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Homelessness Action Week (Metro Vancouver) October 10th–16th, 2011

Raul — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:04:36 +0000

Every year since I started blogging, I have written about Homelessness Action Week (which this year takes place from October 10th through 16th, 2011). This year is not the exception. Action on homelessness is an important policy issue of mine, and a few years ago I suggested (with no luck) that we should have a National Homelessness Policy Strategy for Canada. Frustrating that so many politicians take it as their “pet issue” yet very few have done anything effectively.

photo credit: Matthew Grapengieser

I’m always heartened by the actions taken by the Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee to Stop Homelessness activities:

Highlights:
New this year
– a flash-mob style video launched for Homelessness Action Week imaging the story of homeless-to-housed, a people-powered message about healthy communities.
- How much do you know about homelessness? Take our Myth Busting Survey online.
- Do you want to volunteer? Use our online sign-up form and get connected to Homelessness Action Week organizers in your community.
- Watch for announcements throughout the week as we launch stories about what’s working – including what’s working for urban Aboriginals – and a special project to engage store-front businesses in solutions.

Yet there’s a lot of things we can do, and one of the most important is to raise awareness and engage in action. As a faculty member at one of the most prestigious universities in Canada, and in one of the best departments (Political Science) with some of the smartest and most engaged undergraduate students I have ever met, I take policy action and education on homelessness very seriously. This semester, I asked my students to undertake a quick 72 hour policy analysis to explore how to solve youth homelessness in the Metro Vancouver area.

For those of us (faculty members, educators and teachers) who are interested in this issue, there’s a Teacher’s Guide to Homelessness Issues in British Columbia.

More information about Homelessness Action Week 2011 can be found on their website.

Homelessness Action Week, is in its sixth year, and is organized by the Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness. The week focuses on increasing awareness and action around homelessness and supports events for people who are homeless and general public around Metro Vancouver and many communities throughout BC and the Yukon.

And since today is Canadian Thanksgiving, do consider donating or doing something for those less fortunate than you, those who are on the streets and don’t have a warm meal to eat while you’re at home having a family feast. Because trust me, there are WAY more homeless people than the counts can yield.

My interview with David Berner on The Power of Social Media in Public Policy

Raul — Fri, 20 May 2011 03:07:15 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked by David Berner to be a guest on his show on Shaw Community TV on The Power of Social Media in Public Policy. Given my experience in the field (I teach and do research on Public Policy, and I have a strong social media presence and work and consult on this topic), I felt particularly honored and felt that this was an incredibly fitting opportunity to discuss issues of how we use social media in public policy. Below is the full 30 minute show.

Thanks to David for inviting me to his show and giving me the opportunity to discuss issues that I’m passionate about and that I’m currently working on. It was a wonderful conversation. And I think it’s particularly timely.

Homelessness Action Week 2010 in Vancouver

Raul — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 23:21:05 +0000

photo credit: craigy_p

I am very lucky that I have never really been homeless. The closest I ever got to experiencing homelessness was when I came back from Mexico to Canada to do my doctoral degree, and I realized too late that I hadn’t really looked for a place to live in Vancouver. For the first few days, I stayed with my good friend Carlos and his family, but I absolutely felt the need for a place to call mine, the need for belonging. That sense of place that people associate with a place where to rest my head, where to prepare meals, food to put on the table. Even in the direst of times, I have never really been homeless and must admit I would really prefer not to be ever in that position.

Homelessness is a cause that really touches a nerve with me, and therefore, I am always eager to promote Homelessness Action Week, put together by The Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness (RSCH). This committee is a coalition of community organizations and all levels of government, with the mission of eliminating homelessness in Greater Vancouver through the full implementation of the Regional Homelessness Plan: Three Ways to Home.

You can check on this link the activities within the Metro Vancouver area for Homelessness Action Week 2010 (the fifth annual HAW).

Take action on homelessness. NOW.

I’m speaking at @northernvoice #nv10

Raul — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:45:27 +0000

Earlier this year, I submitted three panels to Northern Voice 2010, as you may have read on my blog. One of the three got accepted, and I am very honored to be joined by the fantastic folks who will be part of this panel. Joining me in the panel are David Hume, Andrea Reimer and Ian Capstick.

Government 2.0: Politics, Policy and Social Media in Canada: A Multi-Level Exploration

US President Barack Obama has been touted left, right and center as “the social media president”. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a Twitter account, yet fails to engage with his constituents. Politicians, bureaucrats, policy makers and public service providers have been heavily criticized for their inability to incorporate social media into their political campaigns and overall platforms and strategies. Yet, we find a dearth of analytical explorations of successful experiences and lessons learned. This panel will explore how the government at various scales (federal, municipal, provincial) is working towards incorporating social media, what are the challenges. etc.

Andrea Reimer will speak to the political circumstances that led to approval and expansion of social media tools in the local government in Vancouver. She will describe the experience in Vancouver with social media, open government and a number of other initiatives she has championed. Andrea’s work was instrumental in having Vancouver approve the open data initiative.

Ian Capstick brings bring a perspective from Ottawa (federal implications) and as a citizen who organizes in-person open source events and consultations which almost always start as a reaction to a need from digital grassroots.

David Hume will share his experiences as the government of British Columbia’s first-ever Executive Director for Citizen Engagement in BC’s Ministry of Citizens’ Services and the lessons that this provincial government has learned from the past 12 months.

Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD will describe his experiences as the editor of BCVote.ca (a pluralistic, non-partisan aggregator) during the BC Premier election of 2009. He will also aim to provide an analytical framework that can be used to outline best practices of social media use in public policy and politics.

Our panel will take place on Friday May 7th, 2010 from 10:30am to 11:30am at the UBC Life Sciences Centre building and will be moderated by David Eaves (thanks Dave for accepting the invite!).

I organized this panel mostly because of the fact that I teach in a Department of Political Science, that I teach Public Policy (both at the domestic and comparative level) and because a lot of my own consulting work is in the field of public policy. Moreover, for those of you not following at home, I have conducted research on information dissemination policy instruments for pollution control (pollutant release and transfer registries), and online tools are the best platforms for citizens to use these PRTRs to put pressure on polluters to reduce their emissions.

My talk at @BCIT on Social Media, Politics and Public Policy

Raul — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:51:59 +0000

A few weeks ago, my friend Tris Hussey (who is teaching at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, BCIT) invited me to speak to his class on the topic of “Social Media, Politics and Public Policy”. I have previously given similar talks (if you look at my SlideShare space, you can see a few of the Power Point slide decks of recent talks I’ve given).

I spoke to Tris’ class this past March 3rd, 2010. It’s kind of coincidental, because I have previously sought to teach at BCIT (this was before I started teaching at UBC) and I never got any positive feedback/responses. So, for me it was a bit of an irony that I ended up, indeed, teaching at BCIT (guest lecturing, of course, and it’s Tris whom I have to thank for the opportunity).

I’ve given a similar version of this talk previously, but this time it felt more fun as the students were already well engaged in the social networking space. The perspective I took then was more on the political analysis/policy analysis side (which suits me rather well, as those are the topics I teach at UBC). I centered my analysis on issues of publicness vs. privacy, seeking the audience where it is (for example, the Facebook page for Kelowna, British Columbia, is very active). The government of BC is seeking public input for the new water laws through a blog. There’s a broad variety of things already happening in the space, and it’s very exciting.

And, on that note, I submitted a panel to the conference Northern Voice 2010 precisely on this topic. I would copy and paste the abstract, but I prefer to surprise you with the excellent panel I have assembled. I am hoping (fingers crossed) that my panel will be accepted, because it has an excellent group of speakers.

Thanks to everyone who sent me tweets about examples of use of social media in politics and public policy, and to Hans Peter Meyer for sharing a report he created. An earlier post of mine where I asked these questions can be found here.

Exploring the use of social media by politicians and government

Raul — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:04:33 +0000

Every time I get asked what I teach, people seem to be surprised that I teach in the department of political science. Well, my comprehensive exams and my minor are in cross-national comparative public policy (focus on environmental policy). I have taught public policy analysis at the domestic (national) level, and this semester I’m teaching comparative public policy. I am also an enthusiastic user of social media tools, and I love to combine both my interests.

Last year, I was asked to be the editor of an online, pluralistic, non-partisan website that aggregated information from all sorts of online sources to inform citizens about the choices they could make for Premier of British Columbia. On this blog, I interviewed Carole James (NDP), Jane Sterk (Green Party) and Gordon Campbell (Liberals). As someone who teaches public policy, and uses social media tools (and sometimes teaches ABOUT social media), I am always looking for good case studies and examples of “good” use of social media by politicians and government officials and agencies.

I asked the question on Twitter, and I’ll be compiling the responses. However, if you do have some ideas as to good examples and case studies, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you all!

On being a jack of all trades

Raul — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:46:03 +0000

photo credit: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML

Human beings like classifying things. It’s in our nature. I, unfortunately, defy classification and/or “pigeon-hole”-ing. So, I did take issue when I read a tweet that said “wow, you’re a Jack of All Trades!” Uh, no… I’m NOT a Jack of All Trades. I’m someone who has been blessed with opportunities for work, research, teaching and consulting in a very broad variety of industries. I have been lucky. Very lucky.

I have been involved with and surrounded by extremely bright minds, from my birth (my parents are amazingly smart and my brothers are incredible, seriously outstanding) to when I did my undergraduate, my Masters and my PhD. I have had a very broad education (undergraduate in chemical engineering, Masters in Business Administration with a focus on strategic management and technology management, and doctorate in resource management and environmental studies), a largely eclectic work life (I’ve worked in the soft drinks industry, in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology, I’ve done consulting projects for leather and footwear, and I’ve been involved with the work of my parents as lawyers). And yes, recently I’ve done a lot of social media work, including consulting. Heck, I’m collaborating in a project on mental health!

What can I say? I’m a versatile individual, not a Jack-of-All-Trades. I take issue with anyone who can assume that I’m the kind of guy who is not a master of any kind of job. I prefer the Princeton Dictionary definition “a person who does a number of jobs reasonably well” than the aphorism “Jack of all trades, master of none” describing a person with multiple skills, but no expert proficiency.

Jack O’Lantern’s post-Halloween disposal – Greening your celebrations

More environmental and policy-focused talks in 2010

Raul — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:00:34 +0000

photo credit: dannyfowler

Most of those who follow me on Twitter on either of my social media/personal and/or my research accounts may know that I’ve spent a substantial amount of 2008 giving a lot of talks about social media, online community building and how to further your message using social networking sites. This is something I will continue to do in 2010. However, I have realized that I miss the academic conference circuit, and since I’m almost done with my water governance book, I have decided that for 2010, in addition to teaching two university level courses, continuing my academic research, my consulting (both in environment and public policy and in social media), and my business coaching, I want to do more environmental and public policy-focused talks (open to the public).

I find that I have a lot of fun when I speak about what I study, and as I mentioned in my post on the Reading is Sexy calendar, I plan to read a short excerpt of my forthcoming book on water governance. If you’re interested to hear me

Mangano on “The Business Case to End Homelessness”, @boardoftrade event

Raul — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:07:27 +0000

I have participated in numerous events of the Vancouver Board of Trade, primarily to report on them (as media) but this time, I was invited as a guest of Dave Macdonald, someone whose company I really enjoy and whose insights are valuable to me. Dave is very well aware of my interest in sustainability, social policy and particularly, urban structure and poverty issues. Dave also invited Toby Barazzuol along as a guest. Toby is, very much like Dave, a very smart man (and someone with insight into the actual situation of the Downtown East Side). I preface my post with this overview as it is important to indicate that the people who joined me to this event are very much people who have had the time to reflect on the myriad complex factors that intervene in homelessness.

Credit: D.C.Atty

Quite frankly, to say that I was utterly disappointed with the talk that Mr. Mangano offered is putting it really really mildly. I really didn’t get anything out of it that I couldn’t have gotten from doing thorough research on the internet, on Google Scholar, and talking to researchers who study homelessness. Don’t get me wrong. Mangano is extremely funny, and a good speaker. I am pretty sure he has worked really hard to solve homelessness in the US. I am also fairly sure he is successful and he knows his stuff. It’s the content and delivery of the material that I was definitely not impressed with.

Bear in mind, before continuing on with my assessment, several things. First, I am an academic. Trying to convince me of something without empirical evidence is going to be very, very hard. Mangano started showing slides with data about 5 minutes before the end of his talk. Yeah… not the best timing. Second, public policy is my domain of expertise. I have taught public policy. I conduct research on public policy. My students have conducted research on homelessness, poverty alleviation and urban decay, particularly in the Downtown East Side. I know about how complex the issues with homelessness are. Heck, I’ve written about it extensively! Even though my own focus (environmental public policy) is not directly associated with issues of mental health, poverty, drug use, etc. I am still someone who thinks things through the academic analytical lenses. I know how hard it is to design public policy for homelessness, and I was disappointed that Mangano didn’t provide a list of potential policy options specifically applicable to Vancouver. I am pretty critical when I see people’s presentations, particularly because I am just as tough on myself when I give talks.

Credit: Publik16

The irony for me was that several of Mangano’s main points were things I have talked about before in my own blog! I have written on everything, from the closure of the temporary (HEAT) shelters, to the anthropology of poverty in the Downtown East Side, to highlighting events on homelessness, to the need to provide warm clothing to homeless people in the winter. I even wrote a post on the lessons in public policy for homelessness that Mayor Robertson should think about. I have highlighted Homeless Action Week both in 2007 and 2008. So, this is a topic I haven thought about for a long time.

Mangano expressed a few good points that are very much worthy of highlighting here.

* Homelessness is not dependent on the economy. In economic booms, homelessness increases because of rising housing prices. In economic downturns, homelessness increases because of job loss and other factors associated with lower income.
* Economic principles per se aren’t going to solve homelessness.
* It is important to focus on ONE specific area of homelessness policy – ending STREET homelessness – focus on the most vulnerable and the disabled.

According to Mangano, the following points are key elements to success

- Definite support from mayors and council and the political will to work on the issues of homelessness
- Reframing policy from the social service frame to the business case (how can we serve this people)
- Accepting that solving homelessness will take time
- Strategic timeline
- Identification of successful case studies and strategies and investment in evidence-based options (based on research)
- The business community to invest in this process too.

What didn’t work in the US (according to Mangano)
- Ad-hoc crisis interventions (shuffling leads to morale deflating – stats he provided 75 homeless/day use St. Paul’s Hospital – $ 700 from the moment they step into the hospital onward)
- Good intentions don’t end homelessness
- Increased resources without innovative ideas, strategic planning and long-term strategy don’t work.

I scanned the room as I arrived and I noticed that not only was the room full (for a beautiful summer day, having to shell out cash to participate in an indoor event and have to wear suits, you really must be passionate), there were a lot of well-known advocates for the issue of homelessness, including people from the Vancouver Foundation and the Street To Home Foundation. I recognized many people that I knew from before, like Mike Harcourt, Andrea Reimer (a Vancouver councillor who, the more I talk to, the more impressed I am with). The Vancouver Board of Trade should feel really happy with the attendance, because there were a lot of participants as well as high-level, policy decision-makers in Vancouver were sitting in that room, along with all the other board members and guests.

My overall assessment of Mangano’s talk

Mangano’s talk sounded very much like an ode to Mayor Gregor Robertson. Every opportunity he had he lauded Robertson’s efforts. If I wanted to pay (and in this case, I didn’t pay for my own ticket but Dave did) to hear someone praising the mayor of the city I live in, I would do it. But I really don’t like paying to hear someone do that. Don’t get me wrong. I have met Gregor myself, I have had a chance to talk with him about issues and hear his own viewpoints. Mayor Robertson is (in my view, from my limited interactions with him) someone who has expressed a genuine interest in thorny issues such as homelessness, environmental protection, accessibility to housing, etc. I have very high hopes set on Gregor Robertson, and with smart people like Andrea Reimer in council and a few other councillors and COV staff I’ve met, I am sure Vancouver will look for ways to end street homelessness.

Mangano’s talk was funny and entertaining but he wasted too much time in side stuff and didn’t get into the real “meat” of the talk until the end. And yeah, that part about NOT having questions/answers period? Pretty bad.

One point that really struck a chord with me was Mangano’s phrase “I have been to the Downtown East Side already, I don’t need to go there again”. This phrase sounded to me really dismissive. It sounded very much like “I don’t need to see more, I already know what the issues are there“.

I have to repeat through my assessment (which I’m sure sounds like a scathing indictment) that I am very sure that Mangano knows his stuff and that he has worked really hard to solve homelessness in the US. Sadly, his talk at the Vancouver Board of Trade did not give him enough credit. What he said and the way he delivered it wasn’t really what I am sure he can offer, nor what I needed/wanted to hear.

My expectation coming into this talk was an overview of specific, evidence-based, research-grounded policy options to tackle homelessness in Vancouver. In no way, shape or form did I get this. So what *did* I get, you ask? Well, I got a chance to hear someone who is highly praised in the US as an authority in homelessness provide a few points that I think are worth revising. I expected a talk of much higher caliber, but then again, maybe Mangano’s timeline didn’t provide for enough time to cover everything (although I would have EXPECTED him to be able to manage his time). The fact that he didn’t get into the data until the very end and that he didn’t provide policy options was a real disappointment.

But amongst the great things I got? I got to hang out with Dave and Toby, I got to meet some really nice people, I got to see a Vancouver Board of Trade from the perspective of an attendee rather than as a representative of the media (and remember, I have given numerous keynote talks, so I’m not looking at this from the perspective of a participant but from the perspective of someone who talks to large audiences about complex, thorny policy issues). And I got to talk to Andrea Reimer, Suzanne Anton, Mike Harcourt. So, in terms of being able to access important people and talk about issues, it was a success for me. And in the end, I did hear some interesting stuff from Mangano. Just not enough.

Dave’s assessment of the luncheon/talk can be read here.

Be part of the plan! (Translink consultations)

Raul — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:30:38 +0000

It’s no secret to anyone that I’ve previously criticized Translink (I have no qualms about it and I stand by my words). Constructive criticism, of course. However, this time, instead of criticizing I’m going to praise their “Be Part of the Plan” campaign. I know for a fact that Translink has been trying (with varying degrees of success) to listen to the public and learn more about how to engage. While sometimes it would seem as though Translink forgets that we, the tax-paying citizens of British Columbia, are paying their salaries, kudos should be given to them for trying. And while I may get upset when the bus/Skytrain/Seabus service is not particularly good, I understand that there’s always room for improvement.

While I am very definitely NOT impressed with the Participation Guidelines I think asking for the public’s input is at least one step in the right direction. I’d be delighted to talk with Translink about ways in which they can improve their social media strategy (although I am not sure how receptive they will be). I also know many local members of the social media community whose opinion would be very valuable to Translink’s communications and public consultation team (Stephen Rees, Erika Rathje, Paul Hillsdon and Karen Quinn Fung come to mind).

More importantly, be part of the plan!. Get involved! Speak up about the issues you think need to be addressed! I would also encourage you to attend one of the public consultation events that Translink has planned for the Transport 2040 Plan. It’s YOUR future. Provide feedback on it!

Social Media for Sustainability and Public Policy

Raul — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:30:27 +0000

I’m exhausted but very happy with the results of my Net Tuesday talk. The speakers who were at the event were all fantastic, and I’m truly honored to have shared the stage with them.

The feedback on my presentation was great and people seemed quite happy with the content of my speech. I think people were also taken by the fact that I presented the social network of the New Testament in a very cool visualization.

Thanks to AHA Media for providing documentation through videography/photography/live-tweeting and to Darren and Joe, respectively, for MC-ing and organizing/inviting me.

The liveblog/live-tweet is inserted below (or you can click in this link) and my presentation slides are hosted in my research blog and on SlideShare.

I’d be very curious to hear people’s reactions to my talk on the comments section. One thing I noticed is that people had a lot of questions that I really couldn’t address right there and then as we had very limited time, so if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a comment on my research blog or here.

World Water Day and “The Global Water Crisis” event by WaterDrop

Raul — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:08:07 +0000

You might recall that I wrote a few days back about an invitation that Jered Love and Doug Van Spronsen from WaterDrop made recently. Jered and Doug asked me if I’d be willing to speak about the state of Canadian water within the global water issues context. Of course, I accepted gladly because I believe very strongly in the work that Doug and Jered are doing in regards to highlighting the relevance of water within the context of global environmental change. As I’ve mentioned before, many people are SO focused on climate change that they tend to forget that water IS also a natural resource that faces great challenges in the very near future.

The event took place last night, with a showing of a video that WaterDrop created, a screening of the movie/documentary “Flow” and two talks, one by the folks of Run for Water (I’ll write more about them in the next few days) and my own. I’ll have my slides up on my research site in the next couple of days. On the way back, we were talking about the event and I mentioned that they should be proud, because bringing 70 people to Langley (at Trinity Western University) on a Saturday night to talk water, is not an easy task, and the participants stayed for much longer to talk to the folks who had exhibits at the event (the Township of Langley, Oxfam, the Council of Canadians). They did an amazing job and they also had several people who helped make the event successful, and I personally had a great time.

Water and energy are considered two of the most important and pressing environmental issues in the next 50 years. Unfortunately, so much emphasis is placed on the need for energy resources that not enough attention is paid to the myriad of issues surrounding water. Who has the right to access water? How can we make this access equitable? Is privatization the right way pathway for water conservation? What can we do to re-purpose wastewater and how safe is the technology? There are many, many questions regarding water that are still not answered. My research on water governance aims to tackle just a few of this questions.

Only 3% of the world’s water supply is freshwater (the rest is salt water). This fact comes as a good reminder that today, March 22nd, 2009 is not only the second day of spring, but also the celebration of World Water Day. The theme for 2008 was Sanitation (where my main focus of water research is) and for 2009 is Transboundary Water.

Over the last 60 years there have been more than 200 international water agreements and only 37 cases of reported violence between states over water. We need to continue to nurture the opportunities for cooperation that transboundary water management can provide. [World Water Day UN Site]

In my research, I have examined the way in which wastewater policy is created within a river basin that encompasses territory of five Mexican states (the equivalent of provinces in Canada). The 2009 theme of Transboundary Waters is very timely, because (as I found while conducting fieldwork for this project) water can be used not only as a natural resource but also as a political resource. When water bodies (aquifers or lakes or rivers) are shared amongst two political entities, conflicts about jurisdiction over the water bodies may potentially ensue. Right now, we don’t have water wars, but given the irresponsible consumption patterns that many individuals have, we may see real water fights in the near future.

How many transboundary river basins are there?

There are 263 transboundary river basins. Over 45 percent of the land surface of the world is covered by river basins that are shared by more than one country. Over 75 percent of all countries, 145 in total, have within their boundaries shared river basins. And 33 nations have over 95 percent of their territory within international river basins.

While most transboundary river basins are shared between just two countries, there are many river basins where this number is much higher. There are 13 basins worldwide that are shared between 5 to 8 countries. Five river basins, the Congo, Niger, Nile, Rhine and Zambezi, are shared between 9 to 11 countries. The river that flows through the most countries is the Danube, which passes through the territory of 18 countries.[UN World Water Day]

On this World Water Day, I encourage all my readers to re-think their consumption patterns, to think of ways to conserve and recycle water, to ponder how can each one of us contribute to the work of non-governmental organizations that are fighting tirelessly to provide safe drinking water to the many people in developing nations that don’t have access to clean water. Happy World Water Day.

The anthropology of poverty in the Downtown East Side

Raul — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:15:13 +0000

In recent weeks, I have had several opportunities to have lunch with a few friends (including Nancy Zimmerman, Lorraine Murphy and J. Karen Parker) at various eateries in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. If you are not a frequent reader of my blog, you may not know that I have a really hard time walking through the DTES. It’s not that I am afraid or anything. It hurts my soul, to be a witness to the pain and suffering, the poverty. I mentioned how I feel in more detail in this post. The good thing, though, is that having had the chance to eat at places like The Ovaltine, Save on Meats and The Only has given me (at least in part) a new perspective on the DTES.

Credit: Evan Leeson on Flickr

While waiting for Nancy for lunch at Save on Meats, I spent about half an hour waiting right in front of the meat store near Carrall and East Hastings. Not being used to witnessing the day-to-day struggles of people who live in the DTES area, some of which who traverse through a life of drug addiction, sexual abuse, poverty and homelessness, I stood there, leaning against a street light pole, observing the movement around me. While trying to concentrate on not feeling pain, I couldn’t help but reflect on how hard it must be for researchers (particularly anthropologists/ethnographers) to engage in field research in the DTES community. To seriously conduct ethnographies, one needs to immerse oneself in the subject matter to a degree where an in-depth understanding of the issues can be gained.

My time as an observer of the activities that were taking place was brief, at moments overpowering, raw but more than anything, insightful. I was able to recognize my own limitations in regards to the subject matters I feel capable and comfortable of studying. I doubt I will ever feel a competent ethnographer of poverty and homelessness issues, simply because my soul is too sensitive to the pain and suffering of the people who would be my research subjects. I am passionate about alleviating poverty and tackling issues of homelessness, but I think the best use of my research capabilities will be in the public policy realm, not in the field.

One related concept that made me sit down and reflect was the portrayal of poverty in the DTES in the media. I wondered how much of the negative perception of the current state of the DTES is due to the way in which the situation of this Vancouver derelict region is portrayed in the news. I have friends who live in the area who are not only overcoming their challenges but rising, growing, and evolving. Much discussion has been had in the Wikipedia page on the DTES, but I don’t find any conclusive results. So I turned to Google Scholar and found this MA thesis in Communication (SFU) by Kate Rafter, where she finds that the representation of Canadian news outlets of the poverty reinforces beliefs of the paradigm of Structural Responsibility (where socio-economic structures are considered responsible for the creation/maintenance of poverty)

I wonder what the representation of poverty and homelessness in new media is right now, and whether anyone has undertaken an academic study of how poverty is depicted in social media, blogs, etc. Given that analytical tools such as rhetoric and discourse analysis have been applied to traditional media outlets’ portrayal of poverty, I wonder if we could do some content analysis or discourse analysis (anyone need a Masters’, or PhD thesis topic?). I am also curious to know if anybody has read more on the anthropology of poverty. If so, please share.

Public policy, budget prioritization and the money question

Raul — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:12:48 +0000

Nancy tweeted a Money Question this afternoon on whether we disagree with sports figures earning as much money as they do when there is so much poverty and disadvantaged people struggling to get by.

Daily Money Q to ponder: Are we OK with sports figures earning the salaries they do, while other citizens are in desperate circumstances?

It is RARE that I get asked questions that make my blood boil and that’s perhaps one of them (not because Nancy asked it – Nancy is a very dear friend of mine – it’s because I rarely think about this issue, and when I do, I always get upset).

When I teach Public Policy (both at the undergraduate and graduate level), I always have a lecture on fairness, equity and justice. These are always important topics for decision-makers in designing public policies. Why? Because, with a limited amount of resources you have to do a gazillion things. So you (as a policy maker) need to prioritize. What can I do with these resources and how can I best put them to good use to serve the public interest? What is fair and equitable and just? Is it fair that these sports figures (or politicians) are paid THAT much?

I always ask my students (and whomever listens to me, whenever I give a keynote or an invited talk) to think about issues in terms of trade-offs. If I spend X thousands of dollars on implementing Y policy, then I get Z results (in terms of people taken off the streets, or streets paved, or seats funded for post-secondary education, or litres of water treated). But since resources are scarce, I have to spend them on Y policy instead of W policy, then I am trading off something. I am giving resources to a cause and NOT to another. There’s a zero sum game, where some win, some lose.

For example, think about it this way – if instead of paying multi-million dollar salaries to sports figures (or politicians), you could spend all that money in something else.

Let me give you the figure I used as an example for Nancy (as listed below)

hummingbird604 I do have a firm opinion – it’s stupid. With 1 month Mexican soccer team’s salaries I’d pay 5 years of PhD ed for 100 pple

This time, I’ll do the exercise with the actual salaries I knew of. The office of the wife of the former President of Mexico was spending about $ 300,000 dollars per month (at the time I did this calculation – right now, said office does not exist as far as I know). What would you do with $ 300,000 dollars? Well, I can tell you one thing – given the monthly allowance that Mexican granting councils gave to PhD students at the time (I was doing my PhD then), you could fund the monthly allowance of 300 PhD students with the money this otherwise useless office used. 300. PhD-level, smart, intelligent people. Per month.

Think about it, people. What do you say is the best use of your money? Educating 300 people with PhDs or ensuring that the wife of the President has a nice office and staff for her ‘charity’ work? Whenever I reflect on it, I am always reminded of what my Dad used to tell me – “for the Romans, bread and circuses“. I have the same opinion of high salaries for sports figures.

Now, feel free to let your thoughts pour here

The echo chamber in water research (social sciences)

Raul — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:24:03 +0000

One of the benefits that I’ve gained from engaging with the social media community at large (I can no longer say I only engage with social media in Vancouver, as I have Twitter followers from all over the world) is that the terminology from one field (and the ideas) cross-pollinate other fields. That is the case with my research on water. The concept of echo chamber that has been coined in mainstream media and new media is very much applicable to social science research on water.

I can’t tell you how often I have read the same discussions over, and over, and over again. Water is scarce, we should learn how to manage the common pool resource, we need to design more robust institutions for water management, integrated watershed management is the way to go, etc. All of these are phrases that have become commonplace in the literature on water governance. I have gotten to a point where I feel as though there is an echo chamber in the social science literature on water research. I want the discussion to move forward!

Credit: Ankraut

Sadly, one of my areas of specialization (wastewater governance and policy) has been paid very little attention by social scientists. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that I have carved some sort of a niche in this field (I do know some other researchers do study the topic to some extent, but this is a recent phenomenon). But it would be so much nicer if we advanced the water research agenda much further than it is right now. I have written about the topic both in the academic literature and here on my blog, and I have insisted and encouraged people to think about the hydrological cycle in a holistic way. If we stop having this “culture of flushing” that allows us to forget about the water we just polluted as soon as we see it flush away, if we begin to think forward with new analytical tools, then we can move the conversation forward too!

Yes, I am frustrated. I am particularly frustrated because despite the fact that 2008 was the International Year of Sanitation, very little progress has been made. I would hope that in the near future, we learn more about how to advance the water research agenda. And yes, the phrase I wrote before still applies – before we learn how to govern water we need to learn how to govern ourselves.

My year in review – Water governance and policy research

Raul — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:08:32 +0000

While I blogged WAY MORE about water this year than I have in the past, I didn’t do much in terms of research. I used the field research notes that I had accumulated during my almost three years of fieldwork on wastewater governance in Mexico (2004-2006) to produce one journal article (that actually was already accepted for publication in early 2007, so it shouldn’t really count).

But other than that, I haven’t done much with it. I gave a talk this summer on wastewater governance and watershed councils, and I received really good feedback. This feedback was so solid that I have decided to pursue independent projects on each one of the research streams that emanated from this talk.

One of the reasons why I think my involvement with the social media community has become part of a very successful cross-pollination process is that I’ve learned to use many Web 2.0 tools to strengthen my own findings, to advance my research agenda, and to make it easy for me to publish research thoughts in draft form that I may be able to polish in the future (much along the lines of what danah boyd does). Furthermore, I am also in talks with Rachel Black, who also does research on water, and I wouldn’t have met Rachel if it hadn’t been for Twitter (and Anthony Nicalo, as well).

Speaking of tools that make my life easier that I wouldn’t have come across if it hadn’t been for my involvement in the tech community, Blurb is an online (free) software that Arieanna and Colleen used (in the case of Arieanna to publish the photos from their trip to Europe, and Colleen to create a Christmas gift for their families).

I’ve been mulling over publishing one version of my book (in Spanish) on wastewater governance in Mexico (a book that I had finished writing in 2006, but with the further development of the International Year of Sanitation – which was 2008) using Blurb. Another method I’ve been considering is an on-demand press, as Beth Snow did with her first book).

I REALLY, REALLY want to have at least one volume of my book printed out by the end of 2008 so that I don’t feel so terribly lousy about not having done much with such a large body of work. I mean, it’s kind of stupid. I did compare the wastewater policies of five states (the Mexican equivalent to provinces) and I really should be able to produce more stuff (particularly in the English language journals).

If I manage to publish the book with Blurb, I’ll be VERY happy. I’ll let you guys know what I managed to do with that. Overall, my 2008 wasn’t all that bad for my water research. Learned about new topics, thought more about where my water research agenda will go, and used social media tools to strengthen my research. Good stuff.

Statistics Canada provides us a full RSS feed of statistical goodness!

Raul — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:34:35 +0000

Hat tips to Greg Andrews (TechVibes) and Darren Barefoot (Capulet) for pointing me out to Statistics Canada’s RSS data feeds. You’ll see – even though I’m a chemical engineer, during my Masters and PhD degrees, and in my post-graduate work I have done quite a lot of qualitative research.

My personality traits work to my advantage when using qualitative research methods. I am pretty good at interviewing people, analyzing textual data, coding using Strauss and Corbin’s axial coding methods, undertaking ethnography, etc. I am considered a specialist in institutional analysis because, well, I know how to study rules and routines. And the majority of these studies are undertaken by observing and interviewing.

The thing is, during the course of my PhD, I became REALLY quantitative. Since my advisor’s training was quantitative, he impressed it upon me. I’m quite grateful to him for doing that because thanks to his sage advice and training, I have examined wastewater governance and policy using quantitative methods (something that is rather atypical in this body of literature). And of course, there’s my love of game theory and econometric methods. WOWSA.

So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I drooled (just as Greg tweeted earlier this morning) when I saw StatsCan’s RSS feeds. Given the kind of research I do, economic, government, population and environmental indicators are the RSS feeds I grabbed. You can grab any others as you may see fit.

Unfortunately, and this is quite sad, I can’t get any quantitative data on water through those RSS feeds (or at least I haven’t been able to get any so far). I do know where to find some water-related statistics in Canada, but the state of the art in regards to accurate water stats in Canada is (as mentioned in Karen Bakker’s edited book) rather appalling.

If I manage to get my hands on some good data, you’ll see some pretty graphs here sometime soon.

Net neutrality in Canada: The challenges ahead

Raul — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:18:52 +0000

While I have become much more involved with social media in the past year than I had ever before (I am in almost every Web 2.0 application except for Facebook), I hadn’t really thought a lot about the issues with net neutrality until the day when I live-blogged Michael Geist’s talk at Saint John’s College (UBC) as a guest blogger for my friend Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604) in April of 2008.

Recently, I’ve become more aware that my role in Vancouver’s social media scene is much more than just being the Organizer of Vancouver Bloggers Meetup. It is also part of my role to raise awareness about issues that affect those of us who use the Internet on a regular basis. Moreover, we social media folks are also substantially affected by these challenges.

Steve Anderson (the co-founder of the SaveOurNet.ca Coalition and National Coordinator of Campaign for Democratic Media) and Kate Milberry (SFU doctoral candidate, a good friend and an expert in digital activism) both reminded me of the need to think about social media as an ecosystem. As an expert in environmental issues, I often use ecosystems as a metaphor to analyze phenomena. I have to say that I had thought of social media as an ecosystem, but hadn’t thought of Canadian legislation on net neutrality as one of the challenges. Steve’s article actually gave me good insight on this issue. He writes:

The Conservative federal government is NOT inclined to support an open Internet. To keep a level playing field on the Internet we’ll need a robust citizens movement to put pressure on politicians and policy makers and shape policy that protects equal access. The social web community can provide the foundation for this burgeoning movement – perhaps even serve as a catalyst. Consider this a call to action.[SaveOurNet.ca]

Having engaged in academic activism myself, researched and studied environmental mobilizations, and often preaching to the public to become more involved in public policy, I am always up for supporting activism that benefits our society. So, I would sincerely encourage you to get informed, get involved, and become part of the white cells of the social media biological system. You can help, and if you have a stake in the future of Canadian internet, you probably should.

Gregor Robertson is the new Mayor-elect of Vancouver

Raul — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:52:34 +0000

Well, he did it. Not only did he become Vancouver’s next mayor, he did so with a Vision majority in City Council. That fact sure speaks volumes to the need for change within the Vancouver area. There were, of course, civic elections all over Metro Vancouver, but the focus was inevitably on Vancouver proper.

I wrote a post a few weeks back on homelessness public policy to which the lack of responses completely frustrated me, because I don’t think a lot of people understood that one key issue to address the homelessness challenge (a key element on which Gregor based a substantial portion of his platform) is establishing strong relationships (and by strong I mean, where there is flow of funds!) with the provincial and federal governments.

Unless Gregor is able to create a consolidated, all-encompassing, across-all-levels-of-government kind of public policy for the homeless, we are about to stay exactly where we are.

On the good news front, I am glad that people did take to heart the challenge of becoming engaged in their own, local-level, municipal politics (something I was worried about a few months back). Participation in this civic election was unparalleled and that pleases me.

EDIT – Thanks to Tod Maffin for spotting a mistake on my post – it’s fixed

Help save the Great Bear rainforest

Raul — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:43:31 +0000

Credit: Dru!

Many people have asked me throughout the years if I have ever considered a career in conservation. While my PhD degree is in environmental studies, and you could argue that my work in pollution control would pretty much amount to some form of conservation, I hadn’t been much of a fan. And since forestry isn’t really my area, for a while there I neglected discussing or researching anything that was forest conservation-related. Until I heard of Simon Jackson. I met Simon in person and did a really quick interview for HappyFrog when he was a keynote speaker at EPIC 2008. And then Darren informed me that they (Capulet) were helping Greenpeace, Forest Ethics and Sierra Club BC with their campaign to make the Provincial Government “Keep The Promise”

You might ask why did I bring Simon Jackson into the discussion. Well, here is the thing: the work that Simon has done to protect the Spirit Bear is pretty much in line with the work that the coalition of environmental non-governmental organizations (GP, FE and SCBC) are doing: conserving the forest helps conserve the spirit bear’s habitat.

Credit: Art Catcher

In my research, I’ve written about how ENGOs use various types of strategies to galvanize public opinion (often, through mobilizations). This time, the work that these organizations are doing goes beyond protests and engages in a Web 2.0 kind of mobilizations: writing electronic letters to the Provincial Government.

You, too, can help this worthy cause by sending an email to the Provincial Government (the site is really well designed so all you really have to do is fill out the data form and voila! off you go).

As you can see, environmentalism is not dead, is well alive and kicking! Please contribute with this worthy cause. You can also participate in a photo contest (check links here) and follow their Twitter account (yeah, kinda cute that the Spirit Bear has a Twitter account, hehe – he better follow me back!). Furthermore, you can join the Facebook group (no thanks, I don’t do Facebook, but you can!). EDIT – And you can join the photo contest on Flickr!

In total Web 2.0 fashion, if you need more to be convinced, I invite you to watch this video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwHofAgCzLI]

The West End evictions and this week’s municipal elections

Raul — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:57:19 +0000

If you are a Vancouverite and able to vote (Canadian citizen, older than 18 yrs old), you probably DO know that Vancouver’s municipal election takes place on November 15th, 2008 (8am to 8pm). You can start doing advance voting at 5 locations in Vancouver (read more here).

There’s an issue that I find has not been discussed at length (or maybe it has but I haven’t read much about it in the past few weeks/months) – the issue of evictions in order to increase rent. While I do not live in the West End, I have MANY very close friends, both civilians and tech/social media/PR people who have their homes there.

It does worry me that evictions to renovate and then increase rents continue to happen. This issue is something that has been written about extensively (I’ve read lots of stories in many major newspapers) . The question I have is – does anybody know if the candidates for city mayor have expressed any formal position on the issue?

Why do I think this issue is relevant, when there are others (homelessness, transportation, etc.) that are also key? Well, simply because if the trend continues in the West End, the likelihood that these kinds of evictions will happen (I haven’t read many reports about occurrences of evictions to increase rent outside the West End) in other areas may increase. My main concern, of course, is my own neighbourhood (Mount Pleasant)!

What do you think of this issue?

Public policy lessons on homelessness for Vancouver’s next mayor

Raul — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:23:35 +0000

Credit: Vlastula on Flickr

Both of the candidates with actually the best shot at actually becoming the next Mayor of Vancouver (Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner) have participated in debates on (and broadly proclaimed that they’ll work to end) homelessness in Vancouver (you can read a good recap by Tris here). Well, gentlemen, I seriously do hope that whoever wins, will seriously seek some sound advice on public policy, particularly on the issue of homelessness.

I am not an expert in homelessness policy by any means. I am, however, a specialist in environmental studies and public policy, and particularly I’ve researched issues that are clearly the domain of various levels of government. In particular, water governance in Mexico faces many challenges precisely because of this problem – overlapping jurisdictional responsibilities. Homelessness has the same basic structural problem. It should be a shared responsibility, but no actual level of government takes real responsibility and is truly accountable for dealing with homelessness.

In Mexico, wastewater governance and water supply provision, for example, is fully a responsibility of the municipality. That responsibility is enshrined in the Mexican Constitution (Article 115). Unfortunately, municipalities don’t really have a standing in the Canadian political system. Canadian federalism recognizes the Federation and the provinces (and Territories). However, municipalities/cities are not recognized (see Canada’s Cities report) and therefore, the intergovernmental relationships amongst municipalities, the provincial governments and the Federal have become really complicated [EDIT - Found even better sources on the debate on whether municipalities should be granted constitutional status in the site of the Library of the Parliament of Canada and in the Canadian Encylopedia].

This is unfortunate, and it’s a big problem if you think about it, because – who bears the brunt of homeless as a societal issue that needs to be addressed? The municipality. However, how can a municipality address an issue that requires cooperation between provinces, the Federation and the municipality if there is no actual recognized Constitutional status of the city in Canada? (see the sources I’ve included above on the state of the debate in regards to the constitutional status of the municipality/city)

According to Vision Vancouver’s blog, Gregor suggests to “build relationships with all levels of government” as one of the key actions they’ll undertake if elected.

According to Peter Ladner’s blog, Peter suggests that he will tackle homelessness “through a partnership of federal, provincial, regional, municipal governments and non-profit agencies”.

Well, dear candidates in the November 15th municipal election, you will need to not only build relationships and partnerships, but actually establish sound, solid intergovernmental agreements that lead to the implementation at a local (municipal) level of the Federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy. Although, that being said, I think we need a sound National Homelessness Action Strategy.

Homelessness is definitely a regional/municipal public policy issue, but municipalities can’t solve the problem by themselves, without the support of the Federal government. For all candidates, I suggest you coordinate your strategy with the Federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy (launched in December 2006).

Under the HPS, the federal government will offer the provinces and territories the opportunity to enter into bilateral partnerships, improve collaboration and develop linkages between the federal homelessness programs and provincial/territorial social services to help communities make strategic investments that will best serve their homeless populations.[HPS About Us]

I would also recommend investing in solid, evidence-based research on homelessness using a global, multi-country, multi-region comparative strategy. Surely, other countries have reduced homelessness. How did they do it? What did they do? What was needed?

I am sure someone must have done good research on the topic. I haven’t, but if I was a specialist in urban issues (specifically homelessness) rather than an environmental specialist, I probably would launch a research programme with applied outcomes (e.g. partner with the local communities to actually effect change).

I was able to find a good article on homelessness and health (co-authored by, amongst others, Dr. Jim Frankish, whose research I do respect a lot).

Homelessness and Health in Canada: Research Lessons and Priorities
C James Frankish; Stephen W Hwang; Darryl Quantz, Canadian Journal of Public Health; Mar/Apr 2005; 96.

[Link here]

Additional resources – Not a research paper, but Monte Paulsen’s post on The Tyee “Seven Solutions to Homelessness” is a great read.

One last word – whoever wins, please don’t just give us empty promises.

DO THINGS THAT WILL HAVE POSITIVE, LONG-LASTING POSITIVE EFFECTS!

The death of environmentalism?

Raul — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:13:27 +0000

A recent post by Rebecca on “is blogging dead” and a comment by Darren on that particular post (echoed by other commentators) made me remember that I once wrote a post about “The Death of Environmentalism”. Since it never made it past the drafts, I am now I’m resurrecting it in an updated form.

Now, to provide additional context, I just found out via Jonathon Colman from The Nature Conservancy that only 18% of survey respondents (I’m assuming all Americans) strongly believe that climate change is human-caused and harmful.

While I do hold my own opinion on the causes of climate change, that’s irrelevant for this discussion. The thing is that there seems to be a very small proportion of the population who believe in climate change (or at least, so would appear from the data shown). Now, the title of this post is associated with a paper by Schellenberger and Nordhaus titled “The Death of Environmentalism: Global Warming Politics in a Post-Environmental World”.

The gist of this paper (and surprisingly, the evidence presented by The Nature Conservancy) seems to suggest that American environmental NGOs have not had much success with galvanizing public opinion on climate change in the United States. If you read the work of Aaron McCright and Riley Dunlap, they find increased support to the hypothesis that Conservatives have influenced public opinion on climate change (as a non-problem or a non-issue).

McCright, Aaron M., and Riley E. Dunlap. 2003. “Defeating Kyoto: The Conservative Movement’s Impact on U.S. Climate Change Policy.” Social Problems 50(3): 348-373.

But the thing is – regardless of whether it’s the ENGOs fault or the public’s fault (I don’t really want to blame anyone) – one of the main reasons why the Schellenberger and Nordhaus paper was so controversial is because it talked about “environmentalism being dead“. And I’m pretty sure that they intended for the paper to spark controversy (and make environmental NGOs try to work harder at educating the public about the need to adapt to climate change). That’s where I’m bringing the connection.

If you think about it (and as accurately said by the commentators on Rebecca’s site), the best way to spark a discussion about a topic is to say that X or Y is dead. Environmentalism is NOT dead. Much less here in Canada, and in Vancouver. For starters, Greenpeace started here! Environmental NGOs have a place and there is a need for them in the global environmental movement. The thing is, the Schellenberger and Nordhaus paper (as the other post mentioned by Rebecca) did serve to galvanize people, make them react to the issue and write about it.

Now, if we all did that about municipal and provincial politics in Vancouver and British Columbia, if we did that about climate change and other environmental issues in our own turf, THEN I think we would see a revival. And I’m hoping I’m contributing to this debate, and look forward to other’s contributions.

Waste Reduction Week Canada – Oct 19-25th, 2008

Raul — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:02:36 +0000

This week marks the Waste Reduction Week in Canada (from October 19th to the 25th). You may not recall last year’s civic strike (one of many policy and political mistakes) but in case you do, I am hoping this little visual reminder will help remind you of how awful the city looked.

Credit: Rebelcan

As I mentioned a while ago, we live in a rather affluent (and wasteful) society. We buy coffee to go, and then proceed to dump the paper cup in the trash can. We buy disposable diapers and then proceed to wrap them in double plastic bags, because “eeewww it’s poop”. We drive three blocks to buy groceries. And the list goes on.

Waste Reduction Week Canada helps remind us of the many ways in which we can reduce our ecological footprint by minimizing waste. If you need a refresher, I wrote a short post on solid waste management that will give you some useful reading material.

The website of Waste Reduction Week Canada offers some really neat factoids (some of which you may or may not know). As a scholar of environmental studies who happens to have worked for many years in solid/liquid/hazardous waste management, I actually do know that landfill sites account for about 38% of Canada’s total methane emissions (according to Environment Canada).

If you need some suggestions on how to reduce the amount of waste you generate, feel free to drop me a comment, send me an email or send me a tweet.

Canadian elections results 2008 and poverty – Blog Action Day 2008

Raul — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:30:26 +0000

By now, I think everyone knows that Canada has a (now relatively stronger) minority Conservative government. Despite the abismal voter turnout (40% of Canadians who are eligible to vote chose not to) the Conservative party gained MP seats and the Liberals lost them. Once the dust settles, my biggest question to the new Conservative government remains. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT POVERTY ALLEVIATION?

I mean, let’s be honest. With regards to homelessness and poverty, a tendency to pass the buck seems common… “it’s not MY responsibility, it’s the responsibility of the other level of government“. Since today is Blog Action Day and the focus is on poverty, will the new Conservative government say that their platform is actually working towards economic recovery or will they say that it’s going to alleviate poverty? Because, really, what progress have we achieved in regards to a national homelessness policy and/or a national poverty alleviation strategy? I’m curious to hear…

The importance of voting in American, Canadian and Vancouver elections

Raul — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:30:16 +0000

One of the areas where my mother does research is in electoral studies (however, she studies elections in Mexico more than anything, although lately she’s been interested in Canadian elections). She was mentioning how important it was to galvanize people and make them want to go and vote.

It’s true that many, many people refuse to vote because they don’t think that their vote is going to count. I was reading some statistics on how many people have voted in recent Canadian elections and I recall a figure hovering around 64% or so (of the whole electorate).

The most recent election for President was the most contested in Mexican history and I can assure you that one of the reasons for that was precisely that a lot of the people who many people thought wouldn’t vote did indeed cast a ballot.

Even though I’m not American, I’m pretty darn sure I have American readers (and of course, Canadian) so I’d strongly encourage you to register to vote. Hat tips to Steve Jagger who tweeted this video (source: YouTube) where lots of US movie stars encourage viewers to vote.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UaRXvRwhOk&hl=en&fs=1]

Gay-bashing on Davie Street? What’s wrong with this city?

Raul — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:59:19 +0000

I hate any kind of bullying or bashing, but a gay bashing is one of those hate crimes I simply can’t stomach. It’s amazing how much safety is taken for granted anywhere, and how religion, sexual orientation or race can create such amazing divides. We are all human beings, whether we like it or not. I hadn’t heard mention of this until my good friend JT mentioned that tae-kwon-do training may come handy when it comes to having to deal with this type of attacks.

I was reading some of the CTV online coverage and given that these stories indicate that frequently bashing victims fail to report these crimes, I would like to commend the victim (Jordan Smith) for coming forward. And encourage those who have been victims to raise their voice.

It’s somewhat frustrating that so much progress against homophobia has been achieved, yet public safety seems to be compromised in what is supposed to be the safest area for queer people (Vancouver’s West End). This should definitely be an issue that should be covered in the upcoming municipal election – how is public safety going to be enhanced? Tougher laws against bashers? I don’t really know.

This unfortunate and sad event really reminds me of how much sometimes we actually do need superheroes (the first thing that sprung to mind when I read about this was the movie “Super-Amigos”, a Mexican Canadian production that aired during the 2007 Vancouver Queer Film Festival). And those who come forward when being victims of crime (any crime, really) are also heroes. Kudos to you Jordan, and to everyone else who has reported these horrible incidents.

Politics 2.0? Are Canadian politicians using Web 2.0 the right way?

Raul — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:10:57 +0000

While I know that there is already buzz around the town on the use of Twitter (seen a couple of posts by Buzz Bishop and Kate Trgovac, as well as one on The Tyee’s The Hook, led by Monte Paulsen), Facebook and other Web 2.0 applications by Canadian politicians (like Elizabeth May, Stephane Dion and Stephen Harper), I am a bit surprised that almost nobody has (at least from what I’ve been reading on the sphere) touched on the very basic element of Web 2.0 – interactivity and bi-directionality.

Even if I don’t follow everyone who follows me on Twitter, I ALWAYS interact with the people who follow me. I have just briefly seen the Twitter account of Elizabeth May and she is not following anyone and has not interacted with anyone. The opposite attitude was that of the Twitter account of Barack Obama who basically followed everyone who was following, and then some more.

I don’t know Liz May, but some of my very closest friends do, and if any of those would like to relay this message to her and to the rest of the politicos in Canada, please feel free to do so – TALK TO YOUR FOLLOWERS. Yeah, you could argue with me that Obama never did talk to anyone on Twitter, but the point I’m trying to make is that Twitter should not be treated *just* as a news broadcast. If those of us who evangelize about all things Web 2.0 are really interested in harnessing social media for change, we need to explain to the “newbies” that the crux of social media is the bidirectional, interactive conversation that occurs within the realm of blogs, Twitter, vlogs, Facebook, etc.

And yeah, boo for fake Twitter accounts for political figures!

Homelessness Action Week 2008 – October 12th to 19th, 2008

Raul — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:13:20 +0000

Photo Credit: Matthew Good on Flickr

Last week, I mentioned that I was worried about the lack of interest in local/Canadian politics and the excessive focus on the US election on Canadian and Vancouverite blogs and on Twitter. Well, with the news of an upcoming Federal election (October 14th, 2008), I am very, VERY happy to see the interest of our bloggers, readers and Twitterers renewed on Canadian issues

During the same week, I tried to remind my readers that in order for us to really participate, and put the public back into public policy, we need to focus on local issues while maintaining a global perspective. One of those hyperlocal issues that I think we need to focus on is the lack of homes and shelter for homeless people. On a side note, I am not too sure that homelessness will be taken up as a Federal election issue, but who knows.

Even though homelessness is mostly considered a regional, municipal/provincial public policy issue, there is an actual Federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy (launched in December 2006). From their About Us page:

Under the HPS, the federal government will offer the provinces and territories the opportunity to enter into bilateral partnerships, improve collaboration and develop linkages between the federal homelessness programs and provincial/territorial social services to help communities make strategic investments that will best serve their homeless populations.[HPS About Us]

Homeless Action Week will take place EXACTLY during the 2008 Federal election week, which is kind of timely, if you ask me. Why? Well, because everything is interconnected. With the 2010 Olympics and the discussions around the gentrification of the Downtown East Side, there will be a need to re-examine the Federal strategy on homelessness. And I have the feeling that Homeless Action Week may be the catalyzer for this re-examination.

Is lack of homes (and affordable housing) an issue? Well, let’s examine the data provided by the Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness.

A 24-hour snapshot count conducted on March 11 th, 2008 indicates that 2,592 individuals were found to be homeless in the Metro Vancouver region. This number is an increase of 427 individuals over the 2005 count data, or an increase of 19% over the number of homeless individuals found in 2005, and a jump of 131% since 2002.[HAW Research Page]

So, the question again is … how can you help? In addition to all of those great suggestions provided on the RSCH page for Homeless Action Week, you can also
- Blog about it.
- Tweet about it.
- Talk about it with your friends, family, etc.
- Write about it (in print).
- Discuss it on national media.

And, two additional things you can do…

One, you could donate your time, clothing items or food to local food banks. Rebecca has for very long been a champion of Metro Vancouver’s food banks, most recently raising over $10,000 dollars for the United Gospel Mission (along with Duane and with the generous help of Matt Good, Matt’s fans and many other participants). Lack of food would most definitely be an issue that homeless people face.

Two, you can participate in the events for the 2008 Homeless Action Week. Last year, I highlighted some of the 2007 HAW events and had a chance to participate in a few. As I mentioned in that previous post, sustainability, social change and social responsibility start at home, and Vancouver is my home, so that’s where I am trying to effect change.

On that note, I would like to invite you to follow @vanpoverty on Twitter, as this is a project where I am partnering with the brilliant Joe Solomon (@engagejoe on Twitter) to use our combined blogging/social media powers to bring issues of poverty and homelessness in Vancouver to the forefront.

Putting back the public in public policy

Raul — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:45:26 +0000

Public participation is touted as “the foremost element of modern democracies“. Since any policy decisions made by politicians and bureaucrats alike will have an impact on society (the public), it would make sense to include those individuals whose lives are affected in the actual decision-making process.

Credit: KeepItSurreal

Environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) take it upon themselves to participate in various ways in the environmental policy-making process. Human rights organizations often seek to galvanize public opinion and protect disadvantaged people. This the basis for a healthy, participatory society.

Unfortunately, it would seem as though not everyone is interested in engaging in public participation processes. Earlier last week I voiced my discomfort when I found out that there was much more interest from people who are on Twitter in the American electoral process than in Canadian or Vancouver electoral issues.

I was relieved to find a number of comments on my post agreeing that we need to focus on local issues (although we can’t forget international affairs). More recently, people have started to tweet more and blog more about the upcoming Vancouver mayoral election and the potential Federal election that could take place as early as mid-October 2008. These are, in my view, good news.

That’s why I would like to encourage my readers to take it upon themselves to put back the public in public policy. There are HUNDREDS if not thousands of issues that we need to focus on, and I am going to highlight just a few (all of them, which I’ve written about before).

* The need to support small local businesses.
* The lack of a strong, nation-wide water policy in Canada and a deficient regional strategy in Metro Vancouver, particularly in the management of wastewater.
* The lack of transparency in the development of Bill C-61.
- The need to re-assess the whole Eco-Density concept and understand the heterogeneities within the Vancouver urban region.
- The whole Provincial Transit Plan of British Columbia and how other countries can teach us lessons on transportation policy.
- The lack of a homeless strategy that really addresses the needs of the needier (which are affected by, amongst other things, snow and other climatic elements).

I could go on, and on, and if you have been reading my blog for a while, you’ll easily find the issues that galvanize MY opinion : water, environment, sustainability, homelessness, urbanization, human rights, electronic rights. Oh, and POVERTY. Let’s not forget about poverty. Now, let’s go back to the issues that galvanize YOU! Never has the phrase “think global act local” been more relevant than now.

I also want to take a minute to thank people who have voted for me on the Vancouver Election Blog contest. Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604) has been the leader for a few weeks now, and that’s awesome and deserved since she’s been covering all things Vancouver (which have included political issues too!) for over four years. David Eby is also in the ballot, and he has always been a strong advocate for homeless people. There are new blogs, like VanCity Buzz who are highlighting small, local businesses (which is a series I enjoy), and there are more experienced bloggers too, of course… there’s Gordon Price and Paul Hillsdon and Frances Bula and Stephen Rees.

I have also seen the evolution of the contest, and I have to say that, in my view, every one of the nominated blogs are deserving, as each one provides a unique perspective on Vancouver. People may or may not agree on what bloggers write, on their style or their ideas, but as it has been attributed to Voltaire (although some disagree on this too!), “I may disagree with what you are saying but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it” (I found that some people attribute these words to Evelyn Beatrice Hall).

Adaptation and vulnerability to floods and climatic events in Mexico

Raul — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:18:32 +0000

This post is worthy of much more in-depth content, but I just wanted to show that the municipality where my parents live is really unprepared for extreme rain. The photos and video shown below show the local river almost entirely flooded (and rather polluted, as you can see).

As you can see, cars are at serious risk of being taken by the river. The local authorities are rather unprepared for these extreme rain events. But the funny thing is, I wonder how prepared are the Metro Vancouver municipalities. I will be doing some research on this topic upon my return to Vancouver.

The game of politics in Canada, the US and the local levels

Raul — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 06:09:11 +0000

I don’t follow US politics. At least, I don’t follow it seriously. This may be perceived kind of shooting myself in the foot and a serious blow to my credibility as a scholar. Not at all, and I’m going to prove you wrong. I am not the only non-US citizen who is NOT obsessed with the results of the US elections. I could scour Twitter and find those key tweets where people said “hey, can we please get over the whole Barack Obama/Michelle Obama/Hillary Clinton speech and move on to other topics?“.

I understand that there are many American ex-pats in Canada, particularly Vancouver. Many, MANY of them are my friends, and not only Twitter friends or blog-friends, but friends, FRIENDS. I can also understand that many Canadians or Canadian residents are interested in the outcome of the US elections because the US is such a key actor in Canadian life. One can’t ignore the US, simply speaking. That’s also the case in Mexico because the US has a strong influence on Mexican politics (both foreign policy and domestic politics).

You could easily build a case to entice me/convince me of why I should follow US politics. But the truth is, I’m rather disappointed by the lack of interest of exactly those who have been tweeting about US politics on LOCAL (and by local I mean, Vancouver politics). Want some proof? Use Summize (aka Search.Twitter.com) and find tweets about “Gregor Robertson” or “Peter Ladner”. 14 tweets on Gregor Robertson (two of mine, and full disclosure, I said I liked him). 8 tweets on Peter Ladner.

Now, do the same for any of the following keywords: Obama, HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton), National Democratic Convention (NDC). I just did a quick one for Obama and I couldn’t count the number of tweets (they were so many). I’m sure if I used another tool, I could find actual accurate stats on the emphasis that has been given to the US election.

As a scholar who has taught political science, I completely understand why this happens. As a resident of Canada, I can completely understand why this happens. As a resident of Vancouver and someone who has passionately embraced the city where I have lived in for more than a decade, I am dismayed. It looks as though the interest of Twitterers in local, municipal issues is minimal.

While I am absolutely not afraid of retaliation or criticism, I would seriously like to encourage people who live in Vancouver to think about, talk about and discuss the ideas of those people whose decisions will influence YOUR lives. YOUR local livelihood is at stake.

I am not at all asking my readers (particularly my Canadian readers, as I know that I’ve got quite a few from abroad) to stop thinking about or discuss US politics. It’s important. Heck, even I wrote about it (when I complained about the really sad fact that Obama and Clinton had to face-off, because they both would be breaking stigmas and old paradigms).

I just want people to take more of an interest in local politics. And no, it’s not because I’m now in the ballot of the Vancouver Election Contest. I had been ruminating this post since I started getting flooded with tweets about the US National Democratic Convention, the Hillary Rodham Clinton speech, the Barack / Michelle Obama speech, the Joseph Biden speech. Of course, I admire them. I have previously expressed my admiration for Obama and for Clinton. But it came to a point where I was just like “ok, this is a little bit too much“.

I do hope (and expect!) that my Twitter friends will do the same thing when the Vancouver mayoral election draws nearer and I expect (and want!) a barrage of tweets about the local elections. The best way to effect change is to get involved. And I want my Twitter and blogger friends to get involved in issues that will affect them the same or more than the outcome of the US elections.

Water footprint: A new tool to examine water scarcity and use

Raul — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:34:20 +0000

Water is a topic that I’m actually rather passionate about (and I’ve previously written about it, like my discussion of the culture of flushing and the concept of water governance). I love researching it and writing about it, particularly because a professor whom I really respect a lot (part of my doctoral committe) told me that the two issues he saw were going to be the most important in the future were water and energy issues. I came across the concept of water footprint via the Max Gladwell blog (actually their twitter account – Hat tips to Max Gladwell!).

What is the water footprint? Well, I am guessing it is modelled after the ecological footprint that Mathis Wackernagel and Bill Rees coined in 1992. The website WaterFootprint.org defines:

The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. Water use is measured in terms of water volumes consumed (evaporated) and/or polluted per unit of time. A water footprint can be calculated for any well-defined group of consumers (e.g. an individual, family, village, city, province, state or nation) or producers (e.g. a public organization, private enterprise or economic sector). The water footprint is a geographically explicit indicator, not only showing volumes of water use and pollution, but also the locations.[Water Footprint.Org]

It’s an interesting concept, particularly when we apply it to our day-to-day staples, like a cup of coffee (that according to calculations by Hoekstra and Chapagain is about 140 litres of water per cup). As indicated by the Environmental News Network, the concept of water footprint gaining adepts. I was kind of pleased to find that the writer of the ENN article was associated with the World Resources Institute (WRI). One of my very best and closest friends is also associated with WRI as he did a post-doc there, and their datasets on water are some of the finest that I have encountered. Truly speaking, I would not mind doing a post-doc there.

I would like to know if any of my readers actually thinks much about his/her water consumption patterns. Do you ever think about your water footprint or your ecological footprint?

Blog Action Day 2008 – Poverty

Raul — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:05:34 +0000

Poverty is one of the societal illnesses that occupies my mind on a regular basis. Not because I live a rather frugal life and I’m on a budget. I’m actually talking about REAL poverty.

Photo credit: DTES.people on Flickr.

While I realize that there are many measurements and definitions of poverty, I was kind of shocked to find out that the World Bank doesn’t have specific pages to analyze poverty in North America. Is the belief that poverty does not exist in North America (USA and Canada, as Mexico is included in their Latin America dataset) so prevalent that US and Canada don’t warrant their own country pages?

Anyone who knows me even a little bit and who has taken the time to read the more serious, less fluffy posts in my blog will know that I’m a big fan and promoter of social activism, particularly in issues of homelessness, poverty alleviation, sustainability and HIV prevention/treatment. This time, I’d like to draw your attention to Blog Action Day 2008′s theme – Poverty.

What is Blog Action Day?

Global issues like poverty are extremely complex. There is no simple, clear answer. By asking thousands of different people to give their viewpoints and opinions, Blog Action Day creates an extraordinary lens through which to view these issues. Each blogger brings their own perspective and ideas. Each blogger posts relating to their own blog topic. And each blogger engages their audience differently.[Blog Action Day site, About Page]

Last year, I participated in Blog Action Day 2007, as the topic was sustainability. This year, I am even more motivated to participate given that my readership has increased, I am much more socially connected (through Twitter and many other Web 2.0 methods) and therefore, my blog may be able to make more of a difference.

So, how can you get involved? You can check the Frequently Asked Questions section of their site. In my case, I will be doing 1/4 of a Blogathon (e.g. only 12 posts) but all of them will be focused on issues of poverty. You are more than welcome to guest post if you feel like it, or link to any of my posts should you want to, but more than anything, do something. Get involved.

I don’t think I should try to coerce people into promoting Blog Action Day or doing something about it, but I am passionate about poverty alleviation, so if you could spread the word, that would be super awesome. Even better… if you can engage in doing something to alleviate poverty, that would be even more awesome.

Thank you.

The Environmental Movement Needs You – Homer Simpson Has Already Joined – Guest post by Lotus Effect

Raul — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 03:00:18 +0000

This post was contributed by L.E. who blogs at The Lotus Effect.

I love the way Raul phrases his environmental passions: “Being a student of the Environment”. I’ve found myself amongst the dozens of people I know that have put their previous career paths aside and pursued environmentally-related position in hopes of making a difference (and I’ve abandoned any inclination to feel the least bit hesitant to say that making a difference bit regardless of how trite it may be perceived by some).

So I’m confronted with it everyday – people wanting to do something, and we constantly hear.. “Just start anywhere.. it doesn’t’ matter where – the first step will introduce you to a plethora of options, and before you know it, you’ll come across something you’re really exited about.” Well, what if you don’t know where to take that first step? This is where this post comes in, I hope to offer some options of first steps that might lead you to your green passions. So here they go.

1) GREEN DRINKS The perfect combination – environmental geekery and sophisticated discussions with all kinds of people working in, or interested in the environment. I’ve only attended the Vancouver version twice, but it’s been a lot of fun – there is always a mix of veterans and solo flyers that show up without knowing a soul (but that is of course changed after the first beer).

2a) STORY OF STUFF This is a great little description of how the world currently works, some of the problems our actions are causing, and how to get involved in changing these patterns. The point with this one is.. simply reach out and learn more about how the world works, and how we can minimize our impact on the environment

2b) CRADLE TO CRADLE Similar to Option 2), this is a monumental piece of work that redefines the way we approach how we go about building stuff and creating the everyday objects we use. This novel concepts presented in cannot be called short of anything but a paradigm shift in the positive direction of what it means to be human. It’s simple, and beautiful…

If you’re interested in learning more without diving into the book, I’d recommend having a look at the TED talk featuring one of the authors (TED has numerous amazing talks on many other subjects including psychology, art, music, and technology. The one other talk that seems to be somewhat related would a brain scientist experiencing life a stroke in her left hemisphere, leaving her exposed to the raw experience of living life through her right – creative, loving, unified hemisphere – the experience’s lesson – if we use both of our brain real estate (Left AND right hemisphere), then we are much more in tune with others, and the environment around us – have a look).

2c) INCONVENIENT TRUTH If you haven’t seen it yet.. The only thing i gotta say about this one – i think any movie that helps someone win the Nobel Peace Prize might – just might be worth watching.

3) TAKE A HIKE I’m not kidding. Go get outside. Listen to the silence of the air and the stillness of your thoughts. There are many accessible parks in the Metro Vancouver area. Some of my favorites include Lighthouse Park (which is easily accessible by public transit, but surprisingly beautiful and secluded), the Grouse Grind if you’re adventurous, Shannon Falls or Bridal Veil Falls (if you prefer a light walk in the woods), or the Chief if you’re fit and would like a bit of a challenge.

4) LEARN ABOUT WATER Why on earth am i writing about water? An excellent recent film “Flow: For the Love of Water” about water illustrates this resource’s incredible importance. For one second care to entertain the thought of considering how essential water is to our survival, health (as in, the lack of clean water leading to health and survival problems). Climate change is melting glaciers and snowpacks around the world meaning that rivers worldwide are or will be facing water shortages. In 1999, 26 percent of Canadian municipalities reported problems with water availability, including seemingly wet locals such as Vancouver and Victoria (Environment Canada 2001; Boyd 2003). To illustrate the importance of this issue a bit further: 440 of 669 major cities in China face moderate to severe water shortages, and data collected from NASA and the World Health Organization suggest that 4 billion people will face water shortages by 2050 (Lagod 2007).

5) FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE SIDE Learning more about the state of the world can be difficult at times, but one of the most important lessons I’ve learned about environmental issues is the absolute necessity to stay positive, and not let things get to you personally – I’ve just started a blog about this and highlighting the importance of something known as the Lotus Effect (the real definition). Using all the energy generated by anger of learning about humanity breaking environmental laws and transforming it into something positive – action on improving things or leading by example. And last, and most importantly, keeping a sense of humour about it all, and not taking things, and ourselves too seriously.

A great example would be a well-known (and very witty) standup comedian talking about energy and world politics in Robert Newman’s History of Oil (I love it). Another PERFECT example of this would be the words of wisdom by a writer on the Simpsons - Welcoming Homer, the Tree Hugger! I’d like to end on that note, if you don’t visit any other links, visit the last two – I’m particularly fond of always looking at the bright side of things. With Love, L.E.

Transportation as a life – Guest post by Karen Quinn Fung

Raul — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:00:49 +0000

This post was contributed by Karen Quinn Fung, who blogs at Countably Infinite. Karen recently completed her Honors Thesis and is considered an expert in transportation. She single-handedly organized TransitCamp in Vancouver and was included in Raincity Studio’s 2008 Women in Tech to Watch. She also happens to be a friend of mine

Raul and I were talking today when I told him I couldn’t think of something to write about for his blogathon, and he called me an expert in transportation. I, of course, now feel obligated to repay his generous compliment…however, I will do this with a blog post about why I am not an expert in transportation – at least, not the way that most people think of experts, and not in the way that most people think of transportation. (Much of this post is indebted to a book by Fiona Rajé called Negotiating the Transport System. I am currently crafting a blog post for my site with more on this book.)

When people think of transportation, they think of traffic engineers, people designing lane markings and curbs, thinking about where to put stop signs, bike lanes and pedestrian crossings, the headways (i.e. amount of time between buses) on bus routes and the logistics of a complicated transit system like the SkyTrain. Alternately, they may think of transportation planners, who study the number of people going where at what times of day, weighing land use with development goals, who make forecasts in the future about what people will be doing 30 years from now to get around.

In almost all of the above activities, I am, at best, a casual observer. My degree was in Communication, so I am ill-suited to comment on urban growth or community development. Instead, I am much more interested in the intricacies of how the act of getting around shapes what you can do, who you are, and who you can be; and, conversely, how not being able to get you are also keeps you from certain things. And finally, what people or organizations can do quickly and cheaply to overcome those obstacles and do what they want to, in the absence of solutions that might take a long time to implement. Funny enough, a lot of those tools tend to involve providing information to people – hence my hanging-on with the web and mobile communities in Vancouver.

Along this vein, one of the neatest concepts I’ve learned about recently is that of the “forced car.” It is exactly what it sounds like, and everyone knows what it is: it is when public transport is so lacking that people on low incomes have to put their money towards owning and running a car, which diverts valuable resources away from other parts of their lives. I have a friend living this very reality in Winnipeg. Yet as a society, do we collectively – through our representative in municipal or regional governments – take responsibility for precipitating these situations through the design of our cities? It’s hard to take responsibility for something that’s not directly someone’s fault, yet all too often it seems that the forethought that would enable these situations to be avoided is bypassed completely.

I’m certainly not the only one thinking about this sort of thing in Vancouver, either – the Vancouver Public Space Network is doing some great work, and Toronto’s Spacing Magazine is very prolific in bringing these issues to a human and emotional scale. If we think of cities as living, breathing organisms, then our transportation system is like our circulatory system, moving things around to where they are needed. That experience of moving around, perhaps not for the majority but for no small minority of people, is traumatic, wrought with difficulty and frustration, leading to (again with a loosely-defined academic term) social exclusion, that prevents them from taking full advantage of their potential or living their dreams. It’s this human element that I work towards…and I’m feeling
up to the challenge!

Now, does anyone know a Master’s Program where I can study this *and* hang out with bloggers and web geeks?

Governing water, governing ourselves

Raul — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:05:10 +0000

Continuing on my research-related posts, I have previously talked about my research on wastewater governance, on environmental NGO mobilization, and now I’ll briefly talk about what I have studied on water supply governance.

I was going to leave this post all the way until Blogathon, but Arieanna’s recent post on “Canada, the water” reminded me of the relevance of understanding how water supplies and water management works (great post Arieanna by the way). Arieanna’s post calls attention to the fact that the bottled water being sold at Whole Foods was pretty much targeted towards tourist buyers.

Photo credit: Ianiv and Arieanna on Flickr

What worries me a bit more is not so much the privatization and commodification of water, but the misconceptions of water availability on this planet. According to the 2nd. United Nations Word Water Report, between 25 and 40% of the world’s drinking water comes from ground sources (groundwater).

This fact should be scary to people, but I’m not sure that people who live in Canada and particularly British Columbia (since we are so well served by our watersheds and local reservoirs) realize the degree of water scarcity that pervades the world, even if there is a generalized perception that . Therefore, it’s not hard to think that many people have a reason to be rightfully annoyed by the increasing privatization of water supplies.

Given the investment and capital costs that need to be covered in order to provide groundwater for drinking purposes, I would imagine that people would be cognizant of water scarcity and avoid increasing demand on water reserves, both by conserving water and by recycling grey water. In one of my research projects, I have looked at the use of common pool resource (CPR) theory to try and understand the conflicts amongst two communities who share and access the same aquifer (in Mexico).

The nature of public accessibility of aquifers makes them an excellent laboratory to study the behavior of communities who have to share a common resource that can be depleted if inappropriately managed. The purpose of my post was (as subtly suggested in the header) to indicate that in order to appropriately manage or govern water, we need to first learn to govern ourselves and control our natural consumptive instinct, in order to avoid depletion of our water reserves. Will we be able to do that? And how can we increase the visibility of the challenges of governing water when we can clearly see that other issues (such as climate change) are so high up in the environmental agenda in Canada?

More resources and materials for reading:

- The World Water Assessment Project page – Provides lots of information and good statistics. The UNESCO International Hydrological Programme is currently putting together the 3rd World Water Report.

- CBC Series on Water – While I am VERY weary of pointing people out to media sources instead of academic sources, I kind of liked this series.

- The National Water Research Institute of Environment Canada – Basically focuses on freshwater, but a good resource nonetheless.

- The International Water Resources Association (IWRA).

Homelessness in Vancouver: A very complex issue

Raul — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:28:08 +0000

Last week, I had a conversation with Nancy Zimmerman on her post regarding the ticketing of homeless people who were sleeping in Oppenheimer Park (at 4:30am on Thursday I think), in the Downtown East Side. As I have mentioned before, the realities of the Downtown East Side (DTES) are very complex, and homelessness is not an easy issue to tackle. If it were, Vancouver wouldn’t have any problems of homelessness.

One of the most debilitating and dis-empowering feelings I have ever had in my life is the feeling of not having where to sleep. The most recent time I moved to Canada, I simply didn’t have a place to stay nor had I secured housing at the university. Therefore, for like three weeks, I *had* to stay at a friends’ place. While her apartment was very nice, living out of a set of luggage bags is NOT really nice.

Now, I have adapted to Canada and to Vancouver, but those feelings of disempowerment are not easy to let go. I hope I never get to experience them, ever again.

I am also keenly aware of how much Nancy loves her neighbourhood and how committed she is to social change. I think that we ought to take a holistic view to the homelessness issue and more than anything, be compassionate. We never know when we can end up there. Fate has a way of turning out in unexpected ways.

Environmental groups mobilization and protests: More than meets the eye

Raul — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:29:52 +0000

Ever wonder what drives environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) to undertake campaigns to protect the oceans, protest forests’ clear-cutting and fight to have bis-phenol A banned from all plastic bottles? This is one of the questions that has driven another side research project I have conducted throughout the past decade.

I’ve always been puzzled as to why would numerous individuals of different backgrounds decide to come together and volunteer their time to engage in environmental activism. Putting pressure on government is an activity that has taken place for a long time, and with the recent increase in media exposure to problems such as climate change and pollution, we have witnessed a spiraling growth of ENGO mobilizations.

Global warming protest outside Washington Park (Photo: Pembleton/Flickr)

You may or may not know that one of the most famous environmental groups (Greenpeace International) was initially founded in 1971 here in Vancouver.

In 1971, motivated by their vision of a green and peaceful world, a small team of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, in an old fishing boat. These activists, the founders of Greenpeace, believed a few individuals could make a difference.

Their mission was to “bear witness” to US underground nuclear testing at Amchitka, a tiny island off the West Coast of Alaska, which is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions.[Greenpeace website]

My research on ENGOs has focused less on understanding the motivations behind environmental groups’ (a topic that, while interesting, provides in my opinion less insight on potential public policy options) and more on the strategies that ENGOs use to put pressure both on industrial polluters and on governments at different scales (local, regional, transnational).

Moreover, I have been interested in gathering empirical evidence of the formation of transnational coalitions of ENGOs and how these coalitions use their collective knowledge to engage in strategic behavior and put pressure on national governments. Interestingly enough, there are many cases where ENGOs have been successful in pressuring polluters and shaming governments.

However, one of the most interesting insights that I have found in my research is that, for an issue to really galvanize public opinion, it has to be notorious and affect the population in a deep way (that is, it must be scary enough to make people put words into action). As I mentioned in my previous post on the governance of wastewater, it irks me to know that other pressing problems, such as dwindling supplies of water and increasing wasteful behavior on the part of urban populations are being overlooked in favor of climate change.

While it appears as though environment (and climate change) are two of the issues that Canadians indicate as public policy priorities, I am still surprised that there are not more environmental group protests on issues of pollution, and still place so much emphasis on climatic change issues.

My hope is that, in the coming years, people will continue to mobilize and try to change how environmental policy is shaped and implemented, but hopefully by then, we’ll have a much more holistic view and not only one shaped by excessive press coverage of environmental issues that, while pressing, are not the only ones we need to look at.

The governance of wastewater and the culture of flushing

Raul — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:09:13 +0000

One of the things that has struck me a lot throughout the past five years that I have studied water policy is the absolute disconnect that exists between our understanding of the different elements of the hydrological cycle and their interconnectedness. The social sciences literature has examined in great detail issues of water scarcity, but water quality and wastewater treatment are, for the most part, absent from the discussion.

Photo credit: The Joy of the Mundane

I know that I have always chosen difficult and non-explored questions for my own research, and in this regard, I have created some sort of a niche because very few people study the governance of wastewater. Amongst those very few Canadian scholars who have done work in wastewater and that I know of are Dr. Arn Keeling (whose PhD dissertation was an environmental history of wastewater in Vancouver) and Dr. Jaimie Benidickson (whose book, “The Culture of Flushing“, is a great environmental and social history of flushing in Canada, the United States and Great Britain).

My own work hasn’t dealt with Canadian wastewater, but I do have a fairly solid understanding of the way things work here. I am sure you’ll find it appalling that the city of Victoria, the capital of the province of British Columbia, does NOT have a wastewater treatment plant. The effluent comes straight into the ocean (with some preliminary screening).

A recent post by Matt Collinge about water quality in False Creek reminded me of how little do people in Vancouver AND in Canada think about wastewater. This is something that is prevalent at the larger scale. Professor Dickinson indicates that this is part of “the culture of flushing”, or what I often call, the OOSOOM phenomenon (out of sight, out of mind).

One of my personal pet peeves is that both scholars and non-academics in Canada are SO focused on climate change issues that sometimes they forget other environmental problems that have NOT been solved, including solid waste management (Vancouver’s landfill is about to be entirely full) and wastewater management (we are nowhere near some of the developing countries’ technologies for wastewater treatment, hard to believe as that may be).

My research focus in the area of water policy (I’ve done research in other areas) has examined primarily the role of institutions and the types of rules found in wastewater governance, and the role of watershed councils in strengthening sanitation policy. I found, after that presentation, and having had discussions with other scholars, that I will have to pursue two separate agendas in the future: one on wastewater governance itself and one on watershed councils, and I am very excited about this.

I am curious to know if my readers do think about water scarcity more than they think about what happens once they flush the toilet. Or does even water come into their minds, with so much focus on climate change issues? What do you think?