Canadian Wildlife Federation

Canadian Wildlife Federation
Name of the Organization and its Main Purpose The Canadian Wildlife Federation was founded in 1962 with its main headquarters located in Ottawa, Ontario. When it was first founded membership was limited to the ten provincial wildlife federations. In the early 1970’s the Canadian Wildlife Federation starting allowing and encouraging individual Canadians to not only support but to become members themselves. The federation currently has over 300,000 members and supporters that host many successful events each year. The CWF’s main purpose is to encourage Canadians to appreciate the world around them as well as ensuring healthy wildlife and habitat. They are able to do this by informing and teaching Canadians, promoting responsible actions and representing wildlife issues. Their official website is www.cwf-fcf.org and offers all information about the organization including a timeline of their success.
Organizations Environmental Successes The Canadian Wildlife Federation has had many successes in the past. In the last year alone they have made great progress like increasing conservation and education programs to 11 million dollars as well as making efforts to encourage people to get outdoors and experience nature first hand. In 2012 the Canadian Wildlife Federation celebrated 50 years of achievements. Some of the achievements they have done in the last fifty years are listed below and can also be found at http://ecards.cwf-fcf.org/timeline/ : * In 1964 pesticide use wasn’t a well-known topic but CWF urged the government to do more research on the damaging effects pesticide chemicals can have on wildlife. * In 1972 they created an endangered species program that invited others to learn about species that are threatened, endangered and rare to Canada. CWF has also raised millions of dollars towards protecting and conserving the endangered species in the program. * In 1991 they launched a campaign to save whooping cranes. These cranes were once endangered with around only 15 of them in existence. That number has now risen to over 400 whooping cranes!
On top of all this the Canadian Wildlife hosts education programs, conservation programs, events, contests, a Canadian wildlife magazine for adults, a WILD magazine for children and so much more to keep Canadians up-to-date and educated on everything wildlife!
Description of a recent activity performed by the organization In 2010, the Canadian Wildlife Federation launched a new fund towards endangered species worth 1 million dollars. The money will be used to help save endangered species like killer whales, which are low in numbers due to human actions as well as the environment.
Personal Reflection
I first decided to use the Canadian Wildlife Federation as my topic because I had done previous research on the organization. I am drawn to this organization because like me they have a bio centric worldview and that nature and animals are just as important as humans. This organization also cares a lot about climate change and how it affects the world around us which I find intriguing since most people forget to consider nature and animals when natural problems occur such as global warming. I also really like this organization because it has so many members and supporters and is really only successful because of the amount of Canadians that stand by such a good cause. The fact that we as a country can succeed on a high level like this makes me believe that if more countries joined the cause we could really make a difference on the world scale and possibly reduce endangered animals for good! Thirdly, I like how involved CWF is with children by providing camps, a magazine, contests and so much more. By teaching children at a young age the importance of nature they will grow up being much more environmentally friendly and willing to explore nature than children who were never taught about nature. Lastly, the only thing I didn’t like about the Canadian Wildlife Federation while doing my research was their website! It was difficult to navigate and I had trouble finding certain pertinent information.
Discussion Questions * Do you feel like the Canadian Wildlife Federation has made a significant impact on the wildlife that surrounds us? What more could they do? * Do you feel like global warming is real or that it has been blown out of proportion? What is something you could do daily do help reduce global warming.
References
www.cwf-fcf.org http://cwf-fcf.org/en/about-cwf/ http://ecards.cwf-fcf.org/timeline/ http://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore-our-work/education/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Wildlife_Federation