Earth Day expo takes aim at climate change
Students from 10 different schools across St. Catharines gathered at Market Square to attend the Links for Greener Learning’s Earth Day Expo.
Running for the third year, the Friday event offers students and other community members a place to learn various ways people can counteract the effects of climate change in their day-to-day lives.
“We (Links for Greener Learning) found there weren’t too many events like this in St. Catharines to celebrate Earth Day,” said Yaneth Londono, the executive director of Links for Greener Learning. “As an environmental organization we believe there should be something bigger to help us reach our goals, so people can learn about different environmental causes.”
A big part of the event’s activities centre around highlighting the region’s sustainability goals like diverting 65 per cent of waste from landfill to recycling plants and increasing energy conservation practices.
“It’s important, so you can do this at home every day,” said Londono. “Climate change is not a joke. We want to keep people thinking about it.”
The day opened with an address from various political figures such as MP Chris Bittle and Mayor Walter Sendzik, encouraging attendees to take a more active role in combating climate change.
“It’s not just up to members of Parliament or members of the government,” said Bittle in his address. “We need everyone to be a voice for change and to let ... (those in office) know that the environment matters.”
After the opening ceremony, students broke up into groups to take part in eight workshops that were offered. The workshops were varied in nature and offered students and community members fun and informative ways to interact with the different topics.
Some of the workshops included: an introduction to vermiculture, where participants were able to see how worms can assist in fertilizing soil; a native plant “seed bombs” tutorial using seeds, soil, water and clay; a breakdown of all the different recycling bins and what items go where; and a walkthrough of the water testing process.
“It’s been really fun and we’ve learned a lot,” said Grade 8 Ridley College student Ella McRae of the event and various workshops.
“Most of them were more than just general (information on a topic),” said Ella’s classmate Olivia Grubic. “It was nice to actually be able to do stuff and learn things we haven’t learned in school.”
Apart from the workshops, Olivia also modelled a dress made with repurposed materials that was designed by her classmates Nelene Silva, Nuri Bokhari and Vanessa Russell for a fashion design contest that was held at the event. Their project took second place.
Londono said she hopes to see the event continue to grow in future years. “I think the best feedback we receive is the fact we get even more schools and community members out every year.”