Trevor Hancock, Author at Creatively United Community

Article, Food & Health, Nature & Conservation

I find myself increasingly drawn to the United Nations’ framing of our current situation as being at war with nature, as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it in a landmark speech at Columbia University in December 2020. For an organization that is, after all, intended to be the world’s peacekeeper, the response was obvious: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century,” Guterres said.

The Global Ecological Crisis is also a Global Health Crisis

Something extraordinary happened in mid-September: 231 medical journals around the world all published the same editorial, titled “Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health.” Led by a group of chief editors from world-leading journals…

No Matter Who Wins, We Could All Lose

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Nature & Conservation

It has been a pretty dispiriting election all round. It was called in the midst of a pandemic for no better reason than that the Liberals want to hang on to power. The campaign has been lacklustre, the debates uninspiring and badly organised and, at the end of it all, it seems to me we may well be right back where we started: a minority government.

The Right to a Healthy Environment is a Vital Election Issue

Last week, I noted that none of the main parties — those likely to form the next government — have yet recognized and accepted the scale of the global ecological crises we face, to which Canada contributes disproportionately. Nor have they recognized the implications for Canadians and the rest of humanity, including the threat these crises pose to our human rights.

The Planet-Sized Elephant in the Election Room

In a December 2020 speech at Columbia University, the UN secretary general said: “The state of the planet is broken. Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal,” adding: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century. It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.”

Neither left nor right, but ahead — why the Greens are different

As anyone who has ever Googled my name could tell you, I was the first leader of the Green Party of Canada in the mid-1980s. That was in part because I had deep roots in green or ecological political thinking, dating back a decade before that.

How Much Is Enough?

This recent article in Yes! Magazine is very timely, as is the invitation to the event on Sept 9th. Stan Cox’s proposal for achieving fair shares for all through rationing managed by local governance is, to say the least, provocative in our current society... Read more

If We Lose the Carbon Sinks, We Are Sunk

Article, Energy, Housing, & Buildings, Zero Waste & Circular Economy

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Firefighters battle the Dixie Fire in Plumas County, California, this month after a burning tree fell across a road. Forest fires and other forms of deforestation worsen climate change because they impair the planet’s... Read more

Denying net zero is ‘simply not on’

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: A flare stack lights the sky from a refinery in Edmonton. The pathway to net zero is tough, but doable, argues Trevor Hancock, and brings many social, economic, ecological and health co-benefits, as reports from the... Read more

Building Child-Friendly Communities Means Protecting Future Generations

To become a Child Friendly City, cities should implement a nine-point framework that includes having “strategies for children, regular reports on the state of the city’s children, independent advocates for children, opportunities to listen to children’s views” and other governance measures.

We Need To Build ‘Gentle Infills’ for Affordable, Healthy Neighbourhoods

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Garden suites like this one under construction in Victoria in 2014 are considered “gentle infill,” along with row houses, townhouses, duplexes and secondary suites in homes, writes Trevor Hancock. ADRIAN LAM, TIMES... Read more

The Difference Between Social, Supportive and Affordable Housing

From time to time, fierce debates erupt over proposals to introduce more dense housing into residential neighbourhoods. I suspect that part of the problem is a failure to distinguish between housing that is affordable, social housing and supportive housing, as well as a related concern about loss of property values.

Sorry About the Earth, but We Need to Make Money

Why on Earth are we spending scarce public resources to prop up the fossil-fuel industries that are the underlying cause of the climate emergency and that we need to wind down? I could understand if the funds were being used to transition those industries and their employees into clean and renewable energy production. But too often, they are used to support business as usual.

Oh, Kanata. Time for a New Flag and a New Name?

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Energy, Housing, & Buildings, Nature & Conservation

Last week, the Times Colonist announced that for Canada Day, it would be running a full-page pull-out of the Canadian Indigenous Flag. Designed by the late Curtis Wilson (Mulidzas) of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation near Campbell River, it is a revised maple leaf flag with swimming salmon in the side bars and an orca in the maple leaf.

Stop Subsidies to ‘Corporate Welfare Bums’ That Harm Our Health

The list of unworthy corporate recipients of government (read tax-paying citizens) support is long, but surely right at the top must be the fossil-fuel industry, followed by industries such as mining, forestry, agriculture and fisheries (of which more next week).

Who Has the Right to Cut Old Growth?

Article, Fairy Creek, Nature & Conservation

The new ‘War in the Woods’ to protect old-growth forest in Fairy Creek and far beyond raises an important issue that has been neglected. By what right are those trees being cut? Who gets to decide?

What Happened in Kamloops Was Part of a National Crime

Some may find this column disturbing, as it is about the deaths of Indigenous people a century or more ago. Moreover, in quoting from a 1922 report, some of the words used then (e.g. Indians) are not acceptable today. But it is important to quote verbatim. I am grateful to Andrew Nikiforuk, whose June 2 article in The Tyee reminded me of this story.

On Climate, It’s Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Gain, Backed by Courts

One of the biggest challenges in addressing climate change is that it’s a very slow-moving crisis. We need to take action now in order to avert problems many years, even decades, into the future, but our system is biased against such action.

B.C. Flunks International Biodiversity Targets

Sadly, Ecojustice and the Wilderness Committee gave B.C. a failing grade in four of the five areas they considered: protection and recovery of both species at risk and ecosystems, the protection of natural habitats of all species and ecosystems and other laws to protect biodiversity.

B.C. is now a Biodiversity-Loss Hotspot

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Energy, Housing, & Buildings, Nature & Conservation

There was a time when B.C. was a global leader in fish, wildlife and habitat conservation, said Jesse Zeman of the B.C. Wildlife Federation in a May 10 news release. But now it is “a landscape which can be characterized as at risk, endangered and extirpated,” he said.

We Need a Vaccine Against Olympic and Fossil Fuel Insanity

Article, Food & Health

Two broad themes this week, both from recent headlines. The first is the insanity of the plans for the Olympic Games, and especially the unethical prioritization for COVID-19 immunization of elite Olympic athletes over vulnerable people and essential workers in low-income countries. The second is a couple of astonishing ideas from the fossil-fuel industry and its political supporters in the U.S.

Active Transportation is Good for Mental Health

Article, Food & Health, Transportation

The physical health benefits of active transportation (walking, biking, public transit) are well known. Compared to cars, there are fewer emissions of carbon dioxide and various air pollutants per passenger mile, fewer accidents and more physical activity — I often joke that includes running for the bus.

Creating Well-Being, from the Personal to the Planetary

In 1948, the World Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.” I find it a good and simple definition. One of its strengths is that it fully recognises both mental and social well-being, with the latter inevitably bringing in our relationships with others — our families, communities and society as a whole.

Throne Speech and Budget Fail Future Generations

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Fairy Creek

The B.C. budget, delivered two days before Earth Day, confirmed what the throne speech had already shown: the environment is very much an after-thought for the NDP government, tacked on at the end and lacking any real substance. Thus they fail to address the most important long-term issue we face: our excessive and unsustainable demands on the planet.

Memo to John Horgan: Don’t Blow it for the Next Generation

I was struck by the immense irony of John Horgan’s recent exhortation to young people not to blow it for the rest of us with respect to COVID. The irony, of course, is that he and his government are blowing it for the younger generation by continuing to treat the environment as a resource for industrial activity and failing to protect species at risk.

Circling the new local economy with the six R’s

Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Video

Becoming a One Planet region is a mammoth challenge, but one we have to meet unless we prefer to leave it to Mother Nature to do it for us (and to us). But that is not going to be pretty! The key to becoming a One Planet Region is in principle very simple; use and consume a lot less stuff and energy — especially fossil fuels — and produce much less waste.

Circles and Doughnuts – Towards a One Planet Economy for Our Region

The economy – linked to equity – is one of the 10 principles of Bioregional’s One Planet Living framework. But what sort of local economy do we need that respects both ecologically sustainable and socially just development. A number of different models are being... Read more

Creating Communities Fit for the 21st Century

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Energy, Housing, & Buildings

Last week, I noted three ways proposed by Prof. Graham Smith to reform our democracy to safeguard the future, and dealt with two of them: re-shaping legislatures and constitutions and bringing an independent voice to decision-making.

Practising Democracy as if the Future Mattered

Too often, politics is focused on the short term. We see it everywhere: Support for clear-cutting the last stands of old-growth forest, fishing to the last fish, maintaining and even expanding the fossil-fuel industry — the list goes on. Only when it is almost too late do we act — and not always even then.

Doughnut Economy Means Not Spending $100M on Interchange

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Housing should be moderately intensified, writes Trevor Hancock, not through high-rises but by sensitive in-filling to create moderate-priced housing in walkable neighbourhoods, as with a gentle densification housing project... Read more

Our economic system needs to recognize the price – and value – of nature

A cynic, Oscar Wilde wrote, is someone who “knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” On that basis, our dominant economic system — corporate capitalism — is beyond cynical. It takes Wilde’s aphorism one giant step further because it doesn’t even know or take into account the price of everything, never mind recognize and account for that which is priceless.

Achieving Human Potential is True Prosperity

Article, Zero Waste & Circular Economy

Last week, I suggested that true prosperity is doughnut-shaped, but I did not define what I mean by true prosperity, nor what Doughnut Economics means for this region. I will explore the first of these topics this week and the second next week. One understanding of... Read more

True Prosperity is Doughnut-Shaped

It will come as no surprise to fans of the British satirical fantasy writer Tom Holt that economics has something to do with doughnuts. In his YouSpace series, a doughnut is the wormhole to an alternate reality, a parallel universe inhabited by elves, goblins, gnomes, dwarves and other fairytale characters who are ripe for exploitation.

The 2021 Conversations Program

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Nature & Conservation

Our Conversations in 2021 will be focusing more on imagining and starting to design and create a One Planet Region, exploring what local and personal and actions are needed and the policy changes needed to support those actions.

We Need to Learn From Indigenous People How to be Stewards of Nature

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Nature & Conservation

The 2019 Human Development Report from the UN focused on inequalities in the Human Development Index, but did not look at an inequality that is particularly important in Canada: the HDI of Indigenous people. Happily, Indigenous Services Canada has done this, at the request of the Assembly of First Nations, although only for “Registered Indians,” which misses Inuit and Métis people.

Canada’s Heavy Ecological Footprint Hurts Its Human-Development Ranking

Article, Nature & Conservation, Zero Waste & Circular Economy

Last week, I quoted from a Dec. 2 speech by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the state of the planet. It made for grim reading, but it is the reality we need to face. Mr. Guterres did not end on a pessimistic note, however. Instead, he pointed to many indications of opportunity and hope.

To heal the planet, we need to embrace solutions that are already here

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Zero Waste & Circular Economy

On Dec. 2, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres gave an important if somewhat overlooked speech at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum on the state of the planet. Guterres was blunt: “To put it simply, the state of the planet is broken,” he said. “Humanity is waging war on nature” – and that is “suicidal.”

New Year’s resolutions, and how we choose the right recovery

Article, Food & Health

First, and very obviously, a wish that might actually come true in 2021: That COVID-19 be over. If the vaccines are as good as promised, and if we can vaccinate around 60 to 70 per cent of the population there is a good chance we can return to something like normal.

The Cult of Individualism is Toxic

I suggested last week that our society is remarkably immature in its approach to life. Central to this is an exaggerated form of individualism that has achieved a cult-like status. With that comes an acquisitive, greedy and selfish culture that really doesn’t care about other people or about nature.

Education for life: Creating a more mature society in the 21st century

In exploring the German concept of bildung and the Nordic experience of folk-bildung I am indebted to a lengthy 2018 overview by Jonathan Reams of the 2017 book The Nordic Secret by Lene Andersen and Tomas Björkman.

Cultural evolution and value shift – Towards a sustainable, just and healthy future

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Food & Health

We may be talking about and even acting on climate change — even though our actions usually fall short of our words — but we are not yet talking seriously about the far greater challenge of living as if we have four or five planets, when in reality, we only have one, never mind the implications of that realization.

B.C. Should Follow the Lead of Scotland and Bring In a Well-Being Budget

Anyone watching Knowledge Network these days will be aware it’s all about Scotland, from clan wars to wildlife to railways. Good things come from Scotland, from Scottish ales and whisky to haggis and Robbie Burns — well, OK, not everything is wonderful, although haggis is way better than it sounds.

Zero Waste Means Not Expanding Hartland Landfill

Article, Nature & Conservation, Zero Waste & Circular Economy

A lot of what we acquire — all that “stuff’’ — ends up as solid waste, while inefficient energy use leads to high levels of energy waste. Not only does this contribute to excessive use of resources — with all the pollution and energy use associated with their extraction, processing and distribution — but it fills our landfills and pollutes our local environment or, if we export it, other people’s environment.

We Are an Ocean Province, Let’s Act Like One

What do people think of when they think of British Columbia? Chances are they think of the mountains, the forests, the coast with its salmon and orca, and Indigenous people and cultures. Indeed we are an ocean province, with a 25,000-kilometre-long coastline.

Building Healthy Communities — The Social Dimension

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: A residential neighbourhood in Victoria. ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST Last week, I suggested our region would be well served by a centre focused on how to create healthy, just and sustainable “One Planet” communities and that it... Read more

Our Fisheries are as Badly Managed as our Forests

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: A fishing boat passes a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter near Fisherman’s Wharf by Darren Stone Here is an astounding statistic: Of the roughly 196,000 tonnes of wild seafood harvested by B.C. fishers in 2018, worth about $476... Read more

Our Forests Are More Than Mere Resources

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo of Francis King Regional Park, Darren Stone – Times Colonist Last week, I explored how poorly governments of all stripes have been, at all levels, in protecting nature — and thus in protecting us. British Columbia is renowned... Read more

Counting Down the Climate Clock

Bear with me, there are plenty of numbers here, but they are vitally important and in essence quite simple, with profound implications for our climate and energy policies, and I have not seen the implications for Canada presented as I do here.

Social, Not Ecological Factors Control Our Population