Being a child is a wonderful thing, only if children knew it when they are still in those ages: very few responsibilities, a lot of time to play and little to worry about.
With the introduction of information and communication technologies, though, children have now begun to learn to think like, or even better than, adults with regard to the challenges facing them and the generations to come after them.
Meet one of the representatives of this generation of forward thinkers: Ally Zitaruk of Stettler Elementary School.
Ally, accompanied by her social studies teacher Carmen Fox, spent a full day on June 3 in Edmonton at the provincial legislature and sat at the ministerial desk of the Environment Minister Rob Renner.
The opportunity came under the “Minister for the Day” programme, introduced by the provincial ministry of environment to encourage fifth graders to take a deeper interest in the waste reduction and water and energy conservation measures being promoted by the provincial government.
Ally Zitaruk entered the competition by completing a booklet, promoting her ideas about what needs to be done to protect the environment and was selected from among some 900 entrants to be one of the 11 winners.
Alongside meeting the minister, Ally also found the chance to visit Edmonton’s state-of-the-art garbage recycling facility, an experience that she found impressive.
“It’s amazing how much garbage a city like Edmonton can produce. On estimate, every day there is 1.2 million bags of garbage taken to the waste management facility,” she said upon her return to Stettler last week.
“They have found a way to turn garbage into fuel and are working on this now.”
Although it was “really exciting being the minister”, Ally still thinks the tour at the waste management facility was her favorite part of the trip to Edmonton.
“With the way that garbage builds up, we should all be much more cautious of what we throw away and should consider starting a compost or look at other ways that we can reduce, reuse, and recycle,” Ally says.
“There is now a fourth R, which is recover,” Ally adds.
“Edmonton is now following this and are recovering energy from the garbage.”
Ally’s teacher Carmen Fox says she is happy that her efforts are paying off.
“I truly believe that our youth of today will face some serious environmental issues in the future and more so than any other generation,” Fox says.
“I hope to instill in them a sense of connection to the planet, their responsibilities as stewards of the environment, and how they can take on leadership roles within their communities in order to promote change.”
“The more people we have living lightly upon the earth, the more likely we are to prevent further unnecessary environmental destruction,” she adds.
With teachers like Carmen Fox and bright students like Ally Zitaruk, looks like there is still hope for future generations to enjoy the generosity of the nature at least to some extent.