Garcia Bend Park/River Clean Up

2014 Sacramento, California, USA

Alexa Smith, Kieran Garcia, and Feliceya Torres wanted to help their community by holding a straightforward cleanup along the banks of the Sacramento River. They submitted a proposal explaining how excess garbage can pollute the waterways and adversely affect aquatic organisms. For the cleanup, they chose a site in their neighborhood that is used frequently for recreation, Garcia Bend Park.

Smith, Garcia, and Torres recruited additional students from their high school, The MET Sacramento, and spent a productive day on the waterfront. They collected over 15 bags of trash in just a few hours. Project funds from Nutrien helped to purchase bags, rubber gloves, a dip net, and snacks for the participants.

Vermicomposting at the MET

2014 Sacramento, California, USA

In researching ways to improve their local watershed, Molly Crofoot and Loki Spera became very interested in the concept of vermicomposting, or worm composting. Different than traditional composting, worm composting is a process that uses red earthworms to consume organic waste, producing castings, soil conditioner, and a topsoil additive. While there are other ways to break down things such as food and yard waste, vermicomposting is a lot easier for people who live/ work in a place with very little outdoor room. Their project proposal was to build a worm bin at their school, The MET Sacramento High School, and educate students on its use. Specifically, they would train members of the Garden Club, who would take over general maintenance of the bin, and use the soil created to add to the garden beds.

Vermicomposting has many benefits for the environment. The process creates a nutrient rich soil, which helps grow a healthy, sustainable garden without the need for chemical fertilizers. It also builds healthy soil structure that reduces watering needs and absorbs runoff, protecting streams from erosion and pollution. Finally, it makes use of food waste that would otherwise enter landfills. Project funds from Nutrien helped Crofoot and Spera purchase a durable, multi-level bin and host a lunch workshop for students on vermicomposting, its benefits, and how to maintain the bin.

Red Maple Seedling Fundraiser

2014 Trenton, Ontario, Canada

Chantal, a grade 8 student from Murray Centennial Public School won fourth place for her “Red Maple Seedling fundraiser” proposal. Chantal’s idea was to hold a fundraiser at her school to sell Red Maple Seedlings and use the profits to purchase a water bottle filling station for her school. Chantal’s goal was to increase awareness about the importance of planting trees in our watershed and educate her school community about the negative impacts of disposable water bottles to the environment.

Chantal purchased 320 Red Maple Seedlings for $175.00 with the guidance of Tree’s Ontario and financial assistance from Murray Centennial Public School. The fundraiser was held in April 2014 and each seedling was sold for $5.00 generating a revenue of $1475.00. The profits from the fundraiser cover the cost of purchasing one water bottle filling station for the school.

With an additional $1305.00 from Caring for Our Watershed Implementation Funds, Murray Centennial Public School will be receiving a second water bottle filling station to meet the needs of the school with population of 600 staff and students.

The two water bottle filling stations were installed March 2015.

Composting System for Valley High

2014 Elk Grove, California, USA

Members of the Valley High School Green Club were concerned about the excessive amount of recyclable and compostable material that was being thrown into their school dumpsters each day. As this landfill waste can eventually lead to water contamination and problems in the watershed, they wanted to address this issue and implement a program to collect this material and remove it from the waste stream. The compostable material would then be added to bins to produce soil for the school garden they are starting.

Since this is a large task, Green Club members also enlisted the support of the ILS and Special Education students to transport the compostable waste (food scraps and cardboard lunch trays) after each lunch period. The compostable material is taken to the garden area where students have set up 4 compost bins, purchased with Nutrien project funds. Students also gather grass clippings to add to the compost bins.

Through the process, students found that the cardboard lunch trays do not break down easily, so they purchased a chipper/shredder to shred the cardboard into fine pieces that decompose more readily. The Nutrien implementation funds also helped students purchase other tools to help maintain the compost, such as a hose to keep it moist, and shovels and gloves to turn the compost.

During this first year of the new compost system, it is estimated that over 1000 cardboard lunch trays have been composted in this manner, reducing the amount of waste sent to the landfill. The Valley High Green Club anticipates improving and expanding upon the system as they move forward.

Water Conservation Education Booth

2014 Elk Grove, California, USA

California is currently faced with a severe water shortage and extreme drought conditions. The need for water conservation is critical and water agencies are appealing to the public for help. Students in the Green Club at Valley High are concerned that students and members of their community are unaware of how serious the current predicament has become and how to address the situation with water conservation measures. Judy Phu, Asia Xiong, and Jamilah Ahmach-Antolin presented their proposal to address this situation at the 2014 Caring for Our Watershed Finals. Their solution included preparing a community outreach booth geared toward water conservation for the on-campus community health fair.

The community health fair is attended by hundreds of students from the feeder middle and elementary schools as well as other community members, providing an excellent opportunity to reach a large number of people in a short period of time. Green Club members designed a water education game (similar to Chutes and Ladders) where younger students could play and see water conservation measures in a fun-interactive way. They gathered pamphlets and information from local water agencies to give to visitors as well as secured donations of water conservation related prizes (low-flow showerheads, shower timers, toilet leak test kits, etc.) to giveaway to game winners. Booth visitors were encouraged to sign a 20% water conservation pledge. Those that signed the pledge were entered in the raffle to win larger water conservation prizes (low-flow toilet). Through their creative, educational booth, they drew attention to an important watershed issue and exposed youth and community members to ways they could make a difference.

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!

Bottled Up

2014 Landmark, Manitoba, Canada

Trevor, Cole, Jaxon, and Andrew wanted their school to use less plastic water bottles. They also saw the refill stations as a way to reduce water use. They proposed faucet refill water stations to encourage students to refill their own bottles.

“We did an experiment to see how much water we will waste from drinking from a fountain. We squirted water from the fountain into a cup for three seconds and marked the cup, and then we timed someone drinking and got the spilled water in a cup and marked it. By comparing the lines we discovered that 66% (2/3) of the water dispensed goes down the drain.”

Thanks to Nutrien, the school now has a new drinking fountain with a sensor so that no more drinking water goes down the drain!

Allowing Children to Learn and Experience Nature

2014 Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada

Maria Bunk wants children to connect with nature. “Keeping good care of our watershed and environment is very important because there is not much fresh drinking water left which means we need to learn to respect and care for our fragile mother nature in a more responsible way.”

Maria proposed an environmental education program for her school’s nursery school that includes an activity book that she created; an in-class aquarium for children to learn about water as habitat; seeds to plant to learn about how things grow; and a watershed model the class will create from clay. Using this model, the nursery school students will learn about pollution and get to experiment with how water moves through their watershed.

“I think that eduating young children is a great benefit because it will create a ripple effect. Children enjoy sharing their knowledge with others which means the message will be passed on to a bigger scheme of people!”

Green Learning

2014 Lockport, Manitoba, Canada

According to Kailey Evans children need to spend more time outside. As a result of spending less time outside, “children aren’t thinking about the environment or how to take proper care of their watershed.” She suggested creating an outdoor pond for students to do experiments, dip for water bugs, and learn more about water.

Kailey saw the perfect fit at a nearby school, where an outdoor classroom was already in place. This special classroom means a lot to Kailey: “When I was in grade seven at Lockport, this outdoor classroom had just started. The pond had been dug out, but it was never able to retain water so we could never use this pond to its full potential.”

Thanks to a generous contribution from Nutrien, the dugout is now a pond, and students are already dipping for bugs! As Kailey has pointed out: “Environmental education provides the capability and skills over time to analyze environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to sustain and improve the environment.”