crc blog feed

One of the wonderful benefits of collaboration and partnerships is the wealth of diverse information and multiple perspectives that are shared. One of the themes of my chair is diversity and as many know I am deeply committed to sustaining biodiversity in our modern world. I have been experimenting over the last five years with new ways of doing research in collaboration with community practitioners, and have been working with dear colleagues at Sustainability Solutions Group.

January 30^st, 2013

Ontario Phases Out Coal-Fired Power
All the provinces coal-burning power plants will be shuttered by 2014, making the Canadian province the first coal-free jurisdiction in North America. Hopefully the rest of North America will follow the province's political leadership that paid a price for such progressive energy policy.

There is no doubt an engaged, literate citizenry is crucial for democratic systems of governance. This article argues that the many challenges now facing the human race demands a reliable knowledge of what can be done and social capital to make it happen.

Overheard on CBC radio the other day about a group of young professionals who are working to create a better future for their community, Ottawa, modeled after The Awesome Foundation. Each of the ten co-founders donates $50.00 a month and they give out small grants of $1000.00 to people who apply to them. Decisions are made consensually about awards, and in addition to offering this seed money, they also offer their skills, it is not just about the money. Their belief is “anyone can do it”.

As mentioned before, I am hoping to share as many social innovations as possible to show how easy it is to implement sustainable development, using creativity and integration. I am hoping that 2013 will be about unprecedented adoption of new innovations, particularly, new governance models, for sustainable development.

January 4^th, 2013

I just finished writing a journal article on agency, thank the universe (it only took two years), before the start of the new year. In that article, I concluded by defining agency as as "the latent human ability that acts to influence conditions in their environment that they believe are adversely affecting them individually, their community or their broader environment that contributes to the creation of social and ecological capital” (e-Dialogue, 2009).

May the wonders of nature be with you throughout 2013.

Creativity knows no boundaries, how do we scale up these social innovations and increase capacity?