Activity goal: It is crucial to raise awareness among young people about their daily water usage — both direct and indirect—and to encourage them to adopt more sustainable habits by creating a personalized action plan in collaboration with their camp organizers. In this activity, participants are invited to reflect on how they use water in their everyday lives, through imaginary scenarios that challenge them to make decisions in situations where water is limited.
Preparation: The activity should begin with an explanation of the water footprint concept: it describes what the water footprint represents and how it is calculated, taking into account both direct consumption (water used in daily activities) and indirect consumption (water used in the production of goods and services).
There are many online resources available to help explain the water footprint, which you can use during your sessions with young people. Here is an example considering both direct and indirect consumption:
- Direct consumption: This is the water we use visibly and regularly. For example: taking a shower, brushing our teeth, or washing dishes at camp.
- Indirect consumption: This is the water used to produce the things we consume, even if we don’t see it. For example: the water used to produce the food we eat (like a hamburger), manufacture our clothes, or even make the plastic bottles we bring to camp.
You can prepare this part in advance using visual resources such as a PowerPoint presentation, an infographic, or a printed handout. Below are some resources you can consult if you’d like to support your explanation:
EN: https://www.solucionesice.com/en/how-to-calculate-the-water-footprint/
Start of the activity: Once the concept of the water footprint has been introduced, a discussion is held with the participants, asking them about their daily water habits to encourage reflection on their usage.
If the group has more than 5 people, it is recommended to divide them into smaller groups of 3 to 5 participants. Once the groups are formed, ask them to analyse the water footprint of the camp.
If there is no data available on the camp’s water consumption, they can be asked to reflect on their home usage and then extrapolate it to the camp setting.
There are many online tools available to calculate water footprints. Here are a few examples that may be useful for this activity: https://watercalculator.org/wfc2/
Implementation: Once the current water footprint has been analysed, participants can be invited to reflect on what measures they would take at camp to reduce their water footprint. If needed, you can offer some examples to inspire them, such as:
- Showering only once a day and for less than 3 minutes.
- Reusing water (for example, to water plants or flush toilets).
- Eating less meat during the camp.
Then, each group selects three actions from the list that they would like to commit to implementing during the camp. They should discuss the potential impact each action could have on the camp’s water footprint and prioritize the actions accordingly. Each group then shares their decisions and reflections with the rest of the participants.
Wrap up/ Debrief: A group reflection follows, involving all participants, where they are encouraged to think about:
- Why did you prioritize some actions over others? Which one do you think would be most effective if everyone at camp did it?
- What would happen if the entire camp committed to just one action?
- What might make it difficult to carry out these actions?
- What would you need in order to follow through?
At the end of the activity, each participant should reflect on their own decisions and express a personal commitment they want to take on. Each person is invited to commit to one specific, realistic, and achievable action related to water use that they will implement over the following week. To support this reflection, you can use guiding questions such as:
- What specific action can you take next week to save water?
- How can you make sure you stick to this commitment throughout the week?
Materials needed:
- Paper or notebooks for groups to write down their answers,
- Pens or pencils (at least one per group),
- Clock or stopwatch to keep track of the activity time.