Chapter 19

Ducks Unlimited Canada

www.ducks.ca
See page 276 in The World Today.

Wetlands - for example, marshes - are an essential element in keeping our natural environment in balance. Ducks Unlimited is a leading organization in promoting wetland conservation. It raises money to fund conservation, provide public education about wetlands, and fund scientific research into them. The work of Ducks Unlimited helps every plant and animal - including, of course, ducks - that needs wetlands to live and breed.

Save Our Seine River

www.saveourseine.com
See page 282 in The World Today.

Save Our Seine (SOS for short) is an organization based in Winnipeg dedicated to preserving the natural environment along Manitoba’s Seine River. One special ecosystem along the river is the Bois-des-esprits (or river bottom forest), located in south St. Vital, Winnipeg. It is one of the few forests within the city of Winnipeg that is “virtually undisturbed” by people. SOS wants to keep it that way and fights to prevent urban development from encroaching on the forest. On this website, you can read about what SOS is doing and how its fight to save the forest is going.

Earth Day Footprint Quiz

http://ecofoot.org
See page 287 in The World Today.

How big is your footprint? Take the Earth Day Footprint quiz, and find out how many hectares of land is supporting your existence, and your existence alone (that is your “ecological footprint”). Hint: according to the website, it takes 8.8 hectares of land to support the average Canadian, but if all productive land in the world was “divided” equally among the world population, there would only be 1.8 hectares available per person. Find out if you are doing better or worse than the national average.