Riverside Public School making biodegradable poppies for Remembrance Day
Riverside Public School making biodegradable poppies for Remembrance Day
A London, Ont. elementary school is trying to make Remembrance Day ceremonies more sustainable, swapping out traditional plastic poppies for homemade biodegradable ones.
Every student at Riverside Public School is making one as part of a Fanshawe College Initiative.
The college provides the school with construction paper, which is blended with hot water and psyllium powder to help the eventual pulp congeal.
Finally, before molding it into a poppy shape, actual poppy seeds are added.
"Sustainability and environmental projects are really near and dear to my heart," says Amy McCallum-Harris, a teacher and librarian at Riverside.
"It's a great opportunity to talk to kids about the poppy and why we wear them, but also talk about wasting plastic every year,” she says.A Riverside Public School student works on making their own biodegradable poppy on Nov. 1, 2022. (Carlyle Fiset/CTV News London)
The homemade poppies are meant to decompose, spreading their seeds. After Riverside's Remembrance Day ceremony, all of the students will bring their poppies to a nearby garden and plant them, hoping for a big poppy bloom next spring.
"It's really neat," says grade seven student, Lila Thompson. "It's like a double use. You can wear it for Remembrance Day, and then once you're done with them you've got beautiful poppies."
*The Poppy Design is a registered trademark of The Royal Canadian Legion, Dominion Command and is used under license
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
Australia is removing the monarchy from its bank notes. The nation's new $5 bill will feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III. But the king is still expected to appear on coins that currently bear the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
Top European Union officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials as rescue crews dug through the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine struck by a Russian missile, killing at least three people and wounding about 20 others.
Wiarton Willie made his prediction his spring prediction Thursday morning at 8:07 a.m. The groundhog did not see his shadow, meaning we could get an early spring.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning spring is on the way.
Following a suicide bomb blast that killed more than 100 people in a mosque in Pakistan’s northern city of Peshawar, community leaders in Windsor-Essex are reminding people these attacks are rare and should not be simply dismissed as a byproduct of living in that part of the world.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning spring is on the way.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Ottawa ranks 45th out of 62 cities across Canada and the United States in a study on downtown recovery, with activity levels at 51 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
While crews have resumed operations in an attempt to open the Rideau Canal Skateway for its 53rd season, an NCC spokesperson says the canal will not open in time for the first weekend of Winterlude on Friday.
A polar vortex is descending over Ontario this week and some of the coldest weather is still to come. Wind chills will also reach dangerous levels, increasing the risk of frostbite.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
After an extremely mild month of January, the province is bracing for a blast of arctic air that will move in tonight and last until Saturday. Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued extreme cold warnings that covers most of the province with wind chills expected to be between -38 and -42 across the South and -50 across Northern Quebec.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
A new 911 dispatch system in New Brunswick means that now fire departments aren’t getting dispatched to all medical calls leaving residents waiting and first responders in the dark.
The organization regulating medical care and services in Manitoba is apologizing for racism directed towards Indigenous people when accessing health care in the province.
Calgary police are looking for suspects involved in an altercation that lasted for approximately an hour, spanned several communities and ended with a gun being fired.
Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service officials are encouraging any local victims to come forward following the arrest of actor Nathan Lee Chasing Horse in Las Vegas on sex assault charges.
A large crowd of around 700 students, faculty members and Lethbridge residents came out on Wednesday to protest a planned speech by Frances Widdowson at the University of Lethbridge that didn't take place.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
B.C.'s Ministry of Health is continuing its multi-year trend of paying millions more dollars each year to private surgical centres for the delivery of public health care, CTV News has learned.
Changes to the amount of time the public gets to voice their opinion during Surrey City Council meetings has caused controversy among former councillors.
A Riverside Public School student works on making their own biodegradable poppy on Nov. 1, 2022. (Carlyle Fiset/CTV News London)
