Today is a day to motivate, celebrate (or even re-invigorate) outdoor education. When teaching and learning outside, there are so many opportunities to seize.

I’m an aquatic/landscape ecology PhD student from the University of British Columbia. I’ve been working with EcoSpark since last summer to develop a citizen science protocol to examine how an ecological process, decomposition rate of cotton strips in headwater streams, might change when land uses in watersheds are different.

When I heard about the opportunity to be a part of the first-ever Greenbelt Youth Charter, I immediately signed up. Mother Nature does not have a voice but I do—we all do!

EcoSpark’s Greenbelt Youth Charter Bus Tour enabled me to see beyond what I was familiar with and I learned so much through this experience.

In less than an hour’s drive from the heart of downtown Toronto, you will arrive at the Greenbelt. This piece of undeveloped green land is the world’s largest protected greenbelt and is a place where many people escape to relax.