The Making of a Sustainability Champion: Passionate youth gain training, inspire each other, and lead sustainability projects in their community… Are you the next Champion?

“Oh! So you mean I'm a leader even though I’m not up on the front podium?” exclaimed Danielle, a soft spoken and bright participant in The Natural Step Canada’s recent Sustainability Champions Training in Ottawa (next session coming up in Edmonton). The other 15 young champions smiled, realizing this was a great moment in their new friend’s life. On a sunny fall afternoon in the park, discussing what we value about leaders in our lives, Danielle just realized she is a leader. That is what this work is all about and I am so proud to be a part of it.

As I write this, I am reclined on the bank of the Ottawa River, on a blanket, under the canopy of a willow tree, with the sun setting in a brilliant orange colour… feeling totally alive, walking my life's purpose. We just completed a Sustainability Champions Training weekend where we used dialogue hosting principles and taught about The Natural Step approach to being a sustainability champion, each in our own capacity. My colleague Anouk Bertner and I guided these awesome young people to build their visions, strategies, and action plans for sustainability projects in Ottawa, Montreal, and Kitchener.

On day one, Anouk and I greeted the shining faces of the Champions. In the opening ceremony, I invited each of us each to share our motivation for being sustainability champions and placed a representative object in the center of our circle. We grounded in the purpose of building connection, skills, and confidence to create sustainability projects in our lives. We watched a video about a young leader, Kyle Ford, who used The Natural Step Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development to make a difference in his community. We were inspired by a presentation from We Canada and we are all invited to join their initiative to host conversations about policies for the United Nations Earth Summit 2012.

My favourite part of day one was when we went to the park and acted out the “Seven Practices of Sustainability Champions” in little plays created by the participants. I loved how the Champions really helped each other with their tips and tricks on how to do those seven practices well. By the end of the day, the participants were a tight group, ready for action!

On day two, we played a fun game called pass the energy, and had a good check in. We then imagined our way into the future, visualizing a time when we are successful in our projects. We used magazine cut outs to creatively capture the vision. It was really cool to see a culture develop among the participants as they reviewed the visions in a moving circle, snapping their fingers to celebrate each vision. 

After providing us with an amazingly tasty, healthy, and eco-friendly lunch, Judi Varga-Toth from Credible Edibles, gave us a tear jerking, inspirational talk about standing up and changing the system, even when everyone thinks you are crazy.

In the afternoon, we held group work sessions to think through the champions’ projects and practiced the skill of inviting others to join the project. After the participants worked through their strategies and action plans, we practiced the skill of inviting others to join the project with some hilarious and engaging skits and presentations. My favourite was the sustainable fashion project where they did a mock ad:

At the end of day two, Shirley, our “harvester” from The Otesha Project, invited us to weave a web of highlights. When did our hearts pound, our eyes open, our breath quicken? She invited us to toss a ball of string around the circle as we shared. Near the end of the activity, we were running out of thread, so we had to pull on the string to make a tighter network and free up more resources. That was a highlight in itself!! In the centre of the web, we collected the magic of the weekend to take home with us by putting beads on a safety pin representing the gems we are taking home and gave beads to others representing the gems we see in them. We honoured and celebrated that we fulfilled the purpose of our weekend and that we stand with confidence and clarity as champions.

We continue with coaching calls and there are several well-defined projects moving forward with timelines and goals: sustainable campuses, sustainable fashion, getting sustainability on the agenda at a provincial political party convention, sustainable selves yoga a work, host a We Canada kitchen table talk, green roofs in Montreal, Inspiritia sustainability art network, Good Food Boxes in Ottawa, among others. 

If you are between the ages of 18-25 (give or take) and ready to take action on a sustainability project, but need some support and info to guide you, join us for the next session of our Sustainability Champions Training in Toronto from March 22-23.

If you see the potential of nurturing leaders with a systemic understanding of sustainability and collaborative mindset in your Canadian city, we would love your support to sponsor a Sustainability Champions Training in 2012 or 2013. Your funding will enable young people to attend the training and create a real impact in your city. Please contact emergingleaders(at)naturalstep.ca to sponsor a Champion, a Sustainability Champions Training session, or the entire program. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the Ontario Trillium Foundation, who sponsored the inaugural Sustainability Champions Training in Ottawa.

“The Sustainability Champions Training has given me the confidence to legitimately proceed. There are still lots of opportunity for failure but there’s no longer any fear.”
– Sustainability Champions Training participant, Ottawa

“The Natural Step Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development has been really helpful, with examples and case studies to understand how to apply it. I now structure my thoughts and goals in a more useful manner.”
– Sustainability Champions Training participant, Ottawa

“Hearing other people’s ideas, goals, and actions, as well as discussing and brainstorming with each other, offered up really creative solutions.”
– Sustainability Champions Training participant, Ottawa

“I spent this weekend with the most inspirational and amazing people I’ve ever met.”
– Sustainability Champions Training participant, Ottawa

“I met very engaging people and was able to build a framework for my own sustainability project.”
– Sustainability Champions Training participant, Ottawa