Welcome to VictoriaSerda.ca

Tomorrow, Corrina and I are travelling to Ottawa on the train to attend the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Communities Conference, present at schools about the Climate Reality, and workshop a proposal to do an internal Greens Community Sustainability Plan.

Seems like a lot, huh? Well, just imagine trying to schedule in chats as well, with fellow Climate presenters Berry Vrbanovic (the President of FCM), Paul Gregory (Regional Manager at FCM), Mauril Belanger (Ottawa-Vanier MP), Dina Bell-Laroche (True Sport)...the list goes on. We're looking forward to learning and sharing...

My fellow mentor in the Climate Reality Project, Natalie Lavigne, won a contest to be able to attend a breakfast meeting in Winnepeg with Al Gore, and wrote an insightful blog post I'd like to share:

Al Gore shares his thoughts on the role of businesses in a sustainable society

As part of my work with Climate Reality Canada, I had the opportunity this week to take part in a breakfast meeting with former US Vice-President, Al Gore in sunny (but cold) Winnipeg along with 20 other business and community leaders. After his opening remarks, Mr. Gore opened the floor to questions and fellow Climate Reality presenter, Stephanie Berger, asked what advice he would give to young business students wanting to be part of the “sustainability action”. Here’s the essence of Mr. Gore’s response:

• Learn about sustainable capitalism. The way to do business is changing and the triple bottom line – social, environmental and economic – is the way of the future.
• Adopt timeframes that are appropriate for businesses, i.e. a more realistic reporting schedule. Longer term vision is the key.
• Foster “patient shareholding”.
• Recognize that sustainability is a key component of proper business reporting.
• Think about the ethics of your business choices and the well being of the community in which you live.
• Consider how you, as business students, can give momentum to the movement toward sustainable capitalism.

For more insight on how climate change affects businesses and society in general, follow Climate Reality on Twitter.
 

I'm happy to announce that I've got a new part-time position, helping Kincardine with its Integrated Community Sustainability Plan. Congratulations to Kincardine for engaging the community in such a great process to plan for Kincardine's future.

The Grey Bruce Sustainability Network is a not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to support and implement projects that foster the development of sustainable communities. The part-time Sustainability Connector assists the Municipality of Kincardine in the development of its sustainability plan by working with Lura Consulting to develop regional and local partnerships to implement sustainability projects.

Key Responsibilities:
-Being an ambassador for sustainability in the municipality by representing the initiative at community events and meetings
-Developing a comprehensive listing of community sustainability assets in Kincardine and the County of Bruce
-Identifying and connecting with relevant potential partners for potential project implementation
-Coordinating and participating in project committee meetings and other meetings as required
-Working with the municipality and the consulting team to communicate sustainability assets and the sustainability plan
-Providing research support
-Assisting in grant writing

Article written for the Shoreline Beacon, published Tuesday, October 18, 2011

“My name is Allison and I am an associate producer at the Agenda with Steve Paikin at TVO. I am writing to see if you would be interested in being a part of our special Ontario election night panel on Thursday, October 6.”  This email came out of the blue on August 26, and was a pleasant and heartwarming surprise to this political aficionado from small town rural Ontario…this also began an interesting and daunting adventure into watching provincial parties’ strategy play out in ridings across the province.