On 5 February, National Sweater Day, Eco Team lowered Marc Garneau C.I.’s thermostat by a couple of degrees. Though the exact figure is unknown, the temperature difference can be estimated at approximately 1-2°C. Eco Team also invited students to do the same in their homes, in order to raise awareness of energy consumption and its toll it has on the environment.
Many posters were hung around the school and since Monday, 2 February, Eco Team has been making announcements to the school about this event. However, some feel that the advertisement was inadequate, and believe that due to this, many people did not have the opportunity to participate.
“I don’t think that we were able to get our message across as successfully as we would have liked,” stated James Robins, a member of Eco Team, “There weren’t many people who were aware of the event, and we couldn’t turn down the heat in the school enough to make people notice.”
Members of Eco Team promoted National Sweater Day at MGCI. Photo: Jackie Ho
On the other hand, National Sweater Day is flourishing in many other places across Canada. Since its creation five years ago by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), over 1 million Canadians have participated in it. Most of these men and women believe that raising public awareness about energy consumption is the key to stop many environmental problems, such as global warming, and so, they lower their thermostats in their homes to be an example for others to follow.
According to statistics, if all Canadians lowered their thermostats by as little as two degrees Celsius, over four megatons of carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases could be saved from entering the atmosphere. Reducing emissions on this scale would have an effect equivalent to taking 70,000 cars of the road.
