Author Archives: Chloe Sprecker

The Soda Tap!

2019, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Shaun of Montgomery School in Saskatoon is concerned with the amount of water wasted from letting a household tap run all day. He has a personal connection to this problem: He was born in South Africa and the country experienced severe drought in 2017-18. The City of Cape Town was on the verge of running out of water completely, so the residents there became very innovative about ways to limit water usage.

Shaun saw an online video of a similar project someone in South Africa had made and decided to create his own Soda Tap in order to save on water consumption in his home here in Saskatoon. It is a 2L soda pop bottle with a hole drilled at the bottom and a plastic tube in the hole. When it is squeezed, water comes out of the tube. When you let go of the bottle, the flow stops. If you want continued flow, you can open the cap. To stop the flow, simply close the cap again. Because the bottle is not pressurized, the flow rate is significantly lower than a normal faucet.

Shaun is hoping to make several Soda Taps to take to the lake, the park, and anywhere a small supply of water is needed. He will be showing others how they can make their own as well. This project shows that personal experiences can often pave the way for meaningful projects. “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

No Plastic Is Fantastic

2019, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Rafay, Josh, and Saabir of Greystone Heights School in Saskatoon were concerned with the amount of single-use plastics contaminating and creating dangers in our environment.

These students planned a community cleanup to reduce the amount of garbage and single-use plastics ending up in our river, and they have planned a single-use plastics phase-out in their school. To eliminate the use of single-use plastics in their school, they created a competition to see which class was bringing the least amount of single-use plastics to school for lunches and snacks. The winning class at the end of the month wins a pizza party. To encourage the elimination of these plastics, the group will be providing paper straws, paper bags, biodegradable utensils, and paper cups for the students in the school to use instead. They have already created a website so that students and others can learn how to phase out the use of plastics at their schools and in their homes.

Rafay, Josh, and Saabir feel that their project is economically feasible, easy to replicate anywhere, and has huge environmental impact potential.

No Plastic is Fantastic SK Implementation Student Action

Tainted Paint

2019, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Abrianna, Ella, and Mary of St. Kateri Tekakwitha School in Regina, Saskatchewan were concerned with paint (and other environmental contaminants) not being properly disposed of. They were alarmed that when paint doesn’t get properly disposed of, it can end up in our water sources. They came up with a plan to make it easier for people to properly dispose of these items, and also to make people aware of the dangers of not disposing of these items properly.

Tainted Paint Implementation SK 2

These girls have already collected numerous paint cans, as well as old nail polish bottles. In addition to placing collection bins for nail polish bottles at Sally Beauty and paint collection bins at 4Cats Art Studio, they have gone door-to-door in their neighbourhood collecting these items to ensure they get disposed of properly.

Abrianna, Ella, and Mary have already seen the impact of their project by collecting old paint cans and nail polish bottles and taking them for proper disposal.

They have also been able to donate paint that is still usable to organizations that can’t afford to purchase such items.

Waste Free Lunch

2019, Warren, MB, CANADA
Waste Free Lunch

Katelyn LaCombe from Warren Collegiate in Manitoba wanted to encourage her classmates to bring waste free lunches to school. She noticed that so many of her fellow students were bringing food in plastic bags, plastic wrap, and other disposable items. She held three contests throughout the school year where students could bring lunches in reusable containers to get their name entered to win environmentally friendly phone cases and zippered cloth snack bags. She provided a poster with different options to replace single-use plastics to educate everyone to continue packing waste free lunches even after the contests were over.

Waste Free Lunch

Hydrology Education

2019, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Holy Cross School grade 8 students Carliana and Vrinda wanted to make a change in the way their peers use water, so they came up with the idea to have an assembly to educate students and teachers about conserving water. Thinking of the future means thinking of our youth today. They explored themes related to the importance of freshwater, why it is important to conserve water, why it is important to keep our water resources clean, and what they can do at home and at school to make a difference.

“Educating other students on water and why it is important now means that they will have that knowledge as they grow up, making positive changes become habit early on.”

Reduce, Reuse and Upcycle!

2019, Woodbridge, Virginia, USA

Lake Ridge Middle School recently underwent an expansion of the school in order to house more students. During this expansion, an outdoor courtyard was created. In 2017-2018, the Ecology Club created a raised vegetable garden to help students experience the growth of food and caring for the Earth. This school year (2018-2019), the club wanted to focus on how to care for our waterways, while still adding to our garden and the biodiversity seen around our school.

The students decided to take trash from the school grounds and dumpsters and turn it into gardening tools and containers. Items bound for landfills and in storm drains can unintentionally make their way to our watershed, the nearby Occoquan River.

reduce reuse recycle implementation Chesapeake Bay

The students hope that by taking discarded items and turning them into beautiful plant containers, fencing and a rain barrel they will be able to reduce the amount of trash in the Occoquan, inspire other students and staff to upcycle materials in beneficial ways and increase the number of beneficial plants and insects in our area.

reduce reuse recycle implementation Chesapeake Bay Many of our students are disconnected from nature. In a recent school survey, over 80% of students reported spending less than 15 minutes a day outside. This removal from the outside world impacts how the kids view the Earth and challenges that society faces with environmental issues. The students in the Ecology Club are using this courtyard garden to teach the other students at school about pollution, it’s impact on our water and soil, the importance of pollination and pollinators, biodiversity and where food comes from. It is not a complicated project, but it is profoundly changing how some students will approach their natural world. Their hope is for a cascade effect. They want to clean our local grounds and use that trash to beautify the garden by planting herbs and flowers in it. That it will increase the number of insects and birds in the garden and inspire the humans at school to do the same.

Recycling and Repurposing Electronics

2018-2019, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Recycling and Repurposing Electronics at Kenmore Middle School Valeria, Ashley, Iliana, Zaneya, Frank, Emmett, Connor, Jamethiel, Valery, Brady, and Talin were bothered by all the electronic being thrown away. Many contain components that leak toxins into the watershed. They hoped that by collecting unwanted electronics they could repurpose some and safely recycle others.

To improve their watershed, they wanted to recycle old phones, computers, tablets, and batteries in their school and community; but after weeks of research, they are limiting themselves to only accepting phones, batteries, and tablets.

They have approval from their principal to put shelves in their school lobby where people can put their old electronics. Staples has agreed to take the tablets every other week. If they happen to come across computers, Staples will take a few.

Their in-school police detective will take reusable phones to the Witness and Victim Protection Program so they can be used by victims of domestic violence. If there are broken phones they can’t use, they plan to put them on Freecycle.org for people who want parts. Apple will take back any of their devices that are broken. Arlington County will take their batteries. They made a request that the county take the computers, but after many conversations, they sadly declined; but they can publicize the services the county has for recycling.

Another part of their recycling solution is to distribute flyers that say what to recycle in their county. They will give the magnets to every student in the school to share with families. Another class has asked if they can give out their magnets as prizes to people who recycle.

Conclusion: Recycling electronics will helps the environment by taking out the lithium batteries that might cause a fire or explosion and the metals and plastic that would just end up in the trash. Old electronics pollute the environment and could cause horrendous impacts on the earth. Recycling will keep toxic chemicals out of the water supply.

Project RORG (Run Off Rain Garden)

2019, Hernandon, Virginia, USA

Project RORG (Run Off Rain Garden)

For several months, David, Elizabeth, Pranith, Tadek, Shamiya, Kheya and Tapthi, who make up Team RORG (Run Off Rain Garden) have been researching, designing and implementing their project.

The two original sites were chosen because of they were in an appropriate spot for a rain garden and were cleared by Miss Utility for excavation. However, after boring multiple spots to test the soil, it was determined the soil was too rocky for a rain garden.

The benefits of the project are a significant amount of future run-off in the project area watershed will be captured by the hybrid rain garden where sediment and pollutants will be removed, and most of the water will have time to percolate into the ground rather than rushing the Horsepen Creek, causing additional erosion.

Project RORG (Run Off Rain Garden)

Three additional sites were chosen, all of which receive run-off from uphill areas. The three sites were cleared by Miss Utility and soil bore tests were performed. Due to the rockiness of the soil it was decided that a modification off the current design would be best. After additional research, a hybrid design featuring coconut fiber biologs as check dams was adopted.

Technical assistance and on-site consultation has been given by Mr. Daniel Schwartz, a soil scientist with the NoVa Soil & Water Conservation District, who has also arranged a survey of the current project site.

Utensil Replacement

2018-2019 Arlington, Virginia, USA

Alexy, Jonathan, Byron, Emma, Ashlee, Marcus, Mifra, Nathaly, Jason, Mirhran, Gabe, Taylor, Bryan, Katherine noted that their school cafeteria used plastic straws, plastic sporks, and paper napkins wrapped in plastic packages.

They proposed to replace them with separate options of single paper straws packaged in paper, biodegradable corn-based sporks, and paper napkins in dispensers, like in a restaurant. They plan to put in paper towel dispensers for really bad spills. That will save on using too many napkins.

The group will encourage students and staff to drink right from the cartons instead of using straws, but they will have paper straws available for those who want them.This will make a positive change to the watershed because the school will be reducing plastic and recycling paper and corn.

The group also hopes to educate people on the harm they are causing by using plastic straws, utensils and packaging. Maybe other schools will cut down too, causing the overall amount of plastic to decrease. This means the watershed will be no longer be harmed by the cafeteria and community trash each day.

Utensil replacement implementation

Save the Forest

2018-2019, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Dante, Rodrigo, Elle, Karin, Lauren, Corey, Simon, Ann, Burak, Raphael, and Sam were concerned that invasive species were killing trees and destroying their ability to filter water. They researched species that were causing the problems in Four Mile Run, which empties into the Potomac River.

The students focused their attention on eliminating kudzu and bamboo shoots from the park near their school. They intend to cut the kudzu and uproot the bamboo shoots. It is their hope that the healthy trees will be able to reduce the FCB and other pollutants in the runoff to the stream. The students have a further plan to add trees and bushes to the areas around the school.

Now that the students can identify these invasive species, they will be able to protect trees and shrubs. The students have said they believe they will be able to educate their families and friends to help balance the natural filtration system for the watershed.