Encouraging Environmental Stewardship with Earth Week
Each of these five days will feature a distinct theme relating to an aspect of environmental consciousness or stewardship. The club’s weekly meetings have been spent brainstorming ideas for themes and events in preparation for this earth-filled week.
Monday’s theme, aptly dubbed Meatless Monday, was chosen in order to educate students and staff on the severe impacts of meat and dairy production on the environment. The day will start off with statistics about the topic being read on the morning announcements to encourage the Greenwood community to make conscious decisions about what they eat. At lunch, the school’s cafeteria will feature an assortment of delicious vegan and vegetarian options, with the hopes of showing students and staff just how easy (and delicious) it can be to care for the environment by foregoing meat and other animal products.
Tuesday will be all about garbage and recycling. Once again, the day will kick off with statistics about litter and waste disposal being read over the morning announcements. At lunch, students are encouraged to bring litterless lunches, such as those free from Ziploc bags which, to the surprise of some, cannot be recycled in Toronto. Finally, the club will screen The Story of Stuff, a short documentary about the lifecycle of material goods.
On Wednesday, students and staff are encouraged to put an end to our reliance on cars and instead get to school a different way – such as taking the TTC, walking, or biking.
Thursday’s events will be centred on water usage and the waste associated with plastic cups and bottles. Students and staff are encouraged to bring in reusable mugs for coffee and tea in the cafeteria and reusable water bottles instead of disposable ones. At lunch, members of the Environmental Club will be running a Kahoot quiz about both water usage and general environmental awareness.
Friday’s theme will focus on the environmental costs associated with the fashion industry. Students and staff will have an opportunity to discover where their clothing is made and exactly what environmental impact our fashion choices have. At afternoon break, the club will be screening a clip from The True Cost, a documentary that highlights the environmental and social dilemmas surrounding global fashion.
While this week is Greenwood’s formal celebration of all things environment, it is important to remember that environmental stewardship is something that should be practised by each and every one of us all year long. In keeping with this, the Environmental Club’s initiatives will not come to an end after Friday of this week, but will instead continue to influence the way that the Greenwood community deals with such matters as recycling and energy use.
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Greenwood College School
443 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto, ON M4S 2L8
Tel: 416 482 9811
Toronto, ON M4S 2L8
Tel: 416 482 9811
We acknowledge with gratitude the Ancestral lands upon which our main campus is situated. These lands are the Ancestral territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishinabek and the Wendake. The shared responsibility of this land is honoured in the Dish with One Spoon Treaty and we strive to care for the land, the waters, and all creatures in the spirit of peace. We are responsible for respecting and supporting the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. When away from this campus we vow to be respectful to the land by protecting and honouring it. We will create relationships with the people and the land we may visit by understanding the territories we enter and the nations who inhabit them.
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