Gladstone Montessori School
Vancouver, BC

Emily and her friends took on the ambitious project to green their school. Using their own knowledge of sustainable consumption, they identified a number of ways to reduce Gladstone's ecological footprint. When they are finished, Gladstone will have low-flow toilets and recycling bins, and will have replaced paper towels with green alternatives such as cloth towels.

Shawnigan Lake Secondary School
Vancouver Island, BC

Realizing that their school cafeteria was producing a lot of waste, this determined group of students took their concerns to 'the top'. By using wily financial arguments, they convinced their school to replace the disposable cups with non-disposable ones. As a result, countless trees have been saved, and the cafeteria is saving $120 a day. Way to go!

Summerland Secondary School
Summerland, BC

These students also realized that money talks, and are going to use financial arguments to convince their school to replace their energy-gobbling light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights. Each time Summerland replaces a regular light bulb with a CFL bulb, they will have reduced their carbon dioxide emissions by about 1,300 pounds (!) over the lifetime of the bulb.

Summerland Secondary School
Summerland, BC

This fantastic action plan integrated the whole community in a plan to promote waste-free lunches. Megan and her friends are planning to lobby local businesses and the cafeteria to give discounts to people who have brought eco-friendly lunches.

Summerland Secondary School
Summerland, BC

Becky's group shared the desire to promote waste-free lunch hours, and the group decided to focus on Tupperwares as a way to achieve this. To help motivate people to start using these, and stop using plastic baggies and pre-packaged foods, they are planning to start a Tupperware incentive program at Summerland.

Summerland Elementary School
Summerland, BC

Power of the collective! Building on the other action plans in Summerland, this group decided to put composters in their school. Soon the only traces left by lunch-hour in Summerland will be piles of topsoil-in-the-making!

Salmon Arm Secondary School
Salmon Arm, BC

Ms. Domme is supervising a group of students who have come up with a stellar plan to recycle lost goods. Essentially, the plan is to donate the contents of their school's lost and found to the local thrift store. Every two weeks the students in charge of the project will transfer the contents of the bin to the Salvation Army. Once they have it up and running, the students in charge plan to spread their scheme to the rest of the schools in Salmon Arm. The benefits of this action plan are two-pronged... not only will it help dull the edge of various social inequalities operating throughout Canadian societies, but it will also reduce the community's net consumption.

Salmon Arm Secondary School
Salmon Arm, BC

Marco, Chelsea, and their friends noticed that the students at SASS were producing huge quantities of garbage every lunch-hour. Together, they came up with a plan to simultaneously reduce their waste production and help fundraise for local charities. They would achieve these two goals through a Tupperware incentive program - anyone who brought their lunch in a Tupperware would receive a quarter, which they could donate to their charity of choice. Finally, they want to supplement this money with funds that they raised through a bottle drive.

W.L. Seaton Secondary School
Vernon, BC

This amazing group from W.L. Seaton is tapping into their collective power in a major way. They formed a group called Aiding Social Equality (ASE) and are planning to raise funds to build a school in a developing country. One of their fundraising ideas is to sell fair trade chocolate.

When they have raised enough money to build a school, ASE will donate the funds to Kids Can Free the Children. This organization works closely with communities in developing countries to help construct primary schools in impoverished communities. The schools promote gender-equality and sustainability.

Casorso Elementary
Kelowna, BC

Mme. Boshe is supervising a group of students who will be giving a presentation at a school assembly promoting fair trade goods. Way to go guys! The presentation will expose Casorso students to some very important ideas, and foster awareness of the impacts we all have on residents of developing and underdeveloped countries.

Casorso Elementary
Kelowna, BC

In order to help reduce the waste produced by her own school, Jackie's group is going to lobby to get a compost system installed at Casorso. They also want to get vermi-composting into the classrooms. However, their efforts are not confined to Casorso Elementary - they are also organizing a massive fundraiser for a local charitable organization. Fair trade chocolate is their fundraiser of choice, as this will simultaneously help raise money and promote awareness about fair trade products.

Adam Robertson Elementary School
Creston, BC

Teaghan and Danika's action plan group realized that their waste reduction plans would more successful if the lunch packers (i.e. parents) got on board the sustainable consumption train too. No doubt about it, parents and adults need to be educated about these important issues too. In order to do this, Teagan and Danika drafted up the following letter to the parents at Adam Robertson.

Dear parents:
We had the Otesha program come to our school and found out some better ways to help our planet.
Here are some ideas that hopefully you will take the time to change.
1.pack lunches with tupperware not plastic bags.
2.pack things that don't cause waste.
3.if your kids have any thing left over from their lunch make sure they bring it home, not throw it out.
4.if you have a compost at home and you pack things that could be put in the compost make sure your kids bring it back home and put it in the compost.
5.use lunch kits or reusable bags to pack things for your kids.
6.use a water bottle from powerade or somthing to put juice in and reuse it over and over again.

We had some good ideas and just want to share them with you. We had an idea about setting up a corner and putting compost in at our school. Another one is to start a litter control club and help our school. Another is not even to litter. Well that closes our letter to an end we hope you will take these words in to action.
Teaghan and Danika.

Adam Robertson Elementary School
Creston, BC

This amazing group of students is going to speak to their school about the benefits of Tupperware at their next Monday-morning assembly. Justin, Bryce and Chris' action plan group are sensitive to the dangers that their message might come across as lecture. So, they've designed a skit, which will get the message across in a creative and entertaining way. The 'production' will have its second run at the upcoming parent-teachers meeting. Now that's an out of the box solution!

North Canoe Elementary
Canoe, BC

Liana, Kelly, Kyle and their friends wasted no time in translating their composting dreams into action... as soon as the Otesha presentation was over, these students put compost buckets in each classroom - all that was lacking was some prime organic matter and people power! These students are going to assign student reps to empty their class buckets in a central bin each day. The bin itself will be built on local love - lumber donations from the local mill, and time donations from the parents of North Canoe Elementary. And in order to make sure that all of this effort yields maximum results, this group is also going to write up an article about it in the school newsletter. They are also going to put up posters in the classrooms and hallways to remind students and teachers to put their organic waste in the compost bins.

Queen Elizabeth School
Vancouver, BC

With the awesome support of Sharon Bool, Vicky and her friends decided that her school's hot lunch program produced WAY too much garbage, and came up with an alternate lunch plan which produced less waste, had vegetarian options, and was generally healthier. Vicky and her group will be presenting this rocking plan at the upcoming parent-teacher meeting, and have even offered to help with the clean up involved with the new lunch plan. (ps.. watch out Canada - we see a born leader in gr. 4 Vicky!!)

Rothesay Elementary School
Rothesay, NB

After attending Otesha's workshop on Fair Trade, this group of committed students decided that they wanted to help educate the rest of the student body about this important issue. In order to do this, the group will design a series of posters detailing the low wages which most farmers receive for cash crops such as chocolate and coffee. These will be posted around the school, and will be followed by a second series of posters highlighting fair trade alternatives.

Rothesay Elementary School
Rothesay, NB

This action team plans to reduce the amount of garbage produced during lunch hour at Rothesay Park School. In order to do that, they developed a four-pronged approach. The first element of their program is a postering campaign to inform the other students about litter-less lunches. They will help educate parents about the same through the school newsletter and newspaper. Finally, the above efforts will be supplemented by communicating with the cafeteria staff so as to assure their co-operation in this endeavor.

Rothesay Elementary School
Rothesay, NB

This team of students from Rothesay decided to implement a compost program so as to reduce the amount of waste their school produced at lunch. They have received full support from their teacher, who agreed that the 'Compost Club' could hold their weekly meetings during class time. During these meetings, the club will organize the construction of the compost buckets, and will also delegate and enforce duties related to the collection and disposal of the compost.

Bluefield High School
Hampshire, PEI

This group of extraordinary youth from Charlottetown is funneling their life energies towards helping children in other parts of the world. Specifically, this group (who has named themselves 'Foreign Friends') decided to help change the world by raising money for UNICEF. They have already raised significant funds by carrying UNICEF boxes at Halloween, and plan to have a bake sale, book sale, and a penny drive in February.

Eaglewood Elementary
Crapaud, PEI

This team of 10 committed individuals will be implementing an action plan that will help save the environment while making money at the same time. Specifically, the team has decided to make one-sided notebooks out of pre-used paper, and cover these with homemade recycled paper. The team will then sell these environmentally-friendly products to raise money for new gym equipment for the school.

St. James Regional High School
Port Aux Basques, NF

A team of inspired young women from St. James Regional High School decided that they wanted to implement a special spirit day at their school. This day will be named 'Culture Jammin'', and will highlight our cumulative impacts on the world. On this day, the students of St. James Regional High School are encouraged to wear a sign which either conveys a statistic about overconsumption, or details a positive action that students may take to make the world a better place. The action team will also construct an art piece out of ping pong balls painted like planets. Furthermore, the team will write inspiration messages, stats, and quotes on clothespins and stick them on people throughout the day. To close the day's events, the team plans to read pertinent statistics on the p.a. announcements.

St. Michael's Elementary School
Stephenville Crossing, NF

A rocking team of students in grades 7 and 8 decided to pool their energy and run an anti-bullying campaign at their school. This multi-faceted campaign will have a publicity element whose purpose is to honor and acknowledge the fact that bullying happens. The campaign will also bring groups of students together to analyze the dynamics behind bullying, as well as brainstorm ways to prevent it. In addition to these problem-solving activities, the action team has formed an anti-bullying club that will plan fun events designed to foster open communication and a positive environment for the students in Stephenville Crossing.

St. Michael's Elementary School
Stephenville Crossing, NF

This action team from Stephenville is focusing their earth-changing energies on the cafeteria. In particular, these dedicated youth are trying to get their fellow students to put the food they buy at the cafeteria into Tupperware containers so as to reduce the amount of garbage they produce at lunch hour. In order to do this, the action team plans to engage in an extensive postering campaign to raise awareness amongst the student body. They will also be liaising with the cafeteria staff so as to help ensure their co-operation in this project.

St. Michael's Elementary School
Stephenville Crossing, NF

This group of 5 young men have now designed and executed two programs to reduce the amount of waste and litter at their school. In order to advance the latter cause, they organized a litter pickup competition, and awarded a trophy to the student who collected the most litter in the allotted time. Appropriately enough, the trophy was made out of recycled garbage. This action team did, however, recognize that litter is a symptom of a larger problem. Thus they decided to supplement their litter program with a program designed to promote litter-less lunches. Specifically, the team will be postering their school with posters (made on pre-used paper, of course) promoting the use of Tupperware.

St. Michael's Elementary School
Stephenville Crossing, NF

After hearing Otesha present at their school, this awesome group from Stephenville Crossing decided to start an environmental club at their school. They will be meeting twice a week to organize activities such as school-wide litter-less lunch days, a clothing drive and some tree-planting days. They also plan to start a garden at their school.

Appalachia High School
St. George's, NF

This fabulous team of 6 youths formed a "Youth Action Team" to build a youth drop-in centre. They have decided that, like their peers in Ships Harbour NS, who say that now that they've formed a Youth Action Team "Ships Harbour doesn't suck any more. Because we won't let it", they are going to take a stand and change St. George's for the better. This group certainly were the fuel in our legs as we completed our final days of the tour!