Online Webinar Series Blossoms

Thank you to everyone who tuned into our Creative Solutions for a New World EarthFest live webinar series, featuring more than 25 inspiring presenters, including nine of western Canada's top youth climate leaders.

More than 950 people registered from all over the world. For those that missed it, we have included the recorded webinars here for your convenience. They can also be found on CreativelyUnited.org and YouTube. We hope you will share them far and wide.

This series consists of seven presentations exploring a positive post-COVID future, under the sponsorship of Creatively United for the Planet, the Gail O’Riordan Climate and the Arts Legacy Fund and the Ecoforestry Institute Society.

1. A Global Reset. We need a New World Order focused on restoring nature’s ecosystems, meeting humanity’s basic needs and ensuring that our public health is guaranteed. Government’s fiscal capacity must not bail out outdated carbon intensive industries, but ensure a just transition to a low carbon economy that is fair to all, leaves no one behind and makes society more resilient to change.

UN climate and water specialist, Bob Sandford, speaks eloquently in this opening presentation for the need for a global reset to transform the way we currently live to meet these universal principles.

2. Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples have lived here for millennia and gained wisdom and knowledge on how to care for Earth’s ecosystems.
Elder Geraldine Manson and Dr. Nancy Turner eloquently describe these values and how they must be integrated into a caring and nature-based society.

3. A New Ecological Civilization based on the economics of kindness. The new economy must create new jobs in a clean and green transition to renewable energy to flatten the carbon emissions curve. Economic power must shift from corporations with a singular motive to maximize shareholder values to an economy based on cooperatives, which are self organizing, self reliant and serve the needs of communities. Guy Dauncey demonstrates these values in this excellent presentation.

4. Supporting and Nurturing Youth. Young people around the world are demanding faster and more ambitious action on transitions to a low carbon economy, and to respecting the nurturing roles of the planet. We cannot continue to fail the voices and aspirations of the younger generation. They have to be supported as they take the place of current adults to steer us all to make this transformational change.

This panel of nine youth present fascinating insights into their dreams and concerns about transformative change for a New World. Their conversation is warmly articulate and inspiring. They give older generations incentive to work with them to ‘bend the carbon curve’ and leave the world in better shape for them to inherit.

5. Redesigning Our Communities and Housing. Future development must become carbon and water neutral, linked to local food production and less reliant on cars. Investors must take into account increasing risks associated with future climate change and finance innovative developments

Pooran Desai, Jack Anderson, Ken Nentwig and Chad Thiessen demonstrate a number of technologies for achieving these factors for a range of local developments. They also note that regulators must become more willing to take risks and approve innovative designs in a timely manner if such developments are to become cost effective.

6. Regenerative Agriculture and the Zero Mile Diet. Learn about the importance of growing food locally, nurturing the soil to recycle nutrients and store excess carbon and using biological controls where practical.

Gardening guru and best-selling author and seed-saver, Carolyn Herriot, and local food gardening advocate, Gary MacDougall, share how to achieve this and how these basic techniques can be applied to larger scale agricultural production.

7. Creating Self-Reliant Communities. Such communities are based on the principles of shopping locally; recycling; regenerative agriculture; public transportation and supporting nature based activities. Local citizens must play a direct role in shaping these communities. Dr. Trevor Hancock illustrates these values in his work for ‘bouncing forward’ post epidemic towards a One Planet Society. He is creating conversations for like-minded people to engage in shaping the future of their local communities. Earth Day Canada veterans, Nigel Seale, Jed Goldberg and Paul Lussier, also discuss the importance of citizen participation in creating the original Earth Day events 50 years ago.

Creative Solutions for a New World
Climate & Artists Series

The COVID epidemic and its aftermath has provided a dress rehearsal to coping with the much larger and complex crisis associated with climatic change and biodiversity loss.

We continue to explore both the knowledge required to create the policies and technologies for a cleaner and greener world, and the wisdom necessary to ensure equity, empathy, generosity and spirituality as we make this a compassionate transition.

As a result, our new Climate and Artists online series opens with the warm voice and thoughtful reflections of Order of Canada recipient, singer, composer, librettist, author, storyteller, and keynote speaker, Ann Mortifee.

This series will continue Wednesdays, from 11 am to noon, and feature a wide variety of amazing presenters sharing creative and inspiring solutions for a new world.

On Wednesday, May 6th, learn from two of Vancouver Island's leading foresters about the fascinating history of eco-forestry, its role in nurturing nature's ecosystems and how we can protect and restore our forests as part of the climate change solution.

Be sure to register each week for these free webinars.

Most recently, Erik has been offering a 4Seasons Eco School to K–12 students, providing eco-tours of Wildwood to university students, and is involved with several watershed groups in the Cowichan Valley.

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About Creatively United & Our Partners

The Creatively United for the Planet Society is a registered non-profit society. Since 2012, we have brought together more than 10,000 people from throughout the region who care about happy, healthy, and resilient communities. We have done so through seven zero-waste sustainability showcases, numerous community events and educational talks, collaborative partnerships, a video series, and the CreativelyUnited.org free community information network, resource and solutions sharing hub. 

The Gail O'Riordan Climate and the Arts Legacy Fund supported by Tides Canada is dedicated to changing human consciousness towards global environmental change by combining science with the creativity of the performing arts.

The Ecoforestry Institute Society (EIS) is a registered non-profit, charitable society comprised of a volunteer Board and a strong core of community volunteers.  Together, we are dedicated to the principles and practices of ecoforestry – demonstrating that we can harvest trees and plants from the forest while maintaining healthy and integrated ecological systems.