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!