Archive for February, 2009

by Lisa Chacón

Several of us from the class of ‘06 converged in Seattle - Ingrid Jacobsen, Miriam Karell, Melanie Dubin, Itzel Orozco, Pete Sims and I. From there we drove to Vancouver to meet up with a few more ‘06ers - Magdalena Szpala, Rachelle McElroy and Margaret McRoberts. It was a sweet reunion, particularly for those who hadn’t seen each other in nearly three years (yes, it really has been that long)!

Friday, February 6

On Friday morning we all attended a pre-conference workshop in Vancouver on the TNS framework, presented by Rachelle and Magda. Overall there were 34 people attending the workshop - about half were MSLS alumni and the rest were members of the public. The ladies did a great job of introducing the TNS framework, principles and the ABCD process. I always enjoy hearing how others present the material, especially now that we have all integrated the framework into our thinking, and also have gained experience applying it in the real world.

Guest speaker Ken Melamed, the mayor of Whistler, told us how Whistler used the TNS framework to develop the Whistler2020 master plan, which subsequently won the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Community Award and the United Nations Liveable Communities gold medal in the ‘Planning for the Future’ category in 2005. The most  impressive thing that Ken shared was the Whistler2020 explorer, an online system that provides feedback on key metrics, which in itself won an innovation award from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators.  

On Friday afternoon we left Vancouver and drove north past still, dark waters and the snowy pine covered mountains as we made our pilgrimage to the TNS mecca of sustainability. After hearing so many stories about the legendary Whistler, we were excited to finally see it for ourselves! We shared accommodations with a few more alumni - Heather Worosz ‘05, Sarah Brooks ‘08 and Heidi Blankenship-Speight ‘08, and got a chance to make new friends and catch up with old ones over a fabulous home-cooked meal and wine.

By Tamara Connell

This day we finally made it to Melbourne, the last stop of our Hållbarhet2009 Learning Journey. We were greeted at CERES (the Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies) by Philip Sutton of the Greenleap Strategic Institute. Philip is the co-author of a new book called Climate Code Red, where the climate crisis (and their view of the most appropriate response(s)) is discussed. For more information, you can read or listen to a recent interview with Philip here. For me, this was a poignant reminder that if we are serious about creating a sustainable society, we really need to start tackling the climate change issue as rapidly as possible - perhaps more rapidly that anything we can currently imagine. We shouldn’t lull ourselves to thinking that just because we understand sustainability and strategic planning, that we are simply doing our part. We need action, quite frankly, and on a massive scale. Again, I ask myself, is scaling up 10 times enough…

After lunch, we were provided a very informative site tour of the CERES garden/park/facilities. We learned much about the permaculture design, the composting toilets, the community food programmes, the alternative energy created on site, etc. It was inspiring to see what a dedicated group of volunteers can do, and it’s an amazing model for working with nature to satisfy many of our human needs. If only we could have one of these sites in every city, children would have the ability to learn and play within nature, and hopefully grow up with a better understanding of humans as one connected part of nature. The projects, research, education and training provided at CERES are extensive, and I highly recommend that you check out their website for more information.

With the usual 10 minutes to get ready, we dropped our bags at our last hostel and ‘freshened’ up. This evening we were to be hosted at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) by the kind folks at the Centre for Sustainability Leadership. They had invited an impressive array of like-minded networks to join us for an evening Dialogue Café. The Café was facilitated by the lively and humourous Jason Clarke. It was an interesting new take on the typical Dialogue/World Café that we are used to in MSLS - a bit like speed dating for networks interested to reach sustainability. We had a great time and met many new sustainability friends. There seems to be great momentum for sustainability action in Melbourne!

By Tamara Connell

[Apologies for a late posting on these last few days - I got a bit sick]

Day 9 started with our last breakfast in Thredbo. Leaving our little home away from home, we ventured south now… checking constantly on the latest fire reports. We drove through areas devastated by fire - just brick chimneys standing where there once was likely a house, a barn, a play yard for the children. We drove along, humbled by nature’s power.

Further down the road, we encountered entire ‘forests’ of standing black trees - created, we assumed, by the changing water tables and salinity of the Murray Darling River Basin. Stopping at Hume Dam, we heard about this river basin and the challenge of balancing pre-existing water rights during a time of long-standing drought.

Next we took a tour through the Barnawartha Biodiesel Plant, where they are converting tallow to market-quality biodiesel for use in Australia. They have a great process, using or selling almost every single by-product of their entire processes.

From Biodiesel to Wines - we spent some time getting an introduction to (and taste of!!) organic and biodynamic wines at Pennyweight Wines. What I found most interesting here is that somehow their products have been more or less left alone by ‘pests’ and birds. No netting is needed for their grapes - which sounded like a large savings in terms of both time and materials.

Finally this evening ended with an outdoor dinner, sauna and swim at the luxurious Lindenwarrah Estate, an elegant 5 star resort adjacent to a vineyard. After many nights of YHA bunkbeds (although for a youth hostel, YHA is quite good), having my own bed with crisp sheets was heavenly. Zzzzz.