Surrounded by the evening light playing on the majestic mountain peaks around the mountain town of Fernie, BC, we sat with friends and watched an incredible hockey game. Wow! It was early to bed though, because we had a jam packed agenda for the following morning. We had the pleasure of visiting both the junior (Isabella Dickens Elementary) and high school (Fernie Secondary) of this wonderful town, giving two presentations to the younger kids, and a larger presentation to the high school students.

As with Nelson, we found these kids to be totally aware of the problem and what their role in the solutioin needs to be. Right down to the smallest kids, there was an awareness the recycyling (while very good) is a band-aid to the problem, the ultimate solution being to not use single-use plastics in the first place  – starting with the pop and water bottles!!

Fernie as a town is one that has a strong and hardcore local skiing and snowboarding population, that swells over the weekends with the Calgary out of towners who drive the three and a half hours from Alberta to join in the fun on the slopes. The people are incredibly friendly and that small town vibe is everywhere. You can strike up a meaningful and down to earth conversation with anyone. Everyone is helpful and smiling and full of life, and how could you not being surrounded by the wonderful outdoors? We departed Fernie wishing we could stay longer, headed the big red van toward crow”s nest pass and onwards to Calgary, Alberta