Living Communities and Inclusion in Atlantic Canada

Building living buildings and living communities is rooted in a deep understanding of what it means to be inclusive. Adopting an ethic of place is a good point of beginning: An ethic of place respects equally the people of a region and the land, animals, vegetation, water, and air. It recognizes that people revere their physical surroundings and they need and deserve a stable, productive economy that is accessible to those with modest incomes.  An ethic of place ought to be a shared community value and ought to manifest itself in a determination to treat the environment and its people as equals, to recognize both as sacred,and to insure that all members of the community not just search for but insist upon solutions that fulfill the ethic.

Jason McLellan, Carolyn Sloan and Donna Crossland will join Centre for Local Prosperity Host Gregory Heming for a one hour discussion followed by a Q&A session with the public. All Webinars are from 7:00 to 9:00pm Atlantic time.

Carolyn Sloan While living in the Arctic as a journalist, Carolyn Sloan was given the opportunity to run a group home for adults with disabilities and eventually started a social enterprise to provide employment for individuals with various barriers to economic inclusion. Now the director of Inclusion Clare in Church Point, Nova Scotia, her work centres around self-advocate leadership and community empowerment through social and economic inclusion.

Jason McLennan is the creator of the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and progressive green building program in existence, as well as a primary author of the WELL Building Standard. He is the author of seven books on Sustainability and Design including the Philosophy of Sustainable Design, which is considered the ‘bible’ for green building’ – and is both an Ashoka Fellow and Senior Fellow of the Design Future’s Council. Jason is the recipient of the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Prize (the planet’s top prize for socially responsible design).

Donna Crossland is dedicated to managing and restoring healthy Acadian forest and has done so through a long career at Parks Canada, with direct involvement in two provincial forestry strategies, as well as involvement in private group efforts.  She has researched historical forest ecology, natural disturbance processes including fire history, and conducts forest songbird acoustic monitoring.  Donna also serves on the Minister’s Advisory Committee for the implementation of ecological forestry recommendations on NS Crown lands. She has co-authored with Bob Bancroft, Forests:  Restoring the Health of Nova Scotia’s Forests.

Gregory Heming is a Co-founder of the Centre for Local Prosperity.  He is a philosophical ecologist, writer, climate activist and former elected official. He holds a PhD in Literary Ecology and Northern Studies with special interest in steady-state economics, public policy and ecocide.