Try some of these!

• Clean Up your school yard, park, place of business, etc. Plan to recycle what you collect, as much as possible. Be careful picking up sharp or contaminated waste.
• Litter less lunch - Encourage people to bring their lunch in reusable packaging.
• Planting - trees, flowers, ground covers; could include weeding an existing area.
• Make bird houses - for a bird species native to your area.
• Conduct a waste audit of your school or business. Catalogue where you have the most waste. What kind is it? Could it be reduced by better management?
• Collect recyclables - plastic bags and containers for food banks, clothing for second hand stores, batteries etc. - you might want to give a treat to people who participate.
• Make a display board in a prominent place emphasizing environmental concerns and solutions. Change the display at intervals to keep people interested.
• Pledge forms - Get your people to promise to do something better in the future e.g. drive cars less, buy less packaging, use both sides of the paper etc.
• Hold a competition - Encourage people to collect the most, reuse the most, make the least waste, use the least fuel, etc. Or enter one of Earth Day Ottawa-Carleton's! We have a T-Shirt Design Contest (deadline March 9), a Mural Design Contest (March 30), and a Junk Monster Contest (March 30) where students make a sculpture out of one day's worth of lunch waste. Be creative!
• Speakers - Invite a speaker from an environmental group, naturalist club, a native elder, etc. to address your group or assembly.
• Give an Award - for someone or some group that has contributed to conservation or environmental awareness
• Hold a Sale/Exchange of used items - garage sale, book exchange, toy swap etc.
• Theme of the Day - could be used for curriculum, morning announcements, game at lunch, bulletin board etc. Topics could include wildlife preservation, water conservation, climate change, clean air, etc.
• Field Trip - Visit a water filtration plant, recycling centre, landfill site, nature trail, conservation area, etc.
• Wear your spirit - Encourage people to wear earthy colours such as green, blue, brown.
• Games - EcoBingo anyone? Jeopardy? Trivia questions? Scavenger hunt?
• Reuse OSU paper - If your organization doesn't routinely use the other side of the paper, start a program to collect and reuse it in printers, photocopiers etc.Make environmental education come alive for your students by entering one of our acclaimed activities for kids. Earn cash and recognition for your school!