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“Collaboration is essential. We also have to bring people together. If we find a common purpose that we are pursuing together, there really is nothing that we cannot accomplish,” stated former BC Premier Campbell in 2010. “Look long term. Think about what is best for the future. Not for you, but for those who will follow you. Think about how we can create a better environment that others can live in and benefit from. We get to make our own choices. We get to make our own future. We just have to have the vision to imagine, and the tenacity to pursue it.”

“The vision of green infrastructure in Metro Vancouver is a beautiful one. With this nature-based approach to managing rainwater fully realized, the region is bejewelled with the greens and blues of lush tree canopies and thriving wetlands. The roofs of city buildings flourish with flowering plants and trees, forming a vast rain-capture network. Gaps between vision and reality are, of course, standard in politics. What makes this one frustrating to water-sustainability experts is how close to success the green infrastructure push came before it got derailed,” stated Pamela Swanigan.

“I dream of a culture change in climate/conservation or the social impact field more broadly so that people, relationships and community come first even before strategy, linear solutions and institutional self-interest. I am always working toward that and seeking partners to do this work. The big idea is to try and seed a culture change and shift in climate-conservation work to one that really values the power of relationships and networks. It is about getting the flywheel going,” stated Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern. She is a thought leader in the field of network leadership.

A decade in the making, the Water Sustainability Act is an a transformational piece of legislation but its full potential is yet to be realized. In their shared story behind the story, Valerie Cameron and Mike Wei reveal what makes the WSA special. They were in the room during drafting of the legislation. They lived and breathed it. “The Water Act lasted over 100 years, and certain provisions were never tried because there were other pressure relief valves. The WSA is still a relatively young statute. People will realize there are tools that can be used,” stated Mike Wei.

“”We are at the point where we need to move past concepts and truly begin addressing the problems. A large part of that involves re-evaluating services and better informing taxpayers on levels of service and costs. And then making tough decisions on how to fund the services that communities deliver. Asset Management concepts have been around long enough for staff and elected officials to have an awareness of the issues. We need to truly begin addressing the struggle to implement. The theme that I am now promoting is this, just tell us your story,” stated Arnold Schwabe.

“Transformation is often fraught with danger for both the change agents themselves and their organizations. It is like dancing with a tiger – with the outcome frequently uncertain. How does one dance with the tiger? You do it carefully, skillfully, courageously, in tune to the same music, advancing step by natural step,” wrote Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare, authors of Dancing with the Tiger. Their analogy provides relevant context for the third installment of the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver. This covers the period 1997 through 2005.

“In 2018, I happened to read a report which quoted a paper by Younes Alila. So I started reading more of his work. This is significant, I thought, because lives have been lost and billions of dollars in infrastructure damage has happened. And nobody seems to care. Here we have a UBC professor of hydrology who has completely changed how forest hydrology is looked at now. And he has determined that we have been using the wrong methods to determine the prescription outcomes from forest harvesting practices. Yet we are still continuing to do the same thing,” stated Mike Morris.

“In the BC Interior and the Okanagan, most are passionate about water, its science, limitations, and challenges. Okanagan Lake is key to our survival. Kelowna’s Water Security Plan came out of a need to recognize that water quality, not just quantity, is critical to our path forward. It took a long time to get there. But we got it across the finish line. We are known for our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater practices. But our outcomes must also consider natural asset management, environmental flows, and source water protection,” stated Rod MacLean.

“The Agricultural Land Inventory for me was a chance to translate reality into data, to make a permanent record bearing witness to these changes and providing the facts for informed decision-making. I am so proud of Christina Gemino’s work in turning that data into a message and call for action,” stated Kevin Eastwood. What is neat about the story of Christina Gemino and her body of research is how she infuses her passion to paint a picture of land use within the Agricultural Land Reserve. Through her analysis, she shines a light on what is going on within the ALR that is not right.

“I was inspired to write the book because a couple of years back I was looking at a lot of old photos. And I could not help but feel how fortunate I have been to have seen so much of the world through the lens of rivers. The book takes the reader on a multi-decade global adventure. And it chronicles a lot of the real-life encounters I have had on rivers around the world,” stated Mark Angelo. As an avid kayaker, canoeist and rafter, Mark Angelo has traveled on close to a thousand rivers spanning well over one-hundred countries; perhaps more than any other individual.