The St. James Town Journey Playbook: Rethinking Sustainability
New guide for community climate action launched with public forum
TORONTO, March 25, 2022 /CNW/ - The St. James Town Journey — a new Playbook for urban high-rise communities to address climate change — will be celebrated at a public online forum on March 28, 2022 at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
The new Playbook, available online, is a guide for climate action in high-rise communities. It's based on a year-long project deploying the experiences and insights of people who live and work in and are connected to St. James Town, Canada's most densely populated urban neighbourhood.
The Community Climate Action (CCA): St James Town project, which includes the Playbook, was led by Rethink Sustainability Initiatives (RSI) and funded in part by the government of Canada.
The goal of both the overall project and the Playbook has been to help St. James Town become the most informed and best prepared high-rise community on climate impacts and to share the community's knowledge with similar communities across Canada and internationally.
"The impact of our work with St. James Town over such a short time will continue to create long-term value. We're working toward a future where people can have climate-comfortable homes in high-rise buildings in St. James Town and in similar communities across the country," said Darla Campbell, RSI Chair.
"High-rise communities have climate problems — and solutions. One of the things we've learned on this Journey of Discovery is that dealing with climate is not just the government's responsibility — it's everyone's. And some of the best ideas and actions come from the community's biggest asset — its people," Campbell said.
Launch of the Playbook will be marked by a public online forum on March 28, 2022 at 5 p.m. Eastern time, where speakers and participants discuss and learn more about community climate action and innovation. Featured participants include Julie Dabrusin MP and Toronto City Councillor Krystyn Wong-Tam.
"The Playbook and the forum are milestones for St. James Town, for RSI and for the entire Community Climate Action project," said Yasmin Glanville, RSI Founder and Project Lead.
"It's a project of 'firsts' — the first climate action project based in a high-rise community, the first to be run during a pandemic, the first to widen the lens and look at climate as part of the overall priorities of residents such as jobs, food security and emergency preparedness and safety. And of course — the first to produce such a detailed, comprehensive Playbook that can guide St. James Town and other communities," Glanville said.
The 240-page plus Journey of Discovery chronicles the work of the CCA project that included training and mentoring 19 local Climate Change Ambassadors who can work to connect climate action with the everyday needs of residents. The Playbook also documents the insights of experts from the city of Toronto, Canada and abroad, including engineers, scientists, activists, lawyers, community workers, government relations specialists, futurists and most importantly — the people in St. James Town.
The Journey of Discovery Playbook will be available online after March 29th. In addition to support from the federal government, CCA also partnered with Trinity Life/The New Common, a Toronto-based not-for-profit organization that works in St. James Town.
Rethink Sustainability Initiatives (RSI) is a not-for-profit organization that engages, advises and partners with thought leaders, innovators and organizations to advance the sustainability and resiliency of businesses, institutions and communities to thrive into the future. We provide access to progressive leaders and actionable insights for Canadians and our global partners through formal and informal discussions, community projects, action learning accelerators, digital and print publications and education. https://rethinksustainability.ca
Trinity Life and The New Common
Trinity Life is a non-profit, faith-based organization serving Toronto to create healthy communities through collaboration. The New Common is an organization started through Trinity Life that seeks to empower communities in domain engagement through asset-based community development. Over the past eight years, Trinity Life has served to empower and push forward community development efforts in Regent Park and in St James Town. https://trinitylife.ca/the-new-common; https://thenewcommon.org/
SOURCE Rethink Sustainability Initiative
Yasmin Glanville, Project Lead, 647 725-7734, [email protected], [email protected]
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