The District Carbon Neutral Action Reports (Coquitlam SD43)

Even wonder about the details behind the scenes? 

What are the District's goals and plans? 

What supports are available? 

From the public site, Our Green Future, come the Guiding Principles:

1. Educate students and staff on energy consumption, and our carbon footprint; the Moral Imperative (Improve Student Achievement through Ecological Literacy)
2. Engage staff and students in Climate Action programs of change i.e. reduce environmental impact, minimize waste, reduce energy consumption, paper
3. Support Facilities management of energy saving upgrades and maintenance
4. Promote innovation in design in the implementation of sustainable facilities planning
5. Develop well represented Climate Action Design Team that works closely with the Executive Level "Green Team".

Here's some light summer reading for you - you know you can't resist:

http://www.livesmartbc.ca/attachments/carbon_neutral_action_reports/SD43_2009.pdf

http://www.livesmartbc.ca/attachments/carbon_neutral_action_reports/SD43_2010.pdf

http://www.livesmartbc.ca/attachments/carbon_neutral_action_reports/SD43_2011.pdf

My favourite, though, is the "Activate" page on the District Green sharepoint site. I'm a little biased, since it has my fingerprints all over it, but I like it because it's more "grassroots" than some of the other information.   This page has the potential to be BY teachers, FOR teachers. 

Happy Summer, everyone!

Summer, now with sunshine!

After a rather cold and dreary West Coast spring, Summer arrived with a teaser of sunshine. More rain in the forecast. Such is life in the temperate rain forest. I like the rain, actually. I love the soft rains we get and the smell of the wet city when it hasn't rained for awhile. I like that the colours around my neighbourhood intensify in the rain, and that the hustle and bustle of the city gets muted and blurry.

Some good news for the District Network - we are well represented in the PSA (EEPSA). Kerri and I have both joined the PSA Executive (check your email if you don't know what I mean). There will probably be another General Meeting of the PSA in the fall, so add that to your calendar so that you can check it out.

I think a lot of us are in limbo, waiting to see what the political climate delivers, and yet, we don't want our projects held hostage by politics. Is your project EXTRA-CURRICULAR? Well, are there learning outcomes to your project? Do you assess your students using your projects? Could you?

Still not sure? There is a Curriculum Framework (on the Ministry's own web page, as well as many other places). It's called "Environmental Learning and Experience", and it contains Curriculum Maps that easily enable you to make connections between your teaching and the PLOs.

Job Action does eliminate "clubs" outside of class-time, but that doesn't mean we can't find a new way (a better way?) to connect your students to the natural world.

Survey Question: Even though we ALL teach about "the environment" in one way or a million others, the concept of "environmental education" seems to exclude a lot of educators. How would you "brand" teaching about the environment as part of your whole curriculum? Our primary teachers are working on "Nature-Based Play"... thoughts?