Take action...   Organize Ourselves...  

The CCO...

 Home  

 

We Conserve!

Be a Conserver

Be a Leader

Be an Innovator

  

Community Action Plans

 Provincial Strategy   About Us

Join Us

 We Conserve    Introducing the Top Ten Conserver Actions    Tracking Conserver Values
         
 

Sooner or later, by choice or by crisis,
we will live in a conserver society.

We prefer sooner, and by choice.

 

What is a conserver society?

A Conserver Society...  is a society that balances economic and social development with environmental sustainability.  If that sounds to you like "sustainable development" or a "green society", they all mean pretty much the same thing.  The Conserver Society, however, is a Canadian invention - first coined by the Science Council of Canada in 1973.

An interesting nuance is that the driving force for a conserver society is people, whereas sustainable development sees the economy as the principal means for driving sustainability.

Our model of a conserver society starts with people:

  • individual choice will drive economic change.
  • healthy and engaged communities and strong local economies are a safeguard against economic uncertainty and resource scarcity
  • environmental policy and standards will follow from individual commitment to a green lifestyle.

To get there, we have developed what we call a "voluntary transition strategy." It sounds fancy, but in reality all we are doing is being a catalyst for the change that is already happening around us.  People are already choosing a greener lifestyle.  By organizing ourselves and with innovative projects and collaborative campaigns, we seek to make conservation easy, affordable, and desirable.

With your help, we can get there:

  • take the conserver challenge, and find out where you can improve
  • become a conservation ambassador, and help others in your community to find conservation solutions
  • help organize
  • become a member of the Conservation Council of Ontario.

And if you are from outside Ontario, please feel free to replicate what we are doing here.  The strategy is simple, and it can be easily adapted to fit your local priorities and opportunities.

 

 

  

We Conserve!

weconserve is a campaign based in Ontario, Canada, that promotes the voluntary transition to a conserver society.

It is hosted by the Conservation Council of Ontario, an association of provincial conservation leaders, including organizations, businesses, municipalities and individuals.

We believe that a conserver lifestyle, done right, is more fun, saves money, and can save the planet.  It just doesn't get any better than that!

That's why we think of conservation as "the art of living lightly."

What is conservation?
 The simple definition of conservation is "to use less", or "to protect from decay."  That's why you most often hear the term conservation used in reference to saving energy or protecting nature.

In reality, conservation can mean different things to different people.  Conservation is planting a tree, riding a bike, buying energy-efficient appliances, installing a solar panel, choosing healthy local food, recycling your waste -- and so much more.  The common element is that they are all examples of living with respect for nature. 

To help define what conservation means, we've come up with the top ten conservation priorities.  If we all do these things, we will be well on the road to a conserver society!

Our goal is to make conservation easy, affordable, and desirable.  In the end, when people see that the conserver option is a more desired way to live, then the economic and policy will naturally follow.

Our research shows that the conserver society and green economy is on the rise, and that people see conservation as a key to a resilient economy, to reducing the cost of living, and to building healthier communities. Even more important, the evidence of a shift to a conserver society is all around us with more and more community-based groups and businesses that help us live better and with a lower ecological footprint.

And that is why we started We Conserve -- to be a catalyst for the positive social change that is already occurring all around us.  We have developed a simple strategy for achieving this goal -- one which stands as out as the first provincial or state-level voluntary transition strategy in the world (to our knowledge). 

So take heart, Ontario. Even in tough times, we believe it is possible to shape a stronger and healthier future for our children.  Why? Because we conserve!