Information Package. Sponsored by

Information Package Sponsored by About the Healthy Communities Campaign Pollution Probe’s Healthy Communities Campaign is designed to engage individ...
Author: Elaine Holland
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Information Package Sponsored by

About the Healthy Communities Campaign Pollution Probe’s Healthy Communities Campaign is designed to engage individuals, workplaces and communities across Canada in projects that promote human health and environmental health at the local level. The Campaign is your chance to address your specific community’s needs using creativity and ingenuity. It gives you the flexibility to dream up original projects, to adapt one of our suggested projects or to promote an existing initiative in your community.

Your Campaign Big or small, ambitious or simple: your Healthy Communities Campaign project is your chance to meet your community’s unique needs.

Register at http://www.pollutionprobe.org /healthycommunities/

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Contents

Sustainable Livelihoods

About the Healthy Communities Campaign

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It Starts with an Idea

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Why Participate

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How to Participate

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The Campaign Coordinator

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Next Steps

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Calgary Can is working to ensure that bottle pickers, folks who collect discarded bottles and return them for financial compensation, “are valued and compensated for their environmental and economic contributions.” Learn more about this fantastic initiative at Calgary Can.

Healthy Soil, Healthy Trees

Tired of seeing parts of their communities barren with no vegetation, residents of Flin Flon, MB and Creighton, SK created an organization called Green Project where volunteers revegetate the landscape by adding limestone to the soil. This created better soil conditions for plants to thrive enabling new growth in the area! 3

It Starts with an Idea… The Healthy Communities Campaign was inspired by communities driving local change. We’ve highlighted our favourite stories here! Buying in Bulk After overhearing a father tell his daughter that they would buy a strawberry flavoured product instead of fresh strawberries due to cost, Jessica Hughes decided to develop a bulk food buying club. Community Food Smart (CFS) now delivers quality produce to folks in the Fredericton area. By purchasing fruits and veggies in bulk, CFS ensures that more people can afford fresh, local food. The short conversation that Jessica overheard sparked a simple idea that now feeds communities, improves nutrition and reduces food miles by working with local farmers.

Cleaning Up the Streets In 2013, Dr. Stuart Kreisman, a professor at the University of British Columbia, wrote to his local newspaper to advocate for a cigarette butt take-back system. Two months later, the volunteer group West End Clean Up made this idea a reality. For one day, they paid Vancouverites a penny for every cigarette butt returned, or $20 for every pound. In just few hours, they paid out $500! By removing cigarette butts from the streets, participants kept harmful chemicals out of the water supply and raised awareness about the litter generated 4 by smoking.

Why Participate? Community Benefits Community Benefits You will directly contribute to positive, tangible change in human and environmental health in your community. The Campaign resources will guide you and your community through identifying and achieving your goals with other members of your community.

CSR Reporting

For workplaces that prioritize corporate social responsibility and community engagement, the Healthy Communities Campaign provides an opportunity to unite employees in making direct change at the local level. Healthy Communities branding can be used in corporate reports. Promote Your Initiative Promoting your Initiatives Already running a community project? Pollution Probe will help spread the word about your successes!

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How To Participate The Healthy Communities Campaign is designed to be easily adapted to your community’s unique needs. Your community can choose to participate in the Campaign through one of three options:

2 – Adapt a Suggested Project Awards

Awards If you’d like extra support in developing your project, you can adapt our project suggestions to your community. You can find these on the Healthy Communities webpage.

1 – Design your Own Project

You can design new Campaign projects to meet your community’s unique needs and interests. There are no restrictions on the scope of your project or its duration.

3 – Tell us about an Existing Project

Promoting your Initiatives If your community already runs an initiative that aligns with the Healthy Communities Campaign – for example, a workplace sustainability week – you can register it in the campaign. We’ll promote your efforts and successes through our media platforms.

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The Campaign Coordinator Each Campaign project will be led by a volunteer Healthy Communities Campaign Coordinator. The Coordinator’s role is to:

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Register the community’s project with Pollution Probe Act as the primary point of contact between Pollution Probe and the community Oversee the project’s planning and implementation Provide progress updates, including photos and messages, to be shared on social media

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Next Steps

Do Whatever Moves You!

To register, visit http://www.pollutionprobe.org/healthycommunities/

Questions? Suggestions? Get in touch! [email protected]

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