Earth Day is an annual celebration that recognizes our love and appreciation for our Earth. It started on April 22, 1970, when an estimated 20 million people in the USA attended many events at elementary and secondary schools, universities, and community sites nationwide. Today, it is celebrated globally each year on April 22, and brings awareness around the environmental and climate issues that threaten our planet. For the past several years at Brockton, the Community Action Team for Environmental Responsibility has turned Earth Day into a week-long initiative to help drive home the message.
This year, we kicked off Earth Week early with a Recyclympics game at the Senior School assembly on Wednesday, April 17. Senior School students competed in a relay race to recycle a set of items properly. Amidst fierce competition between the grade levels, the Grade 8/9 team pulled ahead to claim victory!
At the start of Earth week proper on Monday April 22, we began with the Environmental Art Contest, a Senior and Junior School competition that encourages students to connect to the environment through creative means. This event is still ongoing, and submissions will be accepted until May 10th.
On Tuesday April 23, Senior School students ventured outside to help clean up our school grounds, and we collected 3 bags of trash from around the campus. Not only did this experience improve our local environment, but the students who participated learned about how plastics take 1000 years to decompose and how important it is to compost, recycle, and dispose of waste correctly, echoing 2024’s official Earth Day theme of Planet vs. Plastics.
During Wednesday April 24’s Senior School assembly, members of the CAT-ER presented a sustainability tip of the week: “Don’t Litter!” This tip explored the impacts of littering and improper waste management. We also discussed the benefits of proper waste disposal, reminding students that should there be any confusion about what items go where, helpful signs have been placed around the bins in both buildings to guide their sorting.
For Thursday April 25’s activity, CAT-ER leaders put together a climate education video which they presented during Advisory classes. This was followed by a discussion, whence students shared their personal experiences of being affected by climate change, and personal actions they can take and/or are taking to make an impact.
To close out the week on Friday April 26, the CAT-ER hosted a bake sale which generated over $300 for the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, a small non-profit organization dedicated to protecting B.C. ‘s salmon, and the Fraser river and its connected waters. With this donation, they will be able to continue their important work safeguarding our local streams and waterways.
The CAT-ER team appreciates the tremendous participation and support of the Brockton community to help make Earth Week 2024 a success. Our closing exhortation to the community is that protecting our planet should never stop with just a day, or a single week, but should continue 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Written by the Community Action Team for Environmental Responsibility (CAT-ER)
