About FBSC

The Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities (FBSC) was incorporated in 2003 as a Federal not for profit with a mandate to preserve and repair the environment and to ameliorate the living conditions of the underprivileged. FBSC has a long history of campaigning for local food, energy conservation and community engagement and has hosted over 23 events – including:
  • Earth Hour
  • Earth Day
  • Conservation Fairs
  • Heritage Dinner
  • Peacekeepers’ Day
  • Doors Open Oshawa
  • DIY Showcase
  • Harvest Dinner
  • Off Grid Brainstorming Weekend
There are also a number of projects and Campaigns including:
  • Windfields Community Gardens
  • Recreation & Demonstration of a WWI & WW2 victory gardens
  • I’m Plugged In
  • Oshawa Remembers Project
  • Fabulous Joan, a local television program.
Activities include repurposing competitions, food quizzes, conservation tips sharing and plant identifications. The goal is to encourage small actions by highlighting how easy it is for individual actions to have a big impact on the planet. To date, more than 20,000 people have attended these events and implemented and committed to actions.

Since 2009, we have collaborated with the Royal Canadian Legion-Br #43, University of Ontario Institute of Technology – Faculty of Science, Durham College, Oshawa Centre, Oshawa Public Utilities Network, Ontario Power Generation, Ontario Ministry of Energy, Rogers Community Television and local residents.  We have also collaborated with various individuals, such as Robert Bell and Percy Shadwell,

In 2009, FBSC implemented sustainable food program, the Canadian Victory Garden, chosen because of its historic and sustainable approach to local food and community engagement.  This historic model was first launched during the First World War to address food rationing and near starvation giving a solution to food security.  as one of its community engagement program, operates a community garden, encouraging people to grow food and promoting healthy living.  There is a significant educational component. To assist us in accomplishing these goals, requires horticultural knowledge, consistent maintenance of plants and tools, and communicating with gardeners and visitors. FBSC also launched the Climate Smart Victory Garden, a global initiative to address food and climate change in summer 2016.

 

FBSC is a volunteer organization, and some projects are financed through sponsorship, in-kind donations, and volunteers. From time to time, and for specific projects, funds allow for paid contractors.

Founders’ History and commitment to sustainable development

Since 1978, we’ve been involved in the environmental movement through community gardens, making/ repurposing, growing food, preserving/canning food, social entrepreneurship, and co-founding educational institution: environment-energy retrofitting programs, green building and professional development for small business.

 

Being at the forefront, campaigning and nurturing the principles of sustainable development, Internet Governance, Social Media, Social entrepreneurship and Smart Technologies highlights the enduring commitment that FBSC have for being a leader of transformation, dedication and resilience.

 

Mission

Our mission is to cultivate sustainable solutions that transform communities.

Vision

We envision a place where people learn, share and gather inspiration to live smart.

The plan is to use the .green domain to broadcast the green message and to garner support for the movement.  Using experience, collaboration and technology, we will create the following:

Sharing Green Ideas

To achieve a broad audience and facilitate support for, the impetus of how small green actions can lead to a great green movement, especially if those actions are shared and improved. Essentially, the site is a network for green interaction for individuals, organizations and companies, where ideas, techniques and stories are positioned to inspire action and share results.

The Green Ambassador Program

The Green Movement will inspire enthusiasm and dedicated individuals and companies.  By using a crowdsourcing strategy, we will develop an awards program to further promote the leadership within the connected community.

Goals

The goal is to promote the Green Movement and help lead people to make decisions for acting in a sustainable way.  A comprehensive marketing/outreach strategy, including social media will be utilized for the  that include education and community engagement.

The idea is to create a global green community network to promote the four cornerstones of sustainability, which are:

  • Environmental vanguard: energy and water conservation, recycle and 6R’s (reduce, reuse, repurpose, rethink, refuse, recycle)
  • Economic viridity : social entrepreneurship, local food initiatives, greenfields
  • Social vibrancy: Technology & innovation: makercafes, STEM Fairs, engineer design competitions, and crowdsourcing programs, and
  • Cultural valuing: respect and showcase the green traditions of people through myths, legends, and storytelling.