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