Bill Rees and Vanessa Timmer are in China as One Earth is a core partner in the Second Biennial Global Research Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption conference Global Transitions to Sustainable Production and Consumption Systems. It is a forum to present and discuss new research outcomes from the Asia-Pacific region as well as from Latin America, Africa, Europe, and North America.  This conference provides a unique opportunity for Chinese and Asian SPaC researchers and practitioners to join together with the others in the global community.  The conference will take stock of new issue framings and explore emerging research questions. The scope will cover local and global issues and interconnections across scales, connecting regions and researchers. The Conference Program (Agenda) can be downloaded here (PDF).

One Earth was part of the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) this May, hosted by Social Innovation Generation (SiG). SiG and SIX staff invited some of the world’s leading social innovators, social entrepreneurs and social financiers to meet with Canada’s social innovation community in five Canadian cities: Montreal (May 13 | June 18), Toronto (May 21 – 26), Vancouver (May 26 – 30), Windsor (May 22), Ottawa – (May 27).

As part of the SIX Innovation Exchange Summer School, One Earth’s Vanessa Timmer led the afternoon tour of Greenest City initiatives, co-hosted a relational approaches and trust workshop, presented on Flipping the Power: investing in relationships not just dollars, and participated in the Labs for Systems Change workshop at MaRS (26 May).

The conference events focused on:

• Showcasing Canada’s social innovation partnerships with government, universities, non-profits, foundations, businesses and citizens.
  
• Learning from global best practices.
  
• Creating a forum where theoreticians, policy makers, grassroots activists and social innovation practitioners can share insights and have fun.
  
• Strengthening the capacity of Canadians to work together across sectors and disciplines to solve our toughest social challenges. 
  

View resources from the conference here. 

One Earth Executive Director, Vanessa Timmer, is touring the country with April Rinne, Chief Strategy of Collaborative Lab, to shed light on the collaborative economy (or "the sharing economy").  The collaborative economy has the potential to transform the way we design products and services, create sustainable and "shareable" cities, re-imagine public services, reduce waste and connect communities. The tour is part of the launch of Cities for People, a Canada-wide initiative to create more resilient and livable cities.  April Rinne's national speaking tour is co-sponsored by Social Innovation Generation (SiG). Using a wide array of innovative examples from around the world -- from transportation to office space to food to education – she will show us how we can use technology and human ingenuity to unlock the wealth that exists in people, places and resources to develop scalable solutions to many of our pressing challenges and to improve social outcomes. Tickets to the public event in Vancouver (13 February, 5:30-9pm) are available here. 

Vanessa is back in Nairobi, Kenya for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council as the North American civil society representative. It is a historic occasion because it’s the 40th anniversary of the founding of UNEP – all of the past Executive Directors are returning to review our collective progress over the past 40 years. Vanessa is joining in this dialogue and helping to shape civil society engagement in the UN. The main themes of the meeting are institutional frameworks / governance and the green economy in the context of poverty eradication and sustainable development. The delegates are also talking about oceans, ecosystems, chemicals, waste, future scenarios and preparations for the June 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro.

One Earth Executive Director, Vanessa Timmer, is Fulbrighter of the Month. You can click here for the newsletter story: http://www.fulbright.ca/programs/canadian-students/traditional-awards/Vanessa-Timmer.html.

Fulbright Canada is a bi-national, treaty-based, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization with a mandate to identify the best and brightest minds in the US and Canada, and engage them in residential academic exchange; it provides support to students, graduate students, scholars, teachers, and independent researchers through a variety of programs which are open to individuals in all academic fields with the exception of medical training.

Ten years after having been a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University (2002-2003), Vanessa is collaborating again as an associate with the Sustainability Science Program within the Kennedy School’s Centre for International Development.  She will be working with the team at Harvard on innovation and sustainability, particularly focused on global public goods.

One Earth was invited to host the BC consultation by the Canadian Environmental Network on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future (SF).

The other Canadian hosts are: Secrétariat des organismes environnementaux du Québec, QC; Saskatchewan Environmental Society, SK; Conservation Council of New Brunswick, NB; Whale Release and Strandings, NL; Centre de droit international du développement durable, QC; Manitoba Eco-Network, MB; Sustainability Education in Nova Scotia for Everyone, NS; Alberta Environmental Network, AB; One Earth Initiative, BC; Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, ON.

• Find out more about the other cross-Canada consultations.

One Earth organized a successful side event at the UN’s 19th Commission on Sustainable Development in New York on May 9, 2011, on the topic “A North American Approach to Sustainable Consumption and Production”. The idea behind the event was to have civil society, governments and other stakeholders present their latest efforts to promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production in Canada and the United States. 

Vanessa Timmer, One Earth Executive Director, facilitated the event, and Emmanuel Prinet, Policy Director, presented the North American Actor & Activity Map on Sustainable Consumption and Production (see February 22nd, 2011, news item).  Other speakers included: Holly Palen, Senior Policy Analyst, Sustainability Directorate, Environment Canada; Derry Allen, Counselor, Office of Strategic Environmental Management, Office of Policy, US EPA; Hilary French, Programme Officer, UNEP RONA, USA; and Jeffrey Barber, Executive Director, Integrative Strategies Forum.