Blue Sky School

There was a lot of talk about climate change in the past few weeks with Greta Thunberg, the climate strike, and the Canadian English debate. Students of Blue Sky School took part in the strike happening around the world. Climate change was also a large topic, one of the five main topics in the English language debate that took place in the Canadian history museum in Gatineau. It is pretty clear to me that climate change is a disaster that is almost imminent and anyone who doesn’t think that can go soak their head. Or they can get more credible info. “Climate action is important!” said Will. I feel personally that climate action and enlightening yourself about the emergency is the best thing you can do. I did not attend the Ottawa climate strike yet I feel like it was needed to help convince some people. People who have the power or run large companies seem to not care about as long as the dollars keep rolling in. The streets of downtown Ottawa were PACKED with ...

Before we went to the Climate Strike, we had a workshop on what exactly protesting was, and I gotta say, a lot of our expectations were way off the mark. When I think of protesting, my first thought is marchin’ for a cause, and it’s only after a few seconds do I consider the more tame types. Those were the things that Deagan explained. One particular example that stuck with me one that wasn’t violent, but it was jarring.  In 1963, around the Saigon area of Vietnam, a monk set himself on fire in a busy intersection to protest discriminatory Buddhist laws. He showed restraint while doing so, not moving when he could help it. Jaden’s reaction when I asked about it was, word for word, “Ummmm, it’s kind of terrifying, but it was interesting at the same time.” I have to say, I’m much more comfortable with the protesting that we did at the climate march.

Last Thursday, Deagan ran a workshop called “Changemakers Mind-Mapping.” Helping learners become a Change-Maker is one of Blue Sky’s goals. In this workshop, we sat down with a group with and a big paper in front of us. We discussed an issue and were looking for the problems that created that issue. For example, my group did “fake news” on climate change. It was fun and I wanted more time to discuss the issue!  Deagan said: “I wish that there was more time.”  I do too! From this workshop, we learned that to be a changemaker you have to dissect a problem into many different problems that may have lead to it. I think we did pretty good because everyone seemed so engaged in what we were doing.

(image source) “What! Oregano? Really?” This was my exact reaction when I found out that small, commonly-found-in-pasta plant, oregano was the cure to one of the biggest aspects of climate change, the evil, treacherous, methane packed cow burps and farts! Apparently, if you only mix three percent of oregano into the cows feed then it is supposed to reduce the methane by thirty-two percent! Additionally, the amazing plant is also rumoured to increase the prevention of getting disease in cows! The plant is also known to grow very fast and in any condition. This plant is truly a miracle worker! Researchers at Aarhus University believe that adding oregano to a cow's diet would alter the balance of bacteria in their digestive systems and reduce the amount of methane released. Source When I heard this, I knew there were only a few more tasks we had to do if we really wanted this experiment a reality! Now this is my call to action! We have a methane detector, we are growi...

I've always tried to dismiss the obvious, I've always tried to convince myself that the planet is not heating up, and most importantly, ignored the effect it might cause on us, humans. When I was given the freedom to choose whatever project I wanted here at Blue Sky School, at first I had no idea! But then, the oblivious glasses that were concealing my eyes seemed to fly off as I looked out the windows every day to see that there were extremely weird weather patterns. I was getting really curious and decided to do some research on why this was. I figured out this was all due to a villain in our society: climate change, and climate change was all due to us. Maybe we’re the villains in our society! All of a sudden it hit me, the earth was heating up and as humans, we needed to clean up the mess that we made. I started brainstorming ideas that I could do and it all came down to inspiring others to take action with me. All heroes need to have an army, especially to...