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Wildwood School students learn about alternative energy and environmental stewardship
This year students are asking “how do our actions impact the world?” They are focused on the amount and type of energy their school uses. Wildwood students feel it's important to use less energy and reduce their ecological footprint by getting some of their energy from solar power instead of from fossil fuels. “We are talking about sustainable development and natural resources,” says Karen Beck, Grade 4 teacher. Ms. Beck has been teaching Grade 4 students about the environment and empowering them to reduce their eco-footprint. Now in Grade 6, Noah M. did his Grade 4 inquiry project on solar panels and presented his findings to his class. “If we don’t make changes to how we live things are going to get really messy,” says Noah, who is reading An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. Noah’s project was the catalyst for the school’s interest in installing solar panels. Ms. Beck wrote many grant proposals and worked with CBE corporate partnerships and ENMAX Corporation to make this a reality. “It’s neat that the sun is renewable and we have a lot of space on our school’s roof, so why not use it,” says Grade 5 student, Jacob P. Ms. Beck adds, “This project is making kids feel proud of their school and, by showing solar power in action, Wildwood School is helping educate the rest of the community about the benefits of this pollution-free energy source.” Sharing their learning and commitment to making environmentally friendly choices is important to the students and they take what they’ve learned home and into the community. Wildwood joins nine other CBE schools that have installed alternative energy demonstration projects, which include solar thermal, wind and solar PV. These projects combined with other CBE energy-efficiency projects have resulted in a 10–per-cent reduction in energy use since 2007 based on the CBE’s energy use index. In 2010, the Wildwood School Grade 4 class film “Tiny Footprints” won the People’s Choice Award at the Calgary International Film Festival’s Youth by Youth competition. Wildwood was also recognized by the U.S. Consulate in Calgary on Earth Day as being a model environmental learning school.
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