The Waterloo Catholic District School Board is celebrating the certification of 18 of its schools by EcoSchools Canada, including two in Cambridge.
EcoSchools Canada is a certification program for elementary and secondary schools that nurtures environmental learning and climate action.
Every year schools apply by participating in environmental actions, campaigns and projects. Schools then record their work in the online EcoSchools Certification Application (ECA) to earn points. When the year is over, schools are ranked and awarded a final certification level.
St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School received a gold certification and St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Elementary School was assigned bronze, with platinum being the highest.
The EcoSchool library has over 50 actions across 12 themes students can take part in to be more environmentally responsible, from waste and energy management to well-being, diversity and nature.
Actions could be anything from a community clean up to switching off lights and devices when not in use.
In the 18 schools across the region that gained certification, 256 actions were completed.
A total of 13,309 hours of outdoor learning was conducted and 417 students were part of an ecoteam.
Ten schools participated in action related to water conservation, 274 classrooms had their energy efficiency optimized, 1,220 waste free lunches were packed with 291 kilograms of waste diverted from the landfill.
For more information on EcoSchools Canada visit ecoschools.ca.
