By Michelle Lindberg, TG MagazineHow would you like to see your community in 2020? The people and local government of the Canadian, Hamilton - Wentworth area, saw a need to protect their surrounding environment, and did something about it! Together, they created a program in 1989 entitled, VISION 2020: Sustainable Community Project. The main purpose of the VISION 2020 project, was (and remains), "...to prepare a community vision of what the Region could be like in the year 2020 if the principles of sustainable development were adopted". Basically, it describes the type of community that Hamilton - Wentworth could be in the year 2020, if the community's actions follow the main principles of sustainable development.
Two documents were created; Detailed Strategies and Actions for Creating a Sustainable Region, that identified more than 400 changes that were needed in order to begin the process of VISION: 2020. There are 11 main groups of changes, varying from developing a minimum standard for the amount of vegetation required on residential lots, to establishing a waste exchange depot.
The sustainable community idea came about in 1989, when the Hamilton Region's municipality management team decided that new ways to improve budget decisions and policy goals were needed. Sustainable development was identified as the way to go because it addressed social and economic issues. After this, the Citizens Task Force on Sustainable Development was created. They were given six tasks and over the next 2 and a half years, met with over 1, 000 citizens. They informed the community through town meetings and special events to make the community aware of sustainability. More importantly, through these meetings, the community informed them as well. It was after this task force that the VISION 2020: The Sustainable Region was established.
In the summer of 1994, Hamilton - Wentworth began an indicators project called Sign Posts, which would hopefully assist and improve the way in which decisions were to be made in relation to the VISION 2020 project. The Sign Posts plan would consist of including citizens in the decision making process. Because of the VISION 2020 initiative, Environment Canada selected Hamilton - Wentworth as the recipient of Canada's Environmental Excellence Award in the Local Government category. The efforts of the community along with those of the local government, the Hamilton - Wentworth community was able to establish a plan to help protect our environment.
See the ICLEI site (where this information came from) for more details
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© 1997 - TG Magazine / The Students Commission
© 1997 le magazine TG / la Commission des étudiants