Any Canadian elementary or secondary school that is working on a green initiative is eligible to apply for grants of up to $5,000. “We realized what we wanted to spark was creativity and innovation and to foster a sense of community at solving everyday challenges. Those are unique to schools depending on where they are, how big they are, and what the resources are that are available to them.”

78 projects have been funded. “The ones that first captured my heart were ones that involved bicycle programs and transportation programs,” Christina continued. “Either repairing bikes and getting them into the hands of students and families who might not have them, or using them as an educational tool to take kids on field trips in their community as opposed to always getting on a bus or in a car.” It’s a nice way of getting fitness and tackling the big environmental challenge of transportation.

A new project that has been funded is at a small school on Denny Island, BC. “From my perspective it’s in the middle of wilderness. Yet part of their challenge is making kids feel more connected and secure and feeling connected to nature. […] They are now bringing in scientists and field cameras to try to make students feel less afraid and more comfortable and more understanding of the world around them.”

There are also “wonderful programs across the country of schools creating gardens that they are integrating into their science curriculum and into their food programs. And they’re feeding families and schools, and they’re coming in over summers to harvest crops and tend the gardens. It really is amazing, the passion we’re seeing.”

“The plastic bag charge really inspired the thinking behind the whole program, because it was a simple everyday action of adding a charge to plastic bags.” The 5 cent charge has “reduced plastic bag usage at Loblaw by 73%. That’s over 1 billion bags.” Loblaw deserves credit for being “really committed to enabling this kind of change.”

“Getting kids into outdoor classrooms, or into gardens or on their bikes. The feedback we’re getting from teachers is that kids are more engaged, have more energy, [and] they are seeing a benefit on broader learning”.

“The program started off as a three year commitment so we’re in the second year. Our funding comes from our partner Loblaw through partial proceeds from their plastic bag charge but also from a corporate donation,” Christina told me. There is an annual commitment of $200,000. “We’re in the middle of talking about extending it so it’s likely that it will go on for another three years.”

Certified Financial Planner Corry L. Staff randomly selected the winning name today. She was not shown the names – instead, she was presented with what appeared to her view to be blank pieces of paper. She drew one, turned it over and found Kyle’s name on the other side.

 WWF Canada’s adoption kits are available on WWF Canada’s website.  Having purchased a number of them over the years, I can vouch for them being high quality and a gift that anyone who likes animals will enjoy. Not only that, but the money goes to help save the real animals and that’s my favorite kind of present!

World Wildlife Fund Canada is working with other WWF branches and other conservation organizations to try to save the world’s remaining tigers. To symbolize their work, WWF Canada has joined with VoicesForOurPlanet.com to offer a WWF Canada tiger adoption kit to one lucky reader of this blog.

The lucky winner will receive a symbolic adoption kit, which includes:
• a high-quality cuddly tiger stuffed toy
• reusable gift bag, made from recycled plastic
• personalized adoption certificate
• letter that identifies you as the gift-giver
• details about the work that your symbolic adoption will support

All it takes to gain a chance to win is to email your name, location (city and province/state), and email address or phone number to voicesforourplanet@gmail.com. One entry per email address, please. Duplicate entries will be deleted.

The contest opened Monday, November 15, 2010, and will close at midnight Pacific Standard Time today, Monday, November 29, 2010. One winner will be randomly drawn on Tuesday, November 30, 2010, and the winner’s name and location will be announced on this blog later that day. We will contact the winner through the telephone number or email given in their email.

The winner will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address. In the event that the winner does not respond within this timeline, another winner will be randomly selected. The winner’s address will be given to WWF Canada so the gift certificate can be personalized and the adoption kit shipped to the winner. All other names and locations, and all email addresses and phone numbers, will remain confidential and will never be given or sold by VoicesForOurPlanet.com to any other organization.

Please note that the prize will be shipped by WWF Canada. VoicesForOurPlanet.com is not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged once they are shipped. Entrants assume all liability for their participation in the contest, as well as receipt of and use of prizes.

VoicesForOurPlanet.com reserves the right to clarify or change the rules, prizes and eligibility for a contest at any time, or to terminate a contest without notice. If this occurs, readers will be notified on this blog.

Thank you for your interest in conserving one of our world’s most beautiful animals, and good luck in the contest!

The lucky winner will receive a symbolic adoption kit, which includes:
• a high-quality cuddly tiger stuffed toy
• reusable gift bag, made from recycled plastic
• personalized adoption certificate
• letter that identifies you as the gift-giver
• details about the work that your symbolic adoption will support

All it takes to gain a chance to win is to email your name, location (city and province/state), and email address or phone number to voicesforourplanet@gmail.com. One entry per email address, please. Duplicate entries will be deleted.

The contest opens today, Monday, November 15, 2010, and will close at midnight Pacific Standard Time on Monday, November 29, 2010.  One winner will be randomly drawn on Tuesday, November 30, 2010, and the winner’s name and location will be announced on this blog that day. We will contact the winner through the telephone number or email given in their email.

The winner will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address. In the event that the winner does not respond within this timeline, another winner will be randomly selected. The winner’s address will be given to WWF Canada so the gift certificate can be personalized and the adoption kit shipped to the winner. All other names and locations, and all email addresses and phone numbers, will remain confidential and will never be given or sold by VoicesForOurPlanet.com to any other organization.

Please note that the prize will be shipped by WWF Canada. VoicesForOurPlanet.com is not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged once they are shipped. Entrants assume all liability for their participation in the contest, as well as receipt of and use of prizes.

VoicesForOurPlanet.com reserves the right to clarify or change the rules, prizes and eligibility for a contest at any time, or to terminate a contest without notice. If this occurs, readers will be notified on this blog.

Thank you for your interest in conserving one of our world’s most beautiful animals, and good luck in the contest!

A winner has been selected for the WWF Canada adoption kit that was for readers who answered our survey and entered our contest.  Congratulations to Rhonda Hill of British Columbia – she has been notified.

Certified Financial Planner Corry L. Staff randomly selected the winning name today.  She was not shown the names – instead, she was presented with what appeared to her view to be blank pieces of paper.  She drew one, turned it over and found Rhonda’s name on the other side.  The coincidence of Rhonda having the same last name as two of our writers?  Hill seems to be a good name for people related to this blog!  It also reflects the small number of readers who answered our survey and entered our contest.If anyone wants a WWF Canada adoption kit, they are available on WWF Canada’s website.

You may reach the survey either through this survey link, or by copying and pasting http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VoicesForOurPlanetcom_Survey into your web address bar.

If you’d like to, you can sign up for the draw for a WWF Canada adoption kit at the end of the survey form. If you don’t want to join the contest, please answer our reader’s survey anyways!

Thank you to those of you who have filled out our survey.  We appreciate your comments.

You may reach the survey either through this survey link,  or by copying and pasting  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VoicesForOurPlanetcom_Survey into your web address bar.  The survey will take just a few minutes of your time, and your answers will be valuable in improving Voices For Our Planet.com.

The final question in the survey asks you for your name, location (city and province), and email address, and enters you in the draw for a WWF Canada adoption kit.  One entry per email address, please.  Duplicate entries will be deleted.

One lucky winner will receive a symbolic adoption kit of your choice.  You might want to choose a Tiger to represent this Year of the Tiger, and to symbolize WWF Canada’s participation in a major campaign to double our world’s wild tiger population by 2022.  With as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild, this is a critical project.

The survey and your chance to enter the draw for the WWF Canada adoption kit opens today, Monday, September 13, 2010, and will close at 11:45 pm Pacific Standard Time on Sunday, September 26, 2010.  One winner will be randomly drawn on Monday September 27, 2010, and the winner’s name and location will be announced on this blog that day.  We will contact the winner through the email given in their survey answers.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address.  In the event that the winner does not respond within this timeline, another winner will be randomly selected.  The winner’s address will be given to WWF Canada so the gift certificate can be personalized and the adoption kit shipped to the winner.  All other names and locations, and all email addresses and phone numbers, will remain confidential and will never be given or sold by VoicesForOurPlanet.com to any other organization.

Please note that the prize will be shipped by WWF Canada.  VoicesForOurPlanet.com is not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged once they are shipped.  Entrants assume all liability for their participation in the contest, as well as receipt of and use of prizes.

Thank you for your interest in making Voices For Our Planet.com better for you and our other readers, and good luck in the contest.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Over 55,000 people registered to participate in the Cleanup in 2009, and together the volunteers removed 160,914 kg of litter.  That included 116,138 food wrappers/containers, and 74,276 plastic bags.  That’s a whole lot of plastic that is being kept from joining the continent of garbage that is polluting our ocean.

Volunteers have found some pretty strange items during the Cleanup.  Why people have left a White Spot uniform, an 18 K gold ring, and a Message in a bottle with a note saying “Please don’t litter” on the shoreline is left to our imagination.

The Cleanup started in 1994 when a small group of Vancouver Aquarium employees collected data on the shoreline litter they removed from a local beach in Stanley Park.  By 1997, it was known as the Great BC Beach Cleanup and 400 volunteers cleaned up litter from 20 sites across the Lower Mainland once a year.  This year, WWF Canada joins the program as a full partner.

On August 26 this year, unique sculptures of aquatic animals, made of garbage, appeared at Vancouver’s English Bay and Toronto’s Ashbridge’s Bay.  3 seals played on Vancouver’s beach while a school of 60 fish jumped through Toronto’s Bay.  On show for just that day, it was hoped they would help people realize that shoreline litter can have far-reaching and negative effects on ecosystems.  As well, it was about the importance of the Cleanup.

Businesses, community groups and individuals can register now for the 2010 cleanup by visiting www.shorelinecleanup.ca.  Register soon – sign up closes September 10, 2010.

A single cup of coffee = 140 litres (Enough fresh water to fill to fill your mug 777 times)

One slice of white bread = 40 litres (Enough water to fill a fish tank)

A single egg = 200 litres (Enough fresh water to fill a rain barrel)

Dinner’s worse – A steak dinner = 15,500 litres (Enough fresh water to fill a small swimming pool)

Meanwhile, the BC Sustainable Energy Association states that we must act now to protect our rivers, streams and groundwater, and to balance competing demands for this precious and limited resource.  The BC Legislature is currently considering how to modernize our Water Act, and the BCSEA has an online petition that asks the BC Legislature to prioritize environmental and social needs for water and involve the public in decisions about water.  If you’re in BC, check out the petition.

As WWF Canada reports, National Marine Conservation Areas aim to protect marine ecosystems while allowing the area to be used in ecologically sustainable ways.  To date, the Gwaii Haanas has been poorly managed, with a noticeable lack of consideration for ecological, cultural, and social values.  The new Reserve will be co-managed with Parks Canada, Fisheries & Oceans Canada, and the Haida Nation, as well as local stakeholders.

The Gwaii Haanas is an important area ecologically, with over 3,000 species in a fairly untouched area.  Gray and humpback whales, sea lions, dolphins and other mammals migrate through the area which is home to a variety of fish, seabirds and other marine life.

This particular area has been faced with rapidly declining numbers of sea life ranging from herring to prawns.  However, after years of discussion between the Haida Nation and the Government, they have finally come to an agreement that will close approximately three percent of this area to fishing, as reported by the Times Colonist.  As progress continues, environmental groups hope that these no-fishing areas will be expanded.

Parks Canada reports that the National Marine Reserve and Heritage Site will preserve approximately ten kilometres off the Reserve’s shore.   In combination with the preexisting national reserve, the conservation area will set out to protect more than 5,000 square kilometres ranging from mountaintops to deep sea.

The shared responsibility model in Gwaii Haanas is unique in its effort to treat land and sea as a single system.  As such, it provides a role model for other conservation and sustainability agreements across North America.

Also, as WWF suggests, our oceans are exposed to a triple threat consisting of poor management, overexploitation, and climate change.  These are the primary causes for the reduction in the number of fish to what is believed to be beneath a sustainable level, which has negative impacts on coastal communities.  The Gwaii Haanas agreement represents a trickle of hope for renewal and sustainability in our oceans.  Now we are left to hope that the success of this National Marine Conservation Area will spur the development of many more!