COMMUNITY – Walkable, self-guided tours to look at Kamloops up close

A new way of looking at Kamloops will feature walkable, self-guided tours with a sustainability theme starting Thursday, July 14 at 10 a.m.

“Sustainability Stories” was created by the Community Alliance for a Resilient Kamloops, a loose partnership of local groups and individuals.

Signage at various locations features a QR code, scannable with a smartphone, which links users to the website (tinyurl.com/yun8chb3). Listeners can click on the audio and enjoy a five-minute story as they continue walking.

The first tour to be launched focuses on the downtown area. Each of the five stops highlights a different aspect of development, past, present, and future. The tour can be done all at once, or a stop or two at a time, in any order.

Participants should meet for the Thursday tour at Cunlife House in Riverside Park in time for a 10 a.m. departure and be prepared to spend 60 to 90 minutes on the tour.

Pre-registration is not necessary, but people can contact Transition Kamloops at info@transitionkamloops.net for more information.

The working group and story creators have drawn on their own experiences of sustainability: events that transpired during their life in Kamloops, businesses or agencies they have interacted with, or natural places they have sought out for rejuvenation.

“We wanted to focus on potential and current solutions, however experimental and tentative, and to connect people to the landscape,” said Kim Naqvi, one of the program’s creators.

“Whatever change occurs will also be carried out by everyday people in their everyday lives, thinking about how they work, play, and shop. New experiments and new ideas will shape the city of the future. They need to come from us and from our discussions and practice.”

Deb Alore, another creator, said the stories complement the City’s Community Climate Action Plan, which was adopted a year ago.

“Sustainability is integrated into every facet of our community. By raising awareness of how we interact with each other and with the land around us, we’ll hopefully sow some seeds and get more of us talking about how we want Kamloops to develop in a healthy way in the future.”