In honour of Earth day 2018

Earth day - 2018

The Physics club raised funds with the support of F. J. Brennan Catholic High School's administration, staff and students. These funds were used to plant a tree in honour of Earth-day 2018.

Have you ever felt insignificant compare to the big corporations and government agencies?

Have you mused about how much of a difference one person can make? What difference can one recycling container make?

Perspective

We planted a single tree on May 30th, 2018 in honour of Earth day. This tree is small and can easily been seen as insignificant, and yet, it will grow though the years, and blossom for decades to come. It will cleanse our air for centuries.Countless birds will visit this tree and use it to their betterment. 

Those who are irresponsible can only hurt our planet when individuals believe they are insignificant. Imagine what would happen to our planet if each individual tree decided that it was insignificant, and so refused to be planted; refused to grow.

Tidbits about Earth day (not all have been verified through multiple sources)

Links worth visiting:

newsweek on Earth-day-2018

www.earthday.org

1. The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970.
2. Earth Day originated in the US but became recognized worldwide by 1990.
3. On Earth Day 2009, Disney released a documentary film called Earth that followed the migration paths of four animal families.
4. On the very first Earth Day, 20 million people gathered in the streets of America to protest the industrial revolution. An environmental movement was born as a result.
5. More than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered in the United States each year.
6. The U.S. buried or burned more than 166 million tons of resources – paper, plastic, metals, glass and organic materials – in landfills and incinerators last year.
7. It only takes about 6 weeks total to manufacture, fill, sell, recycle, and then remanufacture an aluminum beverage can.
8. Half the world’s tropical and temperate forests are now gone.
9. More than 2 million people globally die prematurely every year due to outdoor and indoor air pollution.
10. Every year in the U.S. nearly 200 billion beverage containers are sold, two-thirds of which are landfilled, incinerated or littered.
11. Recycling, reuse and remanufacturing account for 3.1 million jobs in the U.S.
12. Recycling saves 3 to 5 times the energy that waste incinerator power plants generate.
13. By reducing our waste 1% per year and recycling and composting 90% of our discards by 2030, we could save 406 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent every year. This is the equivalent to shutting down 21% of our nation’s coal-fired power plants.
14. More than 76% of cardboard boxes and 72% of newspaper were recycled in 2006 but less than 50% of printing and writing paper was recycled.

Our Grade 12 Physics Class recognizes the important bond between Physics, Biology & Chemistry

F. J. Brennan Catholic High School's Physics Club

F. J. Brennan Catholic High School's Physics Club

Our Science Department is happy to announce the successful launch of our "Physics Club". As our school year begins to wind down, I am happy to announce that this extracurricular team has weathered the challenges that often face a new club. 

Our physics club meets every week throughout the entire school year. The dedication and commitment of these students revolves around the following directives:

1. empower individuals to nurture and promote the pursuit of excellence
2. reach out to younger students, including our feeder schools, to encourage the pursuit of excellence, and the realization that "physics", like all of science, and truly education in general, may require work, but produces a cascade of beneficial outcomes that will serve our young people as life long learners.
3. to dismiss the stigma associated with Physics - that it is so difficult to achieve excellence in Physics. In fact, most Physics classes have a high class average. Success is a choice, not a desire; my Physics students who "do their work" and "ask for help" - choose success, and realize success! Our club is cooperatively working together to promote success in all of the sciences and to relieve the fear some students in our community have regarding math and science.
4. to educate all stakeholders that Physics is a required course in science, engineering and other related fields in post secondary institutions. Even though high school Physics is not necessarily a requirement for said courses, such as biology (at the university level), all students will necessarily take a full year Physics course during the first year of University. Hence those students who study Physics in High School will have a decisive advantage when they arrive at University.
5. to build connections with post secondary institutions, such as the Physics department at the University of Windsor. This includes engaging in workshops on critical thinking and problem solving, and when available and appropriate, to engage in written competitions.
6. to promote a holistic approach to learning and living, one that involves connecting with all sciences, and subjects, in an endeavor to realize the Catholic Graduate Expectations.
7. the ability to engage in activities that are beyond the confines of the expectations for individual courses. This extracurricular pursuit was realized this year in our club's focus on Earth day 2018; the selling of wristbands and the planting of a tree to symbolize the objective truth that, all sciences and peoples must embrace our commitment to this planet - our home -  with truth, objectivity, knowledge and respect.

Those readers who are familiar with the "Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Boards" Mission statement, vision, goals and priorities, will recognize that The Physics Club is closely aligned with beautiful written tenets of cooperation and a well-rounded pursuit of excellence. Moreover the Physics club illustrated the Catholic Graduate Expectation through their work and perseverance - individually and collectively. 

Our club certainly had its challenges throughout the year, as some members left, and others struggled to understand the emerging direction that our Physics club would embark upon. At times the strain placed on students was too much, and they wisely communicated that they didn't have time to do another grade school presentation at that particular time. All in all, it was my privilege to witness individuals coming together as a team, while overcoming the obstacles to their goals and challenges.
 

 The Catholic Graduate Expectations