Our Place in the Natural World

This event will take place on Thursday Nov 28, 2013, at Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Avenue (at Bank Street), Ottawa, Ontario at 7 PM.
 
What IS the natural world trying to tell us ? Are we listening? What can be learned from trees? Are we ready ? Is it time to start rewilding the planet?

The speakers will be J.B. Mackinnon and Diana Beresford-Kroeger - Ottawa International Writers Festival.

These are two of Canada's most exciting writers and ecological thinkers. They will explore our relationship with nature and the ways we can meaningully re-connect with the world around us.

The Aboriginal Sustainability Network (ASN)

The Aboriginal Sustainability Network (ASN), is an information sharing portal designed to advance sustainable development in aboriginal communities. It is currently comprised of a number of aboriginal communities including the Tsou of Taiwan, the Taroko of Taiwan, the Unama’ki Mi’kmaq of Canada, and the Ngāti Hauiti iwi of Auteaora/New Zealand. As explained on their website, "The project is investigating the potential of a workshop-based, Internet-supported network for the exchange of knowledge and strategies amongst communities working to develop environmental sustainability."

What we can Learn from Walpole Island First Nation

The Walpole Island First Nation experience is a living example for the wider world because they are a remarkably sustainable community. They  have managed to retain a very high level of biodiversity that includes many plant and animal species found nowhere else in Canada. The sustainability success story of Walpole Island First Nation has been achieved through their native philosophies and their traditional values and attitudes, which are based on respectful human and environmental interactions.

Indigenous Ecology in Environmental Education

Aboriginal environmental philosophies recognize the complex and interdependent relationships between human beings and nature. While differences exist across Aboriginal communities, there are commonalities in their environmental philosophies. Generally speaking, Aboriginal philosophies offer an ecological ethos focused on spirituality, stewardship and sustainability. Indigenous philosophies can teach people how to reconnect with nature and show them how to establish mutually beneficial and reciprocal relationships.

According to Native American educator Gregory Cajete, “The accumulated knowledge of the remaining indigenous groups around the world represents a body of ancient thoughts, experiences and actions that must be honoured and preserved as a vital storehouse of environmental wisdom. ... Modern societies must recapture the ecologically sustainable orientation that has long been absent from its psychological, social and spiritual consciousness”

Relationship Between Warming Over Land and in the Sea

As we continue to pour billions of tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution into our atmosphere each year the evidence continues to show that this is warming our climate both on land and at sea. The abundance of evidence for global warming comes from temperature records, atmospheric pollution readings, in ice cores and statistical analysis. A couple of recent studies reiterate this warming trend and help to explain the relationship between warming on land and at sea.

Since the 1980s each successive decade has been hotter than the one before.  Not a single month’s temperatures have fallen below the 20th-century average since February 1985. Half the world’s population is now too young to have lived through the last colder-than-average month. In worldwide temperature records going back to 1880, the 19 hottest years have all occurred since 1985. Eight of the nine hottest years on record were in the last decade.

New Support for the Interconnectedness of the Environment and the Economy

Two new reports reiterate the scientific veracity of anthropogenic climate change while reinforcing the interconnectedness of the economy and the environment. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report 201 clearly points to the interrelationship between the environment and the economy.

A draft of the third National Climate Assessment Report indicates that climate change is both an environmental and economic issue. The draft report was prepared by a federal committee and offers a comprehensive analysis of the latest and best peer-reviewed science on the extent and impacts of global warming on the US. The report restates the fact that climate change will have a wide range of impacts ranging from agriculture to water.

Sacred Economics: Exploring the Myth of Separation (Video)

Bill McGibben: The Planet Wreckers

It’s been a tough few weeks for the forces of climate-change denial. First came the giant billboard with Unabomber Ted Kacynzki’s face plastered across it: “I Still Believe in Global Warming. Do You?” Sponsored by the Heartland Institute, the nerve-center of climate-change denial, it was supposed to draw attention to the fact that “the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.” Instead it drew attention to the fact that these guys had over-reached, and with predictable consequences.

Video: Earth The Only Home We Have

This video offers a reminder of why we must combat climate change. It is an homage to the various life forms that occupy the earth. It is also a visual summary of some of the natural splendor the earth has to offer.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.