Rediscovering E.O. WIlson

It has been a long time since I last posted anything here, but was inspired tonight by catching a bit of E.O. Wilson - Of Ants and Men' http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/sep/28/eo-wilson-ants-and-men/ when I came home today. A gentle brilliant mind, his insights into eusociology are breathtaking and reminded me of why Axelrod's 'The Evolution of Cooperation' is such a powerful piece. Two things to watch and read if you can, they may reset your gyroscope. Cheers

Thoughts on BP

No-one can deny the terrible environmental and socio-economic impacts of the ongoing spill in the Gulf of Mexico. What should be asked is why does it appear that the oil sector were allowed to drill in an area that it appears that no company or regulatory official had any idea on how to control an accident? The lack of successful response speaks volumes on the lack of preparedness for such an event, and this lackadaisical attitude was revealed at the congress presentation in which all of the majors presented essentially the save non-substantive environmental response plans, some of which referred to Walruses.

I wonder where are the regulators and civil society in effectively keeping an eye on industry? Where is industry's mindset in taking on such projects without adequate forethought and preparedness for the worst? Planning does not guarantee a successful response, but it would have led to a more cohesive, coherent, and rapid response than what we have seen.

Big industries, from all sectors, need to be held accountable, and perhaps the best way to do that is to lift the corporate veil and hold those that are responsible, and those that play around with large wages, bonuses, options and warrants without regard to the important fiduciary and moral obligations they hold.

Obviously, we need to get off the oil habit, and it is time to really put the push on that. I suspect this will not be the last major spill in the near-term, as there is a strong desire in North America to stop being dependent on the Middle East and all of the challenges that presents. Rapidly expanding economies, such as China, India and Brazil, will also see escalating prices and competition to secure supply. It is time for society to take the bit in its mouth and change lifestyles and become increasingly innovative to lower our energy footprint.

Achieving my MCIP or Professional Planner Status

This week I received my certificate from the Canadian Institute of Planners http://www.cip-icu.ca/web/la/en/default.asp indicating that I had been granted membership in the institute. The MCIP (Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners) is a professional designation, the planning equivalent of a CA in accounting or a PEng in engineering. Planning is one of the most challenging and exciting of all professions, in that there is a need to integrate many concepts and disciplines in order to effectively carry out projects. Planning for a more sustainable city or even a single real estate development should encompass a number of disciplines, including but not limited to: ecology, hydrology, geo-engineering, civil engineering, transport planning, sociology, architecture, structural engineering, landscape architecture, etc. Planning for transport, recreation, wildlife areas, etc, is easily as complex. You can see that effective planning integrates a myriad of disciplines in order to produce a viable place where people live, work, travel along, visit, and that places where something that has been built but which is poorly used or even avoided - is often a symptom of poor planning. I look forward to future work and being able to tap into the resources of the Canadian Institute of Planners and working with my planning colleagues. Cheers Paul

Dryocopus pileatus

Earlier this week, I decided to leave my office and take a walk in Pacific Spirit Park - an area that I have frequented since 1973. While Stanley Park is often called the 'Gem of Vancouver', this area by all rights should have at least as great a place in the affection of Vancouver - perhaps its location at the western edge of the city makes it more of a private area for those of us that live on the West side. I strolled through the area, thinking not only about a challenging situation that I faced at work, but also trying to allow the soothing habitat, the sights and sounds, draw off some of the stress - I was deliberately setting myself up to have a cathartic experience though the healing aspects of biophilia (for more check out E.O Wilson http://wilderdom.com/evolution/BiophiliaHypothesis.html), to simply commune with Nature. Once again, the heart rate and breathing slowed down, the head cleared up and I felt a bit more connected and grounded as a result of the walking and taking in the wonderful forest. I started to talk with another man with his dog walking there and he turned out to be the father of a long-time business acquaintance, and again I was struck by how easy it is to connect with other people if we only let ourselves. My First Nations friends and clients talk about their being part of the landscape, inseparable from it, and while we as a society would greatly benefit from that philosophy, another step we need to take is to reconnect with each other, to re-establish a sense of community not only with each other but also with the planet that is our home, and our only home. Towards the end of my walk, I came across a couple of pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) hard at work. It was the first time that I had ever seen two together at once, working within a metre of each other. The image in this blog and some great information can be found at this lovely website http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pileated_Woodpecker_dtl.html. I stood there for some minutes, marvelling at how they attacked the tree, looking for insects, and how they walked both forwards and backwards, across and up and down along the trunk. A number of people walked or ran by, oblivious to the birds, despite their loud hammering on the trunk. It struck me that we need to listen, watch and learn more, to focus on being in the moment, and that for me was one such moment. Cheers Paul

Thoughts on a world where Gustavs and Katrinas might become increasingly common

This weekend saw some excitement with the advance of Gustav across the Gulf, leaving in its wake destruction and death. This image is of the strorm with winds of approximately 135 miles per hour while it was in the Gulf of Mexico. The image comes from the following website, which also provides some good background information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Gustav. Gustav seemed headed to New Orleans almost as some bizarre anniversary reminder of Katrina, and this morning its landfall to the west of the city was confirmed - and luckily it was downgraded to a Category 2. Many parts of the world have communities, established for historical reasons, that are not located in ideal spots - and I was thinking that with some of the expected damage estimates - one approximately US$30 billion - what it would take to turn government and societal perspectives from reactive to proactive.

One of the simpler, and arguably more sustainable strategies for the New Orleans coastal area is to recreate the wetlands and offshore islands and complexes that existed there historically - and which have been removed or degraded as the result of poorly thought out economic development and river and estuary management. Why has there been no major focus on integrated strategies to rebuild natural defenses, while attention, seemingly inadequate attention, has been directed to shoring up dikes and pumps, etc.? It struck me that it has been three years since Katrina hit, and still the preparations are inadequate. For the US, WWII only lasted four years, and look what the country achieved there...why can a city not be rebuilt, protected and more effectively saved in 75% of that time?

Storms such as Gustav, or more accurately their anticipated increased frequency and strength are potential symptoms of Global Warming. It is time for us to take an integrated approach, not just a multidisciplinary but more effectively a trans-disciplinary approach to assessing and attempting to address the symptoms and problems underlying the environmental challenges that we face, all of which will have increasingly profound economic and societal impacts in the future. God Bless those folks in the Gulf Area and all those helping them. Paul

Hello from Paul

Dear Reader

I have decided to pursue a blog to hopefully expand my awareness of what challenges we face on this planet, and hopefully to also contribute to your understanding on what we face in the days and years to come. I have never blogged before, and in fact, deciding to start this blog represents a decision to become more 'available' to opportunities to contribute and engage in the 'walk' and the 'talk' about this planet we share.

I have made it my life's journey to better find the balance between environment, society and economy, and have had to make some pretty major decisions to date to pursue this, and expect more to have to be made in the years to come.

I hope that those of you that come across this, joing me on this trip, and contribute to the places visited, the ideas mulled over and the actions taken.

Welcome aboad, and looking forward to getting to know you and more about this place we call 'Earth'.

Cheers

Paul