Ideas for Action for Citizens of Sustainability

Creating a sustainable community is all about choices.  Hidden within the small decisions we make every day are countless opportunities to protect, preserve and enrich our community, and make it more sustainable for the future.

Nicole Tomes is a Development and Environmental Planner with The Town of Cochrane, and a member of SPUR (Sustainability Partners Uniting Resources), the volunteer group tasked with making the Cochrane Sustainability Plan vision a reality.  Recently, Nicole developed a list of Ideas for Action that Cochrane and area residents can use to get them thinking and acting sustainably.

From using a push mower to voting, volunteering or becoming involved with your local community association, the Ideas for Action are designed to offer inspiration and motivation for folks all across Cochrane.

“One of the roles for SPUR is to help area residents become more aware of sustainability – what it means, and how they can help make us a more sustainable community,” Nicole says.  “Little changes can make a huge difference, particularly when you get a large number of citizens involved.  Our hope is that the Ideas for Action will help Cochrane residents realize how much they are already doing to be more sustainable and give them fresh ideas for their choices and actions in the future.”

Nicole’s list of more than 100 sustainable ideas for action appears on the Cochrane Sustainability Plan website.  Each of the ideas is tied to one of the 13 Pathways in the Cochrane Sustainability Plan.  If you are doing something that we haven’t thought of, we’d like to know so that we can add it to the list. Let’s inspire each other.

You can also download a PDF that lists all the Ideas for Action in one document.

On the website, residents have a chance to review all the different actions they can take, and then register the ones they are already taking.  Their input will be used to develop a snapshot of the sustainable actions that are taking place across the community.

To support the CSP vision, area residents are also encouraged to sign on as Citizens of Sustainability.  It’s an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to a sustainable future, and to become more involved in sustainability initiatives across the community.

You can learn more about becoming a Citizen of Sustainability here.