On the occasion of Blog Action Day 2009 http://www.blogactionday.org
I first became aware of the environmental movement in 1969. I was 19 at the time, living here in Canada's "Steeltown", Hamilton, Ontario. It was a genesis year for environmentalism in Canada. Pollution Probe was launched in Toronto that year, as was Hamilton¹s first environmental activist group, Clear Hamilton Of Pollution, known by its acronym CHOP.
Although its ostensible aim was to tackle pollution, CHOP embraced other environmental causes as well. In the early 1970s it organized a public walk through the Red Hill Valley, initiating what was to become an annual event for those who were campaigning to save the valley from becoming a freeway. It also published (irregularly) a newsletter that looked beyond the borders of the city and challenged the corporate greed that was often at the root of environmental destruction.
One of the local organizations that traces its roots to CHOP is the Conserver Society of Hamilton and District. Incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 1984, the Conserver Society¹s interests reflect the widening scope of the environmental movement that was emerging in the eighties and nineties. The Society's local chapters in Hamilton, Dundas, Ancaster, Flamborough and Burlington have taken up many issues, from composting to bicycle paths, waste reduction and pesticides. They have also participated in regional waste-management, air quality and transportation initiatives, and worked to limit urban sprawl and the destruction of natural areas, including in the Dundas Pleasantview neighbourhood where I live.
Other groups also emerged in this period. In 2005, 22 of them banded together to form the Hamilton Eco-Net, a coalition of community organizations whose members are committed to protecting, conserving, restoring and promoting a clean, healthy, sustainable environment. Today, there are 35 organizations afffiliated with Eco-Net. Their interests range from cleaning up Hamilton Harbour to recycling, public transit, green energy, the preservation of the Niagara escarpment and climate change.
Looking back, I can't help but think how far the movement has come. It started with a few people talking to a few people and, in little more than a generation, it has grown into a robust social movement that is a force to be reckoned with.
In the next few weeks, world leaders will be gathering in Copenhagen to discuss the need for "global action" on climate change. While our leaders debate, here in our own community there are many people who are already taking action. If you would like to help, here is a list of organizations who would love to have your support.
Hamilton area environmental organizations
-
Bay Area Restoration Council <http://www.hamiltonharbour.ca/index.asp>
- Canadian Organic Growers Hamilton Chapter <http://www.cog.ca/>
- Citizens Opposed to Paving Escarpment <http://www.cope-nomph.org/>
- Clean Air Hamilton <http://www.cleanair.hamilton.ca/>
- Climate Action Now http://www.climateactionnow.ca/
- Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment (CONE) <http://www.niagaraescarpment.org/>
- Community Beach Turtle Ponds Association, Stoney Creek
- Conservation Foundation of the Hamilton Region <http://www.foundation.conservationhamilton.ca/index.asp>
- Conserver Society of Hamilton & District <http://www.conserversociety.ca/>
- Earth Day Hamilton <http://www.earthdayhamilton.ca/>
- Environment Hamilton <http://environmenthamilton.org/>
- Field and Stream Rescue Team <http://www.streamrescue.com/>
- Friends of Eramosa Karst <http://www.friendsoferamosakarst.org/>
- Friends of Red Hill Valley <http://www.hwcn.org/link/forhv/>
- Giant's Rib Discovery Centre <http://www.giantsrib.ca/>
- Green Venture <http://www.greenventure.ca/gv.asp>
- Hamilton Coalition on Pesticide Issues <http://www.hcpi.ca/>
- Hamilton Conservation Authority <http://www.conservationhamilton.on.ca/>
- Hamilton-Halton Watershed Stewardship Program <http://www.conservationhamilton.ca/environment/stewardship/>
- Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association <http://www.dofasco.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=1852-2309-2310>
- Hamilton Naturalists' Club <http://www.hamiltonnature.org/>
- Hamilton Transit Users Group <http://environmenthamilton.org/TUG>
- Hamiltonians for Progressive Development <http://www.progressivedevelopment.ca/actions/joinus.htm#contact>
- Hamilton-Wentworth Stewardship Council <http://www.ontariostewardship.org/ontarioStewardship/home/osHWSCIndex.asp>
- Iroquoia Bruce Trail Club <http://www.iroquoia.on.ca/>
- Keep Hamilton Clean Committee
- Land Care Niagara <http://www.landcareniagara.com/>
- Mac Roots and Shoots <http://www.macrootsandshoots.spaces.live.com/>
- MACgreen / McMaster University Students Union <http://www.msu.mcmaster.ca/macgreen/>
- Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) McMaster <http://www.opirg.ca/>
- Positive Power Co-operative Inc. (PPC) <http://www.positivepowerco-op.com/>
- Raise The Hammer <http://www.raisethehammer.org/>
- Recycle Cycles <http://opirg.org/mcmaster/rc.html>
- Royal Botanical Gardens <http://www.rbg.ca/>
- Sierra Club, Hamilton Niagara Group <http://ontario.sierraclub.ca/hn/>
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