or call René Coignaud, the National Coordinator for the YEN OTC Program at:

Email: otc-dut@yen-rej.org or
Phone: 613.728.9810 ext.23 or 33.

And if you want to see what the application form looks like, click here. But don’t forget to get in touch with YEN before you fill it out because they can definitely help you with it!

Clean Air Achievers

Can you be a Clean Air Achiever? If you want to get active for the environment and your own health, then the answer is YES!

The Clean Air Achievers program will be launched this year in selected classrooms (Grades 7, 8, 9) in four cities (and surrounding areas): Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

CAA helps you learn about how air quality, climate change, transportation and your health are linked. CAA will challenge you to adopt less polluting (compared to motorized vehicles like cars and SUVs) ways to travel, especially by using active means of transportation such as biking, rolling or walking.

You’ll love that our “spokespeople” aren’t scientists from labs or researchers from universities – they’re some of Canada’s top athletes, who literally live and breathe active lifestyles. Our Champions know the importance of air quality first-hand and are keen to tell you about how they have made personal choices that have benefited their own health and sport careers, and the environment. They are passionate about getting active for our environment and they will be coming to classrooms to explain how CAA works and why they are committed to its goals.

You, your classmates, family and friends can make a significant impact in reducing air pollution. Our Champions and our program can help show you how.

So talk to your teacher about the possibility of your school or class being selected for CAA. They can apply through the Green Street website.
For more information, your teacher can contact the Project Coordinator, Erin Down, at erin@cleanairchampions.ca. You can also obtain information by e-mailing questions to: info@cleanairchampions.ca.

For general information on Clean Air Champions please visit: www.cleanairchampions.ca.