I was introduced to many volunteer opportunities through the connections I made at the Next Generation Naturalist program (discussed under ‘Social Organization’). One that stands out to me was when a colleague and I gave presentations to elementary school children on the topics of endangered American badgers and storm drain pollution. We learned to engage our young audience. Using the storm drain pollution topic as an example, we asked questions such as, “Where do you think the storm drains lead to?” and we were pleasantly surprised by their eagerness to learn the answer. Many of the children said they would apply the knowledge they’d learned by, for example, not using fertilizer on their lawn (as lawn clippings often enter the storm drains and pollute the rivers with fertilizers) or cleaning up wrappers in the streets outside their homes.
Another example of a volunteering endeavour I pursued was writing an article for the Big Edition, a newspaper supporting low income individuals in the Kamloops community, regarding a conference I attended. It gave me the chance to speak to a climate action initiative taking place in the province. The article is inserted below.