Nancy Urekar - Her new life blends with old passions

Founder and chair of the Climate Change Action Dufferin – Caledon (CCA-DC), Nancy Urekar's life changed abruptly two years ago: she gave up the place where she was living and sold her business, Chic -a- Boom, which is still open. Then, she went into real estate.

“I got a new hip,” she added to the list. “Mine wasn't working any more. This is wonderful: I am new.”

Of the business and home changes, “Actually, they were unrelated but close together in time,” she remarked, saying, “I have a house in Orangeville but I decided to move into the ‘Whole Village.' The intention in this is a residential and farm community living. There are 11 private suites and we share a large kitchen, living room, dining room, rec room and library. The point is to make a small foot print by where I live.”

She elaborated, “I do have a suite of my own, with two bedrooms, living room, bathroom and a kitchenette. We run everything by consensus. We're trying to do something for the earth and make a small foot print. All of this is because I'm passionate about the earth's future. I like living in community.

“Living with so many people is great but it can be a challenge,” she did say.

She talked about her new life in the real estate business, “Someone I know, who has been in the business a long time, heard that I was interested and getting good at it and offered to mentor me. That was very helpful – there's so much you have to learn through experience.”

She commented, “Last year, I did very well, for my second year of residential sales. People know me and trust me. I've been living here since 1987 and have been pretty active. I ran for the Green Party in the last election.

“I am concerned with the ethics of real estate. People want to have a house and I help them make their biggest purchase of their lives but I will fight for them.”

There are serious politics about municipal planning and she was clear about that too, remarking, “We need to change the laws on real estate. People need to vote for politicians that will work for development that makes sense.

For example, “Houses need to be built on a grid, going north/south so they can put solar panels on them. You can't build houses in a crescent, for instance, because solar panels would not be turned in a similar south facing direction.” 

What really made the difference to her life, “I managed Harmony Whole Foods for a little while, a long time ago. Jennifer [Grant, who founded and owned Harmony for more than 30 years] and I went to high school together. Working there changed my life hugely. It taught me how we are and how we need to be. One of my daughters is now a Naturopathic doctor, living in Guelph. It really changed our lives. She sees people's whole lives change for the better.”

Ms Urekar made a recent visit to India. She and a friend of hers know a lady who also lives part of the year at Whole Village and the rest in her native India. They accepted her invitation to visit for five days and were glad they did.

Naturally, with her intense interest and concern about the planet, there was plenty to learn and see in India.

She told the Citizen: “When we landed and went into the airport, the interior of the airport was foggy from the pollution coming from outside. All the towns have pretty bad pollution. Many, many people wear face masks in Delhi.”

As to what they are trying to do by way solutions: “In one province,” Ms Urekar said, 1.6 million people planted 16 million trees in one day.” 

No half measures with a population 1,350,000,000 plus.

“One of the interesting things – they have banned plastic bags as a country. The street vendors didn't know what to do about it, so they just started wrapping their produce in sheets of newspapers. Pretty soon, people started bringing their own bags.”

(Then, we remembered our own grandmothers and merchants doing the same before the advent of plastic bags – not that long ago.)

She said, “They're also working hard to re-habilitate their soil.” 

Large tracts of farm land in India became barren by the use, over too many years, of the toxins in chemical fertilizers. 

Back here at home, Ms Urekar reviewed her personal history with her desire to “do something.”

She said, “I felt like I can't sit back and say I saw it coming and I did nothing. I talk about the problems and solutions. I try to change people a little bit at a time. I have 720 followers on Facebook. 

“I'm angry – and I am not normally an angry person – that we support the fossil fuel industry. We need jobs, yes, but there were be lots of jobs in any type of industry that produces energy and much of it is clean now.”

She talked about founding the CCA-DC, “in 2016. we said then , we can't just sit back and do nothing.”

As chair, Ms Urekar has worked in concert with the members of the CCA-DC, who are growing in number. Some of them participate in a weekly demonstration in front of the office of David Tilson on Broadway in Orangeville. This exercise is actually initiated and promoted by the people who live in the Whole Village. The numbers of attendees are growing for that too.

CCA-DC presented a petition to Sylvia Jones, speaking against her government's plans to allow extended development in the Green Belt.

“The best thing CCA-DC has done is we hosted that eco-debate before the municipal election. It really bought the conversation into the fore, for both the politicians and the public. I felt it had an impact.”

She said, “We have asked Council to band plastic bags in Orangeville. We're going back to see how they're working on that.”

The group is very active in connecting with other like minded organizations across especially Souther Ontario.

From the group comes this: “Our Mission Statement: Educate, Motivate, Advocate to Mitigate Climate Change. Our Mandate: As concerned citizens we accept responsibility for the living conditions of future generations and therefore assume the authority to take action to mitigate climate change.”

“We're about 20 people now,” Ms Urekar stated. “And we would love more people to join us. 

For more information and to contact them, go to info@climatechangeactioncd.org