I’m sure you’ve all experienced this problem, you look under the sink for a new roll of toilet paper and realize you’re out. This happened to me yesterday so I promptly went out to my local grocery store to buy some more. Unfortunately, after scouring the shelves I discovered that among all the brands available there was NO recycled toilet paper. One brand even went so far as to emphasize that their product contained no recycled paper, highlighting it as if recycled were the transfat of paper products.

This blows my mind and while I love seeing the new mandatory price on bags in Toronto this lack of toilet paper choice acts as a reminder that phasing out plastic bags is just one of the many small steps we need to take. Luckily I live near another grocery store and was able to pop over for some recycled toilet paper which I’d like to declare does the job splendidly. However when it comes down to it most people would just chose what’s available.

So, what can we do?

1) Write the grocery store explaining that you’d like them to start offering a more eco-friendly option. (I’ve done this today and will give an update on how it goes)
2) Go the extra distance and make sure you buy recycled, even if it means going to another store

3) Start placing the “These Come From Trees” stickers created by Pete Kazanjy in the places you frequent. They do a great job of reminding people where exactly our toilet paper, paper towels, napkins etc. come from. Their testing has shown that simply placing one of these stickers on a paper towel dispenser can save up to 100lbs of paper a year! Check out their blog by clicking on the below image to learn about the impact these stickers can make and how to buy some of your own.

4) Raise awareness on the importance of using less and using recycled. Not only does this help save trees but it saves energy!
To learn more about the connections between energy and the paper we use visit Inform’s website The Secret Life of Paper and check out this video.

Hi, my name is Kerry-Ann and I am a grade 12 student at Northview Heights SS. For about a year and a half I have been on a council called STEP (Students of Toronto for Environmental Success) and was one of the people who made and organized the ‘Step2Action’ symposium. I think it went well if I do day so myself and through the contacts I made during this experience I started as a co-op student at the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative.

Last week I had the opportunity to spend my co-op hours at the Kid’s World of Energy Festival, a four day event organized by TREC. The festival involved over fifty high school volunteers running workshops for the one thousand grade 5 students who arrived daily. Because my co-op hours are in the afternoon, I came to the festival about half an hour before its official end time for the students.

On the first day of the festival, May 12th, I was assigned to tent sixteen, which housed the Earth Rangers. They are a charitable organization that combines kids’ passion for animals and the environment to motivate children and push for change.

It was awesome working with them because they actually brought live animals to their presentations. For all 4 days of the festival they brought a barn owl, and endangered species in Ontario, and talked about the direct effects that the children had on their natural habitat. They also brought an African Ball Snake and another smaller garden snake that is local to Ontario. The fact that they brought the animals they were telling the children about made a big impression and really strengthened the Earth Rangers’ message.

On the Thursday night of that week, May 14th, it rained in the morning and a fierce wind started to blow by the afternoon. The festival was going to happen rain or shine so the grade five students still came. By the afternoon the flaps of the tents started to blow and it eventually became a question of the tents being unsafe. All the volunteers, and organizers, started running around to make the tents safe. We ended up taking the side flaps off two big the tents so the wind could blow through; while some of the smaller tents had to have their tops taken off altogether.

All in all the Kids World of Energy Festival was a success and for me, a once in a life time opportunity. I am glad that I’m doing my co-op with TREC and its not even over yet!

Today is that one day of the year we’ve set aside to be thankful for our Earth. Take time to think about what the Earth has done for you and then celebrate by checking out An Evening of Green an awesome event happening tonight at the Etobicoke School of the Arts.

April 22: Tonight!
An Evening of Green
Building and Environmental Community
@ Etobicoke School of the Arts
5-9pm, pwyc

An exciting student-run event featuring Live music, fair trade shade grown coffee and tea, vegetarian food, organic chocolate and cookies, environmental fair trade displays and marketplace, student activism, community food drive, and community screening of the documentary Sharkwater.

Visit: http://web.mac.com/seedsesa/Site/An_Evening_of_Green.html for event details.

Wow, the symposium event on Wednesday was like nothing I’ve been to before. I mean, I probably did go to other environmental symposiums, but when you attend something you’ve helped organize…now that’s special. Me and some other great STEP members came at 8:30 AM to help set up. Most of us were so sleepy we were as dead as a doorknob, but the excitement from seeing the eco-condo, receiving our French windmill shirts, and witnessing the arrival of the yummy snacks woke us up!

I’ll let you in on a backstage secret: we actually came the night before to set up as well. It was freezing on Tuesday night when we went home, but as cheesy as it sounds, our hearts were warm with eagerness for Wednesday.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun tending the registration desk with Alison and Aroona. We showed the hungry teachers where the snacks were and we gave the students markers so that they could make flashy nametags! The guides looked like they were having fun as well. I still remember seeing Helen running back and forth, over and over…

For the rest of the morning, I joined the presenters at the Fountain Dining Hall. It was awesome seeing a room full of students from various schools who were excited to be there. After the introduction and various remarks, came the one and only…drum roll please…*drum roll*…STEVE BIBLA! Boy, was it fun listening to him talk! Everyone was enjoying his lecture from the moment it started to the moment it ended, from the opening pen exercise to the ending Obama simile. His lecture was enlightening, creative, and also very factual. For instance, did you know that eating shrimp seriously contributes carbon emissions? Now I think twice before I eat shrimp.

After Steve’s lecture, me and various other STEP presenters held interactive breakout sessions for people to brainstorm ideas about energy conservation. When we fulfilled all of our duties, we all ran to the EcoPods! Why?

1. We did not want to miss the last turbine tour

2. We just had to go check out all the appealing booths

3. We had to eat since we were all quite hungry after the excitement in the morning

Nuclear energy, YEN, outdoor education opportunities, etc. were all delightful booths for us to explore, but speaking for myself and my friends I can honestly say that the Global Aware button booth was the most exciting. What an amusing time an environmentalist can have when wearing buttons like “Burn Fat, Not Oil” and even “Save Water, Shower with a Friend.”

With my buttons pinned on my “Un Vent de Changement, Un Vent d’Espoir” shirt, I headed to the turbine tour. My favourite part? Peering up the gigantic steel turbine from the inside! Everyone was quite surprised with how big, yet quiet, the turbine is.

All in all, the day was enjoyable and joyous. I think that it gives people an impression that caring about the environment doesn’t have to be dull or just “hugging trees”.

I can’t wait for next year’s symposium!

Written by: Kathy Zhang
Photos by: Cheryl Carr

A few weeks ago at Loretto College students launched their bottle sculpture by holding a bottled water taste test. To see how it went check out the above video created by Wade Vroom for the Youth Energy Network.

Interested in doing this at your school? Just go to our Energy Shift Actions and read the Bottled Sculpture post.

Watch the TMO! video created for the Youth Energy Network by Wade Vroom.
To learn how to start this campaign at your school read through Turn Me Off! one of our Energy Shift Actions.

Bottled water is shipped to our schools and communities in many shapes, sizes and brands to satisfy the thirsty masses. Unfortunately many people don’t think about the garbage produced and energy wasted when drinking bottled water. The Pacific Institute estimates that the energy required to produce, ship and cool one bottle of water is equal to filling that bottle a quarter full with oil! To open eyes in your school or community build a life sized sculpture out of water bottles to help kick-off an awareness campaign.

Bottle Sculpture 101

Time: Prep ~ 4-6 months
Cost: $50.00
Grade Range: 5-12 (depending on difficulty)
Target: Whole School
Note: Click HERE to get a copy of our Energy Shift Checklist to help guide your team through the project.

Step 1 ~ Permission:

Before start collecting bottles, ask your administration for permission to run your awareness campaign in a prominent school location.

Step 2 ~ Collection:

To build your sculpture you’ll need lots of bottles! To create a sculpture that is two meters tall, collect at least 500 bottles. Collection takes a few months so start this project early in the year and designate a room as the drop-off location for all bottles. To speed up collection, recruit students who help with recycling and have them pick out bottles before emptying bins. Also, remind students periodically that you are collecting the bottles; it’s up to you whether you keep the reason a surprise!

Step 3 ~ Research:

As your bottles start to pile up research information on bottled water to use in your awareness campaign. Outside of energy usage and waste production areas of research could include health, ecological and societal impacts. For a great start go to the Polaris Institute’s website: insidethebottle.org

Step 4 ~ Design:  

Work as a group to decide on the scale of your sculpture and the necessary materials. To determine the scale, just measure the height and diameter of a water bottle and use the ratio to find your sculpture size. For materials you’ll need bottles, a plywood base, a dowel attached to centre of the base for stability, stiff chicken wire to keep the shape, nails and paper for additional details. Some additional details include a bottle label and cap. Think about what you want your label to say, create a strong statement that highlights your main message or give some key water facts. Not skilled in construction? This is a great opportunity to get other groups involved in eco-action, so ask around for design input from art and/or tech students and teachers.

Step 5 ~ Plan:

Once you know how you’re going to build your giant bottle, think about how you want to launch it. Ideas include placing the bottle at the front of the school with posters, pairing the sculpture launch with a fundraiser selling stainless steel water bottles and/or holding a bottled water taste test comparing bottled to tap. Within your plan, create a regular building schedule for bottle builders to meet up and construct so your sculpture is ready on time.

Step 6 ~ Build!:

To start off rinse out all of your bottles, while they are drying out use a nail or screw to attach the dowel to the centre of the plywood base. Next, create a cylinder of the appropriate height out of your chicken wire. To close the cylinder twist the open ends of the chicken wire together using pliers. Then use your nails to attach the chicken wire to the plywood base with the dowel. Make sure the chicken wire is secure as this will be the foundation for your sculpture. Now use some more chicken wire to create the top of your bottle. Be creative here and just make sure the base of the top has the same diameter as the rest of the bottle so you can easily connect them. Before attaching your bottle top, fill the base cylinder with empty plastic bottles. Once you’ve put in as many as you can, use pliers to attach the top of the bottle. Your sculpture is almost complete, now you just need to add details like a label and cap! These can be easily made out of paper and attached to your sculpture using tape, wire and/or string.

Step 7 ~ Launch:  

Once the bottle is complete put your awareness plan into action! A popular event held at Loretto was a bottled water taste test. After learning about the energy impacts of drinking bottled water, students where given a chance to try different types of water. They then chose their favorite and each response was noted on a graph near the bottle sculpture to chart the results.

Combines a viral advertising technique and student designed  TMO stickers to get students turning off lights and monitors. The key to this campaign is keeping it quiet so students don’t know the meaning of the TMO stickers when they get to school and find them everywhere.

Turn Me Off’ 101

Time: Prep ~ 3-4 weeks
Project ~ 2-5 days
Cost: $140.00 for printing stickers
Grade Range: 7-9
Target: Whole School
Note: Click HERE to get a copy of our Energy Shift Checklist to help guide your team through the project.

Step 1 ~ Permission:

Get permission to place Turn Me Off stickers on lights and monitors

Step 2 ~ Numbers:

Count number of lights and monitors, measure monitors for sticker size

Step 3 ~ Design:

Find a student artist to design sticker, chose an acronym that isn’t obvious, i.e. TMO for Turn Me Off

Step 4 ~ Print:

Go on-line and search for print shops that make stickers. The above cost is average, to cut costs get some sticker paper and make them!

Step 5 ~ Plan:

How do you want to introduce students to the meaning of the stickers? Ideally this campaign includes a few days where students don’t know what the stickers mean creating a built in buzz as students ask around about them.  Decide how you want to spread the word beforehand, some ideas include:

-       A contest where home rooms have to guess the meaning of the stickers

-       Placing posters around school a few days after placement explaining meaning and the importance of turning things off

Step 6 ~ Stick:

After school place stickers on all lights and monitors

Step 7 ~ Enjoy!

Put your awareness campaign into action and enjoy as students start turning off lights and monitors!

Designed by: Benji Kent

In schools and communities bottled water has become the norm despite the energy it wastes and unnecessary garbage it produces.  Take a stand in your community against bottled water by raising awareness on bottled water issues, promoting the benefits of tap and selling reusable water bottles as an alternative. Reusable water bottles not only lower a user’s carbon footprint, they promote the use of Toronto tap water, a cheap, high quality eco-alternative.

Ban the Bottle 101

Time: Prep ~ 4-6 months
Cost: $15-22 per bottle, $30-100 for promotion
Grade Range: 10-12
Target: Whole School
Note: Click HERE to get a copy of our Energy Shift Checklist to help guide your team through the project.

Step 1 ~ Permission:

To start off this campaign, you’ll need permission both to sell the metal water bottles on school property and to receive any necessary start up costs for purchasing bottles. If your school is unable to purchase the bottles before the fundraiser, simply set up a system where students pay for their bottles before receiving them so the bottle costs are already covered.

Step 2 ~Research:

There are a number of companies producing metal water bottles, from Switzerland’s stylish aluminum Sigg bottles to Klean Kanteen’s simple stainless steel bottles. Research different distributors in your area to find the best fit for your school, simply go online and search “distributor, (name of bottle brand)”.  Before contacting your chosen distributors for a price quote decide on the size, style, approximate quantity, whether you’d like to personalize the bottle with a school logo and the maximum cost for the bottles you’d like to order.  If you’ve decided to pay the extra cost to personalize the bottles, start by creating high-resolution images in the correct size, decide as a group what works best and then send the image to the distributor.

Step 3 ~ Order

If you’ve decide to order a set number of bottles order now so they’re available when you start your promotion campaign. If you’re going to have students pay for their bottle first, hold off on this step until after your promotion.

Step 4 ~ Promotion

Designed by: Anji Kim

Create a full school promotion campaign to spread the word on the bottles you’ll be selling. Types of promotion include, posters, displays, announcements, jingles, an assembly and/or staged events. The key to promotion is to be creative and develop ideas that will engage the student body. To create a strong message, research hard-hitting facts on bottled water and feature them in your campaign. A great place to start your search is insidethebottle.org.  Creating teams for different areas of promotion (for example, posters, announcements) is a great way to organize your effort and will help you produce promotional materials in a shorter time frame. Promotion ideas include: Bottle Free Zone posters at school entrances and water fountains, a catchy jingle to play between classes, an assembly with a guest speaker, making buttons, placing vinyl stickers around the school, creating a display using empty water bottles, staging a fake protest, wearing campaign specific T-shirts or ties, holding a bottled water taste test, having speakers go to each class and displaying the metal bottles students can buy.

Button designed by: Anji Kim

Step 5 ~ Sell:

Now that everyone at school knows you’re selling bottles and why they should be using them, set up a station to sell them. Ideally this would be done within the same time frame as your promotion campaign. Make sure you make clear announcements on where and when you’ll be selling bottles. Create a deadline for purchasing bottles so students are encouraged to buy a bottle before they sell out. In addition to having a prominent selling station that is manned during a time like lunch, provide first period classes with order forms that you collect by the deadline.

Step 6 ~ Celebrate:

After your campaign is complete, let the school know how many bottles were purchased. To highlight the significance of their decision to turn to tap you could do an audit on the number of plastic water bottles in the recycling bin before and after the campaign, or announce facts on the amount of energy saved through their purchase. For an easy calculation, use the Pacific Institute’s estimate that the production and shipment of one bottle of water is equal to filling that bottle a quarter full with oil.

Awareness is the first step toward creating energy shifts in our schools and communities. A fantastic way to build awareness around the importance of using less energy is having students teach their peers about the environmental impacts of excessive energy use. The key to making this type of awareness assembly successful is to add interesting facts and images, have a guest speaker if possible and provide simple examples of actions that students can start taking right away.

Awareness Assembly 101

Time: Prep ~ 1.5 months
Cost: $0.00
Grade Range: 5-9
Target: Select classes or whole school
Note: Click HERE to get a copy of our Energy Shift Checklist to help guide your team through the project.

Step 1 ~ Decisions: What and Who

The first step is to decide on a theme. Energy connects to everything in our lives so there are many options for where your presentation can go. Start by researching different aspects of energy conservation, topics could include climate change, waste reduction, renewable energy and re-using. Once you’ve gathered some key facts go through them and decide on the main theme for your presentation. Keep all this information handy! You’ll need it in step 5 when you start developing your presentation!  Looking at your theme also decide whether it would be best to present to certain grades or the whole school.

Step 2 ~ Get Permission

Once you have a theme and some basic information go to your school administration and get permission to hold an assembly. Present them with possible dates that don’t conflict with other events as school.

Step 3 ~ Research Speakers

Give your presentation something extra by booking a guest speaker who can add a professional viewpoint to your chosen theme. Doing this can lend credibility to your message and help you reach more people.  To find an appropriate speaker, go online and look for local organizations running projects that connect to your theme. Look for at least three in case an organization is unable to speak on the day of your assembly. For each organization find out if they have staff members who regularly speak in high schools as their content will be geared toward youth. Last but not least always keep in mind that some speakers may charge a fee decide before contacting people if and what you can afford to pay.

Step 4 ~ Book Speaker

Before contacting each organization have the following assembly information prepared, a description of your theme, the assembly date, why you think they would be a good fit for the assembly and what you’d like them to talk about.  Having this information prepared beforehand will show the organizations that you’re prepared, focused and a good fit for helping them promote their message.  Ideally, contact each organization over the phone or in person and be ready to answer potential questions. While it is important to set a date for the assembly before contacting speakers, keep in mind that you may want to rebook depending on their availability. After you’ve connected with a speaker and have them booked keep them informed on the assembly date, time and give them your contact information to maintain communication leading up to the assembly.

Step 5 ~  Develop Presentation

Depending on your group strengths there are many different ways to develop your assembly presentation. One option is to create an engaging and informative power point that links to your theme. Other options include a series of skits, music, an interactive activity, video or a speech. Whatever option your choose, the most important part is to provide students with a clear message, key facts and concrete actions they can take to make a difference.

Step 6 ~ Practice

Creating an engaging presentation doesn’t happen over night!  Work out any kinks by practicing your presentation leading up the assembly. Make sure that all of your presenters are comfortable with the information and if possible present to smaller audiences who can give you constructive feedback.

Step 7 ~ Present

On the day of your assembly gather all the students you’re presenting to and blow them away with your amazing presentation!