Since the beginning of May, we have been working hard with the Reduce the Juice project. This page contains journal entries documenting the experiences and observations of team leaders and student auditors participating in the Reduce the Juice project in Orangeville.

September

Wow! Another summer of Reduce the Juice has flown by. The finishing tally of doors that our student auditors knocked on stands at over 5000!

The end of the summer brought about some sad goodbyes to friends made among the staff and community! But before we parted ways we gathered for one last hurrah at the Orangeville movie screening of "An Inconvenient Truth". Ever since we first saw the movie in July we had been searching for ways to bring it to our hometown. Luckily we were able to create a great partnership with the Monday Night at the Movies Group of Orangeville to bring it in for a limited engagement at the galaxy cinema on August 21st.

The evening went better then we could have ever hoped with a speech from the team before both of the sold out performances of the movie (that's about 400 tickets!) We brought our energy trailer to the movie to provide some renewable energy powered karaoke (who knew that Jon and Jay could do such accurate impressions of Louis Armstrong?) The team was in the crowd taking in some last minute pledges, there were door prizes and a giveaway of 50 free CFL light bulbs for the first 50 people into each show! All in all a smashing success, and a great opportunity for us to show the people of Orangeville why we as youths want them to Reduce their Juice. We also raised enough money to make a donation of $1225.00 to the WWF save our climate fund at the end of the day. A big thank you to Monday Night at the Movies and the Galaxy Cinema as well as all the people in the community who came out to see this important movie!

So we ended the summer on a good note, albeit a sad note as we watch our student auditors depart for their respective schools and wish them good luck in the coming semester! Thank you all for being such a super group and I know that I will be seeing you all on the streets of Orangeville and in the future I will be seeing your names in lights, on novel covers, as the contributors to research papers, and in magazines (hopefully high fashion and not tabloids!)

HAVE A GREAT YEAR!

Hot Day (August 1, 2006)

Yesterday was the first day of August, it was also the hottest day we had this summer. The temperature was up to 43 degrees with the humidity and needless to say the Reduce the Juice team was not ready to go door to door in that weather. Conveniently however, P.U.R.E (Power Up Renewable Energy), a group dedicated to renewable energy sources and energy conservation, was having their office opening in Orangeville. The Reduce the Juice Energy trailer was at the opening so luckily Jamie, Derek and I, being the Reduce the Juice Energy Trailer team, got to beat the heat by hanging out in our energy trailer. We spent the first part of the day setting everything up for the event. After we got the trailer producing its emission free energy we started giving passers-by free snow cones and some education on the Reduce the Juice Project. Three O'clock came around and Jamie got a brilliant idea. He planned that we should head around with our solar cart and play solar powered music to people around Orangeville. The idea worked in terms of educating people and advertising ourselves but we forgot the whole part about the day being 43 degrees. We decided to head back to the trailer after getting scorched by the sun and participated in the various P.U.R.E opening events. The opening finished at about six and so we decided to take our solar cart down to the front of the library and give out snow cones there. The temperature had cooled down by then so more people were out walking the streets than earlier in the day. We gave out (and ate) a lot of snow cones; we also informed lots of people about energy conservation after six which was fun. The day was super hot but it ended up being pretty super fun!

Jay Knox: Student Auditor, Reduce the Juice Orangeville 2006

First Week Going Door to Door

It was our first day out in the suburbs and everyone was a little nervous for the responses we were to receive. The weather promised a beautiful day and everyone was eager to get out and get going. The first neighbourhood we decided to conquer was right behind our home base. It mainly consisted of smaller homes with close lots. Our team leaders divided us up into six teams of two and we walked over with optimistic ideals.

For me personally, I expected many people to be sceptical about people coming to their doors and telling them how to "Reduce their Juice", but once they saw that we are not asking for money and just for them to simply turn off a few lights and change a few lights bulbs, they would be more open minded towards our program. In addition, I was hoping that homeowners would respect the fact that we took the time to come out and personally tell them what we stood for rather than a phone call or a piece of paper in the mail. I feel that talking to someone face to face is more effective and proves that we are indeed passionate about our work and goals we have set within the community.

Once we got into the neighbourhood everyone shied away from doing the first house but our team leaders enthusiastically encouraged us to go forward. The first few houses resulted in a lot of "not homes" and "no thank you, please come back another time". We were slightly discouraged but kept in mind that it was early in the afternoon and that most people were still at work or busy taking care of restless toddlers. As the afternoon progressed and everyone started getting their first few surveys done it was inspiring to see our project at work and people actually interested in what we stood for. Everyone always seemed to open up to us after we gave them a free light bulb. Pretty soon the days just started to fly by once we got the hang of approaching and accommodating to the different personalities we encountered. The surveys came easier and the conversations flowed better.

Saturday however came with a new task - The Farmer's Market. Half of our team had set up a booth at the market and decided to represent us to the public through our pamphlets and solar powered snow-cone maker. The team at the market said they had received positive feedback and commented that many people were very pleased to see teenagers concerned about our potential energy crisis. While part of our team marketed the farmers the other half continued to go door to door.

Once Saturday came to an end and our first week came to a close everyone was pleased with what we had accomplished that week. It was surprising that after the first week how well I got to know everyone and how close I became with my partner, TJ. We are basically married now, in a good way of course. Everyone seems to be getting along really well with one another and it was really awesome to see such an array of people cooperating so well. This first week promised positive potential for what the rest of the summer had in store.

Adrienne Kerr: Student Auditor, Reduce the Juice Orangeville 2006

Training Week July 1st -7th

What a week!

Our team finally got to stretch our legs out at the Canada Day festivities at the Orangeville Fairgrounds. We set up the snow-cone maker, the bean bag toss, and an information booth outside on the grass - we were ready to spread the word of energy conservation! However, after our initial setup, the sky darkened and we began to feel the first drops of rain which were about to define this year's July 1st. Quickly as we could, we packed up and headed for the confines of the Agricultural Centre. We re-assembled our booth and made the best of the circumstances, but things would never be the same: what's a Reduce the Juice event without our renowned Solar-Powered-Snow-Cone-Maker!? The day could have been more successful, but we made the best of our circumstances. We still managed to attract a lot of parents who were drawn in by their children's yearning for a try at the beanbag toss.

Our four days of training were jam-packed with a whirlwind of information. Every morning at nine o'clock, our team of Orangeville students met in the Mono Centre office. We somehow managed to all fit in the cozy office, with our camping chairs, our lunches, and of course, our thirst for knowledge! Sarah Fairlie, Sara Wicks, and Phoebe Lusk presented most of the training and information sessions to us, but every day we would have the opportunity to listen to a new guest speaker. On Tuesday, Matthew Fairlie visited our office to talk to us about climate change. It was great to have a fresh outlook on this terrifying yet vastly important issue! On Wednesday, Theresa Sauren gave us a motivating pep-talk on the importance of the RTJ project, and what we are to accomplish during the summer. On Thursday, Randy Dryburgh stopped by to teach us about the interesting opportunities that alternate sources of renewable energy have provided for society's energy demands. Finally, Friday presented the opportunity to speak with Heba Gaber and Jenn Lynes from the University of Waterloo, who taught us about the statistical portion of our surveying work.

Not only was the week full of enlightening information, it was a great chance to get to know the members of the team better. There were lots of great times and great memories. Our leaders encouraged us to practice surveying each other, which was an excellent way to get ready for our door-to-door work. Not to mention, a fun way to stretch our acting chops as some of us impersonated rich energy hogs, while others pretended to be penny-pinching forest dwellers! On our breaks, we got to go outside and play games in the idyllic Mono Centre Park. The week was definitely a great success for both the team leaders and the student auditors. Not only did we have fun but we gained so much knowledge about energy conservation and the necessity for Reduce the Juice. I can't wait to start working door-to-door in Orangeville; the town definitely needs our help!

Elizabeth Kurz: Student Auditor, Reduce the Juice Orangeville 2006

June

Hey folks!

As everyone should be aware, the final Reduce the Juice team for the 2006 summer has officially been hired and put into action! However, the process of getting all 12 of our high school students was far from easy. The planning, recruiting, and interviewing process was a lot of fun, until it come down to picking only 12 of the applicants.

We started off by going to each of the high schools in Orangeville and setting up recruitment banners and our famous blue barrels in strategic places during lunchtime to get the most attention. We had a lot of response from the keen students at ODSS (especially after we gave them free solar-powered snow cones!). We alternated going from Westside to ODSS for almost two weeks before we were finally ready to do the interviews.

All of the interviews went really well, and were really entertaining for Phoebe, Sarah and I, especially the question where we asked them what animal they would like to be and why. Some of their answers were so creative! We had a lot of fun with all of applicants, so it was difficult to narrow it down. Finally though, after a couple of agonizing days, we finally decided on our team, and I think it's working out really well and everyone is having fun.

Sara Wicks- Team Leader for Reduce the Juice.

May

Hey Folks! Wow! This first week at Reduce the Juice has flown by! The 2006 Team Leaders (Sarah Fairlie, Phoebe Lusk and Sara Wicks) were thrown into the swing of things right away as we attended an Energy Awareness Conference at the University of Waterloo on May 9th, the second day of the project! Not only did we get the opportunity to witness excellent Power-Point presentations from noted environmental scholars, we were brought up to speed on just how severe the issue of climate change actually is. It is definitely not something we can turn a blind eye to, which seems to be the general attitude amongst many people. The great thing about this conference was that you could feel the passion in everyone's hearts towards this global problem. By far, the most inspiring aspect of this conference would be Dr. Sarah Darby's presentation. Dr. Darby is an Environmental Professor from Oxford University in England, who made her way to Waterloo to enlighten us with her insight. Her main argument was that the only reason people are not doing anything about this catastrophic problem is due to lack of education. This is exactly where Reduce the Juice comes in! We were so elated that we were thinking in the same mind-frame as this well-renowned scholar! As if this were not enough, we were lucky enough to pick Dr. Darby's brain after the conference and also fill her in on our objectives for this summer and beyond. Sarah Fairlie had the opportunity to work on this project last summer in Shelburne, so she was more aware of the issues at hand, but for Sara Wicks and Phoebe Lusk this was their first encounter with any such thing. Being thrown into the mesh of things was the best eye-opener for these two girls, which has sky-rocketed their motivation for the success of this project in Orangeville. We only hope you become as enthusiastic about our goals as we are, which we have no doubt about accomplishing. There will be weekly updates on our progress over the summer, so keep tuning in for more exciting information! And don't forget to look for us at local events and on the streets of Orangeville!

Phoebe Lusk - Student Team Leader Reduce the Juice Orangeville 2006