March 2009 Communities in Transition Information Resource

Thanks to Ellen Pond for submitting this aerial view of Kimberley, home to a CIT pilot project on visualizing climate change scenarios. A review of the project will be featured in the May 2009 issue of the CIT Information Resource.

Welcome to the fourth issue of the Communities in Transition Information Resource! We’re starting to get some feedback from you. What we’re hearing tells us that, while there need to be some changes (we’ll probably always being in some kind of ‘transition’ ourselves), we are providing an important service.

That’s good to hear. It’s also consistent with what CIT is about, and what the Real Estate Foundation of BC is about. ... Keep your comments coming. Post your comments, or contact Foundation staff directly . The conversation about land use practices and conservation that we’re committed to supporting gets stronger and deeper with your participation. (more at... )


IN THE MARCH 2009 ISSUE:

Learning from Reversing the Tide: A Conversation with Victor Cumming
by hans peter meyer
"Communities and businesses involved in the forest or wood sector have been operating in a policy context that doesn't encourage local or regional solutions using forestry as an economic driver. This is based on an assumption that entrepreneurs will look after things, that they will create and embrace the opportunities. The consequence of following this assumption, however, is that we've seen the centralizing of capital, and a centralizing of control over the Annual Allowable Cut. This doesn't leave much room for community based development or even small business development. The opportunity and the complexity that a larger regional approach could address is lost because the current provincial government isn’t interested, and because of the limited sub-regional focus that municipalities, CFDCs, and RDs take in their economic development activities." (more at.... )

Community and Sustainability: The Conversation Today
by Tim Pringle
"Has the market slowdown had an impact on the conversation? Yes. In some ways it's underlining what northern communities have been learning over the past decade: that a community's ability to survive is more than a question of economics. From Dawson Creek to the South Okanagan, to the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island I'm seeing and hearing more support for the ecological viewpoint than ever. (more at... )

Launch of "new" Water Balance Model earns Award and 300 new Subscribers in 2009
by Kim A. Stephens
The Water Balance Model (WBM) ... is the professional computational and communication backbone that will help local governments achieve the sustainable reality of implementing best practices the greening of the man-made environment. (more at... )

Speaking About Trees...
by hans peter meyer
Our relations to trees and forests is complex. The presence of our settlements on the East Coast of Vancouver Island is a testament to the richness that the trees have given us. We would do well to speak more of and about the trees, the forests, and how we sustain them, that we may be sustained. (more at... )

Green Values Vancouver Island
...[M]any communities are struggling to deal effectively with the pressures of growth and development. GVVI is envisioned as a way to support local public, [conservation & stewardship sector], and private sector leadership and to advance the level of development practices on the Island towards sustainability. (more at... )


ABOUT COMMUNITIES IN TRANSITION
If you're new to CIT, go to www.communitytransition.org/about for background on this Special Program of the Real Estate Foundation of BC.

For more information regarding CIT applications and projects please contact Jen McCaffrey, CIT Coordinator with the Real Estate Foundation of BC at info@communitytransition.org or 604-688-6800 /1-866-912-6800.

We look forward to sharing these resources with you. We welcome your suggestions as to how we can be more effective in communicating with you and your peers.


PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CIT SITE IS STILL IN DEVELOPMENT.
We are making a number of changes to make the site more functional as a place of conversation. We hope to see these changes in place within about four months. In the meantime, keep the conversation going:
* let us know how we’re doing
* let us know where you think we should be putting our attention
* give our writers and researchers feedback on the conversations they’re engaged in.

You can email me directly at "editor (at) communtytransition.org". You can also contact Jen, Tim, or Karin Kirkpatrick (Executive Director at the Real Estate Foundation as of November 1st) through the Foundation.

hans peter meyer
CIT Information Resource Editor & Writer
editor (at) communitytransition.org


IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO RECEIVE CIT RELATED EMAILS, please let us know with an email to info@communitytransition.org marked "REMOVE" in the subject header.