Last year Al Gore released the Inconvenient Truth; a movie meant to bring awareness of climate change and global warming to people around the world. Last month Anne Parker came to Northview Heights Secondary School, speaking out about our effect on the planet. The messages were the same; we are killing our planet. However, the information presented was on a huge scale. How to solve the problems of icebergs melting, climate change, and increase of natural disasters was overwhelming. How could high school students make a difference? How could they reduce the size of their school’s ecological footprint?

            The rate of global warming is increasing. The twentieth century’s last 2 decades were the hottest in 400 years. This increase in temperature has caused 30 new infectious diseases to spread in the last 20 years. Health problems and diseases are on the rise and by 2050 over 1 million people will have died from malaria due to increase of mosquito population that comes with climate change. Due to the warming of the planet, glaciers and the ice caps are melting, thus causing ocean levels to rise which can cause floods to costal regions and extinction of many species of animals. Studies from the National Geographic website show that human activities are the cause not for climate change but the rate of climate change. Some experts object saying that the natural cycles in the earth’s orbit have caused warming and cooling periods in the past. However, these changes took place over several centuries. Scientists believe that the climate would still be changing but because of human activities polluting the earth, climate is changing more rapidly than it should. Even though these scientists admit we are creating the problem, many don’t think that we can do anything to try to fix the problem we have created.

            When looking at possible solutions, one person really can make a small difference. Imagine the difference an entire school could make! Northview makes up a large part of this community. With over 1000 students, 81 teachers and many other staff members, the environmental friendliness of our school makes a huge impact on our area. But completely stopping the use of paper to save trees or not using computers at all because they waste electricity isn’t a sensible solution in our modern day world – especially in our school. There are things on a much smaller scale that the population of Northview can do to reduce the size of its ecological footprint.

            Some schools have flown ahead of the crowd by “de-lamping” their school. By contacting ron.schell@tdsb.on.ca, the “de-lamping” program sends out facility service staff to visit the school and look at the levels of lights to see if there are more lights then you need.  If there are too many fluorescent tubes, the program leaders will work with the principal and head caretaker of the school to remove the right amount of tubes to create the perfect amount of light. This program reduces electricity consumption, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and saves schools money. Lighting makes up about 45% of electricity used in Toronto District School Board schools. Until the program starts, teachers and students can reduce the number of lights used by opening the window blinds to let in natural light and only turning on the lights they need.

            Another big issue with Northview, along with many other schools in the area, is heating. Though heating is crucial for the school to run through the winter, the temperature that it is set on is extremely high and wastes a lot of energy, thus causing more carbon emissions. The windows in classrooms always open during lessons to cool down the room and make it more comfortable. Open windows wastes even more energy as the heat escapes causing more work from the furnace to keep the school at the programmed temperature. In the near future, turning down the furnace to a comfortable temperature instead of the fiery temperature it is now, can reduce a big chunk of our ecological footprint.

            Reducing garbage is yet another one of the little things that our school can work on to help the environment. By cutting back on the non-recyclable items used in the school, and by reducing the amount of paper thrown in the garbage, the school can cut down on the amount of waste we produce. Waste that is thrown out into the garbage is brought to landfill to decompose. But the lack of oxygen it can get from underground causes slow decomposition to occur. Garbage sits in the landfills and emits methane gas. Studies show that one quarter of methane emissions caused by human activity comes from landfills. This is a big problem because methane gas is stronger; it effects global warming 21 times more than carbon dioxide does. We have to do something to help reduce the amount of garbage our school creates.

            Recycling bins are placed in every classroom and in the cafeterias. However, it is hard to enforce the recycling rule to the entire school. In our lunch rooms most things are paper, meaning they ARE recyclable. But most people don’t know that, or they just don’t care. By raising awareness of how to recycle, students can get involved in this project. However, not all things sold are recyclable. Styrofoam can still be found in the cafeteria. Styrofoam buried in a landfill can take over a million years to decompose! Think about it, if the dinosaurs used Styrofoam, it would still be buried in the earth today! Paper plates can be used instead as they can be recycled, but we have to be careful of wasting paper too.

            Some teachers are doing very well about not wasting paper, while others aren’t. By photocopying pages double sided or printing 2 half-size pages onto one sheet of paper, the paper we use can be reduced. Paper can also be cut down by emailing certain things to people. Notices and newsletter can be sent to parents or students over email. That way papers aren’t lost on the way home or thrown in the garbage and trees won’t be wasted. As it is already, there aren’t enough trees on our planet to get rid of the carbon emissions, and this causes global warming. By contacting the TD Friends of the Environment or Evergreen, schools can get funding for planting around the school. A tree planting activity could also be held at Northview to give back to the environment to provide much needed shade and oxygen. With the addition of more trees to our ecosystem, some of the carbon dioxide we produce will be used up and won’t add to global warming.