My Internship with ACAP Saint John: Giving Back to the Community
From August 2022 to March 2023, I held the climate change communications intern position at ACAP Saint John. This has been a professional and personal experience for me since my family has roots in Rothesay, although most of them now live in Quebec. Being back in Saint John and working at ACAP brings back many memories from my childhood of this area. During the internship, I have had the opportunity to take part in many different activities including native tree plantings and maintenance, gardening, community cleanups, Saint John Harbour monitoring (of water quality, fish, and seals.), and classroom education.
There are two specific projects I have participated in including the Glen Falls School green infrastructure (GI) project and a climate change education project with local high schools. These projects were heavily focused on community engagement and communication. The Glen Falls School GI project consisted of creating a rain garden with the help of over 100 elementary school students. We also dug two infiltration trenches to help the schoolyard soak up rainwater, allowing the ground to dry up faster so the students can play outside. The main reason why this project was completed is because the school is situated on a natural floodplain. During the project, I was involved in coordinating the NBCC (New Brunswick Community College) students who came and helped us dig the infiltration trenches. Other ACAP staff were working to oversee tree planting and helping the younger students plant the rain garden. I was happy to be involved in this project and learn more about GI in the community.
Presenting to Sam-De-Cham students.
The climate change education project in high schools was part of a bigger project to foster climate change leadership among youth in local high schools. During the project, I was able to meet student-led green or environmental teams from Simonds High School, Harbour View Highschool, and the Centre Scolaire Samuel-de-Champlain. The two main reasons I was meeting with these students were to provide feedback on the ongoing projects they are interested in, and to motivate them to implement more environmental and climate action projects in their schools. During my internship I also took part in other educational activities organized by different members of ACAP Saint John including outdoor education activities with elementary schools, and community presentations. This experience has allowed me to coordinate presentation dates with multiple schools and gain confidence when presenting and working with youth and the community in general.
The Saint John Harbour monitoring project that I have taken part in during my internship was not part of my projects but all staff were able to chip in and help out. What I really enjoyed about this experience was learning more about the marine life around Saint John. I also enjoyed getting the opportunity to see live fish from the Bay of Fundy up close and to observe seals around the coastline of the city. If I was asked what species I enjoyed the most, I think I would answer the sand shrimps and the flounders.
In December 2022, I began working on a report on the ways that climate change is framed in the news. I really enjoyed researching this topic and writing the report. Overall, it is possible to see that news stories are starting to discuss climate change and its impact on the environment more. This can especially be seen within the conservative news stories that are slowly starting to realize the importance of covering the issue.
Although there are still many conservative news agencies that do not realize how important conversations around climate change are. Another important issue uncovered during the development of this report was that a lot of media confuse the terms climate change and global warming. This mix-up is one of the main reasons why so many people still do not want to accept that humans are having a negative impact on the environment and that we need to change our way of life. The report can be accessed at the link below. It has been a good experience and a reminder to be careful when reading and interpreting climate change news.
One of the things that I have been the most grateful for during this internship (in addition to the work experience gained) would be the chance to rediscover the beautiful Saint John region. Many places I have visited during work hours reminded me of my summer trips with my family when I was younger. I am also grateful for having had the chance to work with such a fantastic group of people.
