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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday November 7, 2008 - 27 LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER CLIMATE CHANGE PLOTS: Helping turn the soil for Appleby College's new climate change plots are (l-r) Leslie Cauchi of the Association of Canadian Environmental Resources (ACER), Appleby's Dr. Bonnie Woolfenden, teacher and coordinator of Earth Works, and students Jeff Cocker, Drake Hicks and Judy Chiu. Appleby garden plots part of Canadian climate change study By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Appleby College proved it was a green spark in Oakville by cutting the ribbon on two newly-planted garden plots Wednesday. In addition to adding more green to Oakville's landscape, the gardens will serve as a living laboratory and involve the students in a Canada-wide research project on climate change. As part of the project, students will monitor the gardens -- using scientific biodiversity protocols from the Smithsonian Institution -- to gauge climate change. For example, if the Hop Tree, planted by the eight students in Appleby's EarthWorks community service co-curricular group, flourishes -- it will mean global warming is indeed taking place here in Oakville. That's because the Hop Tree is a rare plant in Ontario, being the most northerly representative of the citrus family. It grows from Mexico to southern Ontario, where it is grows only along the shore of Lake Erie. As well, if students should see new insect infestations in the gardens, it would prove the local existence of bugs known to be travelling with climate change. A range of trees, plants, shrubs and flowers will grow in the garden from sugar maple, bur-oak, white spruce and basswood trees, to butterfly-friendly flowers. According to Dr. Bonnie Woolfenden, Appleby's sustainability director, and the educator who spearheaded Appleby's participation in the program, along with five other Halton schools, people should be planting their gardens to factor in climate change -- both for the benefit of themselves and the wider community. Otherwise, the environment could suffer a sustained blow should vegetation and trees not be varied enough or suitably resilient to withstand climate change over the long haul. "This is part of a big experiment," said Leslie Cauchi, of the Association for Canadian Environmental Resources (ACER). Students at Appleby, and all five other participating Halton schools, have planted climate change plots and will put science to work as they monitor the plots and record their data annually. That data will then be examined by ACER and other scientific bodies and publicly posted at www.measureup.ca. To date, ACER has 14 schools involved in a program that monitors and measures individual schoolyards. The planting of the climate change study plots, funded by TD-Canada Trust Friends of the Environment and EcoAction through Environment Canada, is new. The schools involved all had teacher volunteers attend a three-day summer session with ACER. Pressure those teachers brought to bear on ACER to plant at their schools was turned into the climate change experiment. "We told them no planting unless you measure," said ACER president Alice Casselman. As ACER hustled funding for the project, the educators rustled up the support of their school administrations, students and municipal officials, who had to be brought in on the logistics of where the climate change plots could be located. Among the six schools participating in the project are Appleby College, Oakville-Trafalgar High School, Robert Bateman High School in Burlington, Christ The King in Georgetown, Herb Campbell Public School in Caledon and Applewood Heights in Mississauga. OTHS will officially open its plots next Thursday afternoon. Casselman noted the importance of having some of the participating schools along the shore of Lake Ontario while others are in the northern part of the GTA, which will provide telling evidence across the entire study area. "I call them green sparks," said Casselman of the teachers. "If you can find a green spark in your community, support them and things will start to happen," said Casselman. On a similar front, Appleby College and recently teamed up with LivClean, a Canadian organization with a global reach that is devoted to offering quality carbon offset products and solutions to business and individuals. Appleby has committed to become carbon neutral by 2009. LivClean will carry out an annual emissions audit and create a custom carbon offset portfolio to meet the needs of Appleby. Emission-creating activities will be assessed including such areas as facility heating and lighting, faculty/student commutes and trips (including international student air travel), food consumption, waste and computer use. This INFORMATION-ONLY seminar is a customer service provided by Milton Home Hardware Centre. It is not designed to sell merchandise or services. Find out how to start planning to build your new dream home or cottage. Milton Home Hardware's Planning to Build Seminar helps guide you through the process. Learn the secrets of a successful project during this 3 hour seminar. PRESENTED BY MILTON HOME HARDWARE 7pm-10pm TUESDAY Seminar is from 6:30pm Doors Open At NOVEMBER Grand Chalet 18, 2008 324 Steeles Ave. E., Milton TO REGISTER CALL 905-878-9222