Our News

These are the One Earth news stories in 2009:

One Earth's 2008 news stories can be read online here. Our 2007 news stories can be read online here.

One Earth partners at Gaining Ground Conference, helping Cities Manage Transition Times

One Earth was a partner in the Gaining Ground conference (Resilient Cities: Urban Strategies for Transition Times, Vancouver, Oct 20-22). North American cities are facing transformational challenges in sustainability, economy, and urban management, leaving them scrambling to comprehend and manage the shift toward ecological practices and greater resilience. The conference advances thinking on innovation in sustainability governance and best current practices for managing sustainable urban systems; capturing opportunities in the green economy; building widespread sustainability collaborations that engage the community level.

Bill Rees presented a keynote address in which he outlined a vision of a self-reliant, self-producing eco-regional city states which differ fundamentally from the parasitic modern city.  One Earth hosted a workshop building on this keynote presentation entitled "Rethinking the Good Life in Cities" which featured Bill, Vanessa and Nicole from One Earth as well as Vincent Tan (VP, Ayala Land) and Mariken van Nimwegen (Graphic Recorder).  The workshop addressed the question: how can we redesign our cities to be regenerative and resilient with healthy, vibrant communities, economies and lifestyles? It also explored 'how' we can work more effectively on complex, systemic issues like transforming our cities, including some cutting-edge methods and 'social technologies' currently being tested in the field.

One Earth Director Vanessa Timmer interviewed environmentalist, entrepreneur and author, Paul Hawken, for Greater Vancouver TV. During the one hour interview, Paul spoke about responses to climate change, the role of governments and cities in the transition to sustainability, the power of dialogue and collaborative leadership, and the drama and opportunity of this moment in history.

Emmanuel Prinet and Bill Rees present insights about shifting household consumption at SCORAI conference

One Earth's Emmanuel Prinet and Bill Rees present their latest work at the SCORAI (Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative) conference at Clark University on October 15-17. Emmanuel presented "Advancing Sustainable Household Consumption: Insights for Effective Policy Development" and Bill spoke about "What’s Blocking Sustainability? Human Nature, Cognition and Denial." SCORAI explores sustainable consumption and the impact of changing individual household patterns, bringing together top academics and practitioners from the US and Canada. A central conclusion was that because of the scale and the urgency of the changes needed, households cannot significantly advance sustainable consumption on their own, but require systemic solutions and coordinated actions by many stakeholders, including grassroots initiatives, institutional changes, government policies, and political reforms.

Director Vanessa Timmer Addresses Technology Leaders about "Transformative Redesign"

One Earth Director Vanessa Timmer presented the closing address at the TTI Vanguard conference "More from Less"  (1-2 October 2009, Jersey City, USA).  She addressed the 150 technology leaders from the public and private sectors about the need to move beyond efficiency towards a transformative redesign of our technologies, lifestyles, economies and societies. She shared One Earth's initiative, "Rethinking the Good Life," a systemic change initiative to scale up, at the North American level, the pace of positive change on consumption and production issues.

Vanessa and Dagmar Host TV Show

See sisters Vanessa and Dagmar on TV about sustainability issues in Greater Vancouver! The current show looks at the water cycle. They have also co-hosted shows about the region's growth strategy and our “Zero Waste Challenge.” To watch these shows online, see www.metrovancouver.org/TV/TheSustainableRegion.htm or www.gvtv.ca. For upcoming shows, email lyris@list.vancouver.ca with a blank subject line and in the message body: join gvtv yourusername@address.com.

One Earth tackles sustainability of multi-family dwellings

In April, One Earth launched the Eco-Strata Guide for reducing the ecological footprint of existing multi-family dwellings in Metro Vancouver. The project is focused on the opportunities for advancing sustainability, particularly as a result of economies of scale. The practical guidebook (and website) assists strata councils, cooperatives, developers and management companies. Partners include the Condominium Home Owners’ Association (CHOA) with funding from the Real Estate Foundation of BC. The action ideas outlined in the guide offer win-win solutions for existing apartments, townhouses and condos. They help conserve natural resources as well as provide significant economic savings. Download the PDF, 3.8MB or dialogue at www.eco-strata.com, a space for sharing insights, lessons and resources. For more information, contact Emmanuel Prinet.

One Earth report sets out elements of a sustainable household consumption strategy for Canada

On June 22, One Earth launched a report with key elements for a Canadian policy strategy on sustainable household consumption with partner, the Consumers Council of Canada. Examining what sustainable household consumption means in a Canadian context is important insofar as the average Ecological Footprint of Canadians is significantly larger than what the Earth can sustain in the long term; indeed, were everyone around the world to adopt a typical Canadian lifestyle, four Earth-like planets would be necessary to support this way of living.  The challenge is great: to maintain--and even enhance--quality of life of all Canadian citizens, while reducing by some 80% their material and energy demands. Household consumption is at the heart of these concerns, and should therefore be an integral part of any national sustainability plan in Canada.  The report makes a case for emphasis on collective solutions such as better public transportation to achieve greener consumer behaviour. This project is funded by Industry Canada's Office of Consumer Affairs.

One Earth facilitates debates about sustainability for UBC

On March 11, Vanessa Timmer facilitates a pro-con debate between UBC Professor and One Earth Director William Rees and SFU Professor Mark Jaccard on Revisiting Limits to Growth: Are there ecological limits to economic growth? Or can GDP continue to grow? Today, most claim that economic growth is a prerequisite to raise all income levels, create jobs and make environmental protection affordable. Others argue that activities required for sustained economic growth use non-renewable resources and deplete natural capital, while increasing income disparity. Who is correct? Part of a lecture series being podcast, they are presented by UBC Continuing Studies, Community Programs and UBC Continuing Studies Centre for Sustainability. Other debates in the series include: "Climate Change: Does addressing climate change get us to sustainability or distract us from other key issues?" More One Earth news stories...

One Earth advises Canada on Sustainable Consumption and Production Framework

One Earth's Emmanuel Prinet is part of the advisory group for the development of a Sustainable Consumption and Production Framework for Canada, coordinated by Five Winds International for the Government of Canada. In November 2008 a joint Canada-US regional meeting on Sustainable Consumption and Production was held in support of the UN Marrakech Process. The Canadian framework will build on the vision discussions from this regional meeting, identify key policy and program objectives, define the roles of government, industry and consumers in fulfilling these objectives, and identify the programs and performance measures needed to make and track progress.This builds on One Earth's involvement in the Marrakech Process.

Launch of "Rethinking the Good Life," a systemic change initiative on SCP for North America

One Earth is launching "Rethinking the Good Life," a systemic change initiative to scale up, at the North American level, the pace of positive change on consumption and production issues. We will create an interactive process that accelerates breakthrough thinking and action — new  models, mindsets and metrics — across sectors and within sectors, with the key actors and experts who create and shape the existing, complex system. With increasing clarity about the environmental challenge as well as with the current economic recession, there is a window for discussing new ways of life, business models, and production practices.

Emmanuel presented at the Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention's Annual Roundtable

The Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention (C2P2) held its 12th Canadian Pollution Prevention Roundtable in Edmonton, Alberta, on June 11th and 12th, 2008.  The goal of the roundtable is to bring together the strongest pool of Canadian pollution prevention expertise, exchange information and discuss pollution prevention and sustainable consumption in Canada.  Emmanuel will be giving a presentation on "Taking inspiration from the European Union, and moving forward on SCP in Canada".  His talk will be followed by the projection of two short videos on Malmö and Vancouver.  Click here for more information.

Vanessa shared insights about scenario planning in Singapore

On October 21st, Vanessa Timmer spoke to urban leaders, scientists and innovation experts from around the world at Futuropolis 2058 in Singapore. It is easier to transition to urban sustainability if we can picture what sustainable cities look like. Future scenarios help us think and plan in more innovative, rigorous and adaptive ways. In her talk, "Imagining Sustainable Cities: Scenario Planning for City Management," Vanessa argued that we shouldn't just gather information ("what do we know") through trend analysis and other tools but also expand our understanding of our options ("what is possible or imaginable"). Contact Vanessa for details.

BC Environmental Network Annual Conference

On September 28, 2008, the BCEN held its annual conference at UBC Robson Square under the title “Achieving Sustainability: Tools and Theories for Social Change”. The One Earth Initiative, as a member of the BCEN, participated in the day-long conference, which featured Bill Rees, Board Member and Founding Fellow of One Earth, as one of the speakers. For more information on the day’s events, see http://www.ecobc.org/.

Canadian Environmental Network (CEN) Annual General Meeting

The RCEN held its AGM in Toronto on Oct. 24 to 26, 2008. The topic this year was “Health and the Environment”, and will be addressed through the many workshops, plenary sessions and presentations. More information about RCEN is available here: http://www.cen-rce.org/eng/index.html.

One Earth comments on the first draft of the "Marrakech Process" 10-Year Framework of Programmes' (10YFP)

The UN’s Marrakech Process made available a first draft of a document that will serve as input to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development on a 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on sustainable consumption and production. One Earth was one of the partners who commented on the first draft. Comments and the draft can be downloaded from the Marrakech Process website as well as the NGO Forum website. More information on the Marrakech Process

One Earth participated in first North American Meeting on Sustainable Consumption and Production

One Earth participated in the first meeting and dialogue for North America (Canada and USA) on sustainable consumption and production, held November 6 and 7, 2008, in Washington D.C.; a second follow-up meeting is anticipated in Canada. The goal of this meeting was to “define a regional approach to advance sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in North America that also contributes to the Marrakech Process”. For more information.