TakingITGlobal

National Youth Dialogue on Water in Canada

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citizens. Aquariums are a great example of this. As it is, field trips do happen, but are quite rare. If we increase the frequency of these events, make them a regular occurrence, learning would be greatly enhanced. Learning while young also gives students a better understanding of these problems as they get older, allowing them to look back at past events to gain further context and make new connections. Field trips, after school activities, and other school events are all great opportunities to improve the quality of both learning and teaching. "Universal education about the importance of water stewardship and sustainable practices must be available and promoted" -Sahaj Kinshuk, AB Community To create meaningful change we must harness the ability of all the people in our communities, both youth and adults. We can approach youth by creating Youth Advisory Councils (YAC) and through social media. YACs allow youth to bring different perspectives and backgrounds together to create effective plans to deal with identified issues. YACs are perfectly situated to forward ideas to their town councils to take steps in the right direction at a local level. Another way to reach teens and young adults is through social media. Using applications like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter allow youth to become interested and involved with environmental issues. Displaying ads and using popular hashtags can increase our social media platform, not only connecting Canadians with each other, but with people from around the globe. While reaching children and youth is incredibly important, we must also target the adults of our community. Youth receive education by schools and through parents at home. Adults must also take up the call to understand their effects on water use, explore ways to mitigate their impacts, and champion change in the ways we manage and regulate our use of water, because the children who look up to them as role models will follow in their footsteps. If adults do not change their actions it will prevent the rest of society from changing and creating a better world. One way we can influence Canada's adult population about water issues is tying education into their recreational activities. For example, we could host a golf tournament to bring awareness to the fact that there are alternative measures that golf courses can take to become "eco-friendly" like installing an irrigation system. We could also display ads in local newspapers that bring awareness to water issues. In order to change the way our world works, we must target the people in our communities including youth and adults. "If all citizens see the importance and priority of this problem, then we can create change much faster." -Azzam Haq, BC

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