Learn to lighten your footprint
by Tara Bolger
To help contribute the idea of positive living to the world, the 2008 Sustainable Living Symposium will be held on March 29 at Loyalist College.
"The idea was to bring together our local expertise on one day and invite the community to come and learn from them and just explore different types of sustainable lifestyle options that we could incorporate into our own lifestyles," says Maya Navrot, conservation education coordinator of Quinte Conservation.
The annual event will kick off at 9 a.m. in the gymnasium and is offering learning opportunities in Sustainable Food Systems, Alternative Home Construction, Going Carbon Neutral, Local and Urban Agriculture, Green Energy Options, Vibrant Years and Shorelines, 100 Mile Menu, Renovations and Restorations, and Emission Reduced Travel.
"It's just a great way to have one event that brings together all of these ideas in one day," says Navrot.
As for new sessions added this year, "a gentleman from a town called Eden Mills" will talk about his town that is "attempting to go entirely carbon neutral," says Navrot.
The 100 Mile Menu is also a new session that's about what local produce is available, when and where it's available and also how to cook with that specific produce.
"Each year we try to have a homeowner's perspective where the home owners themselves talk about how they went off grid, what to expect, and not just the benefits, but also the challenges," says Navrot.
This year the homeowner's perspectives have been expanded. The first year when the symposium was held at The Frink Centre and homeowners presented to a group. Then last year there was one bus tour, which visited a home that is using alternative resources.
"This year we're actually doing two bus tours and also including two homes," she says. "The homeowner's perspectives have been really popular at the event."
Many local residents come to the symposium and talk about things like sustainable construction, renewable energy, food related issues like eating local and supporting local farmers as well as encouraging sustainable farming practices.
"[The symposium] was started as a way of highlighting local expertise in the fields of sustainable living, because we do have so many experts locally," says Navrot.
This year the symposium is going to be as paperless as possible. All registration will take place online and receipts and conformations will all be through email. Advertising has been done through the website and email.
"We've done some print with The Intelligencer, producing an informational tabloid that contained articles about sustainable living through our partnering organizations," she says.
This was done on recycled newsprint. Also there are few posters.
"What we've done is actually just put a poster on our website and if somebody feels like putting a poster up in their community, in their store or at their organization, they can just print one right off the internet," says Navrot.
"As for on the day [of the symposium] the food that we will be serving is actually from local farmers, and apart of that is even organically grown locally. We’re using all real plates, real cutlery [and] real cups," she says. "There'll be no bottled water, none of that sort of thing this year. [We're doing] everything we can to keep our waste as minimal as possible."
There is even an exhibitor who will bring in his vermi composters, worm composters, in plastic bins and then will collect all the compostable waste from the event.
"We're even this year looking at the carbon footprint of the event and keeping track of everybody that's coming in," she says. "We're asking our participants to let us no how they're getting to the symposium."
They'll be asked what their method of transportation was and how long of a distance they traveled.
"Then we'll calculate approximately what the carbon foot print of this event is in an effort to each year reduce that foot print more and more," said Navrot.
Pre-registration is required and it's filling quickly. It sold out in 2006, it's first year, this definitely shows that the interest is there and each year it keeps getting bigger.
"We sold out again in 2007 after we increased the enrollment by twice the number," says Navrot.
Participant numbers have been increased for this symposium and it's anticipated that it will sell out again.
"People seem to want to learn more about this. It is an event that is organized by nine regional non-profits and so the committee itself is actually represented through each of those organizations," says Navrot.
Those non-profit organizations met on a monthly basis to organize everything for this event. They are, Friends of the Frink Centre, Quinte Conservation, Hastings Stewardship Council, Prince Edward Stewardship Council, Quinte Waste Solutions, Loyalist College, Hastings Federation of Agriculture, The Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario and ELORIN (The Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Innovation Network.)
"A lot of money has been given to us through generous sponsors," says Caroline Zawadzki, coordinator of The Sustainable Living Symposium. "We have a lot of them."
Those supporters include, The Government of Ontario, Trenval Business Development Corporation, Friends of the Frink Centre, Loyalist College, Quinte Conservation, West City Honda, Lower Trent Conservation, Veridian Connections, Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council, Hastings Stewardship Council, Bullfrog Power, The Intelligencer and Quinte Broadcasting.
"Sometimes people hear that we're doing this and they just want to make donations [as well]," says Zawadzki.
This symposium will offer opportunities to learn about alternative ways to live that will better suit the environment. For more information about The Sustainable Living Symposium and to register visit www.quintesustainiblity.ca. |
