Daniel Van Vliet’s landlord
laughed when he asked for permission to plant a garden in his
front yard.
He said nothing would grow there, but Van Vliet planted seeds
anyway.
This spring — like the past six — sunflowers, perennial
and echinacea flowers will bloom in his garden in front of his
golden triangle neighborhood home.
Despite uncertainty and adversity, Van Vliet, chair of the Sierra
Club of Canada’s Ottawa group, grew the garden he always
wanted.
“If I didn’t take that initiative to put something
there, nobody would have,” he says.This seems to parallel
Van Vliet’s commitment to community building and environmental
activism. For the past two years as chair, Van Vliet has espoused
several environmental projects in the Ottawa area. He helped
organize Ottawa’s car-free day, closing off sections of
the city in an attempt to promote other modes of transportation.
He is also involved in an ongoing battle to preserve the Leitrim
Wetlands in the south end which is being threatened by housing
development. Also, he worked with other groups opposed to the
creation of a boat bypass in West Carleton and won.
Van Vliet, 30, is a graduate of environmental studies at Carleton
University. It was while researching shrimp agriculture that
he became familiar with the Sierra Club. He went to the Club’s
national office to research the topic and developed a relationship
with the staff there. He then began attending local meetings
and learned about the city’s environmental issues.
Sipping from a mug of tea at a local coffee shop, he says he
chose to settle in Ottawa because it is environmentally friendly.
“There are a lot of natural features, a lot of public space
and lots of outdoor recreational activities — a whole host
of things that make it a green city,” he says about the
place he’s called home for 11 years.
To make sure the city stays green, he puts in countless volunteer
hours — organizing events, lobbying politicians, researching
and delegating. He says he is challenged with trying to balance
his time between his full-time job for the federal government
and his involvement with the Sierra Club, which he’s had
to limit to nights and weekends. The Sierra Club has around 300
members, but only about 20 are active. The executive committee,
of which Van Vliet is chair, consists of five people. Despite
this small number of volunteers, Van Vliet is adamant about the
impact volunteers have on the city.
“Your sphere of influence is a lot greater than you think,”
he says, explaining how even individual environmentally friendly
habits, such as turning off house lights, can have long-term,
global effects.
As for his green tendencies, Van Vliet only recently bought a
car — a small, four-cylinder vehicle, he adds — but
avoids using it.
Moreover, he believes that even if Ottawans don’t have time
to volunteer, they still have a duty to better their community.
“It’s everybody’s responsibility to put something
towards the community they live in, whether it’s time, or
painting their house and making it look nice.”
Equally crucial to maintaining a green city is putting pressure
on local politicians.
“At the end of the day, the city of Ottawa sits there and
[establishes] priorities and whatever people scream the loudest
about, assigning funds and resources to those priorities,”
he says. But, according to Van Vliet, Ottawans don’t scream
loud enough.
“They don’t demonstrate their values, yet their value
system is very high on environmental issues,” he says. “That’s
why they live in Ottawa.”
That’s where groups like the Sierra Club come into play
— to speak for the community.According to Carol Gudz, treasurer
of the Club’s local chapter, Van Vliet is committed to bringing
local environmental issues to the politicians at City Hall.
“He has the courage to be able to stand up to those who
pay lip-service to environmental issues. He’s willing to
do what it takes to get heard.”
Van Vliet says that without pressure on our politicians, Ottawa,
which is experiencing a growth period, is vulnerable to environmental
degradation.
“I think we’re at a place now that if we don’t
protect what needs to be protected (like the surrounding ecosystems,
the Ottawa River and other natural features) we won’t have
it 20 years from now because things will have been developed
and paved over,” he says.
The Sierra Club of Ottawa submitted a Christmas wish list in
December to individual city councillors, evaluating both their
personal environmental awareness, as well as their ward’s
performance.
“In the spring, we will have the chance to evaluate what
action has been taken on the points we’ve raised,”
Van Vliet said.
In the Ottawa 20/20 plan, policy visions include preserving greenspace
and strengthening ecosystem design and planning. The Sierra Club
plans to hold city hall to them.Development threatened several
communities in West Carleton before Van Vliet, the Sierra Club
and other interested activists helped out.
Residents of Fitzroy Harbour, Vydon Acres and Willola Beach called
on the Sierra Club to aid in their opposition to a boat bypass
they said would have
negative environmental consequences.Van Vliet joined the fight
in 2004. According to Michael Campbell, the president of the
Willola Beach Property Owners Association, he was instrumental
in fighting against the construction.
“That’s what won the war,” Campbell says. “Dan
was quite an asset.”
Campbell says Van Vliet led the lobbying effort. He and other
members of the Sierra Club started a letter-writing campaign
to councillors and raised funds for the site’s protection.
Van Vliet even hired someone to make balloon animals for the
kids at the fundraiser.
“At the drop of a hat, I’m sure Dan would be more than
happy to help us again if we ever had another issue down here,”
Campbell says.
Van Vliet was given an open invitation to Campbell’s home
in Willola Beach — the two have since developed a friendship.
While Van Vliet says successes like the one in West Carleton
prove the importance of advocacy, Gudz says the simple act of
raising awareness about an issue goes a long way as well.That’s
what car-free day, approaching its third year in September, is
all about.
Ottawa joined other global municipalities for the first time
in 2003 in an attempt to encourage other forms of transportation,
by closing off a chunk of the city to cars. The Sierra Club organized
this initiative. Van Vliet says it opened discussion on the state
of the city’s transit system.
“Our role is to make sure they develop responsibly and plan
their city responsibly as well as make transit work for existing
parts of the city.”
Despite the progress Gudz says Van Vliet’s role as chair
has brought, his term is up in the fall and he is not certain
he will vie for the position again.
No matter in what capacity, he will remain active in the group.
He humbly acknowledges that he’s made a contribution over
the past two years, but with the help of other volunteers.
“If you want to get something done, it’s just a matter
of sitting down with a few people and getting it done.”
It’s like growing a garden — it needs time and patience.
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