Act as a Responsible Citizen

Act as a Responsible Citizen – Think Challenge #1

NeighbourWoods Program

The City of Calgary Parks’ NeighbourWoods program is one way you can protect our urban forest.  This program allows residents to help grow and preserve Calgary’s urban forest by planting trees in their communities.  Create a proposal for your principal, asking him or her to apply to be a part of the NeighbourWoods program.  You should discuss:

• The number and types of trees in your community.
• How trees make our lives better and save the city money.
• Where you would like to add trees in your community and why.
• Any other ideas you might have about how we can make our urban forest even bigger and better.

Act as a Responsible Citizen – Think Challenge #2

In Calgary we are extremely fortunate to have a huge number of parks that everyone can use. But these parks can suffer from improper and careless use just like our backcountry wilderness areas.

Try This Project!

With a partner or in a group rephrase these principles so that they apply to the use of parks within the city and can even be understood by young children. Some of the principles may require little or no rewording while others may need a lot of changing.

Create a multimedia presentation to show your class or even your entire school. State each principle and demonstrate why the principles are important for everyone to know. You could even try to go to a park near your house to take pictures or videos to include in your presentation.

Looking For Another Idea?

Create posters to go up in your school that illustrate the principles of Leave no Trace when using city parks.

Act as a Responsible Citizen – Think Challenge #3

Calgary Parks Newscast

Pick a park in your community. Working in a group of 4 – 5, create a newscast about the park and how to act safely and responsibly while using it.  Your newscast should include, but is not limited to:

• Breaking News: What new and exciting things are happening in the park?  Are there any current events about the park to share?
• Sports: What activities are happening in the park?  What safety tips should park users be aware of when participating in these activities?
• Human interest stories: Are there any volunteer opportunities in the park that people should be aware of?  Do you know any person or group that works really hard to preserve the park for others?
• Weather: What is the weather like right now?  How does this affect the activities you can do in the park and the safety precautions you should take?  (i.e. thin ice in the spring, dressing for cold weather in the winter)

Share your newscast with your classmates.  You may choose to video tape your newscast or act it out live in front of your audience.

Not into acting?  Why not create a parks newsletter instead?

Act as a Responsible Citizen – Think Challenge #4

Positive reinforcement means rewarding good behaviours instead of punishing bad ones.  Often, positive reinforcement can be very successful in changing people’s behaviour because it makes them feel good about themselves and what they are doing.

Design a positive reinforcement program for Calgary’s pathways: a way to reward and thank people you see using the pathways in your community safely.  You will need to think about things like:

• What behaviours will you reward?
• What will the rewards be? Remember, they have to be practical rewards – you can’t give $1 million to every person you see wearing a helmet!
• Who will give out the rewards? Or how will the people get their rewards?

After you have designed your program, create a video, poster or other multimedia presentation teaching other people about your program and how they too can thank others acting responsibly in their communities.  You should include examples of safe behaviours in your promotional presentation so that people will know what good behaviours they are looking for.