Manitoba

The New Face of Gardening

2015 Virden, Manitoba, Canada

At Virden Collegiate Institute, students Ethan and Jake, were concerned about flooding in the area. A flood impacted the town of Virden in 2014 wiping out the school’s learning garden and the town’s community gardens. In re-building the learning garden, Ethan and Jake considered going vertical, a sure way to protect plants from rising waters.

“This would benefit the watershed in many ways such as the aesthetic, direct economic, indirect economic, and scientific values. The scientific values allow for the garden to be studied by the Biology class, while the indirect economic values contribute to a reduction in carbon dioxide.”

Thanks to a contribution from Nutrien, Ethan and Jake have created a wall of miniature gardens, using pop bottles. This new face of gardening demonstrates how we can re-think new uses for old things; recycling pop bottles is a great way to start such a unique project!

The Prevention of the Eutrophication and Soil Erosion

2015 Virden, Manitoba, Canada

With the help of fellow students and staff at Virden Collegiate, Ashley and Kelsey proposed a simple and important idea to support their watershed: planting a shelterbelt.

“The issue we would like to focus on is the issue of water quality caused by erosion of soil due to a lack of trees and the eutrophication of lakes due to runoff from fertilized farmer’s fields as well as livestock fields, golf courses, residential homes that use fertilizers on their grass, and improperly treated sewage.”

With such a large list to tackle, the team looked to the power of trees.

“The roots of the trees will prevent soil erosion from the fields surrounding Gopher Creek, as well as protect its banks from collapsing.”

Working with their local conservation district, the Upper Assiniboine River Conservation District, and with the help of Nutrien, the students were able to successfully plant their shelterbelt, improving life for all.

Reducing Refills

2015 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Sophie and Sarah saw an easy solution to a common problem at their school’s canteen: the use of Styrofoam cups. The duo proposed an incentive program for students that brought re-usable mugs for their coffee as a way to encourage students to bring their own mugs, thus reducing the number of Styrofoam cups used in the school. This is important because, “a Styrofoam coffee cup will remain in a landfill for close to 500 years. When heated it releases toxic chemicals into the food making it hazardous to your health and it fills up to 30% of landfill space around the world.”

Working with the school canteen, and with the help of Nutrien, Sarah and Sophie created an incentive program that will result in an increased awareness and less Styrofoam going to the landfill!

Replacing Flushers

2015 Landmark, Manitoba, Canada

“The toilets we have in our school use 13 liters of water per flush and that’s pretty wasteful” reported students Nadia and Joe. They discovered that “all of the toilets in our school get flushed about 300 times per day and with the current toilets, each flush uses 13 liters per flush, so that’s about 3900 liters flushed per day!” Nadia and Joe proposed purchasing dual flush converters to install in the school toilets, a move that would save around 2730 liters of water every day. Best of all, their solution was easy to implement and economical.

With help from Nutrien, Nadia and Joe were able to purchase the converters so that their school could start saving water- and money. As the duo pointed out, “Why should we keep cleaning and purifying water if we can just save it?”

Klimate Kids

2015 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Annika and Mykyla are a creative team. The duo proposed creating a children’s book to “teach kids good habits about treating the environment better.” The colouring booklet was drawn and designed by Annika and Mykyla, each page containing a different message about how we can care for the environment through good water saving habits. According to the girls, this is important because “ Children are who will inherit this world from the adults one day when they themselves become adults, it is important make sure that today’s kids grow up to have strong and friendly habits when taking care of the cities and towns we live in.”

Thanks to a contribution from Nutrien, a series of Klimate Kids booklets were created, printed out and distributed to a handful of lucky schools. Digital copies of the booklet have been shared with Manitoba Education so that other schools can access the files too!

Wetland Creation

2014/2015 Gimli, Manitoba, Canada

Dean Mulroy and his team of fellow students proposed a very ambitious wetland creation project in Gimli, Manitoba. They wanted to expand an existing creek running along the school property into a larger wetland.

“The Willow Creek watershed, which is our area’s closest section, is along the western coast of Lake Winnipeg, also known as the Interlake region. It contains the rural parts of Armstrong municipalities, Gimli, Rockwood, St. Andrews, and all of the surrounding cottage country. This watershed’s drainage is roughly 1,210 square kilometers and contains roughly 620 km of ordered drains with two lake complexes”

They knew the natural filtering process would improve the health of the watershed as a whole. As well, they wanted students and community to benefit from the both the opportunity to study the area and its beauty. This team worked with the municipality, Manitoba Hydro, and the local Conservation District to ensure the feasibility of the project as well as to secure funding partners.

The success of this project is thanks to a dedicated team and strong community support!

Fixing the Filter

2014 Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

Janelle Klainchar wanted to make a difference in the health of the Lake Winnipeg watershed by installing a dilution tank in her school, Selkirk Regional Comprehensive School. The old system was not functioning properly and Janelle felt she needed to step in and make a change for the better. The dilution tank has now been successfully installed thanks to Nutrien through the “Caring for our Watersheds” contest!

Bottle Filling Stations in Hockey Rinks

2014 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Erik Rogalka from Garden City Collegiate wanted to do something to conserve water in the community. He proposed installing water bottle filling stations at the new hockey rink.

“By all the teams and parents filling their bottles using one of these stations the amount of water that would be saved would be huge. Another great thing about these stations is that it lowers the amount of disposable bottles being used. Instead of buying disposable bottles, spectators and players can use this bottle filling station. This would decrease the amount of disposable bottles that are thrown out at hockey rinks.”

“This project would be a really good way to help preserve our watershed, even if it is just in a small way. Everyday people are wasting water and using plastic bottles in hockey rinks without giving it a second thought. People rarely think about the consequences of their actions and these bottle filling stations would help save our watershed from carelessness. This project is one hundred percent approved by the community centre and is relativity low in cost. For these reasons I think this would be an excellent plan to implement.”

Erik can now proudly say that through the Caring for Watersheds contest, he was able to make this happen!

Battery Recycling

2014 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Batteries need to be disposed of in a proper manner. Orit Gluskin wanted to make sure her fellow students knew more about battery disposal, and the dangers of batteries in the landfill.

“The elements that are put in batteries range from common acids to toxic metals. The reason we shouldn’t just dispose of batteries in the regular garbage is because under high temperature, pressure or even when untouched, they can leak toxins. If they leak into the soil they will simply follow underground water into the closest water supply. These toxins are harmful to both organisms and the environment.”

Thanks to a contribution from Nutrien, Orit was able to start a school-wide battery recycling awareness campaign. Orit created posters and student surveys to learn more about her classmate’s knowledge around battery disposal. She also held a recycling drive where students could bring in their batteries, which were taken to a reputable e-waste facility in Winnipeg. Students were rewarded for their participation with entries for gift cards.

Greening our Cafeteria

2014 Gimli, Manitoba, Canada

Students at Gimli High School have taken an environmental interest in their school cafeteria. They’ve monitored the amount of waste produced by their cafeteria and decided they wanted to look for better options to reduce that waste. Carly, Tristin, and Hayden proposed testing compostable and paper plates to see if they would hold up in their cafeteria and if they will break down in their school’s compost bins. Once their testing is complete, they plan to work with the school to see what kind of changes can be made to make their cafeteria greener.

“The materials that these various plates, cups, and cutlery are currently made of will either never decompose, or will sit in our landfills for a minimum of 50-80 years. According to environmentalhealthnews.org, plastic in landfills can leach harmful chemicals that spread into groundwater. This means that not only are we littering our earth and filling our landfills, but we are infecting our groundwater, drinking water quality, and eventually our beautiful Lake Winnipeg.”

With a donation from Nutrien, the trio was able to purchase various brands and types of plates to experiment with. This is a great first step in their journey to a greener cafeteria!