Student voice is shared on this page. It includes the learning of information on the sustainable goals and climate change. The goal for the children is to live in balance and harmony with nature for the preservation of Mother Earth.

Student voice. Cameroon Africa. Hear the wisdom and ideas of three young EcoKid learners and advocates. Miguel, Pauline and Precious.

Below is art work that the grade 3-4 students at St. Thomas Aquinas school, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada did to communicate their message of the positive and negative effects of human impact on the planet. Also included is their thinking, ideas and solutions.

Eliza - Grade 3 - My goal is to keep people from using plastic. I will get people to use recyclable things like containers that can be used more than once. Instead of plastic bags you can use stronger things like leather or stronger materials that can be reused. This is important to me because oceans are our planets life support and regulate the global climate system. Every year a lot of plastic goes into our oceans killing ocean marine life. Most of the plastics found on the oceans floors are single use plastics like plastic bags. I am going to make posters to tell people not to use single use plastics. I will start with grocery stores and dollar stores.

Gabriel - Grade 4 - The meaning of my picture is about how we are going to make the world a very very bad place by plotting and killing all the animals. With garbage, factory smoke and filling the waters with plastic. But that is only one side of the picture, the other side is beautiful and green which is a good thing. I hope to make the world a better place by putting up posters and helping the world by using reusable cups and water bottle’s and stop polluting. The UN is trying to protect the good side of the world unlike some other people.

Liam - Grade 4 - My goal would be to have gender and race equality. I think everyone should be treated and respected equally. I would make a website so everyone can see my message. People will go to my website and read what I have to say and they will treat others with the respect that they deserve. I will get everyone that went to my website and make them go to the president and change the law so everyone can get treated the same.

Myra - Grade 4 - My picture can teach others that pollution is bad for the oceans, seas and lakes. On the bad side, I included animals ( birds ) dying and trees dying. I also included dead grass and fires.

On the good side I included freshwater, healthy trees with healthy leaves.

In the air you can see healthy birds flying in the fresh air. The grass is healthy and fresh.

Maria - Grade 4 - The meaning of my picture is that if we don't take care of our Earth now it will look like the orange part, but if we take care of it now it will look like the green part. I included the images because I wanted to show the difference between a healthy planet and a sick planet. People can learn from my drawing because the people will see the orange part, and see how the earth will look like in the future, and will help Earth look like the green part.

Nivish - Grade 4 - With my earth art I divided the earth into two sections, One is the healthy side and the other is the Earth that is not good. I included a dead tree on the bad side because in the movie Lorax they were cutting down all the trees in the forest and it destroyed their land so I put a dead tree to show this. I also drew pictures of factories to show pollution to the Earth. On the good side I put a scooter because playing outside is better and it saves electricity because you are not inside playing things like video games and watching TV. Another image I put on the good side is some sports like volleyball, tennis and stuff. There are a lot of trees on the good side because trees are important to the earth and people. My message is important because people can see killing the trees people can see it is also killing the earth. Others can learn from my picture because people can learn that littering is bad for the environment and also cutting down trees and big factories are bad for the earth

Abigail - Grade 3 - The sad side. The reason I put the plane on the sad side is because the plane tried to fly to the good side until it broke. Why I put the garbage all over the sad side is because people that used to live here never threw out the garbage properly.

Happy side. Why I put flowers on the happy side is because it adds colour to my picture. Why I put trees on the happy side is because without trees things cannot live. Why I put the flowers on the happy side is because without flowers butterflies cannot live.

Tatianna - Grade 4 - On the bad side I put a factory there because at the factory pollution comes out the chimney and on the good side I put an electric bus because an electric bus puts out less pollution.

I wanted people to see how pollution made the world look bad and if we stop polluting how beautiful the Earth will be.

On the bad side the sun is broken and it's green with Covid 19 I did that because the sun got very sick. On the good side I did a big bright yellow sun having delicious strawberry ice cream. On the good side I did a grocery store because if I did not there would be no food to eat for everyone. On the bad side the only food there is one rotten apple with a worm in it. On the bad side the are old rusty broken down houses and on the good side all of the buildings are clean and in perfect shape.

Kali - Grade 4 - My goal is to stop people from polluting and littering. I want to make posters that say “don't litter unless you want a bad earth” and many other things to stop people from littering and making Earth worse.

Storm - Grade 4 - In my picture it is showing the good side of the Earth and the bad side of the Earth. In my picture I am showing the bad side of the Earth it has a lot of cities and factories and I drew trees that humans are cutting down. I drew giant cities and giant factories because if we have too many factories it will pollute our whole oceans and stuff. There are a whole bunch of cities so there will not be habitats for animals. A lot of the trees are broken down so that then the trees make our oxygen so we don’t have any trees we won’t have any oxygen in the Earth. On the good side I have some houses for shelter and I have trees and a whole bunch of plants and animals. I also have some dolphins and whales. I have a zebra. I showed them because we are on the healthy side of the Earth we have a lot of animals because they are good for our planet and they also provide food, but just what we need.

Noah - Grade 4 - One side had an oil spill and everything was dead and polluted and on the other side everything was growing and healthy. The message I am sending is DON’T POLLUTE. This is important because without pollution we would have a healthy earth.

Sebastian - Grade 4 - My picture indicates that if we save resources we can make a big change in the world. As you make the change you can see that people will not die as much. If we keep saving the planet we can overcome things like Covid-19. Instead of most of our water being brownish we can make it crystal clear by making changes and not littering.

Letters to Political Leaders in Ontario and Canada

Students decided to help advocate for awareness and climate change by writing to regional, provincial and federal government officials.

Mr. David Piccini MPP (Port Hope, Ontario) has responded to the children's letters as well he will be visiting the children in their virtual classroom on June 2, 2021 to listen to their concerns and inform them of provincial measures that are happening.

Below are some of the letters written by the students, and responses

Dear Premier Mr. Doug Ford;

I am Maria, a student in fourth grade. I am learning about climate change. I am writing this letter to inform you to take immediate measures for climate change.

My class is learning with friends in Cameroon, Africa. We are also learning about solutions for climate change. Trees are being cut down, we need more trees. Forests need to be protected, and we need to use less fossil fuels. We also need to use less water and energy.

I thank you for reading my letter.

Sincerely, Maria.

Dear Prime Minster Trudeau;

This is Nivish from Mrs. Langers grade 3/4 class. I am a grade four student. I'm from St. Thomas Aquinas Virtual School. We are learning about climate change and we are noticing how it is a big problem not just here in Canada but also in Cameroon, Africa. We know this because our class is working with students online in Cameroon on this important issue. We need to do something about this problem now because we can fix this problem. We need your help to solve some of the issues. I also learned that because of the pollution we created our polar bears are suffering. We can change everything and make our world a better place if we work together. Here are some problems in Cameroon, mudslides, flooding, and drought and it's because of climate change. Sincerely, Nivish.

Dear Mr. Piccini;

I'm Tatianna in grade four online learning with PVNCCDSB in Peterborough. My classmates and I are working with people from Cameroon, Africa to learn about climate change. I've learned that signs of climate change can show in many ways like heavy storms, water rise, drought and much more. Does your government have any ideas on how we can help as young people? More non-electric cars are being made righ now and that means more carbon dioxide is going to go into our air and into the ocean. The water is starting to rise because of us. Trees are getting cut down one by one every minute. Thank you for letting me write a letter to you and taking your time to read it.

Sincerely, Tatianna

Dear Premier Mr. Doug Ford;

My name is Lexzie. I am in grade four virtual school. My class and I have been working with kids in Cameroon, Africa about climate change. This is what made me so interested in climate change and I have some ideas to stop climate change I would like to share with you. First would be taking garbage out of Ontario lakes so when we go swimming we don't have to swim in polluted water and animals would have a clean water source. Ontario could also use more community gardens so there's more plants for animals and us to enjoy and more families to eat fresh vegetables and fruit for free. I think Ontario could also use more trees in and around more communities this would help with the carbon dioxide emissions that come from factories and cars. If you were to plant fruit trees along sidewalks, people could enjoy a healthy snack well walking by and it would be good for our environment. Sincerely, Lexzie.

Dear Mayor Foster;

My name is Storm. I am in grade 4 at St. Thomas Aquinas Virtual School. We are writing to government officials to talk about climate change. We are meeting with kids in Cameroon, Africa and we're meeting with them to talk about climate change. We are talking about how all of the trees are getting cut down and how we are putting gas into the air so we are polluting the air. We're also talking about how we can save our environment around us in a virtual school. We were wondering if maybe we can have more environmentally safe things or maybe even plant some more trees. or even get bigger! Like having more electric cars. Because all of the gas in our air it is getting more difficult to breathe for animals and humans. Because all of the industries that are causing air pollution and a rise in air temperature, polar bears in the Arctic have no ice to walk on because of rising temperatures and rising waters. This is because of us. Those are some reasons why we should stop talking about less important things and start getting the move on talking about climate change and getting the word out about these issues around the world so more people can hear about it and to protect our environment around us and the animal's environment. And I think that we should try to stop climate change as fast as we can.

WE NEED CLIMATE CHANGE TO STOP SO WE CAN HAVE A CLEAN PLANET!!!

Sincerely; Storm.

Dear Premier Mr, Doug Ford;

My name is Hunter. I am a grade 4 student in the St. Aquinas Virtual School. We are learning about climate change. Climate change will make more flooding more wildfire because our plants terperature is going up. We need to act now about climate change. We need to not use cars and trucks. Maybe we can have more public transit and elctric cars being made.

Sincerely, Hunter

Dear Premier Mr. Doug Ford;

Hello I'm a virtual kid and I am learning about climate change with other kids in Cameroon, Africa and we need to stop climate change because it is affecting the world like the animals, especially the polar bears. The polar bears are losing their places and they are sad from climate change. It is still happening so we need to stop it. Sincerely Mateo.

Response letters the children received.

On behalf of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence.

Prime Minister Trudeau is always interested in learning the opinions of young Canadians, and he appreciates the time and effort you have invested in bringing your views to his attention. It is obvious that you have given a lot of thought to your comments. Please be assured that your correspondence has been carefully reviewed.

As you may know, the issue you raise falls within the portfolio of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. I have therefore taken the liberty of forwarding your email to Minister Wilkinson so that he may be made aware of your correspondence.

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Prime Minister, and please accept my best wishes for success in your studies.

K. Bentsen

Executive Correspondence Officer / Agente de correspondence

Executive Correspondence Services / Services de la correspondence

de la haute direction