Increase Resident and Stakeholder Awareness
Objective E6: Increase Awareness Among Residents and Stakeholders of the City’s Environmental Programs, Policies and Initiatives
The following actions are needed to complete this objective:
- Lead by example by showcasing ongoing environmental initiatives in local media.
- Promote City of Windsor programs including but not limited to:
- Hazardous waste drop-off (batteries, used oil, hazardous materials, old medicines, etc.)
- Anti-idling by-law
- Waste water treatment plant processes
- Separate and combined sewers
- Climate change adaptation and mitigation
- Transit Windsor
- Active transportation
- Continue to provide environmental education at public events such as Earth Day, Open Streets, the Children’s Water Festival, waste water treatment plant open houses, etc.
- Develop an education campaign that may include:
- Social media
- Videos
- Newsletters or targeted flyers
- Radio advertisements
- Incorporate environmental themes into art, culture and recreational programming.
- Display environmental exhibits at Windsor’s museums and community centres.
- Ensure City of Windsor environmental information is available to the public at community centres and libraries.
- Continue to deliver environmental programming to elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools.
These indicators show the progress the City is making to achieve this objective:
- Awareness of environmentally related programs (Environmental Attitudes Survey question)
- Number of public events attended
- Number of school presentations
Awareness of Environmentally Related Programs Indicator
As part of the Environmental Attitudes Survey, a question was posed to each participant to gauge their knowledge of existing environmental programs and services offered by the City of Windsor.
The success of any environmental program will be closely tied to the level of knowledge and understanding by the community. If you are not aware of a program, how do you participate?
The information obtained from this question is very useful as it allows us to understand how effectively we are communicating to the residents about such programs.
How are we doing?
During the 2005, 2011 and 2017 Environmental Attitudes Surveys, participants were read a list of current environmental programs or services the City is administering and asked whether or not they were aware of them. The three programs with the highest level of awareness in all three years were recycling collection, Transit Windsor and yard waste collection.
Overall, program awareness increased from 2005 to 2017.
As detailed in the chart above, of the 17 programs compared from 2011 and 2017 survey respondents, five showed an increase in the percent of residents aware of the program. Twelve programs showed a decrease in the percent of residents aware of the program.
What is the City of Windsor doing to promote awareness?
- The City offers its comprehensive website, www.citywindsor.ca with information about programs, policies, consultation events and community calendars. The Environmental Master Plan section of the website is used to highlight environmental programs.
- To promote environmental initiatives and programs, various departments place advertisements in the City of Windsor Activity Guide. In addition, the City of Windsor has partnered with the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority along with the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup organization to bring Windsor residents Enviro Tips, a newsletter showcasing actions homeowners can do to help the environment.
- The City of Windsor has continued to partner with the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority to host Earth Day Windsor Essex every year, with great success!
- The City of Windsor has continued to partner with the Essex Region Children's Water Festival, which promotes water conservation, water attitude, water technology, water science and water protection through hands-on activities. Over fifty interactive displays are used to educate approximately 3,500 children per year.
- To promote energy conservation, the City of Windsor has participated in Earth Hour and the Black-Out Challenge.
- The City of Windsor offers community planting events every year with various community groups. A diverse group of trees are planted in key locations throughout the city. The focus of these events is education for kids.
What can you do to promote awareness?
- Share your knowledge with others.