Ending Child Poverty in Canada

High hopes for federal action in 2016

Blogged By: Rebecca, Brittany, Rosalyn and Emma

As our Global Action T-shirt campaign wraps up, we are beginning to focus more on our Local Actions; tackling local poverty through making an awareness video. In order to have this video be as successful as possible, we have begun to research Canadian Poverty- something that is much more present in our communities as we may think. The newly elected federal government has made some promises regarding child poverty, with a list of progressive measures and the aim to lift more than 315,000 children out of poverty.

The government has promised to invest in affordable housing and childcare, reforming employment insurance and make maternity and parental level much more flexible. In fact, more than 1.34 million Canadian Children- close to one in five- are living in poverty. This figure has grown since 1989, when parliament vowed to eradicate the problem by 2000. The pledge to end Canadian Poverty was repeated 2 more times in 2009 and 2015…. Experts say that this may be the first time that Parliament creates a concrete goal that they can stick too! This new action plan will include comprehensive strategy and work with the legislation for a goal of cutting child poverty from 19% to 9.5% within five years. The framework will be developed collaboratively with provincial and territorial governments, as well as aboriginal/first nations governments and NGO’s in order to help people of all ethnic groups.

The above statistics are a representation of poverty in Canada by numbers. Many of the numbers are very surprising, and serve as more proof that poverty in Canada is a major problem.

This is a big step forward for Canada…. We hope to see some positive changes in our local communities in the very near future!

Statistics, Photo and information; http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/11/24/high-hopes-for-federal-action-to-end-child-poverty.html

UN sustainability goal 15: Life on Land

Challenges Along the Way

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By Janson, Matt, Sam, Brendan and Tristan

On Monday, November 23rd, our group ran into an obstacle. We found out we are not allowed to use the equipment in the wood shop room to help further our productivity. This means that our work flow has slowed down immensely.

Since we did we not have our safety forms signed, and we weren’t actually in the wood shop class, it wouldn’t be safe for us to use the equipment at school.

This changes our schedule and plans to continue on, this is because we are going to have to find and use our own equipment and cut by hand. We completely understand why we are not able to use the equipment and will strive to stay on schedule and work through our challenge.

See if we were able to overcome our challenge by following the blog for updates and our Twitter page @sam_sammyjane or “Upcyclingtosavearth”.

HIV/AIDS: A Global Virus

Blogged by:  Alyssa

HIV/AIDS is a deadly disease that first originated in the 1800s in Africa. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency) is the first stage of the virus. HIV can be contracted by sexual contact, blood transfusion, injection drug use, and even pregnancy and breastfeeding. This virus attacks the immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to other dangerous diseases. People who are able to get early treatment can live almost full lives. Without treatment the immune system becomes very damaged, and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) develops. People who are diagnosed with AIDs have a life expectancy of 3 years.

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HIV/AIDS affects 35 million people worldwide. That is equal to almost the entire population of Canada. 5.1 million people died of Aids in 2013. These facts are saddening, but the good news is that organizations such as AVERT have been making big differences by raising awareness and encouraging testing in places like sub-saharan Africa where the disease is most prevalent. Being knowledgeable on how to avoid getting the virus and knowing that early detection is key can save many lives and slow the spread of the deadly illness.

For more info go to AVERT’s website here.

Bibliography

http://www.avert.org/

https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/global-statistics/

https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/what-is-hiv-aids/

Pictures

1.http://www.eschooltoday.com/hiv-aids/what-is-hiv-aids.html

2.http://hivaidshelp-please.wonderhowto.com/inspiration/hiv-aids-symptoms-0127692/

Why Are We Doing This?

By: April, Josh Leah and Sydney

The Marine Team has been working hard to promote ocean sustainability and spread awareness regarding plastic pollution in our oceans. We feel it is important to remember why we chose to tackle this topic in the first place. Plastic constitutes for around 90% of all garbage floating on the surface of the ocean, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile. It has been documented that due to this abundance of plastic pollution, 44 percent of all seabird species, 22 percent of cetaceans, all sea turtle species, and a growing list of fish species have been found with plastic in or around their bodies. These facts came as a shock to our group, and it inspired us to take action against this massive environmental issue. Although we are only four high school students and the issue at hand may seem dire, this never prevented us from believing we weren’t capable of making a difference. In order to follow through with our initial hope, we decided to focus on promoting UN Global Goal 14. With this, our movie buy-out and hashtag were created. What we are doing may seem insignificant compared to the size of the issue, but we have learned during this project that awareness is one of the greatest factors in making a change.

Update: Along with spreading an incredible amount of awareness among our community, we have raised a total of $195.20 in proceeds from our movie buy-out, for the WWF’s ocean sector. Thank you for all of your support and contributions in helping us hold this amazing event!

Photo:http://cdn.sailingscuttlebutt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/trashed-ocean-whale-cartoon.jpg

Statistics:

http://thegreendivas.com/2014/04/04/21-preposterous-facts-plastic-pollution/

Recycling for change collection statistics

      By: Tanner, Zachary, Zack

We did it! We have completed our consumption for change collection drive. We would like to thank everyone that donated their used clothes, toys, books and E-waste. In total we have collected 21 toys including an Xbox 360, 31 books, 33 shirts, 15 sweaters, 13 pants, 13 pairs of shoes, 10 accessories, 9 pairs of shorts, 3 dresses, 3 jackets, and 2 pairs of socks. We also received a microwave, a drill, and a printer. all of the stuff that we have collected will be donated to goodwill and all of the E-Waste will be given to company that recycles it and the reason we collected all of this stuff was to promote sustainable consumption which show people that they don’t need to buy everything new and that they can buy recycled items instead.  

Global Goal #5
Beyonce’s Essay on Gender Equality

Avery, Avrielle, Cassidy, Emily, Jessica

Beyonce makes it no secret that she is a feminist. She discusses gender equality and empowerment of women in many of her song lyrics and interviews, and now she has made her views even clearer in a essay about equality of the sexes.

The essay titled, ‘Gender Equality Is a Myth!’ discusses the false belief that women and men are equal in today’s society. “Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes.” She openly talks about the difference between men and women in the workplace, and her ideas on how to change society. “Equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect.”

http://cdn3.pitchfork.com/news/53563/db39e38d.png

Beyonce believes that the way to achieve gender equality and equal pay is by suggesting that men also take part in demanding it. We have to teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up, gender equality becomes a natural way of life.”

It is great to have a well known celebrity to be speaking up about such an important topic. We believe that other celebrities that have many people looking up to them is a good way to get a message across dealing with global issue and start educating young people to the topic more. Beyonce is truly inspirational and uses her fame to educate and inspire the world.

Dodgeball for Charity

Blogged by: Alyssa, Zach, Samantha, Jarrett

The staff vs. student dodgeball game is a charity event, the money raised is going towards two charities, The Thirst Project  and AVERT.

Thirst Project is a charity that provides clean water to people who do not have access to flowing water, or non-diseased water. They focus on providing clean water because they know once a family has water or access to a well, the children can work, play, or attend school, since they no longer have to walk miles to fill a bucket in the local river.

AVERT is a charity focused on preventing and minimizing the spread of HIV and AIDS. There mission is  share knowledge, empower people to protect themselves, reduce stigma, and implement HIV Programs.