Royal Roads University played host July 10 to Green Drinks, a growing social networking event for those seeking green thinking in their communities and economies.
Green Drinks is hosted in dozens of cities across Canada and more than 240 cities around the world. Roger Colwill, a vice-president with International Composting Corp., launched the event in Victoria last September, after prompting from noted sustainability author Guy Dauncey.
Roger Colwill and Guy Dauncey speaking behind Hatley Castle.
“Green Drinks is quite amorphous, quite unique. We have presidents, scientists, politicians, social activists and people from everyday walks of life coming together to share ideas,” Colwill said. “There is no equivalent meeting like this.”
Appropriate to a social gathering focused on sustainability, most people arrived at Royal Roads on bike via the Galloping Goose Trail from Victoria, although the distance champion pedaled from Salt Spring Island. A few people drove in their electric, bio-diesel or vegetable-oil fuelled cars. Ichiko Sugiyama, 18, walked almost four hours from Saanich.
Shrugging her shoulders, Sugiyama said why shouldn’t she walk? She has two working legs and it was a beautiful day. “I don’t use fuel and it’s healthy,” she said.
Royal Roads University associate vice-president and environmental scientist Steve Grundy noted that the university itself is striving to become a model for sustainability. Grundy described the campus as a potential “living laboratory.”
“We want to go carbon neutral and in 10 years I’d like to see us off the grid. It will be a real challenge but we should set lofty goals,” Grundy said during a speech. “This campus has everything we need — wind, a large elevation drop and tides. It has all the pieces for a self sustaining campus.”
Dauncey lauded Royal Roads commitment to going green through-and-through, saying people and institutions need to take responsibility for their impact on the planet. “If you aren’t trying to make a difference you are part of the problem,” he said.
It was that kind of thinking that drew the who’s who of sustainability movers and shakers to Royal Roads. Dockside Green and Westhills reps pressed their case that property developments can be sustainable and environmentally progressive. Car-share groups, renewable energy companies, and ecological conservation non-profits were on hand to share notes and new ideas.
“The whole sustainability movement in Victoria is close-knit, and all play a role to move toward a healthier future,” said Darlene Tait, with Westhills development, a 6,000-unit project in Langford seeking advanced certification in Leadership in Energy Environmental Design. “The people here have shared philosophy and direction, and we are here to support each other.”
Jody Watson, director of the Esquimalt Lagoon Stewardship Initiative, said Green Drinks has opened new methods for her group’s efforts to restore fragile dune ecosystems along the lagoon’s beach. Watson said Victoria’s International Composting Corp. is helping provide mulch derived largely from household organic waste.
“It is amazing how many environmentally conscious people there are in this area. Green Drinks is wonderful for bringing people together,” Watson said. “The green community is more connected and collaborative. And we get to have a beer.”
For more info see http://www.greendrinks.org/.
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