By shopping at local stores, not chains, and by buying food produced regionally, I hope to help reduce our carbon footprint.

Local businesses should participate in local causes - they can make small but significant changes. Think of the advertising they do - can they not pick a company that focuses on eco-printing? Can they not donate to a charity to have their logo displayed there, instead of on another company's billboard? The list goes on...

 I was doing some Internet researching and came across this really cool site. It's at globalcitizens.ca and it facilitates massive voting by community members on issues that the government commonly ignores us on. The topics up right now are:

-the wood burning power plant scheduled to be built in Southeast False Creek

-the Expansion of the #1 Highway

-the privatization of our energy sources (how our rivers are being contracted for 40years to private companies)

-the scheduled developments on UBC campus including the clear cutting of the endowment lands in order to build residences.

I sent the website an e-mailed and they got back to me letting me know that there would be more topics up soon, and inviting me to post my own topics. Apparently what they wanted was to have the whole community posting topics, and voting on them, in order to redirect power over local issues to the citizens of that local community. Anyways, check it out. If everyone started using this system we could really evoke change!

Support the environment by shopping local small businesses not big chains like Walmart