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September 3, 2010
New Green Guides cover communities, shopping & more
Posted by Nola Poirier
On a stage in Victoria, I was translating a presentation by a Salvadoran coworker about the organization we worked for in El Salvador when, for the first time, I really understood what community is, what it can be.
Someone asked, "How many volunteers work for your organization?" My coworker said "None."
I was there to translate, but I had to speak up.
For the previous months I had been working for a Salvadoran non-profit that engaged with communities to help them take action with what they most wanted and needed. I saw that community members would work all day, then come out to construct a composting toilet at a neighbour’s house, or help clear a field for an organic community garden. Most members of each community came out in some capacity – labouring, bearing food, lending tools, curious kids watching the project unfold.
It's true there wasn't anyone officially registered as a volunteer for the organization, but there were in fact hundreds of people volunteering.
Community is everywhere
"We can begin by doing small things at the local level, like planting community gardens or looking out for our neighbors. That is how change takes place in living systems, not from above but from within, from many local actions occurring simultaneously. "
– Grace Lee Boggs
I thought at first that such community altruism was something foreign, that it didn't exist here in B.C., but once I recognized it, I started to see it everywhere.
It's in the proliferation of community gardens, in projects that gather excess fruit from trees to share with those in need, Green Drinks events and car-free celebrations. It's in local currencies, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Transition Towns, school board meetings and in annual bird counts.
At any time of the day, there is likely to be a meeting or a work party in action for the betterment of some community in B.C., supported by a group of volunteers.
But, like everywhere in the world, not all communities are equally integrating and meeting their needs. Often there are a lot of people acting in one area, but none in another. It's also common that individuals in a community don't know where to begin, don't feel they know enough to start up a farmers' market or work to expand recycling options, or develop a plan to daylight a stream.
The expanded BC Hydro Green Guides
"A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed"
– Henrik Ibsen
When BC Hydro asked me to be part of the development team for their new Green Your Community and Green Your Life guides, I jumped at the chance.
The Green Guides project is not as comprehensive as showing up in a town and providing structure for discussions of what is needed and where to begin, but it is a way to reach into communities through the internet, to share some ideas, some inspiration and some information with people that will hopefully spark action where it's needed.
The response to the original Green Your Home and Green Your Business guides showed BC Hydro that their customers had a growing appetite for conservation and sustainable living information. In response, many of the tips in the new guides offer information on conservation topics beyond energy saving.
Because these topics are outside BC Hydro's area of core expertise, much of the information is drawn from local/regional expertise and general consensus on sustainability.
Green Your Community
"A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm."
– Henrik Ibsen
Green Your Community includes tips on community initiatives inlcuding: community gardens, safeguarding your sewers, pesticide use. As well, it provides information for Strata Councils and organisations on a variety of conservation strategies including: managing energy, lighting, efficient travel, and gardening.
Green Your Life
"It is vain to talk of the interest of the community, without understanding what is the interest of the individual."
– Jeremy Bentham
The Green Your Life section is equally valuable. Personal learning and development is a key, though sometimes overlooked, part of community development. Community is built from the actions of individuals and must serve the needs of its constituents. There are three Green Your Life guides: Food, Shopping and Transportation, which interconnect and overlap with topics in the Green Your Community guides.
The Green Your Life Food Guide includes tips on local eating, composting, and even learning to cook. The Shopping Guide is also diverse, including tips on product lifecycles, reducing packaging, becoming non-toxic, and ENERGY STAR. Transportation tips include walking more, using transit, driving efficiently, and car sharing.
There are always more areas to cover and more ideas than can fit on a webpage. These guides are a place to get started and hopefully become inspired to learn more and take action. As Martin Luther King said: "You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
Oh, I should also mention that the Green Your Home and Green Your Business sections have been improved and updated. Check them out!
Nola Poirier is a Sunshine Coast-based freelance writer and regular contributor to Unplug This Blog!
