Pickering’s Dunbarton High School is the winner of the Canada Green Building Council’s (CaGBC) first Greenest School in Canada competition. Dunbarton was recognized with the $2,000 prize for its awareness programs and overall commitment to sustainability.
Dunbarton has in place the following environmentally-friendly initiatives and projects:
- The creation of ‘bee condos’ to encourage pollination;
- Local park rehabilitation efforts;
- Rain barrel sales;
- Organic waste collection to divert waste from landfills;
- Student involvement in energy and water audits at the school;
- A curriculum-based Atlantic salmon restoration program, providing students with first-hand experience in conservation.
“The Canada Coalition for Green Schools was established to increase awareness of sustainability practices at schools across Canada,” says Thomas Mueller, president and CEO of the CaGBC. “It is truly impressive to see how much is already being done to engage students and particularly, how sustainability has been made an integral part of the curriculum at Dunbarton High School.”
The CaGBC’s Greenest School in Canada completion was launched on Earth Day 2014. Dunbarton will be entered into the Greenest School on Earth competition, held by the U.S. Green Building Council. If successful, the school will be awarded with an additional $1,000 to be invested in new or ongoing sustainability projects.
