Comité Action Planète
École secondaire De Rochebelle

If ever you’re sitting in your car in front of De Rochebelle high school waiting for your child and you leave your engine running, don’t be surprised if a student comes up to you and hands you a ticket for fuel combustion. The student in question would be a representative of the school’s Comité Action Planète (CAP) who is simply trying to make you realize the amount of pollution your car generates when sitting idle. And this is just one of the committee’s many actions that, for the past five years, have been helping change polluting habits inside and even outside the school. Polluters beware: the Comité Action Planète has an eye on you!

Established in 2006 at the student council’s request and in collaboration with the governing board and steering committee, the Comité Action Planète at De Rochebelle high school set itself the mission of implementing the institution’s environmental policy. “What’s the use of an environmental policy if it’s put on the back burner,” states vice-principal of Secondary 4 and 5 and CAP president Manon Fortin.

The actions undertaken by the student members of the committee are basically aimed at attaining four objectives: improving waste management, promoting environmental education and awareness, improving the living environment and favouring ecological practices at the school. Over the years, a number of measures have been adopted in an effort to attain these objectives. Among other things, the school and students installed multi-material recycling bins, set up a project for collecting used batteries, recuperated school supplies that were still serviceable, promoted environmentally-friendly lunch boxes, hosted collections for used bikes, made ecological shopping bags, planted trees, organized the “Wô les moteurs!” campaign and the list goes on. Approximately one hundred students from all Secondary levels carry out these various environmental tasks.

“It’s up to our generation to take action to protect the planet,” states Secondary 4 student Julia Tétreault-Provencher. “That’s why I decided to join the committee and do my part. By taking concrete action and establishing better ways of doing things, we are making small gestures that will eventually help modify people’s life habits.”

With every new project submitted, the CAP tries to be more and more creative and original so as to reach an increasingly diversified clientele. In addition to the highly successful tickets for fuel consumption, the students also came up with the idea of creating a series of cue cards to remind students, and even adults, of the importance of switching off the lights, closing windows and above all turning off the taps when you’ve finished.

“Every little gesture really does count,” adds Julia’s fellow committee member Laurie Doré-Ouellet. “I have even changed some of my habits like not letting the water run while I brush my teeth. You don’t always think of these things but over a one-year period you can cut down on a lot of waste.”

It was no doubt this notion of one gesture at a time that prompted the Comité to use the slogan “Ça commence par toi!” (“It starts with you”) at the heart of all its communications tools. The CAP thus hopes to reach out to all students and encourage them to perform a BAE (bonne action environnementale meaning a good environmental deed) every day. The committee’s various awareness actions, such as those carried out on Earth Day when the students set up a dozen information kiosks, help get their message across. The Comité Action Planète even produced a video in several languages about the need to take immediate action against global warming. The video was soon put online on Youtube (type TCK TCK TCK de Robebelle) and has already been viewed by more than 1,600 people.

“All our actions convey one simple message: you can respect the environment without having to completely turn your life around. It is obvious that the Comité Action Planète has succeeded in changing people’s habits. Needless to say, we must continue to make these small gestures, but we’re making headway,” asserts Manon Fortin.

Comité Action Planète
École secondaire De Rochebelle