An Earth-y Conversation

Adventurer-explorer-educator Geoff Green, 41, is on a yearlong cross-Canada campaign to encourage people to stop drinking bottled water and get them to take other simple measures to step more lightly on this planet.

Green’s passion for clean water is inextricably linked to his passion for the Polar regions. He has led 104 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic, and his 16 years of first-hand observation of global warming have honed his ardour for educating teens beyond the small-town Ontario classrooms where he first began teaching.

Green’s Students on Ice expeditions have brought hundreds of young people—plus dozens of scientists and celebrities—to the Polar regions. He believes that giving people deeply personal experiences with nature imparts an appreciation that fosters environmental action. As part of their contract to accompany him on his Polar expeditions, teens promise to take pro-environmental action once they have returned home. Some, now engineers in university, are developing practical ways to reduce the Students on Ice carbon footprint—by developing technologies to help "green" the boat they use, for example.

RD: The Earth Day web site, www.earthday.ca, emphasizes personal responsibility. What do you think of that?

Green: [Personal responsibility] is key to turning things around. Everybody can make a difference. There are all kinds of ways to take action. It’s daunting when you look at the challenges. So a lot of people are choosing to just switch off and enjoy life as it is. But I think the water issue is fundamental in getting people to shift—and I’m seeing it happen.

I always have a reusable water bottle with me. It saves money, it’s better for the environment. On every level, it makes more sense. Bottled water is an incredibly wasteful habit: 88% of plastic water bottles don’t get recycled and wind up in landfills. The carbon footprint for every bottle of water is enormous—1.5 million barrels of oil in the U.S. alone is used to make water bottles; and it takes 3 litres of water to create 1 litre of bottled water. [Carrying a reusable bottle] doesn’t give me a clear conscience; but if you can’t do that much, how can you do the larger things?

RD: Sales of bottled water keep increasing—Canadians now consume an average of 60 litres  per year. What’s it going to take for people to change?

Green: Just like with smoking, change seems to take momentum. Right now, there’s a ‘cool’ factor to bottled water. [Change will happen] if it becomes uncool to drink bottled water: We’re not there yet. [But] I think there’s a shift happening. Some people, though, still think bottled water is safer. [But] you’re starting to see conferences that ban bottled water. Offices are banning it. There’s awareness. By using a reusable bottle filled with tap water or filtered tap water, you are reducing your carbon-footprint. You are eliminating waste.

What’s it going to take? I like to think it’s awareness and education, but maybe it’s other pressures like legislation. I hope there’s understanding that these are personal choices that you can make to reduce your carbon footprint; you can live more sustainably, and I hope people start thinking in that mindset. You can do little things, such as walking, buying an energy-efficient vehicle, using energy-efficient lightbulbs and not using plastic bags at the grocery store. That [one] drives me insane. We’re so wasteful that we use a throwaway bag every time we go shopping.

RD: How can people learn to take personal responsibility?

Green: [Apart from www.earthday.ca], other sites with personal action tips include  The World Wildlife Fund (www.wwf.ca), David Suzuki Foundation (http://www.davidsuzuki.org/), FilterForGood.ca www.filterforgood.ca, and the EYES Project (www.eyesproject.com). [Eyes stands for Education, Youth, Environment, Sustainability]