Humans Are Deeply Connected With Each Other, and Other Life Forms
Following my reflections last week on Jeremy Lent’s ideas about connections, I found myself musing about beginnings and endings – my own, life on Earth and the universe – and the connections they imply. I thought about and partly wrote this column while sitting under the great trees in Heritage Grove in Francis-King Park, feeling both connected to and in awe of nature.
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Bike to Work Week is now Go By Bike Week!
Greater Victoria’s Bike to Work Week is returning September 28th-October 4th, 2020 with a new name “Go By Bike Week” and a brand new website! The new name, Go By Bike Week, is intended to add a new level of inclusivity to Greater Victoria’s largest, free,... Read more
Solutions Guide
For every problem there is a solution. That is why, instead of focusing on the bad news that seems to be everywhere, we have taken a positive approach to showcase what is possible. Welcome to the premiere edition of Solutions where you can quickly and easily find ... Read more
Conversations about values for a One Planet Region
Tip O’Neill, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in the 1980s, famously remarked “all politics is local.” Significant change rarely starts at the top and moves down, mainly because the powerful do very well out of the current situation and seldom have any incentive to change it.
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Governments ignore urgent issues – Shouldn’t we be talking about this?
hile there is some evidence that we are slowly coming to grips with the reality of climate change, there are large and powerful pockets of resistance everywhere. Largely that resistance is rooted in and propagated by the fossil fuel industry and its ancillary industries, such as the automobile industry.
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A New Ecological Civilization: How Do We Get There?
Some of the key proposals are focused on significant reforms to the present financial system. B.C. should establish a Green Investment Bank of B.C. that would “be used to finance recovery investments that support B.C.’s climate action targets and other goals”.
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Stories and Music Combine to Bring Climate Solutions to Forefront
Gail O’Riordan, Jon’s long-time wife and life partner, passed away in 2018, and the Climate and the Arts Legacy Series was established to honour her memory. “Gail was passionate about the arts and felt that combining climate stories about how humanity can change course with music and the performing arts would enrich the discussion and motivate people to act differently,”
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Guy Dauncey and the Economics of Kindness
et me turn to Guy Dauncey for an alternative that is neither communism nor medieval. Dauncey has been an interesting, thoughtful and — in the best sense — provocative thinker, writer and activist on ecological and social issues in this region for years.
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Building a Stronger, One Planet Regional Economy
Last week, I stressed the importance of a stronger regional economy as a means of increasing local self-reliance, given that we live on an Island and that the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerability that comes from being very reliant on others — be they food or energy producers or tourists.
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Esquimalt’s Climate Emergency Response Plan Survey
The world’s scientists confirmed in the 2018 IPCC report that at the current rate, the world could become 1.5˚C hotter as soon as 2030. That’s less than a decade from now and well within the lifespan of most people alive today. 1.5˚C might not sound like a big... Read moreYouth for Climate and Social Justice – A Movement of Unity
This World Unity Week webinar is about the unity of the youth climate and social justice movement. The panelists are all young change makers who are invested in creating a more just and safer future for the next generations…
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Let’s Govern as if We Live On an Island
One of the many things the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed is the extent to which we have become dependent on all sorts of products — from face masks to food — that come from away, as Newfoundlanders would put it.
Read moreA Transformational Moment and Reconciliation Panel
The COVID pandemic and the global response to flattening the curve provide a once in a lifetime opportunity for the world to re-set its policies to flatten the carbon curve. This panel consists of three leading thinkers on this transformational moment.
Read moreSolutions for Indigenous and Ecosystem Based Management
The Story of the Great Bear Rainforest: Transition to Sustainability The Great Bear Rainforest is one of the largest intact temperate rainforests in the world. It stretches from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to…
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Neoliberalism is a Major Threat to Well-Being
One of the beneficial side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it might spur us to rethink the fundamental systems that constitute our society, and the deep values that underpin them. One of those systems is neoliberal economics, which has become the predominant,... Read more
Who Are We? Where are we Going? Some Reflections in this COVID-19 Time
Who are we? And where are we going on this tiny planet of ours, this bright sparkle of life in a Universe so ridiculously vast? It’s a question worth exploring, if you have five minutes in your busy COVID day. Almost all scientists assume that the Universe is a... Read moreA Modern Alphabet: Artfully Re-Imagining Our Future
Speaker, author, futurist, Guy Dauncey, and Creatively United founder and professional multi-media artist, Frances Litman, present A Modern Alphabet – Re-Imagining Our Future. Guy Dauncey is a futurist, anthropological…
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If not for Life, what for?
More than ever, vision is needed if we want to change the course of things. We need vision, but also dedication. We need to be whole-hearted visionaries with warriors’ dedication. We need each other to stay on path, to bring into fruition our bold visions.
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Eradicating Racism
Greetings to all in these sobering times of conflict and chaos. Decades ago in my youth group days, I was in a group that met with a First Nations Chief to talk about racism. He asked each of us to tell him if we were racist and we all answered with a phrase like “I’m... Read more
Grants Could Woo an Outdoor Audience
During COVID, when gatherings must include fewer than 50 people, government-funding for theatre groups that cater to small audiences in outdoor venues would be a job-creator. Comic play “The Fridge Festival” (see photo) was done outdoors in Fairfield.
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Making a Just Transition to ‘One Planet’
Hourly paid workers — who generally have low pay, few benefits and not much job security — are now almost two-thirds of the workforce. But while low-wage employment is down 30 per cent compared to a year ago, she adds, it is only down 1.3 per cent among high wage earners.
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The Ethics of Listening to Music–Especially Vinyl–In the Age of COVID-19
As much as we all have an obligation (I believe) to be responsible environmentally, there is no need to make music the whipping boy for environmental degradation and economic exploitation.
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A Regional Agenda for Social and Ecological Justice
Congratulations to the City of Victoria for endorsing the May 2020 Common Vision, Common Action Regional Policy Statement for implementing a regional agenda for social and ecological justice. (see: http://commonaction.mystrikingly.com/ ) The Creatively United for the... Read more
Central Saanich Community Gardens
Are you living in Central Saanich? Check out the brand new Central Saanich Community Gardens Society. They are look forward to cultivating delightful yet purposeful community garden(s) in Central Saanich. They are currently looking for board members and land! Click... Read more
Book Review: The Legacy of Luna, by Julia Butterfly Hill
Feeling cooped up with the lockdown? Imagine living in a 200-ft-tall redwood tree for more than two years. Twenty years ago, Julia Butterfly Hill did just that, to draw attention to the continued clearcutting of California’s remaining redwood forests.
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Project Drawdown Free Climate Action Course
Jim Bronson and Sandi Goldie are offering their first online 5 session class “Getting Into Action” with solutions, based on the book Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed for Reversing Global Warming by Paul Hawken.
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The Cedar Sound Project
A group of young artists in Cedar have started a digital public art project called the Cedar Sound Project. They are calling for submissions from community members of “field recordings”: sound snippets which document a moment in your daily life during... Read more
Social Tipping Points, Virtuous Cascades
Courtesy of the Times Colonist In a December 2019 interview, Will Steffen, a leading Earth systems scientist and member of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, said: “We need to reach a social tipping point, before we reach a planetary one.” By “a planetary tipping... Read more
Is social distancing really the best new norm we can come up with?
Until we choose to reconnect with the nature within us, we will perpetuate an inhospitable environment for ourselves.
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Orca Month 2020
Orca Awareness Month 2020 (June) will be a spontaneous upsurge of creativity spreading the “help whales” message in a time of physical-distancing. We can’t have talks & meetings so will do public art displays. 73 remaining SRKWs have never needed us more.
Read moreEcological and Spiritual Regeneration
Ann Mortifee is an inspirational leader in both the environment and the arts. She is Canada’s National Performing Treasure, a recipient of the Order of Canada, beloved by thousands for her penetrating wisdom and humanity….
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Horizontal Governing, the Virtually Incorruptible Solution to Vertical, Top-Down Corruption
A video and an animation that explains horizontal governing. video is for a large earthday event.
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Esquimalt Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Earth Day With Week-Long Online Programming
The Township of Esquimalt is doing Earth Day a little differently this year. Typically the day is marked with a celebration at Highrock Park with a focus on children’s educational activities around sustainability and the natural environment. The traditional format was... Read more
Township of Esquimalt Recruiting Members For Vacancies On Commissions & Committees
The Township is looking for enthusiastic individuals interested in serving the community as a member of the Advisory Planning Commission, Design Review Committee, Environmental Advisory Committee, or Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee are encouraged to apply.... Read more
Helping Those in Need
The City of Victoria’s Business Hub staff have compiled a comprehensive list of resources for businesses at victoria.ca/bizresources. Donate to Boxes of Hope. Every $10 donated provides a warm, healthy meal to someone in need and supports the local restaurant... Read more
Online Educational Resources To Connect Kids With Nature
Take a breather and connect with nature! Check out the Sierra Club’s Google Classroom (code XULWFC2) and website for tons of fun nature-based activities for the whole family! These new resources are not only helpful for parents, but for caregivers and educators... Read more
Breathing Possibilities
Here is a poem I wrote some time ago which I hope will inspire you during these times: You can talk about yesterday or talk about tomorrow You can talk about the falling dollar, talk about your sorrow You can talk about chemicals and how they’re poisoning the earth... Read more
Change & Creativity: Creating Possibilities out of Chaos & Uncertainty
In this article I share some tools and strategies to support you to embrace change during times of chaos and uncertainty that are underpinned by the belief that “embracing change is a creative process that opens us up to new possibilities”.
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Resilience Means Bouncing Forward, Not Back to the Way We Were Before
This concern with the need to protect and restore the economy plays into a narrative about resilience, usually framed as the ability of people and communities to recover, to bounce back to where they were before the event ever happened.
Read moreA Message From Robert Bateman
In these times of social distancing, the Bateman Foundation is working hard to adapt and continue our mission of connecting people to nature using art and offers an ever-expanding digital resource at https://batemanfoundation.org/online/ that includes virtual tours of... Read more
Essential Services in BC during COVID-19 Crisis
The Government of BC has confirmed a list of essential services, and some non profits are included in this list. “Essential services are those daily services essential to preserving life, health, public safety and basic societal functioning. They are the... Read more
Volunteers Needed to Help Feed Community Members Most in Need
We are reaching out in hopes that you can help us. We are trying to identify community partners to help us coordinate meal distribution sites to feed our community members most in need. The Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) is working with the Coalition to... Read more
A Poem by Richard Hendrick: Lockdown
This poem is titled Lockdown, written by Brother Richard Hendrick from Ireland. Yes there is fear. Yes there is isolation. Yes there is panic buying. Yes there is sickness.Yes there is even death. But, They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise You can hear... Read moreSocial Change Requires an Open Mind
This is a video I created out of a PowerPoint presentation created by a social change movement that I’m part of. I invite you to take the time to watch it. I hope it sheds light on my state of agitation, and why you too might be frustrated with the widespread inertia... Read more
Neighbourhood Markets Open During Pandemic!
The coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, and while many despair and are living in fear, we attempt to ease their burden by bringing a little hope and peace in providing free produce and groceries.
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Laid Off and Looking For Work? Chamber Job Board Lists Employers Looking For Workers
After mandated restaurant closures today (now take out and delivery only) we know there will be more people looking for work. Pharmacies, grocery stores, island health and others are hiring right now. At time of this writing there are 37 jobs listed on the Jobs Board... Read more
Spread Compassion – Stop Diseases
This short report describes the special problems that contagious diseases such as COVID-19 present to people experiencing homelessness, and the organizations that serve them. Homeless people tend to be vulnerable to infections due to a combination daily stress, poor... Read more
50 Ways to Stay SANE During the Coronavirus Pandemic
How can we stay strong during this crisis? With love, careful planning, and care for others – and total lockdown. When we emerge, huge numbers of people will hopefully want a more caring, cooperative approach to life, and a new kind of economy, based less on greed, selfishness and the destruction of Nature, and more on the economics of kindness.
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