What the world needs now is another folk singer like I need a hole in my head. For some people, Cracker’s song lyrics are fighting words (but the tune is great…check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n8rfFRvIH0). But what does the world need now? Certainly, we need to get better at appreciating alternative perspectives. Not just tolerating…but actually appreciating them. Appreciating alternative perspectives requires a consideration of different ways of looking at issues in the process of forming opinions and taking a ...Read more
November, 2011Archive for
Nov. 28th, 2011
Bring Food Home…and to school!
This post written by Katie Berger – MES Student From October 27th to 29th, over four hundred food enthusiasts from around the province, a few from other parts of Canada and at least two super special guests from all the way across the pond- Sustain UK co-ordinator Jeanette Longfield and food systems expert Raj Patel – converged at Trent University in Peterborough for ‘Bring Food Home,’ Sustain Ontario’s annual conference. According to their website, Sustain Ontario is “a province-wide, cross-sectoral ...Read more
Nov. 21st, 2011
The Canadian Homeschooler: R4R
Environmental education is something that our children need in order to better understand their impact on the world around them. Sometimes, it’s hard to cut through the media hype and find resources that actually help us teach. Resources for Rethinking is a website developped by a group called “Learning for a Sustainable Future” (LSF). Their goal is to provide ”teachers access to lesson plans, worksheets and other teaching resources that integrate environmental, social and economic spheres ...Read more
Nov. 16th, 2011
Winnipeg Free Press: Learning lessons from lunch
Learning lessons from lunch Woodlands students reducing their environmental footprint By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 11/16/2011 1:00 AM Enlarge Image handout photo Teacher Chelsea Wishart (left) with students at Woodlands Elementary School who were runners-up for the first Jack Layton Award for Youth Action in Sustainability, presented by the Learning for a Sustainable Future organization. STUDENTS at Woodlands Elementary School have learned how to reduce their environmental footprint — by looking in their lunch bags. Now, the students in last year’s Grade 7/8 ...Read more
Nov. 4th, 2011
EcoLeague – Linking Education to Action
This post written by Angela Heagle – MES student and LSF Project Assistant A few weeks ago I did my first in-school project at North Kipling Junior Middle School in York Region. I, along with my LSF colleagues Randall and Katie, implemented two EcoLeague Recipes with some of the classes at this school. The first two action projects were with Grade Six classes and the last one was with a grade seven class. With the grade sixes, we ...Read more
Nov. 1st, 2011
The Right to Water?
This post written by Katie Berger, MES Student The research I’m doing for my latest assignment in my Environmental Policy course has me both fascinated and deeply disturbed. The professor has designed an activity in which small groups form panels to discuss issues of importance to environmental policy in the style of a mock-parliamentary hearing. I was assigned to the panel debating whether or not Canada should endorse the UN’s declaration of water as a fundamental human right which came into ...Read more