Posters, Maps & Illustrations: INNOVATIVE STORMWATER PROGRAMS
Photo: A.J. Johnson
The Guelph International Resource Centre (GIRC) was incorporated as a non-profit
corporation in Ontario on May 23, 1980. The purpose was to create an organization that
would provide people in Guelph with an understanding of Canada's role in the world, the importance of Canada's overseas activities, as well as the interconnectedness of people living around the world. It was initiated as a “Global Learning Centre”, with the financial support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), by community members representing organizations including the Guelph Public Library, the Red Cross, the YM/WCA, CUSO, and OXFAM, as well as individuals from the University and local school communities.
When CIDA withdrew its support for Global Learning Centres in the late 1980s, GIRC's structure and mandate shifted. Governed by a board of directors drawn from the Guelph community, GIRC now exists to draw attention to global justice and environmental issues, and to act as a mechanism through which people may become engaged in local action. In its history, the GIRC office has been the home and base of operations for a variety of community organizations, providing meeting space, office infrastructure, staff support and logistical assistance for activities, which are consistent with its mandate. Organizations which have benefited from access to GIRC have included the:
• Guelph Social Ecology Working Group
• Youth Ecological Empowerment Plan
• Ten Days for Global Justice
• Ontario Environment Network
• Guelph Coalition for Social Justice
• Guelph Labour Council
• Canada World Youth, and the
• Guelph Community Car Co-op
In addition to a number of smaller projects and events, in the 2000s, two key projects have assumed the majority of GIRC's energy: GIRC's Rain Barrel Program (which was created to stimulate discussion and involve people in action related conservation and other aspects of sustainability and accessibility of water) and The Guelph Festival of Moving Media, which takes place every November in downtown Guelph.
The Rain Barrel Project started as a small pilot initiative in 1998, the GIRC’s rain barrel project engages community members directly in water conservation efforts and has helped to foster a broad-based social movement.
Over the past decade, GIRC has engaged hundreds of community members in converting used food barrels into rain barrels, in the process connecting interested individuals to other water-related initiatives and building relationships among the various groups active on water issues in the Guelph area. Occasionally, broader projects are built around the rain barrel program. In 2002, for example, the rain barrel project was part of a larger Guelph Water Project, funded by Youth Services Canada and the City of Guelph, that employed 12 young people and distributed over 500 barrels. In 2007 and 2008, a program of water efficient gardening workshops and activities were built around the rain barrel program with financial support from the City of Guelph.
Proceeds from the sale of rain barrels go toward sustaining the rain barrel program and to other community projects such as the Guelph Festival of Moving Media. The sale of rain barrels not only serves as a crucial fundraising project for the GIRC but also is beneficial to the municipality, the people who use them, and the ecosystem.
Since 1999, GIRC has built and distributed over 3,000 rain barrels around Guelph, making rain barrels a 'must-have' item for any environmentally conscious home owner in the area. Though the recent entry into the Guelph market of cheap, mass-produced rain barrels has created new challenges for GIRC's rain barrel program, GIRC is proud to have created an strong appetite for rain barrels, and maintains a niche among the most discerning buyers as the best-valued rain barrel for the dollar, the only producers using re-purposed barrels, and the only source where a rain barrel purchase is an investment in local volunteerism, local community projects, and the building of networks among environmentally and globally conscious citizens.
Go to the GIRC website
(Written "cooperatively" by GIRC & Urban RainCatchers' Gazette)
The Guelph International Resource Centre (GIRC) was incorporated as a non-profit
corporation in Ontario on May 23, 1980. The purpose was to create an organization that
would provide people in Guelph with an understanding of Canada's role in the world, the importance of Canada's overseas activities, as well as the interconnectedness of people living around the world. It was initiated as a “Global Learning Centre”, with the financial support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), by community members representing organizations including the Guelph Public Library, the Red Cross, the YM/WCA, CUSO, and OXFAM, as well as individuals from the University and local school communities.
When CIDA withdrew its support for Global Learning Centres in the late 1980s, GIRC's structure and mandate shifted. Governed by a board of directors drawn from the Guelph community, GIRC now exists to draw attention to global justice and environmental issues, and to act as a mechanism through which people may become engaged in local action. In its history, the GIRC office has been the home and base of operations for a variety of community organizations, providing meeting space, office infrastructure, staff support and logistical assistance for activities, which are consistent with its mandate. Organizations which have benefited from access to GIRC have included the:
• Guelph Social Ecology Working Group
• Youth Ecological Empowerment Plan
• Ten Days for Global Justice
• Ontario Environment Network
• Guelph Coalition for Social Justice
• Guelph Labour Council
• Canada World Youth, and the
• Guelph Community Car Co-op
In addition to a number of smaller projects and events, in the 2000s, two key projects have assumed the majority of GIRC's energy: GIRC's Rain Barrel Program (which was created to stimulate discussion and involve people in action related conservation and other aspects of sustainability and accessibility of water) and The Guelph Festival of Moving Media, which takes place every November in downtown Guelph.
The Rain Barrel Project started as a small pilot initiative in 1998, the GIRC’s rain barrel project engages community members directly in water conservation efforts and has helped to foster a broad-based social movement.
Over the past decade, GIRC has engaged hundreds of community members in converting used food barrels into rain barrels, in the process connecting interested individuals to other water-related initiatives and building relationships among the various groups active on water issues in the Guelph area. Occasionally, broader projects are built around the rain barrel program. In 2002, for example, the rain barrel project was part of a larger Guelph Water Project, funded by Youth Services Canada and the City of Guelph, that employed 12 young people and distributed over 500 barrels. In 2007 and 2008, a program of water efficient gardening workshops and activities were built around the rain barrel program with financial support from the City of Guelph.
Proceeds from the sale of rain barrels go toward sustaining the rain barrel program and to other community projects such as the Guelph Festival of Moving Media. The sale of rain barrels not only serves as a crucial fundraising project for the GIRC but also is beneficial to the municipality, the people who use them, and the ecosystem.
Since 1999, GIRC has built and distributed over 3,000 rain barrels around Guelph, making rain barrels a 'must-have' item for any environmentally conscious home owner in the area. Though the recent entry into the Guelph market of cheap, mass-produced rain barrels has created new challenges for GIRC's rain barrel program, GIRC is proud to have created an strong appetite for rain barrels, and maintains a niche among the most discerning buyers as the best-valued rain barrel for the dollar, the only producers using re-purposed barrels, and the only source where a rain barrel purchase is an investment in local volunteerism, local community projects, and the building of networks among environmentally and globally conscious citizens.
Go to the GIRC website
(Written "cooperatively" by GIRC & Urban RainCatchers' Gazette)
10th September 2009 · by
