Integrated Community Sustainability Plan

In today's class we talked about Integrated Community Sustainability Plans. During the course of the lecture, our prof started to describe some unique and interesting innovations that municipalities incorporated to reduce their impact and save money. That got me thinking about something I read on line (and watched on the Discovery Channel). It is about how a company decided to harness body heat generated in a subway. An engineering company will use this free body heat to heat a nearby building.

This is an example of sustainable infrastructure that involves sectors such as energy, transport and waste management. This plan demonstrates sustainability especially in the aspects of ecological, social and economic imperatives. By "recycling" this heat they are saving money in terms of heating costs and its it sustainable and environmentally friendly. Air in the subway needs to be refreshed as it is so removal of "used warm" air is replaced with fresh air.

Sustainable infrastructure eventually disseminates in a community but it needs an overarching plan in order to incorporate it into a community plan. This could be done using an integrated community sustainability plan, which brings together all aspects of a community in a way that they are communicating and working together for long term results. In the case of the subway body heat diversion plan, aspects of economic diversification and environmental stewardship are forming a partnership.

Pacfic Gardens

Recently we were asked in class to pick a project or community that displayed characteristics of community engagement and participation. The project my group chose was a cohousing project in Nanaimo. It is called Pacific Gardens.

The concept of cohousing is more common in Europe than in North America but it is growing in popularity in both Canada and the US. Principles of cohousing include participatory planning, non-hierarchical organization, management controlled by residents, and extensive common facilities that were designed by the residents. Cohousing is not a commune nor a shared economic community. Cohousing residents do not necessarily have a common economic, educational or religious background. What they do have in common is a shared life philosophy that includes sustainable living.

The pacific Gardens cohousing project is almost complete. Specific features of this project include:

• using "green" building methods to try to attain LEED certification (I don't know whether it has been accomplished or not)
• energy efficiency standards to control long term energy and environmental costs (such as architectural designs that allow for efficient use of heat, insulation and natural light)
• a common area that includes a kitchen and dining area, shared workshop, craft room, laundry facility and community gardens
• car-share program

Cohousing also brings together a lot of people from different backgrounds and skills. By its very nature, the ensuing community is capital rich with creativity, skills and common goals. The cohousing community forms a network that can build both horizantally and vertically. Also by its nature, cohousing communities are highly engaged and participatory. Issues and decisions related to the community are done on a consensus basis or are dealt with using predefined policies that were initially agreed upon by the community.

Although the concept of a cohousing community looks good on paper, it is not ideal for everyone. People like to have a sense of community but the prevailing attitude of society is still on the side of personal space and property. This attitude is changing but in my opinion, it is slow going.

Recently there has been some new spots on TV about a new bus route for Bay Street. As I was watching the news I got the impression that although the transit company engaged the community, the feedback for this new route wasn't very favorable. The woman representing the community wasn't happy about it while the transit representative spoke as if it were a great idea. There was definitely a bit of a disconnect. It seems Bay street is quite narrow and adding buses to it will congest it more than it already is. Another concern is the addition of buses will squeeze out the cyclists. This concern was also brought up by 2 other interviewees. Some areas of the road do not even have sidewalks for the safely of pedestrians or cyclists.

So I went on the Victoria Regional Transit site and took a closer look. The proposed route will, according to Victoria transit help to alleviate a lot of congestion, to provide transit for the employees of the new expansion to Royal Jubilee Hospital, help take on some of the downtown user burden and to provide service to Victoria West. According to the website the Victoria transit has addressed and mitigated concerns that arose from public forums and feedback from a survey on the website. That doesn't seem to be good enough or satisfactory according to the Bay Street Community Action committee interviewed on TV.

So what should Victoria Transit do? Potential users of the bus route are in favor but the residents are not. Who has more weight in this matter? I'm interested to see how this will be resolved.

I was listening to today's presentations when I started to see some of my own networking connections. It is one of my weaknesses--not recognizing my strengths or skills. In this case when talking about my social capital or networks, I felt like it was pretty much non existent. After the presentation about the Olympics I realize I do have some social capital--in Korea.

The city I lived in for the majority of my time in Korea is the capital city of that particular province. A mountain town/resort from that province was bidding for the 2010 Olympics and if I go by what the local Koreans were saying, it was down to Korea or Canada (not sure if that is actually completely true.) As an instructor-turned-professor at that university I was asked to proofread official English documents and statements for the Korean Olympic Committee bidding for the 2010 Winter games. Through my hard work at that school and the many contacts I made, I was asked to participate in a very small way in Korea's bid. Had Korea been chosen, who knows what might role I might have been asked to play.

On the provincial, civic and university level, I had also been asked on many occasions to be a judge at English speech contests, international events (where English was spoken) and even to record a tourist guide in English (GPS based) for tourists in that province. I was chosen for these roles based on my presence in the community (particiaption and engagement) and by the people who recommended me for the job (social network.) I now realize just how rich I am.

One more thing. Recently I was watching a Korean movie when suddenly I saw they were filming on my old campus and I could see my office window. The movie came out in 2007 and I could have been in my office when it was being filmed. I kinda feel special (and I am not one who feels special often.)

Rider pride

So I have been living in BC for 6 months now. Meh. To be honest I commend BC for being a green province and all the initiatives it has started and followed through with in terms of being environmentally sound but I am really getting sick of it.

So I am going to start to look into what my hometown and home province is doing. I need a shot of enthusiasm for "community" etc and I don't feel the motivation being a transient in this place. BC and more specifically, Victoria is not my home so I don't feel a need to get involved, to get informed or to even care. I am quite the opposite of "engaged"...I am somewhat intentianally "unengaged".

So what is Saskatchewan doing in terms of sustainability, community engagement and the environment?

Roadmap 2020 is site that outlines many of the plans and initiatives started by the city of Sasaktoon to become more sustainable. Not only does it address ways to become more sustainable, it also address the issue of climate change. It addresses the 2 issues together so that members of a community can see how they are related. Instead of throwing around the "sustainability" buzzword, which to be honest really doesn't mean much to the average person, Saskatoon is putting words into practice using terms and plans that the common person can understand.

Being in a climate that requires more energy for heating and not having a "clean" source of power I think it is commendable that the city is working hard to show its citizens ways to reduce their energy bills, which include both private and civic methods from personal housing to business plans as well as transportation.

I feel a surge of pride when I read more and more about Saskatoon's efforts. I feel like I am a member of that comunity and I look forward to getting involved when I go back. I am excited to put this degree to use. This brings me to think about what is necessary to engage a member of the community. Speaking from experience a memeber has to feel like where they live is his or her home. Trust and reciprocity are two important aspects (as talked about in class) and in my opinion they can only occur when a person feels a sense of belonging. What makes a person feel like they belong is different for each individual. Feeling I belong has yet to come to me mainly because of my personality and the fact that I am still adjusting to being a Canadian resident again (and a resident in a vastly different area of Canada to boot!) Add to that the fact that I don't have the money or time to socialize and you get a recipe for "unengagement".

Lazy landlady

I was cruising through some of my classmates posts when I read that someone hates their community. I strongly dislike my lazy landlady. It seems that instead of purchasing the proper recycling recepticals for sorting the recyclables she has resorted to chucking them in the garbage. Sometimes I think she does it on purpose to spite me because I am an enviro-sci student. My landlady talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. My roommate too. I don't push them to do stuff. I prefer to lead by example and provide info when they ask me about it.

So how do I engage these people in a way that doesn't have them running to do the opposite out of spite? (haha actually that is my landlady's MO whether environemtally related or not.) Do I just walk away and try to be content knowing that the seed of being a bit more sustainable has been planted? With these two personalities--yeah that is probably the best course of action but my head says I should try a different tactic. Perhaps I need to use reverse psychology.

I'm blogging about a blog that was blogged. So it's not new stuff here but it is interesting. The concept is about labeling products that we buy in grocery stores with their carbon footprint. So not only can people look at the nutritional label but they can also know how much it is in terms of its carbon. Although I can see the benefits of this I also think that it just provides one more headache for the public. Unless the public knows what that number means, people cannot make an informed decision. Ingredients lists are still Greek to me (an above average educated person) and adding one more criteria for us to choose from might not have the desired effect. That leads me to my next question...what is the desired effect of putting how much CO2 is "produced" from a bag of chips? A marketing gimmick? How did the company calculate that? What are the standards used to determine that? How can a consumer compared between name brands? Does it include the CO2 cost of transporting it to the store? What about the disposal of the bag after? Although potentially a good idea, this might turn consumers away from its intended path by overwhelming them. Why not just try to lower the production footprint instead? Will knowing how much CO2 is produced by a bag of chips really stop someone from buying it? As a consumer and a member of one of the worst polluting countries (in terms of CO2 emissions) I think not. This might be my pessimistic attitude but I really think the ignorant masses don't give a rat's @ss. Even if someone does care, as a lay person what comparative information is out there to put it into terms that he or she can understand.

Wait. I was actually happy about this when I first started this blog and now I think it is not as great of an idea.

Rant

Ok this is more of a rant about "sustainability" than about community. Recently I read an article about how Japanese companies were sending people home early to procreate. Then I read this article. Basically a Japanese man who was hit while riding his bike was turned away from 14 hospitals (because they were full) and eventually succumbed to his injuries and died (in the ambulance.) Maybe the country shouldn't be thinking about more babies if they can't take care of the people they already have...? I see the cyclical aregument of how they need young people to pay taxes to build hospitals to take care of old people yada yada yada...it's time for a few fat cat decision makers to feel the crunch and maybe lose a loved one or two...maybe then things'll change enough so that society won't be chasing its tail trying to keep up. It might be easier said then done if you are not willing to cut through all the excuses. How do people let it get that far? What are people so short sighted? Aren't people smart enough to look beyond their own immediate needs? And I'm not talking about just one country but the whole world.

An ad for what?

I know this is a bit off topic but when I read about this I was disgusted. Our class is talking about community and network, social capital yada yada yada. And I'll be the first to admit I'm not very community or social minded. I think there are too many people in the world and that humans should stop breeding (and yes I could have chosen a more politically correct term there) but I still have some integrity and morals. I might (might? Ok I will go as far) even go as far as to say that the recent birth of octuplets by a woman who already has 6 children is socially irresponsible but when I read this article about an ad for the Superbowl promoting having an affair I thought someone crossed the line. This article is about an ad for a dating site that wants to increase membership. Their tactic is to try to picque the interest of people who are bored or feeling unsatisfied in their marriage. Basically it promotes audultry. The justification they give is that physical intimacy is as important as air and food. Whatever. Maybe if we weren't such a disposable, quick-fix society we wouldn't have this problem. The company is livid that CTV won't air the commercial during the Superbowl. I say good for CTV.

Here is an interesting article that says Japan has launched a satellite that can monitor GHG emissions etc. Very cool to have more access to such information now. This "global" venture lead me to think about some comments made by a previous professor about how sustainability and globalilization are somewhat opposite concepts. Perhaps I misunderstood my prof but I have to disagree.

I believe in globalization and the exchange of ideas and technology. I believe in learning about other countries and their customs. I think it is useful for communication and cooperation. I believe in order to understand the processes involved in climate change and try to counteract it the world needs to work together. The launching of this new satellite is one step towards both. It might be a small step but a move in the right direction nonetheless.

Video

I tried to set this video up as a gadget but it won't let me post just one video. So I will just link it here. As you may or may not know I was once an English professor at a uni in Korea. So I know stuff about grammar. More than I care to. Like the last sentence is not really a sentence. Neither was the previous one. One also shouldn't start sentences with conjunctions such as 'and', 'but', or 'or'. (Although transitions like 'also' are OK even though they mean the same as 'and'.) And (oops, my bad) yes I notice when people spell words wrong, use atrocious grammar ('I did good'...no...'I did well') and when my/our professors use bad grammar on their power points after giving us "recommendations" as to how to improve our writing on assignments. The irony. Whatever. We are all human and make mistakes. So what's my point? Oh yeah, my point is the message in this video is really cool. When read backwards it has the opposite meaning of when read forward. It is also insightful and inspirational. Check it out.

I see the irony of my spelling comment and I have gone back to check and correct all my "typos" haha.

My independence

I subscribe to a newsletter from Terrapass. I haven't been able to read it lately because of all the brain bleeding I've experienced. This last one had something that caught my eye. It was a blog about being able to store energy in batteries from renewable resources that are not constant or reliable (wind, solar etc.) I'm really interested in building a home and a life that is off the grid so the idea of "saving [energy] for a rainy day" is really appealing to me. You'd think because of my major I'd want to be off the grid to reduce my footprint in terms of electricity generated from coal (I'm from SK) but that is not really the case.

Actually I am ultra pessimistic and a little paranoid. I watch movies like water world, the day after tomorrow and I am legend and all I can think of is how it COULD happen (potentially) in my lifetime. I have crazy fantasies (not in the good way) of how I will have to defend my land from traveling gangs trying to take my precious resources. I think of simple clean renewable ways to get off the grid and help my family survive when the end of the world comes. I want to be as knowledgeable and as skillful as our pioneer ancestors on how to survive without much of today's technology. I want to be fully independent and grow my own food, grow and grind my own wheat to make flour to bake bread etc., and even learn how to make my own beer or wine (not from a kit.) I want to make my own candles and sew my own clothes. I want to know how to make my own cheese! Wouldn't that be nice...mmm...cheese.

I like to use the word "independent" but this lifestyle also has "sustainability" woven into it.

Click on the link above and check out the article especially the comment section. It's an interesting read.

Saturday morning laundry time

I got up early this morning to do laundry the minute my landlady went out the door for work. I enjoy being the only one up in the morning. The house is still quiet. I get my cup of coffee and sit by an open window breathing in the freshness of the morning. If my day to day life doesn't start until 9 or 10 am I still enjoy this routine. Unfortunately my window has plastic over it to stop excessive heat loss so I am lounging on an arm chair instead.

Back to laundry. The settings on the machine were for hot water and a full load. I wonder what was in the machine before me. The detergent I see in the laundry room are name brand ones that are not concentrated. There is also a multitude of liquid fabric softeners and dryer sheet packages lined up too. It just screams chemicals chemicals chemicals. (I use an "environmentally friendly", concentrated brand that has no phosphates or harsh chemicals in it. I don't use the dryer when possible and when I do I take my chances with static cling.) I never used to be this way. I needed an education first and to be honest I could probably do more in terms of lowering my laundry footprint. I have started and I guess that is what counts. I have heard there are these little floating plastic things you can put into your machine in leiu of soap and they work to get your clothes just as clean. Although I suppose you'd need some kind of detergent if you are trying to get some kind of organic-oily stains out. Time and education will provide an answer to that mystery.

We have been learning about ways and tools on how to approach behavioral change (and most specifically changes to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly.) I am reading a book Fostering Sustainable Behavior by Doug McKenzie-Mohr and William Smith and its premise is about how to go about making change. I am finding this book useful as an insight into why I haven't stuck through with plans I made and ideas I have had. For example; instead of speculating on how laundry "balls" work why haven't I purchased some and figured it out yet? I am also starting to see why people do what they do and I am judging them less harshly. (btw...I'll be the first to admit that I am a very judgemental person. I usually just keep my thoughts to myself. I can expect that is why I am a bit of a loner and can't deal with teenagers and bimbos... But don't get me wrong. Just because I think some people are idiots doesn't mean I don't like some of them. *grin* ) OK. What's my point? Right. Using the tools the book provides perhaps I can educate my landlady on the perils of her laundry room and get her to be more eco-friendly.

That will be a challenge. I will definitely have to approach it in a benefit/cost way. Money talks. She didn't put up plastic on the windows until she got her energy bill even though I had been telling her that a draft was prevalent for a few months. My next challenge: getting her to see the savings associated with using cold water instead of hot or warm, demonstrating that concentrated formulas really do work as well as regular formula detergents and lastly, hanging to dry is a gooood (and doable) thing (even in the winter.)

My list also includes:

• low flow shower/sink heads
• composting
• getting my roommate to fill the sink to wash dishes (and to use soap and not just her fingers and exorbitant amounts of water)
• training my landlady's cats to use the toilet and not cat litter
• convincing my landlady that it is OK to leave her toilet lid up so that her cats can use the toilet
• getting my roommate to hang her clothes to dry
• finding out my roommate's last name (that is more for my own social capital gain.)
  

Community of one (two if you count my cat.)

So this week's class was about community, social capital and sustainability indicators (...another time, other blog.) I was asked to do an on line survey about me in my community and I got about half way through when I decided to erase it all and stop. I felt I wasn't able to answer the questions accurately or correctly, which is strange because there really are no wrong ways to answer a survey. What I mean is although technically I belong to several communities including the physical neighborhood I live in, I do not feel like a member of a community. I lack social capital.

By circumstance I have become a loner. Oddly enough I am OK with that. After living abroad in countries that don't speak English much for more than 7 years I am finding it a bit difficult to assimilate back into Canadian living. I turn up my music when I can overhear (and understand) teenagers talking about their "overwhelming" problems (and a lot of women my age talking like teenagers...like...ya know...like...OMG!) I don't care to join a gym or club. I rarely go out with my classmates. I loathe being in a group of strangers. I don't even know my roommate's last name. Sometimes we go a whole week without speaking to or seeing each other. I have been perfectly content to trudge a path from home to school back home again day after day. (Although it would be nice to relax when I get home instead of being so boggled down with homework that even if I had friends in this city I'd never be able to see them anyway.) So maybe I will work on becoming more wealthy in terms of social capital...maybe...

In the meantime I will shut myself in my room with my adorable bug and do homework until my brain bleeds. By the way...the latter is really not a choice.

Welcome to my blog

Once a week so so I will be blogging about topics related to a Sustainability and Community class that I am involved with and about select current and environmental issues that pertain to sustainability and community.