The Green Toronto Awards took place this weekend at the Green Living Show. SWITCH was finalist of the the Youth Award which rewards youth who show leadership in greening projects including school ground naturalization, recycling and fundraising for environmental causes. This is an amazing honor for us and we hope that our work will help inspire a new generation of environmentally-conscious youth.

For more information about the awards, click [here].

So, you and your school’s Environmental Club are busy greening the school, so what now? Well, what about your own life? How carbon-conscious are you at home? FLICK OFF is a movement to raise awareness of how easy it is to make small adjustments to your life which could seriously impact your carbon foot print. So what are you waiting for? Go FLICK OFF.

www.FLICKOFF.org

A little while back Much Music’s camera crew, along with their VJ Hannah Simone, and the Band Sum 41 came to William Lyon Mackenzie CI to shoot a segment of their documentary about youth environmentalism across Canada. This was an amazing opportunity for SWITCH and a great treat for Mackenzie students.

Recently this documentary was aired on Much Music. This amazing series has opened new doors for our organization, and has brought our message of climate change to a plethora of young environmentalists across Canada seeking to make a change within their communities. Our idea has turned into a movement, an image of action, a catalyst for change; and we hope you will join us. Take a look:

The Toronto District School Board recently created a video series called “Cool Schools”. This series documents and highlights amazing schools and individuals who have developed a program or initiative that makes them unique. The SWITCH Program at William Lyon Mackenzie CI has been chosen as the first secondary school to partake in this series! Check it out on the article on the TDSB website here.
VIEW VIDEO (Media Player - PC) VIEW VIDEO (Quick Time - MAC).

SWITCH gets featured on Obviously.ca - a website with the aim to provide its readers with accurate, verifiable, and entertaining information to help them make environmentally-conscious decisions.

Nov 26, 2007 5:17 PM
Staff
Obviously.ca

SWITCH, Solar and Wind Initiatives Toward CHange, like many other great ideas, started with a conversation between a student and a teacher. The student was David Godri and the teacher, Simon Carpenter. They talked about school, education and the environment. This was June 2006.
On the first day of school that following September, Godri entered the school with a 15-page proposal outlining what was to become “SWITCH” in the following months…[Read More]

School board could sell electricity generated from solar panels, windmills to power grid
Jun 25, 2007 04:30 AM
Catherine Porter
Environment Reporter

Forget the Pickering nuclear plant, you could soon be running your fridge on electricity supplied from your kids’ school around the corner. As the first step in an ambitious plan to create a green grid from the rooftops of schools across the city, the Toronto District School Board will spend the summer devising a renewable energy plan involving all 558 of its school sites. If everything goes smoothly, windmills and solar panels will cover the roofs of 10 schools across the city as early as next summer….[Read More]

Apr 18, 2007 04:30 AM
Daniel Girard
Education Reporter

David Godri has long believed one person can make a difference to the environment. Now, he’s proving it. The Grade 12 student at William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute in Downsview is the architect of a plan that saw 10 solar panels installed on the school’s roof yesterday as part of a scheme to expand renewable energy at Toronto schools. The goal of SWITCH, Solar and Wind Initiatives Towards Change, is to not only…[Read More]

Leading up to, and during SWITCH it Up! an amazing documentrary was shot. Thank you to Monica Oscilowski and Pure Faith Productions for the remarkable job. Check it out: