Forget global, it's all local

May 14, 2008

One of our favourite stories this week appears on page three under the unassuming title of “South River wins recycling challenge.”

It makes our favourite list not just because it is well written, excellently researched and captures conflict in an insightful and thoughtful manner.

Not to say it doesn’t do those things, but what it first and foremost does, beside convey the pertinent facts, is display the wry humour of two local mayors in a silly contest with serious results.

It also contains valuable lessons.

The first lesson is that you can still get people to pay attention to an environmental issue. That’s not as easy as one may think.

After umpteen Earth Days, Earth Hours, Live 8s, Inconvenient Truths, David Suzuki lectures, government public service announcements and the unending chatter of professional environmentalists (Green Peace anyone), getting someone to pay attention to anything environmental is becoming harder and harder by the hour.

But in South River and Sundridge you didn’t just tune in, you took action.

This, of course, was most evident in the winning village where recycling improved by about 25 per cent.

That’s a remarkable figure that any municipality, like, um, say, um Sundridge, would be happy to boast about. But even Sundridge’s four per cent improvement is nothing to sneeze at.

And how did they manage it?

Well a couple of mayors, Jim Coleman and Elgin Schneider, got together with a local reporter, Andy Campbell, posed for a photo, made a couple of wisecracks and let people know about it in their tax bills and, ahem, local newspapers.

No billboards, T-shirts, website launches, rock concerts, viral videos, book signings, dire warnings or lectures from the green pulpit.

Jim and Elgin got together with Andy for a few minutes, poked fun at one another and themselves and went home.

And that’s the second lesson.

Anyone can make a difference.

As high esteem as we hold mayors Schneider and Coleman in, we must point out that they are not in the same league as Al Gore, Bono, Brad and Angelina.

Yet the residents of their villages heard their message and took it to heart. The proof was right there in the blue and green boxes. Households actually changed their habits and started using the recycling bin over the garbage can.

It may have even turned the old axiom of “Think globally, act locally” on its head.

If the success in Sundridge and South River is anything to go by, the slogan should be, “Think locally. Act locally.”

The last lesson to be learned from the great recycling challenge of 2008 is pure common sense – if you want people to change their ways for the better, give them reasonable goals and measurable success. And, whatever you do, don’t yell at them.

So with these lessons in mind we offer a sincere thank you to the people of the villages of South River and Sundridge. In more than one way you made the world a better place to be and we hope more people follow your example.