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…