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“The book ‘downstream: reimagining water’ is an anthology,” explains Michael Blackstock. “It brings together the perspectives of artists, writers, scientists, scholars, environmentalists, and activists. It does this by exploring the key roles that culture, arts, and the humanities play in supporting healthy water-based ecology. My chapter is titled Interweaving Water. It outlines four steps toward transforming sovereign knowledge into collaborative knowledge.”

“Blue Ecology is defined as the interweaving of Western science and traditional First Nations teaching and local knowledge,” stated Kim Stephens. “This article is an early step in a process to raise awareness of Blue Ecology and inform a provincial conversation about what we can do to manage water as a whole-system. Blue Ecology aligns with the whole-system, water balance approach for restoration of watershed systems within the built environment.”

“Hydrologists are encouraged to embrace the companion Blue Ecology water cycle that is meant to enhance Western science’s hydrological cycle by providing a holistic cultural context,” stated Michael Blackstock. “Hydrologists and water managers could also communicate complex climate change impacts to the public, using common sense terms. Hydrologists and water managers can use the hydrological and Blue Ecology cycles to help explain how and why the climate is changing.”

Bob Sandford has a natural ability to ‘cut to the essence’ of issues. “This conference underscored the great benefit of focusing on the interweaving of western science and traditional teaching and local knowledge,” wrote Bob Sandford. “What we essentially talked about is reconciliation: going back to the headwaters of where we got our relationships with water and with one another wrong so that we can start back down the river of time.”

“Michael’s message truly resonated with the audience, namely the interweaving of Western Science and First Nations Cultural Knowledge. The essence of Michael’s vision is embrace a water first approach. He describes water as a living entity – the sacred centre from which all other activities radiate. Western science and blue ecology are truly partners. It is time the marriage was made official. I believe that this was one of the most important take-away messages of the workshop,” stated Eric Bonham.

“Michael Blackstock proposes that we re-examine climate change  from a ‘water first’ angle because the rhythm of water’s transformations between solid, liquid, and gaseous states on our planet is undergoing a significant change, and at a significant rate. He sees as essential the acknowledgement of water’s central functional and spiritual roles in our world, and urges us to apply both respect and science-based understanding,” stated Kim Stephens.

“My presentation was organized in three parts. First, I introduced the across-Canada audience to our BC adaptation of the ‘design with nature’ philosophy. Then I talked about Convening for Action on Vancouver Island to provide an example of new forms of governance. The third and final part dealt with the linkage of infrastructure to climate change and infrastructure. To capture audience attention and set a tone, I opened with a reference to Blue ecology and climate change, an article by Michael Blackstock,” stated Kim Stephens.