Industrial Ecology

Industrial Ecology is a form economic capital. It can contribute to a sustainable community by creating cooperation between industries through waste reduction or reuse (Ling, 2009). Interaction between industries this way can promote positive large scale change not only for the corporations themselves, but for the community. I came across an interesting case study tonight in Kalundborg, Denmark.

Apparently, in 1972 the city relied on a single power station for all power needs. As of 1994 it has evolved into a cluster of power companies all interdependent on each other for material inputs. Apparently the energy savings of operating as a decentralized set of companies has totalled an estimated $10 million per year. How does it all work? It involves 5 different partners all with different business objectives. The partners are
• A coal fired power plant
• And oil refinery
• A pharmaceutical plant
• A manufacturer of gyproc
• The municipality of Kalundborg, which distributes water and electricity to the towns 20,000 people

The treated wastewater from the refinery is used as cooling water for the power station, while the oil refinery and pharmaceuticals company purchase waste steam for use in their processes. Excess heat from the power plant is also used to power the adjacent fish farm. Interestingly, the gyproc company purchases the fly-ash, in the order of 80,000 tonnes per year, from the power plant to use in the manufacturing of their product. I could go on regarding the numerous avenues in which waste products are traded between these industries, but I’ll leave it at those examples.
The benefit of these partnerships, or technological clusters (Ling, 2009) has benefitted the community immensely. The companies have reduced emissions, met or exceed their sustainability goals and provided a cost saving to the community, either through their product or through a cleaner environment (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2007).
This example makes these interactions seem easy and, although they don’t always work in this ideal manner, it seems beneficial to me for companies to be seeking the use of economic capital in this way.

Works Cited
International Institue for Sustainable Development. (2007). Kalundborg. Retrieved January 29, 2009, from Business and Sustainable Development: http://www.bsdglobal.com/viewcasestudy.asp?id=77
Ling, C. (2009). Types of Social Capital. Victoria: Royal Roads University.

Where the Hell is Matt?

I might be slow in picking up on the latest youtube videos, so I apologize if this is old news for some. Tonight my husband showed my this video in response to hearing me talk about my sustainability class on Thursday.

Similar to our talk on engaging communities, and breaking down barriers/borders (in the case of the first nations band that Judy provided as an example) I can see no better example than this video. Apparently it all started out as a blog for Matt. Whenever he was expecting to be in a city, he posted what time and where he would be. At each location he would dance. You can see the progression of him dancing by himself, but as more and more people became aware, they joined in.

He ended up doing the same dance in 42 different countries with thousands of people eventually dancing alongside him. What a sense of community and openness a clever activity like this has to those involved. It breaks down all language barriers, and engages and motivates people to join in.

The success of his blog and multi-country dancing can likely be attributed to consistency, open invitation, and fun. He kept posting on his blog, he followed through with his posts and made each episode fun (who can't have fun while randomly bursting into dance?!). In researching for the 409 paper I am finding that these three are key to successful communitty engagement. Whether he knows it or not, he's done quite a job at mustering a wide range of involvement.

Though his dancing, in the end was sponsored by a private company it just goes to show how creative methods like this can be so successful in getting people together.

His blog for more information: www.wherethehellismatt.com

Social Capital

I've been thinking about social capital a lot over the last week. In doing some research for my 409 paper, I discovered the immense benefit of utilising social capital, not just to facilitate large-scale change and decision-making processes, but also in our everyday lives.

All this talk of community has got me thinking about my life 20 years ago living on a dead-end street in Saanich. As a seven year old, I remember being friendly with the neighbours on my street. I remember playing with all the neighbourhood children. I remember the days when my mom would ask me to go next door and ask to borrow a cup of milk so she could finish her cookies. I also remember neighbours helping neighbours with things like car repairs, mowing lawns, etc. Sharing social capital for the benefit of your neighbours/neighbourhood was everywhere.

I am trying to figure out why we don't do that today. Why not share the wealth of social capital? My parents still live in the same house and the neighbourhood is nothing like that now. There's neighbourly grudges, bitterness about barking dogs, and if you need some help with your car, you're better off paying a mechanic.

I live in an apartment now, where I make an effort to be a good neighbour. The elderly lady next door has trouble assembling her oven after she takes it apart to clean it; I happen to have the knowledge to put it back together for her. Why wouldn't I offer my services? In return for my help she bakes me cookies and delicious desserts. How often does this happen in other communities? It makes me feel more at home and happier to live where I do. That also might have to do with my full belly of homemade cookies from nextdoor.

Measuring Sustainability in Communities

It is universally true that if you're going to measure the success, or failure of something that you need to have a set criteria as a basis for evaluation. The same holds true for measuring the degree of success, or completion of a sustainable community. The trouble is setting indicators that are specific, yet also non-specific enough to ensure that achieving a sustainable community is actually plausible.

This afternoon in class, we broke out into groups to try and set a series of these indicators for Greater Victoria. It's easy enough to create an exhaustive list, but is this really effective? It goes back to the videos of Elizabeth May and Ken Lyotier who both had very different views of sustainable development. Elizabeth May's view was very idealistic; it involved the decentralization of control, local reliance resources and social equity. By contrast, Ken Lyotier stated that it simply involves being accommodating. He explains that reliance on peoples strengths, skills and values provides the framework for a sustainable community and goes farther by outlining the difficulties in planning for the future. If given the opportunity, how would the indicators for May and Lyotier differ?

Indicators can provide individuals, or groups, with the motivation to acheive goals. However, they may be more effective if the are adaptable and limited in number. In addition, if the opportunity of developing these indicators lies within specific communities, perhaps this will inspires individuals to feel a certain responsibility in helping to meet these goals.

Week 1 in Sustainability and Community Relations

Due to limited time in our first sustainability class, we didn't get a chance to cover some introductory topics as planned by Dr. Ling. Instead, some of our time was spent (somewhat humourously) discussing what communities we, as individuals, belong to. At first, the task of naming a community we were part of that was unique to the rest of the class was a bit daunting. However, after several of my classmates provided their answers it was apparent that a community can include anything where individuals have the same interests, hobbies, possessions or simply ideals. Class communities ranges anywhere from the municipalities in which they reside, to snow sport enthusiasts, to people with similar height specifications.

My example, was my membership in the global community of rock climbers. It reminds me that as a community with the same interests and goal of enjoying rock climbing in all different parts of the world that we can band together or the purposes of sustainability. It has been done in the past, and I am reminded specifically of the protection of a portion of Skaha Bluffs park due to the activism of the local climbing community of Pentiction and beyond. With the help of donations to the Land Conservancy and outcry from the climbing community a valuable 304 hectare portion of land would have been lost. Not only did this piece of property contain valuable forest land and many enjoyable climbing routes, but it was the sole legal access to the rest of Skaha Bluffs park. Cutting off this access meant that climbers (and hikers) were shut-out of one of the great climbing (and hiking) locations in the province.

The exercise in class reminded me of this great story and that a group working towards the same means can accomplish great feats. The preservation, environmental significance and lasting recreational legacy of Skaha Bluffs can now be enjoyed indefinitely, due in part to such a proactive community.