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Shaping our Energy Future

Submitted by Chad Park on November 3, 2015 - 9:46am

"The rest of the world is looking to transition to a low-carbon economic future, with or without us. Alberta can sit on the sidelines, or take the action needed to ensure the continued strength of the economy."
- Shannon Phillips, Alberta Minister of Environment and Parks, at the 2015 Alberta Climate Summit, September 9.

Curbing CO2 Emissions with Lakewood Designs

Submitted by Our Storyteller on October 22, 2015 - 8:14am

This blog post was written by Andrew Hicks, IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training participant and founder of Lakewood Designs.

A couple years ago, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in the IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training in Ottawa. I have a passion for social change and environmental sustainability, so the IMPACT! training was a great place to bounce ideas off like-minded people and learn more about what it means to be sustainable. Going into the program, I was full of ideas, but I didn’t know how to take those ideas to the next level and create a plan to achieve my goals. The IMPACT! training really helped solve this challenge. I have used a lot of my learnings from the 3-day workshop to create my wood working design startup, Lakewood Designs.

The Co-operators awards more than $90,000 to young sustainability champions

Submitted by The Natural Ste... on October 20, 2015 - 10:05am

Guelph, ON, October 20, 2015 – Through the IMPACT! Fund, The Co-operators awarded $93,747 in grants today to 21 young Canadians who demonstrated leadership and ingenuity in sustainability. The IMPACT! Fund, which is part of the IMPACT! Youth Program for Sustainability Leadership, financially supports young sustainability leaders as they implement programs that have a positive impact on Canadian communities.

Since its creation in 2009, the IMPACT! Fund has provided $526,400 in grants to support 91 sustainability projects led by youth who have attended one off the IMPACT! conferences or one of the regional IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training sessions, and who have an active focus on making their communities healthier and more sustainable.

Vote for the Environment on October 19th

Submitted by Tyler Seed on October 13, 2015 - 9:19am

Disastrous drought and wildfires devastated Western Canada over the summer while sweltering heat waves cooked Southern Ontario. Over the winter, the Maritimes set records for the least snowfall up to the first of January, and for the most ever after that date. The price of oil has bottomed out, laying bare the risks of an economy dependent on the price of a global commodity over which we have little to no control.

After a year like this, and with an exceptionally long campaign period, it could be expected that climate change and the parties’ environmental agendas would occupy the spotlight at some point in the election race. One might imagine that the leaders would be called upon to provide detailed, robust strategies for addressing increasingly urgent sustainability challenges.

Minga Momentum - Building more resilient, self-sufficient and sustainable communities across Ontario

Submitted by Our Storyteller on October 7, 2015 - 8:27am

In March, I had the great opportunity to go to the IMPACT! Sustainability Champion Training. I started the weekend without a concrete idea of an initiative to start, I had a couple of ideas, but nothing yet defined. The first day I floundered a bit, not knowing how to best utilize the information coming at me without a clear project in mind to direct it into.

Announcing a new crop of TNS Associates… and a complimentary offering

Submitted by Tamara Connell on October 5, 2015 - 9:19am

You may have read from the recent message from the Executive Director that The Natural Step Canada’s Associates network was to be expanded in 2015, and we are thrilled to announce that we have added four fresh-faced Associates to the team.

This expansion of the Associates group will increase capacity to support the Sustainability Transition Labs, to continue to offer our well-known Advisory Services to municipalities, businesses, universities, etc., and to deliver other programming such as our public courses and the IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Trainings. 

How IMPACT! Made Me a Coffee Addict

Submitted by Our Storyteller on September 30, 2015 - 9:44am

As I stare into the dense jungle carrying a machete in my blister-worn hands, I begin to admire the many sprouting coffee seedlings, the (literal) fruits of my labour. It is my last day working in Santa Anita La Union, a coffee finca run by ex-guerilla combatants in Guatemala’s 36 year long war. This is one of the many eye-opening experiences I’ve had during my 40-day field course studying the coffee business in Guatemala.

Designing and Delivering Exceptional Learning Opportunities

Submitted by Tamara Connell on September 15, 2015 - 11:08am

The Natural Step Canada has long been a respected provider of sustainability training.  We have built and maintained a reputation for doing something different, impactful, and perhaps surprisingly… fun! I hear that every time I’m at a training.

Why do participants feel our approach is so innovative and engaging?

From Plastics to Prospering Communities: An IMPACT! Story

Submitted by Our Storyteller on September 14, 2015 - 9:33am

This blog post was written by Andrew Almack, two time IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training participant and Founder of Plastics for Change.

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Our journey started with a trip to Cambodia, a country with heart-wrenching levels of poverty and plastic pollution. Municipalities in this region struggle to manage basic necessities, let alone implement proper waste management systems. Cambodia is not unique in this regard. In developing nations throughout the world, waste management systems cannot keep up with population growth, so plastics fall to the wayside and wind up in our oceans.

En Route to Paris: Shifting Sands in Alberta – the Energy Futures Lab

Submitted by Chad Park on July 28, 2015 - 9:57am

The article En Route to Paris: Shifting Sands in Alberta – the Energy Futures Lab, written by Chad Park, Executive Director of The Natural Step Canada, was originally published on The JW McConnell Foundation blog.

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Six months ago I returned with my wife and our young family to Edmonton after almost 20 years away from Alberta. The motivation behind my homecoming? A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead the Energy Futures Lab, an initiative so timely and relevant that there was no escaping its call.

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