From 24-27th, 2009, 180 young Canadians selected to participate at IMPACT! The Co-operators Youth Conference for Sustainability worked with academics, industry leaders and each other and were inspired by keynote presentations from David Suzuki and Peter Schiefke. IMPACT! is more than an event, it is a catalyst for action – read on to see how the pre-conference research, our time together last September and post-conference support has translated to action on sustainability across Canada…

Alla Guelber – Royal Roads University (Victoria, B-C)
“I applied to the IMPACT! Fund and received funding create a Green Jobs & Social Innovation Workshop in Kananaskis from April 30 to May 2, 2010. I also successfully applied for graduate funding to conduct research on experiential environmental education for youth and received funding from the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation. In the past three months, I have secured funding, established 2 partnerships to make the workshop a reality, and found an assistant to work with me in creating it. Once the workshop is put on, it will reach 20-25 participants, 4-6 guest speaker/facilitators, and will be widely advertised in local media and through social networking.”

Robert Mcourteau- Bishops University (Lennoxville, QC)
“I am eliminating plastic bags from Lennoxville, Quebec! It is really building steam – shirts and bags, stickers, fact sheets, petitions, volunteers, strategy, press coverage, etc. etc. etc. It just keeps going! I’ve talked to a number of businesses, and have now officially made Bishop’s University campus plastic bag free! We’re on our way! The volunteer response has been excellent, students, professors, campus clubs, fraternities and local businesses have all provided assistance or expressed their support. We are only a hop, skip and jump from having the entire university endorse the project, and will move into the community with much more force!

Marco Mwenda – Assiniboine Community College (Brandon MB)
 “I established a project to raise awareness on climate and environment in general. The first speaker series was on February 8th, 2010.” 

Alison McDonald – Trent University (Peterborough, ON)
“I am working on the Sustainable food systems project for which we received funding from The Co-operators Foundation IMPACT! Fund. We are actively pursuing this project, and are currently in meetings with the administration. There has been some media attention, and lots of student and faculty support. The project will take time to complete, as land is needed to begin. This is our main focus at this time.”

Erin Carlson – University of Guelph (Guelph, ON)
“I organized and lead a townhall meeting of students, professors and administrators in order to discuss and help save the organic agriculture major at the University of Guelph. Since last April I’ve been heavily involved in making sure that this unique, growing, and necessary program does not get thrown out. A meeting held at the end November attracted about 50 students from different backgrounds and areas of study, professors, decision-making administrators, industry leaders, and farmers. There is a very good chance that the Organic Agriculture major will be saved, in fact the largest obstacle has been overcome so keep your ears open for more good news!!

IMPACT! alumni from across Canada continue to work on innovative personal and community sustainability projects. Visit often to find out what they will accomplish in the next 6 months!

Lawrence Yeh – University of Waterloo (Waterloo, ON)
“I wanted to initiate dialogue and communicate with others who share similar goals and interests. A Toronto event took place in November 2009 at the Atlantis Pavilions at Ontario Place. We sold almost 300 tickets and over 400 people attended. In January 2010, two events were held in Kitchener and featured local sustainability groups, including Sustainable Waterloo. The events have enhanced networking among like-minded individuals and organizations.

Ellen Quigley – University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, SK)
“I’ve started a tap water information project with funding from The Co-operators Foundation’s IMPACT! Fund. I also lobbied the City of Saskatoon to increase the water rate as usage goes up! The water rate change will affect all 220,000 residents of Saskatoon, and the tap water project, which provides tap water at community events, will reach thousands at festivals this summer.

Shane Yates – Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS)
“In March, Municipal World Magazine published my article about the IMPACT! conference and how encouraging youth is key to sustainable municipalities.”

Graeme Bousada – Mount Alison University (Sackville, NB)
“I helped to organize 350 day at my university. It was part of a global call to action in which people from around the world displayed the number 350 in some creative fashion. Approximately 600 people were present and I delivered and wrote the speech for the crowd in Sackville, New Brunswick on October 24th. 600 people were directly involved.”

Visit often to read about IMPACT! outcomes across Canada.

Young people care deeply about sustainability. That’s why in September of 2009, 180 university and college students from across Canada assembled in Guelph, Canada. These outstanding people were selected from over 900 applicants to attend IMPACT! The Co-operators Youth Conference for Sustainability Leadership – an event designed to excite, empower and equip young people with the tools and knowledge they need to be catalysts for greater sustainability.  Before they set foot at the University of Guelph campus, they had already spent 25 hours during the summer researching the current sustainability practices in one organization of their choosing, as well as taking a sustainability e-learning course developed by The Natural Step. During the conference, students discussed current sustainability practices with each other and the experts from industry and academia who were guiding them. They critiqued current practices and developed new ideas to move organizations ahead.

To capture the students’ findings, the Research Network for Business Sustainability produced The New Normal: Sustainable Practices Your Future Employees Will Demand. The report presents many of the students’ ideas on issues from climate change and pollution to employees, community and consumers; to poverty and human rights. It is organized by sector, including: insurance and financial services, manufacturing, retail, municipal services, food systems, energy production, information and communications technologies, and hospitality and tourism. www.nbs.net/new_normal

Other conference outcomes are being measured one, three, six and twelve months after the conference. Regular blog posts provide updates on these outcomes and visit the IMPACT! Fund Page to find out about more about our grant recipients and their current projects.

February 25th: Anouk Bertner, International Communications Director, The Natural Step
March 16th: David Suzuki, Founder, David Suzuki Foundation

The 180 Impact Alumni will receive registration and participation instructions shortly.  A recording of the live event will be posted later on this site so anyone with an interest in sustainability can benefit from this extension of the conference.

This month I will…

• Have a brainstorming dinner with my friends and colleagues using 100% local ingredients. We will discuss this conference and what we can do as a collective force and hopefully get more friends thinking about the environment and social sustainability. – Catlan
• Learn more about issues facing my community. Collaborate with existing municipal/local initiatives. Take an inventory of my personal:co2 footprint, water consumption, garbage output and take steps to cut them in two. – Ryan
• Take the David Suzuki Foundation’s Nature Challenge.- Dave
• Attend Power Shift Conference in Ottawa. Bring ideas learned and discussed at this conference back to McGill and the Montreal community to put into action. Use Network developed to enhance “green Business Week” at McGill that I am organizing. – David

This year, I will…

• Help universities across Canada make their campuses ban the sale of bottled water as I did with the University of Winnipeg by providing them with info and support. I will work with my student association to continue campaigns regarding water, poverty and sustainability. – Stephanie
• Build a PhD project that will not only help share knowledge about ecological issues but will also engage with stakeholders and help. Write letters to MPs, etc. about green labelling and community sustainability. Write editorials. Live more sustainably- consistently recycle and compost. – Anne
• Will host a program at a local elementary school that provides children with an entrepreneurial opportunity to raise money for an NGO focusing on sustainability. A pilot project to be developed in years to come. – Katrina
• Use the networking and valuable contracts I gained from Impact! and contribute to a national dialogue on Water entrification and hypoxia.  This project is a film showcasing those issues, and the networking and contacts I’ve made here will allow me to distribute it and learn about other similar projects and organize film screenings and discussions with business, society and political leaders. – Stephen