When it comes to finding tangible solutions for big-picture problems like climate change, talk is cheap.
Thats why Maureen Jack-LaCroix wanted to showcase community leaders who have taken action to make their slice of the planet, and Vancouver, a better place at her upcoming un-conference, the Great Turning, this Saturday, Apr. 30.
Traditionally, [at a conference] you bring in someone from out of town and they talk at people and tell them what they have to do. The un-conference approach is recognizing we are the ones weve been waiting for, she says in a phone interview. This community is filled with incredible wisdom and expertise, so lets bring forward our community leaders bring them together with concerned citizens and be in dialogue, not be talked at.
As founder and executive director of the non-profit Be the Change Earth Alliance, Jack-LaCroix is committed to giving everyday people the tools to create a more sustainable future through engagement in small-scale initiatives underway in their own communities.
To that end, the Great Turning features a chance for concerned citizens to learn whats already happening in their communities from those who are taking on issues big (the Alberta tar sands, living without plastic) and small (seed saving, protecting boulevard trees).
Un-conference sessions are designed to spark dialogue with each community leader giving a quick 10-minute intro before opening up the session for discussion on the issues, problems and, most importantly, potential solutions.
The Great Turning is a term coined by eco-philosopher Joanna Macy used to describe the shift happening in many communities from an industrial consumer-oriented society to one focused on sustainability and balance.
For the Great Turning un-conference, Jack-LaCroix has grouped speakers into three categories: action, innovation and consciousness, in the hopes of empowering participants to get directly involved in affecting change something that can be a stumbling block for a lot of would-be activists.
If people are looking at something really bad and they dont know what they can do about it theyre easily overwhelmed, so theyll put up a shield and theyll look at something else. Theyll distract themselves in other ways. she explains, noting the phenomenon is called psychic numbing. What were very conscious of in overcoming psychic numbing is helping people understand that there are very real, strategic, achievable, measurable things they can do on a day-to-day basis that make a huge difference.
Jack-LaCroix has her own experience with psychic numbing. A former event producer, she spent a lot of time in her former life working with environmental organizations, which she says are often more effective at conducting scientific research or lobbying government than in engaging the public.
After years of writing letters to politicians, signing petitions and writing cheques, Jack-LaCroix says she was aching to get involved in the sustainability movement in a more hands-on way. So she closed her production company and went back to school to earn a masters degree in eco-psychology with an emphasis on how to help people shift behaviours.
A lot of research has gone into what is a viable way of helping people discern what their values are, see where theyre out of alignment with their values and choose differently, she explains.
She founded the Be The Change Earth Alliance in 2005 and hosted the first Great Turning in 2009, but the project had to take a hiatus last year when the organization started doing outreach in schools.
Ben West, community campaigner with the environmental non-profit Wilderness Committee, says he wasnt sure what to expect when he was invited to participate in the first Great Turning un-conference in 2009, but was impressed to see some participants go on to form working groups, such as the Wild Salmon Circle, which has been working to remove open net fish farming from the B.C. coast.
A lot of events like this one, the biggest critique people have is what really comes out of it? Where does that energy go? he says.
However at the Great Turning, facilitators encouraged people to commit to actions as part of a group which has provided an opportunity for people to get even more involved, to make this just a starting point rather than the event being an end goal, he says.
This year, West will again be speaking at the conference about the issue of oil tankers off the coast of B.C.
Newcomer Tara Mahoney of the Gen Why Media Project is looking forward to speaking to a diverse group about the way media can and is being used to engage youth in activism.
What Im excited about is the sort of big-picture aspect of it, because our whole project is based in these big-picture, large-scale narratives. Because were trying to create a message on behalf of a generation, she says. Its conducive to the turning in society and the way that were thinking.
The Great Turning Un-Conference takes place at the Maritime Labour Centre (1880 Triumph) 9am-5:30pm. Tickets: $25-$85 from BeTheChangeEarthAlliance.org. Registration required.
