OneEarth is proud to be founded in British Columbia.
We work to have an impact here, and to share what we're learning with other places to mainstream sustainable living.
This is about weaving together all sorts of solutions - including rethinking 'the good life,' reducing wasted food and wasteful consumption, and increasing shared goods, access to alternative transportation, and social connections.
We support our local governments to achieve their sustainability goals, helping residents to have smaller ecological footprints and better lives. We helped develop the City of Vancouver's Lighter Footprint goal as part of the Greenest City Action Plan and advised the City's Solid Waste 2040 Strategy. OneEarth is part of the City's Amplifier Network of key organizations aligned with bold climate action. Our work on Vancouver Island directly supports the District of Saanich's Climate Action Plan: 100% Renewable and Resilient Saanich. We are on the Management Board of the Canadian National Zero Waste Council.
We encourage youth-led action, including as members of the Steering Committee of CityHive’s EnviroLab. We see neighbourhoods as particularly exciting spaces and support footprint-reducing action on this front - and define it broadly. For example, we supported the University of British Columbia on developing a model for a mindful move-in, move-out from campus that emphasizes reuse and resale of furnishings and appliances.
OneEarth has a strategic partnership with Vancity (Canada's largest cooperative bank) on Lighter Living, sharing our best understanding of what reduces our footprint while bettering lives for all. This includes a five-year enviroFund focused on lighter living actions by Southwest BC community actors - with millions of dollars leveraged for impact. OneEarth is on the team promoting eco-industrial networking through the National Industrial Symbiosis Program - Canada (and BizBiz sharing platform), led by LightHouse Sustainable Building Centre.
BC Institute of Technology’s Centre for Ecocities is a core partner leading the scientific basis for OneEarth's priority individual actions. It manages the development and implementation of the Lighter Footprint App and associated Quiz. BCIT has demonstrated experience supporting cities around the world finding pathways to radical GHG emissions reductions and reduced materials consumption, and is working with 10 municipalities in British Columbia including Nelson and Powell River. The Centre's Director, Dr. Jennie Moore, is a Senior Associate with OneEarth.
We work to have an impact here, and to share what we're learning with other places to mainstream sustainable living.
This is about weaving together all sorts of solutions - including rethinking 'the good life,' reducing wasted food and wasteful consumption, and increasing shared goods, access to alternative transportation, and social connections.
We support our local governments to achieve their sustainability goals, helping residents to have smaller ecological footprints and better lives. We helped develop the City of Vancouver's Lighter Footprint goal as part of the Greenest City Action Plan and advised the City's Solid Waste 2040 Strategy. OneEarth is part of the City's Amplifier Network of key organizations aligned with bold climate action. Our work on Vancouver Island directly supports the District of Saanich's Climate Action Plan: 100% Renewable and Resilient Saanich. We are on the Management Board of the Canadian National Zero Waste Council.
We encourage youth-led action, including as members of the Steering Committee of CityHive’s EnviroLab. We see neighbourhoods as particularly exciting spaces and support footprint-reducing action on this front - and define it broadly. For example, we supported the University of British Columbia on developing a model for a mindful move-in, move-out from campus that emphasizes reuse and resale of furnishings and appliances.
OneEarth has a strategic partnership with Vancity (Canada's largest cooperative bank) on Lighter Living, sharing our best understanding of what reduces our footprint while bettering lives for all. This includes a five-year enviroFund focused on lighter living actions by Southwest BC community actors - with millions of dollars leveraged for impact. OneEarth is on the team promoting eco-industrial networking through the National Industrial Symbiosis Program - Canada (and BizBiz sharing platform), led by LightHouse Sustainable Building Centre.
BC Institute of Technology’s Centre for Ecocities is a core partner leading the scientific basis for OneEarth's priority individual actions. It manages the development and implementation of the Lighter Footprint App and associated Quiz. BCIT has demonstrated experience supporting cities around the world finding pathways to radical GHG emissions reductions and reduced materials consumption, and is working with 10 municipalities in British Columbia including Nelson and Powell River. The Centre's Director, Dr. Jennie Moore, is a Senior Associate with OneEarth.
Explore the Motivations for Lighter Living Action
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One Earth released the 7 Motivations for Lighter Living Action in British Columbia. More people take sustainable actions in their daily lives than just the "green / eco-conscious" values group - but their primary motivation is not saving the planet. Seven motivations emerge for British Columbia, based on a large-scale survey and interviews with a broad range of BCers. Most people are primarily motivated by caring for their family, saving money, their own health and wellness, and especially with COVID, being a good community member. We've adapted the Finnish profiles (see here), and then tested and sized BC motivations through a statistically significant quantitative survey.
OneEarth and Sitra are excited to adapt the motivation profiles to other places across Canada, the US and around the world, as well as share these Finnish and Canadian findings with you and your partners. - We are keen to develop a Canada-wide survey and happy to talk to others interested in co-funding or partnering on this. - If you’re a company or brand, we can run the segmentation with your customer base / target audience (fee-for-service). - As a community or organization, it’s possible to develop a place- or sector-specific survey that builds from these profiles. With the Share Reuse Repair Initiative, OneEarth adapted Sitra's Finnish "Smart Consumption Profiles" study. Lead sponsors are Vancity and Sitra (the Finnish Innovation Fund) who is a global leader in sustainable lifestyles and sustainable business and economies, and a set of co-sponsors. As part of the global Shift 1.5 Network, we're building on Sitra's insights work in Finland to catalyze more just and green innovation in Canada. |
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Take Action in your own Neighbourhood
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OneEarth supports people to make a difference where they live with the Lighter Living Action Pack for Neighbourhoods in British Columbia (webpage). You’ll find fun and inspiring actions that you and your neighbours can take to have the highest impact to advance lighter living.
The guide focuses on actions that have the highest impact on reducing carbon and ecological footprints while advancing justice and wellbeing. It covers priority areas for “lighter living” like how we eat, how we move around, how we live in our homes and the stuff we buy. On 1 May, OneEarth will be launching Lighter Living Neighbourhood Small Grants in select pilot commmunities, with the Association of Neighbourhood Houses in BC and the Vancouver Foundation - funded by Vancity. |
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Learn about your own footprint - and make a personal action plan
BC’s ecological and carbon footprint help us see how close (or far) we are to living within the limits of our planet, and what we need to do to get on track — as individuals and as communities.
Take the Lighter Footprint quiz, get personalised tips to reduce your footprint and set goals to "live lighter" - check it out here.
Some actions matter more than others in addressing our climate and ecological crises. As we pick our actions, let’s draw from the latest science and research on our local, ecological footprints here in Southwest BC.
Food is 50% of our footprint, which we can reduce it by tackling food waste and shifting to plant-rich diets.
Mobility is 25% of our footprint, and we can reduce it by finding alternatives to personal car ownership and increasing the percentage of trips by walking, cycling and public transit.
Buildings are 15% of our footprint, and we can reduce it by lowering our housing energy needs and tackling our building and construction waste.
Stuff is 10% of our footprint, which we can reduce by reusing and repurposing furnishings and appliances.
From an ecological footprint perspective, the highest impact area is food. From a climate perspective, it’s mobility. The bottom line? We need to focus on all of these action areas to bring down our footprints.
Take the Lighter Footprint quiz, get personalised tips to reduce your footprint and set goals to "live lighter" - check it out here.
Some actions matter more than others in addressing our climate and ecological crises. As we pick our actions, let’s draw from the latest science and research on our local, ecological footprints here in Southwest BC.
Food is 50% of our footprint, which we can reduce it by tackling food waste and shifting to plant-rich diets.
Mobility is 25% of our footprint, and we can reduce it by finding alternatives to personal car ownership and increasing the percentage of trips by walking, cycling and public transit.
Buildings are 15% of our footprint, and we can reduce it by lowering our housing energy needs and tackling our building and construction waste.
Stuff is 10% of our footprint, which we can reduce by reusing and repurposing furnishings and appliances.
From an ecological footprint perspective, the highest impact area is food. From a climate perspective, it’s mobility. The bottom line? We need to focus on all of these action areas to bring down our footprints.
Join One Planet BC / One Planet Saanich
OneEarth leads a project on Vancouver Island engaging 17 Saanich-based businesses, schools and community groups to further develop, implement and evaluate action plans - and enhance their ability to collaborate. We're working with high schools, a college, a church, the large shopping mall, a local farm, a development project, a social enterprise, and an electric vehicle company. Action plans are shaped by the 10 One Planet Living principles with priority metrics of the carbon and ecological footprint. Its ten simple principles – from health and happiness and sustainable food to zero carbon energy – provide a common language to talk about sustainability and to drive change. Power to Be became involved and works with vulnerable youth - it is building from its focus on nature conservation to broader climate action. The First Unitarian Church was inspired by OPS to engage its congregation in meaningful climate actions through interactive and innovative games. The focus on starting from the numbers meant that Reynolds School prioritized textiles waste through a clothing swap. The project builds on the great work already happening in Saanich, including its Climate Action Plan: 100% Renewable and Resilient Saanich. One Planet Saanich is part of Bioregional's One Planet Cities program, which includes Denmark (Elsinore), South Africa (Durban), Tarusa (Russia) and the UK (Oxfordshire) - all aiming to make our cities better places to live.
Thanks to One Planet Cities, we now have newly engaged and energized local networks, and a great deal of interest in further One Planet Living projects from our Mayor.” – Sustainability Planner, District of Saanich
Support circular innovation with the Share Reuse Repair Initiative
We are co-founders of the Share Reuse Repair Initiative (SRRI), which brings business, government and community together to foster a vibrant culture and economy of sharing, reuse and repair that prevents waste, enables lighter living and supports circular innovation. SRRI is uniquely focused on creating both a greater supply of circular goods and services while cultivating the cultural and consumer demand for that supply. The Vancouver Economic Commission, The Thingery, Recycling Alternative, and Recycling Council of BC were initial co-convenors with OneEarth. In 2019, the Share Reuse Repair Initiative transitioned to become a charitable project of the MakeWay Shared Platform (formerly Tides Canada).
We collaborate with them on the SHIFTing Consumer Behaviour workshops for buisnesses with consumer-facing circular goods or services. Participants are guided through a step-by-step process to apply the SHIFT Framework (psychology, marketing, behavioural economics best practices - learn more) to improve marketing messaging to enhance consumer or citizen uptake. The Motivation Profiles are used to assist innovators to understand, refine and (in some cases) expand their target markets. Explore on Culture SHIFT webpage of the SRRI website.
SRRI is also running the Stuff in Flux project- Leading edge youth are challenging capitalism and traditional consumption, shaping new market opportunities for greener and more just products and services. These young people expect their stuff to address a variety of socio-cultural needs and values simultaneously with sustainability cutting across all market spaces. SRRI is refining and adapting Sitra's categories of Flexible Stuff, Perfect Stuff, Pleasurable Stuff and Familiar Stuff for BC (see "Stuff in Flux" study here), and then quantifying the local market opportunity for youth and the general population.
We collaborate with them on the SHIFTing Consumer Behaviour workshops for buisnesses with consumer-facing circular goods or services. Participants are guided through a step-by-step process to apply the SHIFT Framework (psychology, marketing, behavioural economics best practices - learn more) to improve marketing messaging to enhance consumer or citizen uptake. The Motivation Profiles are used to assist innovators to understand, refine and (in some cases) expand their target markets. Explore on Culture SHIFT webpage of the SRRI website.
SRRI is also running the Stuff in Flux project- Leading edge youth are challenging capitalism and traditional consumption, shaping new market opportunities for greener and more just products and services. These young people expect their stuff to address a variety of socio-cultural needs and values simultaneously with sustainability cutting across all market spaces. SRRI is refining and adapting Sitra's categories of Flexible Stuff, Perfect Stuff, Pleasurable Stuff and Familiar Stuff for BC (see "Stuff in Flux" study here), and then quantifying the local market opportunity for youth and the general population.
Thank you to our sponsors and partners including:
Thank you to the sponsors and partners of the Motivations including:
Thank you to the partners, sponsors and stakeholders of One Planet Saanich:
