Our Mission
To reduce our individual and collective environmental footprints on our home and the Earth by actively, energetically and positively promoting values of sustainability and conservation of resources. FULL CIRCLES will offer education, opportunity, and venues for individuals and communities to learn, to interact, to collaborate and to take action.
Ecological footprint analysis measures the human demand on nature and compares human consumption of natural resources with the earth's ecological capacity to regenerate them. It is an estimate of the amount of land area a human population, given prevailing technology, would need if the current resource consumption and pollution by the population is matched by the sustainable (renewable) resource production and waste assimilation by such a land area.
Why
There had been growing unrest within the Freecycle ranks about attitudes and behaviours being shown by the founder. People were questioning the arrogance of the founder, his hidden agenda and where he was wanting to take the network. The more I saw happening, the more of the founder I experienced, the more I was determined to leave the network. Andy Swarbrick has maintained a Freecycling blog about his experiences describing all that has passed in detail. You can read in detail, all that has happened in the past and current.
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Full Circles Kitchener Waterloo
This
is the Kitchener Waterloo group of Full Circles. We grew out of a
Freecycle Group and have expanded our horizons to become Full Circles.
We have gone full circle, from no technology to a full technological
disposable society and back to being more aware of our environment, our
consumerism and our ecological footprint on this planet. With this
thought, we have created this portal with many sources of information
available to us.
One of our local members, Andrew Netherton maintains a blog about Sustainability where he discusses many issues and has agreed to contribute to to our site here. We will also have other sources available through here regarding ecological sites and information as well as consumerism.
In order to assist us to offset part of our 'consumerism', we operate an email list. On this list, we have members, from the original freecycle group who continue placing 'wanted' and 'offer' posts. In order to publicize our group, and for assistance with management, we have joined the ReUseIt Network, Declutterize Canada and Freesharing.
Andrew's Sustainapedia A Bunch of Info for Greener Living
Eric's Clipmunity A Bunch of Info about Environmental Issues
Full Circles Kitchener Waterloo The email list for Re-Using items allowing for posts for Offer, Taken, Wanted, Received allowing members of the list to obtain items that they require, from other members who no longer need the item, or for members to pass on usable items to others who may need them. This keeps good usable items out of the landfill, and helps reduce the impact on our consumerist society.Story of Stuff
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in
our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is
hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff
exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and
social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and
just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it
just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Read more and watch the video at
The Story of Stuff
The Simple Life
Think Simple Now (TSN) is a candidly written blog that addresses real-life personal issues on our path to happiness and fulfillment, along with practical and simple solutions for those issues.
Our mission at Think Simple Now is to empower people to find inner clarity and personal happiness through simple, uplifting, motivational, and applicable articles.
In order to simplify our lives and eliminate all that STUFF that we have cluttering our world so that we can find peace in our surroundings, we tap in to all the resources available. An excellent resource can be found in the Cure for
PackRat-itis.
Is Less Really More?
The joy and art of having less while enjoying more of life can be summed up, as follows.
The Zen of Space - There is beauty in space, but we fail to recognize it because we cant see through the stuff we own. When we open up physical space in our environment, a tremendous feeling of peace can dwell within us. This is the principle behind Japanese style homes. Beauty in small spaces is the appreciation of minimalism, where less truly is more. We need to understand that space is to be enjoyed, not filled.
Conserved Energy - Fewer belongings means we have fewer possessions to worry about. I once knew a wealthy young man, who had anything he ever dreamed of. He had so many expensive things, and he was so afraid of losing them. Much of his energy was devoted to protecting his possessions and trophies.
Free Your Space - When we are reminded of something we own but never use, we can impose self-inflicted guilt for leaving it unused. For example, my mother owns a several exercise machines which are rarely used. Each time she sees them, she forces herself to feel guilty. Her guilt eats away at her inner, mental space. Our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. By cleaning out and simplifying our outer space, our inner space will open up like a flower.
Appreciation - The less we have, the more attention we can give those things we own and truly need on a regular basis. Appreciation is the seed for abundance; abundance of the mind and the soul. Its pretty amazing how little we actually need. When we clear our homes and our lives down to the essentials, we are able to better enjoy that which we do have.
Community Renewable Energy Waterloo
An excellent resource available for local information regarding energy conservation and energy alternatives. Ways that can be taken toward a zero carbon footprint are given with various workshops and seminars listed. Crew is a local site in the Waterloo Region with people available to information and guidance. more>>>
Mission
Community Renewable Energy Waterloo is a local non-profit organization dedicated to making renewable energy accessible to the citizens of Waterloo Region. Our vision is to be a network of knowledgeable advocates, early adopters and interested citizens who initiate, resource and support all local projects that encourage energy conservation and sustainable use of energy or materials from naturally regenerating sources, such as wind, solar and earth energy.
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