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City supports expansion of climate change workshop program for Nanaimo students

$20,000 granted for B.C. Sustainable Energy Association climate leadership workshops
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The City of Nanaimo will extend its partnership to support climate education for the city’s elementary and high school students.

City council approved $20,000 of additional funding this year to support participation in the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association’s Cool It climate leadership training program. According to a press release, the program is a climate education workshop for students to participate in interactive classes and games to support discussion and build on knowledge of climate change. Following the workshop, students participate in a four-week challenge meant to encourage families to make changes to their energy consumption.

In the release, Mayor Leonard Krog thanked teachers and students for their participation in the program last year.

“It is truly encouraging to see future generations working together to reduce our impact on the environment,” he said.

READ MORE: Nanaimo-Ladysmith school trustees interested in more student involvement in decision-making

In addition to the existing program, the city approached Lindsay McCunn, professor of environmental psychology at Vancouver Island University, to undertake a retroactive evaluation to measure whether parents and caregivers of the students who participated in the challenge experience changes in their pro-environmental behaviours in the household.

Last year, the city committed up to $10,000 to support the program and the association delivered 26 workshops to 583 elementary and high school students. According to the release, Nanaimo students reduced an equivalent of 91.7 tonnes of greenhouse gasses through their participation in the program.


bailey.seymour@nanaimobulletin.com

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Bailey Seymour

About the Author: Bailey Seymour

After graduating from SAIT and stint with the Calgary Herald, I ended up at the Nanaimo News Bulletin/Ladysmith Chronicle in March 2023
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