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Coolkit Team:
  • Dr. Stephen Sheppard – Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Zhaohua (Cindy) Cheng – Former Project Lead
  • Students (Fall-Winter 2018)
  • Amy Kim
  • Ayan Kanhai Aman
  • Liana Glass
  • Malinda Kankanamge
  • Students (Summer 2018)
  • Malinda Kankanamge
  • Xueyao (Iris) Jiang
  • Yacheng (Sophia) Yang
  • Students (2017)
  • Doris Sun
  • Jennifer Reid

Citizen’s Coolkit on Climate Change & Urban Forestry

The Neighbourhood Urban Forestry Coolkit is a visual and fun guide for people to engage with family, friends, and neighbours on issues and solutions related to urban forestry and climate change on their block.

Since 2008, more than half of the world’s population is living in urbanized areas. In cities, people consider green spaces as an important indicator of their living environment and quality of life, given their values and services such as shading in a hot summer day or beautifying a street nearby.
The aim of this project is to help local residents better understand the values of green spaces in the city (in parks, streets, and backyards!), to provide them a new way of reading and understanding landscape, and to bridge individual ideas to neighbourhood-wide actions. The project will develop tools and guides to gradually ramp up community engagement through conversations, maps, visioning and action (See second image in the slideshow.)

 

From 2017 to 2019, the CALP team ran more than 19 workshops in 5 neighbourhoods with Vancouver high schools students and community residents to evaluate the effectiveness and usability of the Coolkit. We found that the Coolkit workshops have the potential to notably enhance participants’ understanding of local climate change impacts. They may also elevate participants’ concern for climate change effects within their area. Additionally, these workshops could significantly bolster knowledge about urban forests and potentially amplify concern toward urban forest conservation among participants.

🎉 Exciting News Alert! 🎉

We are thrilled to announce that CALP’s groundbreaking project “Citizen’s Coolkit” has been recognized among the Top 75 best ideas by the esteemed Mission LiFE competition in India (scroll to see our project on page 64)!  This incredible achievement marks a significant milestone for our team, as we join hands with over 2500 innovative ideas from 67 countries in shaping a brighter, sustainable future for all. 🙌🌏

A heartfelt thank you to the Prime Minister of India for this recognition and to everyone who has supported us on this transformative journey. Together, we are taking bold strides towards building a more sustainable and inclusive world for generations to come. 🌱💡

Stay tuned as we continue to drive positive change and make a lasting impact on our communities and the planet. Let’s keep pushing boundaries and redefining what’s possible! 💪

Explore the Coolkit:
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