This blog I will be offering up my thoughts on Colwood and sustainability and if it can ever happen. I will answer with a resounding NO! Never before in all my travels have I seen so many large 4x4 pick up trucks, in an area that does not receive rain in the summer or snow in the winter. I don’t see many bicycle riders.
The so called evil box stores are always busy and the parking are always full, with large pick ups of course. I cannot see how a place like this can ever hope to become something close to sustainable. Lets not forget about the untreated waste that is dumped directly into the ocean.
Victoria and Colwood, like any other community in North America, are built around the car. I have only taken public transit 4 times since moving here 6 months ago from Toronto. Riding public transit to get anywhere aside from downtown is not practical. Buses on some routes only run once every 30 minutes, the signs at bus stops aren’t clear, a student pass is not much cheaper then a standard monthly pass, the list goes on and on.
I ride my bicycle to and from school and the grocery store, which happens to be one of those evil big box stores. I find it funny that we’re encouraged to boycott big box stores, and support local small business instead. But in the case of the Great Canadian Superstore, its Canadian owned, so isn’t that considered local? Also, some of products they sell are locally grown, so once again, that’s me supporting local business.
The idea of locally grown food is another farce. Thanks to the global food trade, we can have certain luxuries, such as oranges and strawberries in January. If we subscribe to the idea of locally grown food, that means meat, potatoes, turnips, and cabbage for every meal for 6 months. Greenhouses might offer some variety of fruit and vegetables, but at a high price.
I could go on and on with a rant, but instead I will try to be positive.
I don’t think that making people feel guilty about their consumption and habits is the way to achieve something resembling sustainability. Instead, some incentives should be used. Maybe some radical thinking, like using GPS logging to track people to see if driving decreases, or highlighting local food at big box stores, so people are not looked down upon for shopping there.
Even where I currently live could use improvements. The house was build in the 70’s from the looks of it, and could use some upgrades to increase energy efficiency. Double paned windows, thicker curtains, and some extra caulking could help minimize heat loss and decrease drafts. Aerators on faucets and composting would reduce water usage as well as garbage. Using backyard gardens can decrease food consumption and provide people with the knowledge of sustainable living and gardening.
I think many different small steps, on many different areas of sustainability is what is needed, instead of a limited focus.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Wiki and project planning
A wiki is a great way for a group of people to collaborate on a group project. It is a webpage that anyone can access and edit to display information on 1 or a variety of topics. Wikipedia is probably the most famous wiki that comes to mind. We were introduced to creating a wiki for the purpose of using it to host our project dealing with the mapping of the trails on Royal Roads University.
We got introduced to doing Wiki’s as our project that we are presenting to the town of Colwood will be placed on a Wiki site and presented. We were given two main devices to help us with our project. The first is a website called tools of change. The webpage is helpful in the initial stages of the project. It has many helpful ideas to develop objectives, partners, informing people, targeting the correct audience, and choosing tools of change.
The 2nd device given was the ADDIE model. Addie stands for
• Analysis
• Design
• Develop
• Implementation
• Evaluate
This approach made it easy to get the project underway. Its very straightforward. The first step of the ADDIE model is to determine what the underlying issue is. The second step is design a prototype model, apply strategies according to the intended outcome, and narrow down the subject matter. The development stage is to determine the process as to how the project will be completed. The implementation stage is when everything comes together and a working model is produced. The 5th and final stage is used to evaluate the working model, and correct any errors found.
My part of the ADDIE model is the evaluation portion. So I will be tasked with going over everyone’s work, and finding any suggestions and room for improvement. I feel that this is a good role for me, as I am usually fairly critical work people’s work, so I shouldn’t have any problems finding areas for suggestions.
We got introduced to doing Wiki’s as our project that we are presenting to the town of Colwood will be placed on a Wiki site and presented. We were given two main devices to help us with our project. The first is a website called tools of change. The webpage is helpful in the initial stages of the project. It has many helpful ideas to develop objectives, partners, informing people, targeting the correct audience, and choosing tools of change.
The 2nd device given was the ADDIE model. Addie stands for
• Analysis
• Design
• Develop
• Implementation
• Evaluate
This approach made it easy to get the project underway. Its very straightforward. The first step of the ADDIE model is to determine what the underlying issue is. The second step is design a prototype model, apply strategies according to the intended outcome, and narrow down the subject matter. The development stage is to determine the process as to how the project will be completed. The implementation stage is when everything comes together and a working model is produced. The 5th and final stage is used to evaluate the working model, and correct any errors found.
My part of the ADDIE model is the evaluation portion. So I will be tasked with going over everyone’s work, and finding any suggestions and room for improvement. I feel that this is a good role for me, as I am usually fairly critical work people’s work, so I shouldn’t have any problems finding areas for suggestions.
Community Based Social Marketing
Community Based Social Marketing (CBSM) is a concept that works on the idea that information is not enough to change behavior of people. Instead, it actually engages the community in a way of showing benefits and techniques that can be used to achieve goals for a great social good.
The advantage of social marketing is that it targets people in communities that are ready and willing for a change. CBSM isn’t just another advertising campaign, but rather a strategically planned out message to target a specific audience.
To facilitate change, there needs to be a goal in mind, and therefore some questions need to be asked to help develop successful plan
1. What is the social and environmental problems that need to be addressed
2. What actions can be taken to address these problems properly
3. Address who your audience is and how you are asking them to take action
4. What kind of exchange does the audience want for adopting the new behavior
5. How will you make the audience believe what you are offering is real and true
6. Who is your competition and what are they offering opposed to your concept
7. What is the best time and place to reach and intrigue your audience
8. How often and from who does the concept have to be presented
9. How can I integrate the audience to influence their behavior
10. Do I have the resources needed to create this concept alone; and if not, where can I find useful partners
After the 10 initial questions are tackled, the campaign experiences five steps that benefit the community marketing and allows the model to adapt to different situations. Any possible barriers and benefits can be examined on a case by case basis. Literature research, focus groups and surveys can be performed to gather information. Once the possible barriers have been identified, emphasis can be placed on correcting or avoiding them.
After this, a pilot program can be run and tested and evaluated. The initial testing is vital because the results can be compared to expected results and then adjustments can be made as necessary.
The fourth step is implementing the project after all the changes have been made. A project that has been evaluated will have a success rate when compared to a project that has not given appropriate attention to potential problems
The advantage of social marketing is that it targets people in communities that are ready and willing for a change. CBSM isn’t just another advertising campaign, but rather a strategically planned out message to target a specific audience.
To facilitate change, there needs to be a goal in mind, and therefore some questions need to be asked to help develop successful plan
1. What is the social and environmental problems that need to be addressed
2. What actions can be taken to address these problems properly
3. Address who your audience is and how you are asking them to take action
4. What kind of exchange does the audience want for adopting the new behavior
5. How will you make the audience believe what you are offering is real and true
6. Who is your competition and what are they offering opposed to your concept
7. What is the best time and place to reach and intrigue your audience
8. How often and from who does the concept have to be presented
9. How can I integrate the audience to influence their behavior
10. Do I have the resources needed to create this concept alone; and if not, where can I find useful partners
After the 10 initial questions are tackled, the campaign experiences five steps that benefit the community marketing and allows the model to adapt to different situations. Any possible barriers and benefits can be examined on a case by case basis. Literature research, focus groups and surveys can be performed to gather information. Once the possible barriers have been identified, emphasis can be placed on correcting or avoiding them.
After this, a pilot program can be run and tested and evaluated. The initial testing is vital because the results can be compared to expected results and then adjustments can be made as necessary.
The fourth step is implementing the project after all the changes have been made. A project that has been evaluated will have a success rate when compared to a project that has not given appropriate attention to potential problems
Open Space
Today as I walked into the classroom, I was greeted with an unexpected sight. The entire class was seated in a circle. I thought a big round of Kumbaya was about to begin; unfortunately (or fortunately), this did not occur. Instead, I was treated to the “open space” concept. Open space is designed to encourage creativity and allow people (students in this case) to come up with ideas and allow others to gravitate towards them.
Rick instructed us to write our ideas of how Colwood can become carbon neutral on large sheets of paper, and post them on the board. However feels strongly with any particular project can then join that project, or, if nothing of interest is available, anyone is free to make their own.
Rick described open space as whatever happened was the only thing that could have happened, and whoever joined in on the projects were the only ones who should have. He also described the law of 2 feet, and that people were able to use their 2 feet to decide where they wanted to be.
My 2 feet brought me to a group planning to map out Colwoods bicycle trails. We quickly decided that this was too daunting of a task. We decided to just map out the trails of Royal Roads University, which seems a much more reasonable concept.
I planned to procure a GPS from the school and test it out before actually mapping out the trail system.
Rick instructed us to write our ideas of how Colwood can become carbon neutral on large sheets of paper, and post them on the board. However feels strongly with any particular project can then join that project, or, if nothing of interest is available, anyone is free to make their own.
Rick described open space as whatever happened was the only thing that could have happened, and whoever joined in on the projects were the only ones who should have. He also described the law of 2 feet, and that people were able to use their 2 feet to decide where they wanted to be.
My 2 feet brought me to a group planning to map out Colwoods bicycle trails. We quickly decided that this was too daunting of a task. We decided to just map out the trails of Royal Roads University, which seems a much more reasonable concept.
I planned to procure a GPS from the school and test it out before actually mapping out the trail system.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Land Usage & Urban form / Food
Gene Miller was the first guest of the morning. He is from the Center for Urban Innovation. I thoroughly enjoyed his presentation, although Rick Kool didn’t seem to agree with it, and vocalized his displeasure , after Gene had left the room.
Gene Miller was more a “doom and gloom” type guy. I found his outlook to be very refreshing compared to the usual tripe of rainbows, butterflies, and sustainability, that we are normally fed with. Gene discussed late stage capitalism and how it has effected our ability to resilient to change.
I completely agree with Gene and his viewpoint. Our society has become too reliant on technology to supply our needs, be it transportation, food, or environmental, at the cost of our planet. Gene summed up his viewpoints and presentation with one interesting quote A quote that Gene said sums climate change very appropriately; “The metabolism of our economy is on a collision course with the metabolism of our planet”
I feel this is a very true quote. Gene is describing our increasing consumption habits, and need to drive the economy, being in conflict with the “synergy” of the planet. Oil is being removed from the planet much faster then it is being replenished, regardless if someone subscribes to the abiotic oil theory, or the conventional dead dinosaur theory.
We then heard from Cindy Moyer of Colwood Climate Action and Jennifer Girard of Capital Families who both discussed issues of bringing food security to the Colwood community and surrounding areas. Food security and community resistance go hand in hand. In order a community to be sustainable, food needs to be at the top of the list, since people eat 3-5 meals per day.
One way of increasing food security is to use available land for food, similar to the Green Belt in Ontario he B.C was a pioneer in this idea, using the ALR, Agricultural Land Reserve, which set aside 4.7 million hectares in 1976. This is a good way of preserving existing farm land, but doesn’t address what can be done at a local level.
Jennifer Girard of Capital Families, introduced the idea of the Gardening Neighbourhood Project. This will allow people who want to get involved with growing their on food, but are unfamiliar with how to implement it, to contact an experienced gardener to guide them and help them set up the garden. I feel this an excellent idea to start people thinking about local food and actually implementing small scale gardens which will help contribute to sustainability.
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