Why make NPSS Green?

Blog post by: Hunter Curtis and Quinn.

The reasons gardening helps the aesthetics of the high school are they just help make the school look more natural and it also makes it look more clean. The second reason is it makes the students and the teachers at this school look like they care about the environment a lot more. Another reason we chose to do this project is because we get to go outside everyday and have fun gardening with the other groups that are doing it with us.

Also the reason why gardening makes NPSS look more green is because we are growing vegetables and when they're done growing it will make the school look a lot better. The thing we're growing outside are carrots, beets and lettuce. There is really no reason why we chose these vegetables we just walked to the dollar store and looked at the seeds for a few minutes and just decided that we should choose those.

Do we have to go “fully green”?

Blogged By: Chance

In my previous blogpost I talked about a “proverbial environmental paradise” and trying to get as close as theoretically possible. My goal to do this was to create a blueprint for a town that was healthy, efficient and cheap, I decided that his would not curry the right image or message and would take too much paper so I am now going to do a blueprint for the “perfect” house instead, including a write up to explain the use of energy and where it comes from.

{http://inhabitat.com/5-great-reasons-to-build-a-geodesic-dome-home/}

Since my last post I have done a lot of research into “green” energy and housing, as well as good structure design, use of space, heating, cooling and the sort of things you would need to build a “perfect” house. My final post will come some time next week with my “perfect” house blueprint which will include locations based on resource for energy.

Rethinking housing in your community!

Blogged by: Laura

Living ‘green’ is going to become essential to humanity within the next 100 years, we've exhausted earth's natural resources, but using recycles clothes, water bottles and city parks aren't enough. Cities are growing and the earth's population with it, soon there won’t be enough space for us all above ground. So I’m making a plan on what components could be in a good  ‘green house’. I’m also going to be making a model featuring some of these.

Building a house underground can provide many advantages when taking into consideration:

-Land availability

-Farming

-Livestock

-Temperature

-Space

But what about rain water?

The walls could be made with four  different layers, the core layer and insulation will be dried straw, It’s been proven an efficient insulation for housing in recent years, Then there will be a layer if clay on either side to keep the hay packed in. To keep the wamms dry from water in the soil around the house a thin layer of a plastic based sealer paint will be applied to the outer wall.

Now regarding the energy, there are several greener ways of producing  power for the underground house, first of all if it’s next to a stream a modern mill can be placed to create hydro power, another option is solar power. If the space above ground isn’t being used for farming solar panels could be a great way to collect energy and conserve space. The Solar panels could even be hidden and set up in a garden.

I'm currently working on a model of a ‘green house’.

Works Cited (including photographs)

"7 Amazing Facts About Underground Houses That Will Blow Your Mind." Granite History. Web. 09 June 2016.

"Underground House." Oxot. Web. 09 June 2016.

Eco friendly house saves our planet!

Blogged by: Hanna, Breanna, Gabby

-1      -2

Have you ever wondered how to make the world a better place to live in? Well you can help your earth by having a eco friendly house!

In this inquiry my group and I have decided to build a model to show how easy it is to help and save our planet. We are building a model of a Eco friendly house. The model is going to show the outside and the inside of the house.

In this house we have included a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. In the bedroom there is lots of windows and plants to keep it Eco friendly. In the bathroom there is also windows and plants but there is a person who is saving the water by turning off the tap when they brush their teeth, this reduces the water flow and keeps things Eco friendly. In the kitchen and living room there is windows and plants also! Eco friendly houses keep the planet and environment clean and healthy!

Some challenges building the model were getting the walls in the house to stay up. Also it was hard to plan time to get together after school and work on the project.

Overall all we all hope that people realize that it is very easy and simple to save the planet in so many ways and we hope some people consider some of the ideas we presented in our model and add them to their real home!

Image 1- https://www.ovoenergy.com/blog/green/10-amazing-eco-friendly-houses.html

Image 2- http://homedesignlover.com/architecture/eco-friendly-green-homes/

Designing a city for a

Greener tomorrow

Blogged by: Maddy, Makayla, Jessie

In our geography class we are doing an inquiry unit to learn and educate others about what makes a city livable.

In our group of three we have done research to learn about what makes an environmentally friendly city. So far our group has created a rough sketch of our city by the end of this unit we plan to create a real life 3D model of our sketch.

After doing our research we designed a city that has solar panels on houses, big parks, bike lanes, rooftop gardens, recycling and composting plant, geothermal energy plant, and accessible public transportation.

The city we are designing has a public garden and local animal produce farm. There is a large city centre where the produce from both of these places can be sold. By having a public garden and animal produce farm in the city it provides local food. Having local food reduces transportation emissions and saves money.

We are excited to finish creating our environmentally friendly city model and share it others to educate them on the importance of livable cities.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiHp92__pPNAhVQJ1IKHWwIAXYQjB0IBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.embarqturkiye-yasanabilirsehirler.org%2Fen&bvm=bv.123664746,d.aXo&psig=AFQjCNFBUSLDwTzTl6BDVs_LIjIsoOypQw&ust=1465322595693735

Students taking charge to clean up NPSS!

Blogged and photographed by: Carter, Cam, Jeffery   

During the start of the inquiry, there was over 500 weeds in the front garden of NPSS. We have worked very hard to remove some of the weeds from this garden because no one in the school or near, doesn’t like to help the town look nice and be eco-friendly. With only three people doing this big job, it’s still making a big difference to help tidy up the gardens around the local high school to help make it look nicer than it originally looked like.

• The school garden is looking a lot better than what it looked like before

• It is taking some time but in the end it will look good.

• We might start putting in some new flowers to help the garden flourish if we have time

The second project that we are working on is a redesigned version of Angus!!!!! There will be new buildings and a new way that the buildings are arranged in a fashion that will allow the homes to have enough wind and solar energy.

The buildings are a unique type of home that has a separate power grid on it’s own. Plus the homes also have its own backup system just in case if the power systems fail in a storm or if there is a mechanical failure. So this is a new way of living in a constant traffic filled environment. The new layout of the city will be in separate divisions so that the area is spread out and the pollution that the vehicles give off won’t effect the surrounding villages as much as it is now.

The Future of Cars

        By: Gurtaj and Ethan

For the past month we have been learning about liveable cities and what a liveable city needs to be liveable, so we set out looking for different ways to make the world a better place until we thought of the most fun and creative ideas, We decided to make our own battery powered car and wind powered hovercraft but in a small scale.

Our inquiry will hopefully make people think about the consequences that gas powered vehicles have on the environment and the more clean alternatives such as wind, electric and solar power. Our inquiry takes inspiration from the norwegian planned gasoline vehicle ban by 2025, this proposed ban will prove very beneficial for the environment and the overall well being of planet Earth. This will be beneficial because the ban on gas powered cars will limit the amount of emissions in the environment as well as limit the amount of harmful chemicals us humans (and animals) inhale.

Above we have included images of what our project will turn out to be as well as a comparison between a full sized electric car to our small battery powered car.  We will also include pictures of a full size Hovercraft and a one scaled down.

To make the electric car we needed:

1. Plywood (Or anything that can work as base)
2. 9v Battery
3. Wheels
4. Axel
5. Positive and Negative Wire
6. Motor
7. Electrical Tape (Glue)

To make the hovercraft we needed:

1. Computer Fan
2. Paper Plate
3. One 9v Battery
4. 2 Double A batteries
5. Electrical Tape

Image references:

• https://www.google.ca/search?espv=2&biw=1280&bih=899&tbm=isch&q=battery+powered+car+project&revid=1275706159&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBuOyIg5TNAhUQElIKHeh7DTAQhyYIGw#imgrc=C_ovvjnyatB2ZM%3A
• https://www.google.ca/search?espv=2&biw=1280&bih=899&tbm=isch&q=battery+powered+car+project&revid=1275706159&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBuOyIg5TNAhUQElIKHeh7DTAQhyYIGw#imgrc=C_ovvjnyatB2ZM%3A
• http://www.instructables.com/id/small-hovercraft/
• https://www.google.ca/search?espv=2&biw=1280&bih=899&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=hovercraft&oq=Hover&gs_l=img.3.2.0l10.17452.21258.0.23705.8.7.1.0.0.0.74.425.7.7.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.8.427.QH8u5f30fD0#imgrc=XBvbvCvtkPk9sM%3A

Switching to green communities

Is it possible?

Blogged by: Kaleb

Above: Rough draft of redesigned town square, Angus

Humans are greedy, our lives are a fight for power and for money. As the earth’s population grows and we use more of our precious land and resources to fit all of the people the need for solutions is vital, however people are hesitant to take action because of the one thing we all want to keep, money. Eventually, even the once wealthy families will be no better than the average class families, living in small houses, or apartments. Air quality across the globe will become poor to say the least, and sickness will become more common. Everything will begin to shut down. A solution to this grave issue is already in progress, green communities. Green communities are a smart, and safe alternative to what we currently consider livable, it just comes down to a cost. A green community costs much more to build than your classic community, the added costs of a green community come from things like more efficient building materials, switching to alternative heating, cooling, and electrical options like solar and geothermal, and making life comfortable while still fitting more people into an area. These areas take years to design in order to make them as strong, smart, and environmentally friendly as possible.  Using my home town as a starting point I have designed a land use plan for a cleaner, smarter Angus. Using new technologies in water treatment, energy production, and building procedures, cleaner more self reliant communities can be made. Designs include new housing districts, a shopping district and an education district. Planning for the new Angus incorporates the convenience of urban living with the comfort and peace of living in the country. Combining rustic design and modern architecture the new Angus is a perfect mix of new and old.

To the right: Rough draft of redesigned education area, Angus.

~Large ponds provide water to sprinkler systems that keep grass and vegetation looking great.

~Conveniently placed parking garages provide large amounts of parking space close to businesses, public recreational spaces, and schools.

~Plenty of trees help to purify air while fountains add moisture to air.

~Geothermal and solar power grids supply power to approximately 90% of the town.

~Community gardens and public spaces create a sense of a connected community.

~Added housing and apartments can create up to a 70,000 persons population increase.

(Use of blank buildings are currently undecided.)

NPSS Needs More Space!

By Santana, Ciara, and Teresina.

Our group’s plan for making our community more liveable is to create an open green space. We are starting small with our own school community, by placing benches on our hill to give students and community members a place to embrace the environment whilst encouraging chat with neighbors. Our hope with this project is to bring our community together and have students want to sit outside, and get fresh air. With our generation not getting enough time outside we think that having this sitting area will be great for students to talk face to face instead of being on screens all day and hope they may get an appreciation for the outdoors. Our plan was to make benches out of wood and put then around our oak tree on the hill for shady space to sit and chat. This spot will be beneficial to the students because we can use this spot as a new lunch space. Hopefully the rain decides to hold up until our project is done. Here are some photos from our plans so far.

Our tree, as well as Teresina and Ciara.

Can We Change The Amount Of People Who Use Green bins?

Blogged by: Jackson and Dylan

For the past week, a partner and I have decided to do a project on Green Bin usage. We are trying to figure out how many people use green bins on a regular basis through a survey we have created ( bit.ly/1UfihT1 )

We are going to try and accomplish this goal by going around our community and asking people in the community if they use green bins and if they know the importance in green bin use. Green bins are a little green bin where you throw away your organic waste into which saves millions of dollars by reducing the need of a new landfill site. Green bins are also great for the environment as they involve composting. Composting creates new soil for the environment. So far, we have gotten a few responses for our survey. From what we have so far from our responses, everyone uses green bins and sees the importance into using them. If we can accomplish this goal, it will be a huge achievement as we are protecting our environment and keeping our home safe. I will post shortly to see how our community thinks of green bin use. In the meantime, think about our environment, think about keeping our land safe and healthy. Use green bins, keep yourself and your home safe.

Green bin image: http://www.townofws.ca/en/residents/compostable-bags-and-green-bins.asp

What should a liveable city have?

Blogged by: Jacinta & Maris

As part of our grade nine Geography class, my friend and I are doing an inquiry on what a “liveable city” has and doesn't have. We are going around our school/community and asking people what they think a liveable city should and shouldn't have. We are going to capture what they say, by making a video. We picked this topic for our inquiry, because we were interested to see what people say what a liveable city has to them.

We hope to accomplish many different thing by creating this video! One of the things we hope to accomplish is to get our audience to understand what a liveable city has. The second thing the we hope to accomplish is to bring attention to what cities need in order for the people of that city to live comfortably.

Some important considerations, are a liveable city is not overpopulated and this means it would not be as polluted.

What do you think a liveable city has? If you would like to put your own opinion in, on what a live city does or doesn't have, please leave a comment!

What’s the “hoot” with provincial parks?                                                      

https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/killbear

How do provincial parks benefit our environment?                                                                                               blogged by: Rachel                                                                                                                                                                                             

http://www.bethycreek.com/what-to-bring-when-you-go-camping/

Provincial parks are seen all across canada and are a great place to spend a day outdoors or spend a night under the stars. Provincial parks are a great place to go and enjoy the great outdoors and all things nature has to offer. These parks are a great place to go for hiking, swimming, biking, canoeing or kayaking and of course camping. These parks are on protected land, therefore protecting many natural resources in the province while supporting canada’s economy.       

   

For my inquiry I went to Earl Rowe provincial park in Alliston Ontario, Canada and did some hiking on “rainbow run trail” and “Lookout trail” where I was able to view the entire park.  I will also be doing research to discover the all benefits of having a provincial park in an ecosystem.      

 https://www.tripadvisor.ca/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g182201-d3387119-i141057479-Earl_Rowe_Provincial_Park-Alliston_New_Tecumseth_Ontario.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5WkCZ0gsBI