How to Effect Change

[Gabriel Thibault]

Howdy folks,

 

     Like most of you I'm sure, our knowledge of the state of the environment has directly translated into action. We know that greenhouse gases are responsible for climate change, that resources are finite and that we have reached/are about to reach both Peak Oil and Peak Phosphorus. For most of us this this leads us to do what we can to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, purchase carbon credits, recycling, composting, posting a "no junk mail" sign on our mailbox, eat less meat, signing up with Bullfrog Power, maintaining naturalized backyards, etc. Unfortunately, for a large fraction of the population, awareness of environmental issues is not enough to lead them to sustained action.

 

     I was wondering if anyone out there has any advice on how to get the message through. From my own experience, I have learned that bombarding people with statistics and doom and gloom does not work. Making them feel guilty about their actions is also not productive! More recently my approach has been to simply lead by example, to maintain a positive attitude and to invite friends and family to see environmental movies and volunteering but with no pressure to join. So far, this appears to be a much better approach.

 

    So to me, leading by example is the #1 way of effecting change. Initially, only the most devout environmentalists adopt the new way of doing things (e.g. installing a rain barrel or a solar panel). As more and more people do it, it eventually gains acceptance by the general public and eventually begins to look like the fashionable or cool thing to do. The attached figure illustrates this point (http://www.sustainablecommunities.fcm.ca/Sustainable_Communities_Co...).

 

    Any thoughts or advice on all this? Cheers.

[Kaia Nightingale]

This is a great discussion. Is it worth continuing over a coffee/drink somewhere?
Kaia

[Eric Snyder]

What a great idea!

A possible next step to discuss could be to begin building a map locating possible demonstration sites for the "Jane's Walk". What do you think Heather? How long should the walk be? Perhaps when we get to see the model sites on a map, one or more walks might become obvious.

Perhaps the architects/developers of the sites on the "walk" might be convinced to prepare some kind of "how to" handouts to be given to visitors to their locations on "walk" day.

[Julie Hong]

Hi All,

It would be worth meeting! Is it worth throwing out an invite to the general Transition Town community or is that too unwieldy? I have a question about Jane's Walk - Seems like the agenda for that event is different that what we've been talking about (Jane's Walk is more about urbanism, public space, local history, etc.), though I guess there can be a green themed walk? My concern is that the 'green walk' will be more of a tack-on, especially when there isn't a lot of lead time to prep since the Walk event is May1-2 (9 days). What would model sites look like at this point in the growing season, if we are thinking pedestrian scale.

Thoughts?

At any rate, we should meet!

[Eric Snyder]

I posted a note on the Green Map Ottawa forum inviting those folks to check in here. It shouldn't take too long to put together another "Jane's Walk" route...[he said, optimistically...]

/e

Julie Hong said:

Hi All,

It would be worth meeting! Is it worth throwing out an invite to the general Transition Town community or is that too unwieldy? I have a question about Jane's Walk - Seems like the agenda for that event is different that what we've been talking about (Jane's Walk is more about urbanism, public space, local history, etc.), though I guess there can be a green themed walk? My concern is that the 'green walk' will be more of a tack-on, especially when there isn't a lot of lead time to prep since the Walk event is May1-2.

Thoughts?

At any rate, we should meet!



Any

[Julie Hong]

Apologies. I just re-traced the conversation and I think I missed Heather's time reference to next year's Jane's walk. It's starting to make more sense. Whew!

Could we decide to meet informallyand discuss/brainstorm before we spring into further action?

[Kaia Nightingale]

To meet up, all that is needed is a time and place. It could be a Bridgehead, someone's home, a school room, a community centre or any available space like a board room at work that isn't used in the evening.
Create a succinct paragraph and we'll put it on the front page. We could also send a newsletter to all members inviting them to come along.
The meeting can organically evolve ad hoc, be focused like an open space meeting, can use the world cafe concept where there is a theme at each table or circle of chairs and people move around, or anything any creative person wants to come up with that will help draw out our collective intelligence and visions and help pave a way forward.
Kaia


Julie Hong said:

Apologies. I just re-traced the conversation and I think I missed Heather's time reference to next year's Jane's walk. It's starting to make more sense. Whew!

Could we decide to meet informallyand discuss/brainstorm before we spring into further action?

[Katherine Forster]

I hadn’t thought of a walk – that could be an interesting possibility. Teaming it up with an already public event might take some of the advertising burden off also. We could use Jane’s Walk or Open Doors Ottawa. Someone mentioned that it might not be the best timing to see gardens however – is there an event that happens later in the growing season – something in August or even September?

I like Heather’s list: "green roofs, garden roofs, extensive container gardening, pollinator gardens, etc. and maybe connect with some of OTESHA's vegetable gardens" and Eric’s idea of handouts about specific locations or possibly just one handout with the map on one side and descriptions of the locations on the other.

My thought was more of a garden tour – has anyone ever done one of these? There’s a map handed out to all participants and they have the afternoon to view the locations at their own speed. Garden owners would have to be enlisted and be available for the tour time to answer questions, provide some details. You’d have volunteers at a registration site (for people to get their map) and then probably would want a volunteer or two on hand for each location (with the owner). I see these types of tours attractive to the marginally curious (re: organic, native, drought tolerant), gardeners who want to learn more about different methods, those who want to see their neighbourhood in a different light or just explore and others – you could limit it to 50 or 100 people if there's a concern about lots of foot traffic in people's backyards. If it’s a whole afternoon – you may have 10 – 20 people coming through each location hourly - that's not too bad.

I guess there are pros and cons to both a tour or a walk and maybe each serves a different purpose and attracts a different part of the community. I’d love to see if we could organize a tour for this year – if it's August or September that gives us three - four months to organize. Probably lots of details to address but the bigger ones would be: identify the privately owned – public gardens that could be toured, confirm a date, approach owners to see if they would participate and put together a map.

Lots to discuss – what about meet on the week of May 3rd – I’d suggest Monday (3) or Thursday (6) at Bridgehead downtown (109 Bank Street at Albert).

Why don’t we get together to formalize a clearer path, debate this a bit before we create a formal group and write the group description – paragraph. Then once we have that we can send it out in a newsletter. Easier for people to sign up when they know what it’s about specifically!

[Julie Hong]

Hi All,

Both Monday (3) and Thursday (6) of May at the Bank and Albert Bridgehead work with me. How does 7 o'clock sound?

It all sounds good Katherine, Eric, Heather, Kaia!

I definitely think it's possible to get an event done for late this summer/fall and it would be good to get some momentum going on this rather than waiting for next year.

[Amber Westfall]

So many good things happening here!

Just a quick note: I am organising a demonstration and garden tour at the end of May, at Hank and Vera Jones' pollinator garden out in Crystal Beach. Hank will also show and provide instructions for the salad tables he has built. I will posting the details on the site this week.

I love the ideas being discussed here and would love to get involved!

My awesome dude Andrew and I have plots at the Kilborn allotment garden. That might a good spot to have a potluck, garden tour and/or wild weed walk. I've been harvesting garlic mustard, nettles, dandelion, violets, ground ivy.... Last week we dug all the dandelion roots out of one of our garden beds and I roasted them for coffee. Tastes like chocolate!!!

We are sharing one of our plots with a lovely lady who really likes sheet mulching/lasagna gardening. She offered to show Andrew and I how to do it. Perhaps she would be willing to show a group of folks who are interested.

What about doing some kind of flash mob canning session in a very public place? A la Jamie Oliver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Tpo2ELCUM (Minus the teflon and disposables...)

I definitely would love to participate in group canning sessions. Canning is a lot of work and not as much fun when you do it on your own! ;)

Or a 'knit in' on parliament hill?

I love the idea of bike tours as well.

When can we meet? Maybe Kaia would let us meet at her rooftop garden!

Happy Sunday!

Amber

[Julie Hong]

Flash mob canning! Flash mob jerky making? Flash mob dandelion root roasting/lamb's quarters stir-frying?


Meeting date:

How does May 6th, 7 pm, Bridgehead at Albert and Bank sound for everyone?

[Eric Snyder]

For those of us a bit longer in the tooth, could someone explain "flashmob"... and how it is done, please?

/e

Julie Hong said:

Flash mob canning! Flash mob jerky making? Flash mob dandelion root roasting/lamb's quarters stir-frying?


Meeting date:

How does May 6th, 7 pm, Bridgehead at Albert and Bank sound for everyone?

[Amber Westfall]

That date and time would work for me!

Julie Hong said:

Flash mob canning! Flash mob jerky making? Flash mob dandelion root roasting/lamb's quarters stir-frying?


Meeting date:

How does May 6th, 7 pm, Bridgehead at Albert and Bank sound for everyone?