More than a garden

Herb gardens, pumpkin patches, new spruce trees – these are just some of the results of a hard day’s work for elementary students participating in the Energy in Action Program.

The Energy in Action program is a collaborative endeavour of oil and gas companies under the auspices of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). The program spreads the message of environmental stewardship to students in grades four to six through an interactive classroom experience and a hands-on environmental project. In May, 35 oil and gas companies participated in events in 11 communities in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Besides spreading the stewardship message, the program also gives the students a better understanding of where energy comes from.

This happens during the first half of the day in the classroom with the help of CAPP’s education partner, Inside Education, a not-for-profit society that provides natural resources and environment education focused on forests, water, energy and related topics.

“It’s a fabulous program,” says Inside Education senior educator Anne Logan. “Everywhere we go we’re making a huge difference.”

Logan expands on what the kids are learning about sustainability in the regular social studies curriculum giving additional information on where energy comes from and how it is used in our everyday lives – information that often comes as a big surprise.

“(The kids) don’t always know all the products that are made from petroleum or that their furnaces burn natural gas,” says Logan, adding that by grade six they have a stronger understanding of the industry.

The program gives students a balanced presentation of Canada’s energy sources. A play teaches them how to get petroleum out of the ground and objects made from both the renewable and non-renewable energy industry are passed around the classroom.

According to Logan, while many of the students may be aware of pollution concerns associated with non-renewable energy they are often unaware of the numerous benefits and challenges related to the use of both renewable and non-renewable sources. Logan explains that, at their age, the students aren’t exposed to the economic, social and political issues surrounding energy development so it is up to the Energy in Action teachers to bring some balance into the discussion.

“We talk to them about how nothing is perfect, even wind and that each one of them has pros and cons,” says Logan. “They don’t understand that we can’t meet our energy needs just with renewables – we try and get them to see both sides.”

With the seed of stewardship planted during the morning’s lesson, the kids are able to cultivate this new knowledge through an outdoor activity that has meaning to their school and community. In each community, the kids take on a unique environmental project with the help of representatives from oil and gas companies with operations in the area, their teachers and community volunteers.

“All these communities have an environmental vision and if we can help them or participate in that, that’s what stewardship is all about,” says Energy in Action coordinator Laura Perry. “The program is a good opportunity for the kids to experience stewardship first hand and make a difference.”

For Perry, this year’s visit to Beaverlodge, Alberta is an ideal example of how Energy in Action gets entire communities excited about stewardship and fulfills CAPP’s vision of groups working together to complete the project and make it sustainable. Beaverlodge students planted spruce saplings along the river banks of a local farmer’s property with the help of the local municipality, Alberta Conservation, the Energy Resources Conservation Board, their teachers and representatives from ConocoPhillips, EnCana, Talisman, Canadian Natural Resources, Devon Canada and Bonavista.

In other cases, the stewardship activity is focused closer to home in the students’ schoolyard. Through Energy in Action concrete schoolyards are transformed into vibrant gardens and, in some cases, outdoor classrooms with shade trees, benches, sundials and weather stations.

As Anne Logan points out, “For some of these schools they didn’t have much in their schoolyards so this will make a big difference.”

Besides building knowledge of the energy industry and spreading the word about stewardship, the program also has benefits for participating companies. “Companies get to know the communities where they’re operating and get the opportunity to get to know the local town councils and get to know each other,” says Perry. Establishing these relationships helps the companies work better with each other and with the community on issues related to their operations in the area such as noise or environmental impacts.