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  “EATING” menu.

“Education” is up first.

The first session was attended by about 20 enthusiastic and articulate local people. What great ideas they had!

We discussed the community education and capacity-building components of “Education” and explored how an engaged citizenry can learn about sustainability issues and take action on matters of importance to local and global sustainability.

Here are some notes about the first workshop: KTS Educating for Sustainability

And here is a summary of “Education for Sustainability” points: KTS Education 14 Points

For more information, see:                                     

http://www.willofthepeopleproject.net/oms/oms.php?&loc=gov1bb

The second workshop was held at 12 noon on Sunday 2 August.

Here’s Chapter 6, the reading for the August 2nd workshop: KTS ch6

The third workshop will be  held on Sunday, September 6th. The topic is “Trust”.

This workshop will be attended by me but community-run and initiated.

Here’s the chapter for the September session: Kitchen Table Sustainability chapter 7 Trust 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

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 elsewhere.  And I found them failing to meet the challenges posed by sustainability in our cities and towns.

My intention was to inspire my audience to use more targeted and tested methods based on leading practice principles that build community confidence and capacity and open the door to true community engagement:  methods that help local people understand the dimensions and pitfalls of sustainability and build hope and confidence for the future.

The lecture was co-sponsored by the City of Coquitlam, District of North Vancouver and the SFU City Program.

Kitchen Table Sustainability, was formally launched by Mr Stephen Hynes of Hillside Developments.

Known as “the social developer”,  Stephen Hynes is a leading member of Vancouver and British Columbia’s property development community. He says:

“We appear individually powerless to change the great structures that condition our lives. But if we understand their influence we can make local, incremental improvements.”

 See www.hillside.ca/

Here is a link to a video of the lecture:

http://www.sfu.ca/city/city_pgm_video024.htm

I love the new building of the Mirvac School of Sustainable Development at Bond University. It reminds me of the concept of “eco-revelatory design” made popular by a great new book by Randy Hester,  Design for Ecological Democracy (2006). All of the building’s many innovative sustainability features are easily recognisable, with signs everywhere to explain the features of the building and landscaping. The only problem is that it’s hard to find the front door. Ecological design sometimes trumps social design…

Introducing the book’s other authors…

We had no problem finding the front door when we launched our new book, Kitchen Table Sustainability, in the courtyard of the new building on a balmy December evening last year. The event was graciously organised by my friend, Danny O’Hare, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, Mirvac School of Sustainable Development. Professor George Earl, Dean of the Faculty of Business, Technology and Sustainable Development at Bond University and formerly Head of the School of Sustainable Development, officiated after Danny welcomed about fifty guests.

I spoke briefly about the new book and the challenges we face in my capacity as an Adjunct Professor in the School. We had a lively discussion. My favourite question came from a knowledgeable source, planner and activist, Brian Feeney, who asked whether it was acceptable for communities to frame their visions without consideration of the Earth’s carrying capacity.

“It’s not,” I replied. “We need to strengthen community capacity about the limits to growth as part of community engagement processes.”

I drew people’s attention to Chapter 5, which discusses community education issues in detail.

A grateful thank-you to Danny and George for an excellent event, great food and wine, and thought-provoking discussion.

Following the launch, as the building’s sensors turned off the lights and ventilation, Karl and I decamped to our favourite waterside café for a late dinner. We were grateful to our colleagues and delighted to see the book coming to life. But we found it hard to leave the topic alone. We speculated on the effects of predicted sea-level rise on this beautiful setting as we gazed out at the waterfront housing and tucked into our coffee and desserts.

After years of drought, Brisbane was treated to a sparkling evening shower on Friday night, December 5th and a rapturous reception for Kitchen Table Sustainability. Four of our book’s five authors were present at the book launch at popular West End bookstore, Avid Reader. Cathy Wilkinson flew in from Swedish Lappland, Steph Vajda and Yollana Shore are West End residents. Karl and I drove from Nimbin in New South Wales.

Avid Reader Proprietor Krissy Kneen welcoming guests

Over 100 people crowded into the bookstore to hear Drew Hutton, founder of the Queensland Greens, launch the book with stories of community campaigns to save West End and Brisbane from planning disasters. Bursts of applause greeted news of the generous and skilled pro bono graphics and public relations support provided to the authors by Jen and Dougal of Jaxzyn and Maureen Mullins and Elaine Hill.

Popular local real estate agent, Leo Tsimpikas, was applauded for his generous support as the landlord for my West End office during challenging times when many community engagement projects were being pursued.

Avid ReaderBookshop proprietor, Krissy Kneen, complimented the authors and Earthscan, the publisher, on the beautiful appearance of the book and encouraged guests to purchase it as a Christmas gift for their friends. Many books were purchased that night.

I welcomed guests, explained everyone’s contributions, including that of co-author Nancy Hofer in Vancouver and thanked many helpers, including her husband, Karl Langheinrich.  I explained that Avid Reader had been the “kitchen table” at which many of the ideas in the book had initially been discussed.

Steph then read a passage about the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia and Cathy (embraced by her two small children) read a passage from Chapter 10 entitled, “Your input will be taken on board”. Yollana reminded everyone of the intergenerational aspects of sustainability and engagement and thanked guests for coming to share in the celebrations.

Guests waited to have books signed by the four authors and conversations continued into the evening on the footpath as people lingered to talk about the book, its ideas, sustainability and community. And how refreshing the rain was.

A great night was had by all.

The grateful authors feel blessed by the love of friends and family and the support of a strong activist community.

Co-author Cathy Wilkinson, who travelled from Swedish Lappland for the launch

The authors signing books

Grateful acknowldgement of photos: Angel Kosch

Reflections on the Adelaide book-signing event, November 2008

When I emigrated to Australia in 1968, the second person I met was Hugh Stretton, now widely regarded as one of Australia’s foremost urbanists. In his kitchen at 61 Tynte Street, North Adelaide, actually at his kitchen table, Hugh was putting the finishing touches to what was to become one of Australian planning’s classic texts: Ideas for Australian Cities (1970).

I remember him pasting an image of an “orphan” on his mock-up of the back cover because, as he explained, six professional publishers had rejected his book.

My friendship with Hugh continues to this day. We spent many fiery sessions on the Board of the South Australian Housing Trust in the 1970s nutting out housing policy and arguing about women’s shelters and homelessness. I was the only woman on the  Board and its youngest member. Hugh was the powerful (and to me frightening) Deputy Chair. They were feisty times, as South Australia grappled with a more enlightened model of social housing that had been proposed by the Trust’s 1936 enabling legislation.

So it was with great delight (and much surprise) that I found myself embracing my dear friend and former sparring partner at the Adelaide Kitchen Table Sustainability book-signing event, generously hosted by my colleagues at Urban and Regional Planning Solutions (www.urps.com.au) on 20 November 2008.

The first thing Hugh said, after a warm hug, was that he hoped I did not mind if he had a few criticisms of the book.

“It wouldn’t be right, ” I replied. “After all these years of disagreements — and agreements, it’s only fair.”

Old Friends, November 2008

The generosity of my Adelaide colleagues, and  in particular, Angela Hazebroek, a longtime planning colleague and dear friend, and the blessing of my forty years of friendship with Hugh, now 83, remind me of the importance of connections across the generations. Our book has been written by representatives of three generations.

A member of another generation – and an eminent scholar– reminds us of what we have forgotten.

What I had not forgotten — and the warm smiles, laughter and good cheer of the URPS book signing-event bore testament to that – is the power of friendship.  And the great blessing of a professional community.

Thank-you, dear Hugh.