Rolling green

>> Santropol Roulant gives itself an
eco-friendly makeover

THE FUTURE IS SUSTAINABLE: Elana Ludman

The grass—and attitude—is always greener at Santropol Roulant, especially since the community meals-on-wheels program embarked on a long-term “EcoChallenge” designed to make the organization, and the surrounding community, a whole lot more sustainable.

“From the start, there’s always been an environmental ethos to us, to the point that it’s in our mission statement, but we only started identifying it a few years back,” says Elana Ludman, Santropol Roulant’s director of development and communications. These days, the Roulant is looking to implement a strong and well-rounded model of sustainability—economic and social, as well as environmental—for the benefit of the organization and all those who come into contact with it.

Santropol Roulant stands at the corner of St-Urbain and Duluth, a busy, vibrant intersection at the foot of the mountain. Inside, volunteers prepare the day’s meals to be delivered mostly by bike to seniors who have lost some degree of autonomy. The intergenerational meals-on-wheels program serves up between 80 and 100 meals daily, five days a week.

“We really can provide that personal close relationship with our clients, and cater to their needs, which empowers people to feel that they have choice in the food that they’re getting,” Ludman says. Built from the ground up in 1995, the Roulant has been working to help people meet their basic needs in terms of food and quality of life.

Green goals start here

Santropol Roulant’s sustainability framework was developed by The Natural Step (TNS), an international organization that normally helps communities become more sustainable. The Roulant enlisted TNS’s help last summer to tailor a long-term vision of sustainability catering to their needs and realities, becoming the first non-profit organization the Canadian TNS branch has worked with. It was a good match—as a volunteer-based, participative program, the Roulant wanted to include staff and some of its 200 volunteers in the process of analyzing its consumption and waste. TNS encouraged Roulant members to dream large about their ideal future—which would include things like composting toilets—by envisioning the end result in order to be able to make the necessary changes in their daily habits.

“It’s fairly unique for an organization like us, that is primarily based on social services, to be thinking of sustainability in this way,” says Tim Murphy, the Roulant’s sustainability coordinator. He’s been working to generate the tools and support necessary to implement the organization’s short, medium and long-term goals.

Now, a year after setting the wheels in motion with the Natural Step process, the Roulant is in the final phase—implementation. Using more energy-efficient light bulbs, replacing paper towels with linen and opening up a dialogue with the community to explore ideas around sustainability are a handful of short-term goals the Roulant found easy to implement. Other, more long-term goals of installing solar panels on the building and creating a rooftop greenhouse may prove more challenging. Regardless, staff and volunteers are moving forward with the EcoChallenge on a five- to 10-year timeline.

“When we started out, we really wanted to set an example for other organizations because so many community groups aren’t necessarily analyzing their environmental impacts, and we wanted to show that even at an organizational level you can still reduce your impact on the environment and be more sustainable,” Ludman says.

A neighbourhood affair

Today’s Roulant has a small friperie, a bike repair shop and three giant vermicompost tanks collectively containing 45,000 worms. Local grocer Fruiterie Mile-End and surplus redistribution service Moisson Montréal donate a big chunk of the produce that goes into the Roulant’s meals. Last year’s rooftop garden harvest provided a third of the summer’s produce and on top of that, several local gardens are donating part or all of their crops to the Roulant. The ability to guarantee most of its food is local and organic is a big accomplishment. “We’re always looking at the food we serve as a basis for sustainability,” says Murphy.

Looking towards the future, Murphy dreams of creating a microcosm of sorts by working with neighbours and local businesses to develop a sustainable neighbourhood with “the Roulant being a catalyst, or leader, in that.” Residents of the Plateau, and the larger Montreal community, may want to consider taking a page from the Roulant’s book.

“I think we’ll always be assessing our environmental impact,“ says Ludman. “At the Roulant, a lot of projects and initiatives are very organic—they come from the ground up.”

Making sustainability personal

>> Some tips on how to cut
down waste and live well

by TRACEY LINDEMAN

Feel inspired, yet overwhelmed by the Roulant’s EcoChallenge, and don’t know where to start? You can make relatively simple changes that won’t drastically affect the way you live—in fact, they may improve your overall quality of life by reducing exposure to chemicals and getting some vitamins in ya.

Consume less

Are you afraid of what lurks in the back of the fridge? If you find yourself constantly tossing food in the trash, you should first look at your consumption patterns and see where you’re losing out. Other than that, individuals can easily cut costs and waste by monitoring usage—do your clothes really need that extra spin in the fluff cycle? Conserving energy can be pretty easy by using more efficient light bulbs, washing clothes in cold water and beefing up your home’s insulation. Put down that 2-for-1 special and turn off your lights!

Buy local

The price at the supermarket doesn’t honestly reflect the true cost of importing produce when you take into consideration how far your food travelled to land on your plate. The Jean-Talon and Atwater markets, and community-supported agriculture groups (CSAs), provide the option of buying local and often organic produce and meat. It may be slightly pricier, but usually tastes better. Besides, take comfort in knowing you’re helping a small-time Quebec farmer. For more info on local CSAs, visit www.equiterre.org.

Go green

Get acquainted with your local Éco-Quartier for information on recycling and composting. Vermicomposting is effective at getting rid of fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grinds and other materials that would otherwise wind up in the trash. Properly maintained compost shouldn’t stink, and you can feed your wormy friends all year ’round, and prepare a balcony garden with the rich soil they produce in the spring.

Grow your own

You want to garden but don’t have the space in your 1 1/2? Look into community gardens or the Rooftop Garden Project to satisfy your green thumb (rooftopgardens.ca). Ready-to-go starter kits are available at places like Santropol Roulant and NDG’s Co-op La Maison Verte (www.cooplamaisonverte.com).

Take the BMW

Ah, bike, metro, walk—the cornerstone of many a Montrealer’s daily routine. Crazed motorists aside, cycling is a popular mode of transportation for students and city dwellers. Don’t know how to grease your chain or replace your brakes? Let the mechanics at Concordia’s Right to Move or Santropol Roulant’s bike shop show you how.

Other tips

Volunteer at local organizations • Support co-operatives • Say no to plastic by carrying a cloth bag • Print on both sides of the page • Use safer and more environmentally-friendly hygiene and cleaning products (visit www.cooplamaisonverte.com for ideas) • Use a travel mug instead of paper coffee cups and a Nalgene-type water bottle instead of plastic bottles • Hang your clothes out to dry • Recycle non-rechargeable batteries at Éco-Quartier • For travellers, look into carbon offsetting • Carpool • Buy fair trade