Students in Dan Fuller’s environmental studies class at SOSS are learning they can make a big difference in the world simply by working together.
The class is collecting plastic bottles to make a greenhouse to grow vegetables for the cafeteria and the community. Students are asking people to drop off clean 2-litre bottles (with the caps on) in a bin at the main office. (They need 1,500 bottles.) They also need 160 plastic juice bottles; the kind Tim Hortons uses.
There will be a prize for the person who brings in the most bottles. People are invited to put their names on the bottles so they can be a part of this lasting legacy.
And that’s what it is, a legacy, said Deepak Gill, an avid student of the project.
“It shows us we can grow our own food and not depend on stores.”
Gill and his classmates plan to build an eight-foot by 10-foot greenhouse from 2-litre bottles and recycled wood from the SOSS rebuild project.
They plan to install the smaller juice bottles into holes cut into PVC pipe and grow vegetables inside, using coconut husks and organic (fish) fertilizer.
The students plan to grow tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers, with the idea to make them available to the school cafeteria and Oliver’s food bank.
Student Esther Latreille said the project is not just benefiting their class, but the whole school and future classes.
Classmate Manpreet Dhaliwal said she likes the fact they are leaving something behind for future generations.
Student Josh Windley said it’s cool how they will grow their own food instead of buying it from somewhere else.
Karan Mann thinks this type of growing will be a necessity in the future as farmland disappears and the demand for food increases with population growth.
Gill said some students think the project is a joke because of the number of bottles they need to collect, but they won’t laugh once the greenhouse is complete.
One important lesson the students have learned is the fact teamwork can solve many problems. Initially, individual students attempted their own environmental projects, but they were cost prohibitive. But the greenhouse costs very little and uses few materials.
“Even if things look like they’re too big to do, maybe by yourself you can’t, but as a group you can,” Gill said.
The idea for the project came from an SOSS exchange student from Argentina. Although class enthusiasm is high, the trick will be to spark enthusiasm in the school, Fuller said.
But if each student believes that he or she can be part of the project, then it will be successful, the teacher noted.
Besides learning about conservation and alternative methods of growing food, the students will see a positive change even by contributing a small amount to environmental responsibility.
“I don’t know if the class will be leaving a legacy behind at SOSS, but I hope they will leave behind a desire in other students to think more about the environment,” Fuller said.