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!