Rest easy, trees
By Madeline Kerr
Local Journalism Initiative
Students at Wakefield Elementary are on a mission to save the planet, and recently, they’ve scored a major win for the environment.
On Jan. 27, school principal Julie Greig shared some exciting news with members of The Green Project, a group of students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 who meet weekly to discuss ways to help the environment: The Green Project’s efforts to get one of the school’s outdoor lights turned off at night had been successful. The Low Down was on hand during the announcement and heard the loud roar of the students’ cheers as they heard the news.
The group’s campaign to get an outdoor light turned off at the school started last year after students were studying the growth of the micro-forest of young, indigenous treesthey had planted next to the building in 2019. Rosemary Millar-Bunch was a Grade 1 student at the time and took part in planting some of the trees with the rest of her class. A few years later, Rosie, as she’s known to her friends, became worried about those trees after she realized that a bright flood light was always shining directly on them at night, meaning that the trees never got to experience darkness. She had learned from her grandmother, Noelle Walsh, that trees need darkness at night the same way humans do: it helps regulate their growth cycles by allowing them to regenerate a key compound known as phytochrome. According to the Astronomical Society of Canada, without darkness, a tree can fail to thrive.
Rosie decided to do something about it. Last year, when she was in Grade 4, she wrote to her principal explaining her concern and requesting that the light be turned off at night. She was initially told that, for security reasons, it wouldn’t be possible. But Rosie remained determined. This fall, Rosie approached the other members of The Green Project about her concerns and showed them another letter she had drafted, this time citing research she had done online. The rest of the group helped her refine the letter, and everyone signed it. The letter was delivered to principal Greig, adorned with a total of 13 student signatures.
Principal Greig took the letter to the Western Quebec School Board, which agreed that the light could either be redirected away from the trees or turned off entirely.
In a unanimous vote, the students decided the light should be turned off entirely at night to protect the trees.
“I am so very proud of the initiative of this group of students,” Greig told the Low Down. “They saw a problem with constant light over the micro-forest, did their research, [and] wrote a professional letter…They have learned how to be advocates for the environment.”
“This is a sign that we can act and do something,” Rosie told the Low Down. “It’s possible that we, young people, can make a real change.”
The Green Project members now have their sights set on more advocacy work. They want to educate other students about caring for trees on the school property and they also want to put out a wider call to the community to “step up,” as one student put it.
“Wakefield is a small community, and we are all good friends,” Grade 6 student Alyssa Carle told the Low Down.
“We have all got to figure out how to work together to make it a better place. The Green Project gives me hope.” The students are also working with Wakefield artist cj fleury to decorate a chair that will be installed in the La Pêche municipal chambers to represent the youth voice on issues relating to the environment.
La Pêche mayor Guillaume Lamoureux, who visited The Green Project during their weekly meeting on Feb. 3, proposed the idea of the chair based on a similar installation known as the “Chair of the Generations” inside Gatineau City Hall.
