June 8th is World Ocean’s Day. What will you do to celebrate your connection to the Earth’s greatest contribution to our humanity? This liquid lifeforce covers 70% of the earth’s surface and supplies 50% of the oxygen that we breathe. Unfortunately, 90% of big fish populations have been depleted and 50% of the coral reefs have been destroyed. Humankind has made an impact and not necessarily for the better. So what can we do to change direction?

Rage Against the Machine

Currently, Seaspiracy is the movie to see relating to oceanic advocacy documentaries. It raises important issues about the current health of our oceans. The documentary brings attention to the global fishing industry plus the ocean pollution and degradation which affects this deep water ecosystem. Like Michael Moore’s film, “Roger and Me” that discussed the car industry’s effect on the health of Flint, Michigan, Seaspiracy’s use of directional storytelling doesn’t mince words. Ali and Lucy Tabrizi, the director and filmmaker, hit the audience and its interviewees with dramatic footage and intense film bytes. I personally believe we need harsh “in your face” pieces like these to take the rose-coloured gaze off our day-to-day feel-good environmental placations. HOWEVER, this Blogcast intends to have you “INSPIRED” not “FIRED” up. So, make sure to come back here after you have balanced out. Hopefully, we can talk about where to go from there.

A Small Fish Swims Upstream

Back in 1992, Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) proposed the concept of World Ocean Day at the Earth Summit in Brazil. It took years of building and focus before any substantive global involvement took hold. Finally, on June 8^th, 2008 the UN officially recognized World Ocean Day. Now, in 2021 after rising out of the dim days of COVID, we can see the brilliant possibilities and new pathways that envision a future based on respect and sustainability.

An Ocean’s Chance

For 2021, World Ocean Day is focusing its attention on the 30×30 direction. What this means is cleaning 30% of the Ocean by 2030. It is ambitious but doable. These numbers aren’t unreasonable when people work together collectively. Whether you are an individual or an organization, there are ways to make a difference. OceanWise’s Youth to Sea is one of those organizations. About a month ago, See Change MAKERS interviewed Michelle Bienkowski, Youth to Sea’s program facilitator. She discussed many initiatives this remarkable group of young leaders has taken on such as their Shoreline Cleanup.

Another organization that is making waves, is Plastic Ocean’s. Its mission is to inform, inspire, and incite action to solve plastic pollution. Both Ocean Wise and Plastic Oceans are signatories of the Canadian Ocean Plastics Charter. The charter’s aim is to bring together government, business, and civil society to redefine how plastic enters our ecosystem.

One of Plastic Ocean’s Canada initiatives is education. Teaching and informing viewers about the impacts of plastic trash collected, what changemakers are doing, and an extensive array of data-based research and information. This non-profit organization is moving rapidly to hopefully make an impact. Currently, they have listed 35 ocean cleanup projects taking place globally.  Other initiatives are collaborative education projects where they engage youth to be the voice for their generation. They work alongside educators and students to inspire circular economy solutions. As an educator, one of my favorite youth-based initiatives is the Short Film: Earths Ekko  

Smaller Ponds

These non-profit organizations spend every day working on what they see as pathways to a healthy ocean. However, there are others that come at it from different directions such as environmental, photographic artist, Benjamin Von Wong. Currently, he is in the process of developing a large installation that is based on a week’s collection of plastic garbage within his local Montreal community.

“We’re building a three-story-tall art installation with plastic flowing out of it, and on top of this is a giant faucet,” Von Wong told CTV News in a recent interview. “The idea is to tell people that we need to turn off the plastic tap.” This project is intent on reminding people of the pollution that is plaguing society and the oceans.

Plastic pollution was also one reason that Kevin Hinton, Brad Liski, and Ryan McKenzie, Tru Earth’s founders, started their business back in 2019. Now, Tru-Earth ships packets of its laundry eco-strips around the world. These little 2X4-inch laundry eco-strips have prevented more than two million plastic laundry jugs from being thrown away. Due to their amazing marketing acumen and their desire for change, the Port Moody company won a 2020 award for being the fastest-growing start-up. Liski told Tri-City News, “Consumers don’t want plastic anymore.” He went further by saying, “It’s just the beginning for the planet.” It’s no wonder they have been the fastest-growing start-up, consumers are recognizing they want to be part of this global change.

Recently, we interviewed Ryan McKenzie, co-founder of Tru Earth. Check out the article then interview on See Change MAKERS People Page.

By Theresa K. Howell

See Change MAKERS respectfully acknowledges that all of the works we do take place on Coast Salish land, home to the Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam, Stó:lō, and Squamish nations. 

This week, people around the globe recognized March 22^nd as World Water Day. This important day of acknowledgment brings up stories of limited water resources in many countries, due to droughts, limited rainfall, or contaminated water supplies. However, we also see areas that are impacted by deluges of water brought about by floods, overextended dams, and sometimes limited infrastructure. “Globally, floods and extreme rainfall events have increased by more than 50% over the past decade, occurring at a rate four times greater than in 1980 (EASAC, 2018). Climate change is expected to further increase the frequency and severity of floods and droughts (IPCC, 2018).” states the United Nations World Water Development Report 2021 On Valuing Water.

The science of water

Water is a powerful life force that all living things depend on. I recall going to ROM’s (Royal Ontario Museum) “Water: The Exhibit” a full decade ago. It was the most informative and interactive exhibit I’ve seen about the global community’s primary resource. Entering the main hall, I saw a circling sphere. Suspended from the central ceiling hub of all related activities, it illuminated the blue and green of the earth, asking viewers to reflect on “why” this exhibit is so important. It is the world we live in, the only one which supports us due to the existence of water. As Neil DeGrasse Tyson states in a recent interview on PBS’s Amanpour & Co. “…every place on Earth where we find liquid water, we find life, even the dead sea.”

Everyday Water

As I toured the exhibit, I learned many things that day. One resonant point that stayed with me to this very day is the amount of freshwater that exists on earth. For the entire globe, “freshwater makes up only 3% of the planet’s surface”. Consequently, freshwater is what we depend on to survive. So, “how do we manage it?” was a question that made me pause. Since gaining this piece of knowledge, I have constantly been cognisant of how I use and misuse the water that runs through my life. This is a list of activities I have direct control by me. These activities keep the resource at the forefront of my mind:

• Brushing my teeth/washing my face
• Showering or bathing
• Boiling water for tea/coffee/dinner
• Washing clothes
• Cleaning floors/walls/etc.
• Watering plants/garden/lawns
• Flushing the toilet
• Washing a car
• Power-washing
• Going swimming

Each time, I do any one of these things, I remember that I am extracting a portion of the 3% freshwater that we all need to share. Now, I am mindful of how long I run the water and how much I am using it.

In the end…

It has contributed to one of the reasons this website was initiated. Thus, I decided to find and connect with others who have this same respect for water and the world; people who want to make a difference. In the coming months, I will be searching for those who are making this difference.

We are all broaching a New Year and a new way of looking at our future. As the Spring blossoms let us look for new ways of seeing our world.

By Theresa K. Howell

The holiday season is fast approaching. Not surprisingly, COVID numbers are rising. It makes for a new twist on a much-loved charitable time. This time is symbolized by gift-giving and socializing. As the news is telling us, we need to take a moment to rethink this. Thankfully many of us have learned to use ZOOM and FACETIME to keep in touch with our loved ones. So, we now socialize with each other online or socially distanced at a park or parking lot.  

However, our ideas of charity and gift-giving need to be reframed to consider our struggling local businesses that are having such a hard time this year. Enough of the big box stores like Walmart, Costco, and other such multinationals which raked in record profits. For example, the three Walton’s, heirs to Walmart made 35.7 million increasing their net worth by approx. 22% during the crisis and gave back less than .01% of that gain to the pandemic crisis relief as stated in a Yahoo article.

Charity starts at Home

Let’s show our giving and charity to those community businesses that need our support during this holiday season. They need to pay the rent, employ their workers and basically stay afloat. These Changemakers are trying to create change from the bottom up. Sometimes, it is about changing their children’s lives for the better. Sometimes, it is about creating incremental change. These are the unsung heroes in our community who are wanting to make a small difference for themselves and their families.

Symbolically, this whole scenario reminds me of the story, A Christmas Carol. We see Scrooge, alone in his household, crouched over intensely counting his fortunes. Meanwhile, Bob Cratchit is barely piecing together a meager amount of income to take time off with his family during the holidays. At the same time, Cratchit tries to do his best to take care of his physically challenged son, Tiny Tim.  So try imagining these mega-corps as Scrooge and our local businesses as Bob Cratchit. This may help you to rethink how you want to show your gift-giving to others.

Here is a WIKI compilation outlining local links listing local businesses from across Canada.

BUY LOCAL and SHOW YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY!!!

Here are some tips put up by Vancouver Best Places article “BC Buy Local Week in Vancouver” posted on November 30^th. Also the main feature on BC Buy Local Website. They are celebrating Buy Local Week from November 30-December 6^th.

BC Buy Local Week’s Seven Ways for Seven Days

BC Buy Local Week lists seven ways to support local businesses on its website. The seven things you can do to help include the following:

1. Buy Local Online (instead of doing all your online shopping with giant corporations like Amazon or major big box stores)
2. Shop in Store (because it’s fun, you can try things on, and doing so saves on unnecessary shipping and packaging; keeping in mind masks are mandatory right now)
3. Promote and Share (by telling your friends about your support of buying local and using the hashtag #BCBuyLocal in your social media posts)
4. Support your Community (by shopping at bricks and mortar stores near your home wearing a mask)
5. Put Local on your Table (by using locally grown ingredients in your cooking and treating yourself to take out meals from locally-owned restaurants)
6. Buy Local Made (by buying products that are made in the Lower Mainland or BC, or at the very least somewhere in Canada)
7. Buy Local Gift Cards (instead of buying gift cards from big box stores and multinational corporations, buy them from your local coffee shop, restaurant or small independently owned retail store)

A COVID Christmas Story from ABC News

Happy Holidays EVERYONE!

Research and Article by Theresa K. Howell

During this global pandemic when the world was put on pause, we saw the wholesale effects of the inequities in our technological system. The most vulnerable were being bombarded with a need to catch up to a digital world that remained just at the edge of their grasp. Previously, schools, libraries, and public spaces provided the bridge between these digital realms. Suddenly, those were closed. These public institutions, with COVID-19, only became accessible through an internet connection and a digital peripheral. These distinct disparities are discussed in The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab. Schwab points out that “the digital divide becomes ever more pressing as it is increasingly difficult for people to participate in the digital economy and civic engagement without proper internet access and/or without access to a connected device of sufficient knowledge to use the device.” in his book.

Throughout modern history, humankind has witnessed, as well as instigated, these mechanistic and electronic revolutions. The first and second revolutions were earmarking by industry which brought about a carbon-based economy utilizing huge manufacturing plants run by coal. As time has moved forward, we have outgrown these modes of thinking and production. While the most current 3rd and 4th revolutions started back in the late ’70s, they were the beginnings of a technology-based digital economy. We are currently in the late stages of the 3rd revolution which revolved around the introduction of consumer-based computer internet technology which brought the world closer via communications. Moving rapidly into the 4th revolution, we are experiencing how to harness those specific digital attributes to create a systemic shift in the way we think about health care, education, and politics.

The 4th Industrial Revolution

https://youtu.be/khjY5LWF3tg

An Overview of Industry 4.0

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a way of describing the blurring of boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. It’s a fusion of advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, genetic engineering, quantum computing, and other technologies. It’s the collective force behind many products and services that are fast becoming indispensable to modern life. Think GPS systems that suggest the fastest route to a destination, voice-activated virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, personalized Netflix recommendations, and Facebook’s ability to recognize your face and tag you in a friend’s photo. In a quote from the World Economic Forum:

“When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. Moreover, it is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.” https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/ 

A Needed Pause

Meanwhile, much of humankinds need to create and progress is partially why we are in this global pandemic. Encroaching and opening areas that were previously frozen or untouched has made a global population vulnerable. For example, visiting wet markets to attain new culinary sensations or travelling to more sensitive areas are leaving boundaries between habitats mutable. So, it seems as though this pandemic reminds us to stop and take a moment. Be more mindful of the world around us. These times give us the opportunity to reflect on where we are at and what we are doing. It has also challenged our ability to be “agile” in the face of immediate change. Suddenly, we needed to rethink how to approach education, business and the arts in order to stay healthy. Educators were being fast tracked to teach online through remote learning. Non-essential businesses were reimaging how to engage their consumers in new ways of physical distance and limited engagements. The arts were having to relook at how to perform and entertain through digital networks and social platforms. These challenges were met in many cases and we managed. This reminds us all, we can meet changes with success.

This is what brings me to the question, how do we move forward to be inclusive of everyone’s needs?

Change Makers answer the call

Let’s look at one change maker that started reimagining industry 3.0 then the 4.0 world early on in his life and now revolutionizing the way we think about our lives in the 21st century. As a young man, South African born, Elon Musk started to imagine the world through futuristic eyes while reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. His mother, Maye Musk says, “When Elon was young, I noticed that he read everything. He was always absorbing information. We called Elon the Encyclopedia. I guess now we would call him The Internet.” He resonated with the idea that “you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one”.[i] From his formative years, it became a mission of his to assist in maximizing his capacity to influence creations that better humanity and prolong sustainability. Outside of being the CEO of Tesla, one of the most globally renowned electric vehicle companies, he’s also affiliated with SolarCity, SpaceX, Hyperloop, OpenAI and Neuralink. Each of these businesses revolve around industry 4.0 concepts.

For instance, SolarCity is a U.S. provider of solar power systems. Then in 2016, SolarCity was acquired by Tesla. The integration of the two companies seemed obvious as Musk says, “If you have a great solar roof, and you have a battery pack in your house, and you have an electric car, that scales worldwide. You can solve the whole energy equation with that.” (Oct 28, 2016 | Source)

The concept for HyperLoop creates a high-speed transportation system that builds reduced-pressure tubes using pressurized capsules as the mode of travel between large city centers such as New York to Washington, D.C. This transportation system has been cited as being cheaper than any other mode for long-distance transport. As well, it’s impact on the environment is nominal outside of the initial construction.

Meanwhile, a division of SpaceX, Starlink, is in the final stages of providing delivery of high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable. When putting tens of thousands of satellites in orbit and connecting them in a network with one another, he says he can ensure smart global coverage in a way no one ever has. Each solar-powered Starlink satellite will have sensors and thrusters so it can detect its location and stay in line. Musk also says these satellites will safely deorbit at end of life without leaving behind unnecessary space garbage. Currently, Starlink is in its beta test stage and looking for consumer’s be part of their large scale implementation process. In his book, Schwab suggests that by 2025, 90% of people will have regular access to the internet. As he says, “regular access to the internet and information will no longer be a benefit of developed economies, but a basic right like clean water.”

With TESLA, Musk has also done what previous CEOs failed to do which is put priority in sharing the technology and making these all-electric cars affordable for an average consumer. As well, in 2014, Tesla allowed good faith usage of its patents to accelerate the development of electric vehicles. Then, in 2016, he unveiled the Model 3, Tesla’s most consumer-friendly electric vehicle coming in at $35,000 US and making it the world’s best-selling electric car. Being a stickler for branding as much as technology, Musk originally wanted to label his newest addition, Model E. However, Ford wouldn’t release its trademark ownership. Interestingly, the dampening of the “E” version caused Musk to rethink his spelling of all TESLA’s S, X, Y series to be S3XY instead of his preferred SEXY.

During this same time frame, in 2015, Musk announced his creation of OpenAI, a not for profit artificial intelligence (AI) company. OpenAI’s intentions are to develop artificial general intelligence in a way that is safe and beneficial to humanity. Which aligns itself with Neuralink, where the organization is looking at ways on how to create devices that can be implanted in the human brain.

Musk’s visions remind us all that anything is possible. These changes will advance North America into a cleaner and more empathic future.  So, with the right investments and policies from other leaders, a shift in global civilization is just around the corner in this Fourth Revolution.

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[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (2016) by Klaus Schwab

We are here on the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day. We have come a long way. In the current global pandemic situation, we have realized how much human impact has actually affected the planet. It seems during this sudden pause, the earth is taking a breath. Animals are moving freely; waters are clearing and air emissions have been dramatically reduced.

Fifty years ago, the environmental movement was spawned by one of the largest environmental disasters of that time; the Santa Barbara Oil Spill. It came at the end of a decade that started out with the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.* The book laid out a warning against the harmful effects of DDT and other chemicals in the food chain. All of this during an era which was ripe with civil unrest and antiwar sentiment.

Now almost fifty years onward, we were seeing similar earmarks. As the world brought in massive protests aligned alongside Greta Thunberg’s environmental call, people started to pay attention again. Then suddenly all was put to rest or on hold. Now here we are on April 22^nd, 2020, in a global social isolation brought on by a virus that has no borders. There have been many who have said this is nature calling out for us to pay attention.

Are we ready to listen this time?

*This is a New York Times article about Rachel Carson and her book, Silent Spring. You will be asked to sign in for FREE to read it (with no obligation to pay). I strongly suggest you do. I chose this article since it gives so much other information such as her background, the situation that motivated the book, etc. It is an exceptionally well-written piece and worth the sign-up. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

During a recent episode of Quirks & Quarks, host, Bob McDonald spoke with University of British Columbia oceanographer Philippe Tortell about his new book, Earth 2020: An Insider’s Guide to a Rapidly Changing Planet— a collection of essays examining how our understanding of the environment has changed in the last half-century, and a better path forward for our planet. In his new publication, you will see a multitude of CHANGEMAKERS telling their stories.

Free Read of the publication