Environmental Education - What can youth do?

Environment   Sep 30, 2015 by Shelley Kofluk

By: Emma Pratt

Very quickly, I wrote down some of my thoughts to prepare for this UNESCO activity. It is by no means a finished product! Please excuse the format.

What happens at our school?

- We use too much energy. Students are not aware of how much they use at home or at school.

- The efficiency of heating systems. Students are not in control of the heating/cooling of our classrooms. We also cannot control the loss of heat through unsealed doors/windows.

- Our water system - How efficient is it? Broken toilets and taps leak good water.

- Transportation to school - public transportation vs personal vehicle: Too many of us depend on personal vehicles to get to and from school.

Our school successes:

• 8 yrs of recycling of beverage containers and paper
• Low flush toilets in staff bathrooms were installed 2 years ago (total of 5 toilets)
• Composting has taken place for 4 or 7 years
• Lights have been changed to energy efficient ballasts
• Planting & Growing has

Problems

• Scale of our school and limited student involvement with physical plant operations (ie. solar panels tied into our electrical systems)

Youth Engagement:

-Students need more ideas to do activities and involvement.

- How does one convince others to care about the environment when they don’t see how their daily routines are affected?

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