Walkingthetalk Newsletter #31

Recent news from Walkthetalk BC….

Thanks to all of you who attended the How Sustainability Education? A Solutions Summit event, hosted by the BC Working Group on Sustainability Education on April 27. Many of you who were there, or could not make but expressed interest in and support for the event, have asked to be kept informed of any outcomes and follow up to the day.

On June 17, we hosted a follow up event to the Summit at Radha Eatery in Vancouver, for all the participants and volunteers, to have an opportunity to build on the momentum, discussions, idea generation and relationship building that began in April. It was great to reconnect, and during the evening we screened the awesome How Sustainability Education? Video that was produced by our Summit youth video crew. We also launched the report sponsored by the BC Working Group on Sustainability Education (BCWG) prepared by Candace Bonfield on the How Sustainability Education? A Solutions Summit, which includes information gathered from the pre-Summit and post-Summit surveys as well as collects the themes and ideas from the day.

Even if you were not at the Summit, you can be a part of keeping the momentum going by sharing these two deliverables and connecting through the walkingthetalk website to contribute to the action items which were developed at the Summit. In the Summit report you will notice basic action items and tables identified for each major theme. If you are a member of one of the action teams or would like to contact a team, please let us know so we can potentially assist you in connecting with others. Please see below for links to these resources.

Shared resources:

Upcoming events
goBeyond Youth Action Gathering
The goBeyond Youth Action Gathering is a week-long, peer-to-peer program led by BC’s top youth organizers. Develop your grassroots organizing and leadership skills, network and bond with fellow students, engage in fun activities in the great outdoors and enjoy great cooking! This training camp will bring together 50 youth from the ages of 14-30 and will give students the tools to run the Sustainable High Schools Project and goBeyond. This camp is sure to help you start off September with a bang!
(read more…)

Web resources
How Sustainability Education? A Solutions Summit – The Report
On April 27, 2009, the BC Working Group and Network on Sustainability Education hosted the 2nd Summit on sustainability education.This one-day event brought together 150 of BC’s key stakeholders, decision makers and change agents in sustainability education to create focused teams of champions from around the province. Teams worked together to design and contribute to 8 collaborative action themes for sustainability education that will support BC’s public institutions in reaching the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets of 2010.(Read the report and all the companion documents here!)

How Sustainability Education? A Solutions Summit – The Video
On behalf of the BC Working Group on Sustainability Education, a group of youth who were part of a City of Vancouver Youth Outreach Program: Kaleidoscope -Video Production Teams, were coordinated and supervised by a past walkingthetalk scholarship recipient to record the proceedings and conduct interviews at the How Sustainability Education? Solutions Summit. This collection of youth, in addition to providing event on-site video recording and edited and produced a seven-minute video on the day. This video can be seen here on the walkingthetalk website.

Sector-specific postings:

K-12 education
Hub for Action on School Transportation Emissions IWalk
IWalk (International Walk to School Week) is happening in BC, October 5-9, 2009. Join schools across BC in promoting and celebrating the many benefits of walking. International Walk to School Week events encourage a more walkable world – one school and community at a time.(read more…)

Non-formal education
Report on Culturally Inclusive Sustainability Education
Catalyzing Collaboration: Building Culturally Inclusive Sustainability Education in Metro Vancouver is intended to initiate a dialogue about the involvement of linguistically and culturally diverse communities in sustainability education and how community organizations can collaborate to achieve this. This report outlines key findings and insights from twelve interviews with sustainability educators, community developers, and individuals working in settlement services. (read more…)

Profile:

We regularly post a bio (with permission) of a walkingthetalk member to introduce you to some of your colleagues in sustainability.

This month’s profile
Deanna Rogers
Feeling like a deer in sustainability headlights? I certainly was. Apparently the world is ending and there are a million reasons why, so how do you pick your battle and take action? I would say simply just do it, simply start acting. After attending several public dialogues and community consultations around the issue of sustainability I heard many things but generally one common narrative: people wanted to move further on an issue. The echoing message was that people wanted to do more but did not know how or where to start. I figured I was capable of facilitating this start point for one facet of sustainability and allow for actions to do the talking.

I designed the proposal for the Strathcona Zero Waste Community Challenge as my final project for SFU’s Semester in Dialogue. The design is to harvest the urban community of diverse thinkers, limited backyards, and prove urban settings do not need to be a barrier but a blessing. For this project, funded by Metro Vancouver, we have set up an extensive recycling center, all food waste composting, and a community forum analog (local café board) and digitally (website). We currently have twelve households committed to try and put noting into the landfill for one month. We are trying to walk/bike the talk by using foot and pedal transportation for delivery of containers, composters and for the weekly weighing rounds. 

I am still a full time student at Simon Fraser University and native to the east coast of Canada, but coming to Vancouver is a breath of fresh green air. People are doing things here and people want to make changes to help their future. I hope to sponge as much enthusiasm and knowledge from this coast and someday return to my own.

For more information and input visit www.strathconazerowaste.com. It is never too late to signup!

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Visit walkthetalkBC at: http://www.walkingthetalk.bc.ca/ for news and information.