Author Archives: Wendy

Living with a Gypsy

July 15, 2009 – 5:48 pm

Today the Gypsy and I were sorting hardware. Nails and screws. It’s been a rough week in community engagement and I had to do something else than listen to bureaucrats and aggrieved residents.
I had to get my hands dirty. Get grounded.
Living on a building site generates a massive amount of mess. It’s hard to manage [...]

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Why is Community Engagement Central to Achieving Sustainability?

July 15, 2009 – 2:38 am

“Sustainability Fatigue”
I’m getting the feeling that our communities are being engulfed in a wave of “sustainability fatigue”.
“Don’t talk to me any more about climate change,” a friend says over coffee in the Village. She cradles her coffee and mumbles, “I’ve had a gutful of all that pessimistic talk!”
Two small Aboriginal children are playing in the [...]

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What’s best practice in community engagement?

July 9, 2009 – 12:45 pm

 The other day I went to a local community workshop in my small rural village. The topic is not important for my purposes and it’s not my intention to embarrass anyone.
Rather I want to make a point: there’s more to community workshops than a conversation at tables, participants scribbling down a few ideas and facilitators writing down [...]

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Community Engagement with People with Disability

July 6, 2009 – 2:38 am

This week, I’ve been reflecting on the responses I’ve received to my recent blog post about Mary Ann Hiserman, my friend in Berkeley who was a wheelchair user and activist for people with disability. I’ve been thinking about the actual experience of being “locked out” of an environment. And comparing it to being “locked out” [...]

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Helping Sally at Dinner: What to Say at the Dinner Table When Sustainability Comes Up?

July 5, 2009 – 7:49 pm

A conversation at dinner with friends about global climate change raises the issue of scepticism and how it’s difficult for some people to come to grips with complex information. I was reminded how difficult it is to discuss sustainability issues in certain contexts. While we use the metaphor of the “kitchen table”, the “dinner table” may be another matter completely!

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Will of the People KTS Workshops at Byron Bay: Sunday, 6 September at noon

July 1, 2009 – 7:52 pm

I will be conducting monthly workshops in collaboration with the Byron Bay-based organisation, “Will of the People” at the monthly Sunday market in Byron Bay from 12 noon to 2 pm.
For market details, see: http://www.byron-bay.com/markets/
For the local weather, see: http://www.byron-bay.com/weather/index.html
At the workshop each month we will work on one of the six components of the KTS  [...]

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KTS Workshop at Kitsap County, Washington, February 2009

July 1, 2009 – 6:59 pm

I held a highly successful KTS workshop in Kitsap County, Washington State on Friday 13 February 2009.
Over sixty participants attended.
A video has been made of the workshop.
For information, please contact Rhiannon Fernandez at rfernand@co.kitsap.wa.us or + 1 360 337 7097

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KTS Lecture in Vancouver, February 2009

July 1, 2009 – 6:57 pm

I delivered a public lecture on the topic of Kitchen Table Sustainability  in Vancouver in February 2009. Also speaking was my Canadian co-author, Nancy Hofer.
Why are community engagement processes failing to engage local people with sustainability issues? And what can we do about it? I took a hard look at current community engagement processes in Canada, Australia and [...]

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How to Avoid Disempowering Yourself with PowerPoint

June 29, 2009 – 2:23 am

 

The other day we abandoned the shed to the rats, the python and the floods and drove to the University at the Gold Coast. I was a bit early for my lecture so I enjoyed listening to the students making their presentations about a planning project.
They were sophisticated postgraduate students and very articulate. Great research and [...]

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Criticisms of Community Engagement

June 26, 2009 – 2:04 am

 
It’s a worry!
I’ve explained before that community engagement — especially with sustainability — is not an easy task.
Many people argue that it is problematic and can actually hurt those it is most intends to benefit.
So let’s just have a quick look at some of the major critcisms. I’d love to hear comments back and maybe [...]

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