H2O: Ideas & Action for Canada's Water

The Grade 8 class from Tanner’s Crossing School in Minnedosa, Manitoba have studied the challenges of blue-green algae threatening Lake Winnipeg and have created colourful books filled with imaginative stories. I visited their school recently and was so impressed with the knowledge they have acquired and the creativity they utilized to put the facts into story form. Following my presentation to them, they impressed me even more with how much they understood about what we need to do to stop degrading our lakes with too much blue-green algae.

Grade 8 Calss with Saving Lake Winnipeg books, Tanner’s Crossing School

As many of us know, education and inspiring our youth is the hope for a brighter future. I think that one of the most important things we can do is to help young people understand the potential of each one of us to create the changes we need to secure a more sustainable future on this planet. The students I met in Minnedosa are well on their way to understanding that.
One of the issues we talked about was the importance of doing absolutely the best job we can in treating our human sewage before releasing it back into whatever river or stream will carry it away. As their teacher said, sometimes the cheapest way is not the best for the long-term. Nothing could be truer when it comes to our conventional sewage treatment. Saving money now is adding hugely to the costs that will be borne by our children and grandchildren. I, personally, don’t feel very good about that and I hope our city council in Winnipeg will start to understand this as well.