Working in the environmental movement, we often tend to turn our backs on political change. Voters are apathetic and uncoordinated. Politicians unceasingly slide to the middle. No changes in policy ever seem to impact reality. It’s easy to believe that the only changes that matter are the little ones we can make ourselves – the lightbulbs, recycling bins, and compost piles that are, literally or not, in our own backyards. This is especially true in Canada, where the political landscape has often been described as frozen over, to say the least. Our politicians just aren’t exciting, energizing, or enthusiastic. The only thing that seems to get most of them excited is the prospect of beating their opponents. Time, and time again, the political changes that we need, seem to fall to the way side. The UN negotiations for a successor treaty to Kyoto which have repeatedly stalled and slowed are a prime example of this, but it happens at all levels of government.

I’d like to say that I have a story of some level of Canadian government enacting exciting, innovative environmental legislation, say similar to many European countries’ renewable energy policies. Unfortunately, I don’t, not yet, but what I do have is a story of massive political change and sustainability leadership in a region known for its political backwardness: Calgary. Calgary is big business. Calgary is big oil. Calgary is cowboys and conservatives. Which is why our last mayoral election, in the fall of 2010, was so exciting! I’m talking staying up watching polls, texting friends with multiple exclamation marks exciting.

We elected a man named Naheed Nenshi. He’s a Muslim (actually, unlike Obama), which is exciting enough, but the real story was his origins as an activist. Nenshi was not a politician. He was a professor and columnist, but more importantly, he believed in smart growth, building a sustainable city, and standing up to the developers. You see, in Calgary, we have a problem with developers. They consistently push to build more and more suburbs, which take up more farmland and require more roads and more cars – the definition of unsustainable. Calgary’s had a long hard battle against developers – in 2009 I was one of dozens of Calgarians who spoke to City Council in support of “Plan It”, a plan to limit city growth and ensure the creation of vibrant, sustainable neighbourhoods. That plan passed, albeit watered down as far as the developers could make it, but Nenshi was one of the key people spearheading the support of limits to our city’s growth. He co-founded an organization called CivicCamp which engaged Calgarians to get involved in city politics and create the city they wanted to see. Admittedly, Nenshi was also a business professor, and talked a lot about bringing investment and innovation and making the city good for business. His good for business, though, meant a city which people wanted to live in, which was bustling and vibrant. Business can be our friend. He also talked common sense, less bureaucracy, less infighting, more fighting the battles that mattered. In short, Nenshi the best of Calgary’s no-nonsense citizens – he was the start of a new direction. And we got him.

It was a tough race, with more conservative main stream politicians in the lead from the very beginning. A month before the election, Nenshi had less than ten percent of the vote, against opponents with thirty or fourty percent. Nenshi won through engaging youth, using social networking, and selling his original, practical ideas. Which is why his victory was so exciting – it was in many ways, a victory of us: the young and the dreamers.

So we put the word out there and asked for help because we know we can’t do it alone. So far we’ve got 10 volunteers from other groups on campus or just individual students signed up to dedicate some of their lunch hours to educate students about composting, collect signatures and generate a buzz. Donning our flashy, bright green common|energy “Got Compost?” T-shirts we’re hoping to gain a supportive response from the rest of the student body.

Sometimes the groups on campus feel so isolated, so disconnected from other people, but this has truly been a group effort. The composting initiative, led by Common Energy has partnered up with the University of Victoria Sustainability Project and supported their comprehensive Pacific Mobile Depot recycling program in the SUB. Now, with our volunteer outreach we’ve also included many members of the Environmental Studies Student Association as well. We haven’t had the chance to really connect with these groups before but now with shared opportunities for leadership the work we do is beginning to intertwine.

It’s awesome to see so many students willing to step up and stand for something, and it’s awesome to be able to work together in doing just that.

“Refuse to trade your environment and your health for jobs in the oil industry; demand other jobs from your government; have faith in your community’s small businesses and entrepreneurs. “

This is the incredibly simple, wise, and hopeful advice of Tracy Kuhns and Mike Roberts, two Louisiana residents and fisheries employees who spoke at the recent Vancouver forum “When Oil Meets Water”. Until I heard these words at the end of their presentation, I truly felt like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the beginning of the end.

As Naomi Klein puts it in her insightful talk on TEDWomen, carrying on “business as usual” is not an option. Conventional sources of oil are running low, and if we continue to rely upon oil as our main source of fuel, our only option is to turn to unconventional sources. Extracting oil from unconventional sources poses a much greater threat to the environment than extraction from conventional sources. Unconventional sources include tar sands oil, oil found in previously protected areas, and oil found deep under the ocean floor.

Deep sea drilling is one unconventional source of oil extraction that has coated the shorelines, the sea-life, and the ocean floor of the Gulf of Mexico in oil. We all heard about this in the news, but hearing of its impacts first-hand from a couple of Louisiana residents really made the reality of such a tragedy hit home. Tracy and Mike told us about the all-consuming aspect of the spill, and how everything smelled like oil. It even got into the ventilation system of their home. The beach and the birds were covered in oil, the shrimp were covered in oil, and the ocean that their kids used to swim and fish in was covered in oil. While the media has reported that the spill has now been adequately cleaned up, oil still washes up on their shore every day. This is because BP’s definition of “cleaning up” consisted of putting a dispersant into the ocean. Rather than removing the oil from the ocean, this dispersant merely causes the oil to settle on the ocean floor, coating its surface and making it impossible for bottom-feeders to survive.

Mike has lived in Louisiana all his life, and has seen hundreds of oil spills in this time – most of which go unreported. A few years ago, Mike and Tracy reported an oil spill near their house to the media; however, they were unable to get any coverage as they were told the spill was too small. This “small” spill was between 100-200 barrels, and covered an area of 25 miles. Mike also pointed out that there are hundreds of abandoned oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, many of which have not been adequately sealed and continue to leak.

Beth Wallace also spoke at the forum, and provided the audience with a first-hand account of the recent oil spill in Michigan, where an Enbridge pipeline transporting oil ruptured and leaked into the Kalamazoo River. Responses to the ruptured pipeline were slow, with Enbridge initially ignoring the alarm bells and trying to re-boot the flow of oil through the pipeline. It was over a week before a tap water warning was put into place, and it was recommended that nearby residents evacuate their homes. One woman battling cancer in a more remote area along the Kalamazoo River was never told of the drinking water warning. She continued to drink the water without the knowledge that it was unsafe to drink, and that it was likely contaminated with benzene, a dangerous carcinogen found in oil.

There are two raging similarities between these two events: a lack of disaster preparedness and a lack of transparency on behalf of the companies involved. Not only was the Enbridge response to the ruptured pipeline in Michigan slow, but there was an absence of transparency and assistance when it came to communicating with the public and affected residents. Community meetings attended by Beth and other concerned Michigan residents consisted of Enbridge representatives speaking, while there was no opportunity for Q & A sessions. Residents that had either health concerns related to the oil spill, or other questions, were all directed to a single under-staffed Enbridge helpline. This lack of disaster preparedness and transparency is dangerously similar to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP was unprepared to deal with the spill, which took over one month to plug, and is still not adequately cleaned up (although BP would insist otherwise). Nearly 5 billion barrels of crude oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

Hearing such stories has made me seriously consider what it would be like to have an oil spill near my home in Vancouver, or along the coast of British Columbia. Unfortunately, this is a feasible scenario with an average of two oil tankers per week transporting Alberta tar sands oil out of Vancouver Harbour. Enbridge Inc. has also proposed a pipeline to transport oil from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat in B.C., where over 200 oil tankers would carry the oil to China each year. With so much oil being transported along our coast, a pipeline cutting through B.C., and the inevitability of human error, the probability of an eventual oil spill seems unavoidable.

Is our quest for unconventional and environmentally hazardous oil the beginning of the end, or will we wisely treat these disasters as a warning? Will we let the blurred vision of select political and corporate leaders prevail, or will we help them to see clearly? Can we end the insanity that continues to drive our current fossil fuel dependence? The answers to these questions are yet to be determined. So I’ll end with how I started:

“Refuse to trade your environment and your health for dirty oil jobs; demand other jobs from your government; have faith in your community’s small businesses and entrepreneurs.”

To learn more or to take a stand against oil tankers in B.C. please check out http://notanks.org/

To learn more or to take a stand against the proposed Enbridge pipeline in Northern B.C. check outhttp://dogwoodinitiative.org/notankers

Original blog post may be found at rebeccabeaton.com

Previously, various individuals and student groups were working towards numerous sustainability projects, all of them worthwhile, but all of them competing for limited resources. The creator of the Sustainability Council, VP of Administration Peter Lockie, hopes that all of the students on campus who are actively pursuing sustainability projects will continue to do so, and will be able to express their opinions through student representatives at the council.

As Campus Organizer at Camosun, this is an exciting opportunity that will allow me to bring student ideas/initiatives directly to decision makers on campus on a regular basis. I’m looking forward to being a part of the decision making process and being able to express my views on what I feel Camosun’s limited resources should be going towards. I wanted to share this news with fellow goBeyonders to show that change is happening, and administrations are realizing how important environmentally sustainable initiatives are on campus. As well, it seems that organizations realize that in order for change to take place, individuals from all branches of the organization need to be involved, ensuring that anticipated resistance to change can be limited. If individuals can speak to a colleague or fellow student, and know that there opinions will be expressed at the council, more people will speak up and get involved.

I truly believe that the path to change starts with communication and collaboration. People working together can ensure that change is not only imagined but actually happens.The inaugural meeting will take place in December, and I’m looking forward to discussing Camosun’s sustainable future with individuals from all branches of Camosun.

A young Vancouver couple challenged themselves to go one year without producing any garbage. They ended up with about an average of 5lbs. each — not bad considering most of us produce almost 1 tonne of garbage in the same time period. It didn’t even look that difficult!

Most of it came down to consuming less. If you aren’t buying, then you are re-using what you have more, and you aren’t throwing out unnecessary packaging. You also get to be a little more creative with what you have, a little less dependent upon overseas workers and transportation networks, a little healthier, and you even get to save a little bit of money. All it takes is the commitment: ‘I am not going to buy anything new for one month’. Or the asking of the simple pre-purchase question: ‘Do I really need this?’

Take deoderant, for example. How much deodorant have you bought in your lifetime and how much money has this cost you? How much of that deodorant stick is now in a landfill? How many potentially harmful chemicals are in your deodorant? How far does your deodorant travel to get to where you buy it?

How easy would it be to make your own deodorant? Turns out, you don’t even have to make it. Baking soda will do the trick. Just mix in a little water to make it stick before application. Save money and transportation fuel, prevent waste, and improve your health. Done.

It doesn’t stop with deodorant either. A lot of waste, money, and fuel can be saved by making your own cleaning products, toothpaste, and laundry detergent. This goes for food too. Baking your own crackers instead of buying packaged chips; baking bread instead of buying it in a bag; homemade soup instead of soup from a can. These are all healthier, cheaper, and less wasteful.

These aren’t even the easiest ways to reduce waste. One habit I will most definitely be adopting since seeing the Clean Bin Project is carrying a clean plastic container with me wherever I go. This is a very easy way to eliminate one-time use containers. Bring this along with a travel coffee mug and a re-usable water bottle wherever you go and you’re set!

Hanging up some fishing line in the kitchen with clothes pins on it is a great way to dry plastic bags after you have washed them so that they are ready to re-use when you need them. Forget plastic bags all together for produce, just put it straight on the counter or purchase some reusable mesh bags.

These are a just a few of the ideas from The Clean Bin Project beyond your typical notions of composting and carrying a cloth bag. My house is going to work on significantly reducing our waste, and we eventually hope to achieve zero waste (minus the inevitable piece here and there). With a little effort, this is something we could all work towards achieving in our own homes. Consuming less, re-using more, creating more from scratch, composting, and recycling. Let’s take matters into our own hands and start creating the change we need, right now.

For more information on The Clean Bin Project check out http://cleanbinproject.com/

Like this blog? Check out http://rebeccabeaton.com/ for more.

Try doing something that is out of your comfort zone – challenge yourself.

I did just that a couple of weeks ago – I joined the university choir.  I’ve always been a secret singer – you know the type – sings in the car (alone), sings in the shower, or when the music is turned up so loud that no one else can hear you.  Well, I crossed my comfort zone boundary and joined a small choir that sings in harmonies.  And what fun!

How does this relate to sustainability blogging, you ask?

Doing something out of your comfort zone, or something you’ve always wanted to do but were afraid of failure, can generate self-confidence.  Promoting climate action and sustainability requires confidence:  Confidence in yourself and confidence in the issue.  Often advocates are met with rolled eyes, “here she goes again” type comments, are ignored, bombarded with scathing retorts, or most of all, not taken seriously.  This can discourage many – but with believing in yourself and knowing it’s the right the to do, it can keep an advocate from getting overly frustrated and possibly giving up.

So go ahead, try something that scares you, everyday – it could give you that boost of energy and self-confidence to keep on promoting social and environmental stewardship.

But I will say one thing.

Do it. Submit something. Even if only because it makes you think. Sure, there’s a chance you might win a prize or a couple grand that could seriously contribute to paying off those student loans or buying that new bike helmet with a built in solar-charged MP3 player or whatever gadgets they have on the market these days. Sure, it’s a great opportunity to share your, what I am fully convinced are awesome ideas, with the world. But above all, do it for you.

Go to the website and look at all the ideas that have already been submitted. Think of one of your own. Be innovative. Be creative! We are so wrapped up in consumerism, in capitalism, in neoliberalism, in buying being our only power. But it’s not. Somewhere down this path of increased production we have started losing the ability to retrace our steps, to say “Hey! There’s a problem here. Let’s stop covering it up in development band-aids. Let’s start engaging. Not just you and me, the choir, but everyone, and let’s give people a voice, and listen to what they have to say.”

So do it. Be that person. Come up with an idea. And share it. And don’t be afraid to throw something out there for everyone to see. Maybe you don’t think it’s a big deal. Maybe you think it’s not important. Maybe you think it’s a waste of your time.

But if you can come up with something, create an idea that’s your own, and share it with the world, then you’ve done a lot. And if you can keep doing that, keep sharing, keep engaging, keep listening, keep creating, then we’ve got a chance yet. It’s your future. Do something about it.