Mike Tanner tells “The Story of the Water Bucket Website” at the 2009 Resilient Cities Conference
Resilient Cities Conference
Sustainability imperatives, the call for climate action, and the pressure for new approaches in almost every urban system have North American cities scrambling to manage the shift toward ecological practices and greater resilience.
To provide solutions to these challenges, three organizations – the Center for Urban Innovation, Smart Growth BC,and the Canadian Society of Ecological Economics (CANSEE) – combined forces to co-host Resilient Cities: Urban Strategies for Transition Times in October 2009. The conference was held in Vancouver.
Showcasing the ‘Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia’
“There is growing national and international interest in how British Columbia has moved from awareness to action in implementing green infrastructure practices that achieve water sustainability outcomes,” reports Eva Kras, CANSEE President and author of The Blockage.
“As part of the CANSEE contribution to the Resilient Cities Conference, we included a module on the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia. This created the opportunity for the Action Plan team to elaborate on how ‘green action objectives’ are being achieved in British Columbia.”
“The presentation team comprised Kim Stephens, Eric Bonham, Mike Tanner and Ted van der Gulik – representing the Water Sustainability Committee of the British Columbia Water & Waste Association (BCWWA). Mike Tanner told the story of the Water Bucket website.
About the Water Bucket Website
Mike Tanner, Chair of the Water Bucket Website Partnership, described how the website is a vehicle for documenting and then sharing what takes place in Action Plan forums.
“Launched in 2005, the waterbucket.ca website is the key to the communications strategy for the Water Sustainability Action Plan. The website is designed to provide the complete story on integrated land and water management – why, what, where and how.”
“We are writing our history as we create it. We have found it extremely effective to publish news-style stories…Our experience is that the use of photos and images is engaging; and attributing quotes to individuals in a conversational style has more impact than dry technical writing,” he explained.
Links to YouTube Videos{
A set of seven video clips has been uploaded to YouTube to provide a record and capture the flavour of how Mike Tanner told the story of the Water Bucket Website. Each video clip corresponds to a slide in Mike Tanner’s 7-slide PowerPoint presentation; and the typical length is approximately 1.5 minutes. Click on the links below to view each YouTube video:
Context and Overview (2:30)
The Vision (1:30)
Networking and Outreach (1:45)
Capacity Building (1:35)
Education and Training (1:25)
Success to Date (1:15)
Testimonial from Town of Comox (0:30)
To download the set of PowerPoint slides that accompany the YouTube videos, click on The story of the waterbucket.ca website.
