By Patty Mintz
NovaNewsNow.com
The Environmental Club at Coldbrook School may be small, but it has big plans for Earth Day, April 22.
Every student who brings to school a locally-produced, litter-free lunch gets a coupon for a ‘litter-free’ ice cream cone, courtesy of Scotian Gold and Farmers Dairy.
Grade 8 student Matthew Glavin, the school’s environment minister, says the idea came about as club members planned for a school assembly in honour of Earth Day.
“We were figuring out ways to spread the awareness of topics related to the environment,” Matthew said. “We’re trying to get kids to bring lunch without any litter or waste; the average household produces about five pounds of waste a day.”
Suggestions include buying yogurt in a larger recyclable tub then placing a portion in a reusable container that can be brought to school.
Instead of buying juice boxes, which end up in the waste stream by the millions, kids are encouraged to bring drinks in reusable water bottles.
The club is also trying to educate fellow students on product awareness and the benefits of ‘buy-local’, for example, it’s better for the environment to consume juice made from apples grown and processed locally than a product imported from overseas or across the country.
Transportation costs energy
Matthew likes to remind fellow students that snacks from afar use a lot of energy to be packaged and shipped.
In addition to Matthew, the club, which meets every Monday, includes Chelsea Longmire, Chantal Pitcher, Alicia Smith, Kirklan Huntley, Sarah Anderson, Samantha Cross, and Josh Kelly, the official Earth Day videographer.
Chelsea, who’s in Grade 8, says numbers are currently small, but she hopes that will change as the club raises its profile.
“A lot of kids don’t know what we’re doing so they’re not sure they want to join,” she noted. “If they knew, they might want to join.”
The club toured every classroom last Wednesday spreading their message, and during Earth Day it will host two school assemblies to show the web movie “The Story of Stuff
www.storyofstuff.com) and an original skit written by the club, Vol*de*Mart and the Boy Who Shopped. The aim, the students said, is to educate schoolmates about the direct connection between human consumption habits and the state of nature.
During the assembly, student Alicia Smith will talk about Clinton Hill, an American boy who died from brain cancer at age 11.
Degradation of natural world
“When he became ill,” says Anna-Maria Galante, an environmental activist, the club’s facilitator, and a parent of three Coldbrook School students, “he linked it to the degradation of the natural world,” and started a club for kids dedicated to peaceful Earth-saving actions.
After Clint died, his mother and father established Kids for Saving Earth(KSE) as a nonprofit organization with thousands of kids doing good Earthworks. The Coldbrook Environment Club has been inspired by Clint’s story and the information on his website.
Galante says she’s delighted with the example being set by the newly-formed club, which consists of students in Grades 6, 7 and 8, especially for children in the younger grades.
“I think the kids are great. They all have their specific roles (in the Earth Day presentation).”
Matthew’s father, Brian Glavin, likes the club and its message.
“I think it’s really good that they are bringing information forward about the reduction of carbon footprints and also the importance of supporting the local economy, which has a positive effect on the environment.”
Karen Corey, Scotian Gold’s community liaison, says she looks forward to the summer when students plan to contribute to a school and community garden on Scotian Gold’s Coldbrook property.
