Economy and Ecology – A Necessary Partnership for Water Sustainability
THE BLOCKAGE – Rethinking Organizational Principles for the 21st Century
Effective change in the way we develop land and use water will result from collaboration of business, local government and community. A desired outcome is a healthy economy within a sustainable environment.
On October 15 in Nanaimo, the Vancouver Island Economic Summit will feature the CAVI-Convening for Action on Vancouver Island initiative. CAVI has brought together four regional districts as partners in an Inter-Regional Education Initiative. The “CAVI forum within the Summit” is viewed as a springboard to collaboration, alignment and a consistent approach to achieve water and watershed sustainability up and down the east coast of Vancouver Island.
The CAVI forum follows the keynote address by Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada. Eva Kras, a past-President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics, will connect the dots between the two as a featured panellist in the Summit session – “Economy & Ecology”.
Eva Kras is a visionary, scholar, traveler and author of THE BLOCKAGE–Rethinking Organizational Principles for the 21st Century.
“Our apparent ‘blockage’ in moving from preoccupation with short-term gratification to buy-in for a long-term vision is a consequence of society in general providing credibility predominantly for immediate, concrete results. Unfortunately, the long view of ‘what will this be like in 50 years’ and policy to support such vision is difficult to establish and even harder to defend over time when decision-makers are regularly challenged with the demands of the day.”
“Yet we need both immediate-term pragmatism and visionary dedication to sustainability if we are to preserve our capacity for positive and permanent regional vitality. Breakthroughs result when we take leaps of faith and apply our pragmatic skills to the ‘big picture’.”
“The knack is to demonstrate that the road to both short and long term economic security is through COLLABORATION. We have to demonstrate that ‘business as usual’ will eventually result in economic loss both short and long term. Then hearts and minds will be receptive to a vision for settlement, economy and ecology in balance. This is why I am so impressed by the collaboration that is gathering momentum on Vancouver Island.”
To Learn More:
To enquire about registration for the CAVI forum, send an email to Wendy Sears at registration@viea.ca. For more information on the 2-day State of the Island Economic Summit on October 15/16 event, visit www.viea.ca
For background on the forum, click on 2012 Vancouver Island Economic Summit: Springboard to Inter-Regional Educational Initiative on ‘Sustainable Service Delivery’