Bird Friendly
Vision
Our vision for Canada is… a “bird-friendly” country where all species of birds other pollinators can live healthy lives free of threats from pesticides, insecticides, diseases and parasites. We envision a country that practices sustainable agriculture and values plant diversity so that pollinators have abundant sources of pollen to nourish themselves and maintain healthy hives and birds can continue to occupy integral parts of food chains and food webs. Our project consists of building birdhouses with a grade 3 classroom. The birdhouses will be placed in neighbourhood and community gardens providing shelter and raising awareness of the threats that birds face. We hope that our project encourages change in pesticide use and increases plant diversity.
Action
Our ESD committee is made up of 8 staff members and 15 student room representatives. We meet weekly at lunch and so far this year we have planted a vertical garden in our school using plastic one liter juice bottles and cuttings that we’ve rooted using plants in the school. We are planning to build 27 feet of planters outdoors to include berries and bee-friendly flowering plants. We collect pencil sharpener shavings and sawdust which we use as mulch in our garden boxes. In addition we have battery recycling and electronics waste collection bins in our school. We have just started collecting dried out markers, highlighters and dry erase markers for recycling. With the money from the LSF grant our students will be building bird houses with grade 3 students from a neighbouring elementary school. Each grade 3 student will build a birdhouse to take home and place in their yards.
Reflection & Celebration
Through education we will continue to teach our students about the importance of all living species in our ecosystems, their place in food webs and chains and the threats they currently face. We continue to look at our actions and choices and the impact this is having on pollinators. Loss of species diversity impacts not only the environment. Economically birds are important for seed dispersal, guano production, insect control and play a role in pollination as well. Socially birds provide hours of bird watching enjoyment for people of all ages. Culturally, bird symbolism is found across all cultures and dates back to ancient civilizations. Our grade 7-9 students will take a lead role hosting the grade 3 students and assisting them in building their bird houses.