Illustrated images representing environmental awareness.

Environment

Environmental Committee

Since 2005, a Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) Environment Steering Committee has been meeting periodically during the school year to promote a stronger commitment to the protection and conservation of the environment.

Committee members include students, staff and TCDSB partners and stakeholders.

It is the vision of the TCDSB to educate students to transform the world through witness, faith, innovation and action. The Environmental Committee was established to help maintain and promote the TCDSB as a community leader in environmental stewardship and sustainability.

The TCDSB believes that the quality of life and the survival of all living things are dependent upon the protection of the earth and its biosphere, in keeping with Pope Francis’s Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home (May 24, 2015):

It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an "ecological conversion," whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ becomes evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocations to be protectors of God's handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.

 

Students and staff in all schools and board departments are committed to working with our community partners to become environmentally responsible citizens in a safe, healthy and sustainable environment. This will ​be accomplished through informed decision-making and by dedicating resources to the delivery of integrated environmental curriculum and programs, and in support of environmentally appropriate behavior and operational practices.

The Committee’s goals are to promote dialogue and discussion on issues relating to the environment and sustainability, to increase staff and student engagement, and to foster environmentally responsible stewardship.