Right now #CV2050 is the brainchild of three people – David Stapley, Meaghan Cursons, and Hans Peter Meyer. We sat down one evening in the summer of 2009 to mull over things like "sustainability,"
David is newly involved with the 2009 Comox Valley Sustainability Strategy on a professional basis. Meaghan and Hans are long-time participants and observers of "things sustainability" in the Comox Valley and elsewhere. Meaghan's made a huge impact in this region through her long-time involvement in IslandMusicFest, among many, many other things. Hans – that's me – I used to work with the Communities Institute of BC, and I've been writing about "sustainability" stuff since the mid-90s. David has been doing "community development" work with youth, non-profit/NGOs, and local government for about 15 years in the region. We've got some history, lots of personal investment in our communities, and lots of passion about this place.
Needless to say, our little chat quickly grew past the CVSS process to wondering: OK, so we get a sustainability strategy. Then what?
Our dream... an animated conversation that leads to action!
Did I say we're a pretty passionate trio? Did I already mention that we love the Comox Valley?
We know that we're not alone here. So, although we like (very, very much) that local government is sponsoring the CVSS, we also think that this is not enough. We think that the "sustainability conversation" needs to get way past what's happening through CVSS. We're not armchair sustainabilitistas. We want to see "stuff happen" in real-time/real-space, not just policy/planning space.
Our dream with CV2050 is that it picks up and stimulates the local sustainability conversation. This needs to be more than a policy-related, local government strategic planning convo. Whatever "sustainability" means to anyone of us here in the Comox Valley, it does mean change. It does mean action. At many levels. Talking about it is a step towards making positive change happen more quickly.
So here's the idea: leverage available resources for max impact...
We're just 3 independent citizens. We'll use whatever resources we've got to stimulate the convo. Thanks to the CVSS process, there's a little bit of cash to pay for sparking the first efforts: the 3x2x8 project (I'll be posting on that soon...). The bulk of our resources right now, however, are our volunteer time and or passion about this place.
What we can do with our resources is catch and support the buzz about the sustainability convo here in the Comox Valley. We hope that others – people like you, and others who care about life in the Comox Valley – will find ways to pick it up, make it real in your real-time convos with family, friends, co-workers, etc. Our focus is on using "social media" – videos on YouTube and VIMEO, Facebook, Twitter posts, and this blog, for example. We know this has its limits. Some will say that it's only young people who use this stuff. Well, I'm not "young" any more. My mother's using some of these tools. And more and more of us over 50 and over 70 are learning how to do the "social media thing."
What we do know is that using social media is a very efficient way for new ideas and new conversations to circulate. They are also very effective ways for a lot of people to jump into and out of the convo. We encourage you to follow our postings. Comment on them. Use them as a template.
Want to play?
Pick up a camera or a recorder or keyboard. Create your own posts (and please, please, please tag everything #CV2050 – this helps keep track of the convo on the internet).
One of the projects we don't have time for right now is an annotated Google Map of the Comox Valley. If I have time I'll create a "CV2050" map and post a link here. I'm hoping someone (or a bunch of someones) does the Google Maps thing and starts to annotate the "special places" of this landscape. [Note: I could't wait folks. The CV2050 Google map, ready for annotating is here!]
So that's it. CV2050. 3 passionate citizens of the Comox Valley, wanting to stimulate and deepen the conversation about sustainability in our community and region.
Want to play?
hpm
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Thanks for posting!