International Projects

Reducing Paper Towel Waste

2023, CINCINNATI, OH, USA

Lloyd Par, a junior at Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students, originally proposed replacing the Paper towel dispensers around his school with cloth roll towel dispensers in order to reduce the paper towel waste directly. However, the school board did not approve the project due to health and maintenance concerns. Lloyd pivoted his project to instead focused on the educational portion of his original proposal. He reworked the entire project and his budget in order to focus on his new vision.

First, Lloyd researched and created a survey to have data about the student and staff’s paper towel Students in classroom use habits. He then created a presentation and posters to shed light on the issues of paper towel waste. He even created a Jingle PSA (check it out below!) to go along with the presentation and to be showcased in the halls for community engagement. He also created a quiz at the end of every presentation, giving out stickers for prizes to ensure that students were engaged in the lesson and really driving home the impact of paper towel waste. All of this served to inform the students and staff on more sustainable paper towel use at school (ex. using one paper towel or using the hand dryers).

Purple Martin Towers

2022, Herndon, Virginia, USA

We are the Herndon Elementary School Bee’s Green Team! In 2022 we won 1^st place in the Chesapeake Bay Caring for Our watershed contest with our project, “Purple Martin Project” and we installed 2 purple martin towers on our school property with funding from this competition. Why? This bird species has been declining and plays a vital role in improving the biodiversity of ecosystems in our community and around the world.

Now, we are expanding our idea to help others build Purple Martin Towers in their communities in order to help the Purple Martins thrive there. As the international idea for the 2022-23 school year, Purple Martin towers will be installed in each CFW region internationally! We are excited to continue to work as a school, and throughout other schools along the Purple Martin’s migratory path, to manage and monitor the tower and species with a bird watching area.

Check out our demonstration of setting up and cleaning out your purple martin towers here:

Bracelets for Bats

2021, Greeley Central High School, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Saria Mowrer
Saria found that the population of Little Brown Bats has decreased 90% in the past 20 years alone, and scientists predict that they may be extinct by the year 2030. This is due to habitat loss as well as a fungal disease known as White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) that has been wiping them out by the thousands. WNS wakes bats up during hibernation, and causes them to lose the fat that they had built up to survive the winter. It is caused by pollution in and near bats habitats, so the best way to combat it is to provide clean habitats for local bat colonies. Continue reading…

A Toothbrush’s Journey

You may not know this, but plastic toothbrushes create major toothaches for our environment.

When student Jenn Fossay from Warren Collegiate in Warren, Manitoba, learnt that plastic toothbrushes take over 400 years to decompose, she knew that she had to come up with a solution.

To raise awareness about the negative effects of plastic toothbrushes on the environment, Jenn wrote and illustrated a children’s book to educate the next generation. The book takes readers through the life-cycle of a toothbrush lost down the storm drain. Once the toothbrush makes its way into the environment, it begins negatively impacting the lives of marine animals. Continue reading…

Begging for Air (Song)

The inspirational song, Begging for Air, was submitted in the 2017-2018 school year by Manitoba finalists Alexander Clemis and local singer-songwriter, Faouzia Ouihya. The ballad is written from the perspective of a tree, with the intention to motivate others to create change in their community.

“The most important aspect of our solution is it can help inspire humans of all ages all over the world to protect and even promote their own
watershed for the future generations to come.” -Faouzia.

Participating teachers received a Caring for Our Watersheds USB with a copy of the song and an informational poster.

Eco-Friendly Dry Erase Markers

international_dry-erase-markers In researching her Caring for our Watersheds project, Katelyn discovered a starting fact about her school’s use of dry erase whiteboard markers; “My school goes through approximately 1570 markers within a 10 month period.” That’s 1570 markers going in the trash each year. Given that these markers “are plastic, toxic, and non-recyclable” Katelyn saw the need to make a change to “prevent and lower the amount of chemicals making their way into the Lake Winnipeg watershed.”

Water Bottle Filling Station

Bottled water is becoming an increasingly popular choice among many students today. However, the these recyclable water bottles end up in landfills more often than not.

Ivonne Morales, a Greely Central High School student in Greeley, Colorado, noticed this trend and realized he must do something about it. Working with Liz Mock-Murphy, her teacher/mentor, she installed five water bottle filling stations in her school and encourages students to use reusable bottles.
Continue reading…

International Rain Barrel Giveaway

image1-2 Rain barrels are designed to collect water, but one distinctive rain barrel designed by students at Daysland School in central Alberta is garnering just as much attention as it is water.

Butterflies, toads, dragonflies and other flora and fauna help depict a healthy watershed on a rain barrel designed by 20 students from grades five to 12 at Daysland School. It also helped the classroom win $1,000 through an international rain barrel giveaway and art contest sponsored by Nutrien’s Caring for our Watersheds (“CFW”) program.