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michael blackstock

    STORYTELLING PLATFORM FOR ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACH TO LAND AND WATER USE: “Success stories on waterbucket.ca profile and validate those who do good work in the spirit of Living Water Smart,” stated Mike Tanner, founding chair of the intergovernmental waterbucket.ca partnership


    “In 2004, we brought together an intergovernmental partnership to fund development of the waterbucket.ca website. Launched 12 months later in 2005, waterbucket.ca has matured into a legacy resource. It has become the place where people go to look for information on water in BC. It is a powerful communication platform because we provide an independent voice for peer-based learning. We are getting the stories of the Living Water Smart champions out there. When people say I saw it on waterbucket.ca, that is our ultimate measure and testament of success,” stated Mike Tanner.

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    GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INFLUENCER IN THE METRO VANCOUVER REGION: “My passion is about driving positive change. Being committed to goals. Setting long-term objectives. And committing to those until they are delivered. That is what gets these big items over the finish line,” stated Melony Burton, Manager of Infrastructure Planning with the City of Port Coquitlam


    Melony Burton’s actions in driving positive change are guided by her no-nonsense approach to keeping it simple, practical and implementable. She is results-based and has a history of accomplishment with three local governments. Her responsibilities encompass the entire infrastructure portfolio. “I have leveraged my career into a position that allows me to have more influence and positive change. This came, in part, from channeling the frustration at being limited in the role I was in. When you are comfortable, you are not motivated to make a change,” explains Melony Burton.

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    FUSION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND NATURAL INTELLIGENCE: “Engineers do not understand nature because they were not taught it. And that brings us to why there is the need for Blue Ecology and interweaving other ways of thinking so that we can fuse AI, artificial intelligence, and natural intelligence, aka NI,” stated Michael Blackstock, independent Indigenous scholar and co-founder of the Blue Ecology Institute


    “There is untapped intelligence out there in nature. It is on our doorstep but we are tapping it even less because we are so focused on Artificial Intelligence,” says Michael Blackstock. “There is this vast amount of wisdom out there that Indigenous peoples have seen forever…and that is Natural Intelligence. Avoid getting caught up in only looking to AI to solve your problems. The balance principle is central to Natural Intelligence and Blue Ecology. It calls for a narrative shift towards healing and giving back to the environment.”

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    ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “When data collection is undertaken in the absence of critical thinking, one runs the risk of analysis paralysis,” stated Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability (Summer 2024 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)


    “Local governments need data that is meaningful for infrastructure asset management, but quality and usefulness have emerged as issues of paramount concern. Before collecting data, make sure you ask the right questions,” states Kim Stephens. “Be clear on why data is needed. What is the desired outcome? How will you use the information or data? Will it help you make better decisions? How much and what kind of data do you actually need? Does the cost meet the test of being affordable and effective? What are the tradeoffs between risk, complexity and cost?”

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    REFLECTIONS ON CREATING A CULTURE OF APPRECIATION IN THE CITY OF COQUITLAM: “Balance. Alignment. Appreciation. Three words that capture so much. They are foundation pieces for creating a culture of collaboration which is a steppingstone to a culture of appreciation,” stated Pete Steblin, former City Engineer and City Manager


    “Good decision-making comes down to a good process. But it also relies on wisdom in terms of balanced advice. The essence of my guiding philosophy as a City Manager is distilled into the three Ts which are trust, time and think. Staff gives good advice and Council makes the decisions,” stated Pete Steblin. “When there is a significant level of trust in technical recommendations, Councils rarely override them. Staff explains recommendations. The Council makes the decisions. Trust is fragile and can easily be broken. When trust is lost, decades of good work can be lost.”

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    DESIGN WITH NATURE TO CREATE LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES AND PROTECT STREAM HEALTH: “Sharing knowledge across departments and municipalities is a big one for developing and implementing truly integrated plans,” stated Melony Burton, Manager of Infrastructure Planning with the City of Port Coquitlam in Metro Vancouver


    “In my work, I continue to apply the ten principles that I developed at Coquitlam when we delivered nine Integrated Watershed Management Plans in just 10 years. Three of the 10 are universally applicable to any area of infrastructure planning: take action, start small, stay practical. Staying true to these has helped me deliver so much. Develop a really good strategy coming out of the gate and stay super focused. Do not go down rabbit holes. You can always circle back later. Rather than just diving in, start with getting the lessons learned from what others have tried first,” stated Melony Burton.

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    EAP, THE ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNTING PROCESS, IS AN EXPRESSION OF BLUE ECOLOGY: “Streams need a place to be. If we cannot get our heads around that, we are not going to keep our streams,” stated Tim Pringle, a founding director and Past-President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability


    “Because nature is a system, you cannot slice and dice it. EAP recognizes this and is a financial tool to give streams the support they need to survive. EAP provides a value picture of a stream system as a land use. How are Blue Ecology and EAP interconnected? Blue Ecology emphasizes the social perspective for protecting watersheds and streams. EAP shows how to achieve that outcome. EAP builds on the ‘big idea’ that use and conservation of land are equal values. Where Blue Ecology and EAP come together is in recognizing the importance of water and ecological assets in those two contexts,” stated Tim Pringle.

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