This activity will help you:

  • Realize how many jobs require an understanding of other jobs/career paths/skills
  • Appreciate that the issues we face are incredibly complex
  • Better understand the diversity of voices – stakeholders – involved in an issue or project
  • Gain empathy for different viewpoints
  • Understand the importance of focus when making hard decisions
  • Find ways to work with those you disagree with
  • Weigh the pros and cons of projects that focus on local issues versus national issues

Ready?

Part One

  1. Divide your class in half. One half of the class selects a national biodiversity hotspot (ex boreal forest) and the other half picks a local biodiversity hotspot (ex location in your city or community).
  2. Select an issue facing both the national and local biodiversity hotspots you’ve chosen (ex a species that is endangered in both your community and at the national level). Hint: get ideas from the themes being discussed in your Inquiry Media.
  3. Within each group, answer the following questions:
    1. What industries and businesses are impacted by or have impact on the issue?
    2. If land is involved, who owns it?
    3. What levels of government are involved in your issue?
    4. What advocacy groups are involved in the issue? Remember, there are often advocates on all sides of an issue.
    5. What communities need to be considered when discussing this issue?
    6. What treaties exist?
    7. What’s the history and economics of the region?
  4. Each member of the group will select one stakeholder and quickly research their job and the position they have on the issue.
  5. Once you’ve done the research, you will explain your stakeholder’s job, how it relates to the issue and argue your stakeholder’s position to the rest of the group.
  6. After everyone has made their case, the group will work to find a solution to the issue that each ‘stakeholder’ can agree with. If you can’t come to an agreement, that’s still a result.

Part Two

  1. Have a representative from each group present the decision to the class, outlining the jobs involved in the issue, the viewpoints that were argued and the agreed upon solution (or non-agreement).
  2. After each group has presented, as a class, discuss the diversity of jobs involved in a decision-making process and the pros and cons of working at a local or national level. Which group had an easier time reaching an agreement? Which solution, local or national, would have more impact? Would a national solution trickle down to solve the local issue as well? Would a local solution move the needle on the nation issue? How do your answers relate to this class and your future career? Is it better to start small or dream big? Is one option better than another?

Moral of the story: Decision-making is hard and so too is creating meaningful impact. Understand and weigh this reality when designing a project that seeks to advance a specific product, idea or solution.