Environmental Education Policy gets a youthful infusion

Youth have taken a recent interest in protecting the enviornment and are getting involved in local organizations. PEYA in the Peel Region (Ontario, Canada) have been raising the youth profile on provincial environmental education policy.

By Stephanie Crocker

The Peel Environmental Youth Alliance (PEYA) has been working hard this year on raising the youth profile on provincial environmental education policy. On February 25, 2009 four PEYA members delivered their opinions on students and adults working together for environmental education at the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Symposium, Environmental Education in Ontario: Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow.

Deyana Sameh and Huma Tohid from Lincoln M. Alexander S.S., Narina Jabari from St. Aloysius Gonzaga S.S., Rahul Mehta from the University of Toronto Mississauga, and Stephanie Crocker, PEYA Coordinator delivered a workshop entitled, Hear from the Students: Youth and Adult Collaboration for Strong Environmental Leadership. The ways in which students, and adults in the education system, can work together to meet their full potential as environmental leaders, was discussed before a group of environmental educators from across Ontario.

This conference also featured the launch of the Ministry of Education’s Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow - a document that outlines the ways in which schools and school boards can better include environmental principles in education. Some of the highlights include: environmental learning opportunities in all grades and in all courses, and environmental policies are required at all school boards. Click here to see the full document.

In line with this policy framework, in March the Peel Environmental Youth Alliance (PEYA) welcomed the Peel District School Board to Lincoln M. Alexander Secondary School for the PEYA Monthly General Meeting. A team of adults, comprised of teachers and EcoSource staff, worked alongside students to envision the realization of environmental policy in their schools. PEYA Alumni returned to Mississauga from their current universities to facilitate the secondary school student teams as they tackled some of the guiding principles from the PDSB’s draft environmental policy in the areas of:

• Encouraging and recognizing staff and student environmental leadership
  
• Energy and water conservation
  
• Waste reduction
  
• Purchasing locally grown food
  
• Use of environmentally friendly and socially responsible products
  

The Peel District School Board will be considering the responses from this session, along with information from other key stakeholders, as they define the Operating Procedures of their brand new Environmental Responsibility Policy. 

For more information on PEYA, contact info@peyalliance.com or call 905.274.6222.