by Stan Hirst Another year almost gone. Only 7778,582 seconds left to the end of 2020 says the doomsday app on my computer screen. There is a morbid fascination in watching seconds tick away on a coloured clock face. To think that somebody actually took the time (ha!) to programme an app like that. To… Continue reading Waiting it out: patience in a time of COVID
Category: Developing Resilience
Linking the pandemic recovery to remedying the loss of global biodiversity
by Stan Hirst Back in September 2020 most of us were most likely a little preoccupied with incessant hand-washing, face-mask adjustment, standing in line for dwindling supplies of beer and toilet paper, and general hand-wringing over news of the cancelled Grey Cup. All reasonable excuses for having missed the column in the national press which… Continue reading Linking the pandemic recovery to remedying the loss of global biodiversity
A Brighter Future using Etuaptmunk “Two-Eyed Seeing”
by Paul Strome Disputes between indigenous and non-indigenous interests over renewable resources and user conflicts have regrettably been part of the Canadian national fabric for centuries. The ongoing dispute between Mi’kmaq and non-Indigenous lobster fishers in southwest Nova Scotia is yet another page in an ongoing saga. The historical and treaty-based facts underlying the Mi’kmaq… Continue reading A Brighter Future using Etuaptmunk “Two-Eyed Seeing”
Living with uncertainty
by Jill Schroder Our southern neighbour is in the throes of a vital election which affects almost everyone on the planet and has created a lot of uncertainty. In addition it’s a hugely challenging time for many of us in Canada and elsewhere. There are risks of disastrous losses, multiple concerns, and deep uncertainty about… Continue reading Living with uncertainty
Cultivate Joy — we sure need it now!
by Jill Schroder Joy and delight, enthusiasm and lightheartedness are good for our health, our immune systems, and have trickle-down benefits for everybody and everything we come in contact with. I find that when I focus on joy and delight, love and light, my energy changes… the energy that I bring to whatever is in… Continue reading Cultivate Joy — we sure need it now!
Stepping beyond uncertainty
by Lillian Ireland There’s a dull ache from not knowing when these COVID days will end. I wake up each day from dreams of how I feel suspended and trapped inside a sea of strange disbelief and grief. It’s like a fictional foreboding from which I want relief. It feels like a hammer has pummeled… Continue reading Stepping beyond uncertainty
Slow growth: the way to a better future
by Stan Hirst Have just watched the excellent film Metamorphosis. In its prologue the film seeks to bear witness to a moment of profound change – the loss of one world, and the birth of another. The film exposes us to scenes of forest fires consuming communities, species vanishing, and entire ecosystems collapsing. It is… Continue reading Slow growth: the way to a better future
Life is in the transitions: mastering change at any age
Life Is In The Transitions: Mastering Change At Any Age by Bruce Feiler Penguin Random House LLC 2020| 368pp. Believe it or not, we are now in the ninth month of the COVID-19 crisis. According to the WHO the present epidemic raised its spiky viral head for the first time on 31 December 2019. It… Continue reading Life is in the transitions: mastering change at any age
A tale of a trillion trees
by Stan Hirst A fine alliterative title, but it presents a problem in visioning. Just what does a trillion trees actually look like? What size area would, or could they cover? The story starts with Kenyan Wangari Maathai (1940-2011) who, while serving in the National Council of Women in 1976, introduced the idea of community-based… Continue reading A tale of a trillion trees
How do we galvanize climate action in Vancouver?
Creating a renewed sense of place, block by block by Erlene Woollard and Patricia Plackett “Lord, make me pure, but not yet!” No doubt when St. Augustine uttered this prayer in about 380 AD he was not thinking about being pure in the sense of his ‘carbon footprint’. If you will allow us to belabour… Continue reading How do we galvanize climate action in Vancouver?