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.
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.
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.
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
Insights Studies for British Columbia on Lighter Living
One Earth is co-leading two human insights projects with the Share Reuse Repair Initiative:
One Earth is co-leading two human insights projects with the Share Reuse Repair Initiative:
- Motivations for Lighter Living Action in British Columbia - Just Launched! 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.
- Front Runner Youth Innovation- 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. We're 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. This is led by the Share Reuse Repair Initiative - see opportunities to get involved with SRRI, below.
- 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.
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).
They have two opportunities to join on this circular path:
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).
They have two opportunities to join on this circular path:
- The SHIFTing Consumer Behaviour Project is seeking 6-10 public or private sector entities based in British Columbia - or with a strong presence here - with consumer-facing circular goods or services. SHIFT is a pilot project running January - June, 2021 that will guide participants through a step-by-step process to apply the SHIFT Framework (psychology, marketing, behavioural economics best practices) to improve marketing messaging to enhance consumer or citizen uptake. The Motivation Profiles will be used to assist innovators to understand, refine and (in some cases) expand their target markets. The deadline to apply is 5 January. A recording of the info session will be made available on the SRRI website on the Culture SHIFT webpage.
- The Front Runner Youth Innovation Project is seeking businesses / social enterprises that want to understand early-adopter youth (Gen Z and younger Millennials), who are rejecting traditional consumption culture and shaping markets. This project will help innovators listen to the needs of ‘Front Runners’ so they can de-risk their circular product or program and land their innovation strategy. With COVID-19 and the growing attention on racial inequities, new motivations and attitudes among market shaping youth have likely emerged in BC. We need this insight so that local BC businesses, social enterprises and government can understand what’s in the hearts and minds of market shaping youth in order to innovate in support of more sustainable and just local economies. SRRI will be seeking brand partners for this project early in 2021.
Thank you to our sponsors and partners including:
Thank you to the sponsors and partners of the Motivation Profiles including:
Thank you to the partners, sponsors and stakeholders of One Planet Saanich:
