Winding down...

Well, it's Sunday afternoon and I am finally taking the time to write a post to tell you what the last 7 days have been like.

I won't write everything in this post because it'll be too long-winded. So I will try and write little snippets from now till next Friday.

During our time in this adventure, we have taken every means of transportation possible: plane, Trans-Link (subway), feet/walking, taxi, bus, feet/running, ferry, sea taxi, feet/climbing, logging bus, feet/dragging and seaplane !! As my co-adventurer Brendan said, all that's left to try is a submarine !!

The sights I have seen were wondrous, spectacular, perplexing, sad, frustrating, empowering and soul-searching.

I have seen a nation - the Hesquiaht Nation - fulfill a 30-year-old dream: to build a proper school for their children.

I have attended the blessing of a sawmill for the Ahousaht Nation. It was amazing to see the pride that these people had in realizing that they would be able to build their own homes with their own resources without having to depend (and wait...) for outside help.

Things that for us would seem maybe trivial or run-of-the-mill are things that these people had to fight long and hard to achieve.

What does that say about us ??

Jo-Ann

(more to follow)

Boats, Trucks and Sea Planes...oh my!

It's been a whirlwind the past three days. Yesterday we landed back in civiliation, aka, Whistler, via Sea Plane. Flying over the mountains and sea was spectacular as the glacial lakes sparkled in the sun. The previous three days were spent meeting with various members of First Nations tribes. It has been an eye opening experience. There are still hundreds of First Nation tribes across BC with different dialects and traditions. Almost all are poor wtih an unemployment rate of 70 - 85%. And with that level of unemployment come the associated societal ills. We heard chiefs speak of their challenges, witnessed a blessing of a sawmill in Ahousat and toured the pride of the community, a school, in Hesquiaht. Hesquiaht is a small tribe with 770 total members, but only 70 people live on the island. The school has brought the community together. It provided jobs, used local materials to build, captured the elements of nature to heat and cool the building and uses rain water for non-potable purposes (aka toilets). Life is hard, and simple on these islands, but the people who inhabit them are fiercely proud.
- Jackie

Video Update - Day 1

The opening night dinner, and clips from our activities during our first day in Vancouver!

Day 2

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go back to college again. Rather than tell you all that we did (my other CAT members have done a great job already) I will tell you my takeaways. #1 The folks at Offsetters are brilliant, as the Brits would say. They walked us through a myriad of complex topics related to climate change and made it easy to understand. Carbon offsetting is a hard concept to get ones head around but they did a terrific  job of putting into layman's terms. #2 E-shaped buildings. What a great idea. The E shape allows for light to penetrate through the building and the open space in between becomes light filled and functional. Okay, I probably didn't describe it very well, but it's really forward thinking. #3 Sweet potatoes and yams are not the same thing (a lunch conversation... the week is filled with learning on many levels) and #4 It doesn't always rain in Vancouver. After going to college and a presentation at Offsetters offices we had the chance to walk down to Stanley Park. It was beautiful.

Today we're off  to the wilderness... filled with boats, buses and seaplanes. It promises to be quite an adventure.

It Starts

Finally I am getting the chance to blog, there is so much to write as already we have experienced so much, and it is just the beginning!
Meeting the CAT team was fantastic; everyone is so excited to be here and to share their interest and knowledge.

I have just had a quick look and realised that my fellow CAT’s have given a pretty thorough overview of the past couple of days.

So for now, I would like to share with you an introduction to the futuristic sport of bobwheeling, a sport which may one day take the place of bobsledding, that is if we don’t take action to reduce our carbon emissions – check this video out http://www.bobwheeling.com/ (warning, unitard clad riders).

We are heading into the wilderness on Vancouver Island today, and will be offline until later this week. By the time you hear from me next I hope to have a better understanding of the measurable difference we can make as individuals and as a company to reduce, offset and make a real difference.

Day 1 - UBC and Offsetters

As a general principle, if you want to change the world, posting sarcastic comments on your internet blog is not the way to go, and considering the "colourful diversity of views" which anonymity can generate, this is probably not a bad thing. A notable exception to this rule apparently though, is the weather, as for most of Monday afternoon, Vancouver has been doing its best to make me eat my words with some wonderful blue skies and sunshine.

We started the day in the marine ecosystems building on the campus of the University of British Colombia, where a number of the key personnel from Offsetters talked us through how their company has grown from a handful of original staff to one of Canada's leading carbon management firms, with thirty people working in carbon footprint assessment and the sourcing of offsets. I'm sure that some of my fellow team members will go into more detail on what an offset is, so I'll cut to the summary and just say that they are investments in projects which reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, allowing companies and individuals to offset the impact of their own CO2 emissions.

After the Offsetters presentation, we had a presentation from professor John Robinson of UBC, who has been responsible for initiating the construction of the CIRS (Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability) building, due for completion in 2011. This facility has been designed to be one of the greenest buildings in the world, with heat scavenging systems meaning that it will reduce overall energy consumption on Campus, by taking heat currently wasted by a neighbouring building and using part for itself, and returning part to the steam pipes which distribute heat around the university. In addition, it has reed bed filtration systems which mean that sewage will be treated on site, with a soakaway meaning that the aquifer under Vancouver is replenished with water of a better quality than the rain being harvested on the roof of CIRS. The professor's clear passion for this project was genuinely inspiring, and as an example of how buildings can be constructed in the future not just to leave the environment unharmed, but actually to have a positive effect, I wish CIRS every success.

For the remained of the morning, we took a short tour of the campus, visiting the CIRS building site and also the recently completed Life Sciences building, which has been designed not just for energy efficiency (it is Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED) Gold certified), but which is also intended to enhance the well-being and productivity of its occupants through ensuring natural light is available throughout and giving the occupants control over their surroundings via blinds and operable windows.


- Brendan

Life so far as a 2010 CAT member...

Well right now I am feeling like one of the luckiest people alive. I don’t want to rub it in with fellow colleagues (any more than I already did before I left!) but this trip has already gone beyond expectations and I’ve still got a week to go. I was happy enough just sharing my flight over here with James McAvoy (Atonement, Shameless, Last King of Scotland) but things just keep getting better and better! As soon as I got here I fell in love with Vancouver - The scenery is great, the people are great, the food is great … is there a contingency plan in place if we all decide not to come home??!

On my first day here I went on a boat trip with Emma-Lee and we saw some stunning scenery as well as seals, dolphins, bald eagles and much to our delight lots of whales. We were so lucky! Not only did we see killer whales but we also had some humpback whales breach metres from our boat. Having a 40 foot, 40 tonne whale effortlessly flip out the water in front of you can only be described, as Sanju would say, as AWESOME!  

It has been great meeting the rest of the Change Action Team and representatives from Offsetters and ISIS and seeing how equally excited and enthusiastic everyone is about our trip. Over the course of the next week we will be learning all about the work of Offsetters in advising organisations and individuals on carbon offsetting and the adoption of cleaner technologies. Today we were given an extensive overview on how Offsetters help individuals and organisations understand, reduce and offset their climate impact and some of the offset projects they have developed. I’m really looking forward to visiting examples of these projects and learning about the social and environmental benefits they have bought. The people we have met have all been extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their work and everyone from CAT is so excited and appreciative of the opportunity we have to see examples of their work first hand.

The itinerary for the next few days sounds amazing…. Vancouver Island, local community projects, salmon BBQ’s, hot springs, boat rides, sea planes, Whistler 2020 sustainability, hiking etc. Anyway as I said I don't want to rub it in, have fun at work and I’ll keep you posted on life as a member of the 2010 CAT team soon!

Laura

Will - Vancouver so far..

I arrived Saturday morning early – Canada time, my body clock was questioning why I wasn’t in bed asleep, I suppressed the urge to pass-out with a strong coffee and proceeded to leave the airport for downtown Vancouver. Although I was tired things were looking up, it was a beautiful day, in a new city and the anticipation of a new adventure left me filled with nothing but excitement.

I later arrived in downtown Vancouver via the skytrain, I then checked my bags into the hotel and went off discovering. My first impressions of Vancouver were the amount of beauty that existed in this city, from the many gardens to the new buildings and the sprawling mountainous skyline, everything was captivating.

When I went back to the hotel later that afternoon I met up with my fellow change action team (CAT) member Sunju, we both decided to go look around and grab some food and drink, I recommended we try some local ales, this was well received from Sunju and we proceeded to try Canada’s finest..

The next morning more CAT members from around the world had started to arrive but we would not be together as a group till later that evening. As the official deadline for our formal introduction diminished it was time for Sanju and I to arrive at the meeting place. From first introduction it was evident that we had an engaged and motivated group.

After our introductions, the CAT team, lead by Alden Hadwen were to go meet our partners from Offsetters for dinner. The evening consisted of meeting some very intelligent motivated individuals with a shared focus: the environment. Dinner conversation was good and we all introduced ourselves on video and set our expectations for the coming week.

The next morning, Monday: We all meet as a group and travelled to the University of British Columbia to receive a presentation from Offsetters to go into further detail about their projects and successes to date and also be educated about the workings of carbon offsetting at a high level. After our visit to the University we had a team lunch and made our way to the Offsetters office located in scenic downtown Vancouver. It would be here we skimmed the top off the intricate workings of carbon trading. A few areas covered were ways to measure carbon production and also the more complex theory of how to obtain carbon credits...

I will try and go into this further later in the week...

Arrival in Vancouver, BC

1st Day in Vancouver! (10th Sept)

Before i get started, finally got access to internet (pretty slow though).....Not much of a blogger :-)

After almost 24 hours on air, i arrived at the Vancouver Intl airport. I was questioned at the immigration on what kind of business visits I’m going to be having....protocol eh! Got out of the airport and the place is AWESOME, the weather is AWESOME...WOW is all i can say. Caught a train to downtown, discovered that I was the only one for the CAT team to reach Vancouver. Anyways i checked in got comfy and got out for a walk. Got back in an hr or two and crashed!

Day Two

Woke up early morning. It was really cold outside, but i must say AWESOME, not something that you feel back in Dubai. Anyways came back and crashed again.....blah blah blah...

Evening, enquired at the reception if any of the other team members arrived, finally one of them was in...Will from Australia. Met Will, went for a drink, met a couple of people. Will introduced me to CC, pretty good whisky ;-) hmmmm 

 PS: Kind of of tired n sleepy now, will continue later on the CAT dinner and Day 1 with the offsetters...

Sanju

Brendan put it so eloquently. What is the price we are willing to pay and sacrifices we are willing to make to become carbon neutral? It's a lofty goal, but big goals are often achieved by making small, consistent efforts over time. Meeting my international colleagues last night was a delight. I look forward to further discussing the commonalities and differences between our countries on the CSR front. I had the good fortune to sit next to James, the founder of Offsetters, and one of the sponsors of CAT 2010. Offsetters was also the "Official Offsetter" of the Vancouver Games a few months back. Imagine, a category of sponsorship for offsetting carbon emissions. You never would have seen that 10 years ago. This morning we're off to University of BC to learn more about this topic. Time to go catch the shuttle...hoping it runs on solar energy but that may be tough on this cloudy day!

Arrival

So, here I am in Vancouver BC. The BC stands for British Colombia, which calls to mind a delicate tension between damp temperate climate and equatorial delight. In practice, the British part is definitely winning, since we were greeted at the airport by driving rain, which still hasn't stopped. I feel rather at home.

It has been a long day. I took off from Heathrow at 11 o'clock this morning, and landed nine hours later in Vancouver, at midday. Flying close to due west, we've almost kept up with the rotation of the earth, as if lifted 36,000ft into the air and frozen in time and space while some giant hand spun the globe underneath us. It's kind of magical really, but in the tradition of all good fairy tales about magic, there's a price to be paid.

Which brings me neatly to the elephant in the room - in joining this trip to find out more about climate change and carbon offsets, I've had to fly a third of the way around the world. According to Offsetter's online carbon calculator, that means that by the time I land back in London, I will have been responsible for the emission of some 2.5 tonnes of CO2. That's roughly 25% of the average annual emissions for someone living in the UK, generated in less than a day.

Fortunately, Groupe Aeroplan are paying to offset emissions from the flights taken by the Change Action Team as we assemble in Vancouver from the four corners of the world (as they do for all business travel taken by the company), but can it be as easy as that, does a simple payment let us off the hook? Hopefully I'll find an answer to that question over the coming week.

My current thinking is that offsetting is an important part of the solution to climate change, but must ensure that people think more about the choices they make (like flying), not less. Air travel is often singled out as a villain in environmental conversation, and it certainly has a significant and growing impact. It is also one of the few areas for which there aren't such easy substitutes; travelling in the UK, we can catch a train; at home we can insulate or even just wear a jumper; in our shopping we can eat seasonal and local where possible; but to travel to distant parts of the world, it's a plane or nothing. Perhaps flight will be the one CO2 emitting luxury we choose to keep, once we've made the cuts we can everywhere else - there is definitely something special about really being somewhere. Even if it is raining when you arrive.

- Brendan

My first day in Vancouver

(This is my second try at this: I had nearly finished typing my message when the hotel computer shut down on me... Typical!!)

Here we go again!

When I left for the airport this morning at 0600, I was greeted by a wondrous sunrise and I thought: "This is going to be a wonderful day."
... I shouldn't have said that. My flight was good; watched a movie called "The Losers" (those who know me will see the irony in that title) and I struck up a conversation with my neighbor who is an 82-year-old grandmother of 4 with interesting stories to tell.
When I got to Vancouver, it was raining cats and dogs (I guess that beautiful sunrise didn't follow me westward).
I took the Skylink to my hotel (which is in downtown YVR). The Skylink is a mixture of the Chicago El trains and the Montreal metros: i.e. a train that goes above and below ground. The Vancouverites built this for their Winter Olympics. It was a smoooooth ride...
However, due to lack of good signage, I had to do quite a bit of walking outside (Picture this: backpack on my back, toting 2 suitcases - thankfully on rollers - and my laptap case). When I got to the hotel, I was soaking wet and obviously not in a good mood. Two things changed that:
1) my room which is really, really nice
2) meeting my partners-in-crime in this wonderful adventure.
We all went out for supper at The Boathouse (excellent meal - but I'll talk about that tomorrow): Alden, the 8 participants (we went down from 9 to 8 because one of our colleagues - Majeed from Kuwait - couldn't make it. Majeed, we were all really sorry to hear that and we hope we get a chance to meet you under other circumstances); and people from Outfitters and ISIS - hope I spelled that right (more on these great people tomorrow).
As for my 8 international colleagues: they are great! They are funny, interesting... and all younger than me (Drats !!)
This is going to be A-MA-ZING! I'm going to have to get a dictionnary and find qualifiers that mean "amazing" and "wonderful" because I know I am going to need them!
That's it for now. Stay tuned for more news tomorrow.

Until then, keep on smiling!
Jo-Ann :o)

Packing for the CAT trip

In less than 24 hours I will be on my way to the airport to set off for Vancouver, and the excitement is building. We've all been thoughtfully provided with a suggested kit list by Offsetters (the CO2 offset charity which has organised our trip), and I'm in my bedroom working my way down it right now.
Jumper ... check
Hiking socks ... check
Water bottle ... seems sensible
Banana ... che...wha? "Hmm", I think to myself, "that's unusually specific, but I *suppose* it wouldn't do for the Change Action Team to be struck down by potassium deficiency before the trip really gets going".

Five minutes and a trip to the fruit bowl later, I re-read the list - "Bandana". Perhaps we're forming a Climate Change action *gang* this year? Perhaps it's for an Axl Rose impersonation competition one evening? It's a moot point either way, since I don't have one. Instead, I pack my wooly hat and cross my fingers that it'll allow me to pass on the mean streets of Vancouver.

A little later, sitting down to eat a banana, I begin to daydream about the trip - the things I'll learn, the places I'll see. A lot of my fellow team-members have already travelled out; not wanting to leave my wonderful wife alone for too long (in case she gets too accustomed to a house where socks and unwashed mugs aren't magically distributed around at night by the clutter-gnomes), I think I'll be more or less the last person to get to town before the team meal on Sunday. I suppose there's a little risk that I'll be like a novelty housemate parachuted into Big Brother in the middle of week two, but if email is any guide, everyone else on the team seems to be friendly, and as curious about this adventure as I am.

- Brendan

What are you most looking forward to before your journey?

Jo-Ann: I’m most looking forward to seeing hands-on what is being done (instead of just reading about it) and bringing all that information back to Montreal, figuring out how I can apply this knowledge at home and work. Lastly, I’m looking forward to meeting and getting to know my international colleagues – I’m interested learning about Aeroplan from their perspective.

Laura: I’m most looking forward to meeting the other members of the Change Action Team, learning about carbon neutrality and seeing the amazing sights of Vancouver; I’ve already started counting down the days until I leave and I can’t wait to eat lots of maple syrup treats while I’m there; I'll try to remember to bring some back!

Will: I’m looking forward to absolutely everything! But to be specific, I can’t wait to see beautiful Canada and visit the green technology plants.

Jackie:I’m looking forward to learning and meeting other colleagues from around the world – what a great opportunity!

Brendan: What I’m most looking forward to about this trip will be the chance to see the landscapes and meet the people of the West coast – I’ve never been further west than Minneapolis, so this is a whole new frontier for me!

Marcello: I’m really interested in learning more about clean technologies and how they can be a profitable benefit for business and not a limit.

Sanju: Having read about Offsetters and their commitment to creating permanent solutions for carbon offsetting, I’m excited to be a part of this educational adventure so that I can learn and try to apply the principles back home. I’m hoping this experience will equip me with the skills to find ways to work with my business partners in a more environmentally friendly way.

Emma-Lee: It’s hard to pinpoint the one thing I’m most looking forward to because I’m sure the experience as a whole will be amazing. I’m really excited about visiting clean technology projects in Vancouver; it will be incredibly inspiring to see the practical use of next generation energy systems.

What I’m leaving home (…and I’m finding in Vancouver)

Yes, I have to admit: I’m sorry to leave home! I’m leaving on the balcony my plants that my brother will never water, my neighbour who always makes a lot of noise until late at night,my boss who is still waiting I finish my work, my brother (who is like my pet :-)) who will have to go to supermarket alone, the humidity of Milan and its grey sky...
What would you do if you were me? Consider going to one of the most wonderful places in the world, meeting funny people of an international team, learning interesting things etc.
I feel so bad about leaving home that maybe I’ll ask my neighbour to water my plants, my brother to finish my work... because it could happen that I’m not coming back from Vancouver anymore! :-)

Marcello

three days to CAT

I am so looking forward to meeting this international team of colleagues. I expect our time together will be both fun and educational. My request of the team... don't let Sanju or myself take any stray animals home with us! I already have 2 dogs and 4 cats.

Until we meet...

My Best,

Jackie