Join the Lower Mainland Green Team Roots & Shoots in Vancouver
Tired of constantly hearing about environmental issues and feeling helpless to do anything about it? Here is a constructive way to direct your energy!
The Lower Mainland Green Team is a group of people from all over the Lower Mainland who get together once a month (sometimes more) to help an environmental group, non-profit organization, or city tackle an environmental issue that needs co-operation and teamwork to get done. If you care about the environment, this is the group for you!
All ages welcome!! Some activities will include:
• Pulling invasive plants that are overtaking the native flora
• Planting of native plants/trees
• Restoring areas along a stream, river, marsh or shoreline
• Harvesting organic fruits/veggies
• Trail building/maintenance
• Restoration of wildlife sites
Royal St. George's College Roots & Shoots Support JGI at Toronto Funding Network!
Posted: June 6, 2011
Last week, Roots & Shoots members from Royal St. George's College in downtown Toronto took part in a Toronto Funding Network Event in support of Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots Peer Education program. The two members, Alex and Andrew, shared their passion for conservation and how education for girls connects to the mission of JGI in Uganda.
With the help of Alex and Andrew's extraordinary presentation, we were able to raise more than $10,000 dollars for our Peer Education Program in Ugandan Schools.
This spring, students from Ecole St. Catherine in Halifax got right back to work after a long, cold winter! Roots & Shoots members and school staff planned an extensive tree-planting project for a wooded area along a creek on the outskirts of the city. The area needed some help after some recent forest fires and trail development. They ended up planting a total of 200 trees between four classes!
"It wasn't easy planting," said group leader Susanne, "but the children
helped their environment and gained an appreciation for it..."
It might be hard work, but the kids all had stories about the creatures hopping around the stream and their rare finding of Nova Scotia's only carnivorous plant, the Sundew. They even had an expert from the faculty at Dalhousie University out to tell the kids all about the importance of ecosystem connections.
This was a great idea from the folks at Ecole St. Catherine. Planting trees, having fun and learning along the way! There are often great opportunities for you to find outdoor educators near you who will lend their time to help you on your adventures!
We're looking forward to hearing about some of our other groups' adventures in the out-of-doors. Send us an e-mail to tell us about your adventures!
Notes from the Field: Making Connections
Posted: April 13, 2011
By Sara Hsiao, JGI Program Coordinator
Uganda is often referred to as the “pearl of Africa” because of its magnificently
varying landscapes –from snow-capped mountains, diverse wetlands, broad savannahs, and tropical rainforests – all tucked in the heart of East Africa. Of
course, with these diverse ecosystems also comes an amazing range of plants and animals, some that are only found in Uganda. This was my second visit to Uganda,but the beauty of the country and the generosity of its people never cease toinspire and humble me.
I was not the only Canadian hanging out with the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) Uganda team – six students from Trinity College School, a Roots & Shoots school from Port Hope, Ontario, also joined me to strengthen our connection to Roots & Shoots groups in Uganda. They were paired with students from Kalinabiri Secondary School, and together visited four different Roots & Shoots primary schools. During these visits, the students worked together to plant tree seedlings and hedges, cleanup a school yard, and even learn how to turn recycled paper into new bulletin boards! It was a wonderful sight to see primary and secondary students from across the globe, but also from their own backyards, exchanging ideas and learning new things from each other. Stay tuned for an update by YLC member Olivia, who took part in this amazing adventure!
YLC Member, Olivia watering newly planted shrubs with a student from Sacred Heart Primary School.
JGI Canada and JGI Uganda are also working together on a long-term project on sustainable livelihoods development in seven villages of the Hoima district, western Uganda. The communities participating in the Sustainable Livelihoods Project have accomplished a lot over the last year. They have established village tree nurseries, taken steps towards sustainable livestock management, and have new water sources to use and manage. They have also mobilized together to form community groups that will manage their forests and water sources,and
Me learning to make bulletin boards out of recycled newspaper.
dialogue with local government on issues that are important to them. I was fortunate to sit down and discuss with many community members about their achievements and the challenges they have encountered so far. They have come a long way from when the project first began, and are now enthusiastically making the critical connections between protecting their forests and rivers, and how their sustainable use of these resources impact their families and their everyday life. Learn more about the project.
As part of JGI Canada, I am very proud and privileged to be working so closely with the wonderful team at JGI Uganda. I am confident that we are all contributing to making a huge positive difference for people, animals and the environment! In the local Buganda language, people say “webale nnyo” – thank you very much – to everyone in Uganda that made my trip such a positive and inspiring experience!
Chairwoman of the Rwamusaga village tree nursery, with tree nursery in the background.
Our Youth Being Heard
The Toronto Star, April 6, 2011
Izzy Hirji, YLC member, was one of several hundred students who gathered outside a Conservative Party campaign event in Guelph to encourage his young peers to get out and vote — for whomever they wanted — in the upcoming election.
The 22-year-old veterinary student at the University of Guelph was then kicked out of the event because he had been part of the peaceful mob, which party officials had apparently viewed as protesters.
“It was a democratic exercise that they should have been proud of because there were so many potential voters in that crowd that may have voted for them,” Hirji said of Monday’s so-called “vote mob,” where political slogans, signs
and negative messaging were forbidden in an effort to keep the event non-partisan.
A chance encounter with the world-renowned chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall set Waterloo’s Shailyn Drukis, YLC member, on a path she could never have imagined.
“I had learned about some of the work she had done, and loved what she was doing,” said the 22 year old about meeting Goodall at the The Children’s Museum of Waterloo Region in 2008.
“I got in contact with some of the people who were there and asked how I could get involved.” Drukis was a recent high school grad from Bluevale who had an interest in the environment but wasn’t sure what direction to take it in.
“They told me that they were starting a new youth council, and if I was interested in applying I should because I seemed very enthusiastic about a lot of environmental, social and environmental issues.” Since joining the Jane Goodall Institute as a member of the group’s Youth Leadership Council, Drukis has been to New Orleans right after the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico looking at its impacts.
Helping People, Animals and the Environment Across Canada and around the World
Since September, school groups have been busy taking action for people, animals and the environment. And, some groups have been sharing them with the world through the Roots & Shoots global database. Here are a few of the Roots & Shoots Team’s favourite submissions from Canada, and around the globe.
Canada Projects for People, Animals and the Environment:
Members of D.A.S. Roots & Shoots reading at the Toronto Children’s Book Bank.
D.A.S. Roots & Shoots from Toronto took action for people. They held a used book sale, raising $90 and 100 used books for the Toronto Children’s Book Bank. The Children’s Book Bank provides free books and literacy support to children in need. Stand Up, Stand Out, a group based in Montreal, raised money and symbolically adopted a dolphin from the Dolphin Conservation Project in Sardinia. Their dolphin has 2 calves and represents the future. The Terrific Threes and Fours from Wanup, Ontario gave back to the environment. They taught younger students about the importance of trees and then invited them to the school yard to plant a tree.
Global Projects for the Environment:
Roots & Shoots at AUP, a group from France made their school greener. They researched plants that would thrive in the area, and came to school on a Saturday to dig in. A group from Oregon, USA reduced the carbon footprint in their classroom. After researching and testing, they received a grant to connect four bicycles to a generator that can produce enough electricity to run their classroom. Roots & Shoots Panama Cares volunteered at the official launch of “Tree of Panama and the Neotropic”. The group is proud to have been a part of this project to plant and conserve native tree species in Panama.
Paper Plus at the University of Toronto
Roots & Shoots is making its presence known on the UofT campus. Two University of Toronto students, Nan Zheng and Mary Scourboutakos, have been working hard to conserve forest since June 2009 by saving paper. Their mission is simple - promote double sided printing - because it's an easy way to reduce paper use by half.
Their project began with researching the issue. They found out that each year 4 billion
trees are cut down to meet the needs of the pulp and paper industry, and that this industry is the 3rd largest user of fossil fuels worldwide (American Forest and Paper Association).
Nan and Mary then began enlisting the support of students and professors - they already have 100 professors on board with their initiative! To spread awareness further in the coming year, they will conduct brief, two minute presentations on the importance of reducing paper consumption. Learn more about their initiative, and learn how you can speak for the trees.
Science North - Roots & Shoots Challenge
In June the Winners of the Science North-Roots & Shoots Challenge were chosen. We had many wonderful entries and ranking them was no easy task. Below are the final ranking of the top 3 high school entries and the top 4 elementary school entries.
Each of these schools have been awarded a cash prize of up to $500 to go towards a community service project next year.
Congratulations everyone! Click on the linked schools to see their presentations, and be inspired by the great work they did.
*Play John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" while you watch.
Roots & Shoots making a Difference
Roots & Shoots groups around the globe are making the world a better place. More and more groups are submitting project reports and sending us emails, telling us about their initiatives big and small. All of the activities shared, inspire others to care more and do more for people, animals and the environment.
Congratulations to all of the Roots & Shoots Groups across Canada, who completed and submitted 3 projects this past year. These groups and individuals have received a Certificate of Recognition from Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots, for the work they've done to make the world a better place..
All of the groups completed very different and effective projects. Here are some examples of the projects they submitted:
2 projects helping people:
D.A.S Roots & Shoots' Used Book Fair- they raised over $200 for the
Africa Children's Book Box Society
by selling used books.
Nelly Letourneau's Souvenir T-Shirts - Nelly collected over 80 unused T-shirts for a women's shelter.
2 projects helping Animals:
Wheatley School helps local Humane Society- They raised money, food and awarness (through a power point presentation) for their Humane Society.
Members of
D.A.S. Roots & Shoots at a bake sale for their "Because i am a Girl" Campaign.
Glendon Roots & Shoots' Fashion is Compassion- An Anti-Fur Campaign, they
screened the film Earthlings, had posters, pamphlets and buttons made to let their
fellow students know that Fur is not needed in Fashion.
Member of the Trinity Environmental action Club at the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup
2 projects helping the Environment:
Trinity Environmental Action Club's Climate Action Day- They held a light out day, and screened a movie with an Environmental Theme to raise awareness of Climate Change.
Stand Up, Stand Out's The Cost of War-
they prepared a power point presentation for their whole school illustrating damage to the water supply, forests and to the animals, to raise awareness about the impact of War on the Environment.
Keep up the great work everyone! We can't wait to see the initiatives you undertake over the next year!
Roots & Shoots in Action 
Members' Corner 
Roots & Shoots is making its presence known on the UofT campus. Two University of Toronto students, Nan Zheng and Mary Scourboutakos, have been working hard to conserve forest since June 2009 by saving paper. Their mission is simple - promote double sided printing - because it's an easy way to reduce paper use by half. 
