Community Engagement and Research

To continue on with our sustainability and community relations class, we were introduced to two other concepts for getting the community aware and also recognizing what the community needs with regards to sustainability. The two concepts discussed were community engagement and community research, which pretty much go hand in hand. One program for the engagement of the community was the CRD Climate Action Program. Sarah Webb, who was a representative for the CRD introduced our class to the Climate Action Program that exists in the Victoria area and its overall goals. The CRD works with all facets such as local government, non-profit organizations, public/private sector and citizens in order to reduce climate change. The main goals of the organization include supporting the government in developing climate action plans and increasing public awareness of climate change. This is implemented through the “Engage, Reduce, and Prepare” outline. There must be an ongoing engagement with groups as well as large scale and coordinated reductions. This makes sense, because in order for the project to be successful everyone must become involved. The engagement can occur on many levels such as public meetings, surveys, workshops, events and one of my favorite is a “green drinks” concept where representatives of various entities in the environmental field chew the fat and discuss anything that comes to mind over a couple of “beverages”. The third concept, which is prepare involves assessing the risks associated with climate change and preparing for a cultural shift in the way society thinks. It may be that we are too far ahead with climate change and irreversibility is not possible. Therefore, prepare and assessing the possible risks is essential.

We were also introduced to Colwoods reduction goals for emissions by Jordan Webb, an independent environmental consultant. The goal is to cut Colwoods emissions in half in ten years, which Is 2/3rds responsible from transportation. Jordan further explained the process in realizing the sources and mitigating them. Such transportation initiatives that can be done is working with employers to perhaps invest in carpooling employees, promoting the population to ride the bus, encourage walking and encourage people to buy smaller efficient vehicles. The other 1/3 is from building emissions which can be reduced greatly from retrofitting buildings to put into practice energy efficient components. Land use planning is also a major cause that should be looked at more closely. Even though the city is ultimately responsible for the development of land, individuals can encourage sustainable land use planning. Plots of land should be designed to reduce the need for cars and built to incorporate this with the surrounding properties. The previous explained methods for reducing the carbon emissions in Colwood can be incorporated into Sarah’s “Engage, Reduce, and Prepare” concept. The examples explained by Jordan can be introduced to the public via Sarahs engagement examples which were explained earlier. The two are very dependent on one another for the overall goal, which is to tackle climate change.

Community based research is another intertwining concept that relates to community engagement and the overall goal of reducing emissions. Maeve Lydon introduced us to the research that was being compiled at the University of Victoria which was is being used to develop methods that would work effectively in engaging and ultimately creating sustainable communities. The research is fairly thorough and is conducted at all levels including local knowledge, community groups, and aboriginal consultation. In order to create a community-university relationship, there must be collaboration between the university and all aspects of the community, such as umbrella groups. This research can then become applied to create such products as green maps, which are a concept that shows green living, nature and cultural resources that exist within a community. Hopefully this can eventually be applied to Colwood as we further analyze and do our own research in community engagement. A green map could become a valuable component of the recommendations that we will have for Colwood in becoming a sustainable community. To wrap up this blog, community based research and engagement are very dependent on one another and two key components on how and why sustainable communities should be created.