It's here!

UNA-Canada's Ripple Effect program has a new website!!

Check it out at www.unac-rippleeffect.ca and see what great things are happening for the 2012/2013 school year in Calgary.

New Website Coming Soon!

The summer break is an excellent time to reflect on the fantastic work that UNA-Canada's Ripple Effect program participants have accomplished over the past year; community engagements, workshops, and action days were just some of the highlights of the past 10 months!

This summer, along with report writing and funding proposals, the Ripple Effect team is working with UNA-Canada National to build a NEW WEBSITE! This (long-overdue) new web presence will support the expansion of Ripple Effect programming over the next few years.

Keep your eyes peeled! The new website should be up and running by the end of August 2012!

Mayor's Expo 2012

The Ripple Effect with Mayor Nenshi
@ MEE 2012

This past week, the Ripple Effect was a booth exhibitor at the Mayor's Environment Expo (MEE) at City Hall.

Targeted at kids aged kindergarten to Grade 9, the Mayor's Expo is a great venue to take about how we use water and how we can conserve water.

Last year, the MEE had over 5,200 students, parents, and teachers attend!



  Attendees at this year's MEE learned that:

- Canada has the second highest water usage per capita in the world! (Can you guess which country uses the most water per person?)

- Every Canadian can do more to use less water. Some suggestions include turning off the tap when brushing teeth, installing low-flow shower heads and taking shorter showers, installing rain barrels, etc.

- It takes 5 times more water to produce meat than to produce the same amount of fruits, vegetables, and/or grains. For example, 1kg of beef uses 15,000L of water (to grow the grain, to feed the cow) versus 1kg of dry-weight rice that takes only 3,000L of water. Therefore, part of reducing our water footprint as Canadians is considering the foods we eat and adopting a less-meat, more-veggies diet.

- Water is involved in growing and producing the materials for everyday items such as cotton t-shirts and paper. As Canadians, we need to reconsider our consumption in order to use less water!

Native Plant Campaign 2012!

With Spring in the air, the Ripple Effect is busy planning the implementation of the Native Plant Campaign. This project, planting native shrubs and species along the banks of the Bow River, won first place in last year's Caring For our Watershed contest (2011).

Now, with generous funding from Agrium, and with the help of City of Calgary Parks and Cows & Fish, we are turning great ideas into action!

If you are a young Calgarian who wants to spend a day contributing to the revitalization of the Bow River's riparian health, then Join Us!

Saturday June 2
12:30 - 4:00pm
Prince's Island Park

 Registration is required! Sign up HERE. Space is limited to the first 30 students who register. You can also read more info about this cool project on our Facebook Event page.

We hope to see you there!

Permaculture For Youth workshop

April 22 is Earth Day! Earth Day is an annual celebration to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. 

While there’s a good argument to be made that every day should be Earth Day, many community groups now celebrate Earth Week, an entire week dedicated to environmental issues. 

This Earth Day 2012, the Calgary Current will be sponsoring a Permaculture For Youth workshop!  

What is 'Permaculture'??

 

Permaculture is a sustainable design practice rooted in the patterns of nature. Stated simply, the practice of permaculture pulls the greatest possible value from the smallest possible expenditure of resources. Predicated on a deep, abiding respect for all forms of life, permaculture embraces care for the environment and care for people, while taking care to limit consumption and preserve valuable resources for future use.

Read more about Permaculture here.

There is a growing permaculture community in Calgary, and we want youth to be a part of it! 

The deets:

Sunday April 22 (earth day), 2012 

2:00-4:00pm

Central Branch of the Calgary Public Library (2^nd floor)

FREE! No registration required.

Open to any and all Calgary Youth (ages 14-22)

Join us for this free, interactive, and inspiring session where you'll learn the basics about Permaculture design and roll up your sleeves for some hands-on projects!

This event is being cross-promoted with Youth Central’s Youth Week 2012.

 

Youth Care About our Watershed!

The Calgary Current youth are hard at work, researching and writing proposals that answer the question "What can you do to improve your watershed?"

The annual Caring For Our Watershed student contest is once again upon us! Sponsored by Agrium and coordinated through the City of Calgary's Parks, Environment, and Education department, the contest was launched in Southern Alberta in 2010. Students must research their local watershed, identify an environmental concern and come up with a realistic solution.

Community judges select the top entries to compete at a final competition.

The Bow River sub-Basin

Cash awards are given to groups and students who participate. There is also implementation funding available.

All proposals are due Friday April 13! Read here for submission guidelines. 


Members of the Calgary Current were very successful in last year's Caring for Our Watershed contest, placing first, second (two Calgary Current students tied for second), fourth, and tying for sixth.


Additionally, we are pleased to announce the implementation of last year's first place proposal, a Native Plant Campaign.  Check back here for more details surrounding Planting Day, scheduled for late May 2012!

Citizen Engagement & World Water Day

The UN World Water Day happens annually on March 22. This year, UN Water has teamed up with the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) to present "World Water Day 2012: The World is Thirsty Because we are Hungry." When we factor in the amount of water required to make many of the foods we eat daily, we see that our water footprint is actually much larger than perhaps originally thought.

For example, statistics say that each of us drinks 2 to 4 litres of water every day. However most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat; producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres. We can have a positive impact on our water footprint by re-evaluating our food choices!

Check your virtual water footprint here!

Future Diplomats In-Training: CANIMUN 2012

The Canadian International Model UN (CANIMUN) was held this past weekend at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, AB. Although designed for university students, the Calgary Current received a special invitation to participate given their great reputation within UNA-Canada.

The Indonesian delegation @ CANIMUN 2012

Students from the Calgary Current made up a delegation that represented the Republic of Indonesia on the Rio+20, the GA1, and the WHO committees. After a crash course on the rules and procedures of model UNs, the students worked towards solutions on Arctic sovereignty, private security companies, the green economy, social determinants of health, global pandemics, and global technology transfers. 

Calgary Current @ the Teacher's Convention

Laura & Sara T. at the Teacher's Convention

Last week The Ripple Effect - Calgary Current made two brief appearances at the Calgary Teacher's Convention. With the generosity of the City of Calgary Parks, Environment & Education department, we shared booth space over the noon-hour rush.

Calgary Current members took time out of their days-off to come down to the Telus Convention Centre  and speak to teachers about the Caring For our Watershed contest and the implementation of last years' second place proposal "Youth Teaching Youth Classroom Presentations."


In the two short hours that Calgary Current spent at the Teacher's Convention, we talked with over 60 teachers from around Calgary. We told teachers from all grades and subject areas about the free classroom presentations developed by youth (Calgary Current), for youth (young Calgarians at large) on topics like watershed stewardship, the importance of wetlands, local biodiversity, and simple conservation strategies. Needless to say, the teachers that we spoke with were impressed!

A big thanks to the City of Calgary for sharing their booth space with us. And well done Calgary Current members for such great representation!

Sharing is Caring - Knowledge is Power!

At our last meeting, the Calgary Current was thrilled to welcome Mike Murrey from the Bow River Basin Council (BRBC) as a guest speaker.

A biologist by training, Mike brings a wealth of knowledge with him about the Bow River sub-basin.  It was very generous of him to spend an hour of his Saturday morning discussing with us everything from the aquatic life and biodiversity of the Basin to water licensing policies and politics.

February Happenings...

The period between the winter holidays and the end of the school year is the busiest programming time for the Ripple Effect - Calgary Current. Here's what we have on the calendar for this month...

Peer-to-Peer Learning

One of the unique aspects of the Ripple Effect - Calgary Current is the opportunity for peer-to-peer knowledge transfer. This happens through a variety of community outreach and public engagement commitments such as presentations, action days, youth conferences, and booth displays.

In the Beginning...

UNAC's Ripple Effect program has its roots in some very powerful documents and guiding principles.