K. Nicole Kindred – Sustainability Consultant

My most recent photo project – a humorous look at our obsession with new products and technology.

I first thought of it when I didn’t have TV and started laughing at the idea of putting up an iPod instead. I thought it was funny.

Yesterday, Metro Vancouver, hosted a sustainability community breakfast on Eco-certifications, Eco-labels and Eco-logos in the Food Sector.

The three speakers included Mike McDermid with Ocean Wise at the Vancouver Aquarium, Brad Reid from Certified Organic Associations of BC, and Lloyd Bernhardt with Ethical Bean Fair Trade Coffee.

All three speakers discussed how eco-labelling and certification have become an integral part of their industry and present a number of challenges and opportunities. While there is much confusion around eco-certification and the ensuring of a reliable standard with consistent monitoring, all of the presenters noted that in the end, it is the consumer who has the greatest power in creating change.

One of these examples came from Mike McDermid with Ocean Wise. Ocean Wise was created in 2005 in Vancouver when 16 restaurants signed on to sell sustainable seafood products. This has now spread across Canada with over 300 restaurants on board. When they first started the program, they approached suppliers directly to see if they would like to sign on to promise sustainable fishing. At that time, none of the suppliers were willing to participate; however, since 2005, the number of suppliers that provide sustainably fished seafood has increased from an average of 47.50% sustainable product to 75.26% sustainable. This has been credited to the pressure of chefs and consumers who have demanded more sustainable goods.

 The power of the consumer is the keystone to sustainable business. One of the reason that business has become so unsustainable is because consumers have demanded the cheapest products without considering the impact of these products on the environment, society, and resources. By creating standards and certification processes, consumers now have a way of determining where their products come from and if they are sustainable. It is this increased demand for environmentally and socially sustainable products which has led industry to become more responsible.

As part of the question and answer portion of the breakfast, one of the participants invited the audience to participate in a 90 day challenge to only consume sustainably certified products. By participating in this challenge, it is hoped that consumers, in considering where their products come from, will realize the value of sustainable goods.

The artist, Portia Munson, has found a way to turn heaps of plastic kitsch and junk into beautiful mounds of stuff that both uplift and mock our contemporary consumer culture.

Her art installations are a contemplation of and comment on our manufactured perceptions of nature. Our culture is defined by the objects we mass-produce, consume, and throw away. Portia collects these objects and assembles them into congested installations, in essence using the refuse of consumer culture that usually ends up in landfills and yard sales as her resources.

 The Pink Project:

Green Piece; Sarcophagus

The Garden

Flatpack is an innovative and experimental opera composed by Tom Lane and, in this production, is being staged by Mammoth Music Theatre, directed by Rebecca Lea. The Opera explores issues encountered in everyday modern life and how our consumer decisions and domestic interaction with others are indicators of more profound life choices and personalities. Practically, this focuses on a selection of scenes taken from the lives of a cast of characters, which relate to furniture, living and lifestyle. The marriage of music and drama and the important role of passion, adventure, humour and love are consistent with the traditional elements of the medium. Where it differs is in the setting, its specific content and its performance. The opera also seeks to be as inclusive of the public as possible: by performing Flatpack in a public place, during the official opening hours of IKEA in Wembley, UK, the hope is to attract audience members previously unfamiliar with opera, to catch them unawares, transforming a conventional furniture shop into an unforgettable experience.