Trafalgar students eager to raise awareness in Nelson on Earth Day 2013
By Nelson Daily Staff
Trafalgar students will be hitting the streets to Monday as part of Earth Day Celebrations with initiatives that will help the community and raise awareness.
“We are painting fish to raise awareness that the storm drains go directly to the lake,” said Grade 8 student Katie Stolte when asked about some of the planned events.
Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22 each year, is an opportunity for the people of the world to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
Earth Day was designated as International Mother Earth Day by a consensus resolution adopted by the United Nations in 2009 and is celebrated in more than 192 countries every year.
Stolte and other Grade 8 students participated in the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) ‘Know Your Watershed’ Program in the fall, when they toured the City water infrastructure as well as learned how to perform water quality tests.
The program focused on understanding the origins of water and how human use affects it.
Students have now completed an action project aimed to teach others in the community.
With support from Friends of Kootenay Lake as well as many helpful volunteers, the Grade 8 students are inviting classes from Wildflower and South Nelson Schools to help them paint yellow fish beside storm drains.
“Many people don’t know that drains on the road are there to collect rainwater only and do not get filtered or treated by our wastewater treatment systems, so it is very important not to put anything such as soaps, oils, or chemicals down these drains,” said Monica Nissen, Know Your Watershed educator.
Friends of Kootenay Lake Program Director, Claire DelaSalle, is pleased to be involved in the project because “by preventing pollution from entering the storm drain system we are helping to keep Kootenay Lake healthy,” she said.
While a group of about 80 people will be working on the Yellow Fish project, the rest of the school will be participating in an Earth Day garbage clean-up throughout the community on Monday.
The mega group of volunteers anticipate that they will be able to make a significant contribution to Earth Day in the City of Nelson.
Classes will take to the streets on Earth Day Monday starting at Trafalgar Middle School from 8:45-11:30 a.m.
