Waterbucket.ca provides ‘home’ for telling the story of British Columbia’s Green Communities Initiative

Green Communities: Today’s Expectations are Tomorrow’s Standards

The Province’s Green Communities Initiative provides a framework for helping local governments in British Columbia create more compact, more sustainable and greener Glen brown (120p) - oct 2008communities. “The Province is looking at raising the bar as far as what we are trying to accomplish with standards, provincial legislation and infrastructure grant programs. Today’s expectations are tomorrow’s standards,” states Glen Brown, Executive Director with the Ministry of Community & Rural Development

Role of Water Bucket

“To help the Ministry tell the story of the Green Communities Initiative, the Water Bucket Website Partnership has created a ‘home’ on the Green Infrastructure community-of-interest to post articles about the four areas of Ministry activity, namely: partnerships, legislation, incentives, and better information,” Mike Tanner, Website Chair, has announced.

Mike tanner (120p) - fall 2008“Previously, Water Bucket created an ‘information home’ for Living Water Smart, BC’s Water Plan. The Green Communities Initiative encompasses a number of plans and strategies that complement and/or support Living Water Smart. By serving as a communication vehicle to share information and experiences, we believe Water Bucket is helping to effect changes on the ground in water and land development practices in British Columbia.”

Links to YouTube Videos:

Click here to view a YouTube video clip of Laura Tate, Manager of Vancouver Island Growth Strategies, explain the four elements of the Green Communities puzzle at the 2008 Comox Valley Learning Lunch Seminar Series.

Click here to view a YouTube video of Mike Tanner at the 2009 Penticton Forum when he explained the partnership vision for telling the water-centric story of integrated land and water management: the why, what, where and how.

The New Business As Usual

“We are using the slogan The New Business As Usual to convey the message that, for change to really occur, practices that until now have been viewed as the exception must become the norm 2008 learning lunch pilot - dale wall (160p)moving forward. We have to build regulatory models and develop models of practice and expertise to support The New Business As Usual”, stated Dale Wall, Deputy Minister, at the Gaining Ground Summit in May 2008.

To learn more about what Dale Wall had to say, click here to view a YouTube video clip.