Help us keep fighting for the Greenbelt
Donation protected
Help Margaret Atwood help us!
Who we are, and the problem in need of fixing.
I never planned on being an environmentalist. I thought that, ultimately, even if sometimes mistakes were made, the water, air, farmland, and natural habitat we all rely on would be recognized as worth protecting, and that our leaders would take the steps necessary to ensure that happened.
When Doug Ford’s government was elected, however, with backing from a small group of extremely wealthy developers, it became clear that nothing was off limits, that even the Greenbelt, which a vast majority of Ontarians want to be protected, was likely to be torn apart.
This is exactly what we see happening. This government is steamrolling ahead, regardless of citizens, community groups, and others who have expressed their opposition through what are meant to be the proper lines of communication, such as the Environmental Registry. The vast majority of comments in response to the changes proposed to remove lands from the Greenbelt were in opposition, and yet they seem to have counted for nothing.
To us, this means we need a new way of thinking about where power lays, of organizing in a way that builds foundations for local, grassroots support, that roots the Greenbelt and what it means within its communities.
This means that we celebrate and build upon the fact that it produces fresh and local food on family-owned farms, that it filters our drinking water and cleans the air we breathe, that it provides a home to wildlife, including many species at risk. These are the very things that make this little corner of the world one of the best places to live in!
We believe that one of the greatest strengths to be found is in our connection to each other and our connection to the places we call home, and if we can grow this sense of community we can also grow our collective voice and power in protecting and expanding the Greenbelt in Ontario.
I am not in Ontario, why should I care?
Ontario’s Greenbelt is the largest example of this type of land protection in the world, and it is located in an area that faces one of the greatest challenges in terms of pressure for urban development.
The Greenbelt is a type of land protection that places a border around urban areas, such that development is restricted and unable to continue to sprawl outwards. This helps to prevent urban sprawl and encourages more compact forms of development.
Now, this, and our work fighting this government’s efforts to undermine the Greenbelt, becomes a global concern once you understand that the way we use land is among the biggest levers in addressing climate change.
Urban sprawl, for example, requires people to use cars simply to access basic, everyday necessities, such as grocery stores. (And, while electric vehicles are a step in the right direction the fact remains that the energy footprint of sprawl is simply unsustainable.)
As the former (before Ford eliminated the position) Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Dianne Saxe, put it, sprawl is Ontario’s tar sands.
More specifically to Simcoe County, where much of our effort is focused, the Greenbelt stretches across the northern Greater Toronto Area, ending just at the southernmost portion of Simcoe County. Development has been leaping over the Greenbelt to Simcoe County for more than a decade, driving continued sprawl in the region.
Protecting the Greenbelt, first and foremost, and then expanding it to include Simcoe County, as well, as we believe it should, much of the rest of Central and Southern Ontario, is our goal.
If we can get this right here, in Ontario and in Simcoe County, where sprawl has reigned supreme for half a century, it can serve as an example to communities elsewhere that want to reduce their carbon footprint.
So what do we plan to do?
- We have been building networks of citizens and community organizations at the local level through Simcoe County, and we want to expand this effort through the Greenbelt.
- We hold regular organizing meetings in which we strategize and build collective “community” capacity. We like to call our form of organizing “regenerative organizing”, and, just so you know, your support also helps us develop the method, which we plan on sharing with other community organizing efforts.
- Host local town halls to educate the public on the impacts of highways on the Greenbelt and their community.
- Educate municipal councillors about how to build communities that are Greenbelt friendly and climate-resilient.
- Research and mapping to help educate the public about the benefits of the Greenbelt, our water systems and why government action is urgent.
- Media relations work to help further expose mistruths and dangers of the current government's agenda.
- Pay for Freedom of Information requests to access internal government documents that they don't want us to see. (Documents we've attained this way have already been featured in national media stories.)
Ultimately, by building these communities of organizers we hope to build a body politic that will ensure the Greenbelt continues to be the jewel of Ontario forever.
- Youth are engaged in organizing politically and learning, as we did, that living in a democracy is a participation sport, that you can’t just sit back and allow others to do the heavy lifting.
- Citizens filter through these organizing efforts and develop a constituency which they then leverage in their campaigns to become elected representatives. We want to build a community that will help ensure the Greenbelt remains a legacy that provides Ontario with fresh water, clean air, and a healthy, vibrant local food system, and the best co-benefit of this is that it simultaneously creates the conditions, by building complete, walkable communities and robust local economies, of our low carbon future.
Simcoe County and Ontario are primed for this fight, and we are already on the back foot. We need your support to make this happen.
Want to learn more about how you can get involved?
Contact us at info at simcoecountygreenbelt dot ca, or visit our website, at https://simcoecountygreenbelt.ca.
Organizer
Margaret Prophet
Organizer
Barrie, ON