Posted at 4:00 p.m.
To those who say to themselves: “what is the point of acting if my gesture is only a drop in the ocean? “, Delphine Perrin answers that” if only one person decides to make a gesture and to get up, it can make a wave “.
Delphine is 11 years old, but taking the measure of her maturity and size, we would easily give her a few years more. A fifth-grade student at the Sagard pavilion at Saint-Barthélemy school in Montreal, she launched a petition last year asking the elected officials of the City of Montreal to take more action against the pollution caused by plastic.
The City has adopted a by-law that will ban, as of March 2023, certain single-use plastic items in restaurants and other food establishments.
But, according to Delphine, more needs to be done. She would like to see the City also tackle overpackaging.
“In Montreal, elsewhere in Canada and globally too, we have a lot of difficulty managing our waste, says the one who has done her share of research. The only way to reduce our recycling would be to consume less. If we stick to the packaging that is necessary, leaving aside the marketing, it would be better. »
Delphine began to take an interest in environmental issues a year and a half ago after the subject was broached in her class in fourth grade. Teacher Annick Desrosiers then presented excerpts from the documentary A life on our planet by David Attenborough. It was for her a realization which was however accompanied by anguish and insomnia. “I listened to it like 10 times afterwards at home, says Delphine. Every time I thought about it, I said to myself: what can I do and, if I can do something, how can I do it? »
It is in this context that the idea of launching a petition was born. She first had it signed (in paper version!) by the students of the pavilion of the school she attends, then, accompanied by her current teacher, Maude Malenfant Labrecque, she took the steps with the board of establishment to visit the 21 classes of the neighboring pavilion. His whole class got involved.
They care because it’s their future
Delphine Perrin
Last summer, with a friend, she went door to door. Beyond collecting signatures, it’s raising people’s awareness that matters to him. “I feel like I have a little more control. The more I do, the more every little gesture counts. So, making as many people as possible aware is already a big step. »
The courage to carry on
Last March, Delphine took advantage of the visit of the Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, to her school to talk to her about her project. The latter invited her to come and present her petition to him at the town hall when it is finished, which prompted her to continue. “I thought to myself: ‘Oh, I just have like 200 signatures, it’s already an awareness, but to present this to the mayor, I’m not sure! It gave me courage to see that it was working in our school. I realized that I could help in my own way and inspire others too. “And not just children, she says. “Children aren’t too responsible for their parents’ wallets, so parents need to be made aware of that too. »
“This path, I find it beautiful, shares his former teacher Annick Desrosiers. She went through moments of anxiety. We were talking about it. It wasn’t easy. To start from a concern, then to take charge and make a beautiful project out of it, I find that fantastic. »
Delphine would now like to have the chance to visit students in other schools in Montreal to make them aware of the importance of reducing our consumption and also to convince them that we can find our happiness outside of plastic bottles. “I’d rather have something that will last a long time and have real fun with my friends than have a plastic toy,” says Delphine.
Calling all
Do you know people who do inspiring things for the environment? People who have changed their behavior to minimize their ecological footprint?