Leading for Change

Want to make a difference but don’t know how? Year three of this Vancouver lecture series features four leaders who are using creative thinking and courage to create positive change in the world. Explore the tactics, creativity, pitfalls, and challenges of what it takes to create change. In a potent mix of storytelling and skill sharing, these leaders will reveal their personal struggles and the leadership lessons that have made all the difference. Come away with information, insights and inspiration to make change in your community and beyond.

Brought to you by Hollyhock and UBC Continuing Studies. Generously sponsored by Vancity.

LUNCHTIME (12:00 – 1:30 pm) Organic coffee and tea provided.

UBC ROBSON SQUARE, VANCOUVER

Per lecture: $15/$12 for non-profits, seniors & students; 10% discount for signing up for more than one lecture.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION. TO REGISTER CALL UBC CONTINUING STUDIES: 604.822.1444

Nicole Rycroft  

Building a Conscientious Marketplace: How Harry Potter helped to secure the World's Largest Conservation Agreement.

Oct 13, 2010
In recent years, companies such as the Globe and Mail and Harry Potter’s publishers have become key allies of the Canadian environmental movement in securing conservation milestones that seemed impossible 10-15 years ago. From the Great Bear Rainforest to the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, harnessing the power of the marketplace has played a critical role in helping environmental organizations advance their goals. How has the traditional chasm between business and environmental activism been bridged? What does this mean for individual citizens in terms of their environmental engagement and choices? Be part of a dialogue about how seemingly unlikely allies have partnered together to green business, secure some of the most exciting conservation initiatives in the world and what future partnerships could look like.

Nicole Rycroft is the Founder and Executive Director of Canopy and a recipient of an Ashoka Fellowship and a Canadian Environment Award Gold Medal. Named one of Canada's 50 Most Influential People in Graphic Communication for the past four years, she has also accepted numerous awards on behalf of Canopy including the Benny Award for Outstanding Corporate Campaigning. www.canopyplanet.org

Lauren Bacon & Jason Mogus  

Are You Web Ready? Key Learnings in Working Online for Change.

Nov 9, 2010

The internet is a powerful network that's creating a fundamental shift in the way organizations work, connect, engage and effect change. What qualities and skills does your organization need to make a bigger impact within this landscape? How can you achieve your mission by catalyzing the necessary shift towards openness, collaboration and innovation? Learn the frontline and behind-the-scenes strategies of highly successful organizations and people-powered campaigns. This is an open forum where you will be exposed to the newest models and strategies for world-changing groups. Get 'web ready' with two veteran leaders.

Lauren Bacon is a partner at Raised Eyebrow Web Studio. Lauren’s work can be seen amongst some of the premier websites in the non-profit, government, and progressive business communities. www.raisedeyebrow.com. Jason Mogus is the CEO of Communicopia, a digital agency that helps local and global social change organizations become more open, collaborative, and citizen-driven by deeply embracing the web.  www.communicopia.com

Ross McMillan

Reinventing Social Action: Is Collaborating with Opponents Selling Out or Smart Strategy?  

Nov 23, 2010

There are new demanding problems that call into question traditional approaches to social action. Significant strife has arisen in recent years within the BC activist communities over collaboration with other parties such as industry, First Nations and governments. Is collaboration needed to solve intractable social and environmental problems? Should it be an essential part of campaigning? Join a discussion around the forms and applications of collaboration and consider what a new understanding of collaboration could mean for a reinvented activism.

Ross McMillan is the President and CEO of Tides Canada. Ross was a principal architect of the Great Bear Rainforest project – one of the most significant conservation programs in North American history. Ross has extensive experience managing organizations and coalitions to achieve success in complex circumstances. www.tidescanada.org

FUN Camps is an environmental leadership summer day camp in Vancouver and Victoria BC run by Friends Uniting for Nature (FUN) Society - a charitable non-profit organization.

Want to learn how to reduce your your ecological footprint, develop leadership skills, learn how to work with others AND have fun at the same time?

FUN Camps is for 6-16 year old youth in Vancouver and 6-12 year old youth in Victoria BC.

Activities include: Building mini solar powered cars and racing them, baking brownies in solar ovens, creating a mini eco-city using recycled materials, planning social/environmental change projects, bike maintenance workshops, growing sprouts, gardening, exploring nature, outdoor games, sports, swimming, art, drama and hiking. The camps run Monday-Friday, July 5th to Aug 27th from 9am-4pm at UBC in Vancouver and Windsor Park Pavilion in Victoria. For camps that are currently listed as full second sessions will open up with high demand.

Each week has a different environmental theme such as energy, transportation, food,water, nature and eco-footprint. There are two added features this year, an environmental themed loot bag for each participant to encourage responsible environmental action at home and a social/environmental change project contest.

Spaces are filling up fast, so please register soon!

For more info go to: http://www.funcamps.ca
Email: info@funcamps.ca

Degrowth is coming it is just a matter of when and how ready we are for it. Running for the hills isn't the solution as that takes us backwards, we have to learn how to live in these cities, in this populous environments that we have created, but without the resources that we've grown so sadly accustomed to.

For instance I am changing the way that I look at my clothes. I want stylish and comfy clothes but I am no longer going to bring dyed cotton halfway around the world to save you guys from seeing my beer-gut. I'm going to source and support locally produced, sustainable clothiers and if they don't exist I'm going to start to create a market for one.

I am also going to tele-commute more and cycle when I can. Roll on summer.