Bow Valley Clean Air Society 

BVCAS commissions Pembina Institute to give workshops in Canmore schools

The final report from Pembina Institute is in and the following is a summary of the project.

The Bow Valley Clean Air Society commissioned Pembina Institute to offer classroom workshops to the schools in Canmore, Alberta. Ten classroom presentations were delivered between Canmore Collegiate High School and Lawrence Grassi Middle School from November 5 to 7, 2007 to 260 students..

Kathy Worobec and Dave Mussell were the Pembina workshop leaders. The workshops focused on climate change, renewable energy, and electricity usage at home and at school with ideas on how using less energy lessens our environmental impact. Teachers were provided with tools to assist them in continuing to teach about clean air/climate change and energy production and consumption in their classrooms.

One classroom is engaging in a project to “turn off” school computers after school hours. The Pembina Institute will continue to work with the schools and will specifically help them with the “turn off” computers project.

Teachers were provided with tools to assist them in continuing to teach about clean air/climate change and energy production and consumption in their classrooms.

Four teacher evaluations were collected as well as five classrooms completed postcards to assess student learning.  The teachers rated the workshops as “above average” or “excellent” and would recommend the workshops to other teachers. The students’ feedback indicated that the sessions did meet the outcomes we had outlined and instilled an understanding that personal actions are needed to lessen our environmental impact. Students provided a broad-spectrum of ideas for taking action.  

The Rocky Mountain Outlook interviewed the Bow Valley Clean Air Society and the Pembina Institute and visited the schools during the visit. The article was printed in the November 8, 2007 edition of the Outlook .

This project was made possible by The Shell Canada Environmental Fund support, which allowed BVCAS and The Pembina Institute to begin a relationship with the Canmore schools and to assist them in initiating at least one school project.

Many thanks to our member, Amy Taylor for organizing this project and to member Tracy Henderson who helped obtain the Shell funding.

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More information about the Pembina Institute is available at www.pembina.org or by contacting info@bowcleanair.org.

Educational Pamphlet

We have developed an informative pamphlet with lots of energy efficiency tips, and ideas on minimizing our contribution to global warming.  Click here to view it.

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