Today is the 20th anniversary of World Water Day. Many of us forget how lucky we are to have easy access to water for drinking, washing dishes and laundry, taking a dip into the pool, or just enjoying a long hot shower.

We must truly appreciate the gifts that nature has provided us but also be aware of how you can take action to preserve our most valuable resource. In addition, World Water Day brings the awareness that 800 million people are stilling without access to clean water.

How can you take part?

Follow #WorldWaterDay on your favorite social media channel and join in on the conversation.

Ask yourself, how can you make subtle changes in your household to save from wasting water?

Check out this great blog post on Water – Use it Wisely, to find out 100 ways to conserve. There are so many ways to save, though this list is a good place to start, please let us if you other great ideas.

WaterAid.org created a campaign called #20Days Countdown to show that in investment in water and sanitation can be the beginning of a better world. They also produced this beautiful video for World Water Day.

Watch here – ‘Water is just the beginning’

Stay tuned on how charity:water builds an art installation in Time Square between 2pm – 7pm EST. For more details, click here.

Happy World Water Day!

Congratulations to Vancouver for being awarded the Global Earth Hour Capital in 2013 by World Wildlife Fund. This is a huge step forward for Vancouver to become the world’s greenest city. Andrea Reimer, city councillor, accepted the award this past Tuesday at a ceremony in Malmo, Sweden.

Vancouver trumped five other finalists including cities in India, Italy, the United States, Sweden and Norway.

Jim Leape, Director General of WWF-International, states “Vancouver can serve as a role model for how cities can engage residents in these efforts, thereby accelerating the transition towards low carbon development. I applaud Vancouver’s vision and innovation. More cities everywhere need to find inspiration in the bold initiatives of Vancouver and the other finalists and build on them, bringing climate action at the scale and speed necessary to secure sustainable, attractive lifestyles for people across the planet.”

In particular, this year’s festival showcased three films that our panel of organizers felt had a significant impact on our audiences. As tradition calls for, we award three major awards at the end of each year’s festival, and this year’s candidates did not disappoint.

Home-grown The Clean Bin Project, a feature film about an everyday couple and their journey to answer the question “is it possible to live completely waste free?” picked up this year’s Best Canadian Documentary Award: “The film depicts a year’s journey as partners Jen and Grant go head-to-head in a competition to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least landfill garbage in an entire year. This film presents the serious topic of waste reduction with optimism, humour, and inspiration for individual action.”

The award for Best Documentary went to Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson. This film was a crowd pleaser, igniting a sold-out house. It tells the story of a man on a mission to save the planet and its oceans: “The film follows “professional radical ecologist” Paul Watson as he repeatedly flouts the law so that he may apprehend what he sees as the more serious law-breakers: the illegal poachers of the world.”

The Projecting Change Award goes to the film that we feel truly encompasses the philosophy behind our festival. Director Susan Edwards’ Marion Stoddart: The Work of 1000 was this year’s award recipient: “The film details the parallel journey of two characters: one, a young woman discouraged at her future as a suburban housewife, the other, a river – once beautiful and teeming with wildlife – now a hopeless, toxic sludge pit. The basis of this documentary lies in the fact that acclaimed environmental pioneer Stoddart took on and singlehandedly accomplished a huge goal – cleaning up the Nasua River.”

To spice up this year’s festival we ran a contest through social media where we asked our friends and followers to submit a 60 second video documenting how they project change in their everyday lives. We received some inspiring entries – everything from locals creating international movements to one little boy who projects change through being a positive and loving human being in his daily life. The winner of our contest, who also received a $1000 cash prize and the premiere of their video at our closing gala film screening, was the brilliant and hilarious Fair Trade Gangsta Rap video created by the SFU chapter of Fair Trade Vancouver.

Congratulations to the minds behind all of these amazing films! To our audience, we hope you enjoyed each and every one, and if you haven’t gotten the chance to check them out, we highly encourage you to do so. Each film we handpicked for this year’s festival is a beacon for change and hope, and we hope it will inspire a passion within you to fulfill your own goals of projecting change in this world.

– Marisa Woodham (@MarisaWoodham)

I (Bryce Tarling) was asked to put together a brief interview with the company to learn more about what the company does to promote sustainability. Check out the interview with Richard below!

Q: Tell us a bit about Hemlock Printers..

Hemlock is a family-owned print communications company employing 160 staff who mostly work at our head office and manufacturing plant in Burnaby. We also operate 3 sales offices in Victoria, Seattle and San Francisco. We take great pride in the final printed products that leave our doors each day, as we have for the past 43 years. Our clients range from designers, artists, photographers, publishers, corporate clients as well as the public sector – basically anyone that may need print services.

The constant evolution of our print and media services shows that meeting change is part of our DNA. Digital printing and web-development are two of our emerging services that have quickly become key to our business as we adapt to the changing needs of our customers. Thanks to ongoing input from our dedicated staff, we’ve also incorporated sustainability initiatives throughout our business with tangible results that we’ve formally reported on for the past 3 years. Our environmental practices have led to Hemlock being recognized as Canada’s Most Environmentally Progressive Printer for the past 5 years and in 2008 we were also awarded Most Sustainable Printing Company by Heidelberg, the worlds largest press manufacturer.

Q: What goes into making Hemlock Printers a carbon neutral company?

Our efforts to make our plant and offices more energy efficient on an ongoing basis and our commitment to purchase annual clean energy technology offsets equal to our operationally controlled emissions are the foundation to our Carbon Neutral statement. We find the total operational greenhouse gas impact that sets our offset purchase amount by annually inventorying our emissions from direct fuel use (scope 1), electricity consumption (scope 2), and all the necessary third party services that go into producing our finished product (scope 3).

Q: How did you get involved with Projecting Change?

We are close collaborators with our design friend, Brady Dahmer and we’ve been aware of the festival through the local sustainability networks for several years, and have been excited to see it growing to what it is today. The rest is history.

Q: Tell us a bit about why you think an event like the Projecting Change Film Festival is important.

It’s important for everyone to understand sustainability and not to feel intimidated by it. Film is a great medium for entertaining audiences while also showing them the changes that others like them have made, the ways that their actions affect the world around them, and the systems that make and prevent sustainability, all without cracking a textbook. Film festivals are also gatherings, perfect to get people talking and thinking together.

Q: What can individuals do to work towards sustainability or to help project change?

First, people should start looking for options to help reduce their environmental and social impacts. They will soon find others interested in these topics as they adopt new habits, and will naturally become examples for making sustainable changes in their communities. Even if all they do at first is to invite a friend to Projecting Change, life is about how we project the change we want to see.

Find out a little bit more about Hemlock…

Trailer For Hemlock Printers The Movie (We Joke)

Issue 04 from Inventory Magazine on Vimeo.

Have you spotted a Projecting Change 2011 flyer or poster around town? Grab a happy snap (picture) and upload it to our facebook wall – bonus points for sneaky/humorous locations! Catch you at the festival.

- Bryce @BryceTarling

Q: Tell me about your work at the wilderness comittee?

The Wilderness Committee (the WC) is a really interesting place to work. The WC just turned 30 which means I am only 3 years older than it is. That whole time the WC has been doing grassroots organizing working in communities to help protect Canadian wilderness and wildlife. In the last decade or so that work has expanded to include more urban environmental issues like toxins and climate change. I am lucky enough to now be responsible for the Healthy Communities campaigns at the WC which includes climate change, toxins and transportation issues. We are trying to apply the lessons learned from on the ground community based campaigns to newer environmental issues like climate change. In practical terms this means working to stop the causes of climate change at their source. Fighting crude oil exports, coal mines and bad highway projects is “where rubber hits the road” in the fight against climate change in BC.

Q: Whats going on with the crude oil tankers on the cost?

In 2007 a decision was made very quietly to allow larger oil tankers pass through the Burrard Inlet for the purpose of exporting oil to Asia. This decision was made with no public consultation or even public awareness. For decades refined fuels have been exported up and down the coast but the export of raw bitumen from the tar sands is a new thing. Its only been the last years that Vancouver has been transformed into a tar sands shipping port. This makes Vancouver a very important choke point in the fight against the expansion of the tar sands. Not only is our coast now at risk of an oil spill but if we are going to play a responsible role in the world in the era of climate change this means phasing out the tar sands not expanding it.

The other significant threat to the BC coast is the proposed enbridge pipeline that would carry 700,000 barrels a day of petroleum products. This proposed pipeline would connect with much bigger tankers than the ones that can pass through the Burrard Inlet and would be over a days travel closer to Asia in each direction.

Q: How can people in Vancouver take action to protect our coast?

We are hosting weekly public meeting in the Wilderness Committee office starting in June on Wednesday nights. There are many ways to get involved doing anything from research to tanker tracking kayaking tours. The number one thing can do is help spread the word. Still most people don’t even know what is going on. Talk to your friends and neighbours. Send our info page to folks you think might be interested. Http://WildernessCommittee.org/tankers. You can join our grassroots distribution team if you would like to help circulate our publications. Contact our office for more information and to volunteer at 604 683 8220.

Q: How do you think an event like the projecting change film festival has the power to invoke and inspire social change?

Film is a powerful medium. We learn from stories and a picture tells athousand words. Also screenings bring people together. New relationships are formed that can make a real difference

One of the Projecting Change Film Festival 2011 films I am most excited for is The Pipe. I’m sure you can guess what it’s about… Join us for the Canadian premier this Saturday http://projectingchange.ca/schedule/the-pipe.

- Rebecca @rebeccaapeel

I’ve seen Andrea speak at a number of different events from The Great Turning Unconference to a recent encounter at Epic The Vancouver Sun Sustainable Living Expo – she has been a continual force and inspiration driving Vancouvers Green initiatives.

If you didn’t know that as a Vancouverite you can boast that you live in the city with the smallest carbon footprint in North America, or that we (Vancouverites) are considered leaders in green building planning and technology than you should definitely check out some more info on the Greenest City 2020. Vancouver is heading towards green greatness with a goal to be the greenest city in the world by 2020.

Once again, incredibly proud to be a Vancouverite!

Rebecca – @rebeccaapeel

EPIC Expo was a huge success this past weekend as thousands of people flooded Vancouver’s Trade and Convention Centre to learn more about sustainable development and about what they can do to help project change. I thought I would show up early on Saturday morning, but when I arrived, the space was already flooded with people eager to experience the event. EPIC featured over 300 vendors and several guest speakers who shared their ideas and information concerning sustainable development.

For The Doughnuts! Strombo Mediates Fair Trade Banana VS Poverty Gorilla video featured below.

For me, working closely with Rebecca Peel (our social media director), I was kept busy. Since Rebecca learned that I own my own digital SLR, I become responsible for capturing Fair Trade Vancouver’s main stage presentation, getting shots of interviewees at the Projecting change booth — which happened to include at least one Canadian icon (George Stroumboulopoulos), and making sure to grab images of the events and activities around the Expo — one of which involved an EPIC standoff between The Fair Trade Banana and Poverty Gorilla. While all of this was happening, I also tried to get photos of the faces responsible for making the Fair Trade Pavilion a main attraction. But I guess that’s what happens when you work with Rebecca. From her team of promoters who provided Twitter updates all weekend, to the people involved in putting together some impressive video interviews, Rebecca and the people around her can be a force to be reckoned with. It wasn’t until my second day that I managed to sneak away and experience some of the great foods, fashion, and emerging products presented at the show.

Of course, I enjoyed every minute of working with Fair Trade Vancouver and Projecting change. It’s no wonder that both groups have been making waves in Vancouver and across the country. Both organizations are full of bright and energetic volunteers that all have a passion for projecting change. Walking up and down the pavilion, there were costumed characters dressed as Fair Trade Bananas, the infamous Poverty Gorilla, tea kettles, coffee beans, chocolate, and soccer balls. They were such a hit that they were asked to perform a fashion show in the Eco Fashion pavilion. And although they did a great job of looking good, they did an amazing job running events and activities and providing information on Fair Trade and supporting its vendors.

There has been a lot of growing support for Fair Trade in Vancouver and it was great to see so many people engaged in learning more about the different vendors and their products and how they were supporting communities around the world.

Fair Trade Vancouver also presented on the Main stage where a member of Common Ground held interviews with the personalities behind the Fair Trade movement. Members of different organizations that support Fair Trade had a chance to show their faces and share their voices in explaining why Fair Trade is important and how they’ve been successful. To close off the presentation, there was the always-popular Fair Trade Banana-dance performance and then a cake-cutting to celebrate the timeliness of World Fair Trade Day.

World Fair Trade Day Celebration – Cutting the cake with Avery Gottfried Andrea Reimer, Adriane Carr, Mark Abbott (from left to right)


Fair Trade Bananas doing the Banana Dance on the Big Stage at Epic Expo!

Checkout all the amazing Fair Trade vendor displays and freshly handcrafted Fair Trade mascot costumes in our Flickr album!

Tomorrow I’m going to break a window. Whatever the proverbial breaking of the window is, I think a good documentary should do that.

One of the biggest highlights for Projecting Change was the George Stroumboulopoulos interview conducted by Rebecca Peel at the Projecting Change booth. During the interview, Strombo stressed the importance of people getting up to support movements and the impact a festival like Projecting Change could have in creating those movements. It’s one thing for a few dedicated people to go out and create films about change, but it’s up to people and audiences to support these events and the ideas behind them. Catch the full interview Epic Moment With George Stroumboulopoulos.

Fair Trade Vancouver also got some video time with Strombo as he offered his services in officiating an arm-wrestling showdown between the Fair Trade Banana and the Poverty Gorilla. It was an intense event where both contenders were locked in an EPIC struggle where it wasn’t clear who would eventually come out on top. With perseverance however, the Fair Trade Banana was able to topple the Poverty Gorilla in a win that was symbolic for the efforts and the change made by Fair Trade supporters around the globe. Not only did Strombo show his support by stealing the prize of Fair Trade doughnuts, he also promoted Fair Trade and Fair Trade Vancouver in the opening to his main stage presentation.

For the Doughnuts!

While it was great to see a name like George Stroumboulopoulos tout such an event, what’s more impressive is that so many people came out to support and learn about sustainable development. The EPIC Expo was about giving people the opportunity to engage with new ideas and to share their knowledge. Thank you everyone who came out this last weekend to help make EPIC a huge success. This is the support that we need to create change. Be sure to come down to Projecting Change Film Festival to WATCH, ENGAGE and then of course ACT.

-Bryce Tarling – @brycetarling

Q: How are your Projecting Change?

I am trying to eat more sustainably…it became clear to me how I could eat differently not just for my own health… but why its my ecological responsibility to eat a certain way.

Q: What is the most important outcome of an environmental and social issues film festival like Projecting Change?

It’s kinda gotta be like a punk rock song … it has to have you sing along and feel good in the moment but the next day you have to still be angry.

The trick to good punk rock is, I really feel good today! Tomorrow I’m going to break a window – whatever the proverbial breaking of the window is. I think a good documentary should do that.

Q: We’re talking Watch, Engage, Act?

Engage is one of those things where there is so much responsibility put on the filmmaker to engage the audience. No! You just tell a good story, it’s up to the audiences to engage.

We don’t have to campaign to get people to care, people need to care, what we need to do, what you need to do, what this needs to do, is grab the people who already care and say ‘here is where we are going’ hopefully the audience will come along.

The filmmaker does half, the audience has to do half, there will be no spoon feeding.

T: Tip from George on how Projecting Change can start some fires!

People should be motivated, you need to go find out where the gasoline lies and throw a match in that pool – as opposed to try to pour gasoline everywhere. Where is the gasoline? Light that on fire!

I was impressed, delighted and astounded by George’s genuine goodness and passion for change. A truly humble and outstanding Canadian, he didn’t even mind when I incredibly ineptly took three tries to get his name right – as seen above. Stay tuned for a video blog later in the week of George moderating an arm wrestle between the Fair Trade Banana and the Poverty Gorilla (checkout the pics on facebook).

In the words of Stroumboulopoulos, lets go break some proverbial windows!

Rebecca – @rebeccaapeel

Throughout Karen’s career as an avid planet fighter she has led projects related to northern B.C. pipelines, gas development and climate change policy. Karen moved to Ecojustice to use direct legal means to effect real and positive change.

Karen has a B.A. (with Distinction) from the University of Western Ontario, LL.B. from Dalhousie University in Halifax and an LL.M. (with Merit) from the University of London (England). I’m feeling pretty good about how she has chosen to apply her skills, check out our video interview for some inspiring stories.

Q: How is Ecojustice Projecting Change?

Ecojustice uses the law to protect and restore the environment. We hold people, corporations and governments accountable. We‘re a team of lawyers and scientists, not lobbyists, sustained by a staff seeking the long-term protection and health of our rich and diverse environment. Ecojustice also partners with other environmental NGOs in Canada and the United States. And we offer our legal services free of charge to citizens and community groups to ensure equal access to environmental justice. Our tactics are intended to set legal precedents and strengthen environmental laws. We provide the legal teeth to environmental ideals.

Learn more about Ecojustice

Q:What role does a film festival like Projecting Change play?

Awareness before action. I was on the Projecting Change website and they said it best: “Watch, engage, act.” Action is sometimes limited until people see up close the bonds that link climate change and energy. Projecting Change Film Festival is an opportunity to flip the switch in someone’s head. Sometimes it takes a story that inspires. Inspiration has many forms — one is film.

Q: How does the film White Water, Black Gold relate to Ecojustice’s work?

Ecojustice has five key priorities: access to environmental justice, climate change and energy; environmental health; the marine environment; biodiversity and health. The filmmakers in White Water, Black Gold say they’re going to follow a drop of water from Mount Snow Dome at the border of British Columbia and Alberta to the tar sands near Lake Athabasca. It winds through all of our priorities along that journey.

Two issues, in particular, speak to Ecojustice’s past and present.

The film’s trailer shows an image of birds stuck in tailing ponds and talks about the irreparable damage to wildlife. On June 25, 2010, Syncrude was found guilty of failing to take adequate measures to prevent the death of more than 1,600 ducks that died after landing in a tailings pond north of Fort McMurray. Syncrude on Oct. 22, 2010, agreed to pay more than $3-million in fines, the largest in Canadian history for an environmental offence. That was a major victory for the environment and Ecojustice, which pursued the case until the government took over the prosecution. The victory confirmed the need to eliminate toxic tailing ponds and revealed the risks they pose.

More info about Syncrude victory

The film also examines the impact of oil pipelines on communities and the environment. One of our ongoing cases involves a plan to ask the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to scrap the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline. If completed, the pipeline will snake its way from the Alberta tar sands to the B.C. coast, pumping more than a half a million barrels of oil per day. It will affect everything and everyone, including Alberta and B.C. waterways, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and the territory of at least 40 First Nations and Aboriginal communities.

Recently, a pipeline in northern Alberta’s boreal forest spat 28,000 barrels of crude oil into a wetland near Peace River. It’s the worst spill in that province in 35 years. And it happened just miles from the nearest homes. Ecojustice is hoping to spare B.C.’s coastline, and any land and water the pipeline might traverse, a similar fate.

More info about Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline

Q: How is Ecojustice able to achieve its goals?

Our work is possible only with the support of our donors—concerned individuals and foundations. As an independent organization, we rely 100% on their funding. Remove their gifts and there are no Ecojustice victories for the environment, no outreach campaigns, no workshops and no investigations. To fulfil our role as stewards of the earth, preserving and safeguarding the environment, we need their help.

To learn more about the imperative work Ecojustice does please visit their website http://www.ecojustice.ca. Be sure to checkout their delightful and informative Stop Soot Campaign, including one of my personal favorite social media for social change tools – an auto-generated letter to Harper! I absolutely love organizations that make it easier to take action – Am I possibly a lazy activist (?).

If you are in the position to, support Ecojustice financially you can do so here. Sign up for the Ecojustice Newsletter to stay up to speed on the latest Ecojustice news.

Rebecca @rebeccaapeel

Since high school Tim has been busily projecting change, completing graduate research on China’s climate change foreign policy, working for the European Union (EU), as well as both the federal and provincial governments of Canada. Tim’s work with DesSmogBlog is an inspiration of positive individual effort towards calling out planet killing zombies and assisting the average joe (me) in better understanding the false propaganda surrounding climate change. When I originally conjured the idea to interview environmental & social issues experts as a ramp up to the 2011 Projecting Change Film Festival Tim was the first person I thought of – details below!

Q: What is the importance of an event like the Projecting Change Film Festival for an issue like climate change?

The Projecting Change Film Festival is about engaging with citizens on green issues and promoting sustainable living. Climate change affects us every day and is the most important issue humanity has ever faced. Through powerful films and speakers, this event has tremendous potential to make people more aware of climate change. Ideally, individuals will take an interest and be motivated to make a difference producing positive change. This year’s festival is very exciting because through the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter, the event and its green and sustainable message will reach more people than ever before.

Q: What makes Vancouver special when it comes to fighting against climate change?

Vancouver is special because it has so many initiatives in place to reduce its environmental footprint and fight against climate change. Some of these very important programs include mandated carbon reductions, energy-use reductions, improvements in water use, the growth in recycling programs, the massive expansion in bike lanes and public transport, the city’s sustainability mandate or the city’s goal to become the world’s greenest city by 2020 http://vancouver.ca/greenestcity/. Vancouver is unique and is an example for other cities trying to incorporate green and sustainability principles.

Q: What is the key to Vancouver’s success in communicating climate change?

The scale of the challenge we face in reducing our carbon emissions and environmental impacts is daunting. Importantly, the city of Vancouver has not been shy about communicating the climate change issue to the public. The approach is to engage with the public at events and through municipal programs. As well, strong communication strategies help to show the public that their ideas are being directly incoprorated into climate action plans. All of this means that the public is a well-informed partner and stakeholder when it comes to addressing climate change. Reaching consensus and working together is a key to Vancouver success in fighting against the dangers and impacts of climate chance.

Q: How does Vancouver fight through climate relations smog?

A major reason for the difficulty in communicating climate change is the fact that there are powerful dirty energy interests who pay a lot of money to confuse politicians and the public on the issue. Nationally in the U.S. and in Canada, people like the Koch Brothers and companies like Exxon Mobil have been highly effective in convincing some politicians not to act on climate change. Media campaigns by industry have frequently tried to say that human’s influence on the climate is still debatable. This is not true, but a large portion of the public is still unsure.

Thankfully, polluting industries do not have the same influence in a city like Vancouver. It is important to remember that cities and regions are where the worst effects of climate change are taking place. Cities and regions will also have to adapt to the consequences from climate change. Pretending that everything is fine is not going to be helpful for a coastal city. Citizens and politicians see the need to protect the environment and have worked together in this. Decision-makers do not have to convince Vancouverites of the need to protect their environment since they are surrounded by mountains, forests and the ocean.

Q: Why is Vancouver more successful than other places when it comes to climate action?

Part of what makes the city of Vancouver so effective in dealing with climate change and reducing carbon emissions is that on an ongoing basis, the city has taken a proactive approach to learn about climate change and has been relying on the advice from top scientists and experts to inform policy decisions. In practice, what this means is that mayors, city councilors and staff feel confident in the difficult choices they have to make because they are supported by the latest science.

Rather than get caught up in a political debate about whether or not climate change is happening and who is causing it, the city is figuring out what is the best way to deal with the issue. The city is working to reduce its carbon footprint and continues to be highly successful in these efforts.

For a long time now, Vancouver has taken a leadership role when it comes to climate action and recently, the World Wildlife Fund rightfully named Vancouver the top Canadian city when it comes to fighting against climate change.

Q: What is the biggest challenge Vancouver faces in terms of dealing with climate change?

While it is hard to choose one thing above all others, linking is a very important challenge. The city of Vancouver is part of the Greater Vancouver region which is full of municipalities with rapidly expanding populations. When it comes to reducing the city of Vancouver’s carbon footprint, any actions it takes will ideally be copied elsewhere. The challenge here is to make this happen. Deciding where to zone development is very important. This means that the city of Vancouver must work hard to get buy-in from communities like Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey. A project like the Evergreen Skytrain expansion from Vancouver into Surrey is a tremendous way to reduce carbon emissions; however, deciding how to share costs is still a major concern.

To stay up to speed on the plethora of missinformation campaigns on global warming I urge you to take a look through the work of DesSmogBlog. Tim and DesSmog are working hard to put the information out there, all we have to do is read it – and of course take action where and when we can! If you wan’t to get up to speed on some local planet fighters come down and join myself and the Projecting Change Social Media team tomorrow at The Great Turning – an Unconference with an exceptional list of speakers.

Planet fighters unite!

-Rebecca @rebeccaapeel