Vision

EcoLeaders at Rothesay Park School had the vision of establishing a composting program for all students and teachers. They also wanted to host a “Salad Day” at school with school-grown salad ingredients. Both actions are to teach sustainability practices to the school community.

Action

The EcoLeaders at Rothesay Park School decided to take on two climate action projects: 1. to grow salad ingredients to have a salad day at school, and 2. to establish a composting system at the school.

Composting: Research was done to investigate the different styles of composting, and we decided on using a tumbler system. This system allows for fast and easy composting while it is contained so no animals will get into it. We reached out to the local recycling agency and they gave us 4 compost bins to put in our cafeteria and staff room. Once a day, these bins are dumped into the tumbler. The student body was educated on what foods can go into the composting bins and which ones not to put in. Every day the tumbler is spun around to promote aeration. We are also growing lettuce, cucumbers, and tomato plants for the salad day at RPS, and we compost any seedlings that have died, their soil, and paper growing containers as well.

Growing our own salad: EcoLeaders also wanted to improve the health of students at our school by growing our own salad ingredients and having a salad day at school. We purchased seeds for lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and spouts and have been growing them indoors since mid-March. We now have quite a lot of plants growing (in Mrs. McCallum’s Math class!) and have transplanted them to larger pots. Every day in Math class, EcoLeader water the plants to make sure they are getting enough sunlight too.

This project relates to sustainability and climate change because it teaches students that leftover foods can be used to create rich soil for the garden instead of rotting in a landfill. We plan on using our compost to fertilize the pollinator gardens and any future foods we grow at our school. Our pollinator gardens contribute to the well-being and sustainability of pollinators and therefore have a positive effect on trees and plants that produce fruits, vegetables, etc. Teaching students about healthy eating and how easy it is to grow their own food benefits everyone’s health and is a cost-effective way of eating healthy foods that are locally grown (low carbon footprint).

EcoLeaders were inspired to do this project because they really enjoyed the LFS Youth Forum where they learned about vermicomposting. Although we didn’t end up going with this type of composting system, it sparked their interest in composting and led to action!

Composting is important to our community because it teaches everyone the importance of sustainable living. Our school shares space with a community park, so anyone visiting the park can see the tumbler and ask us what we’re up to. This is how our small school can make a big difference with climate action!

Reflection & Celebration

EcoLeaders are still “knee deep” into growing the salad foods and collecting organic waste from compost bins. We hope that everything grows in time to host the salad day in June before the end of the school year. Next year, we plan on continuing these actions and will begin in September. We look forward to celebrating all the hard work with a school-wide salad day, and to use the compost in our pollinator gardens!