[greenon-l] How wide and how deep is conservation?

[Conservation Council of Ontario]

Green On.
The Online Newsletter of the Conservation Council of Ontario
see www.greenontario.org/news for the online version and to subscribe or 
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Editor:  Chris Winter, Executive Director

Note:  The Green On. listserve is currently being used to promote our We 
Conserve Initiative
Please see www.weconserve.ca for details.


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Discussion Question #2
Please post your comments at www.weconserve.ca/articles/




A Culture of Conservation:
How wide and how deep is conservation?

A farmer, a naturalist and a recycler were in a grocery store one day and 
they noticed they were all wearing "We Conserve" buttons (see below...). 
"Hey, good for you", said the farmer, reaching for the locally grown 
apples. "Yeah, you too", said the naturalist, reaching for the imported 
organically grown apples. "Right on", said the recycler, with a glass jar 
of apple sauce in his basket. "Way to go all of you", said a passing deep 
ecologist with an empty shopping cart.

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Okay, so I'm not about to win the next great Canadian joke competition, but 
it helps make a couple of points. First, we all have a different 
interpretation of conservation, and second, there are varying levels of 
commitment.

It all comes down to what we mean by "a culture of conservation", one of 
the stated goals of the Province's Ontario Conserves initiative. On the 
opening page of the government's website you'll find a letter from Premier 
McGuinty in which he states, "Everyone has an important role to play in 
building a new culture of conservation in Ontario. We need to become more 
responsible about protecting our earth, air, water and energy."

"We Conserve" is a commitment on the part of organizations, companies and 
municipalities across the province to help fulfil this vision of a culture 
of conservation. In the end, we want everyone in Ontario to be able to say 
"I conserve".

If recycling were the only measure of conservation, then we'd have to say 
that Ontario already has a strong culture of conservation. But there's more 
to waste reduction than recycling, and there's more to conservation than 
waste reduction. We need to look at both the depth and width of the 
commitment we are asking for. And above all, as the deep ecologist would 
point out, we need to always be looking to improve.

The real statement we are looking for is: "I conserve already, but I will 
do better".



How wide is our movement?
Conservation means many different things to different people. In building a 
conservation movement for Ontario, what issues should we include? 
Electricity and energy conservation are top priorities during our current 
heatwave and smog advisories, but they are far from being the only 
conservation issues. Our scoping of conservation includes the complete 
cycle of human interaction with the environment: starting with nature, 
continuing with the use of its resources, and ending with the materials we 
put back into nature. We need to be able to incorporate a comprehensive 
list of conservation activities within our scope, and then focus through 
our campaign work on the key actions we want everyone to take.

Who needs to be included in our movement? How can we best reach all 
Ontarians, all cultures, all languages, all regions and communities, all 
professions, and all businesses? What role can your organization play?

To my mind, our movement should be as wide as can be in order to reach as 
many people as possible. In addition to the many conservation and 
environment organizations, it should include as many organizations as 
possible where conservation is a secondary mandate. This includes cultural 
and social associations, faith groups, labour, and professional 
associations. They each reach a special audience and can greatly assist in 
engaging the Ontario public in conservation.

A great example of integrating conservation with other values is a campaign 
organized by evangelical christian groups in the United States, What Would 
Jesus Drive? It takes the principles of smart growth and transportation 
alternatives and shaped them into a christian argument. A great campaign, 
given the number of SUVs to be found in a church parking lot. (p.s., the 
answer is: "he'd walk, bike, take transit and, when he had to, drive a 
fuel-efficient car appropriate to his needs.)

Our movement should also include business. At one level, every company in 
Ontario can engage their employees in conservation. They can also commit to 
improve their own performance in protecting nature, the sustainable use and 
conservation of natural resources, and the minimization of waste and 
pollution. Beyond performance, we should also look to include those 
companies whose products and services support conservation.



How deep is our movement?
What does it mean to be a conserver? Is it enough to change a lightbulb and 
use the blue box, or do you have to invest in energy efficient appliances, 
have an Energuide home audit or an R2000 home, bicycle to work, and buy in 
bulk and re-usable containers? Can you be a conserver in a couple of 
issues, or do you have to do it all?

This is a tougher question. Is it enough to engage people in simple 
solutions, or are we asking for a deep lifestyle commitment?

To answer this question, let me start with my personal conservation 
commitment and look at how I fare on some of the online ecological impact 
calculators.

I live in a semi-detached house with my wife, two small children, and a 
live-in nanny. We have a naturalized, pesticide-free lawn and we avoid 
using hazardous chemicals in our home. Our electricity consumption is about 
380 kWh per month (just over one-half the provincial average). Our house 
has been given an Energuide audit by Greensaver and was rated at a 60 
(acceptable but could be better). We are members of Windshare, Toronto's 
cooperatively-owned wind turbine. We have no car. We bicycle to work and 
around our community, we use Autoshare for local car travel, take the train 
to Cobourg five times per year, and rent a car (preferably a Prius from 
Discount) for out-of-town travel. We travel on average once a year by jet 
to Calgary (6 hours) to visit family. We enjoy cycle touring and camping. 
We are members of a natural food buying club through the Ontario Natural 
Food Co-op, we get a bi-weekly organic food box through Foodshare and a 
delivery of produce from a local farmer. We also try to buy organic and 
local food when we shop at supermarkets and convenience stores. We do eat 
meat, but order organic or natural meats from local farmers, such as 
Beretta and Back To Nature Beef. We bank with Citizen's Bank and have all 
our RRSPs are in socially-responsible investments (SRI).

As you can see, we not only try to adopt conservation practices, but we 
also invest in organizations and companies that contribute to a conserver 
economy.

Here's how I fared on three eco-impact calculators -- the Ecological 
Footprint, the David Suzuki Nature Challenge, and the One Tonne Challenge...

Mountain Equipment Co op http://www.mec.ca/Apps/ecoCalc/ecoCalc.jsp
I scored 5.2 hectares, 51.48% of an average North American's footprint and 
58.34% of an average MEC Eco-Footprint Calculation. Not bad, but it will 
still take 3.56 Earths to support the present human population at my level 
of consumption. NOTE: The food section doesn't give you credit for buying 
organic and the transportation section assumes you drive a car.

David Suzuki Nature Challenge http://challenge.davidsuzuki.org/
This is a very simple calculator based on the highly successful David 
Suzuki Nature Challenge, a ten step commitment to reducing our impact on 
the natural environment. Unfortunately, the calculator uses provincial 
averages instead of an individual's personal commitment. Further, because 
we have five people in our home, our footprint soars to over the national 
average for air and water pollution, and the loss of farmland and wetlands. 
Even by saying yes to all the possible new commitments proposed in the next 
section my footprint is improved only marginally.

The One Tonne Challenge 
http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/onetonne/calculator/english/
I generate 1.78 tonnes of CO2, well below the national average of 5 tonnes. 
Heating and cooling make up 55% of our emissions. NOTE: If it were just me 
living in the house, my emissions would be 8.02 tonnes, which means that 
having kids is an effective way to meet the One Tonne Challenge.

Of the three, my favourite is the One Tonne Challenge calculator. It offers 
a good range of activities and it allows you to adjust your entries with 
relative ease. Another feature of the One Tonne Challenge is that it offers 
three levels of activities -- simple (1 point), medium (4 points) and major 
(10 points) -- and individuals can select the options that will help them 
reach 20 points (a one tonne reduction).



Let's Make an Ontario Conservation Calculator
In our family, we reached our current level of conservation only because 
there is a strong support network of organizations and businesses out there.

What I want is a conservation calculator that will allow me to enter my 
existing activities and point me to organizations, companies and/or 
websites that can help me improve my overall level of commitment.

For example:

    * the question on organic and local food would link to the Ontario 
Natural Food Coop and others
    * a question on pesticide-free lawncare would have a link to Pesticide 
Free Ontario;
    * the question on car use would link to Carsharing.ca, the Smart 
Commute Association, and others;
    * a question on ethical investments would connect to the Social 
Investment Organization and in turn to SRI advisors and companies.

You get the idea. Our calculator should encourage people to support 
Ontario's conservation organizations and businesses at the same time as 
they make improvements in their own lives.

So how deep is our movement? It depends on the services we provide and on 
how well we can facilitate translating a individual's personal commitment 
to conservation into a wide range of actions.



Your Turn
How can your group, municipality, community, or company contribute to 
promoting conservation?
How do you rate as a conserver, and what would best encourage and help you 
to improve?
Can we design a better online calculator, based on the support programs, 
products and services offered in Ontario?

Submit your comments on www.weconserve.ca/articles/


We Conserve buttons
We had a number of 1" buttons made for our launch on July the 5th. They 
were a great hit. We've decided to develop a set of ten buttons with 
conservation icons like a bicycle, wind turbine, pedestrian, maple leaf (or 
trillium) etc. Stay tuned for details. In the meantime, why not order a set 
of We Conserve pins with your own logo or icon?

Orders under 1,000 cost 35 cents each, 1,000 to 4,999 cost 30 cents, 5,000 
to 9,999 cost 25 cents, and for orders over 10,000 the cost is 23 cents. 
We'll cover the design costs if you send a high quality Illustrator EPS 
file.  For more details, please contact me at cco at web.ca

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We Conserve is supported by:

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Ontario Conserves                    The Ontario Trillium 
Foundation        The Beer Store 
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