Act Locally

Remember those starlings, who taught us that the seven people closest to us might be our partners in steering our whole "flock" out of danger.

Shelagh Lindsey is a long-time steerer of flocks. Her career path led her to UBC's School of Architecture in the late 1970s, and she went on to graduate a string of dedicated new urbanists.

Now retired and an octogenarian, Shelagh is still a change agent. She is steering her neighbours and management at her Cavell Gardens retirement complex towards Zero Waste practices.

A 2006 study in Metro Vancouver estimated that the recycling rate for multi-family residences is 20% -- compared with 52% for the region as a whole. It is pressure from within, from change-agents like Shelagh, that will drive this rate up.

pic: msnbc Richard T. Nowitz / Corbis