Study of Ontario Volunteer Environment Stewardship Groups

Abstract

"Initial findings from a study of 200 Ontario 'volunteer environmental stewardship' (YES) groups are presented. Six major types of activities of these groups are presented and discussed in the context of the need to move toward more sustainable treatment of the environment. Specifically, I deal with the possibility that tenets central to common property resource management such as shared concern for the well-being of the resource, use of the resource within environmentally-sustainable limits, and accountability regarding such use are increasingly being adopted by people with regard to their own local environments. The possibility that a proliferation of YES groups could signal a significant change in North Americans; unswerving devotion to a 'dominant paradigm' grounded in private property ownership is also noted."