Environmentally conscious citizens take to coffee shops, living rooms and places of worship to help slow global warming

Coffee shops, living rooms and places of worship are the new ground zero in the fight to slow global warming. Two B.C. grassroots movements -- the Sierra Club of B.C.'s Climate Emission Reduction Clubs (Cercles for short) and Climate Cafes -- urge participants to address climate change in intimate settings using discussion groups and realistic goal-setting.

"Suffering is optional," explains Patricia Lane, a volunteer with the Sierra Club. "We live in a nice house in Oak Bay, and [since we stopped using oil heat,] we were actually warmer this winter than last."

Inspired by the similar community groups in the United Kingdom, Victoria-based lawyer Lane and her family set out to reduce their carbon footprint by inviting their friends, neighbours and fellow parishioners to do the same. This model encourages people to take manageable steps to prevent global warming, all the while tracking progress alongside one's peers.

Lane, her husband and teenage son have saved tonnes of carbon emissions a year by installing solar panels on their roof, switching from oil heat to an energy-efficient heat pump, purchasing energy-saving appliances and hanging their laundry out to dry.

Then, by hosting a series of casual gatherings at her family home, Lane inspired others to do degrees of the same: use their clothes dryers less, talk to local politicians and change their light bulbs to more efficient models.

The Sierra Club of B.C. has adapted Lane's brainchild, and is helping people across B.C. host what the green group calls "house-cooling" parties. After attending a house-cooling party, participants may be inspired to start their own Cercles to continue working on creating a lighter carbon footprint.

"We're focusing on inviting new people to get involved in the conversation on global warming -- people who wouldn't attend an 'environmental meeting' but will go to a friend's house for coffee," says Jill Thompson, Grassroots Outreach Coordinator for the Sierra Club of B.C. So far, parties have taken place in 10 homes in Victoria, Vancouver, Powell River and the Cowichan Valley. Another dozen will take place through April.

Cercles in British Columbia are taking some small and large steps to slow global warming. Members of Lane's Cercle at a Victoria Anglican Church decided to give up carbon for Lent and are currently looking into installing solar panels on their church's roof.

Another group in the Cowican Valley notes that Thompson, who lives in that area, has hosted several house-cooling parties. So far the group of neighbourhood women have calculated their carbon footprints online and learned how to save money and energy by touring an energy-efficient home.

Cercles are a way to get together and celebrate what members are doing and figure out next steps, says Lane. "People burn out [on climate change]. ... The first thing we have to do is notice what we're already doing."

Mirroring the casual atmosphere of house-cooling parties, the Climate Cafes society hosts coffee-talk evenings in Vancouver. Using a philosopher's cafe format based on co-founder Heather Harrison's experiences as a philosophy instructor and activist, the society attracts people looking for casual conversation and inspiring, low-key presentations on climate change issues.

"The cafes aren't as much awareness-raising as they are empowering people to act," says Heather Harrison, one of the society's eight volunteer organizers.

Run by a steering committee of eight and with a small grant from the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Climate Cafes usually advertises monthly events on its website. Held in a different Vancouver neighbourhood each month, the Climate Cafe meetings usually rely on the pedestrian power of volunteers to put up posters in the area surrounding the venue.

"Part of what distinguishes us from other groups is the very local nature of Climate Cafes. Small groups rather than big groups allow everyone to have a voice, which is often lacking in big forums," says Kurt Heinrich, a communications consultant and Climate Cafe volunteer.

"Climate Cafes are very pragmatic. We talk about solutions that you can go home and implement that day, as opposed to very general, big conceptualizations of global warming."

Climate Cafes and the Sierra Club are now combining their efforts for the benefit of Lower Mainlanders who haven't heard about the carbon reduction groups. At the end of each Climate Cafe, Harrison and her colleagues pitch the idea of starting a Cercle to follow up with the night's discussion.

While groups such as Climate Cafes and the Sierra Club examine how to affect change among individuals and households to mitigate climate change, Seth Klein, director of the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives think-tank says they're important policy catalysts.

"We're moving towards a point when individual households will have carbon quotas," Klein said. "It won't be industry that pushes this. We're only going to get there because of groups like these. If individual households are going to make these sort of changes, they will demand that governments do the same."

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=c6287895-7212-48…