THE GREEN ANNUAL REPORT 2008-2009

UPPER CANADA FELLOWS

Premek Hamr, Mark Baxter and Max Perren

Compiled and edited by Dr. P. Hamr, Senior Sustainability Fellow

INTRODUCTION

The Green team this year was composed of three Sustainability fellows: Dr. Premek Hamr, Senior Fellow (Upper School Science Dept.) as well as Mr. Mark Baxter and Mr Max Perren (Prep School), Junior fellows. The goal continued to be infusing sustainability into the curriculum and the general culture at the Upper and Prep Schools by recruiting teachers to act as ambassadors and having them actively engage in curriculum enrichment and lead collective initiatives.

At the Upper School, the curriculum development concentrated largely on Science this year while at the preparatory school the focus remained more general.

The following report documents the initiatives undertaken by the team in the school year 2008 – 2009.

Monarch Butterfly at Norval Outdoor School. Photo B.Elgie

SUMMARY OF INITIATIVES

General shift in culture toward sustainability at the Upper School

• Selected and aired monthly environmental music video “e-tunes” in assembly. This year included international artists such as Roger Waters, Marvin Gaye, Elvis, Crowded House, as well as Yannick Noah (French Language video). The videos continued to be well-received by students and faculty alike and contributed to a positive image for the Green School.

• Kept up with sustainability in the news (magazines, newspapers, Internet) and updated the Green School bulletin board regularly. Informed faculty and students of important news and articles as well as of up coming Green Events in the Greater Area. The two major areas of education dealt with bottled water and petrochemicals/plastics.

• UCC Biodiversity: Began compiling a list of animals seen or residing on the UCC Deer Park campus. To date, we have documented 8 species of mammals and 86 species of birds. (A list of trees on campus has previously been compiled and published.)

Curriculum Development • Attended Heads of Department (APAC) meetings from September 2008 to May 2009 to provide sustainability input into academics. An example of input was the planned curriculum focus for Earth Week 2009 where each teacher prepared a lesson plan dealing with a given aspect of sustainability relevant to their course.

• Toured Sandy Cunningham, Green representative from Nichols Middle School in Buffalo, to explain UCC sustainability initiatives (facilities and curriculum). Ms. Cunningham sat in on three science classes at the Upper School (on November 14th) and discussed the integration of sustainability into curriculum with Dr. Hamr and Ms. Burness. She will return in the spring to observe aquatic fieldwork at UCC’s Norval Centre and has invited us to visit the Nichols School next spring.

• Researched and suggested professional development opportunities for staff: Stratus winery (Niagara, – all organic products & LEED-certified facilities) and CBC documentary (see summary below):

Green PD Video This documentary on CBC is a must-see, especially for educators in an all boys school. It is 43 minutes long, but I feel very strongly we should all be aware of these issues and try to minimize these effects in the boys’ lives. It may also be something our entire faculty should see and be aware of. http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/disappearingmale/infertility.html#

• Organized alternative programme for Year 1 and Year 2 (Grades 8 & 9) during the World Affairs Conference at the Kortright Center. Students attended the following programs: Conserving Energy, Green Student and Living Sustainably.

The program objectives included developing and understanding the sustainable use of our natural resources to help preserve our local environment. Students were shown that personal practices and choices in their daily routines can make a difference. The program addressed 4 major topic areas. These included: • Waste reduction and the three R’s • Renewable energy • Toxins in our homes and the environment • Water as a resource and its treatment

The students were involved in hands-on activities and games that illustrated these topics, as well as participated in a “renewable energy scavenger hunt” at the Kortright energy cottage. At the conclusion of the program, students were challenged to apply what they learned to their home, school, and community environments.

Year 1& 2 Aquatic Program Development and Implementation:

Continued to facilitate development of the Y1/Y2 Aquatic program at Norval.

Autumn 2008: Assisted and facilitated field and lab work in Y2 Science at Norval (part of the development of the freshwater water quality and aquatic biodiversity monitoring stream in Y1/Y2 and IB1/IB2). The freshwater crayfish monitoring will be switched from spring to fall as it is much more efficient and safe for the students because of low water levels.

Spring 2009: Spent 5 days at Norval between April 29 and May 12. The final plan for the two-year program is to familiarize the Y1 student with the methods and equipment involved in the long-term crayfish study during the general spring Y1 Norval programme. The study itself will be conducted as a part of the Y2 curriculum (ecology/climate change units) in autumn of the following year. Students will be familiar with identification of the species monitored and the use of the relevant equipment (water chemistry and flow meters). The needed equipment was purchased by the science department this year while methodology and guide for the study was developed in 2007/08.

Y1 Aquatic Program

Norval, April - May 2009

Photos: P. Hamr

Students conducting aquatic studies in the Credit River at Norval.

Upper School Service trip to Peru : Two Upper School students (Karim Rahemtulla, IB1 & Spencer Sample, FY) and Mr. Breton (Science Dept) participated in the second annual Operation Wallacea (OPWAL) Peru expedition over March break. The 2-week trip involved extensive biodiversity monitoring of dolphins, monkeys, game birds, fish & Macaws in the Pacaya-Samiria reserve. The trip allowed the boys to practice biological monitoring methods, as well as to understand management problems within a large reserve while exposing them to the local culture and people. Another trip will run in March 2010 and FY (Grade 10) and IB 1 (Grade 11) UCC students will be encouraged to use the data collected for their IB 1 extended essays.

Photo: K. Rahemtulla

Rubicon Atlas Curriculum mapping: Attended Rubicon Atlas Curriculum mapping software workshop at Crescent School in October 2008 to become more familiar with the system in order to be able to enter and track Green Curriculum at the Upper School.

Contacted Mary Gauthier to have the Environmental Systems and Societies course outline entered in the Atlas by Rubicon representatives. Entered data into curriculum map for the course in cooperation with Ms. Wendy Burness (Science Dept.)

Tracked Sustainability/Environmental units in Rubicon to monitor the amount of green curriculum being covered in class content.

A final summary of entries as of May 2009 dealing with environment and sustainability is summarized in the six charts below:

“Environmental” Search Criteria: 75 entries. (up from 47 since November 08 = 60 % increase)

“Sustainability” Search Criteria: 42 entries (up from 31 since November 08 = 36 % increase)

Outdoor Classroom: Continued to participate in the design of the outdoor classroom at UCC. The executive planning committee for the outdoor classroom includes Michelle Lazar (landscape architect), Joe and Christina Manget (benefactors); Steve Thuringer and Lori Burnison (Facilities), Dyanne Ostrander (Advancement) and Dr. Premek Hamr (Green School).

Under the leadership of Ms. Burnison, meetings were held throughout the year and a design charette was conducted in April 2009 to brainstorm ideas for the location and design of the classroom. The meeting included participation from faculty, staff, administration, advancement, donors, outside landscape architect and student body.

As a result of the charette, an initial design (using suggestions from the participants) was put forth in May by Ms. Lazar (See figure below). This design is presently under review by the design committee and will be finalized in the very near future. Construction of the classroom is projected to begin in late summer 2009.

Green Club Initiatives and Environmental Guest Speakers

Making a Difference Speakers Series:

Severn Cullis-Suzuki. January 17, 2009. Organized in conjunction with the Parents Organization (Vivian Cappe) and the Green School Club.

Below is a summary of the event as reported by the UCC student newspaper:

Green Club members J. Henderson, G. Clark, J. Park and Severn Cullis- Suzuki.

Journalist and filmmaker Alexander Trudeau. April 2, 2009. Organized in conjunction with the Parents Organization (Vivian Cappe) and the Green School Club.

His work as a videographer and reporter for the CBC has addressed important issues such as Canadian aboriginal rights, life in Iraq, Israel and the West bank and the lives of Yugoslavian youth. His speech highlighted his work and he shared his often controversial views with the UCC audience.

Andrew Nobrega, (UCC Class of 2003) Director, Research & Design at Ecovert was our keynote speaker to open Earth Week Celebrations. His speech was captivating and was received very well by the audience in general assembly on April 20, 2009.

With a strong background in ecology, social communities and environmental design, Andrew Nobrega brings a fresh set of ideas to the table. As a recent graduate from the , where he studied biological and environmental sciences, Andrew has been deeply involved with the development of healthy residence communities, environmental programs and educational events. Through the unique experiences he has accumulated, both locally and internationally, Andrew has a well- developed knowledge of relationships between the private sector and the environment. It is Andrew’s intent to use his strong social and environmental design background to complement his knowledge of the private sector and produce effective and useful environmental solutions.

Raffi Bedrosyan Director, Port Lands Development Waterfront Toronto gave a presentation as a part of the “Lunch and Learn” Green Club initiative in April at UCC regarding the various sustainability approaches considered for the proposed development of the Waterfront Toronto lands stretching from Yonge Street to Woodbine Avenue, the Leslie Spit and the Port Lands. Some examples were vacuum waste, self sufficient urban islands and green roofs. Apart from the sustainability measures, the extent of proposed development of the future Waterfront was outlined. The presentation was interesting to all the students and teachers attending.

Bruce Calhoun delivered a very interesting and engaging presentation at College on April 22 as a part of Earth Week celebrations at the school. The student audience consisted of nearly 100 boys (Grades 8 to 12) from English, , and Science and Environmental Systems classes.

Mr. Calhoun is the founder and President of Save the Rainforest, a charitable organization that was founded in 1988 by teachers and students in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. From its inception, Save the Rainforest has involved schools from around the United States in projects that educate people about the rainforest. It has also provided opportunities for students and teachers to actively campaign for rainforest conservation. It has worked as part of the International Children's Rainforest Network, helping to create rainforest reserves in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Belize. Mr. Calhoun spoke about the history of rainforest conservation, the ecology of rainforests, the forces that drive deforestation in the tropics and current strategies for saving rainforests.

One million acts of Green: promoted UCC participation in this CBC/Cisco initiative. Facilitated student and staff participation by establishing and administrating a UCC group on the website: http://green.cbc.ca/

Liaised with CBC and Cisco representatives about UCC participation. Presently the UCC group includes 149 members, has registered 4295 acts of green and features descriptions of 5 green projects undertaken by the UCC community and several photo essays outlining green events and initiatives at the school. Attended the tapings of The Hour’s One Million Acts of Green show. Met the host, George Stroumboulopolous and discussed UCC green initiatives with him.

Photo P. Hamr

Planned and implemented Earth Week 2009 Activities The following is the schedule of activities planned in conjunction with Green Club:

EARTH WEEK 2009 SCHEDULE April 20 to 24/2009. Upper School.

Monday 20/4

• Assembly Presentation: Intro to Earth Week (outline of activities); Guest speaker: Andrew Nobrega (UCC alumnus) Ecovert Consultants: “Green Design”. • Suspended sale of bottled water at UCC for Earth Week. Start stainless-steel “onebottle TM” sales for week (during lunch time each day; to encourage more use of our filtered water fountains). • Green Lesson Week (on-going): There will be a lesson dealing with an environmental theme in each subject (at each grade level) this week.

Tuesday 21/4

• Green Arts Day: photos of Africa, Peru and Canadian Arctic • UCC Earth Hour during Period 3 (no lights)

Wednesday 22/4 - Earth Day

• “Car Pool to School” Day • Speaker Bruce Calhoun: “The role of young people in saving the rainforests” (period 1 in Lecture theatre: optional, but open to all classes) • Vegetarian lunch at Upper Dinning Hall

Thursday 23/4

• Community Clean-Up Day

House Advising Session to be replaced with Community Campus Clean-Up (students to pick up garbage bags and gloves from Grounds garage in the morning)

Friday 24/4

• (Sustainable) Casual dress Day • Paperless Day (no paper used in class) • “Bike to School” Day • BBQ lunch: The annual Green School organic BBQ in Quad or Dining Hall at lunch

Alternatives to bottled water at UCC

Continued to promote use of stainless-steel water bottles instead of bottled water. Engaged in general education of UCC community and planning with UCC Parents Organization to facilitate the sale of “onebottle TM” stainless-steel water bottles at the Sweet Ties event, Speakers Series and Spring Arts Festival. Over 60 bottles were sold at these events (This is in addition to the 100+ onebottles sold last year).

A follow-up survey to assess the change in use of bottled water and sales at UCC was completed in January and February 2009. In summary, we have reduced our consumption of bottled water in general and most of us (about 70%) now own a stainless-steel water bottle. There is also a resounding use and approval of the filtered water fountains. There are now a total of five locations at the Prep and eight locations at the Upper School with fountains which supply filtered water.

The faculty and staff have switched altogether (none of those surveyed bought bottled water) while the students have reduced their use by 27%, but unfortunately 49% still buy water at UCC or bring it in.

This campaign is now winding up and as a result of Green School initiatives and student lobbying, the sale of plastic water bottles will be phased out at UCC at the start of the 2009-10 school year.

Low Carbon Commuting Liaised with Francisca Quinn (parent) who is spearheading this initiative in conjunction with the Green Club.

Background: The school has recognized that a large part of its ecological footprint is associated with school commuting. A traffic study conducted by the Green Club during one morning in October 2008 observed that 83% of students came by car, in which 45% of vehicles had only one student being dropped off. There is huge potential to reduce this footprint by creating alternative options for students and parents. For example: organized car-pooling, bike clubs, public transit and school buses. For the Prep School, this could be complemented with a “walking bus” by foot or bicycle and TTC chaperons.

Objectives: 1. Survey student and parent attitudes towards a range of commuting options and get estimates for feasibility of various options (including likelihood to use, willingness to pay and volunteer as chaperons). 2. Engage with other independent Toronto schools regarding their interest to collaborate. 3. Investigate public funding sources for school bus operations. 4. Develop a range of commuting programmes and implementation plans. Look into incentive schemes to maximize uptake. 5. Obtain necessary approvals to proceed and nominate project owners (school administration and/or parent volunteers).

Approach and Resources Francisca Quinn, a new Prep School parent, and recent member of the UCC Environmental Advisory Group, has volunteered to take on project management of this project. She will collaborate with UCC staff and management, students in the Green Club, the Parents Association and other interested parties through a project team (to be decided). There will need to be formally- appointed UCC representatives to assist with leveraging UCC resources such as IT assistance (surveying, communication, access to data) and extending introductions to other independent schools.

The survey has been deployed in May 2009 and 180 replies have been received. Meetings to determine a strategy as well as info/discussion sessions with parents at the beginning of next school year are planned as the next step to continue the initiative.

Fundraising with UCC Parents Organization • Organized and helped to set up, man and dismantle the Green School table for UCC Parents Organization “Sweet Ties” holiday sale and Spring Art Festival (“Pansypaloosa” plant sale). Products sold included Pansies, water bottles and environmentally-friendly products such as organic tea, coffee, chocolate as well as salsa and relish produced from herbs and vegetables harvested from the Prep Learning Garden. Proceeds will be put towards water campaign as well as purchase of native tree saplings for Norval.

Boarding Energy Challenge • Continued the “Inter-house Energy Challenge” from previous year, in which the boarding students received weekly energy readouts on electricity consumption per floor in each of the two boarding houses. Promoted competition to see which house and which floor in each house could reduce their electricity consumption. Discussed sources of consumption and solutions.

FACILITIES

The William P. Wilder ’40 Arena & Sports Complex.

Project Overview: To ensure that the sports complex meets our Green School goals regarding energy and resource conservation, the facility design team was guided by the principles of the LEED Building Rating System as administered by the Canada Green Building Council. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the best known system for measuring the “greenness” of buildings and communities. This point- based system awards certification at four levels and requires third-party evaluation of building projects. is proud to have in the William P. Wilder ’40 Arena & Sports Complex a candidate for LEED Gold certification.

This facility’s many green features include:

• the re-use of waste heat from the ice-making process to heat the spectator area and shower water, melt the snow pit, and heat the ground under the soccer dome • a reflective white roof that does not contribute to the urban heat island effect • a rainwater cistern that supplies water for toilet-flushing • a photovoltaic system that supplies some electrical power • permeable pavers to reduce the urban heat island effect and to allow storm water infiltration • bicycle racks for staff, students, and • low-flow fixtures to conserve potable water • waterless urinals in the dressing rooms and public toilets • drought-resistant native plants • construction materials with recycled and/or regional content • cooling and heating systems will be augmented by a horizontal geothermal loop under the adjoining turf field.

The spectator area is heated, in part, by energy produced in the process of making ice.

PREP SCHOOL (Mark Baxter & Max Perren):

Various Initiatives

• Harvested Prep Learning Garden • Made lemon balm/mint tea and green tomato relish and salsa as a fundraiser • Making a movie about the arena to demonstrate why it is green – movie will be shown to whole school in 09/10 • Owl trip in January (see below) • Sustainability unit tied to The Lord of the Flies • Trip to Mountain Equipment Co-op for Eco-Ambassadors. Presentation to school on green retailers • PhysEd push on kids managing uniform/equipment (labelling clothes, care of equipment to prolong life, etc.) • New lost and found policy (unlabelled items go to Goodwill after 2 weeks) • Sustainability-oriented used clothing drive • Removal of vending machines from Prep • Sports Uniform Recycling: Mountain Equipment Co-op is going to help us recycle our used sports uniforms. We will drop them off and they will ship them to Japan to be re-spun.

Winston McCatty Trip

Eight Remove (Grade 7) boys had the rare chance to see some Snowy Owls on their annual birding field trip January 7–8. Remove Form Master Max Perren and Head of Science Tom Sharpe accompanied the boys. The birding fund was set up by Dr. John Speakman in honour of Winston McCatty, a teacher he had in the Prep who introduced him to birding on the Deer Park Campus back in the 30s. For the last six years eight Remove boys have participated in this trip to the Kingston area for winter bird watching. The group rented vans in Kingston and and took ferries to the islands to look for birds. They found four Snowy Owls, nine Northern Saw- whet Owls, two Boreal Owls, 15 Long-eared Owls on Wolfe and Amherst Islands as well as a number of hawks, falcons and shrikes. The idea behind the trip is to expose the boys to some wildlife, and have their interest peaked in nature. The students also discuss the ecology of the birds they’re seeing.

Mr. Perren also promotes bird watching on campus. During the spring migration he takes some boys and teachers over to the garden at the headmaster’s old house; there are some remarkable migratory birds coming through there. Perren also led a group of parents and students on the Leslie Street Spit on December 14, 2008, and saw a great deal of waterfowl and a Great Horned Owl. There will be a similar trip in the spring to find arriving migrants

Curriculum

Organic Poetry unit. All poems are rich in natural imagery and we have done a number of writing pieces that are focussed on the outdoors and the depiction of the environment.

Promotion of sustainable practice in Prep departments by collating an inventory of green behaviours (e.g. ordering locally, using sustainable products, buying higher quality longer-lasting items etc.) Presently still awaiting a few departments' responses, completed inventory to follow when ready.

Working with the Remove Eco Warriors to make a proposal to Nigel White regarding the piloting of a Green Athletic Team for next term/next year.

One Million Acts of Green initiative (ongoing) included a promotional video shown at assemblies. The aim is to reach 1829 Prep Acts of Green by the end of Earth Week.

Earth Week

In response to the CBC’s One Million Acts of Green, the Prep’s Earth Week started off with a final push on the 1829 Acts of Green, where staff and students shared different actions they’ve taken to live a more green lifestyle. By the end of last week, we had surpassed our goal, and some of the acts shared were very creative. Each morning, an act of green was also read during morning announcements, and a number of students were acknowledged for their environmental efforts.

Another week-long activity was that of the Eco-traveler. Boys amassed points for riding, walking, carpooling, and taking the TTC to school. Boys who accumulated enough points were invited to a pancake breakfast on Friday morning, where the maple syrup was provided by Mr. Elgie and the Norval Sugar Shack. Over 150 students and teachers qualified for this Earth Week favourite.

Ms O'Brien and Form 5 students also spearheaded a litterless lunch program for the week. Known as Boomerang Lunch, students were not permitted to dispose of any garbage at lunch. The hope was that both students and parents would see the benefit of reusable containers. A special thank you to Carson Lamont in Grade 4, who removed the garbage receptacles each day from the lunchroom to help the success of this initiative.

On Tuesday afternoon, with the help of the dulcet tones of Nellie Furtado coming through the PA system, teachers and students turned off the lights for one hour. Classes continued as planned, and there were no reports of students falling asleep in the naturally lit classrooms.

The grand finale of the week was Casual Dress Day on Friday where the Prep raised $490 for the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Students also earned Colour House points by wearing green in support of the Earth. There were too many hues to count; but Mr. Baxter's pants were most definitely the ‘greenest’!

In conclusion, this was a remarkable week of environmental action on the part students, parents, staff and faculty.

Upper

Form 5 Prep Exhibition (Weston Hall May 8th)

Students created an independent research project based on our rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and other living things. How do human actions impact our planet? Dr. Premek Hamr assisted by giving an interview to “The Creatures group” on wildlife conservation and poaching.