THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECT
The purpose of Cheetah’s for Change Environmental Project is to address the pollution and clear cutting in our community, as well as climate change affecting our planet. The project is currently comprised of four divisions, including: Saving Sandy Lake, Environmental Racism, Promoting Veganism and Going to Schools, all of which attempt to help the local ecology and global climate change issues as much as possible. The Environmental Project is geared toward being forever continuous.
Saving Sandy Lake is an attempt and effort to conserve and protect our local park, Sandy Lake. As a club, we have visited the park and met up with an associate of the Ecology Action Center, who has taught us about the history and importance of Sandy Lake, along with how to protect it. We are working to encourage local politicians to follow the Greenbelt and ecology protection of which they implemented and called the Halifax Green Network Plan. We are working towards joining the Sackville River Regional Park Coalition, and working with them to expand Sandy Lake, and to prevent clear cutting on the rich old growth forest’s land. We plan to talk to the Sackville River Association, who saved the population of salmon in Sandy Lake by recreating their ideal habitats. Under their guidance, we hope to build habitats for one of the 15 endangered species in Sandy Lake, and keep a protected ecosystem running around Sandy Lake.
We are going to create a short informative video regarding environmental racism on a global scale, as well as environmental racism within our local communities. Along with showing the video to our peers, we will put small posters around the school, each of which has a qr code clearly visible. This code will take anyone who scans it to a google form where there will be a list of habits and behaviors that everyone can do to help prevent the continuation of environmental racism. For each student who fills out this form and agrees to make an effort to help, we will plant a tree, as a visual and artistic representation of the commitment, dedication and support of our generation.
Knowing the importance of veganism in relation to its effects on the environment, we hope to have a chef visit our school and teach our members of Cheetahs for Change how to cook vegan meals, so that we can encourage these same habits at home with our family and friends. To promote veganism to our school, we would like to host a vegan cook-off during lunch in our cafeteria. This will be an entertaining and engaging way to demonstrate the negative effects of eating excessive amounts of meat and animal products, while also showing that veganism is achievable.
We are in the process of creating a presentation regarding simple and achievable habits to prevent climate change. Our goal is to present to younger grades of local elementary and junior high schools to do our best in encouraging them, their parents and their teachers to pursue new habits. In doing so, we hope to create a spark in younger individuals to inspire them to join us in activism. The long term goal of this project is to assure the prolonged education on the importance of preserving our environment.