Healthy Communities

Last week in class we had a presentation from two representatives from 'BC Healthy Communities'. They outlined what their organization was all about, describing how it wasn't a specific program but rather an approach, involving community learning, envolvement and asset collaboration.
They also mentioned that other provinces within Canada and even other countries have this Healthy Community organizagion. As a resident of Ontario I looked at the Ontario Healthy Communities Website to look and see what it was all about.
http://www.ohcc-ccso.ca/en
The Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition also has a focus on building a 'food secure Ontario'.
What I found intersting was the plea for people to become involved with these initiatives. While living in Ontario I had never heard of this Healthy Communities thing. But upon looking into it further I can see the importance in such a thing. But...if people do not know about it, how can they become involved.
I think healthy communities are integral with people being very involved in them. When a person has family, friends, and work within their community they will be more supportive of the health of it. When a person lives in one place, commutes are great distance and works in a different place, they become detched from their community. When a person is more involved and spends a lot of time living, working and playing in their community it is a much healthier balance.
This is a difference I can see between Victoria and Toronto. Most people work much closer to where they live in Victoria, they are able to find alternatives to driving to work and thus are more or less working and living in the same community. In Toronto is is common for a person to commute over 50km one way to work, and thus not really be working and living in the same community.
If we are involved in and living in our community, people will be more for the development of a healthy community:)

Canada's 6 Sustainability Indicators

So, Canada uses 6 indicators to measure how we are doing as a country at achieving sustainability. These are the following

Air quality in terms of ground-level ozone.
Freshwater quality in terms of meeting government criteria.
Greenhouse gas emissions.
Forest cover to track the extent of our forests.
Extent of wetlands in Canada.
Human capital measured by education.
http://www.sustreport.org/indicators/nrtee_esdi.html

I was thinking, whether or not these really cover the basis of our Canadian community remaining sustainable. This especially got me thinking since the UK has 68 indicators. Which includes a much more detailed and specifics. While looking at the list of UK incicators (http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/progress/national/communities.htm) it became a little more obvious that Canada does need to make some changes. How does measuring ground-level ozone really account for the quality of our air. There are many other air pollutants that harm the environment as well as human health. Forest cover should also include things like the health of the forest (ie how useful is a forest if it is being killed by the pine beetle). Freshwater quality? what about salt water, it should also be important what we are dumping into the oceans surrounding us. What about fish populations, are we overfishing or are the fish populations on the rise? It would also be nice to see some indicators related to human and animal health. Are we really behaving in a sustainable way if our health is on the decline?

I also understand with more indicators it will put more demand on the community tracking them, but, with the use of only six, it seems like it could be possible for us to come out on top, looking like we are sustainable, but in areas not accounted for by indicators, we are failing.

Plastic Bag Issue

This past holiday season I went home to Toronto to visit my family and friends. My mom, knowing that I have been studying environmental science was sure to let me know that "Toronto can now recycle plastic bags and styrofoam". I first thought, that is great! good for Toronto! Even here in Victoria we dont have regular curbside pickup of these items.

This got me thinking and comparing the two communities. So different, but both are doing different things in their own efforts to help the environment. A few differences I have noticed in plastic bags usage from Toronto and Victoria: In Toronto if you need a bag you buy one, in Victoria, if you don't need a bag you get a few cents subtracted from your bill. In Toronto, whatever you buy, no matter how big or small you are given a bag (with you can now in turn recycle when you are finished with it); while in Victoria many stores ask the consumer whether or not they need a bag. Without even thinking I took many more plastic bags when I was shopping in Toronto compared to what I would have shopping in Victoria.

I am not sure which city has it right. Probably neither, but it is still interesting to see the differences and similarities between two different communities. I think that both Toronto and Victoria can learn from eachother. Toronto should cut back on plastic bag usage, and Victoria should start a recycling program.

Not really that big of a deal I suppose :)