Trojans flex their green muscle

Does this go in the trash or the recycling bin? Trojan Students play 'Sort This' during Earth Day Thursday at West Ferris Secondary.

West Ferris Trojans flexed their green muscle Thursday as they celebrated Earth Day with the second annual Eco-Carnival.

Members of the Trojan Environmental Action Team (TEAT) organized carnival type games like ring toss and bean bag toss that incorporated awareness surrounding eco-issues at the same time over the lunch period. New this year is the game 'Sort This' where students attempt to correctly identify a variety of items that either go into the garbage or recycling bins.

TEAT member Montana Warprick says her group is just in its second year but have enjoyed great success that includes introducing a recycling program. Now she says they are working hard to bring awareness to the group and their green initiatives at the school.

“We've got recycling done (in the school) which is good, we're just trying to improve and work out some of the glitches with that.”

“More cooperation and get a few more (recyclables) in here hopefully (work) towards more wrappers and stuff glass bottles and being able to recycle more of the stuff we have at school.”

She says the single message she has for Earth Day is that we all play a role.

“This is our world and we need to take a step in helping make a greener place.”



WFSS Teacher and TEAT adviser Mark Robinson says the eco move at school has been completely student driven.



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Meanwhile, West Ferris Secondary School students and Environmental Officers from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment ‘s North Bay Office, teamed up to clean the litter from the ditches along a section of Booth road; stretching from Birch’s road to Lakeshore Drive. After nearly two hours of work on Earth Day, the team collected 60 bags of garbage, 12 tires, 1 toilet, 20 bags of recyclables, and a lawn mower.

“It just feels good to be doing something positive,” stated grade 10 student Alora Murton-Shorey.

Officer Bruce Bethune was equally enthused about the event.

“It was great working with the students. We wanted to show them some of the issues we deal with and also discuss career opportunities.”

The hard work ended with a barbeque lunch and a question and answer session about the Ministry of Environment’s role in monitoring water quality and waste disposal throughout our region. The main message from the exercise was to demonstrate the carelessness of some people who deposit garbage into the environment when they can simply take it home and dispose of through regular garbage collection services provided by the City of North Bay. Ministry staff advised that it is an offence to litter in the province.

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