Page 17 - Brandon Sun - 2018 Community Leader Awards

THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018 • THE BRANDON SUN COMMUNITY LEADER AWARDS 2018 • 17

» ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER AWARD, SPONSORED BY KOCH FERTILIZER

Mireille Saurette is an environmental leader in the community. She has volunteered a lot of her time doing things like picking up garbage. (Melissa Verge/Brandon Sun)
Saurette cleaning up her community one piece at a time

BY MELISSA VERGE Saurette also makes a point of recycling clothes and other
items so she doesn’t create unnecessary waste.
For Mireille Saurette, 200 days over the past two years have She’s been part of the Brandon Environment Committee for
involved picking up garbage. the past five years. She’s also a strong advocate for fair trade,
It’s gross, smelly, and seemingly thankless work, but Saurette which has its own impacts on the environment.
doesn’t do it for the recognition. “In conventional trade things can get moved around a lot like
She has volunteered a lot of her time to helping the form one side of the world to the other, and it’s a real drain on
environment and doing things such as picking up garbage, transport costs and has major environmental costs,” she said.
because it’s something she cares deeply about. It’s a way she “The supply chain in the fair-trade market is shortened
can help make the community of Brandon as well as the world take care of it, but not the only one. substantially.”
a cleaner, better place. Protecting the environment is something that she believes so The volunteer work Saurette does in the community easily
Her garbage pick-up sometimes takes place where she works strongly about that she encouraged her partner to get rid of the adds up to 20 hours a week, but she doesn’t pick up garbage or
by the Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, or near SUV they owned for a more environmentally friendly vehicle. stay involved with the Brandon Environment Committee to be
her house. Sometimes it’s by Clear Lake in Riding Mountain “I just can’t drive that, I can’t,” she said. recognized. For Saurette, it’s all about ensuring the planet is as
National Park. Wherever she is, she makes a point to spend 30 So, they switched over to a hybrid vehicle. well taken care of as possible.
minutes picking up garbage, or until she fills a bag, whichever With an environmentally friendly car, Saurette still tries to “I believe in protecting Mother Earth because she is greatest
comes first. reduce the amount of time she spends behind the wheel. She mother, and we need to honour that relationship,” she said.
“Our environment is our home, we depend on it everyday,” often makes a point of biking to work when the weather is “If we’re on auto pilot and we just kind of go with the motions
Saurette said. “We’re interconnected to the water that we drink warm. and try to keep up with the Jones’ and get that latest toy or
and the food that we eat, if we take care of the planet it takes “Every choice we make has an impact on the planet and in whatever, those actions have repercussions on our planet.”
care of us.” the world, and I want to be a role model for citizens in Brandon,” » mverge@brandonsun.com
Picking up litter is one of the ways the 44-year-old is helping she said. » Twitter: @Melverge5

Teacher enlists another generation of environmental stewards

BY TYLER CLARKE

Instilling her love of environmental stewardship in the students
she teaches, Coleen McKellar has proven herself a leader in the
the field.
Growing up, the Crocus Plains
Secondary School teacher said that she
was always interested in the sciences,
but that there was something about
becoming a researcher that didn’t quite
resonate with her.
With education the closes thing she
could do to remain in the sciences, she
became a teacher.
It’s a decision that she has remained
satisfied with, and which she proudly
notes has resulted in others taking up the environmental causes
she’s passionate about.
“I have managed to pass, I think, some of the knowledge
along, and hopefully it’ll make a bit of a difference,” she said.
“I just want people to be aware that little things make a
difference, and every little bit helps.”
In addition to teaching environmentally-themed classes to
Crocus Plains students, McKellar also brought Water Festival
to Brandon, which since 2010 has taught environmental
stewardship and water conservation to grades 1 to 4 students
from throughout Brandon.
Crocus Plains students walk the younger students through a
number of stations, which teach them the implications of things
like brushing their teeth with the water off while doing so, and
taking shorter showers.
McKellar said that the students tend to take these messages
home with their parents and become teachers themselves.
On the teaching front, she said that Crocus Plains students
also learn how to instruct others in environmental stewardship,
which allows the passion to spread even wider.
“The big kids are so good with the little kids,” she said. “A
big smile always comes on their face when they see them.”
McKellar also helps organize the annual Envirothon at the
Riverbank Discovery Centre, which has high school students
from across the region compete in various areas of
environmental stewardship. Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School Science teacher Coleen McKellar is pictured in her classroom. (Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun)
These and other efforts are fuelled by what McKellar’s drive
to keep the world a healthy place to live for future generations. that live in the water, that’s the basis for our food chain, and if with.
But, it’s not long-term ideas such as this that she said best the food chain goes away how do we feed ourselves?” It’s this trickle down impact of our actions which she strives
fuels others’ passion to help out, but the more immediate real- While Manitobans are lucky to have an abundance of clean to install in her students, whom she said spread the web of
world implications of their actions. water, she said that we’re also expanding farmland and taking information far beyond the school’s walls.
As such, she said that this is what she tends to focus on. away wetlands, which help absorb this water and prevent » tclarke@brandonsun.com
“We need a healthy place to live, and if we kill off the things flooding such as those Westman residents are all to familiar » Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB