Palme verte 2009-2010

A smaller footprint is a big step
École Ste-Thérèse-de-l’Enfant-Jésus

This project began at the very start of the school year, when the students and their teacher set their rules and established their common values and aspirations for the 2009-2010 year. They agreed that their common project for the year would be to reduce their ecological footprint. Working from this basis, they took action to benefit the environment: battling overconsumption, increasing awareness of air pollution, reusing paper and school supplies, sharing their newfound environmental knowledge with their parents, etc. The students at the Ste-Thérèse-de-l’Enfant-Jésus school in St-Jérôme used perseverance and energy through an inspiring and touching program to increase the awareness of a great many people. As their teacher noted: “If my students were the ones making decisions in this world, Copenhagen would have been a success, Richard Desjardins would be an unemployed activist and our future would be much brighter. They are not the decision-makers, but committed citizens of the world who are making a difference in their surroundings for today and tomorrow.”

Palme verte 2009-2010

Setting up a bioreactor
Polyvalente Curé-Mercure – Mont-Tremblant

The students at Polyvalente Curé-Mercure wanted to carry out a common environmental project, and decided to acquire a bioreactor. They felt it would be the best solution for large-scale composting, and would make a real difference not only at their school but also throughout their community of Mont-Tremblant. Since a bioreactor was rather expensive ($50,000), the students decided to throw themselves into fundraising for their project. They drew up a business plan, contacted potential donor organizations and co-ordinated all the steps in their fundraising campaign. After a few months, they were able to raise the money they needed and convince local authorities of the importance of their plan. The bioreactor will be used to recover organic material and paper generated by the school, but also by local people and businesses. The students are hoping to use the compost for the school grounds and sell it at low cost to local greenhouses. Setting up a bioreactor was an innovative initiative with a huge impact and real benefits for the whole community.

Palme verte 2009-2010

Making air quality our business!
École Madeleine-de-Verchères – Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade

After polling all their fellow students on their transportation habits, students of the EVB Committee at the Madeleine-de-Verchères school set out to increase awareness of the importance of air pollution and climate change, among other students, parents and at four other schools in the region. They used an effective means of meeting their objectives, by encouraging children to walk or bike to school and elsewhere. Bus drivers and parents were also asked not to idle their engines unnecessarily. The students did everything they could to raise the awareness of as many people as possible, showing them individual daily actions they could take to make a difference in the battle against climate change. Aside from these awareness-raising actions, they took other steps, too: distributing information flyers on pollution generated by idling engines, encouraging people to bring “zero-waste” lunches, planting trees in their parish and, lastly, visiting other schools in the region to make them aware of the importance of healthy lifestyles and a healthy environment. In short, the students of Madeleine-de-Verchères school really made air quality their business!

Palme verte 2009-2010

Growing awareness
École Hélène-de-Champlain - Longueuil

In recent years, students at the Hélène-de-Champlain school have been managing a co-operative that handles gardening work, various carpentry jobs and training for other youths from specialized schools in the school district. The goal of the co-operative was to expose students to a social cause while creating an initiative with something for all the students at the school. In April 2009, students voted to start a special project: a community garden to produce food for the school and the community. The project was carried out in partnership with L’Entraide chez nous, an organization promoting food security for local people. By creating this vegetable garden, the students learned the benefits of charitable work and co-operation, and created synergy that made them want to work for a good cause and to attend school. The garden is now part of the Jardins collectifs du Québec and has applied for certification as an organic garden. This is a particularly worthwhile project in that it brought students together to work on an environmental cause, with connections to the different broad areas of learning and competencies in the school program, while encouraging greater school attendance.