The teachers have too much on their shoulders and the students have a lot on their hearts. Is it still possible to cultivate optimism? At the end of summer with a high quotient of eco-anxiety, I want to introduce you to Valérie.
“This start of the school year is more delicate because we are now experiencing climate change here. This is worrying and we can tell the students this, but we must also lead them to ask themselves: what can this awareness bring? It is possible to focus this on the dream and to imagine what we would like our world to become…”
Valérie Fortin has been teaching music at the Paul-Germain-Ostiguy school in Saint-Césaire for 16 years. In 2021, she joined the establishment’s brand new ecological transition committee, made up of colleagues, students and community members.
From day 1, the committee was supervised by an advisor from Lab 22, the social and environmental innovation laboratory which supports secondary schools having signed the Quebec School Pact, which promotes eco-responsibility.
“I am like a conductor who helps them structure themselves to make a sustainable ecological transition,” explains Philippine Loth, the advisor who assists the group. Teachers have been talking about the environment since the 1970s, but if you aren’t lucky enough to be in their class, you might not hear as much about it. We are now working to ensure that at the end of schooling, it becomes part of the students’ intrinsic values. »
This year, Lab 22 will support 45 schools in nine regions of Quebec. Paul-Germain-Ostiguy was one of the first to embark on the adventure.
The major consultations in year 1 enabled the school committee to identify student needs and create an action plan. We wanted to green, review the food offer and better manage residual materials. So last year, dedicated teachers helped students plant 135 trees and shrubs on school grounds, test meal salads to choose which ones would appear on the cafeteria menu, and attend and deliver workshops to sort waste, and to operate a thrift store.
This is where I found what I could be useful for.
Valérie Fortin
It is the awareness of the students that challenged the music teacher. She understood that her mission was to inspire them to be part of the reflections and solutions “by exposing them to current issues, but also by presenting them with encouraging initiatives”.
Thanks to her and the openness of the teaching staff, the students received visits from various professionals last year. Biologist Lyne Morissette, for example, explained to them how our plastic bags end up in the ocean. They were treated to mountain hikes and canoe trips. They learned to master the ukulele under a tree. Above all, they have the opportunity to have frank discussions with their teachers.
“I tell them how nature does me good, illustrates Valérie, but I also admit to them that the forest fires made me sad. That I had to tell my children for the first time that it was not a good idea to go play outside because of the air quality… Except that I use that to show them that they have power and that action can help channel their anxiety. »
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Valérie Fortin teaches her students the basics of the ukulele.
Last year, during her end-of-year concert, the choir she directs sang Together, by Jay Scott. The young people had the microphone, they could take advantage of it to make their concerns heard. It’s never too late to act before the end of the world.
(And of course, no plastic bottles were sold, students were handing out glasses of water.)
“Students are wondering how we’re going to get out of this,” explains Valérie Fortin. It’s a lot to absorb and there’s a lot to deal with, you even feel it as an adult. We must help them understand this world and support them. Be role models. »
But isn’t this an additional responsibility for already exhausted teachers, struggling with a labor shortage and sometimes (often) aberrant working conditions?
Philippine Loth, from Lab 22, sees things differently: “We can make teachers’ tasks easier by offering them three resources depending on the course they offer, for example. »
Valérie Fortin considers herself lucky to have access to these tools and time scheduled to think about the ecological transition: “It would help us if it was included more clearly in the programs, but it is coming. The Coalition Education Environment Eco-citizenship has come up with a very interesting strategy and people are working hard to have it applied. While waiting for it to come from higher up, I ask myself every day what I can do from the base…”
Listening to it soothes me, without letting me believe that everything is won. I find her lucid, although optimistic. “We don’t talk more about the environment to bring heaviness,” she continues. Perhaps the changes we have to initiate will create greener ground, more courses offered outside and more importance given to students’ ideas. »
Valérie notes that teenagers sometimes feel – rightly so – that what is happening is not their fault. “It’s not just up to them to find solutions, but it’s up to them to be part of them. I believe in contagion. People made sure that Lab 22 was created. Others made sure he came to school. It got me involved, which got other people involved too. This kind of contagion can give rise to hope… School is not always about improving your future. Sometimes it’s to improve things now. »