[GREN-Exec] DRAFT S Koswan column on GREN for Jan 20

Wed Jan 12 17:17:55 EST 2022

Wow, Susan,

This article is fantastic!  I don’t even have any edits for suggestions for it - it certainly makes GREN sound good and accurately cites the environmental activism we are going to need for the future success of our community.

The only issue that I see is that somehow we are really going to have to get the www.gren.ca website live which is superfrustrating because yet again I ‘m still waiting for Scott to follow-up from my Friday email on the updates that I need to be able to load in the information that you have provided for each section.

I would hate to have the article run and still not have had Scott even respond let alone get the website running that we so need.

Let me know any thoughts or ideas and I will follow-up with Scott yet again tonight.  

Cheers,
Kevin.

P.S. Perhaps this is exactly how we get him to get this site done - share this draft article with him and perhaps he will understand the need to have it up and running by Jan 20th….

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Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648
Twitter: @kthomason
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com or kevthomason at gmail.com

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> On Jan 12, 2022, at 4:50 PM, Susan Koswan <susankoswan at execulink.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi John, Kevin, Greg, Susan B,
> 
> I thought it was time to write about GREN. Please provide any changes or feedback for this draft before Jan 15. And I'm hoping (Kevin?) that the GREN website will be live by then. 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Susan K
> 
> 
> 
> Grand River Environmental Network
> 
> By Susan Koswan
> 
>  Submitted for Jan 20, 2022
> 
>  Before COVID-19, I liked seeing big crowds of people at climate marches carrying witty signs.  Some of my favourites are:
> 
>  So bad even an introvert is here
> 
> You’ll die of old age; I’ll die of climate change
> 
> If you’re waiting for a sign; this is it
> 
> Don’t be a fossil fool
> 
> I’m sure the dinosaurs thought they had time
> 
> This planet is hotter than my new boyfriend
> 
> There is no Plan(et) B
> 
> In the absence of big gatherings we can still make personal changes that start to add up. REEP Green Solutions is always my go-to if I’m looking for information and guidance on how to make a difference.
> 
>  Local public interest environmental groups aren’t meeting in person right now, but the work doesn’t stop. A group I’ve been involved with since it began is the Grand River Environmental Network or GREN.
> 
>  GREN began as the Seven Generations Network, based on the indigenous understanding that our current actions have an impact far into the future. At some point during the ebb and flow of this group, we became the Grand River Environmental Network.  As much as we tried to make our acronym GREEN, it turns out GREN was perfect, because a gren is a bough or branch of a tree.
> 
>  The strength of GREN comes from the shared purpose of our members to be “a proactive voice for the environment in the Grand River watershed.”  GREN’s members come from all walks of life, and have different skills and strengths to share.
> 
>  Our members have joined marches and protests, but environmental activism can take many forms. One critical role is to counterbalance private interest lobbyists and land speculators. This usually means reading hundreds of pages of reports and studies, monitoring council meeting agendas for red flags, sitting on environment committees, meeting with politicians and staff, and writing and submitting our own responses to areas of concern.
> 
>  Although many of us joined GREN to seek help and guidance on a specific issue, we all know that “everything is connected.” It doesn’t matter whether it’s transportation, housing, urban sprawl, building on farmland, or cutting down trees, every land use decision will impact the others. At the core is protecting our precious aquifers and ensuring that these decisions do not jeopardize our future.
> 
>  GREN partners with other local groups to host election forums focusing on environmental issues. The most recent was during the last federal election in conjunction with the national public interest group GreenPac’s 100 Debates on the Environment. This was an important community effort to ensure protecting our environment and addressing climate change is always on the radar in our electoral process. With both a provincial and municipal election in 2022, and so little time left to cut our carbon emissions, these debates are critical.
> 
>  Other public forums, like To Conserve and Protect, have been focused on how to protect our precious ground and surface water. The region has a terrible history of industrial pollution. From Elmira to Cambridge, the mighty and historical Grand River has been contaminated multiple times, and some of that cleanup work continues to this day, more than 30 years after the fact.
> 
>  There is a place for everyone with GREN. It can be protests and marches for extroverts, or the quieter arena for introverts of reading and writing reports, petitions, website maintenance, writing politicians, organizing or chairing meetings, taking meeting minutes, or thoughtful discussion and problem solving.
> 
>  One of the benefits for me is learning what partner groups like The Nith Valley EcoBoosters <https://www.nvecoboosters.com/> are doing. Their next event is a free, public webinar Let’s Talk: Plastics Unwrapped on Feb 3 at 7 pm. After you register, you get the link to the documentary The Story of Plastic in preparation for the webinar discussion.
> 
> And don’t forget to check out www.gren.ca <http://www.gren.ca/> to find an issue that moves you.  
> 
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> _______________________________________________
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