Protecting Our Common World

 

Are you looking for resources or field trips to encourage our youth in exploring ways to “protect our common world”? I have some thoughts and ideas for you. While most of the facilities I will mention are in Edmonton, Alberta and area, many communities have similar local organizations that you can access.

We all know the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra that has been a part of our society for quite some time now. What may be more challenging is helping our members find ways to apply that in real life, and through our programs. As I write this, the Program Platform is down for its September re-start, but Girl Guides of Canada’s Pinterest site is available and has a whole board called “Protect the Planet”. This is a great place to start to generate ideas.

Themed meetings are always a fun way to explore a given topic, and this is no exception. For example, one meeting could be devoted to home care and such, creating environmentally friendly cleaning products, repurposing items to make a hydroponic herb garden or a ready to plant seed starter. There are a lot of pins and ideas around Climate Change too, and that could easily fill a meeting.

But how about taking things further? The City of Edmonton ReUse Centre offers all sorts of FREE materials to repurpose, reuse or upcycle. Their mandate is to keep things out of the landfill, and they will weigh whatever you take, to keep a record of what has been achieved to that end. The ReUse Centre also offers DIY Thursdays, free workshops featuring local experts that focus on building skills to help you reduce waste! Past DIY Thursdays have included: Bike repair workshops, gardening workshops and sewing. They also have a workshop space available free of charge to any group that supports waste reduction and reuse education. This opens the possibility of a Unit holding their meeting there and exploring the possibilities of upcycling on the spot! 

Hodge Podge Lodge, in Sherwood Park, is a similar though smaller facility. Again, your finds are weighed before you leave. As well as offering free items to reuse or repurpose, Hodge Podge Lodge may offer opportunities for our youth to engage in volunteering and gaining some service hours. Youth must be at least 13 years old to apply. A parent is required to volunteer alongside 13- and 14-year-olds (Pathfinders), but those over 15 (Rangers) can volunteer by themselves.

Habitat for Humanity ReStores offer another way to thrift or reuse. Habitat ReStore is a social enterprise retailer that accepts and resells donations of new and used furniture, appliances, décor, and home improvement building materials. All profits from their operations fund Habitat for Humanity. Want an outing to price out the cost of outfitting and decorating a dorm room or apartment? This would be an excellent field trip for Pathfinders and Rangers armed with notebooks and calculators. Besides the big ticket items, ReStore shoppers can often find small treasures such as cookbooks, jewelry, craft or school supplies at reasonable prices. It’s like a big treasure hunt!

A different sort of opportunity is presented by Blenderz Garment Recyclers. The primary focus here addresses the huge problem of discarded clothing into landfills. Every year billions of pounds of clothing and textiles end up in landfills here and more often, overseas. What a great discussion to have, particularly with our teen members, to whom clothes can be a significant interest. Blenderz’ mission is to reclaim and recycle excess clothing, fabrics and textiles from the public, charities and businesses. They do this by disrupting the linear model that the textile industry is operating under and instead moving toward a closed loop system. They resell, repair, remake and reteach! They believe that we are capable of dealing with our textile waste problem right here in Alberta. Textile “waste” can be a useful resource in the right hands. Their vision is to recycle, reclaim and upcycle textiles locally to help alleviate the huge negative impact that textile waste has on millions of people. As well as offering second hand clothing and all sorts of textiles for sale by the pound, Blenderz also has a “boutique” of upcycled one-of-a-kind items created by local makers, kits for you to make your own items like duffle bags, rugs, etc. They also offer classes and workshops for all sorts of things from basic “how to sew” to making one-of-a-kind garments to weaving from recycled materials. These have a cost associated with them. I recently spoke with the owner (who is a former Guide/Pathfinder!) and she was delighted with the idea of Guiding groups touring the facility, offering age-and-cost appropriate workshops for Units, and providing volunteer opportunities for our older members who may be looking for service projects and volunteer hours.  

Other opportunities for upcycling, recycling and thrifting abound. Years ago, the Guide Law included “A Guide is thrifty.” But it was discontinued, and Guiders were told this was because the Guides didn’t know the word anymore. “Thrift” has come back into vogue, whether as a word or a lifestyle choice, and it is certainly worth exploring with our Units in creative and practical ways. I hope you will check out your local resources and take advantage of the low cost and free opportunities that abound!