By Bob Groeneveld/Langley Advance Times
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Me To We teens helped bring home the green on Tuesday morning.
The H.D. Stafford Middle School students removed invasive species from around Brydon Lagoon, and moved in some some native plants in their stead.
Me To We is a world-wide program for students who want to “help others within school, community, and globally,” explained teacher Mike Ostafiew who leads the H.D. Stafford group with the help of fellow teachers Melissa Hayne and Mundeep Bhamra.
“We can’t do everything, but if we can do a little, it helps,” said Ostafiew, adding, “We’re just trying to make people’s lives better.”
He invited people to follow his group at hds_metowe on Instagram.
The students walked to Brydon Park from their school at the behest of the Lower Mainland Green Team, to help remove Himalayan blackberries and English ivy that have been invading the area around the lagoon, and replant the banks with native wild roses and sword ferns.
Green Team director Ashton Kerr said the Brydon project was achieving several goals.
Invasive species have been getting a helping hand from climate change, she said, explaining that the increasing warmth favours them over some of the species that normally call this region home.
The environmental work was an Earth Day project for the kids, and they can use the experience to get required community service credit at their school.
“It also gets them off their phones and computers,” she smiled.
“For some of them, it’s the first time they’ve held a shovel,” added Lyda Salatian, Green Team executive director.
Salatian said the project was a partnership with Langley City and Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS).
Beyond the environmental remediation that the project promotes, Salatian and Kerr agreed that it was giving the students a better understanding of how climate change and its impact on the environment impacts on them directly – and offers them a tool to make a difference.
“When I used to volunteer for other groups years ago,” said Salatian, “I noticed the younger demographic aged 12-40 was missing. Our organization tapped into that missing demographic right from the get go in 2011. We’ve been engaging and mobilizing a large young demographic.”
The Green Team of Canada’s “theory of change,” said Salatian, is that “connecting people to nature and instilling an environmental ethic leads to responsible environmental behaviour. Bringing people together to make a positive impact on the environment fosters a sense of belonging and community spirit, is good for their health, educates them about environmental issues, and empowers them to contribute to a healthy planet.”
READ MORE: Green Teams of Canada at Brydon Lagoon
