Community…what is it?

Community is a word that is often used, but very vaguely defined. What is a community? How big is a community? What does it mean to you? If you ask different people they could give different ideas to what a community is and what it means to them. For instance a community can refer to a group of people living in a particular local area or having shared ethnic, cultural or religious characteristics. This implies those who live inside the community are similar to each other and different from others. These differences can create a bond between some people and excludes others, which is fault certain communities can have. To me a community is a group of people who can gather together and interact with each other, which in turn help gain knowledge from each other by sharing one’s experience.

If “sharing” is occurring, the more a community will be united and the healthier it can be. If a variety of people work together in unison, this can develop a sustainable community, since each individual can learn from another, just because of their different backgrounds. To me a community isn’t just a select group of people with shared characteristics, but a cosmopolitan amount of people working together for a common purpose.

Exert: Chris Ling, Community lecture at Royal Roads University

At this fair, there’s no candy

On January 24, 2009, View Royal had a Sustainability Fair, which wanted to encourage citizens to rethink their choices they make to live a more environmentally friendly way. What I like about how they planned this fair is they made the parking very limited so people had to think about how they would get there and how they choose the transportation. As Monique Booth, one of the volunteers of the fair suggested, “We are trying to encourage people to bus, bike or walk to the event.” Problem with this is it’s almost preaching to the choir, as most who do attend these sustainable idea events already have the mindset to live more sustainable. It’s a good idea, but not exactly effective as their audience already believes in the same thing they wish to address.

The fair was established last year, and was created to help resident’s access information on energy and conservation. They even made it family friendly, with face painting, puppet shows and more for the younger crowd. There are also door prizes focused on environmentally-friendly products. That I think is their best tactic, by teaching the youth and children about living sustainable now. Teaching future generations about living in a different way is far easier to do then trying to change older citizens who have grown accustomed to their way of life. I personally didn’t know about this fair until today, but would have liked to attend it just to see how effective it was, as the principle behind it is noble and it helps to encourage the community to participate in a more sustainable way. Hopefully this trend continues, and the community gets more involved with this type of action and people from all walks of like take part. Having people from different backgrounds can give different ideas and perspectives on their version of sustainable ideas, which in turn can potentially create a more uniformed vision.

Exert from: Dove, A. (2009, January 22). Green technologies, sustainable solutions on display in View Royal. Retrieved January 26, 2009, from http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/goldstreamgazette/news/38170089.html

Stop asking questions, you’re confusing me

In continuation to my “What’s that smell?....Success baby!” blog, it seems there is some discussions going on with the Capital Regional District (CRD) sewage treatment system. The districts’ core area liquid waste management committee has approved the first round of questions for an external review panel to answer questions and examine the districts options for sewage treatment. There are people who want to potentially enhance the current system and potentially draw from bio-gas, heat and water similar to what Mr.Grundy was planning on implementing with the Royal Roads system. It seems the questions proposed were too vague in the review helped last week and there is plans for additional questions to be adopted on Jan.28 that can possible ask questions about green house gas emissions.

Now it would seem from the article, citizens are not taking part in the discussion but organizations such as Sewage Treatment Action Group (STAG) and Responsible Sewage Treatment Victoria (RSTV) are the ones spear holding the discussions. Personally I would have encouraged the citizens to get involved with the discussions to even learn more about it and potentially add in what they want out of a possible new system rather then just these organizations, which may or may not have the same interests as the population. Also the more people better understand how something works, the more people are willing to work with and potentially improve it

Exert from: Goldstream Gazette: Wed Jan.21/09, article “CRD sewage questions prompt more questions”

Don't be a lazy student!

In an article written by Michele Vicente, she suggests it’s a positive thing for potential grads and for local organizations and businesses to work together in a uniform manner for a common goal. For instance the MBA learners at Royal Roads University must complete a real life consulting project in order to graduate. This is a beneficial tool to the students as it gives them the opportunity to showcase the knowledge they gained from the course and experience and apply it to the work field. Not only does the student benefit from this, but businesses and organizations get free, confidential advice and at least 360 hours of consulting time. This potentially can create and encourage a sustainable environment amongst the community as students from Royal Roads are generally encouraged to develop new techniques and look for more environmentally friendly ideas. With community planning, generally local “talent” is encouraged as this can create a positive mentality with the community rather than using outside talent which may create some animosity.

In the case of Cameron Angus, he conducted a review of WorkSafeBC’s compliance programs for employers with workers who sustain fatal workplace injuries. The research he did is being used as a basis for future initiatives that may change polices and businesses practices concerning how WorkSafeBC deals with employers who have workers sustaining fatal workplace injuries. He comments, “Hopefully, my project will ultimately help to reduce the number of people who die on the job every year,” So by encouraging students to begin to experience the work field, can help to build a better community relationship with the schooling institutions and with the business community. This is also a sustainable idea, as there will always be new students starting school and of course giving businesses the opportunity for free work is always a positive thing in their minds and of course…their bank wallets

Exert from:InRoads Community Report: Friday, June 20, 2008, article from “RRU Students can help local businesses”

What’s that smell?....Success baby!

Royal Roads University has been spending years expanding and modifying the campus to be a more sustainable community. Another step was taken to achieve this goal outlined by RRU associate vice-president and chief information officer, Steve Grundy. He had indicated that RRU has begun plans to potentially capture West Shore’s sewage and build a Waste and Energy Recovery Research Centre on campus. A facility like this can be used to generate heat and electricity from burning dry wood in a gasification system and treating wastewater, or sewage. This in turn can help the campus to go off the grid, and sell excess energy to nearby communities. Not only will this lower Royal Roads carbon footprint, but can also be an inspiration to other potential institutions willingly to go green. The bulk of that funding would be for infrastructure to treat the wastewater, which is estimated at $39 million so it’s still a long ways to go.

What’s also interesting with this research is it can provide students first-hand experience how new technologies work and helps to engage the students. The students then in turn can share the knowledge they gained from their experience and take it with them, and potentially spread it amongst their “network”. Also as mentioned above this plan can be used to inspire other institutes to follow suit, but it also help educate the greater community about sustainable initiatives. With building a wastewater plant amongst a community, this can create some animosities due to the NIMBY (not in my backyard) philosophy, so proper knowledge and training needs to be done in order to help keep the community knowledgeable and ease any of their concerns. As Mr.Grundy said “I am hoping people will see the university as part of the community, not hiding behind the walls that surround this campus,” Universities are amongst communities and working with a community with developing and implementation of ongoing projects can create a sense of pride and confidence in the community one lives in.

Exert from:
Dove, A. (2009, December 18). Royal Roads making bid for sewage treatment . Retrieved January 21, 2009, from http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/goldstreamgazette/news/36392184.html

The future is now?

As a society we spend a lot of time inside buildings, which generally is the reason for the high energy costs in many establishments with the cost of heating and cooling. In order to compensate for these high costs, certain residential communities have decided to try to limit their energy consumption using alternate approaches. For instance, Tony Smythe, the owner of DFS Technologies Inc. has developed a home automation system, which allows people to hook up several electronic devices in the home to one central location. Basically all your electronics, lights, etc. are hooked up to the computer and a person can adjust their settings by merely with a simple touch of a button.

This can help to reduce the carbon footprint for several areas, as people can learn to better conserve their energy as lights can be adjusted or simple turned off from just one location. Even the drapes can be hooked up and will open and close deepening on the temperature in the house, which can help with limiting the cost of heating and cooling. Any residential area can have this system installed, and it’s a common application in Victoria’s Dock-side Green housing and apartment locations. This is a simple yet effective method of limiting the carbon footprint done by housing communities as well as establishments.

Exert from: Goldstream Gazette: Wed Jan.7/09, article “Going automatic, going green”