Last night Tom Thomson Public School (P.S.) celebrated their fourth Eco Night.
The City of Burlington was one of many groups invited to attend the event. City staff set up a display and spoke with teachers, students and parents regarding some of the city’s initiatives including:
- Idling awareness – Tell your parents to turn their engines off while they wait!
- Thirsty? Try the Tap! – Bring reusable water bottles to city facilities and use the water fountains to quench your thirst.
- Put Waste in its Place – The city has three-stream waste bins at many facilities. View the signs on the bins to properly sort your waste.
- Clean Up Green Up event (April 23) – Gather friends and family and sign up for this citywide initiative.
- Jane’s Walk (May 6-8) – Participate in any of the walks being planned around Burlington.
- Bike to School Week (May 30 – June 3) – Participate and your school could win great prizes!
Art work on display on Eco Night.
Tom Thomson P.S. is one of many Ontario EcoSchools in Halton Region. Ontario EcoSchools is an “environmental education and certification program for grades K-12 that helps school communities develop both ecological literacy and environmental practices to become environmentally responsible citizens and reduce the environmental footprint of schools.”
Last year, Tom Thomson P.S. achieved Platinum certification, the highest level for the Ontario EcoSchools program. Below are a few of the initiatives accomplished to achieve this certification.
- Planting 16 trees and 45 shrubs on school property
- Eco Nights
- Art displays on environmental issues at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) and Burlington’s Central Public Library. This year’s art work will once again be on display at the RBG between March 4 and April 17 and at Central Public Library around Earth Day.
- Battery Blitz Campaigns
- Book Swaps with over a thousand used books re-circulated to other students each time the event is held
- Clothing drives to send used clothing to a less developed country
- Freshwater campaigns to provide clean water for villages in less developed countries
- Challenging other local schools (Clarksdale and Lakeshore public schools) in a weeklong Halton Waste Challenge encouraging students to minimize their waste.
Tom Thomson Public School accepts the Halton Waste Challenge.
Some of the upcoming initiatives that students will be involved with include a clean up at Spencer Smith Park on April 4 as part of the City of Burlington’s Love My Hood program and a clean up around the school property and Optimist Park as part of the Burlington Clean Up Green Up events taking place around Earth Day.
Tom Thomson P.S. is a great example of a local school promoting the importance of environmental issues. What is your school or workplace doing to raise awareness and reduce your impact on the environment? Contact me at environment@burlington.ca and your local school or workplace could be featured in a future blog.
Take Action Burlington! Collectively we can make a difference.
Take Action Burlington 
Love the art! Expressions of positive energy. Margaret
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Once again reading your recent post has brought brightness to this rather dreary day – thank you. Thank you also for challenging Lakeshore Public School where I actively participated in their Green Earth Club under the leadership of Dianne Segsworth when our daughters were students there. I’m not pro-competition, but certainly pro environmental activism. Keep up the great work!
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