Today, January 21, 3 people came to our class. The first two guests were Sarah Webb, from the Capital Region District (CRD) and Jordan Fisher from Jordan Fisher and associates. Sarah Webb (who is also my sponsor in our major projects) discussed community engagement, the CRD’s climate action program and the 4 goals of the program.
I believe community engagement is an important issue to tackle. It gives people a sense of community (duh) and can also increase social capital, a term I learned from last quarters sustainability program. Sense of community and community engagement, to me, means knowing you’re a member of a particular group, and making positive contributions toward the betterment of the community.
I play an active role on my community back home in Toronto. I try to clean up garbage whenever I see it. I email local business and industries inquiring about their pollution and other possible adverse affects as a result of their operation. I communicate, on occasion, with city councilors, with whatever issues are going on in my community.
Sarah also mentioned the climate action program (CAP). The CRD plans to be carbon neutral by 2012. I don’t think they are anywhere near reaching that goal in the 2 years left until that date. Perhaps the CRD is hoping on some sort of Armageddon scenario in 2012 and the 4 horseman will break the seven seals of climate change to destroy all the carbon in the region. An unlikely scenario, but there is a better chance of pale horse riding out of the sky then a government in Canada actually meeting a goal it set out.
The third guest of the day was Maeve Lydon. She works at UVIC in the office of community based research and is also involved with community based green mapping. I find the whole concept of a community green map really exciting. It reminds me of Sesame Street song “Who are the people in your neighbourhood”. The community map is an excellent idea to connect with their community to obtain a sense of place and purpose. Not only that, but it also highlights the environmentally positive aspects of a community, for the eco minded citizen.
I hope that sometime during my tenure at RRU, we’ll be able to get the chance to work on a community green map.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Slow cities
Victoria Region Transition Initiative
Today (January 14) in class, we had Michelle Colussi to transition communities. Michelle demonstrated the concept of transition communities / towns, which to me are a larger form of community engagement.
Transition towns help to bring communities together, to reduce dependence on outside sources, so that the towns/communities can become self-sufficient.
I came across this YouTube video of the man who popularized (I believe) transition town movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGHrWPtCvg0
The town that is featured in the video is Totness, in South West England. The town is a center for new age thinkers, arts, music and alternative health, not unlike our vary own Victoria.
In the video, Rob Hopkins discusses transition towns and reducing our dependency on oil. While I think it’s a good idea to start to become less dependant on oil, we (society) certainly can’t remove the necessity of oil.
I do like the concept presented in the video of the local currency to be used in local shops. I feel that will strengthen a community, which comes back to the notion of community engagement.
Unfortunately, the video did not show much else; the viewers are encouraged to purchase the “transition handbook” which I cannot afford.
The other guest we had in class today was Mara Jernigan from Fairburn Farms. http://www.fairburnfarm.bc.ca/. She presented a previously unknown concept to me, one of slow food or cittaslow. I think on paper this is a good idea, to have locally grown food, and towns built upon a small community idea, where everything is local and sustainable, however, in reality, I don’t think this idea can work.
Mara came from Cowichan Bay, which is Canada’s first slow city. According to a 2006 census, the population of Cowichan Bay is 1,361, which lends itself to the fact that it is host to Canada’s first slow city.
In my not so humble opinion, a city with a larger population, 5000 or more, cannot be a slow city. People are too spread out, there are too many different cultures (depending on location) and different ages. Cowachin Bay seems to be a uniform conglomeration of middle aged northern Europeans, who no doubt share the same ideas, to resist change and live in a little utopia.
For a large city, even one the size of Victoria, the citta slow movement wouldn’t work. There is no way a community that large, with a population of appx 300,000 for the CRD, and 80,000 for Victoria proper, can sustain itself.
That is why I believe citta slow is good on paper, but a flunk in reality.
Today (January 14) in class, we had Michelle Colussi to transition communities. Michelle demonstrated the concept of transition communities / towns, which to me are a larger form of community engagement.
Transition towns help to bring communities together, to reduce dependence on outside sources, so that the towns/communities can become self-sufficient.
I came across this YouTube video of the man who popularized (I believe) transition town movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGHrWPtCvg0
The town that is featured in the video is Totness, in South West England. The town is a center for new age thinkers, arts, music and alternative health, not unlike our vary own Victoria.
In the video, Rob Hopkins discusses transition towns and reducing our dependency on oil. While I think it’s a good idea to start to become less dependant on oil, we (society) certainly can’t remove the necessity of oil.
I do like the concept presented in the video of the local currency to be used in local shops. I feel that will strengthen a community, which comes back to the notion of community engagement.
Unfortunately, the video did not show much else; the viewers are encouraged to purchase the “transition handbook” which I cannot afford.
The other guest we had in class today was Mara Jernigan from Fairburn Farms. http://www.fairburnfarm.bc.ca/. She presented a previously unknown concept to me, one of slow food or cittaslow. I think on paper this is a good idea, to have locally grown food, and towns built upon a small community idea, where everything is local and sustainable, however, in reality, I don’t think this idea can work.
Mara came from Cowichan Bay, which is Canada’s first slow city. According to a 2006 census, the population of Cowichan Bay is 1,361, which lends itself to the fact that it is host to Canada’s first slow city.
In my not so humble opinion, a city with a larger population, 5000 or more, cannot be a slow city. People are too spread out, there are too many different cultures (depending on location) and different ages. Cowachin Bay seems to be a uniform conglomeration of middle aged northern Europeans, who no doubt share the same ideas, to resist change and live in a little utopia.
For a large city, even one the size of Victoria, the citta slow movement wouldn’t work. There is no way a community that large, with a population of appx 300,000 for the CRD, and 80,000 for Victoria proper, can sustain itself.
That is why I believe citta slow is good on paper, but a flunk in reality.
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