DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Communities in Balance with Water – Create a Vision, Build a Legacy” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in September 2022
Note to Reader:
Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on September 20, 2022 featured a flashback to a Partnership for Water Sustainability report published in 2006. Following the BC local government elections in November 2005, an inter-regional focus group of mayors and chairs helped the Partnership frame concerns, issues and outcomes for sustainability and adaptability.
Look back and take stock: How well are we doing? Now what?
“Every generation is handed a world that has been shaped by their predecessors – and then seemingly forgets that fact. In a short-but-influential paper published in 1995, legendary UBC fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly argued that this blind spot meant scientists were failing to account fully for the slow creep of disappearing species,” wrote Kim Stephens, Partnership Executive Director and Waterbucket eNews Editor.
“Daniel Pauly coined this effect as the Shifting Baseline Syndrome. Since then, the shifting baseline effect has been observed far more widely than the fisheries community – it takes place in any realm of society where a baseline creeps imperceptibly over generations.”
“The loss of historical depth is the main cause behind the syndrome, stated the German sociologist Dietmar Rost in his book about Daniel Pauly’s concept. Their observations provide context for the flashback to 2006 which launched a new season of Waterbucket eNews.”
Communities in Balance with Water
“At the turn of the 21st century, British Columbia was in the midst of a development boom. This followed the “lost decade” of the 1980s when economic activity in the province virtually ground to a halt. Population growth and climate change were issues in the 2005 local government elections,” continued Kim Stephens.
“In the months immediately following the election, the Partnership interviewed an inter-regional group of mayors and chairs representing the Okanagan, Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island. A distinguishing feature of the focus group was that everyone had thought about how to achieve environmental, economic and social objectives through a community’s infrastructure choices.”
“We unveiled our findings in November 2006 at the Building SustainAble Communities Conference held in Kelowna. Because election day looms large on October 15th, we bring forward the 2006 report so that our many readers who are elected representatives will have a frame-of-reference for pondering this question:
When you reflect upon what local government leaders knew in 2006, how do you judge your community’s progress on its green infrastructure and water sustainability journey?”
TO LEARN MORE:
To read the complete story posted on September 20th 2022, download a PDF copy of “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Communities in Balance with Water – Create a Vision, Build a Legacy” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in September 2022
DOWNLOAD A PDF COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/09/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_build-vision-create-legacy_2022.pdf