Join us Thursday, November 24, 2011 for the second Elders and the Environment Forum sponsored by the Association of Suzuki Elders. This year’s theme is built around the question “What can I do?” Our Forum’s response - “Start Where You Are.”

PROGRAM

8:15 am: Registration opens

9:00 am: Welcoming address: Conrad Guelke, Chair, Association of Suzuki Elders and Peter Robinson, CEO, David Suzuki Foundation.

9:30 am: Start with your message is the morning keynote address being presented by advertising authority and CBC broadcaster (The Age of Persuasion) Terry O’Reilly. How can we, as elders, talk about climate change so that our families, friends and communities can hear us and join in – what perspective does being an elder bring to that message? http://www.terryoreilly.ca/

Next you’ll have the opportunity to listen, learn, share and act through participation in two of four discussion/action groups being offered concurrently in morning (10:45 to noon) and again in afternoon (1:00 - 2:15 pm) sessions:

Group 1. Start with what we eat: A dialogue about how we can have a just, sustainable, robust and resilient food system that nurtures people and communities.Facilitator: Herb Barbolet. Herb is a co-founder of Farm Folk City Folk and works on empowering people through food. He is an Associate at SFU’s Centre for Sustainable Community Development and Centre for Dialogue, Member, Vancouver Food Policy Council, and a Research Associate at Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. http://www.sfu.ca/cscd/directory/herb-barbolet/

Group 2. Start with where we live: Many North American cities are deeply involved in plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change – and in developing initiatives to support green behavior change. Find out the who, what, where, of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan as a model for planning and moving forward and learn how can we can get involved. Facilitator: Amanda Pitre-Hayes. Amanda is the Director of Sustainability, Sustainability Group at the City of Vancouver. The Sustainability Group manages the development and implementation of the Greenest City Action Plan.http://talkgreenvancouver.ca/

Group 3. Start with a story: Chances are you've already adopted an easy-on-the-earth lifestyle.  How can you now help others -- family friends, your workplace or community group -- reduce their environmental footprint?  There are no shortage of green tips and complementary communication tools.  We'll discuss how to pull people in, use stories, and go that one question deeper.  Warning - you might just start to change the world around you!  Facilitator:  Lindsay Coulter, David Suzuki's Queen of Green, is a spokesperson, blogger, voice of The Suzuki Report, and syndicated columnist for the Metro News. http://www.queenofgreen.ca/

Group 4. Start with our selves:Climate change is big stuff - so big that sometimes opting out can beckon seductively! This group will explore perspectives which help us maintain hope and action in the face of environmental destruction. Participants will experience practices that resource us and build resilience. Facilitator: Jackie Larkin. Jackie, with 40 years of social justice activism experience, now integrates a deep ecological perspective to her work of helping us explore deepest feelings about our troubled world, to rediscover our capacity for joy and to re-create our human ecological relationship with all of life. This work is inspired by teachings of her mentor, Joanna Macy.  http://www.reconnectingtolife.org/jackie.html

At 2:45, we have our Closing Plenary, Start where we are – standing on elder ground, with David Suzuki, Scientist, Broadcaster, Environmental Activist and Co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/

 
Pauline Le Bel, singer-songwriter and Suzuki Elder, will sing us on our way at the start and again at the end of the forum. http://paulinelebel.wordpress.com/

Break refreshments and lunch will be provided, along with great opportunities to dialogue with others, network, and learn about the Suzuki Elders. Bring your experience. Bring your hopes. Together, we will start where we are.

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