Carbon Neutral Games

This morning's Sustainability Community Breakfast was entitled "Carbon Neutral Games VANOC and Offsetters". The breakfast featured Linda Coady, Vice President of Sustainability at VANOC and James Tansey, President and Co-founder of Offsetters as speakers as well as a presentation by Project Bluesky.ca.

The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver are to be the first Games in Olympic history to have a carbon offset sponsor. The locally-based Offsetters Clean Technology is working with VANOC to neutralize the carbon footprint of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games with projects that showcase BC leadership and innovation on climate solutions.

VANOC provided an update on their sustainability planning for the Winter Games and launched the new Vancouver 2010 Sustainability Journey video:



The video aims to cross language, cultural and inter-generational barriers in describing the sustainable features of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. A summary of these features can be seen here. However, I am not entirely sure that someone without a background in sustainability would be able to fully understand what the video is trying to portray.

While I do find most offsetting companies to be suspect, I did like how Offsetters works to help individuals and companies understand, reduce, track, and offset their climate impact, rather than just offering a financial solution of being able to buy offsets and continue on with 'business as usual'.

Project Bluesky put on an entertaining presentation on how athletes are working with the Olympic Committee, Offsetters, students and other professionals to reduce emissions by encouraging people to log the kilometres they walk, cycle, or ride on public transit and challenge their friends to do the same. They also presented the bluesky.ca widget, which allows participants to log their own modes of transportation.



However, I feel that this widget is primarily only of use to people who frequently drive. If you already take public transport regularly, the widget does not account for changes in behavior, such as changing from riding a diesel bus every day to biking or walking.

ReBurbia Design Competition

With the current housing crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, and rising energy costs, the future of suburbia looks bleak. Suburban communities in central California, Arizona and Florida are desolate and decaying, with for sale and foreclosure signs dotting many lawns. According to the US Census, about 90% of all metropolitan growth occurred in suburban communities in the last ten years. Urbanites who loathe the freeways, big box stores and bland aesthetics stereotypical of suburbia may secretly root for the end of sprawl, but demographic trends indicate that exurban growth is still on the rise.

As limited natural resources force us to find better solutions for density and efficiency, what will become of the cul-de-sacs, cookie-cutter tract houses and generic strip malls that have long upheld the diffuse infrastructure of suburbia? How can we redirect these existing spaces to promote sustainability, walkability, and community? It’s a problem that demands a visionary design solution which is why Inhabitat and Dwell Magazine have teamed up to launch the ReBurbia design contest.

Winners will have their designs showcased in Dwell Magazine, Dwell.com & Inhabitat.com and receive a $1000 cash prize.

Pedal for the Planet

Coast 2 Coast: Pedal for the Planet, started in Victoria and passed through Vancouver with an event held on July 4th at the Vancouver Art Gallery. David Suzuki was on hand to comment about the Canadian government’s failure to take action on climate change and urged people to demand a commitment from the government. He also noted that those in developing countries are the least responsible for climate change yet face the greatest burden because of it.

Global T.V. was at the launch of the Vancouver leg, and you can watch the interview online at http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html?releasePID=wjbVA_zxm7FJ0Ohp5ouJPkhP02p_ls3z.

Feel free to join C2C as they make their way to Ottawa or follow the progress on the blog: http://kyotoplus.ca/pedal/?cat=5

Pedal for the Planet in a larger map

The Happy Planet Index

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is an innovative measure that shows the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered around the world. It is the first ever index to combine environmental impact with well-being to measure the environmental efficiency with which country by country, people live long and happy lives. The second compilation of the global HPI, published in July 2009, shows that we are still far from achieving sustainable well-being and puts forward a vision of what we need to do to get there.

To measure the efficiency with which countries convert the earth's finite resources into their citizens' well-being, the HPI takes three separate indicators -- ecological footprint, life-satisfaction and life-expectancy -- and then carries out complex calculations. One can explore these indicators on the HPI website.



While leaders of the developed world worry away at economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), deflation and their implications for economic recovery, the HPI lauds alternative standards that provide a new twist on the old adage that wealth does not buy happiness. However, the HPI's sums have been criticised for not taking sufficient account of issues such as political freedom, but the index has also found followers.

Within two days of the launch of the first HPI, it was downloaded and read in 185 countries worldwide.

You may also calculate your own HPI score on the HPI website. I received a score of 62.4 which is above the world average of 46, but still below the target of 83, which represents a good life that doesn’t cost the Earth.


Source: Reuters

Reece Terris - Ought Apartment

The Vancouver Art Gallery is currently hosting an exhibit by artist Reece Terris. The installation, called Ought Apartment, consist of a tower that rises from the main floor to the full height of the central rotunda, in which sections from six apartments are stacked one on top of another. Each apartment is furnished with discarded items from the 1950s (on the lowest level) up to the present decade (at the top). Through this process of “making strange,” Terris invites viewers to consider their relationship to the consumption and construction of domestic space and the role this space plays in locating a public as social subjects.

Walking through the installation is like walking through time. What is most amazing is that Ought Apartment is made up entirely of reclaimed materials - thus showing how easy it is to furnish an apartment of any era with recycled goods.

World Changing Careers Symposium

From July 23-27 is the World Changing Careers Symposium at UBC. Come to design a sustainable future through your career - whether you’re interested in science, governance, education, business, health, economics, media, cleantech and energy, or agriculture. This is a rare opportunity to engage with the best minds, the brightest ideas, leaders of today, and visionaries of tomorrow. It’s your chance to learn skills and ideas to drive the world in an exciting new direction and give you the inside track on the jobs of the future. For more information visit www.worldchangingcareers.com.



You can also view a poster for this event here.

Melting Men

Although this installation is about 6 month old, I thought I'd bring it back to light as we are now in the northern hemisphere summer. Brazilian artist, Nele Azevedo's installation of frozen men attempts to show how the effects of melting ice can be felt worldwide. The artist metaphorically brings the Arctic ice melt to the equator by showcasing a number of thought-provoking figures, carefully sculpted out of ice, who seem to sit in contemplation as the midday heat slowly erodes their bodies.



Reference: Iconocast