Yesterday, as we all know, was the first day back to school for most of Edmonton's kids. My own two headed off to new schools- one to junior high and one to high school. These are big steps and, for the first time in ten years, I was not walking someone to school. It's not just parents of kindergarten kids that find the first day back a little wrenching! Read the rest of Sue's post here.

I happened upon a Transition Towns conference in my own city of Calgary immediately after. (Contrary to the common perception, there is a ton of good things happening in the Cowtown – even the granola hippy types who escaped to BC or Nova Scotia decades ago are beginning to grudgingly acknowledge that they could enjoy living here.)

That day I completed a personal paradigm shift. All my life, research seemed to be the cornerstone of results. As flawed and biased as experiments and correlations may be, I was an open worshipper of the scientific method as the closest thing humanity has to objectivity. But I eventually overlooked another key word to this principle: method. A method is a technique, a tool that needs to be applied in practice, a means to an end – but not an end in itself.

The Social Sciences Research Network in Canada contains 329 submissions with “corporate social responsibility” and 128 with “business ethics” in the title alone. Once search is expanded to abstract or keywords, these numbers become 955 and 832 respectively. They are good papers – a lot of human ingenuity went into writing them. And… who cares? How many business practitioners, corporate employers or employees have read any of them – or at least, reports or executive summaries based on those papers? In the modern times of ultra-specialization, research and practice often become separated into entirely different fields with a lot less communication between them than one might have hoped for. Peer-reviewed papers are not written with a time-starved company employee in mind – and an academic is caught between the rock and a hard place of “publish or perish” making it difficult to work outside of ivory towers. The company employee has too many surveys to answer while bound by the legal department’s gag to share real, down-to-earth answers on what their company is actually doing. This seems to lead to self-reinforcing circles of specialized knowledge contained within narrow populations, such as academics, company personnel, or industry associations. Read Inga's full blog post here.

In light of the better than expected year end results for the past fiscal year, government has determined that it is prudent to provide funding for the 2.92 per cent increase in this year, rather than over a longer term period. Today, therefore, I am pleased to inform you that government will fulfill its commitment to school boards and teachers by providing funding for a 2.92 per cent increase in teachers' salaries effective September 1, 2010.

The increase in funding will be applied in the form of a 2.92 per cent increase to the base student and class size initiative grants. I want to be absolutely clear: this money is for teacher and support staff salaries, not for any other purpose. As I have repeatedly said in recent months, we have devoted significant resources to reducing class sizes, and I have no desire to see these gains lost. While I recognize that there were adjustments in the class size funding formula, I expect that boards will sustain or improve their progress in meeting class size guidelines as a result of this funding. Read Dave's full blog post here.

 

Anyone can be a bridge builder. You just have to be open to the value of creating connection between polarities…and be willing to try to create this breathing space even in (especially in) times of chaos or crisis.

At the Pari Center, quantum physicist David Peat creates the conditions for this bridge-building by hosting Pari Dialogues. If you or your organization struggle with an issue that you just can’t seem to think your way out of, this approach may help. Pari’s process brings people together from different disciplines and experiences to encourage a dialogue that circumvents normal ‘thinking’ about the problem and transforms the way you would look at your problem. Although it is tempting for some (especially quantum physicists) to stay lodged in the theoretical and analytical, you can’t! What is the value of scientists and thinkers creating sensational new ideas, and then not testing them in the real world… what if Microsoft’s operating system or RIM’s blackberry technology hadn’t been brought to market? Read Donna's full blog post here.

EDMONTON - In response to a recent study that claims that the Alberta Oilsands Industry is releasing dangerous toxins into the Athabasca River, Stand With Fort Chipewyan (SWFC) is calling for the complete overhaul of the Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program (R.A.M.P.). R.A.M.P. is a multi-stakeholder body that monitors the environmental effects of the oilsands in the Athabasca region. The Alberta Government relies on R.A.M.P. to develop regional policy, which has led SWFC to accuse the body as partially responsible for “government inaction” with respect to investigating health concerns in Fort Chipewyan -- a small and isolated hamlet in Northern Alberta.

In 2009, an Alberta Health Services (AHS) study revealed that the community suffered from abnormally high rates of cancer and other auto-immune related diseases. Located directly downstream from much of the oilsands activity in the province, the study’s authors recommended looking into the impact of environmental factors, such as development, on the community’s deteriorating health.

However, the Alberta Government immediately dismissed study’s recommendations, attributing the community’s poor health to lifestyle choices or chance. The province claimed that there was no need to look into environmental factors, as its monitoring indicated that the industry had no impact on the surrounding ecosystem. Read Avnish's full blog post here.

It is time to put an end to an anachronistic favouritism.  It is time to acknowledge that communities are being fragmented, and time to promote the cohesion of communities.  It is time to say, without fear or favour, that we prefer to educate all our children side by side, without pre-conditions of any kind.  It is time to say that all adults in the community share the responsibility for the education of all children in the community:  it takes a whole village to raise a child.  It is time to say that we want our public schools to offer a better model of the inclusive and diverse community we know as adults.  It is time to make better use of our resources, especially the energy and imagination of concerned citizens. Read David's full blog post here.

It is very easy to understand how a voter could say “my vote doesn’t matter anyway so why bother voting” when viewed through the lens of expectations. Especially when compared to the exceptions we see in our day-to-day activities.

In short, times have changed and our style of democracy hasn’t. Access to our governmental system remains virtually the same today as it was in 1867 – the first year of Confederation. Input designed for improvement is still relegated to one vote per person every few years. This is despite the fact that we have greatly sped up the ability to transfer information from person to person to organization. Read DJ's full blog post here.

In any talk about the economy, or politics, or choice, competition is one of the most often used words, generally positively, always as though it is a force of nature – a sign of a free and mature community, a virtue, a necessity, and an unavoidable representation of the core of our reality.

Perhaps competition is a manifestation of immaturity.  Perhaps we should look for less of it in life, not more. Read David's full blog post here.

According to one Envision Edmonton volunteer, who also happens to be a Community League President in the community league in which my daughter plays fastpitch, Envision is providing "grants" to those willing to volunteer and gather signatures in the area. Promoted in an email by the league president, each signature on the petition is worth $0.75 - $0.80.

I don't even begin to think that this is illegal, or even suggest that paying canvcassers is wrong. I know that many charities use this method to canvass neighborhoods for donations door to door. Read Chris's full blog post here.

 

Lately I’ve been thinking about the role of technology in changing the relationship Canadians have with all levels of government. The potential for open data to create transparency and direct citizen engagement in deciding how their city is run, and how an MP can now speak directly with the Canadian public across the country to address concerns and respond to criticisms about recently introduced legislation, are two recent examples of how technology is creating opportunities to reshape the way the public interacts with government. Read Andrew's full blog post here.