Q: How are you projecting change?

I am working with an amazing volunteer team on the start-up of a new non-profit called Peace Geeks. We help strengthen the technological and professional capabilities of non-profit organizations working on peace, accountability and human rights initiatives by remotely connecting them to skilled volunteers. Our client organizations gain the benefit of skilled volunteers, while our volunteers (over 100 and counting) can stay at home and have the opportunity to make an impact globally. We also have a secondary objective of raising public awareness about the important work done by individuals and organizations working on these issues around the world. We don’t hear their stories often enough through traditional media channels and we want to help change that.

We want to work on projects that advance the strategic objectives of our client organizations so what that looks like will vary from one organization to another, but projects can include: developing organizational web sites to disseminate important information with relevant audiences; setting up data collection or crowd sourcing tools to assist with research, programming and policy advocacy efforts; implementing mobile phone applications to assist with early warning tools or to support awareness-raising campaigns; creating training programs for social media strategy, web site management, etc. We also work on the development of strategic management and planning skills, including team coaching, marketing strategy, human resources management, program strategy, etc. We will also explore developing new tools or integrating several existing tools if and when we see that it addresses a broad need.

Q: Do you feel film has power to create social change?

Yes, absolutely. In fact, this team initially came together after 14 individuals who didn’t really know each other met up watch the documentary film ‘Pray the Devil Back to Hell’ at the Amnesty International Film Festival this past November. This movie tells the amazing story of the Liberian women’s movement, which played a pivotal role in helping to end the 14-year civil war in that country. When the screening ended, the energy was palpable. Many of us wanted to do something to support the amazing work of organizations such as Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), featured in the film. I have since toured this film across the country for different audiences, and no matter where I show it, people are inspired by the courage and fiery determination of the Liberian women.

Q: Tell me about the inspiration behind your newly founded NGO…

Apart from the screening, the idea for Peace Geeks culminated from my experience in the private sector where I worked on IT projects for eight years, and later in the non-profit sector and with the UN where I worked on peace and security issues. I came to realize that many of the organizations working in this space lacked the basic tools, systems and skills they needed to be most effective with their limited resources. Sometimes cost is the most significant barrier to accessing these tools, but more often than not, it is lack of awareness about the options available or limited access to the skills needed to get them. Some non-profits also may have limited strategic management capabilities and in some cases we may have a role to play in supporting the development these skills.

Another important piece of the puzzle was that I could see that many people with professional backgrounds wanted to contribute their skills and time to support such organizations, but just didn’t know where to get started. We help make these connections and harness this potential. We recognize that while the core work on these issues happens on the ground in the countries where our clients operate, we can nevertheless play an important support role in building their technological and management capabilities so they can be most effective with their resources and make the greatest impact in their communities.

Interested in finding out more about Peace Geeks? Checkout the website at www.peacegeeks.org .

Want to get involved? Send an email to volunteer@peacegeeks.org or register as a volunteer at www.peacegeeks.org/pg/volunteer_registration.php

- Rebecca @rebeccaapeel

In particular, this year’s festival showcased three films that our panel of organizers felt had a significant impact on our audiences. As tradition calls for, we award three major awards at the end of each year’s festival, and this year’s candidates did not disappoint.

Home-grown The Clean Bin Project, a feature film about an everyday couple and their journey to answer the question “is it possible to live completely waste free?” picked up this year’s Best Canadian Documentary Award: “The film depicts a year’s journey as partners Jen and Grant go head-to-head in a competition to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least landfill garbage in an entire year. This film presents the serious topic of waste reduction with optimism, humour, and inspiration for individual action.”

The award for Best Documentary went to Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson. This film was a crowd pleaser, igniting a sold-out house. It tells the story of a man on a mission to save the planet and its oceans: “The film follows “professional radical ecologist” Paul Watson as he repeatedly flouts the law so that he may apprehend what he sees as the more serious law-breakers: the illegal poachers of the world.”

The Projecting Change Award goes to the film that we feel truly encompasses the philosophy behind our festival. Director Susan Edwards’ Marion Stoddart: The Work of 1000 was this year’s award recipient: “The film details the parallel journey of two characters: one, a young woman discouraged at her future as a suburban housewife, the other, a river – once beautiful and teeming with wildlife – now a hopeless, toxic sludge pit. The basis of this documentary lies in the fact that acclaimed environmental pioneer Stoddart took on and singlehandedly accomplished a huge goal – cleaning up the Nasua River.”

To spice up this year’s festival we ran a contest through social media where we asked our friends and followers to submit a 60 second video documenting how they project change in their everyday lives. We received some inspiring entries – everything from locals creating international movements to one little boy who projects change through being a positive and loving human being in his daily life. The winner of our contest, who also received a $1000 cash prize and the premiere of their video at our closing gala film screening, was the brilliant and hilarious Fair Trade Gangsta Rap video created by the SFU chapter of Fair Trade Vancouver.

Congratulations to the minds behind all of these amazing films! To our audience, we hope you enjoyed each and every one, and if you haven’t gotten the chance to check them out, we highly encourage you to do so. Each film we handpicked for this year’s festival is a beacon for change and hope, and we hope it will inspire a passion within you to fulfill your own goals of projecting change in this world.

– Marisa Woodham (@MarisaWoodham)

I (Bryce Tarling) was asked to put together a brief interview with the company to learn more about what the company does to promote sustainability. Check out the interview with Richard below!

Q: Tell us a bit about Hemlock Printers..

Hemlock is a family-owned print communications company employing 160 staff who mostly work at our head office and manufacturing plant in Burnaby. We also operate 3 sales offices in Victoria, Seattle and San Francisco. We take great pride in the final printed products that leave our doors each day, as we have for the past 43 years. Our clients range from designers, artists, photographers, publishers, corporate clients as well as the public sector – basically anyone that may need print services.

The constant evolution of our print and media services shows that meeting change is part of our DNA. Digital printing and web-development are two of our emerging services that have quickly become key to our business as we adapt to the changing needs of our customers. Thanks to ongoing input from our dedicated staff, we’ve also incorporated sustainability initiatives throughout our business with tangible results that we’ve formally reported on for the past 3 years. Our environmental practices have led to Hemlock being recognized as Canada’s Most Environmentally Progressive Printer for the past 5 years and in 2008 we were also awarded Most Sustainable Printing Company by Heidelberg, the worlds largest press manufacturer.

Q: What goes into making Hemlock Printers a carbon neutral company?

Our efforts to make our plant and offices more energy efficient on an ongoing basis and our commitment to purchase annual clean energy technology offsets equal to our operationally controlled emissions are the foundation to our Carbon Neutral statement. We find the total operational greenhouse gas impact that sets our offset purchase amount by annually inventorying our emissions from direct fuel use (scope 1), electricity consumption (scope 2), and all the necessary third party services that go into producing our finished product (scope 3).

Q: How did you get involved with Projecting Change?

We are close collaborators with our design friend, Brady Dahmer and we’ve been aware of the festival through the local sustainability networks for several years, and have been excited to see it growing to what it is today. The rest is history.

Q: Tell us a bit about why you think an event like the Projecting Change Film Festival is important.

It’s important for everyone to understand sustainability and not to feel intimidated by it. Film is a great medium for entertaining audiences while also showing them the changes that others like them have made, the ways that their actions affect the world around them, and the systems that make and prevent sustainability, all without cracking a textbook. Film festivals are also gatherings, perfect to get people talking and thinking together.

Q: What can individuals do to work towards sustainability or to help project change?

First, people should start looking for options to help reduce their environmental and social impacts. They will soon find others interested in these topics as they adopt new habits, and will naturally become examples for making sustainable changes in their communities. Even if all they do at first is to invite a friend to Projecting Change, life is about how we project the change we want to see.

Find out a little bit more about Hemlock…

Trailer For Hemlock Printers The Movie (We Joke)

Issue 04 from Inventory Magazine on Vimeo.

Have you spotted a Projecting Change 2011 flyer or poster around town? Grab a happy snap (picture) and upload it to our facebook wall – bonus points for sneaky/humorous locations! Catch you at the festival.

- Bryce @BryceTarling

Q: Tell me about your work at the wilderness comittee?

The Wilderness Committee (the WC) is a really interesting place to work. The WC just turned 30 which means I am only 3 years older than it is. That whole time the WC has been doing grassroots organizing working in communities to help protect Canadian wilderness and wildlife. In the last decade or so that work has expanded to include more urban environmental issues like toxins and climate change. I am lucky enough to now be responsible for the Healthy Communities campaigns at the WC which includes climate change, toxins and transportation issues. We are trying to apply the lessons learned from on the ground community based campaigns to newer environmental issues like climate change. In practical terms this means working to stop the causes of climate change at their source. Fighting crude oil exports, coal mines and bad highway projects is “where rubber hits the road” in the fight against climate change in BC.

Q: Whats going on with the crude oil tankers on the cost?

In 2007 a decision was made very quietly to allow larger oil tankers pass through the Burrard Inlet for the purpose of exporting oil to Asia. This decision was made with no public consultation or even public awareness. For decades refined fuels have been exported up and down the coast but the export of raw bitumen from the tar sands is a new thing. Its only been the last years that Vancouver has been transformed into a tar sands shipping port. This makes Vancouver a very important choke point in the fight against the expansion of the tar sands. Not only is our coast now at risk of an oil spill but if we are going to play a responsible role in the world in the era of climate change this means phasing out the tar sands not expanding it.

The other significant threat to the BC coast is the proposed enbridge pipeline that would carry 700,000 barrels a day of petroleum products. This proposed pipeline would connect with much bigger tankers than the ones that can pass through the Burrard Inlet and would be over a days travel closer to Asia in each direction.

Q: How can people in Vancouver take action to protect our coast?

We are hosting weekly public meeting in the Wilderness Committee office starting in June on Wednesday nights. There are many ways to get involved doing anything from research to tanker tracking kayaking tours. The number one thing can do is help spread the word. Still most people don’t even know what is going on. Talk to your friends and neighbours. Send our info page to folks you think might be interested. Http://WildernessCommittee.org/tankers. You can join our grassroots distribution team if you would like to help circulate our publications. Contact our office for more information and to volunteer at 604 683 8220.

Q: How do you think an event like the projecting change film festival has the power to invoke and inspire social change?

Film is a powerful medium. We learn from stories and a picture tells athousand words. Also screenings bring people together. New relationships are formed that can make a real difference

One of the Projecting Change Film Festival 2011 films I am most excited for is The Pipe. I’m sure you can guess what it’s about… Join us for the Canadian premier this Saturday http://projectingchange.ca/schedule/the-pipe.

- Rebecca @rebeccaapeel

Last Wednesday, Yuri sat down and talked with Neal LaMontagne. Neal is a senior planner with the City of Vancouver, responsible for city-wide and regional planning. This means he’s part of the team responsible for the planning of the entire city. His division focuses on initiative like the Regional Growth strategy, eco-density, and the industrial land strategy.

Recently, Neal joined a team responsible for Vancouver’s Transportation Plan update. This team is made up of representatives from both the planning and engineering departments. This is in recognition that transportation is a city-building activity as much as it is a traffic-moving one.

Here is an overview of their discussion:

You’ve talked about the City’s Transportation Plan Update. Can you tell me a bit more about it?

Good transportation systems rely on strategic long-term planning. Vancouver’s Transportation Plan outlines an overall transportation strategy for the city. It sets out a direction consistent both with the regional transportation policy and the principles of the broader city plan. As Vancouver grows and changes, it is important that our transportation planning keeps up.

The existing Vancouver Transportation Plan was adopted in 1997. This plan put transit, pedestrians and cycling at the top of the city’s priorities. Overall, the plan have been successful. Both population and employment in Vancouver grew steadily between 1996 and 2006. This led to a 23% increase in trips to Vancouver. However, because of the re-prioritization, the number of vehicles entering and leaving the city has actually decreased by 10% over the same period! New trips have been by transit, cycling and walking.

We have completed almost all the 76 invitees outlined in the 1997 plan. In addition, we have met or exceeded most of the targets the 1997 plan set—many years ahead of schedule. As such, it is time to update the plan and look towards 2040.

Transportation 2040 is a two-phase consultation process:

1. The first phase runs from now until mid-July. We’re focusing on gathering ideas for Vancouver residents and commuters. This will offer a high-level view including our transportation successes and challenges to date, best practices and proposed goals. These consultations will form the basis of the draft 2040 Transportation Plan.
2. The second phase will be from January to March 2012. Then, residents can give feedback on the draft Transportation Plan.

To many residents, transportation planning seems dry and boring. Why should we care?

We all share the streets as commuters, residents and businesses. As such, transportation is something that effects everybody on a daily basis. Whether we are commuting to and from work, or school, going shopping, meeting friends or taking kids to hockey practice we are moving through the city. As a ‘complete city,’ Vancouver wants this movement to occur in a sustainable way.

In addition to impacting people on an individual basis (“am I stuck in traffic?”), transportation also impacts us on a city-wide level:

• It is central to our economy. The ability to move goods and services; and connect people to share ideas is central to our economy growth.
• It is closely linked to sustainability. If Vancouver is to be the greenest city by 2020, we are going to have to make some movement on how we move.
• It has a big impact on our public health, especially in areas like air quality, accidents and obesity.
• It matters in terms of community. Not only by connecting people within community, but ensuring that we keep public space for social interaction and celebrations.

As a general strategy, the City of Vancouver does not plan to expand road capacity. It will need to absorb growth without building new roads. Thus, the city needs to find other ways to absorb the demands of increased people, jobs, and trips without increasing the amount of traffic on our streets. The 1997 plan was able to do just that. The challenge for Transportation 2040 is how can we keep up with the trends of more people walking, more people cycling, and more people taking transit.

Image from TalkVancouver.com

Projecting Change focuses on individual efforts. How can residents of Vancouver get involved in the process?

The City of Vancouver is encouraging all city residents, commuters, businesses,neighborhoods and industry groups to provide input during the Transportation 2040 consultation process. We want to hear people’s approaches, ideas, concerns and where they see opportunities for improvement. The more people involved, the better sense we will have of what Vancouverites want .  this will help us realize our collective goals.

We are at the beginning of this process. Public consultations sessions start this week. There will be one on May 25 at Marpole Community Centre (990 West 59th Avenue) from 7 to 8:30 pm. there will be another at the Kitsilano Community Centre (2690 Larch Street) on May 26 from 7 to 8:30pm. Hockey fans need not worry, we’ll keep participants updated on games. You can find other public meetings on the Transportation 2040 events calendar.

But you never know where great ideas will come from. So not only do we want a collective discussion, we also want collective brainstorming to come up with unexpected ideas. A great examples of an unexpected idea implemented because of public input was the Laneway Housing initiative that came out of the EcoDensity consultations.

A lot of the city’s transportation initiatives will be small-scale, incremental and at the neighborhood level. One existing example of this is the city’s Greenways program. This is a project that has really relied on local participation, including neighbors planning their roundabouts and boulevards.

On a larger scale, the more people thinking and talking about transportation—even completely outside of the city’s process—the better. Additionally, the city would like people to try the different ways of getting around the city. If you normally drive, try out one of our bike lanes. If you normally take the bus, try walking along Main St, 4th Ave or Commercial Drive. Ride a skateboard, paddle a kayak, use a scooter. Taking a step outside your normal routine is a great way to get you thinking about transportation in our city.

Image from TalkVancouver.com

Projecting Change is also about embracing new technologies. How is Vancouver embracing social media?

The home base for public engagement is our interactive website, TalkVancouver.com. We will also be setting up a Twitter account, hosting discussion forums and a Facebook pilot project. Our social media strategy will be dynamic and adapt over time. We are really interests to see how people respond, communicate and interact. We learned a lot from Greenest City and hope to build on that.

For the less technologically inclined, we are still conducting public meetings and getting out to hear from people face to face.

“If you can get 15 people in a room together we’ll come out and have a meeting with you.”

Image from TalkVancouver.com

What role does an event like the Projecting Change Film Festival play in the City’s efforts?

We need people talking among themselves. An event such as the Projecting Change Film Festival is phenomenal for getting people talking and for people representing their ideas to each other. The more you are talking, the more you are thinking. The more you are thinking the more you’re being creative and coming up with really interesting and provocative ways for us to move the discussion forward. That is a phenomenal benefit.

“Even if were are no in the room, we want people talking transportation. And then we want people talking transportation with us.”

A big part of what the city does is communicate with the public; listening and telling our stores and ideas. We also want to facilitate a broader city-wide discussion. We want people talking not just about transportation, but about transportation in the context of the type of city we want to live in.

More Information

For more information on the public consultation efforts for the Transportation 2040 update, check out this video below or visit TalkVancouver.com.

Yuri -@YuriArtibise

EPIC Expo was a huge success this past weekend as thousands of people flooded Vancouver’s Trade and Convention Centre to learn more about sustainable development and about what they can do to help project change. I thought I would show up early on Saturday morning, but when I arrived, the space was already flooded with people eager to experience the event. EPIC featured over 300 vendors and several guest speakers who shared their ideas and information concerning sustainable development.

For The Doughnuts! Strombo Mediates Fair Trade Banana VS Poverty Gorilla video featured below.

For me, working closely with Rebecca Peel (our social media director), I was kept busy. Since Rebecca learned that I own my own digital SLR, I become responsible for capturing Fair Trade Vancouver’s main stage presentation, getting shots of interviewees at the Projecting change booth — which happened to include at least one Canadian icon (George Stroumboulopoulos), and making sure to grab images of the events and activities around the Expo — one of which involved an EPIC standoff between The Fair Trade Banana and Poverty Gorilla. While all of this was happening, I also tried to get photos of the faces responsible for making the Fair Trade Pavilion a main attraction. But I guess that’s what happens when you work with Rebecca. From her team of promoters who provided Twitter updates all weekend, to the people involved in putting together some impressive video interviews, Rebecca and the people around her can be a force to be reckoned with. It wasn’t until my second day that I managed to sneak away and experience some of the great foods, fashion, and emerging products presented at the show.

Of course, I enjoyed every minute of working with Fair Trade Vancouver and Projecting change. It’s no wonder that both groups have been making waves in Vancouver and across the country. Both organizations are full of bright and energetic volunteers that all have a passion for projecting change. Walking up and down the pavilion, there were costumed characters dressed as Fair Trade Bananas, the infamous Poverty Gorilla, tea kettles, coffee beans, chocolate, and soccer balls. They were such a hit that they were asked to perform a fashion show in the Eco Fashion pavilion. And although they did a great job of looking good, they did an amazing job running events and activities and providing information on Fair Trade and supporting its vendors.

There has been a lot of growing support for Fair Trade in Vancouver and it was great to see so many people engaged in learning more about the different vendors and their products and how they were supporting communities around the world.

Fair Trade Vancouver also presented on the Main stage where a member of Common Ground held interviews with the personalities behind the Fair Trade movement. Members of different organizations that support Fair Trade had a chance to show their faces and share their voices in explaining why Fair Trade is important and how they’ve been successful. To close off the presentation, there was the always-popular Fair Trade Banana-dance performance and then a cake-cutting to celebrate the timeliness of World Fair Trade Day.

World Fair Trade Day Celebration – Cutting the cake with Avery Gottfried Andrea Reimer, Adriane Carr, Mark Abbott (from left to right)


Fair Trade Bananas doing the Banana Dance on the Big Stage at Epic Expo!

Checkout all the amazing Fair Trade vendor displays and freshly handcrafted Fair Trade mascot costumes in our Flickr album!

Tomorrow I’m going to break a window. Whatever the proverbial breaking of the window is, I think a good documentary should do that.

One of the biggest highlights for Projecting Change was the George Stroumboulopoulos interview conducted by Rebecca Peel at the Projecting Change booth. During the interview, Strombo stressed the importance of people getting up to support movements and the impact a festival like Projecting Change could have in creating those movements. It’s one thing for a few dedicated people to go out and create films about change, but it’s up to people and audiences to support these events and the ideas behind them. Catch the full interview Epic Moment With George Stroumboulopoulos.

Fair Trade Vancouver also got some video time with Strombo as he offered his services in officiating an arm-wrestling showdown between the Fair Trade Banana and the Poverty Gorilla. It was an intense event where both contenders were locked in an EPIC struggle where it wasn’t clear who would eventually come out on top. With perseverance however, the Fair Trade Banana was able to topple the Poverty Gorilla in a win that was symbolic for the efforts and the change made by Fair Trade supporters around the globe. Not only did Strombo show his support by stealing the prize of Fair Trade doughnuts, he also promoted Fair Trade and Fair Trade Vancouver in the opening to his main stage presentation.

For the Doughnuts!

While it was great to see a name like George Stroumboulopoulos tout such an event, what’s more impressive is that so many people came out to support and learn about sustainable development. The EPIC Expo was about giving people the opportunity to engage with new ideas and to share their knowledge. Thank you everyone who came out this last weekend to help make EPIC a huge success. This is the support that we need to create change. Be sure to come down to Projecting Change Film Festival to WATCH, ENGAGE and then of course ACT.

-Bryce Tarling – @brycetarling

Q: How are your Projecting Change?

I am trying to eat more sustainably…it became clear to me how I could eat differently not just for my own health… but why its my ecological responsibility to eat a certain way.

Q: What is the most important outcome of an environmental and social issues film festival like Projecting Change?

It’s kinda gotta be like a punk rock song … it has to have you sing along and feel good in the moment but the next day you have to still be angry.

The trick to good punk rock is, I really feel good today! Tomorrow I’m going to break a window – whatever the proverbial breaking of the window is. I think a good documentary should do that.

Q: We’re talking Watch, Engage, Act?

Engage is one of those things where there is so much responsibility put on the filmmaker to engage the audience. No! You just tell a good story, it’s up to the audiences to engage.

We don’t have to campaign to get people to care, people need to care, what we need to do, what you need to do, what this needs to do, is grab the people who already care and say ‘here is where we are going’ hopefully the audience will come along.

The filmmaker does half, the audience has to do half, there will be no spoon feeding.

T: Tip from George on how Projecting Change can start some fires!

People should be motivated, you need to go find out where the gasoline lies and throw a match in that pool – as opposed to try to pour gasoline everywhere. Where is the gasoline? Light that on fire!

I was impressed, delighted and astounded by George’s genuine goodness and passion for change. A truly humble and outstanding Canadian, he didn’t even mind when I incredibly ineptly took three tries to get his name right – as seen above. Stay tuned for a video blog later in the week of George moderating an arm wrestle between the Fair Trade Banana and the Poverty Gorilla (checkout the pics on facebook).

In the words of Stroumboulopoulos, lets go break some proverbial windows!

Rebecca – @rebeccaapeel

Jeremy is projecting change all over the place. In addition to co-founding a work space for local change-makers to collaborate (Hive), he is a Director with Sustainability Solutions Group. Jeremy uses his skill sets as an urban planner, public facilitator and green building expert to create innovative sustainable solutions to climate change which are employed across Canada and internationally. Sitting down to play Q&A (question and answer) with Jeremy was a blast–check out the video & highlights below!

Q: Tell me about your work with Sustainability Solutions Group?

Sustainability Solutions Group is a workers’ cooperative. It’s different from the typical business model in that it is a flat job complex. We have 6 directors working across Canada and 25 associate members who we draw on for specific projects. They don’t work with us full-time but, when we need an economist we have an economist, when we need an engineer we have an engineer – it’s great to be able to draw on these resources for specific projects.

Q: Tell us about some of Sustainability Solutions Group’s more recent projects… I hear you guys are winning some awards?

Sustainability Solutions Group works on a variety of different sustainability projects across Canada, some of the things we are most proud of are our green building work, our work with university campuses and our work with local governments. One of our recent green building projects, the new Vancouver Convention Centre, was a $1 billion+ project and is winning architectural awards around the world. We are also doing green building projects for BC housing, which are socially assisted projects, which we hope will have an impact on poverty levels in Vancouver’s downtown east side.

Our campus work has mostly been out East in Ontario and Quebec. It has transformed the way university campuses think about sustainability in their curriculum their operations and their buildings, multiple campuses and everything they do, that is really inspiring to us and to the students and the faculty who work there.

For local communities we do a lot of green house gas emissions land use planning with them trying to meet their commitments for the provincial legislation on green house gas emissions and climate change targets. Working with local communities is really rewarding because we can see how our work really impacts their land use plans and how they are going to plan for the future and meet and tackle climate change problems.

Q: How does the power of film effect social change?

Video is the mainstay of modern communications, it really inspires you and makes information stick with you. Film is a very powerful median for portraying any sort of message. Nothing captures inspiration and emotion and messages the way video does. Projecting Change Film Festival really captures that in a fantastic way with its documentary style and appeal to a broad audience.

Q: Tell us about the Hive Vancouver? (I really want to work there).

The Hive is Vancouver’s up and coming sustainability and creativity co-working space. It will be home to non-profit organizations, small businesses, social entrepreneurs and independent contractors all working in creative and sustainable industries. The Hive will provide individuals with the capacity to have a fantastic working space, networking opportunities, and access to knowledge, capital and resources that will help make their world changing ideas into realities.

Interested in checking out the Hive for yourself? We’re hosting Projecting Change Through Social Media at The Hive on May 17. Limited tickets so get them early! TICKETS

- Rebecca @rebeccaapeel

We innovate because operating as we have is no longer an option. More so than ever, we innovate because the problems we face today require immediate action and change – not just to create and evolve as a species – but for our survival at large. Surrey-White Rock MLA Gordon Hogg is an innovator.

Gordon’s extensive work in creating social change spans from little league coach, to Parliamentary Secretary for Non-profit Partnerships, to his current PhD research focused on how public policy can positively impact the subjective sense of well being. When I sat down to discuss social innovation with Gordon Hogg I was inspired. When I reflected on what he said post-interview I was beyond inspired. I was excited for Vancouver and our future as a leading city of innovation.

Gordon is the only MLA in Canada to have been designated a Parliamentary Secretary for Social Innovation and in February of this year he interviewed and selected a 16-member advisory council of leading innovators in this field. Vancouver is on the verge of major cultural shift even being referenced as “Canada’s Silicon Valley” by Tim Draimin executive director of Social Innovation Generation (SiG) in Toronto.

I asked Gordon a few questions about why Vancouver is a leading city for social innovation, what social innovation really means, how his PhD research will impact Vancouver, as well as where he views the future of social innovation within the nonprofit sector? I hope you enjoyed his answers as much as I did.

Social innovation, in its most simple form, as described by Gordon Hogg, is “using the power of the market place to address social needs.” Through the creation of new government policy which remove the current impediments holding nonprofits in unsustainable funding models we can allow great innovations within the field.

Proud to be an innovator and a Vancouverite – I hope you are too!

Rebecca @rebeccaapeel

Since high school Tim has been busily projecting change, completing graduate research on China’s climate change foreign policy, working for the European Union (EU), as well as both the federal and provincial governments of Canada. Tim’s work with DesSmogBlog is an inspiration of positive individual effort towards calling out planet killing zombies and assisting the average joe (me) in better understanding the false propaganda surrounding climate change. When I originally conjured the idea to interview environmental & social issues experts as a ramp up to the 2011 Projecting Change Film Festival Tim was the first person I thought of – details below!

Q: What is the importance of an event like the Projecting Change Film Festival for an issue like climate change?

The Projecting Change Film Festival is about engaging with citizens on green issues and promoting sustainable living. Climate change affects us every day and is the most important issue humanity has ever faced. Through powerful films and speakers, this event has tremendous potential to make people more aware of climate change. Ideally, individuals will take an interest and be motivated to make a difference producing positive change. This year’s festival is very exciting because through the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter, the event and its green and sustainable message will reach more people than ever before.

Q: What makes Vancouver special when it comes to fighting against climate change?

Vancouver is special because it has so many initiatives in place to reduce its environmental footprint and fight against climate change. Some of these very important programs include mandated carbon reductions, energy-use reductions, improvements in water use, the growth in recycling programs, the massive expansion in bike lanes and public transport, the city’s sustainability mandate or the city’s goal to become the world’s greenest city by 2020 http://vancouver.ca/greenestcity/. Vancouver is unique and is an example for other cities trying to incorporate green and sustainability principles.

Q: What is the key to Vancouver’s success in communicating climate change?

The scale of the challenge we face in reducing our carbon emissions and environmental impacts is daunting. Importantly, the city of Vancouver has not been shy about communicating the climate change issue to the public. The approach is to engage with the public at events and through municipal programs. As well, strong communication strategies help to show the public that their ideas are being directly incoprorated into climate action plans. All of this means that the public is a well-informed partner and stakeholder when it comes to addressing climate change. Reaching consensus and working together is a key to Vancouver success in fighting against the dangers and impacts of climate chance.

Q: How does Vancouver fight through climate relations smog?

A major reason for the difficulty in communicating climate change is the fact that there are powerful dirty energy interests who pay a lot of money to confuse politicians and the public on the issue. Nationally in the U.S. and in Canada, people like the Koch Brothers and companies like Exxon Mobil have been highly effective in convincing some politicians not to act on climate change. Media campaigns by industry have frequently tried to say that human’s influence on the climate is still debatable. This is not true, but a large portion of the public is still unsure.

Thankfully, polluting industries do not have the same influence in a city like Vancouver. It is important to remember that cities and regions are where the worst effects of climate change are taking place. Cities and regions will also have to adapt to the consequences from climate change. Pretending that everything is fine is not going to be helpful for a coastal city. Citizens and politicians see the need to protect the environment and have worked together in this. Decision-makers do not have to convince Vancouverites of the need to protect their environment since they are surrounded by mountains, forests and the ocean.

Q: Why is Vancouver more successful than other places when it comes to climate action?

Part of what makes the city of Vancouver so effective in dealing with climate change and reducing carbon emissions is that on an ongoing basis, the city has taken a proactive approach to learn about climate change and has been relying on the advice from top scientists and experts to inform policy decisions. In practice, what this means is that mayors, city councilors and staff feel confident in the difficult choices they have to make because they are supported by the latest science.

Rather than get caught up in a political debate about whether or not climate change is happening and who is causing it, the city is figuring out what is the best way to deal with the issue. The city is working to reduce its carbon footprint and continues to be highly successful in these efforts.

For a long time now, Vancouver has taken a leadership role when it comes to climate action and recently, the World Wildlife Fund rightfully named Vancouver the top Canadian city when it comes to fighting against climate change.

Q: What is the biggest challenge Vancouver faces in terms of dealing with climate change?

While it is hard to choose one thing above all others, linking is a very important challenge. The city of Vancouver is part of the Greater Vancouver region which is full of municipalities with rapidly expanding populations. When it comes to reducing the city of Vancouver’s carbon footprint, any actions it takes will ideally be copied elsewhere. The challenge here is to make this happen. Deciding where to zone development is very important. This means that the city of Vancouver must work hard to get buy-in from communities like Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey. A project like the Evergreen Skytrain expansion from Vancouver into Surrey is a tremendous way to reduce carbon emissions; however, deciding how to share costs is still a major concern.

To stay up to speed on the plethora of missinformation campaigns on global warming I urge you to take a look through the work of DesSmogBlog. Tim and DesSmog are working hard to put the information out there, all we have to do is read it – and of course take action where and when we can! If you wan’t to get up to speed on some local planet fighters come down and join myself and the Projecting Change Social Media team tomorrow at The Great Turning – an Unconference with an exceptional list of speakers.

Planet fighters unite!

-Rebecca @rebeccaapeel