Kevin Thomason

- Kevin Thomason, 37, first learned about the David Suzuki Foundation’s Citizen Toolkits in the Foundation’s newsletter, Finding Solutions.

Kevin is a long time supporter of the Foundation and he knew the toolkits could be a valuable resource. He used the “Citizen’s Guide to Understanding Sprawl and Shaping Decisions” to help chart the future of his community, Waterloo, Ontario. Over the past three years, Kevin and hundreds of his neighbours have worked together with the City of Waterloo, several municipalities, the Region of Waterloo, and the Province of Ontario develop new growth plans for the future that balances the area’s rapid growth with the protection of critical natural areas. So far their efforts have seen more than 10,000 acres of spectacular green space in the Waterloo Region protected from urban development.

“It has been an amazing collaborative effort and shows what is possible when the public, local municipalities, the regional government, the provincial government, businesses, and all sorts of organizations work together toward a common goal,” says Kevin.

Kevin knows that the Urban Sprawl Toolkit, which got him started and helped make his efforts a success, wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for donors like him. “I support the David Suzuki Foundation for their outstanding work in so many areas. Certainly, the Citizen Toolkits provided us with the background, knowledge, and ways to get started to make a difference in the future of our own fast-growing area – be it protecting our spectacular and vital natural areas, working towards sustainable neighbourhoods, advocating new public transit, and the creation of walking/cycling paths. The David Suzuki Foundation has earned so much international respect for its successful initiatives. And our local successes here are reflective of the David Suzuki Foundation’s ongoing efforts to protect our global environment,” says Kevin.