Our ninth meeting - all about snow and logos

A couple of themes were tackled at this months meeting, snow and logos. The snow aspect was inspired by the wicked winters we get up in the Canadian prairies. It is usually very cold with lots of snow, and this winter was a typically harsh one. Although winter doesn't stop us from having fun (see our eight meeting) it certainly influences everyone's lives for a large part of the year.

Before jumping into the snow, we had a sharing circle and then touched on the environmental news of the day. We discussed how Barrack Obama had just be re-elected and made some good promises to do some positive things environmentally. One can always hope! Next we discussed the digging into Lake Vostok, a lake 3,400 meters deep, in order to perhaps find alien life on our planet.  We finished off with some jaw dropping picture of areas that have gotten too much snow.

On the topic of snow, defined what exactly snow was and we touched on the fact that snow was melting unusually quickly in the north pole causing all sorts of problem for people and animals. Although I had intended to talk more on this subject I had lots planned so had to move on.

Next discussion item was about eco logos. First I had explain was logos were and we focused on eco logos that are commonly seen everywhere. We discussed which logos were legitamate and which were not. Why would there be illegitamate ones? Because companies want to make there products look better than they are, or want to charge you more for nothing. Because of this, we need to be educated consumers - hence the discussion!

In order to learn and test our knowledge I made up a game for people to vote on whether they thought the logo was legitimate, and finally what they thought the logo meant. It was great fun and the kids were all very involved. I've attached the game and answers to this blog post.

As if this wasn't enough, I squeezed in a game to get the kids moving. Everyone lined up along the wall. Upon each answer they got a chance to take one step. First person to reach the furthest wall wins.  The questions were based on a mix of trivia and whether they had good eco-friendly habits. (questions in french below)

Excited kids, learning going on, having fun - another successful club meeting :-)

Eco Logo Game

• Game questions:
• Recycle l’interieur du rouleau de papier de toilette
• A donné une infraction
• Ou sont trouvé les poissons bizarre...
• Demandé pas de sacs à un magasin
• Mange les graines de pamplemousse
• Trivia
• Ferme les lumières avant de quitté la chambre
• Adopté un animal sans maison
• Nom de notre premier ministre
• Nom du ministre de l’environment (Peter Kent)
• Portes du vert
• Laisse pas l’eau couler quand brosse les dent
• A porté le linge de quelqu’un d’autre “hand me down”
• Le nom du lac en antarctique
• Brosse les dents avec une branche d’arbre
• Trivia
• Fait un jardin ou planté quelques choses
• Symbole de recyclages est...
• Tirer un mauvais herbe à la main
• Été en bicyclettes
• Trivia
• Réutilise sac le magasin
• Marche à l’école
• Utilise papier recyclé pour imprimante
• Fabrique vos propres bijou

Our eight meeting - snow sculpture

This month we spent our club time outside participating in a snow sculpture competition.  We worked in harmony as a team for 2 hours sculpting a dolphin!  (of course :-))  I was quite impressed at how hard working everyone was and how eager everyone was to help out and contribute.  Below is the result; what do you think?

Our seventh meeting - Electronics

Our last meeting was quite an exciting one where Steve, the local recycling hero, showed us how he takes apart electronics into the constituent parts for recycling.  At the end of our meeting I asked for ideas for a theme for our next meeting and everyone yelled out Electronics!  So, guess what the theme was this time!?  You got it :-)

After the handshake we got to the news.  First we discuss how IBMs Watson AI computer is being used to diagnose disease - nice!  On a less positive note we talked about the forecast that by 2017 we will be burning more coal than petroleum - yikes.  One of the reason is that countries like Germany have bowed to pressure to no longer use nuclear, kudos to them, unfortunately they still need energy so are turning to coal to fill the gap.  To dampen the depression caused by this news I finished with the discovery of one of the cuties animals ever found, the Slow Loris.  It's a real cutie but quite vicious actually, and on the vulnerable list because people want them as pets (and cruelly remove the teeth as a result).

After our trip outside to check out our environments we got on the topic of electronics.  First was the Lapka, a bolt on tool/app for iPhone that allows you to take various environments measures.  Neat.  We then talked and looked at videos about flexible OLED screens that will be coming out and changing things up again.

The next bit was a bit of a gamble for me because I didn't want to bore or scare the club but I thought this movie was absolutely an eye opener for anyone interested about our planet.  It is a movie call Manufactured Landscapes which discusses the work of a Canadian photographer called Edward Burtynsky.  The imagery is phenomenal and somewhat disturbing; the damage we are incurring on our planet has no limits it seems.  I had seen the movie a while back but screened it again and took note of the more interesting and palatable moments and jumped around to this spots in the movie.  This allowed me to keep things short and censored for the kids.

To finish off I showed and video and discussed 3D printers.  First I made sure everyone understood what the 3 dimensions were and then discussed the machines and showed a video.  These things stand to revolutionize a lot of things.  The kids were fascinated!  I tried hard to find someone to come and give a live demonstration of one but couldn't find anyone.

I had gone overboard a bit on this meeting as I also included a craft where we cut out and created booklets of environments fines we can give out when we see someone doing something bad for our earth.  I had fun making these (the bar code makes it look official eh!?) and the kids are having fun giving them out.  A few dads got some fines and weren't terribly impressed but were good sports about it.  It's hard to spread awareness without ruffling a few feathers :-)

I finished off with a beautiful song from Xavier Rudd that hits the spot with regards to words and tone and the integration of natural whale songs in the score.  This was a doozie of a meeting, rich with meaning and well received.

Xavier Rudd - Creating a Dream

Imagine every where was free to roamImagine if the trees could tell us where to goImagine that the sun could fill each lonely heartimagine confrontation never got a startimagine things will were always crystal clearimagine if the mind never interferedimagine we could fly with broken wingsimagine if the heart could shed it’s skin
please patience please patience please I’m creating a dreamplease patience please patience please I’m creating a dreamImagine sacred sights were left to beImagine if true activists controlled tvImagine captain watson had the final sayImagine if industry just had to obeyplease patience please patience please I’m creating a dreamplease patience please patience please I’m creating a dream
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/creating-a-dream-lyrics-xavier-rudd.html ]

Our sixth meeting - recyling

Recycling was the theme of this months meeting and I had a special treat lined up with the topic!

After the standard opening club handshake I started by sharing some observations from a recent vacation we took to Minneapolis.  We noticed first of all that there was no sign of any recycling going on at the hotel we stayed at.  We weren't impressed.  We discussed how we absolutely loved shopping and eating at Whole Foods.  We just can't wait for them to start spreading across Canada!  I also handed out a bunch of cards we found at the zoo which indicates which fish are better to eat than others from an ecological impact perspective.  The kids appreciated the cards and also the fair trade chocolate I shared with them ;-)

Before moving on to the news portion of the meeting, I shared with them my experience at the Xavier Rudd concert.  It not only was entertaining and moving (this guy is awesome) but resonated a lot with the principles of the club.  Stretched across the top of the stage was a Sea Shepards flag, obviously showing his support of Captain Watson and his crew.  I took the opportunity to talk about Sea Shepards and also using stage time and a fan base in order to educate people about the environment.

News items this meeting included that scientists found ice on Mercury (who would have thought!), that the acidification of the oceans due to increased CO2 in the atmosphere is slowly weakening the shells of seas life, and a discovery that some flowers attract and feed ants because the ants chase away insects that would be bad for the flowers - cool cooperation.

Today was a field trip day to a local store owner who took it upon himself to become a recycling depot  for items such as CDs, batteries, electronics, and even bottle caps!  He collects all of these items and stores them until he has enough to bring in and sell as scrap metal.  He was just around the corner so we headed out of for a quick walk to pay Steve a visit.

Steve showed up the various bins he had set up and then brought us to the back where the most interesting part of his work was.  He takes used electronics and strips them of they're various recyclable components such as plastic, metal, and glass.  He demonstrated how he takes apart a computer monitor in a few minutes, all the while speaking to the security precautions he takes because of all of the heavy metals involved.  The kids were enthralled the entire time!  At the end of the demonstration we gave him 3 hip-hip-horrays for doing this and left inspired by someone who was working to better the planet even though it was not profitable for him to do so.  Steve, a local eco-hero!

Our fifth meeting - Globalization

This was our first meeting after the summer holidays and everyone was excited to be back together again.  To open things up we went around the circle to give everyone an opportunity to share anything of interest regarding the environment.  Many had stories about trips to the wilderness and animals seen.  Others discussed the garbage they noticed or incidents when they noticed someone littering and polluting.  The sharing circle is important because it helps club members learn more about each other and gives them a forum to discuss things that excite or disturb the members with people that are empathetic and understanding.

The planet checkup had a number of interesting items including:

• A garbage island in the pacific as large as the country of France. There is a smaller but similar island in the Atlantic. I showed pictures and discussed some personal observations I made regarding tossing garbage in the ocean while I was on a trip in India.
• Conflict between monkeys and people in the Congo due to human encroachment on the monkeys environment. I discussed how such conflicts are a typical result of population growth and the lack of respect for animals and the environment.
• Blue honey in France. This was especially interesting because a bio-diesel factory (good) had stock piled lots of old M&Ms as biomass but the local bees took a liking to the sugar in the candies and ending up creating multicolored honey. Unfortunately the honey wasn't fit for eating so was wasted. Sometimes even with good intentions you can't predict negative consequences to your actions. Thankfully the company ended up storing the candies in a shelter to prevent the problem from happening again.
• We finished the news with amazing content winning nature photos. Notice that I started with the worse news items and worked towards more positive, being sensitive not to cause anxiety in the kids.

After the short meditation outdoors, we tackled the theme of globalization which is quite a big subject to cover is a very short time with young people.  I started with defining what globalization means and how it often leads to homogenization which was another definition we tackled.  Homogenization was easier because I referred to homogenized milk and how the fat in the milk is mixed into the rest of the milk so that it doesn't separate anymore and all of the milk looks the same.  I discussed how sometimes having everything 'the same' results in loss of community and culture (I had to define this as well).  Globalization can often lead to a loss of diversity so I looped back to our prior discussions on bio-diversity.  Judging by the questions asked the discussion went exceedingly well.

All that brain time needed to be balanced with doing so I brought a roll of newspaper print end (you can get them super cheap at big printing outfits) and rolled out a long piece of paper for a group drawing session.  We all huddled around the paper together and each drew something that we like about our community, something that makes it unique, or something that makes it special.

While we were working we listened to the song of the month from Les Colocs called La Rue Principal.  This is a great band from Quebec that has the knack of taking serious subject matter but making fun music out of it.  In this song, they lament that the main street of the town they grew up in has been transformed due to immigration and an influx of big corporations (e.g. MacDonalds) and they reminisce fondly at how there town used to be.  (Words included below)

After the craft we discussed ideas in the action box and finished thing off reading a story book called The Most Dangerous Animal in the World  which turned to be none other than man :-)

In my little town we were just four miles

Pis the main street was called St-Cyrille

The co-op, the gas bar, the credit union, the mortician

And general store

When I go back it hurts so bad

A bomb was dropped on main street

Since the shopping centre went up

The t'other day I brought my beloved

To show that this is where I was born

When he arrived v'la me beautiful joualvert

It seemed to Val-Jalbert

When I go back it hurts so bad

A bomb was dropped on main street

Since the shopping centre went up

One of these days I'll go back

With my bulldozer

And the mall are going to spend

A bad time

Before the shopping center went up

On the high street it was more alive 

Of kid on a bicycle, cousins ​​visiting

It was packed with people like in Africa

When I got back its pathetic

Alls gone wrong on main street

Since they've been built the McDonald

One of these days I'll go back

With my bulldozer

And the mall are going to spend

A bad time

In my little town we were just four miles

Pis the main street was called St-Cyrille

The co-op, the gas bar, the credit union, the mortician

And general store

When I go back it hurts so bad

A bomb was dropped on main street

Since the shopping centre went up

One of these days I'll go back

With my bulldozer

And the mall are going to spend

A bad time

In my little town we were just four miles

Pis the main street was called St-Cyrille

The co-op, the gas bar, the credit union, the mortician

And general store

When I go back it hurts so bad

A bomb was dropped on main street

Since the shopping centre went up

The shopping center, the shopping center,

The mall ...

Our fourth meeting - Action and Results

At the last meeting we chose our goal of adopting a dolphin with the funds we would raise.  We ended up proceeding as planned and doing a bottle drive in the local town.  Well, it was a complete success as we raised over $300 in just a couple of hours!  We were well organized, worked in teams, and were graced with reasonable weather.  Everyone was pumped to be actually working towards our goal and we had lots of help from the parents too.

We adopted a dolphin via WCDS, an organization out of the UK that monitors and protects sea life.  Through the adoption we got a nice letter thanking us for the donation, the name and picture of a specific dolphin, and some stickers that I shared between the club members.  It was great to see the results of the adoption and feel good about it inside but at the same time I felt it necessary to have something concrete like a photo or stickers that the kids could touch and go home with.  The bunch I have is very open and aware so I don't think they 'needed' to have something material come back from the adoption but it was nice to have nonetheless.

So the theme of this meeting was of action and the environment.  After discussing and celebrating the action we took, we went on to discuss all of the different methods of acting and how other people and organizations that take action around the world.  We talked about Greenpeace, Ghandi, and even touched briefly on ecoterrorism in order to converse about where the line is between activism and criminality.  This is a young group (6-12) so I didn't go very deep here as I didn't want to scare them or throw them for a loop but I found it was important to touch on the subject and all of the shades of grey around it.  It's important to bring up all sorts of subject matter, even stuff that might be a little prickly. The challenge is to discuss at a level that the kids can understand and doing it with extreme sensitivity to how they will react.  Complete failure would be to have a discussion result in fear and anxiety in the children.  That is the be avoided at all costs.

This meeting marked the end of the first year of the club and the beginning of a great summer to come.  

Our third meeting - Voting and Organizing

One of the concepts I introduced to the kids early on was the Action Box.  We built the Action Box together and decorated it as one of our activities in a prior meeting and made it clear that any ideas someone has can be put in the box and referred to later on when we decide to act.

At this meeting we decided to look at all of the ideas that were in the box so far and vote on what we should act on.  There were lots of a great ideas in there, from planting flowers to beautify the local soccer fields, to protesting the animal circus that was coming to town.  I was pumped to hear all of the various ideas and it was clear these kids are truly engaged and motivated to improve the health of our planet!

After explaining each idea clearly we voted through secret ballot.  This process covered another one of my goals with the club which is to introduce them to how peaceful democracy works.  Those who were responsible for the idea had a chance to stand up and promote it and I helped as best I could where this was difficult as these are all pretty young kids.  I chose the secret ballot because it is representative of the larger electoral system and also not to create any division between club members as no one knew who voted for or against an idea.

In the end, we decided to raise money in order to adopt an animal and with further voting we decided on a dolphin through WCDS.  This was a great idea because it leads to something very ecology sensitive and also to something concrete (stickers and a picture of a dolphin that the organization is tracking).

The rest of the meeting we organized around how we would raise money (a bottle drive), who would do what, when we could do it, etc.   Not all was decided on the spot because parents needed to have their input and I needed to assign roles to kids based on their abilities so much of it was worked out via email afterwards.  But in the end, everyone was pumped to actually do something with a common goal in mind!

If I can get the club members to learn what do to when they have an idea, how to organize together with like minded people, and how to act peacefully and constructively to achieve that goal, we'll have kids that will grow into adults that won't be passively accepting things they feel are wrong in our world.  We'll have activists and citizens not only willing to act for what they believe in, but able to act because they'll have practised it before in a safe and non-judgemental environment.  And I'll be a happy camper indeed :-)