The Amazing Schools

So who's taking it on?!
Meet our awesome participating schools:
(In alphabetical order..)

Milliken Mills High School
[school]...Ah, where the fun started. Milliken Mills H.S. has an environmental club called Green Inc.
[aim]...Reduce the chaotic traffic of cars in the morning.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau High School
[school]...A newcomer in the challenge, high-spirited and ready to take on the two veterans!
[aim]...

Unionville High School
[school]...Winner of the first IWalk Challenge here in York Region! Unionville H.S. has an environmental club called EcoAction.
[aim]...

Hardcore Walking Facts!

The Walking "Believe It Or Not":

• Switching from a car to a bike or the bus just 3 days a week, without any other changes, would cut your emissions by about half a tonne. Switch to a bike five days a week, and you've already reached the goal of the one-tonne challenge!
• Fifty-one per cent of Canadian children aged five to 17 rely on inactive modes of transportation to get to and from school. At the same time, over half of Canadians in that age group are not active enough for optimal growth and development. Do you think there’s a connection?
• If all Canadians reduced their cruising speed by just five km per hour, total GHG emissions would be reduced by 2.2 megatonnes.
• The average Canadian student watches approximately 23 hours of TV per week (source - Canadian Paediatric Society). Less screen time allows more time to be physically active as well as more quality time as a family
• The Canadian Automobile Association estimates that it costs $0.47 per kilometre to own and operate an average vehicle, but the real cost to you and society is actually about $0.92 per kilometre when your time and external costs such as road infrastructure and environmental damage are considered (How much did your ride to school cost?)
• Check the labels on where your food comes from – it could be a long way away. The average food item consumed in Canada today travels some 2,000 km just to get to our tables
• To make one tonne of paper, 24 trees are cut down, 229,000 litres of water are used, and 30 kg of pollution are emitted. That’s not the end of it, either – throw all that paper in the trash, and a tonne of paper uses 2.5 cubic metres of landfill space
• The number of cars on the road has increased steadily; people are driving more often and farther distances. Each car travels, on average, 16,000 km/year or about 300 km/week.
• Limiting the number of kilometres driven by choosing another mode of transportation is by far the best way to reduce air pollution.
• For distances up to 5 km, cycling is recognized as the fastest of all modes from door to door. Bikes are efficient in more than one way, too - the cost of one auto parking space is at least ten times the cost of a secure bike locker and at least twenty times the cost of secure bike racks, and twelve bikes fit into one car parking space

Facts directly cited from here.