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

Imagine...Britannia: Zero Waste - 2015

Members of Team Green Brit met today to brainstorm ideas for recycling. As it turns out, we have a much bigger vision then simply overhauling the recycling.

We believe Britannia, and the community that embraces it, are up to a Zero Waste Challenge. The goal is to achieve a Zero Waste footprint for the Britannia community complex by 2015!

Given we live within a city that aims to be the Greenest City in the world by 2020 (and #7 in their scope of mandate is "supporting neighbourhood sustainability initiatives"), and this city is a member of a regional district that has a zero waste challenge mandate...the timing couldn't be more perfect for a project of this size. And if ever there was a worksite, and a community, up for a challenge it is the Britannia community! ;)

So, our first idea is to invite someone from the Greenest City Action Team, and an advisor from the Metro Vancouver waste assesment service, to attend a walk around the complex and discussion on what we're doing...and what we could be doing better. We'd like to find out why a commmunity hub of municipal services does not already have a holistic city recycling program, and how we can help make that happen.

Zero Waste by 2015 may be a lofty goal (maybe we'll stretch it to 2020), but together this community has proven time and time again that it can achieve anything it sets its mind to. Let's envision what the ideal could be...and then find our ways to make it happen!

Please send us your visions, ideas and resources to teamgreenbrit@gmail.com

Details to come on other action ideas we discussed, such as hosting a Day of Recycling where community members can bring batteries, styrofoam and other things that can be returned to manufacturers or desposed of in safe ways.

If you have been riding your bike, walking or taking transit to work this week - Bike to Work Week, be sure to fill out a ballot in the Info Centre each day for entry into the prize draw next week! :)

Happy Earth Day!

Team Green Brit is really about making the Earth Day mentality a reality every day here in our community complex, so I thought I'd post this cheeky cartoon instead of a beautiful earth image...keep our perspective focused on the end goal of zero waste one day, hehe ;)

The recycling survey showed that 92.9% of the staff who completed it consider themselves to be “green at heart” who are actively looking for ways to decrease their eco-footprint, the other 7.1% are “wanna be green” and would like to do more to decrease their footprint but don’t know how.

Given the majority of staff would like to decrease our individual and collective footprints, the Team decided to start by making recycle kits for everyone to have at their desk to make recycling easy for all.

The entire complex will take a while to transform one step at a time, so the first step will be examining how much paper waste we create within the Info Centre and how much we can streamline this amount. A monthly tip sheet will also keep the staff of Britannia informed on ways we can contribute to goals of reducing our overall impact.

Further ideas around potential incentive style programs or competitions between all the silos in our complex may be pursued to increase participation in the greening of Brit, as well as continued work towards defining a comprehensive recycling program for all waste within the complex (ultimate end goal!)

Please keep all your fresh ideas coming, along with feedback on some things that could be done differently to improve recycling throughout the complex.

The team will meet again in May (details to come) and we're hopin to bring more folks to the table...calling all keeners in childcare, schools, pool, rink and library - c'mon out and help us green this place up! :)

A little dose of musical inspiration...just 'cuz

If you haven't heard of Playing for Change: Peace Through Music (an inspiring global musical initiative) I hope you enjoy your first dose here with "One Love".

Also check out their beautiful collaborations for "Don't Worry" and "Stand By Me"
for guaranteed feel good music. :)

envision a zero waste community

To provide some food for thought for our first Team Green Brit brainstorming session here are a couple of articles you might want to peruse. Both from Worldchanging (a great resource for thinking about a bright green future)


Community as Technology - looks at defining barriers to sustainable change and finding community-enabling solutions to these problems. If ever there was a place that could find 'community-enabling' people and technologies it is Britannia!!

Designing a Zero Waste city - a peek at all the things San Fransico is doing to attempt having zero footprint by 2020! Good food for thought on how we can minimize waste for our complex :)

springing forward into action

This weekend we set our clocks forward which is always a sure fire sign that spring is upon us...if the budding trees, and blooming croci and daffodils peeking out weren't enough for ya! ;)

So, its time to take some Team Green Brit ideas and put them into action! We're gonna start with a lunch brainstorming meeting on March 11th at 12:30. The locale is yet to be determined, so if you are interested either contact Kathy via email (kathy.whittam@vancouver.ca), or check back on the blog early next week for further details.

Two things up for discussion will be the results of the Britannia recycling survey (one week left to share your feedback if you haven't already folks!) and an open dialogue on ideas for making our Britannia complex the bright green hub to our community that we know it can be! If you have thoughts to contribute but are unable to make this meeting, please email your ideas so they can be included in our brainstorm!

If you need a little dose of positive to give you energy for action this spring, take 5 minutes and watch a brief clip of Blessed Unrest with Paul Hawken "How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being: And Why No one Saw it Coming"

are you so 'green' you have a problem?

Here's an intersting read for you - 'Dark Green "Carborexics": the Obsessive Generation of Extreme Environmental Activists' by Tom Leonard.

I'll agree that using your lawn as your toilet is an extreme, but looking for ways to simplify things to save energy and resources is still a worthwhile goal. Is it crazy that our city is considering by-law changes to allow backyard chickens? I don't think so...what about you?

bright green new year :)

Happy New Year!

With winter registration and the holidays behind us, it is time to breathe life into the Team Green Brit initiative once again! Things are always busy here at Brit, so I'm lookin to pull together all you keeners that feel this 'team' can make a difference. A date for casual brainstorming over bevvies of choice will soon be determined...so let me know if you are interested in being a leader for your area in all things green in our community!

The survey on the recycling issues throughout our complex is still available for your feedback until the end of February. A summary of the problems, and all your creative ideas for solutions, will be available in March. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts now! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=eEfDgH7SAJ3FwS8a3CvJNQ_3d_3d

A quick and easy read I found for the years inspiration is an article Invidividual Action vs Collective Action by No Impact Man and my fave line in the piece "there is one circumstance under which one person absolutely cannot make a difference: if that one person doesn't try"
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives//009204.html

cheers to the possibilities of 2009!

let's talk recycling

When I asked what we should be talking about next, the number 1 response I received was "recycling"...or lack there of.

So to start the dialogue within Team Green Brit I created a little survey to give us a sense of what is working, or not, and in what areas.

When you have a few minutes please check out the recycling survey and share your feedback.

Results will be tallied and reported out on at the end of the month.

"The case for recycling is strong. The bottom line is clear. Recycling requires a trivial amount of our time. Recycling saves money and reduces pollution. Recycling creates more jobs than landfilling or incineration. And a largely ignored but very important consideration, recycling reduces our need to dump our garbage in someone else's backyard."
- David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance

final tally and a new debate

Hey Britsters,

Here is the Final tally:
Yes, keep the water – 17
No, get rid of it – 16

Of the 49 people on my email list so far (still working on collecting emails for potential Team Green Brit members so this list is not conclusive!), 33 voted and 2 abstained for a total of 35 participants. 71% is not a bad voter turn out! ;)

Most people who voted also had ideas and concerns to share which shows this is not a simple choice for many. And 63% of those who voted (whether the vote was yay or nay) are actually in favour of a filtration system of some sort instead of the bottled water.

I'm compiling info on some alternatives and if any of you know of good companies or filtration systems to look into I could use your help gathering this data! Send me a quicky email with your suggestions please!

I've heard from many that this was all done in the past, and it was a good struggle to get the bottled water here for us to enjoy...but perhaps with today's technologies we may have some better options than the last time this was debated. Given the feedback I received I'd say it's worth a look anyway.
Let's hear it for our brothers and sisters that fought for our current thirst quenching option and build on their success by ensuring what we have meets the needs of the majority today!

It was great to have so many of you participating, sharing articles and comic strips and more…a good start to the Team Green Brit intiative which is all about seeing what we can do together to decrease our collective footprint on mama earth.

Cheers to Pat for starting this debate, and now she can take the feedback report I'm working on to the Board for review when its done. I will also send it to the email list and post a summary on the blog. I'm sure you'll all be waiting on pins and needles for the exciting conclusion - hehehe.

Now…when I asked 'what should we debate next?' I received a lot of ideas from you keeners. But I have to say that the #1 hottest topic is recycling - and the lack thereof around the complex.

So. As a community complex what are we doing right? What are we doing wrong?
Let's here your thoughts and suggestions please…

water power

At Worldchanging.com they are running a series of cartoons called Earthly Ideas, and since we're talking about water these days I thought you all might appreciate this one on the power of water and wave energy.

FYI - the tally for the bottled water debate will continue until October 31. since last week only one more vote has spoken up bringing our total so far to:
yes - 6 : no - 7

a water vote

We're casting votes on bottled water here at Britannia, and for anyone who hasn't been a part of the email dialogue (I'm still working on collecting emails of all of you interested in the Team Green Brit intitiative)...here's the recap:

Pat's email that started the water vote:
Thanks a bunch for taking on this initiative. I think it's great, and even better, it gives me a forum for starting a discussion about bottled water. I know that the staff years ago agitated to get bottled water (the water cooler in the front office workroom) which, I believe, the Brit Board pays for. My concerns are several: (1) that the water that comes from private systems is less regulated than civic water supplies and often has more contaminants in it (i.e., less safe); (2) that the water probably comes from some rural aquifer that is draining the water away from farmers trying to grow food (this is not a confirmed fact, but seems highly likely); and (3&4) that the water comes in plastic bottles that may be leaching all kinds of chemicals into the water (a safety issue) and at the same time, are using up increasingly scarce oil resources to manufacture the bottles (a "mama earth" issue); and finally, (5) that there are better ways to spend the money! When you think about the alternative, tap water, which we already pay for, is highly regulated and tested for safety, tastes pretty darn good, and comes out of an enormous reservoir that isn't putting a whole group of rural farmers out of business: what could be bad?
And if people Really, Really want COLD water, let's keep a jug of it in the fridge! That's my rant! Cheers, Pat D :-)

Jim's reply email:
Hi Patricia,
Thanks for the email and your concerns regarding the bottled water.
Last week we filled the pool with darn good city water but it looked all green like full of algae. It took five days of filtration and lots of chemical to make it safe for swimmers.
In my opinion the tap water is not clean. We see it everytime when we fill the pool. It is filled with same water we drink out of the tap. In huge quantity it looks and is green. In small quantity it is looks clean and it is not.
Cheers!

Then at a meeting I was tasked with getting out the vote on the matter, so
here was what I sent out:
Pat raised a bunch of great points (Concerns 1-5 are all legit). I'm certain there have been some companies which have taken water by depleting ground water sources in rural areas, and some companies have even been proven guilty of simply bottling tap water. The amount of resources and energy required to make the bottles (even if they are made from recycled content) and transport them is another factor to consider.

Jim's concern about the quality of the city water can be a valid one. We do have boil advisories now and again, but overall our water is tested and proven safe for consumption.

At a meeting this morning we started a poll on whether we need to continue to purchase the bottled water for the copier room for staff...and

now it's your turn! Please reply to this email with a simple YES or NO and I will tally the results to pass on for consideration.

For any of you who would like to look into the matter further before deciding, here's a few to start you off:
- Council of Canadians has a national campaign on water with lots of info and resources such as a Bottled Water fact sheet http://canadians.org/water/index.html, and the Polaris Institute also has a citizen campaign at http://www.insidethebottle.org/
- Q & A on bottled water at Health Canada http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/facts-faits/faqs_bottle_water-eau_embouteillee-eng.php
- Canadian Bootled Water Association which represents the companies makign the profit off bottled water http://www.cbwa.ca/
- CBC Marketplace on Bottled Water http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/bottledwater/index.html
- Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottled_water

thanks in advance for your votes! if you haven't cast a vote yet, either post a comment here, or email me at kathy.whittam@vancouver.ca

current vote standings on whether we keep the water or not:
yes - 5 : no - 7

Welcome Team Green Brit!

Hey Britsters!

to go along with our staff bulletin board in the photocopier room I thought a blog where we can post comments, articles, links etc would be a nice added bonus to inspire Team Green Brit.

Team Green Brit is anyone and everyone who works at Britannia - Info Centre staff, Programmers, Child Care, Pool, Rink, Fitness Centre, Library, Schools, Engineers, program instructors, management and Board members - that would like to help make this place the greenest community hub in the city!


stay tuned for more...