On The Road
September 27, 2009
Young minds with creative conservation ideas
Posted by Joanna Padgham
Where: Salmon Festival, Vancouver
If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a BC Hydro Community Outreach representative, it’s to never underestimate the creative ideas young minds have in regards to saving electricity. This was no exception at this year’s Salmon Festival where children of all ages were coming out to support the conservation of the local salmon stocks. We were there to educate them about energy conservation. On this particular day there was one young boy that stuck out amongst the crowd, for he ended up teaching me a thing or two about energy conservation and even energy generation.
It never ceases to amaze me the answers I receive from children when I ask, “How do you think we could save electricity in our province?” When I asked this particular boy this question (he was approximately 7 years old) he stunned me by saying, “Well we could set up more micro Hydro projects, or use solar power, or we could be more like Grouse Mountain and set up wind turbines”. He pointed up at the mountain showing me the new large white wind turbine. He then proceeded to tell me the specifics on it such as how tall it was, why they haven’t yet put on the blades (due to high winds) and most important, that him and his Dad were going to go check it out as soon as possible.
This young conservationist stayed at our booth for quite some time and by the end we were really trying to challenge him with our energy IQ questions, but he was just too smart for us. When my co-worker Ashleigh asked him, “How much more efficient are CFL’s than incandescent light bulbs?” he didn’t take a second before saying, “75%”, with a big smirk on his face. He is truly a Power Smart champion and if there’s anything we taught him that day it was that his enthusiasm, eagerness and sheer knowledge for conservation is appreciated and needed. It is his generation that can make a huge difference in creating a conservation culture in British Columbia.
Joanna Padgham is a Community Outreach representative based out of Burnaby and will be at community events throughout the fall.
