2009-2010 SJK Annual Report - St. John's-Kilmarnock School

animals it fosters. Mr. Spackman held up a
book depicting all manner of exotic
creatures: macaws, spider monkeys, poison
dart frogs and river dolphins. I stared,
engrossed by the almost impossible nature
of these creatures - so different from the
squirrels and Canada geese that roamed
the property of SJK. And yet, Mr. Spackman
told us, these creatures were in danger.
The Amazon rainforest was being
deforested at a rate that boggled my 9
year old mind.
The connection between Nauru and
the Amazon that fired up my memory is
fairly clear. In both cases, man’s
economically driven activities - the
consumption of fossil fuels and
deforestation - pose an existential threat.
But as I reflected upon this connection, a
reality about my own upbringing became
clear: my concern over climate change is
directly attributable to my experiences at
SJK - specifically, to the remarkably
consistent exposure to environmental
concerns that I received over my 13 years
as a student.
I fondly recall trooping through
meadows and learning about symbiotic
relationships in outdoor science classes
with Mr. Curry in Grade 4, or staying up all
night for the 24 hour study of the pond’s
biophysical systems with Mr. Zink in Grade
7. Upper school brought more intensive
investigations into the natural sciences,
such as the two bleary-eyed weeks my
Grade 10 class spent up at Dorset
studying northern Ontario’s natural
environment in the fall and winter. Grade
11 gave me the eye-opening chance to
study marine science in the Bay of Fundy
through a unique course that SJK offered.
Time and time again the complexity,
vulnerability and importance of the natural
environment was impressed upon me.
Never has such knowledge been more
important. Decades of scientific evidence
point to an uncomfortable but undeniable
truth: through pollution, resource
consumption and climate change we are
damaging the delicate biophysical systems
upon which human society depends for its
well-being and long-term survival. The
complexity of the interlinkages between
the natural and man-made systems
enmeshing the planet make the precise
consequences of this damage difficult to
predict. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that
a world defined by climatic instability,
pollution, food and water shortage,
decreased biodiversity and increased
economic disparity is one we cannot
comfortably gift onto our children and
grandchildren. Yet this is precisely what we
are doing.
It many ways, our inaction is
understandable. It is phenomenally difficult
to cumulatively alter our lifestyles in
meaningful ways - human society is
marked by significant inertia. Many hurdles
stand in our way to a sustainable future,
some technical, some economic. Perhaps
the most problematic of these, however,
are socially constructed by powerful
actors with a vested interest in the status
quo. As such, mankind’s long-term
prosperity hinges upon the mainstream
acceptance that environmentalism is the
domain of reasonable-minded pragmatists,
not radical thinkers. This is a lesson that
needs to be urgently and consistently
impressed upon young students
everywhere. It is not simply faraway climes
like Nauru or the Amazon that depend
upon our success in this endeavour, but all
of human society.
I learned many things in SJK’s
classrooms. Some have served me well in
my post-secondary life, others perhaps
less so. I sincerely believe, however, that
the most important lesson SJK taught me
was about mankind’s complex and
inextricable connection to the
environment. I will always have fond
memories of the forward-thinking
teachers at SJK who work so hard to pass
this vital lesson on to future generations.
Andrew Reid ‘03 graduated from the
University of St. Andrews, Scotland, in 2007,
and has just completed an MA in Global
Governance from the University of Waterloo.
He has conducted climate change research
for Friends of the Earth Canada and the
David Suzuki Foundation, and was a delegate
to United Nations for the Republic of Nauru.
He has recently accepted a research position
with the Ecologic Institute, an environmental
think tank in Berlin, Germany, and plans on
pursuing a PhD in International Relations.