FUTURES: A Green Schools NS Podcast

In today's episode, we chat with Thomas McNeil from the Ecology Action Centre about the Electric Bus Project for Nova Scotia students! Let's have some fun and learn about electric vehicles!

We recently got to chat with Thomas McNeil, a Senior Energy Coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre about his project to bring electric school buses to Nova Scotia, the importance of volunteering, and that anyone can make a difference to the environment.

Today, we chat with Zivai or Zee who works for Efficiency One! He tells us about clean energy, what engineers do for the world, and renewable energy sources!

In this episode of Green Schools FUTURES, we meet Zivai and get to learn about his experiences working in the green sector with Efficiency One.

On this episode of little FUTURES, we chat with Tabitha Cox from Subenacadie Wildlife Park about her favourite animals that live in Nova Scotia!

Tabitha Cox talks about her forever love of animals and how it led her to a career as a nature interpreter. She encourages students to use their voices, even if they are not old enough to vote and intrigues us to learn more about vultures.

Ty answers questions about how to make it fun when school seems boring, and other exciting questions

We continued our conversation with Tyree on this episode. He highlights the distinct campuses of the NSCC around the province and the programs offered.

We are so excited to have Tyree Haley joining Ruvi in this 2 part episode of FUTURES! Ty had so many awesome things to share, we had to keep recording!

Tyree is the African Nova Scotia Recruitment Coordinator at the Nova Scotia Community College. Tyree talks about his passion for being a firefighter. He also talks about how his current role has helped numerous students and future students of NSCC. Part 2 coming soon...

Hear questions from our Green Students answered by Eugene!

Eugene tells us about his hobbies, life in Ghana growing up, his views on the energy sector in Nova Scotia and how we can conserve energy. To know his favourite animal, stay tuned till the end ( you will be surprised)!

Dale Comeau is a dog lover, plays golf, likes to travel, and loves his job as an HVAC specialist. He tells us about his education at NSCC and how he incorporated travel into his career as a way to see the world and pay off his debt. He also highlights how his company is working on hiring new Canadians and how he gained confidence as a public speaker.

Brydee and Dakota are students at Cabot Education Centre in northern Cape Breton. They are both members of the Cabot Earth Club that works in their community to clean up garbage and find other ways to make a difference to help the Earth. Dakota talks about founding the Cabot Earth Club and Brydee talks about participating in the Green Schools Energy Challenge this year.

Join our host Ruvi as she speaks with Chris about his career path, some of the projects he works on, and some cool renewable energy technology he's excited about. You'll also hear about why he enjoys meetings and why bears are his favourite animal.

Joe manages large solar panel installation projects and he joins us today to answer your questions about solar power!

Joe Richard speaks with Ruvi about his work as a Solar Energy Project Manager for Connect Atlantic Utility Services. They talk about the satisfying parts of his job, how island nations are leading the way in renewable energy, and stories of load shedding in African countries.

Have you ever wondered "How do electric vehicles work?" or "Is it more environmentally friendly to ride a bike or take the bus?" Ruvi dives into these questions and more with our guest Kris Humphreys.

Join Ruvi as she speaks with Kris Humphreys. We first met Kris when we did our virtual field trip at NSCC last spring. We get to hear about what her day-to-day looks like as an NSCC faculty member and learn about her love for gardening and coyotes. 

Join Ruvi as she asks Adam and Russell a few questions sent in by our classroom green heroes! 

Join Ruvi as she interviews Thinkwell Shift's most recent Co-op students, Adam & Russell. Learn what they are studying in university and if their placement in an energy efficiency green career helped to guide their path towards their future jobs and lifestyle! Also, ever hear of a quokka?

little FUTURES dives into the tough questions from elementary classrooms - "Why should we recycle" and "What does buy local mean". Join Ruvi as she asks our guest, Sasha from Divert NS, these questions and more!

Join Ruvi as she chats with Sasha! We first met Sasha during our Virtual Field Trip on November 15 when she was presenting at the Environmental Education Convention for Atlantic Science Teachers and we knew we needed to know more about her career path. 

Learn about how she started wanting to teach about the environment to working with waste and now developing programs for Nova Scotians to reduce their waste footprint. Also, what do you think her favourite food is?

In our second episode, learn what qualities a Green Hero could have and what renewable resource is being used in Canada that we don't see too often here in Nova Scotia! Joining us is Natalie Irwin, Senior Policy Analyst in the Office Of Energy Efficiency, Natural Resources Canada!

A podcast with Green Heroes and Green Professionals answering questions about energy from kids! little FUTURES is a podcast created for our Green Heroes in elementary grades who have questions about energy! If your class have questions, make sure to send them to any of our Engagement Officers so they can be featured on the podcast!

Our Engagement Officers love to share all of the questions they get asked when they join elementary grades around the province and this gave us an idea! A podcast with Green Heroes and Green Professionals answering questions about energy from kids! little FUTURES is a podcast created for our Green Heroes in elementary grades who have questions about energy! If your class have questions, make sure to send them to any of our Engagement Officers so they can be featured on the podcast!

In our very first episode, learn how we get energy from the sun, if we get energy from the moon, how do wind turbines work and what is phantom power! Joining us is Liam Cook from Thinkwell Shift!

Join Ruvi as she interviews Natalie, an energy champion (#GreenHero) who started on the front lines of energy efficiency here in Nova Scotia and continues to make a positive impact within the Office of Energy Efficiency, Natural Resources Canada. Natalie shares how her career path was not headed towards the environmental field fresh out of university, however when she learned what energy efficiency was, she knew it was where she needed to be. Natalie also shares her 'day in the life' which includes her adorable pooch, Charlie! This is a don't miss episode with solid advice on how any path can turn into a Green Career!

Join Ruvi as she interviews Liam Cook, a Business Director with Thinkwell Shift supporting many projects which help Nova Scotians lower their bills and carbon footprint. In this podcast Liam shares his personal career journey from young ambitions of following in Evel Knievel's footsteps to becoming an efficiency champion throughout the green sector here in Nova Scotia and beyond. You'll also learn where our province may be headed in terms of efficiency in the next 20 years and what countries are leading the way in sustainability and energy efficiency - spoiler alert, it's not Canada --- yet!

Join Ruvi as she interviews Katie Scott from Ducks Unlimited Canada to learn about why wetlands are important in the fight against climate change and what we can all do to help protect them here in Nova Scotia! She also shares some interesting facts about the diversity within wetlands and highlights some of her favourite things that live there!

Katie was recently a guest on our Virtual Field Trip series, short films created by the Green Schools Nova Scotia team to share different types of green careers to inspire youth, and we needed to hear more from her! Katie is a wealth of knowledge and her passion is contagious, you don't want to miss this one!

You can learn more about Katie's green career by watching our Virtual Field Trip on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/NsYXNOnNt0Q

or head over to Ducks Unlimited Canada's website https://www.ducks.ca/

You haven't heard about our Watts Off Energy Challenge!? Well who better to tell you about how amazing it is than our host Ruvi and the 2022 winning teachers at Harbourview Elementary, Katie Aucoin & Diane Lloyd! Find out what their class enjoyed the most about our 6 week challenge and what their whole school learned that each and every one of us can do to cut our energy wasting! You'll also get to hear Ruvi stump Katie with one of the toughest questions she's ever had to answer (we think she did an amazing job), it's usually hard to stump a teacher!

If you're inspired to have your class join the 2023 Watts Off Energy challenge, reach out to coordinator@greenschoolsns.ca and we will make sure to add you to our 2023 contact list! Energy learning, pre-planned activities, fun - a grade 6 students dream competition!

Join Ruvi as she interviews Miriam, an NSCC student and past recipient of an Efficiency Nova Scotia bursary who loves travelling and has a very interesting favourite animal - you'll need to Google it, you don't want to miss this! Ruvi also chats with Liam, Director of Business Development at Thinkwell Shift, to learn more about The Efficiency Nova Scotia Bright Futures Award! Green Schools Nova Scotia have teamed up with Efficiency Nova Scotia (ENS) and the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) to offer FIVE bursary awards to grade 12 students entering their first year at NSCC in an energy or efficiency program. Liam also shares valuable information on where energy efficiency in Nova Scotia is heading in the next 10 years. Spoiler alert - we're heading in a great direction!

Carrie MacDonald is the President of Thinkwell Shift, a behavior change company which delivers programs including Green Schools NS and Efficient Product Installation Service (EPIS) here in Atlantic Canada. Carrie started her career path in market research but quickly found a passion for empowering others to make change through choice. Join Ruvi as she learns more about Thinkwell Shift, horse braiding and advice for anyone looking to start their own business.

When Shelby MacDonald's dad became unexpectedly ill, she stepped in to work at the family business on what she believed would be a short-term basis. Today she is the Operations Assistant at Trinity Energy Group in Stellarton and has discovered a meaningful career that she never expected to pursue. 

Gr. 4 student Kaden Miles is our latest Green Schools Green Hero! He was nominated by his teacher for helping is classmates save energy in their classroom. On top of turning off the lights, Kaden suggests we switch to LEDs and also has some ideas for upcycling old clothes and finding clever ways to stay cool on hot days. 

Meet Holly! She's one of our very own Engagement Officers with Green Schools. Maybe you've had her do a virtual engagement with your class before. You'll hear about the decisions she made post-high school to attend St.FX University and go on to a number of different jobs focused on environmental sustainability.

Shirley Boutilier works as a Waste Reduction Educator for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and Divert NS. We talk about her favourite parts of her job and how her experiences travelling the world often lead her back to thinking about waste reduction in other countries. 

Amanda McDougall is the first female mayor of CBRM and she has a passion for sustainability. In this episode, you'll hear about how she became interested in running for office, the importance of getting young people involved in local politics even if they aren't old enough to vote, and a 9-year old who convinced the CBRM to install a pump a track.

Sonja Bhatia works as a scientist for the Canadian Hydrographic Service. She talks about her windy road to this particular career and the important role that her personal interests played in forming her career path. If you are in the process of making post high school life decisions, this episode is for you! 

Miriam is a Gr. 5 student at East Richmond Education Centre in St. Peter's. She lives on a farm where her family raises beef cattle, pigs and laying hens, and has a big garden and apple orchard. Miriam tells us about what she is doing to save energy, water and paper to protect the environment and shares with us that she wants to be a vetrinarian when she grows up.

Malik DeYoung is a Gr. 6 student at St. Andrew Jr. School in Antigonish. Along with his class, he participated in our Green Schools Energy Challenge in February 2021. As part of that challenge, Malik and his support teacher Chris Lumsden did a presentation to his class about solar power. He tells us what he learned about solar energy and hints at the courage it took to do this presentation in front of his class.

Every year Green Schools hosts a 6-week competition called the Energy Challenge. This year's winners were Derek Druhan's grade 6 class at St. Andrew Junior School. Derek along with his TA Annette Harpell talk about the awesome initiatives his class took on during the challenge and the efforts they made to educate their whole school about the benefits of energy efficiency. 

Shandel joined the Green Schools team in January 2016 as the Engagement Officer for Cape Breton and is now the Program Coordinator. Originally from Alberta, Shandel has been slowly making her way around the country, recently making Cape Breton her home. She explored the west coast of British Columbia while taking a Liberal Arts and Science degree at Quest University Canada. Quest broadened her world view and prompted her to question our relationship with the Earth’s complex ecosystems. 

After a year of learning French and teaching English in Sherbrooke, Québec, Shandel made her first visit to the Maritimes for a summer job in Chéticamp, Cape Breton. Her master’s degree in Environment and Resource Studies from the University of Waterloo allowed her to return to Nova Scotia to study how a sense of place affects fishermens' ability to deal with climate change and other social and economic changes. 

Shandel recently came back to her farming roots when she moved to a fifth generation farm in the picturesque Margaree Valley where she now lives with her partner, Ben. When she’s not encouraging kids to play outside, grow vegetables and reduce energy consumption, you can find her cross-country skiing or feeding her pet calf named Coo.

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Green Schools Nova Scotia is an exciting initiative brought to you by Efficiency Nova Scotia to enhance environmental sustainability at schools. This free program helps support students, teachers, and the larger school community as they learn to waste less and become more energy efficient.

Today we talked about the Green Careers Webinar. An informative webinar featuring different skill sets that correlate with emerging green career paths. This webinar also features information about provincial post secondary schools that have programs dedicated to developing green careers.

You can book your Free Webinar by visiting greenschoolsns.ca

Genaya Fraser is a jack of all trades with a great love for her community. She likes to spread out and work in many different fields and loves learning new things and meeting new people. She is currently working for a local convention in Cape Breton and volunteers for another small business to help create safe and welcoming environments for all age groups to express themselves and be openly unique! She loves being a part of a team and making new connections.

On off-nights, Genaya hosts paint parties for all different ages, karaoke, and medieval tavern nights. She loves nature and collects tropical house plants. For fun she loves being outside by a fire, playing board games, relaxing with her dog Loki, being around her friends, and working towards new events and projects that she can help bring into her community. Having completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education, she is currently working towards a Masters of Education in counselling.

Caroline is a Grade 2 student from Frank H MacDonald Academy in New Glasgow. She loves to draw (fun fact: the last thing she drew was a pizza!) and she loves nature and the rainbow of colours in the springtime from flowers! 

Caroline tells us about how she wastes less energy, what she does for fun, and examples of Green Heroes in her life. 

You you know someone that is also a GREEN HERO nominate there on our website: greenschoolsns.ca

Susan is a creative and strategic thinker who has worked in the energy and environmental education field for over seven years. Throughout her professional career she has gained experience in various communication and marketing areas, including media, government and stakeholder relations, social media and community engagement management, and strategic and event planning.
Her passion for the environment and storytelling has helped her excel in her career.

Susan shares her love for nature, lessons she learned as a kid that have stuck with her, her favourite spots to explore in Nova Scotia, and her love for Tina Turner! 

Scott Ellis recently graduated from Nova Scotia Community College with a diploma in Natural Resources Environmental Technology. During his time at NSCC, Scott was the Vice President of Services, which enabled him to make important changes that would impact others in the community.

Scott has a strong passion for making changes that will benefit others, especially when it comes to tackling environmental issues. Scott is ready to take on the challenges we face when it comes to energy and over-consumption, as well as educate others on how they can help the planet. On his spare time, you can find Scott outside in Nature hiking, kayaking, and exploring wild areas.