OUR WORK
Guelph-Wellington Region
Our Food Future: Reimagine Food Campaign and Motivations
Working with the Guelph-Wellington community and city staff to engage residents in lighter living behaviours.
PROJECT LEAD
- Our Food Future
PARTNER
- OneEarth Living
- Majid Khoury
- Share Reuse Repair Initiative
FUNDER
- City of Guelph
How do we build on diverse motivations for lighter living and advance a circular food system?
Our Food Future aims to reimagine how we produce, distribute, sell and consume food, by creating Canada’s first circular food economy. It seeks to increase access to affordable and nutritious food, reduce wasted food, and seed new circular businesses and collaborations in Guelph-Wellington, while serving as a model for effective public engagement strategies in other cities. OneEarth Living, along with the Share Reuse Repair Initiative, are contributing to the emergence of this growing social movement around sustainable food systems in the region.
With the Reimagine Food Campaign, OneEarth Living works with city staff and the Guelph-Wellington community to engage residents around lighter living in their neighbourhoods, workplaces and other group settings. The campaign taps into the potential of collective engagement with specific activities being developed together – for example, encouraging residents to take part in Lighter Living 28-Day Action Groups, where participants adopt five acts a week to reduce their carbon and ecological footprints and grow community and impact. A futures lens will support strategic conversations in the region.
OneEarth Living is working with Majid Khoury to identify the motivations driving people in Guelph-Wellington to engage in lighter living actions, such as reducing wasted food and using circular goods and services. Understanding a full range of motivations enables more effective and targeted engagement and communications for activating a wider population than just those motivated by environmental concerns. This builds from the work OneEarth Living and SRRI did in British Columbia to adapt 7 Finnish Motivations to the Canadian context (learn more). Through the Motivations study, governments, businesses, and community organizations can clarify their audiences, refine messaging and outreach channels, and identify how to better support the uptake of climate and planet-friendly initiatives.

How do we build on diverse motivations for lighter living and advance a circular food system?
Our Food Future aims to reimagine how we produce, distribute, sell and consume food, by creating Canada’s first circular food economy. It seeks to increase access to affordable and nutritious food, reduce wasted food, and seed new circular businesses and collaborations in Guelph-Wellington, while serving as a model for effective public engagement strategies in other cities. OneEarth Living, along with the Share Reuse Repair Initiative, are contributing to the emergence of this growing social movement around sustainable food systems in the region.
With the Reimagine Food Campaign, OneEarth Living works with city staff and the Guelph-Wellington community to engage residents around lighter living in their neighbourhoods, workplaces and other group settings. The campaign taps into the potential of collective engagement with specific activities being developed together – for example, encouraging residents to take part in Lighter Living 28-Day Action Groups, where participants adopt five acts a week to reduce their carbon and ecological footprints and grow community and impact. A futures lens will support strategic conversations in the region.
OneEarth Living is working with Majid Khoury to identify the motivations driving people in Guelph-Wellington to engage in lighter living actions, such as reducing wasted food and using circular goods and services. Understanding a full range of motivations enables more effective and targeted engagement and communications for activating a wider population than just those motivated by environmental concerns. This builds from the work OneEarth Living and SRRI did in British Columbia to adapt 7 Finnish Motivations to the Canadian context (learn more). Through the Motivations study, governments, businesses, and community organizations can clarify their audiences, refine messaging and outreach channels, and identify how to better support the uptake of climate and planet-friendly initiatives.
Project Team

Dagmar Timmer

Majid Khoury

Lindsey Boyle

Vanessa Timmer

Edna Catumbela

Lauren Thu

Cora Hallsworth