LiveSmart BC Community Hero
LiveSmart BC Community Hero: The Earthwise Society
The Earthwise Society has been working towards making South Delta a cleaner and more sustainable community for almost 30 years.
“What we see our role as is to provide individuals, groups and businesses with the tools needed to make wise decisions,” said executive director Patricia Fleming.
The organization, which was formerly know as the Delta Recycling Society (DRS), was formed in 1979 when a group of concerned citizens came together and started the Delta Recycling Project.
During the 1980s, the group led the expansion of recycling services and depots in Delta and in 1988 DRS established the first blue box curbside collection service for recyclables in Western Canada.
In the 1990s, as recycling started to become a more mainstream part of people’s daily lives, the organization started to make the shift from promoting waste reduction to sustainable living. In 1995, DRS designed and developed a one-acre demonstration garden at its Brown Street recycling facility in Tilbury.
The Earthwise Garden showcased sustainable landscaping practices—promoting composting, water conservation, organic gardening and habitat enhancement - and in 2001 won the first Environmental Stewardship Award from the B.C. Landscape and Nursery Association.
Today, the programs are run out of the Boundary Bay Earthwise Garden in Tsawwassen.
The group offers residents the information needed to make more ecologically sound and sustainable choices in their daily lives.
The demonstration garden highlights how gardeners can have vibrant and healthy plants and gardens without the use of chemicals.
“We really don’t think it’s necessary,” Fleming said.
The group’s 60 community garden plots give members the chance to practice some of the techniques while tending to their own small garden next to the Earthwise demonstration farm. The one-acre farm is designed to showcase what organic agriculture is and why it’s important.
Currently, the group offers programs for elementary students as well as for older learners through Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Fleming said Earthwise is hoping to launch a program for high school students next spring that will focus on sustainable food supplies.
Overall, Fleming said, the group wants to teach people that even making small changes to their daily lives can make a difference.
“It’s important to remember that individual choices matter,” she said.
For more information about Earthwise Society, visit www.drsociety.bc.ca.
