Earth Hour

One hour can make a big difference!

Earth Hour started as an idea in Australia in 2007 and immediately became a global action in 2008 and every year its influence spreads. For those who would like to know more about how this idea to its international awareness raising status today check out the History of Earth Day.

It may not seem like a big deal to turn off the lights and all powered things in your home (or workplace) for an hour, but the impacts collectively make a huge difference.

And as they say on the WWF site (that's World Wildlife Fund, not the wrestling federation)"there’s more to it than switching off lights for one hour once a year. It’s all about giving people a voice and working together to create a better future for our planet."

So as the Earth Hour event continues to spread and more and more people in communities around the world participate, the number of ways you can participate continues to grow as well!

Dare to Save the Planet with an "I will __ IF __" or perhaps you'll be tempted to accept someone else's challenge at http://www.youtube.com/earthhour.

If you are keen to plan something specific for Earth Hour there is plenty of inspiration to be found at http://earthhour.wwf.ca/earthhour.

Do you have what it takes to join Team Earth Hour?

Mug it Up, Save the Cup

Many of us love a cuppa java, tea or some other fine hot beverage (especially on the Drive which is chock a block full of great coffee shops!) but did you know that Canadians throw away 1.6 billion disposable cups every year?

Well, this Saturday March 31st there is a youth led day of action to raise awareness and try to change that.

Visit bethechangeearthalliance.org/youthaction to find out more information on how you personally can make a difference and support their efforts - the easiest thing to do is make sure you bring your travel mug to enjoy your hot bevvy in. On March 31st...and every day!

Cheers to good coffee without the waste!

stepping up to our green potential

Well its been a while a while since the last Green Team update and the green vision has continued to grow here at Britannia in many ways.

I'm very happy to say that 2 years after the last posting here on the blog, Britannia has given me an amazing opportunity and hired me as the Green Team Coordinator for a few months of focused organizing, planning and implementing awesome ideas from all of you!

For all of us who are 'keen to be green' the obstacles can seem truly immense for our fabulous community complex (and complex community) but there is no shortage of passion or ideas- so we can do it!

My favorite story of perseverance on our site is a tale of one of our members. David has a big heart and aims to save the planet one small act at a time. When he found out our wristbands used for the fitness centre, pool and skating rink were recyclable he started gathering them when he was here and bringing them to our new Beyond the Blue Box Depot every month. Once our pool programmer realized one of our members was doing this work for us, a very simple solution came about -we put out containers in the lobby and fitnesscentre so ALL members can recycle their bands every day. Now the majority of our bands are being kept from the landfill with thanks for one small step taken by one caring person that started it off.

And for inspiration on a small act that could make a big difference for the neighbourhood check out this story about some locals trying to tackle the challenge of chopsticks on the Drive. Remember when you're dining in to ask for the non-diposable chopsticks next time you're enjoying some sushi!

A couple of resources to share for today for all those things you don't know what to do with: MetroVancouver Recycles where you can find places to recycle or donate just about anything; and if you have an app happy phone you can download BC Recyclepedia for handy dandy convenience.

The Green Team left off with some big dreams for a Zero Waste Britannia which I still believe we can achieve. But we have a few steps to go before we make that goal so let the work begin!

I'll be here 1-2 days a week for Green Team work so please email me any thoughts or ideas you may want to share to kathy.whittam@vancouver.ca. I'm really excited and looking forward to listening to staff, students and the public on what we do well and what gaps we need to fill - a fun challenge! :)


(Image credit: Fresh Start from tripleman.com)

Designing Our Future

This weekend the people of the Britannia neighbourhood have an opportunity to share ideas and visions of what our community hub should look like in the future. Saturday March 6th from 1:00-4:00 pm (in Gym D) everyone is welcome to participate in "Designing Our Future" and this is a perfect time to think big about the possibilities for all things green and zero waste in scope.

Though there has been no recent update found here on the blog that doesn't mean that great things have not been happening around here! Now I offer a quick and humble recap of what I've seen through my green lens since the last posting:

Our rockstar food security coordinator Ian Marcus, along with our superstar programmer Lorrie Wager, organized a Stone Soup Film Festival showcasing some amazing films on food issues in the fall (don't miss the upcoming Stone Soup Fest this May!), and a Water Festival that spread out through February with programs for children at our local schools, and events for folks in the community.

Water has been a big focus with Ian's aquaponics project in the Info Centre and he's working with 7 Britannia High school students to research the benefits of growing plant foods with fish waste, is taking food security to a new level. Amazing to watch the food growing right here in the office!!

And a last note on the water front: the whole green team thing got going 1 1/2 years ago with a little water cooler debate that led to a vote by staff on whether we should switch to a water filtration system instead...and with thanks to our leader Cynthia Low we will soon have new water for staff around the complex from WA2!, and we can finally stop our dependence on bottles! yeepa!

One more thing that Cynthia has pulled together on the green front for Britannia is a recycle depot, Beyond the Blue Box, which is found in our parking lot on the 3rd Saturday of every month. Wonderful way for all of the community to get rid of the recyclable materials the city doesn't pick up. Visit www.pacificmobiledepots.com for details on pricing, and grab all that styrofoam, batteries, plastics and other stuff you haven't figured out how to rid of, and come check it out for yourself on March 20th.

In trying to reduce our waste of paper, one of the best ideas came from Lori Moretto and Jessica Yee: to email receipts to people who register by phone! - so simple. so effective -
After the Micro Footie registration I'd guess that at least a few packages of paper and a box of envelopes (at least) were saved by emailing the majority of receipts to parents rather than mailing them. We need more ideas like this, which can be implemented right away and require little to no effort by all to make it happen. Some habits are hard to break, but little steps like this one can make a difference once they become the norm.

A couple of interesting articles on the zero waste issue that I wanted to share for anyone looking for some debate material (am I the only one who looks for things like that?). Recently Bill Gates gave a speech on Innovating to Zero Waste and on the WorldChanging site they had two views on this that I found worth reflecting on.
Bill Gates: the Most Important Climate Speech of the Year which argues that when Bill says Zero Waste is possible everyone believes it (as opposed to all the crazy environmentalists who have been advocating towards this goal for decades), and the Counter Argument: Joe Romm on Gates which says while its great that Bill has finally relaized the benefits of zero waste, he should not be seen as the only visionary on the subject.

Now, to finish back on the "Designing Our Future" path, I found an enjoyable summary of the best ideas to come out of the Designing Indaba 2010 conference which held a bounty of inspiring possibilities for Britannia to work into our faboo complex of the future.

While the green team has been on hiatus due to busy lives aplenty, the overall green theme seems to have become the standard here at Britannia and that is good news indeed. Keep those visions coming everyone!! We may just achieve that Zero Waste by 2020 goal yet. ;)

Fall into our Next Steps

June was a month of garbage for me including a family adventure to the Landfill Open House, and for our own Britannia Green Team we held our first event "First Steps to Zero Waste"

Since then, the green team has been on a break as everyone needed time to have fun in the sun. But now it is fall, school is in and its time to get back on track. :D

We are a variety of municipal and community services, and 2 schools, that are not connected in any kind of holistic way when it comes to garbage and recycling. So the idea of launching a Zero Waste Challenge for the centre and the surrounding communty is just a little bit on the daft side...but I remain fiercely confident that it can be achieved.

We just need to figure out the barriers to achieving the goal first which is what the 'First Steps to Zero Waste' was all about. I invited some folks who like to think big when it comes to waste management and sustainability along for a little tour of the complex and offered up a potluck lunch for us to nosh on while we reflected on what was seen on the tour.

I felt very fortunate to have a few wonderful ladies from Metro Vancouver, as well as David Cadman who is a city councilor who has been engaged in all things sustainable for many years (and a member of the Greenest City Action Team) and Sean who is the Sustainable Schools Project Coordinator for Check Your Head who all came out to explore our potential challenge with us.

Aside from not scheduling enough time to actually tour the whole site (would take a few hours on its own) and the embarassment of finding mold on one of the breads (I had just bought within an hour of the event!) everything went really well.

The objective was to find out what we need to do next...and now we know. Our first big challenge is to map out what garbage ends up where, who is contracted to remove it, and how many different contracts for waste management and recycling services exist throughout the whole complex. There does not appear to be one person who knows it all off the top of their head, so some digging needs to be done to get to the bottom of it all.

Fortunately our friends at Metro Vancouver have sent us a couple of things that will help us get a grip on this information. A 'Garbage and Recycling baseline' form and 'Smart Steps Waste Assessment', both of which need info from all areas...so time for our team to pull together!

Another thing the ladies from Metro offered to do was a dumpster dive so we can see the varied types of garbage being disposed of from various areas of the complex. This activity can help us identify areas where we can work to minimize the waste ending up in the dumpsters to begin with. As you can imagine there are not many people excited about that opportunity other than me, but I'm sure when the time comes I'll have recruited some other keeners, hehe.

Other ideas that were tossed out thorughout the day during our First Steps tour were passive lighting changes, roof top solar panels and gardens, a community garden and composting area, better waste recepticles that actually offer recycling spaces for the public (can you believe we don't have that already?!), bulk purchasing for the complex and so much more. What a brimming fountain of ideas and inspiration the small group on that day generated!!

Now the Green Team needs to take action on our next steps in our Zero Waste Challenge for Britannia. After the well received feedback from the staff, society board members, the school board trustees, park board commissioners and city councilors I've shared some ideas with I truly believe it will happen now. And already there are brilliant minds reflecting on all the potential that exists. What's your vision?

Just like the landfill taps into the potential energy created by methane gas from our garbage to provide power for many thousands of people in the Delta area - I want Britannia to tap into the potential power that surrounds us. The power of the people in our community that have always risen to the challenge of making things better :)

Our First Steps to Zero Waste

The Britannia Green Team is hosting an event

"First Steps to Zero Waste"

on June 25th from 11:30am - 1:00pm

The event will include a walk about the complex starting at the Info Centre at 11:30am. This walk about will give us a glimpse of the garbage and recycling challenges our complex is facing throughout.

Then we'll head to the Learning Resource Room (beneath the Library) to enjoy a potluck meal while we discuss observations and barriers we face in turning Britannia into a Zero Waste community for the future.

Please RSVP by Monday June 22nd so we can ensure:
a) We have enough food for all (please also notify me if you are planning on bringing a contribution to the feast!)

b) We have a delegate from each area of the community complex to help us understand the gaps in our waste management approach overall

Once we have defined some of our challenges in achieving a Zero Waste goal, then we can work towards our solutions to make it all happen!

Hope to see you there everyone!!

Be well
Kathy

We Can Be the Change!

I was at an event on the weekend called "The Great Turning: An Unconference to Be the Change" and Britannia and our new idea for a Zero Waste Challenge was in my mind a lot that day! The whole day inspired me and left me in a awesome state of reflection on the positive changes we can make to our society.

I had been deliberately trying to avoid the circle talk entitled "Garbage: Our Gateway to Action" as I wanted a break from trash talk between green teams at work and home...but, by the mysterious organic nature of the event I ended up at that particular circle talk anyways! Seems I can't get away from garbage and recycling - it truly is my gateway to action these days ;)

In this circle I met a bunch of great folks including a woman who had been working on the Zero Waste Challenge web site for MetroVancouver and she was a wealth of knowledge on sites to explore. The synergy continues...

Throughout the day I also got to speak with a couple of friends who will be fantastic allies in helping us achieve our visionary changes. Kevin Millsip who has been hired by the Vancouver Board of Education as their Sustainable Schools coordinator, which will be handy given we have 2 schools in our complex to incorporate into a zero waste challenge so I look forward to bringin him in to the loop. And my friend Andrea Reimer, who is a Vancouver City Councillor, upon hearing our plans says she looks forward to working with us to pull it off! Our "little" Zero Waste vision got a few people excited and enhanced my belief that we can and will do this!

So, our next step is to have a potluck lunch, walk around the complex and dialogue - tentative date Thursday June 25th. I'll update when we have confirmed the presence of a Vancouver Greenest City team member, as well as an advisor from the MetroVancouver waste assessment branch.

cheers to possibility!

"You don't filter smokestacks or water. Instead, you put the filter in your head and design the problem out of existence." William McDonough