I decided to start my Queen's Guide Award - the highest award you can achieve - in Sep 2021: you get 3 years to complete all the tasks. One section of the award is dedicated to community action. It requires a research project and a practical project, which can be on any topic you wish but needs to cover the issue at a local, national and international level. For my topic I have chosen to look mainly into the benefits of trees, but also at how much people value the landscape around them, and if they understand the roles that trees and nature have in mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss. You may have seen my questionnaire that we posted on the 2B social media, massive thank you to everyone that participated.
Well the results are in, and to be honest I was quite shocked at some of the responses I received.
My overall feeling was that people didn’t really grasp the understanding of how valuable the natural environment is, in the way that we as landscape architects do. It is easy to forget the years of training in this area that we undertake, and assume an unrealistic baseline of general public knowledge. Therefore, I decided that as the practical part of my project I would design a challenge badge to help young people get out in nature and appreciate all the things it can offer.
The challenge has been created for all sections of GirlGuiding - and also anyone else who wishes to have a go. There is a badge that people can purchase once they have completed the challenge. All proceeds will be going into my Ranger Unit, to allow me to take them to experience nature whether it be camping or just a day out somewhere. I decided to split the challenge into three sections which are; Identifying Trees, The Benefits of Trees and Exploring Nature. It is hoped that people will go out and explore their local areas whilst completing some of the challenges such as identifying tree species, creating shelters, nature bingo and bird spotting; however, there are things you can do at home if you can’t get out to explore.
I hope that this badge makes people value their local environment a little bit more, and who knows, may even inspire some children to be landscape architects!
By Hannah Clark