Also see Social Justice + Eco-Justice and Mapping
Mapping My Carbon Footprint
A Global Climate Accord involving the entire planet was finalized in Paris in 2015 laying out a road map to speedily reduce carbon emissions. The accord comprises a longer-term plan for reaching a peak in greenhouse emissions and achieving a balance between output of man-made greenhouse gases and absorption – by forests or the oceans – by the second half of this century. This means bringing down greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero within a few decades. Let’s create our own personal map on how that can happen locally and globally. Examine our natural resources, manufacturing, and how we consume, discard and conserve. Where does it all end up and how do we, and can we, reduce our own consumption. Students build an inventory of their own carbon footprint (and yes, measure it!) and map, through new or mixed media works, our own journey to reduce, re-use, up-cycle and recycle. Adaptable to all grades ~ Charmaine Lurch, Samina Mansuri + Pria Muzumdar ~
Grade 4 students at Danforth Gardens learn about sustainable and eco-responsible fashion with Fashion Takes Action designer Syd Grainger ~ PHOTO Katherine Fleitas
My Clothes My World (En/Fr)
Consumerism is one of the greatest contributors to climate change, and yet the average person finds it difficult to create the incremental change required to help combat this global threat. Here’s an opportunity to learn about the life cycle of a piece of cloth, from the original root to the fashionable stores where we shop. In partnership with Fashion Takes Action, Canada’s premier non-profit organization that focuses on sustainability in the fashion industry, we offer this lesson in biodiversity, social responsibility, fashion and art that helps students gain insight in how we consume and how we can affect change, locally and globally. The take away for students is a personal, hand designed, up-cycle book bag and new awareness of where it originated and ideas on where it could go in the future. Ideal for grades 4 to 8 ~ Artistic Process + Short Film
Weather + Climate According to Benjamin Banneker
Learn about the mathematician Benjamin Banneker and his study of astronomy. Students design and construct whimsical 3D whirligigs from wire and sculpted paper while exploring structure and mechanisms. Create colourful pictorial renditions of earth and space systems from natural and manufactured materials. Adaptable to all grades ~ Charmaine Lurch.
When the Wolves Returned to Yellowstone Park
When the Wolves Returned is an interdisciplinary art project inspired by the true story of the evolution of Yellowstone Park’s natural ecosystem balance as a result of humans taking notice of the important role of wolves and all animals on the sustainability of life.
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