About
Much like our name states, EvolutionGreen really has evolved its mandate over the past 13 years. We started out in 1999 as the World Happiness Organization, building awareness and lobbying to have Canada and other countries recognize the forward-looking Gross National Happiness rating. While GDP has been the score of success for the majority of the world, it does not “adequately reflect the happiness and well-being of a people in a country” which ignores “unsustainable patterns of production and consumption which can impede sustainable development”. This includes basic needs like food, shelter, access to education, natural resources and more. As recently as July 2011, the General Assembly called on the United Nations to reconsider how they measure the success of a country by incorporating both social and economic development. WH still has over 2,500 members around the world.
World Happiness Organization eventually evolved to become EvolutionGreen recognizing that to start a movement and transform the way we look at things, means looking at how things impact our everyday lives. Our focus was on making the environment personally relevant and improving the understanding of how better environmental behaviour has a direct benefit to our daily lives. In particular, focusing on our most important asset—our homes—and as such the real estate industry became a natural extension to help achieve our mission.
EvolutionGreen began mobilizing communities to increase their interest and passion for greener living. Training of realtors and knowledge sharing among communities became the mainstay of EvolutionGreen. We began a series of community events to broaden awareness and enthusiasm for various greening efforts. Events such as annual The Strawberries & Asparagus Festival and the Wychwood Tree Festival were grassroots efforts that galvanized the community. This led to other initiatives including Green Neighbours—a community of homeowners dedicated to greening their homes and communities—as well as WISE—the West Toronto Initiative for Solar Energy, which research and negotiated a bulk purchase and installation of solar panels on numerous homes in West Toronto. We also held the Be Part of the Solution panel at CAMH, including a double head screening of the End of Suburbia. We advocated civic leadership and constituent engagement with Power to Choose and Pledge to Green.
Most notably, EvolutionGreen played an instrumental role in the crafting of the Green Energy Act and the time-of-sale energy label. We have also supported other organizations such as LEAF, Toronto Solar Round Table and the Conservation Council of Ontario, as well as leading the Toronto Real Estate Board’s Green Task Force to establish the Green MLS. We became a central depot and resource for environmental information relying on volunteer experts to contribute content. As Al Gore and Leonard DiCaprio began to popularize green issues, the industry became saturated with so called green “experts”. The commoditization of green by larger, well-funded organizations reduced reliance on EvolutionGreen as the go-to source for trustworthy information, so we evolved again.
EvolutionGreen recognizes that business priorities and bottom lines always supersede the interest in supporting environmental issues. We have found a way to fuse these together to positively impact bottom lines while contributing to the long-term health and sustainability of our planet. We have easy solutions for integrating green into every aspect of a business with little disruption and quick adoption among senior management and employees alike. Like all good businesses, we’ve learned to evolve to incorporate green into the lives and business practices of everyone we meet.
Partner with us.
Our team includes some leading expertis in:
- • Corporate Social Responsibility
- • Strategic Partnerships
- • Consortium Development
- • Customized Training & Change Management
- • Marketing
- • Social Media, PR and GR
- • Constituent Engagement
- • Events
- • Sustainable Business Strategy
416.993.4870
info@evolutiongreen.com