The Futurology Exchange by Okanagan Life Magazine

Big Ideas We Need Now — #14

Inspired by This Magazine's feature "40 ideas We Need Now," we invited some of Okanagan Life's regular contributors, along with other notable Valley residents to give us a big idea whose time has come, for the Okanagan and for the world. Sadly, more than 90 per cent of those we invited said they were simply too busy. Perhaps, then, the first big idea is that we should all slow down so that we actually have the time to contemplate how to collectively make a better future. Still, we managed to receive a diverse array of ideas that are sure to make you think, make you laugh, make you angry or even make you want to put in your own two cents. Well, here's your chance. Comment on these ideas, or add your own by emailing us. In the meantime…

An End to the Spread of Invasive Chemical Spray
by Mark Coffey

The great dandelion — scourge of Okanagan lawns. Decades of outright war have been waged against them. No end is in sight. A Manley Report is in order; time to seriously evaluate our strategies and practices. 

We have the same number of dandelions as we did in the spring of 1972 (not supported by any actual data — just guessing). We do, however, have an increase in the number of chemical pollutants in our Okanagan soils; a sorry eventuality in herbicidal warfare. These are the same soils that grow our food and carry our children’s drinking water.

Quebec, Ontario and numerous Canadian municipalities have banned pesticides and herbicides for casual use. We aren’t leading any packs here in the Okanagan — time to pick up the pace. Oh, and the dandelion weeder.

As a lifelong soldier in the dandelion war, my wife, Sarah (now a major-general), is a patient and efficient digger in the front lines of our front lawn. I, by marriage, have now been sworn in as a private in the force and am proudly continuing the good fight. Chemical-free warfare. The war is nasty, fiercely contested hand-to-root combat. We have been utilizing the tried and true tools, hands and small trowels. 

I will be the first to admit that some days the dandelions gain the upper hand, maybe most days. Okay so I am going to say that we are simply aerating the lawn. Rightly however, for this is finally a fair fight. Fair to the dandelions — fair to our children.
 
—Private Mark Coffey is a professional freelance photographer and regular contributor to Okanagan Life — when he isn’t in the front yard.

The Future of the Okanagan: A Round Table Discussion Worth Responding To

Compelling conversations don't get much better than this one (available as a text transcript or audio recording), held at the Rotary Centre for the Arts this past November. Okanagan Life Magazine invited some of the Okanagan's best minds and important players to sit down and talk about the Valley's future, as well as options for its sustainability. What we heard at this discussion left us determined to learn more about the issues and with a new mandate to help get the Okanagan's residents involved and participating in a broad exchange of ideas.

Listening to this discussion, it becomes very clear that our shared future is being shaped right now, and if we all go along with the status quo, we may be in for a great deal of unpleasant consequences. Now is not the time to be apathetic.

Hear what a development manager, a wine industry consultant, an organic farmer, an aquatic biologist, a technology expert, a registered architect, a business consultant to First Nations, and three UBC-O professors (from the schools of economics, engineering and sociology) have to say on issues such as the impacts of global factors on the Okanagan, growth and development questions, and the impacts that absentee homeowners have on our communities.

This blog has been set up to share news, views, reviews and interviews on the subject of the Okanagan's future and it's sustainability. I encourage everyone to make comments on anything we post here, beginning with your thoughts and reactions to this round table discussion. Don't leave the important ideas and debates to back room meetings. Get involved and voice your opinions so that our leaders cannot ignore you.

Aquatic Biologist Darryl Arsenault on Sustainability in the Okanagan

As an engineering consultant and also director of the BC Lake Stewardship Society, sustainability issues are part of Darryl's everyday life. When we interviewed him for a sidebar in Okanagan Life's feature story A Jolt From the Blue...the Future of Our Valley (Jan/Feb 2008), we wanted to hear his thoughts on some of the questions posed at the round table discussion that was the core of the feature. Here's what Darryl said:

Green Builder Andrew Gaucher on Sustainability in the Okanagan

When we interviewed Andrew Gaucher, owner of Green Solutions Inc, for a sidebar in Okanagan Life's feature story A Jolt From the Blue...the Future of Our Valley (Jan/Feb 2008), we also asked him some of the questions posed at the round table discussion that was the core of the feature. Here's what Andrew had to say.

Stuff: 101

Here's a fast, entertaining primer on the lifecycle and impacts of the products we all consume. The Story of Stuff is a website with a 20-minute enhanced video that breaks down the complexities of our modern system of production and consumption into a message that is very easy to understand. It's focus in on the United States, but it applies equally to Canada. Look around at all the stuff you have after you watch this and it will become apparent very quickly just how much one person's impact can be.

Inspired Ideas for a Sustainable Future

Alex Steffen, founder of WorldChanging.com, gives an upbeat presentation of possible solutions to global challenges. Check out the straw that purifies water as you drink it, or my favourite — flowers that change colours where landmines are present below them. He also offers up Vancouver as a city that is implementing some progressive ideas. While some of the answers in his presentation seem irrelevant to us in the Okanagan, I think the message is clear. We need to think differently about how we approach living here. And, we should be very capable of finding innovative solutions to the issues we are facing in this region if we have the willingness to do so.

Cradle to Cradle Design: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

William McDonough, co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, gives a humourous presentation about the need for, and very real capabilities of, designing the products we consume to be fully sustainable and ecologically-friendly — without ending up in a landfill or a "slow motion waste" recycling stream in which the material recycled cannot be used to re-create a product of the same quality as the original.

McDonough also presents plans for an entire sustainable city to be built in China (yes — China!). It's an amazing concept, and should it be pulled off, will give the rest of the world a great template to build on or use as inspiration.

This presentation offers some reasons to remain optimistic about the possibilities for our future. Wouldn't it be great if the Okanagan's new economy could be built with companies and practices with these ideas at their core?

I must give credit to Ethan Andrews, my good friend from Denver, Colorado for passing McDonough's book on to me as a gift. Ethan does some amazing work in the way of environmental art and design with his company Leap Year.