Environmental Summary

APEC Environment Youth Forum Summary Report

What is the ideal environmental community?

When you think about this question, it really embodies the issue of what the steps are that we must take to make our world sustainable in a way that we can all live with. Our web - chatters shared their visions.

When one talks of an ideal community, one possible concept that might come to mind is that of an "Ecotopia." Like a Utopia, an "Ecotopia" is an ideal environment. What the ideal environment for a community might be is often the subject of debate. For example, introducing salmon into a stream which has been depleted of fish might make sense to some, but maybe doing so would counteract the natural selection forces that exist in that stream.

Another concept about this community that the chatters shared was their belief in the importance of increasing all kinds of education about environmental issues.
This was seen as the first step in bridging the gap from awareness to initiating real community change. One of our chatters reminded the group of the real importance of understanding the issues - that each of the individuals in the ideal community would understand how their actions affected the environment. This understanding, the group felt, must begin at a very early age. As well, this education should be truly integrated. As one of our web chatters indicated, it is most effective to make this education linked - between school subjects, in all levels of school, and more generally through public campaigns. Education is a life long experience, and as one chatter suggested, occurs every time someone stops to hike, bike, sail, swim, or just be in the outdoors....we learn to appreciate what it is that is at stake.

Education and understanding, our chatters suggested, create a real sense of ownership of our resources - understanding how every action we take affects and shapes the face of the environment we live in. This is the step that ensures that people "pitch in" to help out in community programs. One concrete example of this came from a "chatter" who talked about a program in her city that charges people a small price for every bag of garbage that they create. Everyone has to go to the town office, get the tags, and in this way are learning and participating in a program that makes people aware of their consumption, and waste. The program makes it directly beneficent for each household to reduce their waste. This user-pay principle was brought up by a number of our "chatters" who talked about recycling in their own communities that became highly efficient when there was another set of incentives created. Another chatter pointed out that for some in smaller communities, it is not "cost effective" to have a recycling program, because of the transportation costs involved. This issue challenges us to prioritize the principle of waste reduction, and challenges us to make difficult compromises, but necessary ones if we want to create truly environmental communities.

One of our "chatters" emphasized the importance of balance. This is a key concept. An ideal community satisfies the needs of its inhabitants; but there are limits as to the types of "wants" that can be satisfied, and these limits are defined by the ecological realities of the region. This balance means a fundamental change in lifestyle: one that requires that we use less of what we don't need, waste less, consume less, and ultimately change our desires and definitions of success to entail the use of fewer resources. Many of our "chatters" referred to this as a general "simpler" lifestyle choice. This kind of choice is made, for example, by a number of our "chatters" who bike instead of drive, sacrificing the novelty of being a young driver for the sake of global considerations.

Another principle suggested on-line was the importance of exploring the diversity of culture as a fundamental tool which, if allowed to flourish, creates a whole range of ways to tackle issues such as creating the ideal community. With Asia's huge population and large city centres, they might be able to lend us valuable advice for dealing with our own transportation / pollution problems here in Canada.

Our "chatters" suggested that cities should become more accessible for public transportation and for bikes, thus creating the incentive of simple efficiency for making more environmentally friendly decisions. With the additional suggestions of bike only sections of cities, increased tree planting in city centres, and an increased push for eco-tourism to replace more harmful industries - our "chatters" began to form their vision of the ideal community.

Another principle of the ideal community was that it should be self sustainable - requiring minimum resources to be transported into it. Thus, the predominant diet of the citizens would be of agricultural products congruous to the bio region. Building materials would be those found in and close to the region. Transportation, and the export cycle would thus be reduced. Another of her suggestions is that the principle of collective ownership - of homes, and of land - be encouraged so as to allow for an environmental "stewardship" within communities. Thus, peoples' collective vision can be transformed into realities within small groups of people.

The issue of technology came up in our chat in an interesting way. The initial suggestion was that technology poses a danger to the environment, both through industry and through the distance it puts between the individual and the physical environment (i.e. computers). This is an important issue that youth will be facing in the coming years. Another way to consider technology in the environment discussion is, for example, the alternate energy sources that can be utilized through technology. Realizing that the world's population is so large, and that large centres rely on large energy sources, one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time is finding less harmful sources of energy. One of our "chatters" envisioned her ideal community to be a community in which wind, water, and sun energy would be exploited in addition to comprehensive recycling programs. In this way, the "chatters" grappled with the issue of technology, interpreting it not as a "sleeping giant" that must be appeased, but rather as simply a tool by which human action or inaction is reflected. If our ideal community is an environmentally friendly one, we can use technology to make those communities possible. As well, another of our chatters talked about how this very communication we are participating in is made possible by technology. Thus, education and understanding can be shared through technology, to share and improve ways that we approach environmental issues - as we are doing now.

Others improved upon the traditional three R's approach when a "chatter" suggested that it was old fashioned, and reminded us that the youth of today seek to clearly understand the complex benefits and compromises involved in maintaining a thriving human environment. In this way, the "chatters" demonstrate that the knowledge level of environmental issues is increasing, and the challenge that lies before us lies in translating knowledge, awareness and commitment ... into action.

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