Two hundred people filled the glass cathedral-like atrium of the University of Guelph’s Science Complex yet you could have heard a pin drop as students took a moment to contemplate and take note of what inspired them most during the conference. This was the first step of the personal commitment exercise led by Chad Park and Anouk Bertner of The Natural Step Canada.

In pairs, the delegates then talked about their vision for a sustainable future and challenged each other to identify one concrete personal action they could take to effect positive change. Participants inscribed their personal action on an ‘I will’ postcard which will be mailed back to the conference organisers once the action is completed.

Anouk kicked off the final portion of the exercise by announcing that she “will jog the 6km to work this winter instead of driving”. With that, she placed a block on the stage to serve as cornerstone for a large tower. She invited others in the room to announce their action and, in turn, add a block to the tower. The building exercise brought full-circle the toppling of a similar tower during the opening remarks on Thursday night. In that instance, blocks were removed to an existing tower each time someone named a sustainability issue. Eventually, the tower was unsound and crumbled. Now, by committing to a personal act to benefit sustainability, they were rebuilding what had been broken.

Check in with us again soon to view posts identifying some of the commitments.