Kim and I arrived in Williams Lake (enjoyed a delicious Cody-made curry) and then made our way to the Central Cariboo Arts Centre for the gathering co-hosted by Transition Town, Council of Canadians and Potato House (apologies for referring to it as Mushroom House in an earlier post!).

The evening began with a screening of the Transition Town Movement Film (2.0). Transition Town Movement began in Ireland, but has spread globally with thousands of initiatives worldwide. It focuses on strengthening local economies and growing community capacity to produce food and clean energy, all with the intention of making resilient communities that are able to weather global economic and social shocks. I noticed Band Together BC shares many of the same principles with Transition Town, emphasizing inclusive dialogue, the celebration of positive steps, resource sharing and grassroots problem solving.  The film doesn’t assert that it’s always easy to build community- there are accounts of it going very sour- but it does sew seeds of optimism, which I too am hoping to propagate.  I was impressed by the fact that the footage for the film was provided by Transition Towns (primarily in the UK and U.S.) and sent to a production company for editing, keeping the carbon footprint low.

A short intermission followed the film, during which time I noticed more people had filtered in, bringing the number up to 43 people. After enjoying some homemade punch and treats, we settled back into our seats to hear the incredible drumming of Maggie, who sang a song to welcome me and start off our dialogue session- what an honour!

I began by sharing my journey and motivation to run with the group. We created a charter or accord for how the dialogue was to proceed (see notes at bottom). Then, I had everyone write on a piece of paper the answer to 2 questions:

1)    What do you think is the biggest opportunity where renewable energy and / or community design are concerned that Williams Lake should consider in the short term?

2)    What is the biggest obstacle standing in the way of that opportunity?

Everyone wrote answers on the paper, crumbled it into a ball and threw it into the circle like snowballs flying (yellow snow as it turns out as that was the colour of the scrap paper I used). I have to give credit to Kevin Damaskie for this excellent idea, which he shared at the Dialogue Shaping Dinner that I held in Whistler in June. You could feel the collective sigh of relief in the room when everyone realized they were to read out answers that weren’t their own. Cody took notes as ideas were shared (Kim has since typed up the notes which are below). We observed that all of the opportunities that were listed were readily available or had been done successfully somewhere else and that all of the obstacles, with the exception of cold winters, were not physical barriers. They were all aspects of our belief system, mindset or personal choices, which goes to follow that they can be changed- something that should inspire hope.

The dialogue concluded with many thank yous to the participants and organizers and a sizeable donation made to the campaign from everyone in the room. It was really touching! To top it off, I received a dozen roses and a very thoughtful package from a man named Herb. The package contained a generous donation and a lovely note of encouragement, along with a number of articles clipped from local papers about climate change and the renewable energy potential of geothermal. I noticed he had written many letters to the editor and has been a devoted member of 350.org. It was really inspiring to know that so many people in this small community are devoted to community capacity building, exploring new energy models, and are committed to working with one another.

A big thank you to Lisa at the Green Gazette, Richard of Transition Town, John of Council of Canadians, Mary of Potato House, Pat and Kim for taking photos, Krista Liebe, Maggie, Cody and Barb and of course Herb. You all made our stay so sweet and showed us such warm hospitality!

Barb

Cody

Mary

Maggie and Kim

Kim & Lisa

Williams Lake Community Gathering

Charter

• Respect,
• Empathetic listening,
• Patience,
• Critique ideas, not people,
• Be efficient, be accepting

Opportunities

• Wind…power and in our lungs too
• Solar power
• Wood waste….burns efficiently (x3)
• Geothermal
• Water- Borland creek energy
• Public contest/control
• Earthship building/homes
• Wasting less and conservation
• Capture heat from cogent plant for a community greenhouse
• Solar hot water for community pool
• Domestic water
• More goods as needed not desire based

Obstacles

• Apathy, fear, greed/selfishness
• Conventional mindset
• Long winters
• $$$ (quick profits)
• social norms
• lack of awareness/interest
• waiting for someone to lead
• poor management
• reluctance to change
• corporate power
• commercial advertising
• denial ,distraction
• lack of commitment
• hurdles
• lack of political will
• private ownership of banks (national)
• PV solar  is inefficient

Observations

• Need to conserve
• Simplicity and sanity …discovery
• High solar potential in Williams Lake
• Localization
• Community support

Resources

• Power of Community

Steps

• Local to national energy strategy
• Save $$ (illustrate)
• Pressure our politicians
• Vote
• Presenting to council
• Long-term resource use strategies (global footprint network model)
• 100 yr. planning horizons (not 4 yr.)
• reverse quick buck mentality
• recognizing ‘poverty of spirit’ as problem
• need to use current energy to facilitate transition to new energies
• transportation infrastructure
• take back the railroads
• local currency
• resource inventory
• paid volunteerism (valued)
• OCP
• energy plan
• health benefits
• dynamo (bike power)
• solar potential… Okatoks as model
• energy carrots and sticks
• buy back BC hydro 10Cents
• normalizing alternative housing
• goal of carbon power neutrality for Williams Lake
• becoming aware of your power usage so you know how to cut back
• local food (personal gardens and community gardens)
• new communication paradigms
• learning from those who have done
• Low tech
• Bring it to a systemic level
• Community energy development/ distribution