A local student from Ecole Notre Dame was one of just six students across the province who helped present a paper on how schools can provide leadership on climate change to the provincial government in Edmonton today.
Grade 11 student Gabrielle Cowan helped present the paper – worked on by students from all over Alberta – to Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips and Education Minister David Eggen. It contains recommendations in four key areas: curriculum, student learning, infrastructure and professional development for teachers. Recommendations include building vegetable gardens that can used for cafeterias and investing in solar panels for schools. The government will go over the paper and might even bring some sections into practice as it develops its Climate Leadership Plan.
The process of writing the paper included a virtual town hall with Premier Rachel Notely earlier this year, where students asked her questions about how her government planned to address climate change and what she did in her own life to reduce her carbon footprint.