By Mark Filipowich (for London Community News)

Green living and environmental responsibility is becoming increasingly important as more research on human’s impact on the earth is being published. Recently, green initiatives have educated people on how they can live a more ecologically friendly lifestyle. EcoLiving London, is one such organization that seeks to improve and educate Londoners on issues of green living.

Some of EcoLiving London's business representatives and community volunteers enjoy a drink at their monthly Greendrinks meeting

Tiffany Roschkow founded the organization in 2009 and has watched it grow rapidly in the last two years.

“EcoLiving London is a non-profit organization that runs as a social enterprise,” Roschkow explains. “Our goal within the community is to be the communications hub for everything environmental.”

To Roschkow, the best means of achieving that goal is to establish a network where people can meet and learn from one convenient place.

“Any London resident that’s interested in making changes to their lifestyle [in regards to environmental] sustainability will find everything they need on our website,” she says.

There are also a number of other ways that EcoLiving London aims to connect with the community.

“Everything that’s happening within this city that would be related to the environment or sustainable lifestyle is listed in our calendar. And we’ve got a blog page, and these blog articles are written by Londoners for Londoners,” says Roschkow.

She explains it is this London-centered focus that distinguishes EcoLiving London from other information sources.

“A lot of times when people are interested in making changes they’ll go to Chapters or a bookstore or the library and pick up a book on eco-lifestyle. But a lot of times the author doesn’t live in London so [readers] end up getting information that doesn’t apply to their local community.”

In addition to providing residents with ecological information, the organization also provides networking opportunities for local businesses.

Roschkow seems especially proud of how her program has been able to bring local, eco-friendly businesses on board.

“We’ve created a directory of all the products and services in the city and where people can go to get them.”

A big part of EcoLiving London is connecting residents with green-conscious businesses.

“Our focus is on supporting the local economy [and promoting] products and services that are available locally to help people live a more eco-friendly lifestyle,” says Roschkow.

EcoLiving London’s local focus is even more evident upon viewing the website’s calendar; the group usually has a visible presence at many of events occurring in the city.

“We get invited quite often to participate in all of the different festivals. We don’t necessarily run all of the events [we attend], these are events run by different groups but we just add them to the calendar and represent the community as a whole,” Roschkow says.

EcoLiving London has seen impressive growth in the past year. The initiative and effectiveness of Roschkow and her team has truly turned the small group into an important community presence. Both residents and businesses have a lot to learn from the organization and organization.