Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

Gayle and I have been touring all of the sites in the Comox Valley Regional District and the Strathcona Regional District lately. Throughout the year we will be visiting schools all over the Mid-Island and groups in your area. Follow us on our journey. We will be posting tweets so you can see what we're up to. We'll also be posting links to cool facts and steps that we can all take to lower our footprint. Naturally, there will be funny pictures and video posts too. You can find us at twitter.com/powerofr

This picture was taken at the CVRD fresh water pump station. I was checking out the big chlorine tanks and decided to bust a fresh move in the HazMat suit. Ayooohhh

Welcome to Beyond The Blue Box a blog created just for you.  My name is Zac and you can find out more about me by visiting my profile page at zacwhyte.com. As a contract Youth Waste Reduction Educator for the Comox Valley Regional District my job is to assist you in learning about the Power of R. Rethink, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. These are the core elements that will help us create a healthier planet.  Of course, it will take a lot of work from all of us but the rewards are huge. What we have on this planet is worth taking care of. We can each take small steps to reduce our ecological footprints together. We can keep our fresh water clean and plentiful, our forests, rivers and oceans full of wildlife and plants, and most importantly, we can have fun doing it. Taking care of our environment feels good and the best part is the environment will take care of us in return.

Nobody is perfect. That is the point of this blog. You can follow along with me and take daily steps to implement the Power Of R into our daily lives. Before you know it we’ll be living well and feeling good about our actions. I do things like ride my bike instead of driving to work on good weather days. I use less water each day by remembering to turn the tap off when I brush my teeth. I even take an old ice cream bucket into the shower now. At the end of my shower I have an extra bucket of water to feed my plants with. I have a long way to go but with your help we can work together and make our mark on the earth smaller each day.

With each step I lower my impact on the planet. When I add up all of those steps over the course of a year, my ecological footprint is reduced significantly. It’s a game that everyone can play to create a better environment for all of us to live and play in.  

Finally, I want to hear what you’re up to. How are you reducing your ecological footprint? If you email me your 10 steps that implement the Power of R and a picture of you at work your story could be featured on this blog. Cool! It’s going to be a great year so let’s get started.