Climate Change
Leadership
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With the world is focused on Copenhagen, it is sad
to see Canada image so tarnished through poor
leadership. Our federal government has failed to
take a meaningful stand on climate change, and the
world has noticed. It is doubly sad in that many of
Canada’s leadership is lost on the world stage.
Ontario has a
climate strategy and has shown tremendous
leadership with the Green Energy Act and the coal
phaseout. Sure, they are still falling short of
their targets, as
Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller pointed
out in his review of the Province's annual report,
but they are on the right track.
The
Greening Greater Toronto Task Force is promoting
voluntary leadership by business, municipalities and
groups across the Greater Toronto region.
They've just launched the greening Canada Fund, the
first-ever voluntary carbon emissions reduction fund
aimed exclusively at large Canadian corporations.
Ontario's municipalities are tackling climate
change, often as part of an integrated commitment to
energy conservation and healthier, green
communities. Toronto's
Mayor David Miller
heads the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and is
in Copenhagen promoting the role of cities as
climate leaders.
We Conserve is a provincial level campaign to
support a united movement involving individuals,
groups, municipalities and businesses. It is the
first high-level integrated voluntary transition
strategy in Canada, and
possibly the world.
We
are all Climate Leaders
 Frankly,
our future is too important to entrust to our
politicians. We need to take action ourselves,
now.
So many of us are making a personal or professional
migration of our own to a more sustainable lifestyle
or business model.
If we did it together, I know we could get there
faster, and more efficiently.
Hence the picture of Canada Geese at the top.
Building the New
Movement
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We've created
We Conserve
as a space where every one of us, as individuals,
groups, businesses and municipalities can make their
personal environmental commitment part of a growing
social and economic movement.
But more that just creating a website, we are
developing innovative programs to help connect and
promote our common commitment to taking action now!
We’ve developed a
GreenLeaders
rating program: a simple and common way for
organizations and businesses to demonstrate their
commitment to the environment.
Our
ECOscore Challenge is
a simple way for individuals to rate their level of
commitment in each of the top ten priority actions.
What's more, we are arranging for affordable,
eco-friendly printing of the challenge cards with
your personalized message on the front.
Through our
Community Networks program, we are already
helping Live Green Toronto, the City of Oshawa, and
the Town of Oakville to develop community-based
networks and action plans.
We will launch
WeConserveTV in 2010:
an on-line video forum that allows you to share your
Conserver story with people all across the province.
We’re creating a
Great Green Directory:
everything you need....products, services, programs,
incentives and resources...local, provincial, and
national... all in one easy to search directory.
 The
bottom line is, we think like a movement.
We embrace complexity and we promote simple
solutions that connect our efforts together as part
of a broad social movement.
2010 will be a critical year for us. You can see we
have an aggressive agenda for organizing and
supporting conservation across Ontario.
We need your support – as a Friend of Conservation!
Become a Friend of
Conservation
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 We
need some friends, lots of them: people and
businesses who have made a personal commitment to be
conservers and green leaders, and who support our
mission to transform Ontario into a conserver
society -- by choice, not by crisis
Whether you've followed our work for years, or are
new to the conservation movement, now is the time
for you to step forward. Now is the time to help put
Ontario on the right path!
Click here to join
-- even if only $10. No amount is too small,
but your name on our list of friends is vital.
We will post the names of all the 2010 Friends of
Conservation on the We Conserve website starting in
January.
Why so little?
Two reasons. Sure, we need the funding, but two
other things are more important right now. First,
your name on our list of friends means the world to
us. Second, we believe the greatest change will
come from individuals who invest in conservation in
their own lives. Give what you can, but be sure to
make a personal commitment to your own
conserver budget.
I thank you all for your support, and most
importantly for your ongoing dedication to our
common future.
Sincerely
Chris Winter
Executive Director
The Conservation Council of Ontario
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