Slums are one of the fastest growing forms of human settlement in the world. They as well have one of the youngest demographics. We cannot move forward sustainably as a planet without engaging the people of these communities. They are our hope, and, if ignored, our despair. Here are a series of aerial shots of…
Category Archives: Sustainability
Kenya’s Kitengela Glass; Creating a business out of recycled glass
I was able to buy some of this glass in Kenya last time I was there (suggested by Melanda!) .. quite beautiful! Thanks to CP-Africa for the story. Did you like this? Share it:Tweet
Engaging Youth to create Sustainable Cities
I am very proud to be a Senior Associate with Sustainable Cities, an international development agency based out of Vancouver, Canada. Last year we were able to do some outstanding work with UN-HABITAT in advancing the issue of youth and cities through the publication of the World Urban Forum Dialogue Series: Youth in Cities, and…
The Soul of the Earth Summit, 1992 – 2012
20 years is a long time since the Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA) - and many other community members worked with Severn Suzuki and the Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO) in their preparations for Rio. Severn got her start keynoting many of the EYA conferences – conferences which we ran from 1989 – 93 and regularly brought…
Growing up in Cities (Canada)
A few years back I was honored to be able to participate in a Growing up in Cities (Canada) project focused on engaging youth in cities. GUIC (Canada) was based on the very successful international GUIC projects that have been run globally for over 2 decades. These projects, based on the initial GUIC project undertaken…
Reflections on Naheed Nenshi’s win (repost from Sustainable Cities)
I am re-posting this excellent article from the Sustainable Cities: Plus Network blog because it roots Mayor Nenshi’s win in not only his ability to use social media but as well his engagement in and understanding of participatory planning processes such as ImagineCalgary. ImagineCalgary is “an advisory panel of engaged citizens that guided the process of developing the…
Giving Thanks for the Salmon
My sons, mother and brother-in-law and nephew got up on a cold and misty morning-after our Thanksgiving turkey dinner, and drove from Merritt to Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park just north of Chase, British Columbia, on the banks of the Adams River. We knew we were getting close when we began to see signs announcing the…
The low down on the loo
Though it isn’t sexy, toilets and sanitation are key to the physical and mental health of a community. This has been driven home to me countless times. When I was working on the HABITATJam, a 2-day online preparatory forum sponsored by UN-HABITAT and IBM leading up to the World Urban Forum in Vancouver in 2006,…
Nairobi Notebook 2: The Sustainability of Good Works
Nairobi Notebook NOTE: I had a wonderful lunch when i was in Nairobi with some of the people from the Map Kibera project (you can read my previous blog on this here, or go to their website mapkibera.org). What fascinated me was the stage they were at in regards to the growth of their project…
The U.S. welcomes the world to their Tea Party
[wpvideo MMrRWQEO] With the selection of tea partier Rand Paul as Senate nominee in Kentucky, and his “my government is no government” views, the world will now be engaged in the 24/7 news cycle discussion on whether we want to be invited. So, if we are invited as Canadians or Kenyans or Dutch or whatever…