SENS’ mandate is to provide a healthy sustainable future for our community. We do this by:

• educating and raising awareness about sustainability, health and The environment

• Leading initiatives

• getting involved with, and helping to fund, community projects

Is there a sustainability or environmental issue that you would like to see addressed in our community? If you are interested in starting your own project, please get in contact with us!

Recurring events

Monthly Meetings (September through May)

SENS holds monthly general events on the 4th Thursday of most months, September through May.  We invite the public to attend - especially for the speakers that we invite to talk on a variety of local or provincial environmental issues (e.g. air quality, health effects of pesticides and alternatives, sustainable architecture, global climate change, smart growth and livable communities, and future possibilities with alternative energy).

Sustainability Film Fest

Our annual, free, Sustainability Film Fest in February brings together citizens to learn and discuss a variety of environmental issues such as restorative agriculture, plastics and chemical pollution.  Seedy Saturday in March provides garden support talks and supports local, organic, food and seed producers and many non-profits. Our Handmade Holiday afternoon in November provides options for making gifts for Xmas rather than buying, to support community, and we have recently provided demonstration and home product making sessions with the public to increase awareness of questionable chemicals in home products. 

Directors

• Sigrid-Ann Thors | chair

• Julia Lissau | Secretary / Treasurer

• John Barling | Research - Solar

• Sheila Campbell | REsearch - Events

• Terry Dyck | Media - Events

• Heather Miller | MeDIA - Events

• Jane Weixl | Media - Presentations

• Kelsey Wheelhouse | Media - Presentations

History

The Sustainable Environment Network Society (SENS) has been an environmental advocate in the community for over 50 years. SENS began as a volunteer group in 1971 when we initiated a paper and glass recycling pilot study. In 1982, we became a registered society under the name “North Okanagan Recycling Society” and ran the recycling depot (one of the first in all of BC) until this program was privatized and was taken over by the Regional District of the North Okanagan. Our present name has allowed us much more scope and a broader mandate involving promotion of environmental care.

SENS’s capacity to strengthen the community’s environmental sustainability has also been proven through a variety of initiatives, including:           

• lead agency for a federal government Climate Change Action Fund grant (Changing Lanes) that provided alternative transportation options for the community (bike lanes and trails, cycling training, cycle camps for kids and adults, carpool.ca and more). We also received funding for a Climate Change Awareness - Greenhouse Gases reduction pilot project for 2005 and 2006, that included the One-Tonne Challenge and worked towards behaviour change at the household level.  We have also been successful in bringing 11 Katimavik volunteers to Vernon for 2005 and 2006 to assist us and other non-profit groups with a variety of community projects.

• working with the City of Vernon on the Official Community Plan (OCP). As part of this, SENS coordinated with another non-profit (Smart Growth BC) to educate SENS members, the community and City of Vernon staff and council so that our new OCP was sustainable and more environmentally conscious and should be sufficient to carry us well past 2050 and should be of great value to our children and our grandchildren if local citizens continue to be vigilant.   

• developing and implementing environmental education initiatives for the local school districts, including a classroom blue box recycling program still operating today.

• educating the community about recycling and environmental issues via a widely distributed newsletter, letters to local papers and via speakers brought in for general meetings and public forums.

• through the Community Foundation of the North Okanagan, establishing an Environmental Trust Fund for possible scholarships or future initiatives.

• working on Waste Management policy development in conjunction with the North Okanagan Regional District prior to implementation of the Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) for our area in 1995 and in 2017.

• public education which resulted in removal of incineration (which was supposed to take the place of recycling) from the SWMP.

• establishing a fall leaf exchange event to reduce landfill waste and encourage home composting and leaf use, not chemical fertilizer use.  The program is now part of the city’s advertising for garden leaf removal.  Waste haulers collect much less due to private citizens taking a more responsible approach to their gardening practices!

• developing and coordinating an organic community garden allotment program which linked more than 30 gardeners with garden plots owned by other individuals in the community.

• with the support of a $ 120,000 Human Resources Development Canada Grant, developing and coordinating a “Growing Hope and Skills Program” to train 12 unemployed youth about sustainable gardening, composting and environmental practices.

•  funding (over $20,000) from several granting institutions that was used to install and provide hands-on education about alternative energy (solar, wind, micro-hydro) at the local Okanagan Science Centre (OSC) and also educate the public about cosmetic pesticides and alternatives at the OSC via interactive games and display materials, and educate on Smart Growth.       

• Lead supporter for “Wheels for Change”, a Nelson–Victoria  - Vernon cycling tour (July, 2007) that asked for action on climate change from municipal, provincial and federal officials.

•  Ongoing: via letters, petitions and speaking at various clubs in town, raising the awareness of the public about pesticides and children’s health and asking for a ban on use of cosmetic pesticides on public greenspaces.

• Ongoing: working to bring the hope and resilience of Transition Towns into Vernon and the communities around Vernon. “Vernon In Transition” launched in the fall of 2012, with ‘pre-launch’ information nights provided in the spring.

• Ongoing: encouraging local community leaders to accept and work with an Environmental Advisory Committee composed of members from several non-profit environmental groups.

• Ongoing: Encouraging a butterfly-bee -friendly pathway from lake to lake through Vernon as well as butterfly-bee-friendly plantings in backyards and boulevards.

• In Planning Stages: community program for volunteers to make and/or repair clothing or other materials.