Innovative Solution

Education, Sustainability, Community, Boycott, Awareness, Adventure, Cycling, Africa

educational

WaterCycle exists to help make the right to clean, safe water a worldwide reality. We believe this goal can be achieved by raising the public’s level of consciousness regarding world water issues, by eliminating private control of water resources and through the pursuit of sustainable water management strategies.

The first step in WaterCycle’s plan is to embark on a three pronged learning mission to help us and the public better understand water issues:

1. An African cycling expedition designed to help us experience water adversity and to learn about privatization and sustainability in a setting that presents some of the world’s most extreme examples of water issues.
2. A media campaign that will chronicle the expedition, helping the general public learn about water issues with us in an entertaining and accessible way.  The media campaign will require the participation of local communities and individuals, as we will seek to record and understand their water struggles and successes.  We are especially interested in presenting local water initiatives that have been designed with sustainability in mind.
3. The creation of a water-themed database of educational resources that educators can use to incorporate water issues into everyday learning. Education will enable and mobilize people to make better personal water choices and to pressure corporations and governments at all levels (local, regional and international) to do the same.  We feel that education will be one of the most impactful strategies in making the right to water a worldwide reality.    

These are just the first steps. Once the learning mission has been accomplished we will be better equipped to influence tangible changes in support of the right to water at home and around the world.   

Our media will reach many parts of the West. In the pursuit of our goals we will complete an African cycling expedition, travelling from Alexandria, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa between Oct 2012 and May 2013. Between these two points we will interact with big cities and small communities.

There are seven people involved in WaterCycle- Jason Galbraith, Ange Gaudino, Warren Carmichael, Eric Kingsley, Ginger Derochie, Wesley McDonald and Bradley Harman. These people joined between March 2010 and December 2011 as the project continued to evolve. All of us at WaterCycle are committed to increasing the level of consciousness surrounding world water issues. This means that empowering people through education is an essential part of our mission, which is to help make access to safe water a worldwide reality.

As more people joined our organization each added what has become a critical component. Each member facilitates one or two aspects of WaterCycle enriching our goals and solutions.

Some members are recruiting local volunteers and others are developing new resources for Ontario’s educators. Our documentary will explore and promote innovation in water management at the local level in Eastern African communities and North American ones, changing the way we think about water.

The essential pillars of WaterCycle as they are now were born of a series of meetings and mission statements. The core goals are firm but our continuing dialogue allows the project to evolve; the most recent developments being the start of our volunteer initiative and new platforms in social media.

The expedition plans are completed; we have a comprehensive projected-cost document including an inventory of equipment. We have also planned a thorough itinerary that follows water sources but also leads us to water-stressed areas, where innovative water management is more crucial.

Currently WaterCycle’s attention is focused on funding. By attending conferences, applying to grants and expanding our social media we hope to connect with people who are passionate about water and can help us achieve our goals. 

 We have been reaching out into the community in an attempt to grow our media campaign. The interest shown in WaterCycle’s Facebook profile encouraged us to reach out with a web page.

WaterCycle’s aim is to change for the better the current status of the Right to Water. Too many are misinformed about the true condition of the world’s water and the management of those precious resources. More information will change behaviors and ideology concerned with water on a large and a small scale, eventually encouraging innovation and improving the quality of life worldwide. We intend to inform present and future generations of the benefits of sustainable water management practices, particularly alternatives to plastic bottles and the booming commodification of water. We will raise the level of consciousness of global water issues, and help make the right to clean water a worldwide reality. This is why our main goal is the dissemination of information; accomplished by our media campaign and the development of innovative educational resources.

WaterCycle’s key outputs include a media campaign through which we are building public rapport, and facilitating the spread of information. Texts have inherent longevity and if well produced will echo in dialogue about water forever. WaterCycle’s expedition will give the team a better understanding of practical water management practices, of ethical problems and the diverse socio-cultural perspectives on water. Our bottle boycott will set an inspiring precedent, encouraging changes in behavior and ideology. Withdrawal of mass support for the commodification of water will shrink the industry and with it pollution, social injustice and inequality. Simply by considering the hundreds of years it takes for a plastic bottle to decompose, it is easy to recognize the long-term benefits of moving away from privatized water, whose primary water management technique is commodification. Our investment into this project will have been negligible compared to the gains that will come from it.

As indicators of qualitative success we would expect to see changes in behavior worldwide; for example the widespread use of sustainable water containers and the discontinued use of disposable containers. WaterCycle’s success can also be measured in policy changes and changing industrial practices but most importantly it can be measured by how much our personal perspectives on water have evolved. Quantitatively, our success can be measured by the amount of volunteers we engage, the success of our social media (including the documentary), the amount of people we connect with and learn from during the expedition, how many miles we travel without using bottled water. The most powerful measure of WaterCycle’s success is how well we maintain a dynamic stance as a community; continually adapting our opinions and strategies to the dynamic and diverse problems of the Water Crisis.

The community most interested in our solution would be educators who are passionate about the relationships between people and the environment. Educators would be most interested because it is their responsibility to inform future generations about the implications of our society’s management of its most precious resource.  People who should be interested in our solution are those who can vote, those who can choose what they buy and who want to get involved in inspiring change.

Even those who are affected globally by the mismanagement of water should be interested in WaterCycle because of the opportunity to learn and to teach. By sharing experiences and techniques, by creating discourse people can empower themselves and their communities to move closer to a sustainable way of life.

An environment of open mindedness and equality, not of hierarchical organization would be the ideal context for this solution because open mindedness fosters understanding, cooperation and innovation. To create this context, we should all take up the role of student and discard as completely as possible any preconceived notions we may have about sustainable water management.  

What we need to upscale this solution would be first of all the widespread recognition of the significance of the Water Crisis and the importance of moving toward sustainable water management.  Once groups of people are connected have enough influence, they can take part in politics in a way that gets results. Our media campaign and educational endeavors could accomplish this if they were to be marketed on a large enough scale and struck the right note with its audience.

WaterCycle is as of yet without any partners but has a developing volunteer initiative. We are in contact with many individuals and organizations interested in supporting our project with grants or their valuable time. Currently, we are in contact with Mountain Equipment Co-op, Music and Film in Motion, Outdoor Educators of Ontario, Rotary Club of Sudbury, Ontario and many others.

Water Cycle can be reached for information at,

Email:watercycle7@gmail.com

Mailing Address: 167 Walford Rd, Sudbury Ontario, Canada, P3E2G9

Webpage: www.facebook.com/watercycleafrica

Please find attached our supporting documents.

1) A WaterCycle PowerPoint presentation

2) Itinerary: route specific travel informaiton and water facts

3) Project Cost Document

4) WaterCycle logo