Nanaimo-area students are getting a first-hand look at the effects litter has on rivers, lakes, beaches and parks as the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup introduces a school-participation version of the popular event.
Throughout May, 28 B.C. schools are participating in the first-ever spring cleanup, including Wellington Secondary School, Cedar Community Secondary School and Aspengrove School.
Susann Young, principal at Cedar, said the program is a welcome addition as it provides a resource to help students learn more about the environment.
“We’ve had a school goal to work with our Grade 8 students to do some team building and some sort of social responsibility initiative and we’ve been aware of the shoreline cleanup for years,” said Young. “But it’s always been in September when it’s really difficult for high schools to free up large groups of kids and do all of the planning.”
Cedar is sending 110 Grade 8s to Jack Point Park on Monday (May 16) to take a look at what’s been thrown away and how it affects the environment and animals that live there. A class of Grade 11 biology students will assist in the project, acting as role models and filling in the data cards that will be sent back to program hosts Vancouver Aquarium and World Wildlife Fund for data compilation.
Wellington secondary is scheduled to clean up Piper’s Lagoon Sunday (May 15), while Aspengrove students will remove litter from Green Lake and Dunbar Park May 26.
“Students have always been big participants in our shoreline cleanups,” said Jill Dwyer, program manager for the shoreline cleanup. “But we’ve also gotten feedback from teachers that September is not the best timing for them. What precipitated this is we’ve developed a Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup school curriculum for Grades K-7, designed to meet B.C. school curriculum guidelines, and it includes lesson plans teachers can do before and after the cleanup which extends the educational opportunity.”
The program and spring cleanup is a pilot program in B.C. and is expected to expand to Ontario next year and across the country eventually. Students will carry out the same responsibilities as the successful national program, which requires counting each item retrieved, weighing the total amounts and reporting it so Dwyer and her staff can record the accumulations.
“If students can complete some of the curriculum before going out to do the cleanup, they’ll have a better understanding of the shoreline animals that are affected, why it’s important that we remove shoreline litter before it gets into the water and that kind of thing,” said Dwyer.
Once the spring program gets rolling, students will be able to participate in both the spring and fall cleanups.
“We’re also hoping classes sign up for the same shoreline in May and again in the fall and do comparisons between what kinds of things they find in the spring versus the fall,” added Dwyer.
Young said this year’s participants from Cedar will set the bar for future Grade 8 classes and the school also hopes to start an environmental group next year.
“It’s important for students to learn about the interconnectedness of things and take another look at their own backyard and what’s being done with it,” said Young. “That’s why we picked Jack Point Park … it’s just beautiful where we live and to see what people throw away and what kinds of impacts it might have.”
Last September at the national Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, volunteers collected 98,071 kilograms of litter from Canadian shorelines, including 227,830 cigarette butts, 83,660 food wrappers, 55,880 plastic bags and 55,443 bottle caps and lids.
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a partnership between the Vancouver Aquarium and World Wildlife Fund and is presented by Loblaw Companies Limited.
