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Welcome.
This website is home to a movement, not just a
single organization.
Whatever your reason to conserve, we'll help you
take action and find help
Defining conservation...
Simply put, to conserve is to avoid the wasteful
or destructive use of natural resource.
But that's the scientific definition. We
prefer to look at conservation as a social
movement and as a deep-rooted positive cultural
value.
We define
conservation as "the art of living lightly".
We believe our lives should be better as
conservers, our communities stronger, and our
economy more resilient. We believe
individual acts of conservation add up to global
solutions to environmental, economic, and social
crises.
To help explain
what it means to conserve, and to help organize
a province-wide conservation movement, we have
identified the following ten priorities...
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1. Help
nature |
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Without nature, we are nothing.
Nature is the provider
of all our resources, and home to all species.
It is a
source of comfort, and of sustenance.
We can all help nature
in our own ways, by picking up litter, planting trees,
protecting natural areas, restoring degraded areas, making a
butterfly garden, or even by growing flowers on our
balconies. |
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2.
Save water |
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Water is life.
So much of our lives revolves around
oceans, lakes and rivers -- for food,
drinking water, power, sanitation,
recreation, and much more.
We need to protect our lakes and
watersheds, and conserve water in our
homes, yards, businesses, and in our
urban design. |
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3.
Save energy |
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Energy is power. Pure and simple.
It is the power to live comfortably and
to create a strong economy. But
power corrupts, and the side effects of
an era of cheap energy include urban
sprawl, climate change, and economic
fragility. We must change before
change is forced upon us.
A low-energy diet will
give us the best chance of weathering an energy crisis.
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4.
Use green power |
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Green power respects nature.
All power sources have
an environmental impact, but renewable sources have far less
an impact than nuclear or fossil fuels.
From community power
projects to rooftop solar and geothermal, the ability to
produce power is coming closer to home. Invest in energy
conservation first, and then you'll find the added cost of
greening your electricity bill is within reach.
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5.
Drive less |
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Ditch the car? Not an option for everyone perhaps, but
transportation accounts for almost one-third of our
greenhouse gas emissions.
We have to find better
ways of moving ourselves and goods around, and reducing the
need to travel great distances.
Where you live, work,
and play, are key factors in your ability to reduce your
personal car-dependency, which leads us to the next
challenge... |
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6.
Live local |
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Think outside the box.
Our homes are our biggest
investment, but the community we live in is every bit as
important.
Enjoy your community,
support your local business, arts and culture, and pitch in
to help make your neighbourhood a great place to live.
A green future depends
on our ability to create vibrant urban villages.
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7.
Eat smart |
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Food, glorious food!
The more value we
place on our food, the healthier we will be.
Grow your own, pick
your own, support local farmers, buy organic, choose
sustainable, and eat more vegetarian meals.
Let's use our prime
farmland to grow food, not houses. |
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8.
Buy green |
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Make change happen.
We've already changed
the auto industry, and we've created a market for local
food. The more we invest in a green economy, the
sooner the whole world will change.
Make a commitment to
one percent of your income as your personal budget for
spending a little extra on green products.
Invest in a conserver
economy.
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9.
Waste less |
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Don't trash the planet!
Remember the 3Rs:
reduce, reuse, and recycle. With the convenience
of recycling, we often overlook waste
reduction and reuse.
The less stuff we bundle and ship
around the planet for recycling, the better. Choose durability over
disposabilty, avoid overpackaging, compost your greens, and
think 3Rs when shopping. |
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10.
Prevent pollution |
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And so we come full circle back to nature.
Our responsibility is
to leave nature as clean as we found it.
As individuals in our
homes, or as businesses, we should seek to avoid harming the
planet with our hazardous products and wastes.
Go toxic free -- in
your home, yard, school, and business. |
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We're the
Conservation Council of Ontario,
a provincial association of
conservation leaders.
Our mission is to help make
Ontario a conserver society.
Our
programs are designed to help
people act, to help groups
network and collaborate; and to
develop recommendations for
conservation policy.
Act
Everyone of us is a
leader, each in our own way.
We offer programs to
promote leadership and tools to
help connect people and groups
with ideas and resources.
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Your
personal commitment speaks
volumes!
Join
comedian Colin Mochrie in a
personal challenge to "lighten
up".
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Every store,
business, organization, and
government should be a GreenLeader. Our
five star, self-assessed rating is
based on your internal
operations, products or
services, and
community support.
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Find
all the help you need in the
Great Green Directory. For
groups,
find funding and campaigns and
create a
hand-out for public info
sessions.
The directory was launched in
April 2010 as free
service for all groups, businesses,
foundations, and governments.
Get
listed!
For other ideas and resources,
see...
our
directories
of events and alerts
our
factsheets - ideas and links.
our
funding
page, with links to some of the
top sources in Ontario.
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A
video is worth ten thousand
words!
We've launched a terrific new
site to profile community videos
as a tool for promoting
conservation solutions.
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Help
create a conserver society with
individual projects and
coordinated campaigns.
We've designed
some of
our own, and you can
check our
factsheets
for other projects and
campaigns.
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Organize
Our movement is complex.
We help local and provincial
groups organize around their
common vision, be it for a
greener community, or any of the
ten priorities (listed at left).
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Improve
Everyone we talk to knows we
need to improve. We need
increased support for
conservation, better planning,
investment in green
infrastructure, better
fundraising, stronger policy,
and more incentives.
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Sooner or later, by choice or by
crisis, we will all be
conservers. We prefer
sooner and by choice.
Our
movement is based on making a
conserver society easy,
affordable, and desirable.
If you share our goal, we need
your help...
by doing
Lead by example, at home,
school, work, or in your
community.
by donating
Donate to the
Conservation Council of Ontario,
or
to any group that is part of the
movement.
We're not fussy!
by joining
Become a
Friend of
Conservation, or
become an organization, business
or municipal
member of
the Conservation Council of
Ontario.
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Reflections on the path to
a conserver society
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Movement Builders
We are indebted to those who have sponsored us
and our projects over recent years. Their
support has allowed us to test new concepts and
design a new, cooperative approach for
addressing global concerns with local solutions.
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Major Partner:
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Municipalities we're working
with...
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Some of
Our Past Partners...
For
a full list of sponsors, and
sponsorship details, please go
here.
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