[All] GRCA watershed forum 2011 part 1.

[Louisette Lanteigne]

GRCA Watershed Forum 2011   Theme: Sustainable Watershed, Can we get there from here?

Barbara Veale gave the intro, how the Bruntland Report formed the basis of the sustainabliity movement which basically states that development needs to have regard to the needs of the present and the future. 

Jane Mitchell gave her intro of various municipal officials. 
Mayor Craig stated: The Grand binds us. It is the connectivity and issues of flooding shows the importance of why we need to work collaboratively.
Ken Seiling stated: As the future points to growth targets we need to know how to best manage the river. 
Brandford's mayor stated the GRCA has planted 1.4 million trees but their goal is 50 million in the watershed. He presented Jane with a gift.

MP Woodworth stated the Grand River is the jewel of Southern Ontario. The work of the GRCA has been a miracle in the middle of a large metropolis. He also stated that the Government of Canada is poised to address Canadian Waterways via Federal Development. 

Joe Farwell of the GRCA spoke of the 2011 Watershed Report featured in THE GRAND; Goals for the Grand. This will be circulated within the next week to 200,000 homes. 
This edition asks, what is the future for the Grand and speaks of the Watershed Management Plan which is a policy that will be created with a collaboration of the GRCA, Province, Federal Reps and First Nations. (No NGO's)
The program is intended to pursue plans that are effective reasonable and practical. 
They intend to set targets to meet objectives
The plan will focus on how we use and value H2O. 
The 5 subcategories will discuss water supply, hydrologic function, biodiversity, culture/recreation/tourism, services ie: waste water treatment/storm water management.
The public will be asked their opinion in a survey provided online and provided in the latest copy of The Grand. The online survey will take place in October.

They intend to impliment a Softpath approach. Treating water as a service, Ecological sustainability is a priority, match water quality to water function, plan goals and work backwards to assess multiple options to achieve objectives. 

Dundas Buried Bedrock Ancient River Aquifer has been found after a 3 year study. Analyzing it for possible future water supply. 

For our Waste Water plants, they are working to create the best effluent quality and reduce the need for upgrades. They want to do the best with what we have. (lesson from Guelph)
The Chlorine loading chart shows a decine in the use and less $ is being spent on Chlorine. They want to avoid spending millions on new infrastructure. Chlorine smells are reduced in the river and we're seeing more birds and animals. 
He thanked the Valeries who have successfully restored wetlands in the watershed. 

Peter Victor, Prof. of Economy from York University & Author of Managing Without Growth: Slower By Design Not Disaster
Bio here: http://www.pvictor.com/Site/Brief_Bio.html

To view the state of the economic system currently, envision a circle with the term economic cycle in the middle. Around the circle is a dynamic showing how firms produce goods and services to households who than provide land, labour and capital back to firms. This is how the current economic model rotates. Problem is, environment was never factored into the loop and yet it encompasses all of it but trees and gravel are being depleted  to provide for the land, labour and capital and water and air discharges are increasing as a result of goods and services being produced. The earth encompasses all of this and it has limits. 

Global material extraction increased between 1900-2005 increasing the removal of biomass, oil, ores and minerals, and industrial fossil energy carries. 
It's having adverse impacts on our planet particularly in regards to biodiversity, nitrogen cycles and climate change. 
Industrialization nearly wiped out Cod fisheries via Trawlers. 
In 1751, fossil fuel generated less than 1000 millitonnes into the environment. In 2001 it's over 9000 millitonnes and climbing dramatically. 

Endless growth is a myth. Only 10 generations have experienced growth. 

Conventional oil will be gone by 2030-2040. Technology may be helpful but it's not beneficial to the earth. The smaller the technologies, the more it enabled the creation of the massive earth movers of the tar sands. The faster we process data, the more we can design tools to further deplete the earth with less effort. 

Less efficient = less use!
Just because a car is more efficient, people tend to drive more and it may actually take more effort to create an energy efficient car: ie: The Prius which requires platinum. 

In terms of energy intensitity, efficiency is improving on many items. by 24% but scale of growth + intensitiy = 60% overall energy use.

We live in an unequal world. Most wealthy: North America and Europe. Income + Access to water is better in the wealthier communities. 

In terms of Growth: the End is widely published. The earth is literally running out of resources. The current growth is nonsustainable.  If we were to plan for a low growth Canada, we can have jobs, balanced budget etc. It is possible. 

What makes economies grow? Macro reasons:  Consumption, investments, Government and Trade. Micro: Labour, Capital, Productivity and Supply. 
Scenario 1/ If we continue to keep business as usual: Debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will decline.  Green house gas will go up. GDP per capita will go up and the poor will go up. 
Scenario 2/ Without growth: Debt to GDP goes up, green house gas down, GDP per capita stablizes, Unemployment goes WAY up. 
Scenario 3/ Better Low Growth/No Growth: Stablize GDP ratio, high and stable. Poverty is lowest, GHG stablized, Unemployment stablized lower, Debt to GDP ratio lower and stable.  More specific funding would NOT be dependent on growth. It would be consistent.

Green Economy
GDP high in 2002, 593 Mega Tonnes Green House Gas. Scale and Intensity= output. It's projected it will increase to 734 mega tonnes in Canada. 
We need to get down to 95 mega tonnes by Green Growth. 

John Stewart Mill 1848 "I sincerely hope, for the sake of posterity, that they will be content to be stationary, long before necessity compel them to it." 

Nobel Laurete Robert Solow advised we chose stability over growth. 

We need PUBLIC PRESSURE to stop growth. 

Japan becoming an example due to externalized circumstances. No new immigration, isolated growth, aging population, It's a model for a different sort of growth,

Institutions are very growth centric but people need to be aware that business as usual is not coming back economically, The alternative has benefits including more leisure time, more equal society. 
________________________________

Bob Gibson Professor of Environment and Resource Studies at U of Waterloo and author of Sustainabilty Assessment Criteria and Process

Growth Management strategy: to reduce adverse effects but not to reverse the trajectory.
The current population in the watershed is 956,000 and growth will increase to 1.6 million by 2056 with all similar per capita demands. 
We're using 150% global capacity currently, and much of the world doesn't have enough to eat. 
Mitigation can't address increasing demand. Extending more use = more poverty. 
We need to cut 70-90% of the demands from wealthy countries. Find a better way to distribute gains more evenly. Streets can serve to transport more people with less traffic via bus and bikes than in cars. Better use for our existing infrastructure.

Book recommendation: Perverse Cities by Pamela Blais: http://www.amazon.ca/Perverse-Cities-Hidden-Subsidies-Policy/dp/0774818956

Sprawl neglects externalized costs related to health and the ecosystems etc. Solution is to promote net benefit for sustainability but being "less bad" is not good. 
_________________________________

John Fitzgibbon Professor of Rural Planning and Development at University of Guelph

People are the Problem/ People are the solution

The Grand River system do we want stable but degrading or stable but resilient? We're OK in some areas of the Grand but not OK in others. We can recover to a better state but if we fail, we will need to protect ourselves from the environment that we created. 

Agriculturally pesticide  applications declined by 60% from 20 years ago. This reduced nutrient loads but now we have 40% more production. We need to think about the environment and future generations. 

Re: Water conservation technology, the Ministry lobbied for water quality standards but the government is resisting. We need to change what we do as citizens behaviorally. Turn off taps brushing teeth etc.  We can also change what we chose to purchase or consume. 

Barriers to water conservation include: Limited knowledge and awareness, limited capacity due to less choice: All of us had to drive to the forum because there is no bus option. Limited support from community/family and Ineffective government. 

Benefits: Reduce infrastructure costs, Future water supply for future generations, Increased ability to deal with disasters, Adapt for climate change and predictability, improved quality of life, more robust ecosystem. 
________________________________

Steve Hounsell President of Trees Ontario

Growth Sustainability is Rhetoric: folks have little clue, little public support or political will.  

Ecological Sustainability means to live within limits and carrying capacity!
Right now we have Green House Gas, depleted resources, loss of species, health care costs and a collapse of the economy is coming. 
Deficit spending is using resources for 1.5 earths each year with a decline in clean air, water and food. Consequences at the Global level and our region is projected to grow to 1.6 million by 50 years.  Ecologically we consume and emit wastes.  We can amplify this. It takes 68,000 hectares to support 956,000.  Renewably that's 8.5 hectares per capita according to the Global Footprint Network. http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/
Currently 8 million are using 26,000 hectares in our watershed, That means we are using 12 grand river watersheds worth of resources! We take resources, export our wastes and still we face growth demands. There is an economic disconnect as Politicians strive to achieve growth. Denial and hope won't fix this. We need to Act.  We have a global obligation. Balance the books with nature to work within natural limits. 
Natural Resource Management needed = jobs. Reinvent Economy to solve the issues. Sustainability must be applied by governments, public and industry. Eco efficiency, create closed looped systems to reduce impacts, Connect health to healthy environments and protect biodiversity and create inter generational equity. Vision 2020 as a vision for a sustainable future. 
_________________________________

Murray Gamble President of C3 group of companies.Urban planner.
-Reuse heritage buildings
-Brownfield Redevelopment: Don't waste the land
-Sustainable design and construction LEEDS
-Renewable Energy: Localized supply, not mega plant productions
-Smart use of energy: efficient products, recycled goods and greywater etc.
-car free transportation options
-More greenspace and parks and waterfronts.
-Result- Outstanding quality of life and economic competitiveness
-Cheap and easy often not the right choice for the environment.

Q and A 

Q- How can we convince public about low growth agenda in a time of economic problems?

John: We have significant management measures such as the Green Belt etc. They are inadequate but the 2 drivers to sustainability are:
1/ Municipalities and the Province. It's too costly to sprawl. 
2/ People don't want quality of life to degrade. Self centered but powerful enough to make these shifts happen. 

Steve: Government responds to public demand. Science knows what we need. Values are there. Think of our kids. Make it personal. Stop looking at GDP and look more at happiness and quality of life. 

Bob: People don't feel consequences yet. They do more, more easily now. Doing things differently is the key. We assume kids will live our lives but they'll be the first less well off than us and after that generation they'll have even less.  How will the future look at us? We can help them now. Bottom up will change this not top down. 

2/ How can we secure mandatory test times and methods to secure reasonable baseline data?

John: Industry standards are not Government mandated but it is unethical to avoid doing them. Spending money on good studies...What's the rush to destroy? Developers push deadlines and funding is limited etc. We need to mandate tests and methods. 

Murray: Brownfield is costly to begin with so don't drive those projects away. 

3/ So how can we get society to change? 

John: Advocacy: at all levels. Community/Government/Industry.

Steve: Social movement to protect the ecosystem. Limit growth. View the age of stupid: http://www.spannerfilms.net/films/ageofstupid or how to boil a frog: http://howtoboilafrog.com/ . 
Vote with your wallet. how you spend shifts companies and practices. Companies reducing use of resources lowers costs, better long term protection of resources. Buying cheap externalizes costs to environment and health due to toxicity. Less waste with better design. 


Bob: I suggest two bumperstickers that say "We're doomed"  or  "I was going to be a pessimist but it probably wouldn't work"
We're soft wired with feelings.  Openings for subversive change is everywhere. 
Re: Laurel Creek, they wanted to pave it from the lcbo to the beer store to manage storm water runoff but but the Laurel Creek Anti Tax people and Black Willow residents, mainly the elderly citizens who loved to feed ducks protested. 2% of the influence went to the environmentalists. Those who fed the ducks saved us from paving the river. If they could do this, there is hope!

Q- What do we teach our kids? 

John: Bring them to the watershed. Help them to understand long term impacts. They can feed the ducks later on when their 85. 

Steve: Redo the education centers. Bring kids early before 12 or they'll never care without that exposure. Schools of business should teach the ecological links. Work with Ministry of Education to support more outdoor initiatives. 

Bob: Educate not only in schools. Cap and Trade needed. Talk about it with friends and neighbors. Bring kids to farms. 

Q: Steven Harper doesn't care about sustainability!

Steve: The electorate didn't make environment an issue. They need to demand more of government and industry.

John: Goverment responds to constituency but not enough people vote. Governments are risk adverse to new ideas, If they see the public doing something they'll know if it's a popular idea to support. 

Bob: We are too dependent on status quo system and it's wobbling. This government will pass. The GRCA can work towards a better way regardless. 

What about the Highland Quarry?

John:  A federal/provincial review panel is being proposed. The Highland Company will have to show a long term net gain. Standards and extraction standards will be up and other spectators will have this as an example to follow. They have to prove overall long term benefits. 

General call to action from panelists to the public to voice views, get involved, be the change. 

Lunch. Part two will come later on. 

Lulu :0)
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