How to use the 2007 Green Infrastructure Guide as a planning resource and/or tool
The Green Infrastructure Guide: Issues, Implementation Strategies and Success Stories provides guidance on how local governments may, using legal 
and policy strategies, encourage or require more sustainable infrastructure designs. It refers readers to strategies, and highlights case studies of local governments that have already taken steps to incorporate a green infrastructure approach. The focus is on implementation mechanisms, issues and barriers, and on what lessons have been learned from experiences to date.
Cowichan Valley Seminar
At the second in the Cowichan Valley Learning Lunch Seminars, Guide author Susan Rutherford was part of the guest faculty. She provided local government participants with a primer on the Green Infrastructure Guide.
“Susan represents West Coast Environmental Law on the Green Infrastructure Partnership,” stated seminar team leader Kim Stephens (Program Coordinator, Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia). “We are making it a priority to raise awareness of the valuable work Susan has done in connecting the dots between the law and infrastructure.”
Legislative Overview
In an introductory segment, Susan Rutherford summarized opportunities and scales for law and policy to affect change. Titled Effective Municipal Rainwater/Stormwater Management and Green Infrastructure to Achieve Watershed Health, her presentation can be downloaded by clicking here or on the image below.
An Introduction to the Guide
In her feature presentation, Susan Rutherford provided a synopsis of Chapters 2 (Rain and Land) and 5 (Liability) in the Green Infrastructure Guide because of their particular relevance to the seminar curriculum. To download a copy, click here or on the image below.
YouTube Videos
To view a video clip of Susan reviewing the tools available to local government to encourage or require low impact designs as well as the finding of innovative 
alternatives and solutions to achieve the New Business As Usual, please click here. In a second video clip, Susan elaborates on “the elephant liability” by painting a picture of the many kinds of risk that enter into a local government’s consideration of a project or infrastructure innovation. Click here to view the video clip.
Learning Lunch Seminar Series
The Learning Lunch Seminar Series promotes a consistent provincial approach to rainwater management and green infrastructure. The Cowichan Valley Regional District and City of Courtenay are the host local governments for Learning Lunch Seminar Series in the Spring and Fall of 2008, respectively. In total, the Vancouver Island local governments that will be participating represent some 250,000 people.
The Learning Lunch Seminar Series is the first step in building a regional team approach so that there will be a common understanding and consistent messaging regarding on-the-ground expectations for rainwater management and green infrastructure. The Seminar Series is part of the implementation program for Beyond the Guidebook: The New Business As Usual.
Posted July 2008