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 Tuesday’s Projecting Change Through Social Media was an incredible event. A partnership between by SMCYVR and the Projecting Change School Media team, it was held at the soon-to-be finished HiVE Vancouver.  The HiVE is a 9,000 square foot collaborative workspace for sustainability and creativity focused people located at 128 West Hastings Street in downtown Vancouver.

65_RedRoses

The evening kicked of with a welcome from Rebecca Peel, our social media director. Rebecca introduced the first plenary speakers, Nimisha Mukerji and Kat Dodds who talked about the experience with the 65_RedRoses project. Nimisha is the co-Director, of 65 Red Roses a documentary film. Kat is the founder of Hello Cool World, a communicate agency specializing grass roots campaigns for non-profits and independent films.

65_RedRoses is a documentary film on the lives of Eva Markvoort and her two online friends who all battled Cystic Fibrosis (CF). CF is a fatal genetic disease affecting the lungs and digestive system. The name “65 Roses” comes from what children with cystic fibrosis (CF) call their disease as the words are easier for them to pronounce.

Without fully realizing it, Eva Markvoort started a global campaign for organ donation by writing about her experiences with cystic fibrosis on her Live Journal site. Sadly, on March 27, 2010, while waiting for a second transplant, her breath ran out. She was 25. The documentary, website and campaign site is her legacy. 65_RedRoses aims to leave viewers with a new appreciation of life and the digital world. To keep up to date on the latest developments, search for #4Eva on Twitter.

With Glowing Hearts

Next up was Jon Ornery, the producer of With Glowing Hearts, and social media guru Kemp Edmonds, who spearheaded the social media efforts to raise funds and promote the film. With Glowing Hearts tells the story of the 2010 Winter Games’ effect on Vancouver from the perspective of people directly impacted by the Olympics: downtown eastside residents, bloggers, photographers, activists, proponents and opponents.

In order to complete the film, Jon, Kemp, and director Andrew Lavinge created the “Tweet and Toonie Torch Relay.” This is a crowd-sourced social media campaign to promote the film’s message and help raise the $10,000 needed to complete the film, $2 at a time. Special props were given to east-side resident and citizen journalist, April Smith.  April is still drawing attention to the film through her social media activism in the DTES.

HiVE Vancouver

The last plenary speaker was Jeremy Murphy, the man behind HiVE Vancouver, our hosts for the night. The HiVE is an up and coming sustainability and creativity co-working space in downtown Vancouver. 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 co-workers with a great work space, awesome networking opportunities, and access to the knowledge, capital and resources that will help them project change. Check out Rebecca’s interview with Jeremy for more information on him and HiVE Vancouver.

You can’t project change without the right tools!

The second half of the evening was dedicated to workshops. There were two sessions of there concurrent workshops. Since I wasn’t alble to be three places at once. I’ll rely on some notes from my friend, Tracy Bains and the twitosphere. Here are some key takeaways from each workshop:

Being Strategic Using Twitter

Stephanie Michelle Scott of Wildfire Effect and Monica Hamburg led back to back workshops on Twitter basiscs. Their discussion was truly old school as Stephanie and Monica illustrated their points with stand up board twitter signs! Through their workshops, Stephanie and Monica created a few new social media converts, who will now go out and project their own change through social media!

Photograph by @masalapuri on TwicPic

Inside HootSuite

Kemp Edmonds led another set of back to back sessions on how to maximize what Hootsuite, a Twitter dashboard has to offer. Kemp offered his insider expertise on how to use Hootsuite to help even most the most advanced twitter user improve theri ability to project change Some of his most useful tips included how to use Hootsuite analytics tools, the geo-location search function and how to mass schedule tweets. You can find out more about these subjects and more at http://learn.hootsuite.com.

Transforming the dialogue: How questions & media can create change

Camille Jensen from Axiom News led this workshop. Axiom News is and organization “committed to sharing stories about movements making a difference.” Camille illustrated how the questions we ask will create thr stories we tel. She refered to Peter Block, a writer and consultant, who noted that: “If you want to change the world – or the culture – all you have to do is change the conversation.”

Camille also talked about generative journalism: telling positive stories to support positive change.

Photograph from @check_your_head on TwicPic

Taking offline community organizing online

Ajay Masala Puri led this session that was based on the question: What is the purpose of engaging on social media unless you can make a difference? His main take aways were to avoid the temptation of “over-institutionalising” your message and instead take complex issues and make them simple for your friends and followers to digest. Doing so will allow many more friend and followers to connect with your message.

Ajay suggests creating your ideas offline, take them online to gain momentum, then back offline for execution. He talked about how, by following thrice strategy he was able to leverage just 15 of his Facebook friends to attract thousands of people to an event.

Final Reflections

All in all this was an incredible event that taught something to everyone who attened, regardless of their level of social media knowledge. It was great to see people completely unfamiliar with social media, not only being invited to attend an event, but being welcomed and guided. It is always cool to see somebody learn what a # is for the first time.

Photograph from @smcyvr on YFrog

—Yuri @yuriartibise

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

Almost full roster of the speakers at the Great Turning

The day opened with the charismatic Maureen Jack-LaCroix asking us to “meet at the confluence.” They were fitting words for the day’s events, and a reminder to approach each other with respect and awareness as we navigated topics ranging from emergency preparedness to oil tankers to living sans plastic. After welcoming the delegates, she asked the community leaders to introduce themselves and to describe their topic area in fewer than three words alongside a gesture or sound effect of our choosing. A creative bunch like us guaranteed some creative – amusing – gestures. Charming movement builder Ajay Masala Puri of RangiChangi Roots who I’d met at an event just two days prior graciously agreed to introducing me and my topic area of seed saving and seed sovereignty as I stood smiling awkwardly at a crowd of engaged and engaging delegates. The energy in the room was palpable and after a few snaps of our group, we were well on our way to listening to the day’s first brilliant speaker, Tyee Bridge.

Action: Tyee Bridge and the Wild Salmon Circle

“You are brilliant – and the Earth is hiring.”

Tyee Bridge, a Vancouver-based writer, introduced us to the concept of the study-action circle and spoke of citizen engagement as a missing part of the social change ecosystem. He stated the need for a way to deal with the structural apathy that has in effect steadily eroded activism since the 1970s and noted that the open, creative, and sharing nature of action circles could very well fulfill people’s needs to express and act on their concerns. This was the hook I’d been hoping for and I immediately took to the idea of how better to create both sustained dialogue and action. He described tongue-in-cheek his struggle with his personal “exploding head syndrome” and how out of a meeting with three others he had met at the Great Turning Unconference in 2009 (all of them, including himself, “non-activist types”) emerged the Wild Salmon Circle, an action circle which organized five rallies around the common thread and concern for salmon. Throughout Tyee’s presentation, I was pleased to hear him mention Joanna Macy, a renowned eco-philosopher and activist, author, and scholar on general systems theory, deep ecology, and Buddhism. The Great Turning initiative, essentially a shift from industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization, can be attributed to her and her work.

Tyee’s talk made for the perfect segway into the Dialogue Circles. Before reflecting on Tyee’s words, however, we were introduced to the “Community Agreements” which people seemed to embrace whole-heartedly throughout the day: (1) Listen to understand, (2) Be authentic, (3) Step up, step back, (4) Be concise, (5) Enjoy ourselves. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that that was especially true of the last point.

Turning Talks

After our brief but lively Dialogue Circle came the Turning Talks which afforded us the opportunity to hear from three to four community leaders. I was reacquainted with my colleague Ross Moster of Village Vancouver (VV) whose topic on “Neighbourhood Food Networks” was just as engaging this time as the last six or so times I’d listened to it. Ross has a way of engendering interest in everything that he’s passionate about and it was a treat to hear him speak on VV’s grassroots approach to negotiating the reality of peak oil with that of our communities – to not only adapt to the increasingly complex world we live in but to create resilient and cohesive communities as well. VV is a part of the Transition Town Network and works as a hub for bridging interests and working towards sustainable and thriving bioregions and communities through inspired action and shared leadership. Food is but one focus of VV’s extensive network and happens to be the most active one currently as members are, not surprisingly, aware of its relationship to health, economy, and all aspects of life itself.

Turning Talks in full force at the Great Turning

Our table also met with Jeff Chiu of BC Hydro whose topic on “Community Energy Conservation” harkened back to Ross’ talk: the community’s needs must inform the development of new projects, the improvement on existing ones, and the reimagining of systems and structures themselves. During the last portion of our Table Talks session, we were graced by Miriam Palacios’ presence, passion, and knowledge around women and global food justice. Miriam is the Policy and Outreach Officer for Oxfam Canada who I’d met several years ago when documenting Oxfam’s inaugural Music4Change fundraising event. To her mind, as well as mine, food justice is having the right to food. She described a global food system that is fundamentally broken as over one billion people remain malnourished. Key to the massive reform of this system, Miriam surmises, is the role of women as critical social actors; in Africa, for instance, women are responsible for 80% of food produced.

Before we could really digest all the new tidbits of information gathered from the Turning Talks, we were asked to reassemble for the morning’s Table Dialogue session. Not having yet been able to attend one of the Vancouver Food Policy Council meetings (members meet once a month) despite Ross Moster’s insistence – encouragement – I decided to meet with Joanne Bays who engaged us in discussion around local food in institutions.

After a fantastic vegetarian lunch and Buckman Coe serenading us with the line, “the apocalypse is not guaranteed,” the afternoon portion of the day was led by none other than Vancouver Deputy Mayor Andrea Reimer. Along with commentary on Vancouver as the “City of Destiny” (her favourite image of Vancouver) and community knitting together over food like marshmallow salad, chop suey, and Red Rose tea (all at the same potluck), during her lively presentation Andrea posited three questions to participants: (1) When you’re fighting against something, what is it that you’re fighting for? (2) Who is it that you’re fighting for? Are they standing next to you, especially as leaders? (3) What future is it that you’re fighting for? The only thing we know is that the future is inevitable. I thought that her expertise and insights into community resilience resonated very much with Village Vancouver’s work and it was heartening to receive confirmation of food as a means of connection.

Andrea Reimer and her favourite photo of Vancouver: Vancouver as City of Destiny

My afternoon Table Dialogue with Ajay Masala Puri of RangiChangi Roots paralleled Andrea Reimer’s talk in that it was chock full of enthusiasm, intrigue, and colour. RangiChangi Roots is an organization that aims to build bridges between the environmental movement and cultural communities in the belief that transformation to solve climate issues will not happen unless inclusivity is realized. Ajay believes that not only should connections be intercultural, but intergenerational as well as interdisciplinary. A common thread I’d been noticing all day was the idea of celebration and dialogue through food. One of the ideas that Ajay wishes to pursue with RangiChangi this year is the nomination of what he calls, “eco-champions”; he doesn’t simply want to include tried and true environmental activists, scholars and the like – he also wants to identify and celebrate those individuals whose actions can be described as sustainable, without necessarily intending to be so.

Our third and last keynote speaker of the day was Rex Weyler, co-founder of Greenpeace International and Hollyhock Education Centre on Cortes Island. As the “Consciousness” keynote speaker, Rex asked us to consider the idea of the Shambhala Warrior as relevant to the present. In short, the Shambhala teachings were founded on the premise that there exists a basic human wisdom that can help to solve the world’s problems and that the intersections of fearlessness with gentleness and of mindfulness with action cannot be ignored. Like Tyee Bridge, Rex touched on the work of Joanna Macy who surmised that compassion which would move us to act on behalf of other beings and insight which would allow us to see the interconnectedness of all things would have to be considered wholly necessary. In acting with conviction but not aggression, Rex ended his talk by encouraging us to help our culture understand what it does not want to understand but not as individuals because we must realize that we aren’t individuals and I couldn’t agree more on the importance of this.

Action Circles

Finally, just as my voice started to return, I joined up with Chanel Ly and Peggy Lam (fellow community leaders whose talk centered around Windermere Secondary’s School Garden) in an Action Circle discussion on how to bridge intercultural and intergenerational gaps with the environment – sound familiar? Apparently Ajay and his colleagues haven’t been the only ones to ponder this conundrum and events like these speak to the importance of not only creating the dialogue necessary to move forward various issues and causes but to connect with those who may very well share your concerns. Chanel and Peggy’s Action Circle seemingly gathered all the “youth” in the room – all 10 of us. An exaggeration of course, but the group was indeed mostly composed of the youngest in the room. In the short time we were able to dialogue with each other, we shared our various challenges and experiences in trying to navigate the question of how to encourage thinking around the environment with our peers, our parents, and our communities. Thankfully, with the help of Metta, one of the key Be the Change Earth Alliance facilitators, we organized a contacts list for connecting again in the near future.

By this time (perhaps a few hours prior to the unconference’s end, actually), I was feeling completely knackered and ready for some bed rest. Having a voice would have been ideal for an event such as this, but I don’t and can’t regret my only option of listening and quickly chiming in via words scribbled on to note cards. It was incredibly valuable to have been a delegate at the Great Turning and I have such gratitude to Maureen and her fantastic team for having been invited to speak and participate. Given the sheer number of community leaders, delegates, topics, and talks, I thought the unconference was incredibly well-organized and well-executed, and what’s more, despite not being able to communicate verbally, I was able to make some important connections. Rarely has an event left me feeling refreshed and encouraged to do and be more, these sentiments still resonating with me as I write this.

Won’t you meet me at the confluence?

Amy (@amyyyyyt)
(Photo Credits: Paula Poortinga)

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

Within moments of speaking to Mike I was in awe of his charming mannerism, exuberant personality and his impressive knowledge of Canada’s efforts towards foreign aid. Uncharacteristically, I jumped at the opportunity to pass out of the spotlight, quickly blurting out, “Mike! I would love you to interview the electoral candidates, are you up for it?”

He was! As Mike dug into his first interview with MLA & Liberal Party Of Canada candidate Dr. Hedy Fry I knew I’d made the right choice. He carried on to eloquently dive into sustainability issues with Adriane Carr of the Green Party of Canada who referenced Canada as “moving backwards in terms of racking up fossil fuels instead of forwards progressively and changing to a renewable energy economy.”

By the time Mike got to Karen Shillington of the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) he was ready to really dig into tough questions about Karen’s campaign and where it would lead Canada. Pay close attention to the 9 minute 45 second mark for a humorous redirect as I try to get Mike and Karen to look at the camera!

Dr. Hedy Fry, Adriane Carr And Karen Shillington at the EWB Fix Aid All Candidates Debate

After Mike finished conducting his round of interviews we swapped places and I asked him some questions of my own…

Q: Mike tell be a little bit more about Engineers Without Borders and your work with the organization?

I’ve been involved in Engineers Without Borders (EWB) since my third year of undergrad. Engineers Without Borders works in Canada and overseas to improve the lives of those living in developing African countries. Overseas, our focus is on working with local organizations and communities to develop creative and sustainable solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. In Canada much of our work centers on education, fundraising and engaging the public in issues affecting the worlds impoverished.

My first project with EWB was working on our school outreach program where we visit elementary and high schools to discuss food and water issues in developing countries with the students. Next I travelled overseas to Zambia for 4 months to work on projects related to improving farmer’s incomes. More recently I have been involved in our advocacy work, meeting with local MPs and building public engagement around our activities.

Q: What do you think is the number one barrier impeding Canada’s efforts towards foreign aid & how does Engineers Without Borders work to combat this barrier?

When I was volunteering overseas in Zambia, one problem I observed firsthand was the amount of time and effort that field staff spend writing reports to please the numerous donors that they have. The Foreign Assistance Reform Network (FARN) headed by EWB is an effort to increase the effectiveness of the $4.5 billion Canada already spends on foreign aid. The Foreign Assistance Reform Network employs a series of concrete actions that political parties and individuals can get behind. One of these actions is the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), which is a standardized set of reporting guidelines intended to streamline the amount of work field staff have to do. For more information on the IATI and FARN, please check out http://www.aidtransparency.net/ and http://www.farn.ca/.

Q: What did you think about the experience of being a guest interview for Projecting Change Film Festival?

Having been quite involved in EWB’s advocacy strategy over the last 12 months, I relished the opportunity to be a guest interviewer for the Projecting Change Film Festival. I loved diving into issues related to sustainability and development with the three candidates because there were so many questions that I was wondering about and felt that many other Canadians were also interested in. Any opportunity to let politicians know that the sustainability and development are issues Canadians are passionate about is best not passed up.

Big big thanks to Mike for conducting the interviews as well as Engineers Without Borders and The British Columbia Council for International Cooperation for hosting such a needed and inspiring debate. On a personal (and extremely enthusiastic) note, I’ve recently joined Engineers Without Borders and will be heading off to Africa for an 18 month placement as an Africa Programs Staff!

-Rebecca @rebeccaapeel

This Saturday (with much enthusiasm) I will be speaking about seed saving and seed sovereignty at The Great Turning Unconference. I was originally approached by Maureen Jack-LaCroix, producer of The Great Turning and executive director of Be the Change Earth Alliance, through a personal connection at Village Vancouver.  I have to admit that I feel incredibly honoured to present alongside many of my Village Vancouver colleagues (most of whom I’ve never met) like Ann Pacey who will be talking about emergency preparedness, Jordan Bober on community currencies, and beekeeper extraordinaire Anna Chase. Others inspiring speakers who will be speaking at the unconference include Vancouver Deputy Mayor Andrea Reimer, Ben West of the Wilderness Committee, author and environmental designer David Tracey, Tara Mahoney and Fiona Rayher of Gen Why Media and Ajay Puri of RangiChangi Roots. A star-studded cast to be sure.

Ajay Masala Puri, Rangi Changi Roots: Bringing Color to the Green Movement

If you’ve ever wanted to connect with motivated like-minded others – change agents – who are actively working to build sustainable and resilient communities, then you will want to be at The Great Turning Unconference.  Over 40 community leaders will be presenting on topics in three areas – Action, Innovation, and Consciousness – in roundtable discussions with 8 to 10 participants each. From the Alberta tar sands, the Gateway project, and oil tankers on the BC coast to our reliance on plastic, urban beekeeping, and community storytelling, this full-day event is sure to engage participants not only in thinking about how to make the changes they want to see in the world, but in taking collective action to create innovative ways of negotiating the complex world we live in.

Following The Great Turning Unconference, leaders from Village Vancouver, the Wilderness Committee, and What’s Your Tree will offer their support – workshops, materials, dialogue, and so on – to help keep participants engaged in the projects that matter to them.

The Projecting Change crew will be at the Great Turning Unconference set up with a booth and camera – be sure to drop by to say “hello” and let us know how you are projecting change!

You’ll leave feeling inspired having connected on issues and ideas that resonate with other change agents, but not only that, you’ll be encouraged to collaborate, organize, and work towards moving your cause(s) forward in a creative, intelligent, and sustainable manner. This is definitely not an event to be missed! Grab your tickets at http://thegreatturning2011.eventbrite.com/