Contributed by Wildsight
This school year, 13 classes from around the Columbia Basin joined Wildsight educators on a 24 week Beyond Recycling investigation into the impact of their lifestyles — energy, waste and consumption — to discover how their everyday actions affect the health of the planet and how they can be agents of positive change.
In Revelstoke, Begbie View Elementary students implemented a garbage reduction campaign in their classrooms, resulting in a reduction in waste and an increase in compost.
"The students are asking a lot more, 'Can this be recycled?' instead of just throwing things out," remarked Wildsight educator Jeanette Vickers.
A big factor in the student's new outlook on waste can be connecting to learning about the 4R Pyramid, which places a greater emphasis on re-using and reducing.
"Students are bringing food with less packaging, and using reusable containers wherever possible," added VIckers. "The classroom is now only using one garbage can instead of two and a compost for fruit and vegetable waste is being shared between classes."
Wildsight's Beyond Recycling program aims to equip students with the knowledge they need to make important decisions for our planet, and the process of recycling paper is just one of the many hands-on learning moments.
"In Beyond Recycling, students spend 24 weeks looking critically at the ecological footprint of their homes, schools and communities," said Dawn Deydey, Beyond Recycling Coordinator. "They discover how our lifestyles impact our world and how even our everyday choices play a part in global issues like climate change."
With Earth Day just around the corner – April 22, to be exact – teaching our future generations about how best to keep the Earth protected for today and tomorrow couldn't be more timely.