Raysha Charmichael
My passion for the environment and all things nature has come from a very young age. Growing up I spent my summers with my grandparents and parents at our family camp about 6 hours north of Toronto. Our place is not big but we have a large window that faces the lake and is often an issue because of the reflection coming from the lake and trees. I vividly remember and often recall one summer when a beautiful and large King Fisher flew into the window. The king fisher hit the window hard enough that they shook the whole building. I ran out quickly to see if it was okay but it was stunned. I went into nurse mode and continually checked on it. After a couple hours it disappeared and I hope it woke and flew away versus the possibility of my parent’s interfering because I was so upset.
In December 2011 I heard a story of 5000 birds that crash landed into a Wal-Mart parking lot. Due to the large amount of lights in the parking lot and the weather conditions the birds (which were called Grebes) thought it was a lake and a safe spot to land. 1500 of the birds died from this event. Coincidentally, two weeks after I was speaking with someone and they mentioned this amazing program called FLAP, which concentrates on saving migratory birds that fly into buildings in Toronto. When Hilary mentioned her initiative I instantly jumped on board. I believe I realized the effects of human interference on nature with the king fisher many years ago and wanted to help on a larger scale.
Environmental education is very important to me and creating awareness to issues like FLAP is what I am passionate about. This past year has been a crazy experience going through the BEd program. It has been rewarding at times and at others it has been hard to keep motivated. I believe this experience re-enforced why I entered teaching in the first place. Overall, the amount of positive reactions I received from handing out the pieces of eco-art was very rewarding.
I knew taking on the project would probably involve a lot of time and devotion but I decided early on it was for a great cause. Running the workshop and print activity in class was a huge help in making our 300+ prints to hang on the exterior doors of offices at OISE. Originally, the three of us had wanted to launch a poster in the front foyer or Education Commons to create awareness to those that walk through everyday. Due to the fact that we commute in only twice a week for classes and live out of Toronto it was hard to complete all our objectives.
Overall, I am very happy with the reception and outcome of the OISE FLAP project and would call it a success. In talking with people at OISE, many knew little or nothing about our project and once I explained to them what we were doing they became very interested. Many were thankful for creating more awareness to the issue. Other people simply loved the artwork and thought it was such a great idea. We did face some opposition to hanging the prints and ultimately we were unable to share our project with one whole floor. I do not believe this was because our project was ill-received but the office staff was unsure if they should allow us to (even though we explained we had permission). Situations like this are what make activism hard and are a great representation to show what barriers can be faced. Many people either are not aware about issues or do not care about these types of issues. I have always faced criticism or resistance when speaking about environmental issues but I stay positive.
I stay positive that with time and word of mouth people will become aware of human interference and dominance over nature. I continue to be passionate about issues that I have a personal connection to and even if I get through to one person, that is one more person then before.
In December 2011 I heard a story of 5000 birds that crash landed into a Wal-Mart parking lot. Due to the large amount of lights in the parking lot and the weather conditions the birds (which were called Grebes) thought it was a lake and a safe spot to land. 1500 of the birds died from this event. Coincidentally, two weeks after I was speaking with someone and they mentioned this amazing program called FLAP, which concentrates on saving migratory birds that fly into buildings in Toronto. When Hilary mentioned her initiative I instantly jumped on board. I believe I realized the effects of human interference on nature with the king fisher many years ago and wanted to help on a larger scale.
Environmental education is very important to me and creating awareness to issues like FLAP is what I am passionate about. This past year has been a crazy experience going through the BEd program. It has been rewarding at times and at others it has been hard to keep motivated. I believe this experience re-enforced why I entered teaching in the first place. Overall, the amount of positive reactions I received from handing out the pieces of eco-art was very rewarding.
I knew taking on the project would probably involve a lot of time and devotion but I decided early on it was for a great cause. Running the workshop and print activity in class was a huge help in making our 300+ prints to hang on the exterior doors of offices at OISE. Originally, the three of us had wanted to launch a poster in the front foyer or Education Commons to create awareness to those that walk through everyday. Due to the fact that we commute in only twice a week for classes and live out of Toronto it was hard to complete all our objectives.
Overall, I am very happy with the reception and outcome of the OISE FLAP project and would call it a success. In talking with people at OISE, many knew little or nothing about our project and once I explained to them what we were doing they became very interested. Many were thankful for creating more awareness to the issue. Other people simply loved the artwork and thought it was such a great idea. We did face some opposition to hanging the prints and ultimately we were unable to share our project with one whole floor. I do not believe this was because our project was ill-received but the office staff was unsure if they should allow us to (even though we explained we had permission). Situations like this are what make activism hard and are a great representation to show what barriers can be faced. Many people either are not aware about issues or do not care about these types of issues. I have always faced criticism or resistance when speaking about environmental issues but I stay positive.
I stay positive that with time and word of mouth people will become aware of human interference and dominance over nature. I continue to be passionate about issues that I have a personal connection to and even if I get through to one person, that is one more person then before.