The second in a series of Destination Conservation “inservices” took place at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s Education Centre recently involving both morning and afternoon training sessions. Destination Conservation is a three-year program designed for school boards to improve their energy use, water consumption and waste management practices.

A co-operative team of students, teachers, principals, custodians and parents work together with Destination Conservation partners to help schools conserve resources and protect the environment. In addition, DC implements and monitors conservation activities within schools which help reduce waste and save money. Mark Gervais, Energy Co-ordinator with the Sudbury Catholic Board stated that, “these in service workshops involving the contact teachers at each school were a follow-up to the previous session where students were asked to conduct a technical audit of their schools to examine how their school uses energy, consumes water and generates waste.” The audit also allowed students to measure the efficiency of their school and compare the results to the previous year. Gervais continued on to say that, “the focus of the workshop was to concentrate on the results of year one and at the same time underscore behavioural changes that would continue to assist in energy, water and waste reductions in the schools in year two.” In addition to the information gleaned from the workshop, Contact Teachers also received a rebate cheque for savings achieved in year one of the Destination Conservation Program.

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board continues to partnership with this international conservation program that has its roots in the classroom and provides a win-win solution for environmental organizations, utility companies and the entire community. For more information on Destination Conservation, contact Mark Gervais, Board Energy Co-ordinator, ph. 673-5620 (Ext. 424) or Pauline Therrien, Board Curriculum Contact, (Ext. 405)