by Michele Young
Tayana Church, a Bert Edwards science and technology student, was the top-scoring student in her Grade 5/6 class Friday in the Climate Change Showdown. Her teacher, Stephan Bloom, said Tayana cut down household carbon dioxide emissions by 3.34 tonnes, putting her in a tie with Kyle Robertson of Kay Bingham elementary. Bloom's class won the showdown as a group, with total greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 32.3 tonnes in a four-week period.
Students in Stephan Bloom's Grade 5/6 class at Bert Edwards Science and Technology school did tonnes of work to win the Climate Change Showdown this year.
That's tonnes as in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 32.3 tonnes over a four-week period.
They took five-minute showers, changed light bulbs, shopped for locally grown food and nagged their parents about letting their vehicles idle too much.
Their efforts paid off and resulted in a pizza party earlier in the week along with a visit from Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar and Cheryl Kabloona from the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association Friday.
One of the students, Tayana Church, tied with Kay Bingham elementary's Kyle Robertson for making the single-biggest reduction. Each cut greenhouse gasses by 3.34 tonnes.
"I was actually surprised I reduced the carbon dioxide that much," said Tayana, 11.
She, her parents and her younger brother managed to do their part for the environment, doing everything on the list from eating less meat (not an option her dad enjoyed) to changing light bulbs to not idling the car.
"The easiest thing is probably getting your parents to stop idling," she said.
The most resistance she got was from her brother, who had been taking five-minute showers but gave his sister a hard time by making them longer during the competition period.
Tayana said her mom gave her permission to go in after five minutes and turn off the shower taps. Instead, she opted to flush the toilet.
It was that shorter shower time that got many of the kids or their family members. Several of those asked said that was the toughest part to follow.
Others said finding local food was difficult as well as expensive. One girl rode the bus the 15 kilometres to school. But it meant getting up an hour earlier and she has gone back to being driven.
Bloom confessed that even though he tries to be enrironmentally aware - he bikes most of the time to get around - the short shower time is his biggest challenge.
The beauty of the showdown is it gets school kids to bring change into their homes, he said.
"Children have enormous power over their parents," he said.
"This group of children is very enthusiastic about the environment. I'm very enthusiastic, too."
The competition was tough, with runners up coming close to the winners.
The second-place was James Blower's class at Westmount elementary, with a reduction of 29.9 tonnes.
Coming second to Tayana and Kyle in the individual student category was Makenna Fitzgerald at Dufferin elementary, who cut down by 3.24 tonnes. In third place was another Dufferin girl, Kendall Fitzgerald at 3.22 tonnes.
