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EWS LETTER RING 2000 Environments new Miñisie, Lian Newman, visited Bircbmount Park Collegiate Institute in Scarborough to give special recognition to students for their work in the Partners in Air program. He congratulated the corporate sponsors who have been an integral part of this program — Shell Canada Limited, Ontario Power Generation Inc., Petro-Canada, Dofasco Inc. and General Motors of Canada Limited as well as our newest partner, St Lawrence Cement Inc. Mr Newman is standing at the front, fourth from the rigbt, with Donna Hildebrant of Petro-Canada (third from the rzgbt), Ruksana Mirza of St. Lawrence Cement Inc., (fifth from a the right), Lesley Taylor of Shell Canada Limited (fifth from the , left), andJobn Grieves of the Ontario Power Generation inc. "ii (tbirdfrom the left). V Former Environment Minister Tony Clement (centre), along with Patrick Creaghan (front row, fourth from the left) and Lesley Taylor (front row far left) of Shell Canada Liii, a Partners in Air corporate sponsor recently ititedMonsignor Percy Johnson Secondary School in Re.vdale. They commended staff and students for their dedication to the program. A Partners in Air was recently launched at Lorne Park Secondary School in Mississauga. Former Environment Minister Tony Clement (left) was on hand to receive a cheque for $60,000 from Randy Koenig. vice-president at Petro-Canada (far right). The money will help pay for the equipment the school needs to participate in the Partners in Air program. The mm- istmys mobile air monitoring unit is in the background Copyright Provisions and Restrictions on Copying: This Ontario Ministry of the Environment work is protected by Crown copyright (unless otherwise indicated), which is held by the Queen's Printer for Ontario. It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes if credit is given and Crown copyright is acknowledged. It may not be reproduced, in all or in part, for any commercial purpose except under a licence from the Queen's Printer for Ontario. For information on reproducing Government of Ontario works, please contact ServiceOntario Publications at 1il 2300 p ci n r a Talking to the new minister p artners in Air is an air quality and environmental education initiative that currently involves students and teachers in 13 Ontario secondary from Birchmount Path collegiate schools. Using program-sponsored Instilute. Sea r&lrougl). equipment and materials, the students inlerrieus Dan Newman rip:3, test and analyze atmosphei'ic con- taminants and develop local air quality parameters. D an Newman was The program complements Ontario's secondary school about half my age - only eight years old - science and technology curriculum, and is designed both to facilitate hands-on learning and build students' when he first got a taste environmental awareness. for politics by writing a letter to the premier of Ontario. T he high schools participating in the two-year Young Dan had a problem back in 1971. His father Partners in Air pilot program are: was in hospital undergoing an operation, so who was • going to cut the grass at his home? Premier Bill Davis A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London obliged the eight-year-old by sending some people to do • Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, Scarborough the job, thus teaching Dan that politics is indeed the art • of the possible. Cobourg District West Secondary School, Cobourg It was a lesson he never forgot as he began studying • Hammarskjold Secondary School, Thunder Bay election campaigns on television. He ran successfully • to become high school president, and then obtained a Huntsville High School, Huntsville political science degree from the University of Toronto, • before finally getting elected in 1995. This year he Lorne Park Secondary School, Mississauga entered the Cabinet as the new Minister of the • Monsignor Johnson High School, Toronto Environment. • I enjoyed talking to the Minister, because he made it Riverside Secondary School, Windsor clear he likes to help people and believes the Partners • Sarnia Northern Collegiate Institute, Sarnia in Air program is one way of achieving that goal. • Mr. Newman is optimistic about the program in which Sir Allan MacNab Secondary, Hamilton I'm involved, with other students, at Birchmount • Sudbury Secondary School, Sudbury Collegiate. • "Instead of just analyzing charts and graphs, students West Carleton Secondary, Dunrobin learn about the issues in a hands-on way," he said. • "And when you tune up your cars you realize you are Widdifield Secondary School, North Bay contributing to improved air quality." In his view, one of the most positive aspects of the Ontario program is that students and teachers are working closely with his ministry and that together we will clean Ministry of the Environment :j up our environment. INAUGURAL CORPORATE SPONSORS Air Waves is a publication of the Ministry of the Environment. produced by communications Branch. DOFASCO We welcome stories, photographs and story ideas on a Partners in Air project. Oshell 5end your submission with contact name and telephone number to: Ministry of the Environment, communications Branch 2nd Floor, 135 St. Clair Avenue West Toronto ON M4V 1 P5 atne Fax: (416) 314-6711 ® ONTARIOruiviR Printed on 100% recycled paper © Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2000 GENEIIATIUN — including 75% post-conaurner fibre PIBS 3960E ISSN 1492-6598 Did you U One equals 20. One U Light is right. Be aerodynamic. poorly tuned vehicle The heavier the car, Reducing wind resis- know? can emit pollutants the more fuel it burns. tance on the highway equivalent to 20 Avoid unnecessary s fuel consumption. Tu properly tuned cars. weight. ry rolling up the win- V ehicle exaust is one dows and opening the of the major causes vents. of smog. You can do your part to help corn smog by ensuring you J Low tires put pressure are driving clean. Read U Don't let your engine on fuel. Properly inflat- on for some helpful tips: idle. Excessive idling ed tires improve fuel U Share a ride. pollutes. Turn off the performance. Carpooling reduces Is your vehicle in engine whenever you the number of tune? A poorly tuned J can. U 90 is optimum. vehicles on the road. engine can consume The best speed for an average of 10 per fuel economy for most cent more fuel. vehicles is under 90 km/h. DOFASCO IIic r5pe1gr1GoiPodepnnuo ercwtreiahnnjge m riCena O mnNmaaoignnretyuhrn ofVlfy ia tisssi ssuu Odesnh eaia nno d ft h htlehiav esHe .ma almowsaityl tssou bncetcweense snijntjnvj owsltvehee dl in spdehutrcEoelrLe uoLfm CcoOmpMa1gAtaise,0s ni0na ttuhLeSI M cgoauIsTns tulriElYqpu.Dh iudi trs i siis na oa nntldhes oe bo iawft uotmhmrealed jbno. i,r g agpnerdos t- anti energy issues for the company one of the largest of of Ontario markets patrick Web site at we have a biinst obteytt oerf being i uins ." she says, fhoars slhoetlsl oCf ainnafdoar,m saatyios nt haeb outs its progrwaomrsk with thwe iMthi ftlih5et1 Y environment "And pjAprogtYim to bring the of the he adds. educatioS "it's a INC. is GENERATION poWER owrnrno generating complex Over electricity atc hpomelma apnpjatoassfr.lt Y Nii soh ratsh rAemduewrcicietapdhir' Loiat cds iudc gea as se mmisuscciOohsf OietS nnm etfa'orXroriYemo t ahitsas nth $e1y thbdeiild li oan . tdgherean "imtsfsts. u aenistd c ootefn aasciihrd eer,s.s i nit a" ehxacnidstaisny..sgo nit 'sw payr otou db etott etshrp aout nnindsvoeorr sltvthaeens dps truo-- dec"aTdhee saeg sot a- tibouCfltS aw sittehW 60h p"e ra nc eOnPtG f eswpoekr egsams an. "We are omf tehne tcao,,m,jpoaunry 'sso ctwiaol voifsoiounr %"say s Randy the envimn saaaydrsveM a cnrr cicetai csgatoelo loildnau nrsh cebeilefepflniioencrvegts e aO snt ontdh t reape fuld°bu lacicceh eiedvueicn ai ttMsi oarn ir bqoutahl itoyf wgohailcsh. U"sine vaensdti ning noouvra tion thrtoo udgehv eeldoupc Tathiaotn v ision he descnbeOsn ae s — SPRING 2000 s Students design 'how to' Web site S ix students at Sarnia "We decided, because Northern Collegiate it was late in the school Institute and Vocational year, that the best thing School decided not to do was to figure out how to their final science and use the material and set society OAC paper last something up that other spring. And their science classes could use," he teacher, Jim Stewart, said. "So this group pio- didn't object. neered it for us." Instead of doing the In addition to learning typical end-of-term about the science of air paper, the four students monitoring, the students chose to design and cre- are getting an excellent ate a "how to" Web site opportunity to work with for the Partners in Air the Web. They are gain- component of their OAC ing important real-life science course. The site experience with this pop- will be a resource for all ular new technology. students taking the Stewart said one real Partners in Air curriculum benefit of the Partners in in the future. Air curriculum, and this "I like it a lot better particular project, is that than having to do a for- it helps teach students mal paper," said Ann- Jim Stewart (far left), science teacher at the Sarnia Northern about career choices. Christine Grimwood, an Collegiate Institute and Vocational School poses with three of the six Grimwood said her 18-year OAC student studentc who dengned and created the 'how to' Web site for the Partners in group's project will be who was one of the six Air program. determined a success if students that put together Stewart, who taught As in a typical science future students find the the Web site. "It's not the class of 24 students, lab, the outcomes aren't Web site to be informa- the same old thing. This said the idea for the Web predetermined, making tive and helpful. "We is more hands on." site evolved through dis- the exercises more like want to give them clear As for designing the instructions that they can cussions. It soon the way science is actu- actual Web site, follow and learn from." became apparent that the ally conducted outside Grimwood said her Patrick Creaghan of group wanted to create the classroom. group got a lot of support something that would be 'They get an under- Shell Canada, a Partners from others at the school of use to future classes. standing of how real sci- in Air sponsor company, who were experienced in Stewart said he finds ence works," Stewart said. was very pleased to this area. Her primary the Partners in Air cur- The chance to operate learn of the students' concern was the site's riculum a useful teaching equipment used by sci- project. "As a corporate content. sponsor, we helped tool, because it allows his entists at the Ministry of The group needed to launch the program at students to experience the Environment adds to learn first how to operate Sarnia Northern, and we science in an interactive the students' interest. "It's the Partners in Air equip- fashion. the excitement of doing are pleased that the stu- ment — such as the It's the uncontrolled something real. It's the dents are making the spectrophotometer, pH nature of real scientific active involvement that most of it and embracing meter, stereo microscope technology with such experiment that, he said, really turns them on." and low-volume air sam- makes the Partner's in It's not your "everyday positive results," said pler — before they could Air material such a great blackboard work," Creaghan. write their how-to guide. experience for students. Stewart added.