Vancouver Climate Change Theatre Action

 

“Climate change isn’t an “issue” to add to the list of things to worry about, next to health care and taxes. It is a civilizational wake-up call. A powerful message—spoken in the language of fires, floods, droughts, and extinctions—telling us...that we need to evolve.”  - Naomi Klein 

Vancouver Climate Change Theatre Action

November 22, 2015

STUDIO 1398, 1398 Cartwright, Granville Island

2 pm – 4 pm

FREE – First come, first served

For Immediate Release: October 16, 2015

On November 22 at 2 pm, Vancouver actors will read short plays by Reneltta Arluk, Kendra Fanconi, Jordan Hall, Kevin Loring, David Geary, Elyne Quan, Elaine Avila and others, as a Vancouver response to the international CLIMATE CHANGE THEATRE ACTION (CCTA). CCTA is a global series readings and performances intended to foster discussion around climate change during this November and December, coinciding with the United Nations 2015 Paris Climate Conference.   

The Vancouver action is open to the public and admission is free. The program will culminate in an opportunity to meet and discuss ways for theatre makers to react creatively, practically and locally to the climate change crisis.  The event is organized by The Only Animal, with the assistance of Playwrights Theatre Centre, playwright Elaine Avila, and Event Coordinator Mark Vulliamy.

The main goal of the international project is to invite as many people as possible to participate in a worldwide conversation about climate change.  Vancouver’s Climate Change Theatre Action is an initial response by local theatre artists – writers, actors, directors - to the international call to engage with a global crisis.  As Elaine Avila, one of the international co-organizers, notes, “Coming together to tell stories is one of the best ways we have to organize and educate ourselves, to feel and to understand.”

“This artivist action on climate change is an opportunity to reflect, with multiple communities, on one of the most vital issues on the planet, continuing our mission toward a theatre that can illuminate the relationship between humans and nature,” says international co-organizer Caridad Svich.

“I’ll go on. It feels better to be in action than to be in despair. I’ll go on. I’m “out” on the climate change issue. It’s my work. I’ll go on. Creatively, with hope, with beauty. With a love of the impossible. I’ll go on.” -  Kendra Fanconi

to volunteer:  Mark Vulliamy  mark_vulliamy@telus.net

media contact: Kendra Fanconi  Kendra@theonlyanimal.com

For more information on the international Climate Change Theatre Action, a joint venture between NoPassport, The Arctic Cycle and Theatre Without Borders, please go here.

Free public #VanWiFi is here

City of Vancouver
Information Bulletin

October 22, 2015

Over the summer, City staff and TELUS have been working to bring free public Wi-Fi to civic locations throughout Vancouver. Residents and visitors to the City of Vancouver can now enjoy free public Wi-Fi access on their smartphone, tablet or laptop at six civic locations, with service expanding in the coming months to an additional 37 sites throughout the City. The expansion of the free public Wi-Fi is a core element of Vancouver’s Digital Strategy, which also included the launch of the City’s app VanConnect earlier this year.

     The first six City locations to have free public Wi-Fi available are: 

•            Mount Pleasant Community Centre 
•            Champlain Heights Community Centre 
•            Coal Harbour Community Centre 
•            Roundhouse Community Centre 
•            Langara Golf Course Club House 
•            Fraserview Golf Course Club House

To connect to #VanWiFi at these locations:

1.  Select the #VanWiFi network name from your device’s Wi-Fi settings menu
2.   Open your browser and you will be automatically re-directed to the #Wi-Fi terms and conditions page.
3. Read and then click the button to accept the terms and conditions.
4. You will be re-directed to the #VanWiFi home page (http://vancouver.ca/vanwifi) and are then connected to the internet.

The next four sites that City staff are working with TELUS crews to launch free Wi-Fi at will include Creekside Community Recreation Centre, the Gathering Place, Trout Lake Community Centre, and the McCleery Golf Course Club House – these are expected to go live in the coming weeks.

Earlier this year, the City implemented a procurement process to solicit applications from telecommunications service providers to provide free public Wi-Fi. In April, TELUS was awarded the contract for an initial group of 43 locations at no cost to the City. This initial list of 43 sites includes 27 community centres, four outdoor pools, four civic facilities, three public golf courses, three theatres and two marinas.

A broadly deployed public Wi-Fi network aligns with Initiative Four of the City of Vancouver’s Digital Strategy: Infrastructure and Assets Pillar, which calls for “expanded digital access throughout the city”.

Not only is a broadly deployed public Wi-Fi network identified by the Digital Strategy as a key indicator of a digital city, it also aligns with the Tourism Vancouver Master Plan and the Vancouver Economic Action Strategy.

The City of Vancouver has already made a significant investment in addressing the digital divide though the Vancouver Public Library (VPL). The VPL has provided free public Wi-Fi in all locations since 2007. More recently, public Wi-Fi was added to Vancouver City Hall, Development Services, and the Park Board Office.

         

For more information on the City of Vancouver’s free public Wi-Fi program, visit Vancouver.ca/wifi

For more information about VanConnect, visit vancouver.ca/vanconnect

For more information on the City of Vancouver’s Digital Strategy, visit http://vancouver.ca/your-government/digital-strategy.aspx

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Media contact:

Corporate Communications

604.871.6336

media@vancouver.ca

Greens practise a different kind of politics

October 17, 2015. 12:59 am • The Province: Section: Opinion

 Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Stuart Mackinnon says Green party politicians like him will vote the same on values issues but are not whipped to vote a certain way by party leaders like with other parties. (Jenelle Schneider/PNG FILES)

 There has been a lot of chatter in social media of late about “whipping” and “whipped votes.” A vote that is whipped is one where the elected members are told how to vote by their party. They don’t have the opportunity to vote their conscience or to vote how their constituents might want them to. They must vote how they are told to.

At Vancouver Park Board meetings, many may be surprised that sometimes the two Green commissioners vote in different ways. Both Michael Wiebe and I share common values — Green party values — one of which is that no vote is whipped. We don’t need whipped votes on core values; we naturally will vote together. We will vote together on environmental issues, on issues of sustainability, social justice, respect for diversity and participatory democracy.

But sometimes we may differ in our interpretation of public sentiment or rules and regulations. I think Michael would agree with me that in that independence is one of the key principles that brought each of us to the Green Party.

Michael and I come to the meetings of the park board to listen, discuss and then make a decision. Sometimes, his decision surprises me, as I’m sure sometimes mine surprises him.

We listen to what the public and staff have to say. We listen and participate in the debate around the table. Then we make our decisions. While we might discuss issues before a meeting, our decisions are not made in advance by backroom party operatives, party leaders or anyone else. These decisions are made by us and we are responsible for them.

This independence surprises partisans in other parties. They don’t understand that we are not beholden to the party on issues other than values. Michael and I differed on the budget this year, as well as on the installation of a public art piece in Hastings Park and on the creation of a Vancouver Parks Foundation.

Michael and I share fundamental common values, but that doesn’t mean that we have identical outlooks. Each of us brings our knowledge, background and experience to our decision-making.

Being in a minority on the board, sometimes we will vote with another party and sometimes against. Interestingly, though, more than 80 per cent of all votes at the board are unanimous.

Interim B.C. Green Leader Adam Olsen put it another way. In a blog post from last year he wrote: “Deeply entrenched partisans on both sides of the fence watch Green votes closely, and depending on the decision, they pounce on us, calling us closet Liberals or closet NDPers. We are not either: Greens are Greens. We are only responsible for the quality of our decisions to the electorate. Therefore, we don’t defend those decisions in a ‘left versus right’ context as the debate has been framed in the past.”

This independence of voting is shared by all Greens, including provincial MLA Andrew Weaver and federal MPs Elizabeth May and Bruce Hyer, who have also been known to vote differently from each other from time to time.

Wouldn’t it be great if all elected members could make decisions that were in the public interest? Wouldn’t it be great if all politicians truly listened? Wouldn’t it be great if there were no more whipped votes?

Greens do things a bit differently. The other parties don’t like that and so you will hear much criticism about the way we vote. Greens think that politics needs to be done in a different way. A way that is better for democracy and better for all citizens. That’s why I’m a Green and proud to be one.

Stuart Mackinnon is a Vancouver Park Board commissioner and a member of the Green Party of Vancouver.