Our Vision:
Healthy community and environment
through organic land care

To support a successful transition toward sustainable land care practices by individuals, communities, industry and government.  

The Society for Organic Urban Land Care (SOUL) is a non-profit Canadian organization. It was formed in response to the growing need for ecologically responsible land care practices. The Organic Land Care Standard was first introduced by SOUL in 2003 to address the need for a tool. 

Our Mission
To cultivate knowledge of organic land care
and support its practice.

Our Goals

• To foster and promote the practice of organic land care

• To provide opportunities for education in all aspects of organic land care.

• To establish and promote guidelines, standards and specifications for all aspects of organic land care.

• To establish procedures for certification of organic land care practitioners

• To establish and develop a means for the exchange of information and ideas between the public and the organic land care industry.

In October of 2024 SOUL hosted a special general meeting for members to discuss the future of SOUL

The meeting outcome was a general consensus on short and longer-term goals.

Short Term: 

Update the SOUL’s Standards by adding context about the relevance of ecological land care to address climate change, species extinction and biodiversity loss, and ensure the Standards are presented in a way that is accessible to a wide audience of professionals, practitioners and educators. A SOUL committee is now working on the first draft of this update. 

Long-Term: 

Apply for large grants to develop a process to engage diverse stakeholders in the discussion of land care philosophy and practice, and develop resources and practical guidance to support the transition from a relationship of hierarchy to a relationship of care within the complete ecosystem.  The first step in this process is gathering together for conversations, sharing ideas and co-creating the next steps. We’ll be working to practice a consensus approach both in designing a process and in the creation of whatever resources we eventually agree would be appropriate.

For some background, you can find the proposal that was brought to the special general meeting here.