April is EARTH MONTH here at Algonquin Ridge and around the world! Throughout the entire month of April staff and students will be working hard to raise awareness of the challenges the earth is facing and trying to do our part to help. Here are some of the initiatives that we will be launching.
Every Tuesday is Garbageless/Litterless Lunch Day. We are asking students and families to pack lunches that do not contain throw away items such as juice boxes, granola bar wrappers, individual yogurt containers etc. We encourage everyone to try to pack reusable containers on Tuesdays to reduce the amount of garbage our school produces. If some garbage is unavoidable we ask that it return home with students (rebound) as this will serve as an effective reminder of the daily waste we are contributing to landfills.
Every Wednesday is Walk n Wheel Day. In Canada, the transportation sector is responsible for 27 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada. Light-duty vehicles – the cars, vans and light-duty trucks we drive - are responsible for almost half of that total. (Link to Gov Website) We are asking families who drive vehicles every day to school to take steps to help reduce their fuel use and slow down the rate of climate change by making a commitment to walk or wheel to school every Wednesday! (or ever better everyday!)
Every Friday is Earth Hour - Canada's goal is to generate 90% of the country’s electricity from non-emitting sources by 2030. Canada is working with provinces and territories to reduce environmental impacts from electricity generation both domestically and internationally. We can do our part by shutting of lights and unplugging technology. We are making a commitment to do that every Friday for 1 hour for the month of April. If you would like to join us, you can choose a time to shut down the lights and non-essential technology at home too!
Some of the other initiatives that will happen in the school are:
- Earth facts on the announcements every day. Chat with your child about what they learned about the earth each day when they get home.
- Schoolwide composting of all organic food waste from lunches and lessons about what belongs in the Green Bins.
- April 21 - Earth Day Spirit Day. Dress in earth colours....brown, blues, greens, yellows.
Members of our A-Team will be going around all month long and awarding points to classrooms who are participating in all of these initiatives. The class with the most points and worked the hardest, to help our planet earth, will win a PIZZA Party!
We are asking families to support us in reducing our ecological footprint and promoting environmental education as we help make the earth a cleaner and healthier place to live.