“Refresh, Rethink, Renew” event raises awareness for sustainability
posted by vinniey on 2010-01-29 18:04:09ARTICLE:
By Vinnie Yuen
On Saturday January 16th, “Refresh, Rethink, Renew” brought together speakers, local businesses, non-profit organizations, and individuals in an effort to promote practical sustainable thinking and actions in a 3 hour conference and sustainability fair held at the Marine Drive Residence, on the University of British Columbia campus.
On Saturday January 16th, “Refresh, Rethink, Renew” brought together speakers, local businesses, non-profit organizations, and individuals in an effort to promote practical sustainable thinking and actions in a 3 hour conference and sustainability fair held at the Marine Drive Residence, on the University of British Columbia campus.
The event was coordinated by UBC student and Residence Advisor Monique Smith, who with the assistance of Devon O’Mera and Brendan Guy began putting together Refresh, Rethink, Renew back in September 2009. Smith says she has always had an eager interest in event coordination and prior to coming to UBC, she organized Book sale events, a Culture Feast, nd a World Aids Day event at Thompson Rivers University.
“[With Refresh, Rethink, Renew] I wanted to do something different, something that would be interactive, that would connect people together, and that would inspire people to be more sustainable,” said Smith. She believes sustainability is the most important topic of our time, and if activities like composting, gardening, and cooking organic food can be shown to be fun, then more people would be willing to participate.
Beginning at 6pm attendees were introduced to a sustainability fair with many opportunities to learn how to live green and become more engaged in their community. For example, there were numerous volunteer positions available with organizations such as the UBC Farm and the Environmental Youth Alliance. Fair participants included sustainability-minded companies like Green Earth Organics that delivers fresh organic produce right to your door and Light House Building Centre that helps people learn how to make their homes more sustainable.
At 7pm the speakers took to the stage and Judy Fainstein, one of Al Gore’s 200 trained Climate presenters, voiced her concerns about climate change and increasing levels of CO2 in our air. Fainstein believes that today there is an effort by some to cast doubt and confusion on people’s minds as to whether Climate change is fact or fiction. Fainstein believes that hope lies in the young people of this generation. “Young people have the ability to drive the market, and they can patronize businesses not in line with their values as well as reward businesses that make a commitment to sustainability,” she said. Judy Fainstein encouraged all attendees to think big and start small, and left attendees with the thought that the balance of power lies with today’s youth.
Common Energy UBC Director Spencer Rasmussen spoke about his organizations campaign to make UBC the first bottled-water free campus in BC and was followed by Sahriar Kabir from Oxfam UBC who explained the link between poverty and sustainability. Sahriar claims that climate change most deeply affects people in developing countries and it worsens the problems that cause poverty. He asked attendees to “Stop Harming. Start Helping,” encouraging others to support Oxfam’s aid and relief work.
To wrap up the evening, Claire Seaborn, Student Engagement Representative of the UBC Sustainability office, led a Community Goal Setting Workshop designed by Monique Smith to be “action-based rather than knowledge-based”, in which all conference participants would have an opportunity to make the connection between what they have learned and how it applies to their lives.
Some effective and tangible goals that were set by attendees included:
• eat less meat, or at least buy free-range meat.
• reduce paper usage and print double-sided.
• teach others about sustainability
• and most importantly, choose to be politically active and vote for those who will make a difference.
Setting goals like these are essential to putting our practical ideas and words into actions.
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