Cycling For Sustainability Association
Mission Statement
Cycling for Sustainability (C4S) seeks to promote sustainable lifestyle choices. Traveling to communities throughout Canada, we will raise awareness about sustainable solutions to climate change, including the benefits of sustainable transportation and organic farming in regards to environmental, economic, human and social impacts. We will emphasize the local and global implications of these issues acknowledging the role of both the individual and the community. C4S will also draw attention to both the Kyoto Protocol and issues related to contamination of organic crops by genetically modified organisms.
Goals
- To raise awareness of sustainable solutions to pressing global environmental and community issues, namely climate change and gmos.
- To raise $20,000 for the Canadian Organic Growers Association and the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate (for their court action against Monsanto)
- Encourage Canadians to sign on to www.thebet.ca.
- Make available the research we gather during our cycle through the towns and cities we visit.
- Create stronger links between groups throughout the country that are working on these issues.
Action Plan
The ride will start in Victoria on May the 4th and end in St. John’s NFLD on September the 10th. We will be presenting the research we gather during our cycle in various towns and cities we visit. Our presentations will focus on the effects climate change has in Canada and what the ramifications will be if we choose not to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol. We will give examples of sustainable alternatives that will help us meet the Kyoto targets. C4S will also be raising awareness about the dangers genetically modified organisms (gmo) pose to our environment and encouraging a letter writing campaign demanding mandatory labeling of gmo’s in solidarity with the European Union. C4S will also raise money for Canadian Organic Growers who are supporting a class action lawsuit the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate has for the alleged contamination of their crops by gmo’s.
To achieve this, C4S will be encouraging Canadians to sign on to The Bet. This is a bet that the Climate Change Caravan initiated with the federal government in the summer of 2001. The bet states that we as Canadians can do more to reduce our own personal green house gas (ghg) emissions than the government is committed to. When people sign on to the bet they will be reducing their ghg’s by the 50% that scientists are calling for. In addition, we will be staying up to date with the current politics of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol in light of the letter sent to Russia in February that was signed by 9 out of 10 of our provincial premiers. The letter stated that our premiers did not want to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and urged the Russians not to as well. We will keep up to date information concerning the biggest Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) in history. C4S will be stopping in at schools and community centers throughout the country to spread our message of sustainable living by facilitating discussions and having presentations.
C4S also plans on increasing the public’s understanding of genetically modified organisms. This is a controversial subject that did not come under enough public scrutiny before it was forcibly put onto our supermarket shelves unbeknownst to the public. C4S feels that we as Canadians deserve to know what is in the food we are eating. There is a definite lack of information concerning this matter and Canadians for the most part are left in the dark. We will be talking to many farmers in the communities we visit and gathering research as to how many farmers are using gmo’s and what the general consensus is pertaining to the overall absence of gmo labels. C4S will take a poll in the communities we visit, asking people if they agree with mandatory labeling of all gmo’s and products containing gmo’s.
C4S will be creating a research paper from the information we collect off Canadians as we travel across the country. The information will be disseminated throughout the country to strengthen ties between agricultural communities, environmental groups and the Canadian public.
Measuring Our Success
The successful project will enhance the cooperation amongst agricultural communities and environmental groups by providing one another with current information pertaining to the health and well being of our surrounding environments and communities. The experiences and knowledge gained by the cyclists will be passed on to every community we visit. This will in turn be passed to other people in their respective communities, thereby increasing awareness of sustainable alternatives throughout Canada. We can measure our success by an increase in membership to our organization, the number of people and institutions that sign on to the bet, pro-active groups that are formed, list-serve activity and overall capacity building in the environmental and agricultural community. A research paper concerning Canada’s environment and the overall attitude of Canadians towards relevant environmental issues will be produced and translated into French to be presented to our premiers and minister’s of the environments.
Reaching St. John’s NFLD will also be an important measurement in gauging our success.
