Canada Programs Roots & Shoots Inspiring and equipping the next generation of conservation leaders. Find Your Path How It Started Dr. Jane Goodall started Roots & Shoots over 30 years ago when she met with some young people who were eager to fix local problems. She was struck by their energy, their optimism, and their willingness to tackle crises they didn’t create. Roots & Shoots helps young people harness this energy and become the community leaders not just of tomorrow, but of today. Watch Jane talk Roots & Shoots with Jimmy Fallon. Today, Roots & Shoots is a globally-recognized youth leadership program. In Canada, over 12,000 young people are actively involved in projects. Over 80,000 community members are being directly impacted. How It Works Roots & Shoots is open to young activists from pre-school to post-secondary. Anyone 18 and older can become a member and start their own project today. Adult champions who work with youth under 18 can start a project for their classroom, youth group, community centre, or anywhere youth gather. There are 4 steps to every Roots & Shoots project: Get Inspired Map Your Community Take Action Celebrate Your Impact! Using our online guide, and available support from JGI Canada staff, Roots & Shoots teaches young people how to design projects that tackle the intersection of biodiversity loss (animals), environmental inequity (people), and climate change (the environment). Oh, it’s free! Are you an adult champion? Get started here. Young advocates 18+, get started here. What It’s All About Hear from other Roots & Shoots members who changed the world, and were changed in return. That’s what it’s all about. What Others Have To Say Sara Rana, Grade 11 Student, Ontario “The program provided me with the opportunity to translate my ideas into action. Through Roots & Shoots, I have been able to channel my passion into implementing initiatives that bring Indigenous culture to life.” Jennifer Ward, Teacher, British Columbia “I am so honoured to be part of this program. Roots and Shoots and the APE grant allows for the students to have a voice, be heard, and allow them to share the knowledge they have received from local elders with our entire community. This program is invaluable. I am so grateful to be associated with such positive steps toward acknowledging the truth of the experiences of others, injustices of people in our community and injustices toward land/animals so we can move ahead to begin to move towards reconciliation within our community.” Robyn Matthews, Teacher, Newfoundland “Letting students choose what they want to learn about completely changed the goals of this project. Students became invested in beekeeping more than I ever thought possible. They conquered their fears of talking to the public as well as their fear of bees. The project has also created a lot of buzz throughout the community and initiated other families and community members to join the bee community.” Sophie Bordeleau Kent, student, Quebec I like that it encourages youth to help the environment, animals and people across the globe. I also like the fact that the organization encourages and supports many types of projects, however big or small. Find Your Path to Get Started Young Leaders (18+) If you’re 18 or older, you can start your own Roots & Shoots group or project in your community, on your campus, or in your home. Get Started Adult Champions Are you an educator, parent, or adult community leader who works with youth? You can start a Roots & Shoots project or group with the young people in your life. Get Started Our Program Partners Roots & Shoots Projects Across Canada Resources Our Resource section includes things like our Climate Change Curriculum Guide and our Biodiversity Guide. These can be helpful tools for any project! Discover Resources Current Projects Biodiversity Loss (Animals), Climate Change (Environment), Environmental Inequity (People) Out on the Water Out on the water looks at getting students out onto the water to enjoy canoeing while exploring the unique and amazing ecosystems and biodiversity found along the way. Climate Change (Environment) Planting for Future Generations With help from the A.P.E. project in 2022, One Billion Trees Foundation was able to plant 15 trees through the Planting for Future Generations “Okanagan Tree Planting Initiative”. Our focus this 2023 spring and summer will be holding a tree planting workshop for the local youth. Biodiversity Loss (Animals), Climate Change (Environment), Environmental Inequity (People) Plants as Medicine: examining connections between humans and the land Grade 8 students will examine cultural connections between people and plants, including the traditional and medicinal uses of some plants by Indigenous groups. They will learn about biodiversity and how important it is to ensure native plants are a part of the ecosystem. Biodiversity Loss (Animals) Plants for Us and for Them (Bees~!) We have already started a garden space in elevated boxes in our school building – we had funds to plants for our climate in one of them. This year we could like to expand/finish our project by building more boxes and planting native species to Alberta that help a healthy bee population flourish. Biodiversity Loss (Animals), Climate Change (Environment), Environmental Inequity (People) Pollinator Garden Our students have been learning about pollinators. They will continue their inquiry and research habitats that are friendly to pollinators. We plan to purchase garden boxes to place in our parking lot to create a pollinator habitat. Biodiversity Loss (Animals), Climate Change (Environment), Environmental Inequity (People) Protecting the Pollinators The Students were tasked with researching pollinators and coming up with ways they could help support the pollinator population; this was done through community walks and online research. They worked on feeding, housing, and supporting the pollinators where ever possible. The students were: planting Biodiversity Loss (Animals) Reviltalizing our gardens at our school We are working on a mural project in our school this year with the Indigenous education department of our board. We are looking at the four seasons. As part of our grade 3 plant unit, I would like to have students plants some indigenous plants in our school gardens. Biodiversity Loss (Animals), Climate Change (Environment) Save Our Salmon (SOS) Our project hopes to educate the youth of our community about salmon conservation efforts and directly involve these students in the salmon conservation effort. Students will work alongside Parks Canada staff to monitor the salmon population. Biodiversity Loss (Animals), Climate Change (Environment) Save the ocean from plastic pollution: Our grade 3 class will be planning ways to both reduce plastic use in our classroom and school community. Along with finding creating ways that plastic can be reused in purposeful ways. Our grade 3 class discovered that there are many different ways to help protect our oceans. We decided to choose to focus on one area that can be purposefully done in our own class and school community, which is specific plans to encourage less plastic and purposefully reuse plastic. « 1 … 5 6 7 8 9 10 »
