École Secondaire Lacombe Composite High School’s (ESLCHS) EcoVision is well known in the city for their environmental stewardship, school produced food items, and sometimes their eccentric projects. Now, one EcoVision student will be presenting a paper she and several other youth leaders from around the world have collaborated on March 24th ahead of the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Grade twelve student, Sneha Rose Jigo will be joining global youth leaders representing six continents in an effort to inspire others to take action against climate change.

“I think the big goal here is to take action instead of just saying the words that we are removing carbon from the air or making the earth a better place, we want to make that a reality and not just something we say. The big ways we're pushing for that is to educate youth, but also really just everybody including all of our leaders,” said Jigo.

Jigo plans to take psychology in her post-secondary classes but maintain her environmental stewardship on the sidelines. She looks forward to having a voice at the conference and sharing her message with others.

“It means I get to bring our voices to a bigger table in terms of climate change and climate solutions. It's another step along the journey,” added Jigo

Jigo will be summarizing a paper called the Global Youth Report that she and other global youth leaders will be presenting at the virtual event. It is a 12-page paper complete with student voices and artwork that delves into what it means to decarbonize and decolonize. In the paper, she discusses what it means to be a role model.

“Being a role model is being open, having integrity and empathy—showing other youth that they are not alone in this climate change fight, that there are many of us acting in every corner of the world,” says Jigo in the Global Youth Report.  

EcoVision Program Facilitator and Teacher at ESLCHS, Steven Schultz says Jigo has always been a student working behind the scenes but looks forward to seeing Jigo in the spotlight. With EcoVision and other youth leaders around the world they have been working hard to coordinate the project through many conference calls.

“I am so proud of Sneha and so excited for her. If people want to join there's a YouTube link it will be tomorrow (March 24) at 8:00 AM,” said Schultz.

You can also find the link for the live streamed presentation here.  

Roofs for Kids sees huge student interest

In the fall, Jigo, Schultz and the other students of EcoVision unveiled their Roofs for Kids project at the school and created a goat sanctuary for the students to practice animal husbandry and de-stress with animal therapy.

The goats at ESLCHS. File photo from October 2020.

“We were able to introduce four goats and on average, we had about 100 students visiting the goats every day for either stress relief or for educational purposes. We planted the garden on the roof as well and were just anticipating the new sprouts to grow when the weather gets a little warmer,” explained Schultz.

EcoVision's next project

Their next project is an EPIC Garden which stands for Educational Pollinator Indigenous Carbon Capture.

“It's an educational garden because we're going to be putting up signs. Throughout the garden, explaining the uses and the history of the plants. The signs will also have a QR code that takes you to a student built website that provides videos and more information on that plant,” said Schultz.

The garden will be open to the public and other classes to learn from and will be located near the goat sanctuary on the school grounds.

It will be filled with indigenous pollinating plants that are considered important to indigenous people and elders. The club has been collaborating on the project with Elder Burt Bull from Louis Bull First Nation for greater knowledge and behind the plants. The indigenous plants also be have the ability to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

“A little unknown fact is that indigenous plants take carbon dioxide out of the air better than our grass. Introduced grasses so most of our lawns in Canada are actually introduced species from Europe or United States. For example, Kentucky Bluegrass is a very popular grass in our lawns,” explained Schultz.

The gardens at ESLCHS. File photo from October 2020.

Learn with EcoVision: Opportunities for schools and the community

As the weather warms up and gardening season approaches, Ecovision will be selling their homegrown herbs, vegetables, and locally sourced goods for a special sale this coming Mother’s Day. They will also be providing a few other exciting opportunities for students and people interested in learning more about gardening.

The club will be creating 10,000 garden kits for other High Schools and Elementary students in the province to join them in learning about plants, gardening, and horticulture. EcoVision will also be opening up their gardens to the public to provide two workshops each month.

“There will be some amazing giveaways because we're also partnering with the Echo Lacombe Foundation to provide some environmental initiatives like rain barrels and composters and things like that,” added Schultz.

As always, Schultz and the students in EcoVision are very thankful for several of their sponsorships and partnerships formed in the community that allow them to keep dreaming bigger each day and educating the community. 

For more information on the workshops or the garden kits, you can email Steven Schultz at steven.schultz@wolfcreek.ab.ca.  Additionally, you can check out EcoVision’s website here and EcoVision's online store here.