Our youngest change makers grow a better food system

Written By: Hanna Smit, JGI Canada

Category: Youth Power

As the school year wraps up, young change makers across Canada are completing their Roots & Shoots projects. We are always excited to see what has been accomplished and the many ways that young people have improved their communities on behalf of people, animals and nature. Take a look at what the students at Roots & Shoots schools in Winnipeg and Alberta achieved in order to better the places where they live.

Grade 1 students at Westmount Charter School raised awareness about the important role of bees in our food cycle by constructing bee hotels for a local community garden.

Westmount students wanted to learn more about how to plant their own gardens at home. After mapping the vegetation around their school, the class planted seeds, bulbs and tubers in decorated pots and brought them home as Mother’s Day gifts.

Students at Lord Selkirk School built planter boxes to grow fruits and vegetables. They invited younger students to join them and plant pollinator-friendly flowers in the new garden established on school grounds.

Young environmentalists at Meadows West School organised litterless lunches to reduce single use plastic, and even made reusable food wraps to minimise their use of plastics in future.

Noting the amount of disposable coffee cups littering the neighbourhood, students at Greenway School raised awareness about the importance of proper recycling practices and the environmental benefits of carrying a reusable coffee cup.

Students at Greenway School raised awareness about food waste through school signage and posters. The information they provided highlighted industrial food waste practices and how consumers can make more mindful purchases to help reduce waste.

Grants for the A.P.E. Fund Sustainable Food projects were made possible through the generous support of Planet Friendly News and Loblaw Companies Limited.

Roots & Shoots schools in Winnipeg also received support for their projects through the Winnipeg Foundation.

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Photo credits: Lauren Saville