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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 25, 2008 - 3 Students can influence parents to change bad habits Continued from page 1 Eco-Schools Certification. The new provincial government policy requires schools to meet specific environmental standards by 2009. The Eco-Innovation Environmental Conference will be an annual event, rotating among Oakville high schools. "We wanted this conference to empower students because they really can make a difference and they can influence the older generations, because we're the ones causing the problems with our big houses and big cars, and so on," said Anna D'Alessandro, a teacher who leads the Eco-School Teams at Blakelock with staff member James Stainton. "You can see from today that students do care about helping the Earth." The conference began with keynote speaker Gil Penalosa presenting an eye-opening look at cycling and walking as a means of transportation. Penalosa is the executive director of Walk and Bike For Life, and has been instrumental in initiatives like opening 91 km of carfree city roads on Sundays in Bogotá, Colombia. "Walking is a mode of transportation, as is cycling, and we all need to start thinking that way," Penalosa said. "In Oakville, too many people are driving. Wouldn't it be nice if the Town closed down Lakeshore every Sunday from May to September so people could ride their bikes and walk there?" Students had the opportunity to choose two more presentations from a list of eight speakers for the remainder of the morning. Topics varied from recycling programs in Halton with John Watson, the Region's waste diversion education co-ordinator, to recycling clothing to create cutting-edge fashion with Green Venture founder Sapphire Singh. A popular presenter in the morning was Christine Birak, environment reporter for CBC's News at Six. Birak, who started an environment club when she was in high school 15 years ago, said she is amazed at how much today's youth know about the environment. LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER WALK THE TALK: Gil Penalosa, Executive Director of Walk and Bike for Life, an organization which seeks to demonstrate the health, economic and environmental benefits that human-powered transport can have on the community, was the keynote speaker at the Eco-Innovation Environmental Conference at T. A. Blakelock on Tuesday. CBC has started covering more environmental stories as a result of their interest, she said. "I would love to say that the show is trying to be innovative, but the reason we're talking about the environment is that you are talking about the environment," she told the students. "If it stays the way it is going and people keep talking about it, the coverage will stay. What it comes down to is the next generation. The media will talk about what you are talking about, so whatever you guys think is important eventually will become the news." A number of the morning presenters, like Claire Beckstead, gave science-based sessions. As a student in the Master of Environment and Resource Studies program at the University of Waterloo, Beckstead's thesis is on the feasibility of solar technology in schools. She is encouraging the Halton District School Board to consider installing panels at its schools. "North American schools have taken the initiative to buy solar panels, put them on the roof and feed the electricity back into the grid, which reduces the dependence on coal energy and makes the school some money," she said. Beckstead used schools in Cochrane, Alberta and Shelburne, Ontario as examples of places where panels have already been installed. "The Canadian schools I'm talking about today that have solar power are student-led examples," she said. "Students can get together and make a difference. Everyone needs to care. It is your generation and my generation that has to live with the decisions that are being made today." Beckstead's presentation was particularly relevant for Tim Butler, a teacher at Iroquois Ridge High School. That school's student-led Green Team and staff-run EcoSchools Team are working together to install solar panels on the building's roof. "We have some money set aside already for solar panels," Butler said. "We're researching how to get the panels, if we need more money and how we can fundraise. Hopefully, solar panels will be installed by May 2009." Michelle Beaudry, a Grade 9 student at Iroquois Ridge, also said the presentation made her more excited about her school's initiative. "I learned that solar energy is better than I thought and it can make money for the school, which was very interesting," she said. "This conference has been great in finding ways to help our school, my home and the environment. We need to do what we can now so that the future isn't terrible." The conference was made possible by a number of sponsors, as well as the Community Foundation of Oakville (CFO), which provided $5,000 from its Oakville Environment Fund for the event. The collaboration meant that participating schools did not have to pay any fees to take part in the conference. The afternoon provided students with hands-on activities, with sessions on urban design planning, creating an editorial environmental cartoon, developing a public service announcement for TV, and a fashion show. "Our group wanted kids to be involved in doing something, not just sitting back and listening to a whole bunch of speakers," said D'Alessandro. "After the students listened to the morning speakers, they could share their ideas and strengths in their different talent areas." Sarah Harmer, a Juno Award-winning singer/songwriter, performed a private concert for the students at the end of the day. Harmer, who was raised in north Burlington, has become an activist to protect Mount Nemo and the Niagara Escarpment. She shared her journey on forming a lobby group called P.E.R.L (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land). "Before this landed in my neighbourhood, I didn't know what an agenda was or what minutes were, and now we're holding weekly meetings, I'm making speeches and stuffing people's mailboxes with flyers," she said. "You have to start small, but it can be done." Harmer also stressed the difference one person can make. "What you think matters and you can create change among your friends, family and school," she told the excited crowd of students and staff. "We need to remember that we are all connected to nature. We are not above it, but rather we are right in the middle of it." The Oakville Beaver sent a team of reporters to cover the various presentations by the morning's other guest speakers. Their articles can be found online at www.oakvillebeaver.com. Environment club gives E. J. James students a voice on Climate Change By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Visitors coming through the main entrance of E. J. James Public School on Monday were greeted with a colourful handdrawn poster that read: What are you doing to save the planet? The students in the environment club at the school can reply: A lot. Besides ongoing initiatives like school recycling programs, anti-idling campaigns and tree planting, the group of students celebrated Earth Week by extending an invitation to Jim Harris, former federal Green Party leader, to speak to the students at the school and present a screening of the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Harris is an active member of The Climate Project, a non-profit group established by Al Gore following the success of An Inconvenient Truth. Harris was one of 200 delegates trained by Gore in 2006 to spread the word about climate change. He said students are among his target audiences. "Youth are more concerned about the environment than pretty much any other demographic," Harris said in an interview with The Oakville Beaver. "If you look at it, RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER CLIMATE OF CHANGE: Former federal Green Party leader Jim Harris discusses The Climate Project with the E. J. James Environment Club on Monday. See Environment page 4