Welcome to the OCDSB EarthCARE Information section. This section
contains stories, news, and information about the Ottawa-Carleton
District School Board's EarthCARE program. Check out the stories
from your schools. Get information about EarthCARE events and
activities on your EarthCARE
Calendar. Track your progress in LOCO and other conservation
activities via the audit results. If you have tips, activities,
or lessons to share, send them to
,
and
we will post them here in your EarthCARE website section.
February 8, 2010 - The students of Churchill Alternative have put together an excellent PowerPoint presentation (RecyclesChurchillAlt.ppt) that illustrates the recycling system at work in their school.
February 8, 2010 - Dec 7-11/2009 was Waste Reduction Week at Sir Robert Borden High School. Among many successful activities, the most popular event of the week was the water bottle exchange where the BASE (Borden Active Students for the Environment) club gave away an EarthCARE canteen to any student that brought in four plastic water bottles.
January 18, 2010 - In 2008-2009, EarthCARE saved the Ottawa-Carleton and Hastings/Prince Edward boards over $2 million and reduced CO2 emissions by over 19 tonnes. Read the details in the OCDSB (pdf) and the HPEDSB (pdf) final reports.
November 27, 2009 - The 2008/2009 audit reports are in! Key results of the EarthCARE program in the OCDSB include over $1.8 million in savings from LOCO alone and an estimated 17 ton reduction in CO2 emissions; this is all thanks to a 92.5% participation rate! Thanks to everyone who made it happen. Read the full 2008/2009 report and check out EarthCARE's tremendous year over year results.
July 24, 2009 - As part of the 2009 OCDSB EarthCARE Expo, students were invited to create a 60-second podcast and enter it into a board-wide competition. Podcast topics included EarthCARE activities such as: litter-less lunches, use of plastic bags and water bottles, recycling, reducing energy and water use, using alternative transportation. Check out the winning entries and some of the crowd favourites!
February 6, 2009 -
TWIGS presents "Trash-Free Fridays". Every Friday beginning Friday Feb 6, Glebe Collegiate students are encouraged to bring litter-less lunches to reduce the amount of garbage output.
December 22, 2008 -
Elementary and secondary EarthCARE team leaders from 132 schools in the OCDSB attended a training/in-service program on Oct 16-17 at Confederation Educational Centre. Participants in the sessions shared last year's results as well as ideas, challenges and goals for this year's EarthCARE program; thank you to all who attended.
December 21, 2008 - The Ottawa Go Green Expo will be held at Lansdowne Park March 21 & 22, 2009. Shop Green. Eat Green. Learn Green. Live Green. Experience more than 180 of the greenest programs, products, and services. Shop at the local and organic marketplace. Local Speakers and celebrities will be present. See eco-fashions, learn about alternative transportation as well as green homes and gardens. Local and organic cooking demonstrations. Visit www.OttawaGoGreenExpo.com.
December 8, 2008 - In 2007-2008, EarthCARE saved the Ottawa-Carleton and Hastings/Prince Edward boards over $2.2 million and reduced CO2 emissions by over 20 tonnes. Read the details in the OCDSB (pdf) and the HPEDSB (pdf) final reports.
November 17, 2008 - The Earth Day Ottawa Solar Sprint Competition is your chance to design, build and race a solar powered car; create a website; produce a digital video or create a PowerPoint presentation. Take a look at this PDF flyer or visit www.earthdayottawa.ca/events/solar_sprint/index.htm to learn more.
November 17, 2008 - A PDF of the EarthCARE quiz (and its answers) that was distributed at the fall in-service has been posted to the Lessons, Activities and Handouts page. Also, the conservation and waste reduction websites mentioned at the fall in-service have been added to the Website Resources page. Thank you to all who were involved in compiling this information.
November 7, 2008 - Chalkfest
at Queen Mary Public School, where students express their
ideas and understanding of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and the
effect it has on the Earth.
June 15, 2008 - Thanks to Trillium's Team Leaders, Sylvie Chilibeck,
Louise Henderson, Kathryn Hughes and Heather Mutrie; EARS (Environmental
Action Student Representatives); and the school council environmental
committee for putting on Trillium's very successful
book exchange.
May 19, 2008 -
Learning the Three Green Rs at School - EarthCARE featured in
the cover story of the May 2008 issue of Capital Parent Newspaper.
Download a PDF of the article or visit Capital Parent Newspaper's website,
www.capitalparent.ca.
May 18, 2008 - Congratulations to EarthCARE Team leader, Sarah
Groskleg and the students of Bells Corners Public School who
were featured in the April 18 2008 edition of the News EMC Nepean-Barrhaven
for their work in putting on the BCPS's Earth Summit. Download
a PDF of the article.
April 20, 2008 - The Ontario Society for Environmental Education’s
annual conference is being held at beautiful
Bark Lake, May 2 - 4 2008. Conference topics
include climate change and classrooms, greening
schools, First Nations perspectives, ideas
for DPA, and many more. Visit www.osee.org for
details or download
a PDF of the conference flyer.
April 20, 2008 - Schools boast $5 million savings by going
LOCO -
EarthCARE in the OCDSB featured in the Saturday, March 29,
2008 edition of the Ottawa Sun, view
a PDF of the article.
March 21 2008 - The annual Ottawa EarthCARE
EXPO is on May 8, 2008, from 11:00am - 1:00pm at Confederation High School,
1645 Woodroffe Ave., Nepean, Ontario. Everyone is welcome to attend, participating
students are encouraged to take part in the 2008
Expo challenges. You can also download a printable PDF of the
Expo poster.
March 21, 2008 - The annual Ottawa EarthCARE
EXPO is on May 8, 2008, from 11:00am - 1:00pm at Confederation High School,
1645 Woodroffe Ave., Nepean, Ontario. Everyone is welcome to attend, participating
students are encouraged to take part in the 2008
Expo challenges.
February 10, 2008 - Alison Sinclair, a teacher
at Jockvale PS and parent volunteer Lana Lotan bring us a great
way to use those weekly pizza boxes headed to the recycling
bin. Head to the Lessons
and Activities page and have a look at the Pizza
Box Dragons activity.
September 25 2007 -
WIAM (World Inter-Action Mondiale) presents, The One World Film Festival, October 10 to 20. Ten days of internationally produced documentaries about contemporary world issues. Plus food, music, entertainment and more. At the Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St, The Odawa Native Friendship Centre, 12 Stirling Ave, and the SAW Gallery, 67 Nicholas St. To learn more, visit http://wiam.ca/programs/one-world-film-festival/.
June 22 2007 -
On May 3 2007, over 200 people attended
the EarthCARE Expo including
students, parents, staff, sponsors, members of the community
and Minister of Environment, The Honourable John Baird. Thank you to all
those who attended and helped to make the 2007 EarthCARE Expo such a tremendous
success.
June 21 2007 -
Join the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, a national conservation initiative that allows all Canadians to have a positive impact on their local environment. For more information visit www.vanaqua.org/cleanup/home.php.
May 12 & 132007 - The
Green Energy & Transportation Show, Lansdowne Park, Ottawa. The Green Energy & Transportation,
one of Canada's first "Green" focused consumer shows, aims to make a difference
by showcasing the latest green products, services and energy saving technologies
to consumers. Learn
more about the Green Energy & Transportation Show.
May 2 2007 -
By creating their robotic classmate, Megamo,
the grade 5 students of Katimavik Elementary School learned that many items can
be reused in a new form rather than being discarded.
April 10 2007 - Check out the latest addition to our Lessons, Activities, and Handouts page, a
worksheet to accompany the film, "Blackgold" - a documentary about the coffee industry. Thanks to Lea Doxey-Allin, a teacher at Frederick Banting Secondary Alternate Program in Stittsville, Ontario for developing this worksheet.
March 17 2007 - "Walden: The Ballad of Thoreau" is
a theatrical play about the last two days Henry David
Thoreau spent in his cabin at Walden Pond. This two-act,
one-set, four-character play is designed for use by high
schools and colleges. The
script and play materials plus a customized lesson plan
are available FREE to schools in the
USA and Canada. Learn
more in this PDF summary.
February 12 2007 -
Evergreen Workshop
Series, February to May
2007 (PDF). Join us for a series of exciting greening workshops this
spring. The workshops are open to all Ottawa schools and daycares
that want to engage their students in the creation of healthy,
stimulating outdoor spaces - right on their own school ground!
Teachers, administrators, parents, custodians, students and community
volunteers are all welcome.
All workshops run from 7–9pm and are held at the Ottawa Technical
Learning Centre, 485 Donald Street—Library Resource Centre.
November 22 2006
- Check out the Lessons,
Activities, and Handouts section and download "Do You Know?"
- a list of 10 questions and answers that illustrate the
importance of waste reduction and water conservation. Thanks
to Judy Turriff for putting this handout together.
November 21 2006
- Do you know a young environmentalist aged 8-16
who deserves to be recognized with a cash prize?
A young person you know could be next year’s Eco-Hero!
Action For Nature is currently accepting applications
for the 2007 Award! APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 28, 2007 -
read
award guidelines and application details
October 3 2006 - Audit data shows that the OCDSB saved
$1,247,147 in 05/06 with EarthCARE - view
05/06 audit results.
September 25 2006 - Recognizing
outstanding conservation efforts at the OCDSB. Ameresco Canada and the OCDSB received
a Certificate of Recognition for outstanding achievements in energy conservation
at the Board's
offices on September 12, thanks to its participation in the Better Schools Partnership®(BSP)
program. The Board is saving over $5 million annually on energy costs through
the BSP.
July 6 2006 - Download "Spring 2006 OCDSB BSP
Success Story," a newsletter produced by Ameresco Canada that outlines
that tremendous success that both the Better Schools Partnership
(BSP) and EarthCARE have had in the OCDSB. A
BSP Success Story - PDF 9 MB.
May 16 2006 Check out the latest updates
to the Resources section, the “Get in the Loop” teaching kit, provides a fun, hands-on way to help students learn about the 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; and the “Happy Earth Day” activities book, lists a number of things everyone can do to help take care of the earth.
April 23 2006
Check out the latest addition to our Environmental
Lessons, Activities & Handouts page, "What Can We All Do?" a one-page handout listing various
ways that we can all help reduce energy consumption and cut emissions.
April 21 2006
EcoAction Teams, a program of Earth Day Canada, cordially invites you to attend a Climate Change event that will be taking place Friday, April 21st, 2006 at the RA Centre in Ottawa (2451 Riverside Drive, Courtside Salon A) from 7:00-9:00 pm. Community leaders, businesses
and residents of Ottawa will be coming together to discuss the broader challenges of climate change and to introduce tangible solutions already available and easily implemented at the household level. For information or to register, contact Laura Anderson at 1-888-283-2784 ext 106 or email info@ecoactionteams.ca. Space is limited.
March 3 2006 - The OCDSB's 3rd annual EarthCARE EXPO will include competitions
for environmental sculpture and innovation, cartoon, still
photography, and poetry.
For more information, see competition
rules.
May 28 2005 - View a new gallery of photos from the Second Annual EarthCARE Expo held
May 6 at Confederation High School, Nepean, Ontario. Missed the first batch? Take a look now.
May 18 2005, 6:30pm - 8:45pm
- EarthCARE students from Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S. team up with
the Raincoast
Conservation Society to present Art for the Earth. There
will be music, beverages and door prizes, as well as many fabulous
artworks and crafts donated by local artists and art students
from Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S.
All proceeds will be donated to the Raincoast Conservation
Society to help conserve the Great Bear Rainforest (one of the
largest contiguous tracts of temperate rainforest left in the
world) in British Columbia. The event will be taking place at
Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S. on 1515 Tenth Line Rd. Tickets are
$2 and can be purchased at the door.
May 6 2005 - The second annual EarthCARE Expo
was a great success. Thank you to all those who attended and
participated, we look forward to seeing you next year. View
an assortment of pictures from the event
Nov 30 2004 - "The world is an Apple" is an
exercise that compares the world to an apple. It helps students
understand the small amount of land that we depend upon, and
how important it is to protect what is left. Download it as
a PDF
or a Microsoft
Word file
Nov 10 2004 - EarthCARE tips poster produced
by Osgoode Public School available for download as a PDF
or Microsoft
Word file
