Women’s Post: Hugh Reilly

What do archaeology and saving the environment have in common? Nobody knows the answer to that question as well as Deborah Kaplan, Executive Director of Zerofootprint (.net).

Zerofootprint is a registered Canadian not-for-profit organization. Their goal is to “mobilize and empower large groups of individuals and organizations worldwide, to reduce their collective ecological footprint by harnessing the power of social networking, the Internet and software.”

Deborah studied anthropology at the University of Toronto, then went to Cambridge to obtain her Masters degree, where she focused on conservation and preservation in the Department of Archaeology.

After graduating, Deborah worked in the non-profit sector where she encountered Zerofootprint’s founder and CEO, Dr. Ron Dembo, and it soon became apparent that the two could work well together. But it was her archaeological focus on conservation and preservation that prepared her so perfectly to become Zerofootprint’s Executive Director over two years ago.

Her education wasn’t the only thing that prepared Deborah for her role as a practical environmentalist. “It was very natural for me,”says Kaplan. After all, she spent many years at summer camp canoeing in Killarney and Algonquin provincial parks. When you spend that much time in those kinds of places, a love of nature and a passion to protect the environment seems only…er…natural.

But with glaciers melting and Kyoto in tatters, one has to wonder if maybe it’s all too late. “Not so,” declares Deborah, who explains that Zerofootprint has developed practical tools that people can use today to make a real difference. First and foremost is Zerofootprint’s Environmental Footprint Calculator, a very practical online tool that people and organizations use to measure their carbon and environmental footprints. “That’s the first step,” explains Kaplan. “Before we can use any roadmap, we have to know where we are”.

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