Alberta
Beehives and goat farms: Lacombe school shortlisted in global environmental contest
Taylor Perez says she learned more about her passions while tending beehives, goats and fruit trees at her central Alberta high school than sitting through lessons in a classroom.
“These are all skills we don’t learn in regular classes,” says the 18-year-old student at Lacombe Composite High School.
“You’re not going to learn how to collaborate with community members by sitting in a classroom learning about E = mc2.”
Perez and her classmates are buzzing with excitement after their school’s student-led beekeeping program, goat farm, fruit orchard, tropical greenhouse and other environmental projects were recognized in a global sustainability contest among 10 other schools.
It’s the only North American school to be shortlisted by T4 Education, a global advocacy group, in its World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action contest.
“The projects are coming from the students’ own hearts and passion for taking care of the environment,” says Steven Schultz, an agriculture and environmental science teacher who has been teaching in Lacombe since 1996.
“They are going to be our community leaders — maybe even our politicians — and for them to know what the heartbeat of their generation is (is) extremely important.”
Schultz says the projects are pitched and designed by students in the school’s Ecovision Club, to which Perez belongs, and he then bases a curriculum around those ideas.
The school of about 900 students began reducing its environmental footprint in 2006 when a former student heard Schultz say during a lesson on renewable energy that “words were meaningless or worthless without action,” the 56-year-old teacher recalls.
“She took that to heart and a year later she came back and told me that she wanted to take the school off the grid.”
Schultz and students watched a fire burn down solar panels on the school’s roof in 2010, an event that further transformed his approach to teaching.
“As their school was burning, my students gathered in tears. That day I realized that students really care about the environment and they really care about the projects that they were involved in.”
Since then, 32 new solar panels have been installed, and they produce up to four per cent of the school’s electricity. After the fire, students also wanted to clean the air in their classrooms so they filled some with spider plants, including one in the teachers’ lounge.
More recently, students replaced an old portable classroom on school property with a greenhouse that operates solely with renewable energy. It’s growing tropical fruits, such as bananas, pineapples, and lemons, and also houses some tilapia fish.
Two acres of the school are also covered by a food forest made up of almost 200 fruit trees and 50 raised beds where organic food is grown.
The school also works with a local farm and raises baby goats inside a solar-powered barn that was built with recycled material.
“They breed and milk them at the farm because there are really tight regulations,” says Schultz.
“We take the excrement from the goats and the hay and use it as mulch and fertilizers for our garden. The goats also chew up the grass and allow us not to have to use lawn mowers and tractors”
Perez said her favourite class is the beekeeping program with 12 hives that produce more than 300 kilograms of honey every year.
“I love that they have different roles in their own little societies,” Perez says of the bees.
She says while working with local businesses and groups as a part of her curriculum, she learned she’s passionate about the environment and wants to become a pharmacist so she can continue giving back to her community.
James Finley, a formerly shy Grade 10 student, says the Ecovision Club and environment classes have helped get him out of his comfort zone.
“I made friends, which was a hard thing for me in the beginning. But now I have, like, hundreds,” says the 16-year-old, who enjoyed the lessons he took on harvesting.
“Taylor and Mr. Schultz were the main people that made me stay.”
Schultz says the winners of the contest are to be announced in the fall.
A prize of about $322,000 will be equally shared among five winners.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sunday, July 3, 2022.
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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
Canada and Alberta’s new net-zero energy deal is being promoted as progress, but it also brings rising costs. In this video, I break down the increase to Alberta’s industrial carbon price, how those costs can raise fuel, heating, and grocery prices, and why taxpayer-funded carbon-capture projects and potential pipeline delays could add even more. Here’s what this agreement could mean for Canadians.
Watch Nataliya Bankert’s latest video.
Alberta’s government will introduce a motion under the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act to defend law-abiding firearms owners.
A new motion under the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act will, if passed by the legislature, instruct all provincial entities, including law-enforcement agencies such as municipal police services and the RCMP, to decline to enforce or implement the federal gun seizure program. The motion also makes clear that Albertans have the right to use reasonable force to defend themselves, their families and their homes from intruders.
This builds on the steps Alberta has already taken to reduce crime, strengthen public safety and assert provincial jurisdiction over firearms. This includes passing the Alberta Firearms Act to establish the Alberta Chief Firearms Office, along with the Alberta Firearms Regulation and the Seizure Agent and Provider Licensing Regulation.
“It’s time for Ottawa to stop targeting the wrong people. Albertans have the right to protect their homes and their families. No one should hesitate to defend themselves when faced with a threat at their own doorway. Law-abiding citizens, hunters, farmers and sport shooters are not the source of violent crime, yet the federal government wants to confiscate their property while illegal guns pour across our borders. Alberta will not stand by while responsible gun owners are treated like criminals. This motion is about using every legal tool we have to protect their rights, uphold public safety and push back on federal overreach into provincial jurisdiction.”
“When someone breaks into your home, the law recognizes that you have enhanced rights to protect yourself and your family. Alberta is making that principle unmistakably clear: lawful, reasonable self-defence will be respected, not criminalized.”
“As an experienced former law enforcement officer, law-abiding gun owners have never been an issue, in my own personal experience, nor has there been any data to support that law-abiding gun owners are the ones that are committing violent gun crimes. The illegal guns that you see being used by criminals are typically being smuggled in from the United States. The federal government should help us strengthen the border, helping us to stop illegal guns from coming into Canada. This would further enhance safety and security for the people of Alberta and Canada as opposed to going after lawful gun owners.”
Under the Alberta Firearms Regulation, municipalities, law enforcement and police commissions must obtain approval from Alberta’s Minister of Justice before accepting funding to participate in the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program.
“Misguided federal initiatives such as the handgun transfer ban and the Order in Council firearms prohibitions of 2020, 2024 and 2025 have had a devastating impact on the safe, legitimate activities of the firearms community and the businesses that support it, while having no discernible effect on criminal activity. I am proud to see that the Alberta government is pushing back and supporting lawful firearms owners through these measures.”
“Licensed gun owners and all Albertans can rest assured that their government, under the leadership of the UCP, is laser focused on protecting law abiding citizens while prioritizing real public safety.”
“The Alberta Hunter Education Instructors Association will continue to support our government and the Alberta chief firearms officer in our joint quest to use safety training and education as the key tools to ensure we have safer streets and communities. Safe and responsible use of firearms in Alberta is a key part of our heritage, culture, and our rich and precious heritage.”
Key facts:
- Pursuant to the Attorney General’s recent guidance protocols, Alberta’s prosecutors will decline to prosecute offences under the federal gun seizure program when it is not in the public interest.
- The Attorney General’s recent guidance protocol directs prosecutors to not prosecute home defence offences when it is not in the public interest.
- Total spending on the federal Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program is expected to exceed $750 million.
- The firearms motion considers the Alberta Bill of Rights, the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Criminal Code.
- Currently 10 per cent of adult Albertans are licenced to use and own firearms. There are 381,900 firearms licences in Alberta.
- Alberta has 638 licensed firearms businesses, 138 shooting ranges and 91 shooting clubs.
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