Andy Nichols

Riva and Andrew Mackie, owners of Riva’s Eco Store, have made a niche for themselves in the community

If you really want to make the world a better place, stay close to home. Your community needs you.

It may be time to hang up your backpack, do-gooders. Activism is no longer just a job for dreadlocked jet-setters. The changes the world needs right now, to protect the environment and, by extension, humanity, need to happen locally and in our daily lives. As author and activist James Howard Kunsler says, “Our hopes really ought to be vested locally, since that is where the most effective action is likely to be in the years just ahead.”

The very act of flying around in airplanes is an environmental black eye. Four to nine per cent of the total human climate change impact comes from air travel, according to the David Suzuki Foundation. Since 1990, CO2 emissions from international aviation have increased by 83 per cent. If you’re looking for ways to decrease the size of your environmental footprint, simply flying less has enormous effect.

VACATIONING CLOSE TO HOME

There’s some soul to reducing your environmental sole. Travel authority The Lonely Planet names Canada as one of the top 10 countries to visit in 2009. The Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2009 suggests channelling your “inner cowboy” at the Calgary Stampede, but if a less gaucho vacation has more appeal, there are plenty of other places to be a tourist in and around the city — and you don’t have to make it a road trip.

Alberta TrailNet (www.albertatrailnet.com) is a group that’s working to develop and map an extensive network of trails throughout the various Alberta landscapes. These trails can be explored on foot or bicycle in summer and on cross-country skis in winter. Peter Barr, president of Alberta TrailNet, is a strong advocate of extending the Alberta trail system along abandoned rail lines. While the trail system through the provincial and national parks is already well established, preserving railway right-of-ways allows the trail network to expand across the province. These rights-of-way “are a treasure that should be preserved for future generations,” says Barr. A longtime resident of Southern Alberta, Barr calls local landscapes some of the most breathtaking in the world.

CURBING CONSUMERISM

“Infinite growth of material consumption in a finite world is an impossibility,” predicted economist E.F. Schumacher back in 1973. These days, according to the UN System-wide Earthwatch, the wealthiest 20 per cent of the global population devours close to 80 per cent of the world’s total resources. This same 20 per cent also owns 87 per cent of the world’s automobiles. The poorest 20 per cent consume just 1.5 per cent of global resources. This trend of mass consumerism by wealthy societies, along with rising consumerism in nations like India and China, is clearly unsustainable.

People in wealthy societies are unlikely to change daily habits of consumerism until individuals feel part of “inclusive” local communities, according to U.K. researcher Michael Hannis. He says a “sense of community, of citizenship, implies a feeling of being genuinely included, both as someone whose interests matter and as someone who has a meaningful voice.”

A harsher view of our consumerist tendencies comes from Kunsler, who believes that when the globe inevitably reaches the point of Peak Oil (when the demand for oil exceeds the supply), we will be unable to move goods around, including food, like we do now. At that point, human society will revert to much more localized economies and food sources. There won’t be a choice.

More localized economies help slow down consumerist trends. Shopping at a small business involves interactions with other humans. One may even get to know owners and employees and find making their purchases much more satisfying. There are several shops in Calgary for those weaning themselves off excessive consumerism and looking for local and environmentally friendly options.

ECO SHOPPING

It’s just beginning to snow the evening of Riva’s first anniversary party. Fat snowflakes float through the night sky, picturesquely offsetting the yellowish glow from the windows of the eco-shop (www.rivasecostore.com), tucked away on 17th Ave. S.W. Riva Mackie herself is standing at the door, offering greetings and snacks to incomers. Her partner and husband, Andrew Mackie, emerges from the back a few moments later. I am struck that all the items in the store are not only earth-friendly, but are also really nice; from clothing and accessories to home décor, environmental no longer has to be ugly. I make mental notes of items I might like to buy for presents, and remind myself to stop in the next time we need new bedding or even paint. Employees chat with customers like they are old friends. I’m not quite sure if the purpose of this party is to socialize or shop, but it seems like most people do some of both. I’ve never seen this happen at Wal-Mart.

“In many ways, we cannot compete with the big-box stores,” Mackie says. “They will always have more options and cheaper prices. Unfortunately, the measures taken to achieve these prices have other costs, most obviously the destruction of environments and ecosystems, but also the use of… materials that have severely negative health consequences.” Seeing his business as part of the community has its own benefits. “There are many ways that the big-box stores cannot compete with us. We can offer a quality of service and often product that is impossible for larger businesses.”

REAP (Respect for the Earth and All People, www.reapcalgary.com) is an association of similar local businesses that make ethical business decisions. Stephanie Jackman, founder of REAP, has seen an increase in the number of businesses that are looking for just such an alliance. “Locally owned businesses rely on local services and supplies, employ local workers at decent wages, support local not-for-profit organizations and serve primarily local customers. They contribute to the diversity and stability of our communities,” writes Jackman in REAP’s online magazine.

The Clean Calgary EcoStore (www.cleancalgary.org) is another establishment dedicated to ethical shoppers. Carrying everything from office supplies to low-flow toilets, from cloth diapers to worm composters, the store offers educational ways to reduce your environmental footprint as well as better-choice products. For recent converts, Clean Calgary offers assessments and simple first steps to a greener school, home or office. For longtime enthusiasts, the association offers options and tools for taking your environmental ideals further. The waste measurement tool kit, for example, gives organizations a “meaningful way to analyze their overall rate of waste diversion and the composition of waste and recycling streams.”

EATING LOCALLY

It is often said that it is difficult to eat locally in Calgary, where the growing season is short and dry. However, there are vendors that take some of the hard work out of creating a local diet by doing the research for the customer.

Spud (www.spud.ca), a food delivery service that says it eliminates up to 160 private car trips with each delivery vehicle that takes up to 80 orders out, specializes in local and organic products. The average distance Spud food travels from the producer to the consumer is less than 800 kilometres, which the company says is less than one-third of the average grocery store. To show their support for the community, Spud donates surplus food to local charities.

Sunnyside Market is a well-established business located across from Safeway in the heart of Kensington. Sunnyside sources products directly from Alberta and B.C. producers, and customers are as likely to go there for the food as for the community associated with the store. Employees know their customers, often by name, and a supplier like Carstairs farmer Chris Vester makes time to chat as he delivers fresh eggs and produce. Sunnyside has appeal for those who want to get to know like-minded locals and makes healthy eating affordable by accepting both federal currency and Calgary Dollars, a form of local grassroots currency.

CREATE COMMUNITY

Community happens around more than commerce. Local events allow people to get engaged. Businesses like the Plaza Theatre on Kensington Road support growing community groups by offering affordable and hospitable venue space. Movies that Matter is a monthly series of documentary film premières tackling timely and provocative issues. Joining your community association can help you shape your neighbourhood.

There is support for good ideas that help create community. Arusha’s Take Action Grants (www.calgarydollars.ca/grants) are given out in a combination of Canadian currency and Calgary Dollars to support grassroots community initiatives. Take Action Grants have supported projects like community gardens, community composters, art shows and street theatre, as well as self-esteem building events for kids. Putting ideas into action is an ideal way to build the kind of community people want to live in and stay in.