A feature webinar discussion with Mike Lewis on Resiliency – a next step for local economies in the transition to a low-carbon future. 

BACKGROUND

Twenty years ago, Mike Lewis was already one of the leading voices for community economic development in Canada.  As editor of Making Waves, he saw first hand how local action can help turn around impoverished neighbourhoods and communities.  But as his work expanded internationally and across sectors, the emerging spectres of climate change and peak oil cast community renewal in a new light. 

In his new book, The Resilience Imperative, Lewis and co-author Pat Conaty of the new economics foundation draw on their wealth of experience to show how energy, food, housing, finance and other sectors familiar to CED practitioners can be reinvented at a more local and regional scale, buffering communities from the economic shocks that the global transition to lower-carbon economies will likely entail. 

The Resilience Imperative is firmly grounded in extensive research carried out by the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance.  With endorsements from David Suzuki, Bill McKibbon, Hazel Henderson, Gar Alperovitz, Robin Murray and many others, The Resilience Imperative offers practical solutions for a cultural shift to solidarity, co-operation and sufficiency in a future that respects the earth’s ecological limits. 

SPEAKER

Michael Lewis, Canadian Centre for Community Renewal, has been engaged in community economic development (CED), development finance and the social and co-operative economy for over 35 years, Mike is a prolific author, and respected practitioner who’s been involved in entrepreneurial development, network building, strategic assistance to CED organizations and curriculum design for community resilience. 

EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK

• Fossil-Fuel-Free Kristianstad
• Kirklees, U.K.: An area-based approach to to energy efficiency, housing affordability, and jobs
• Sweden's JAK Bank: Liberating Community Finance from the Ball and Chain of Compound Interest
• Affordability Locked In: Community land trusts – good news for households, communities, & taxpayers
• The Best of Three Worlds: Mutual Home Ownership combines housing affordability with equity and fairness
• The Co-operative Land Bank: A Solution in Search of a Home
• The Housing Treadmill: Why we're on it - What it's costing us - How we get off

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• The Resilience Imperative (more information on the book and a link to purchase)
  http://www.ccednet-rcdec.ca/en/resilienceimperative
   
• Canadian Centre for Community Renewal
  https://communityrenewal.ca/
   
• Review of The Resilience Imperative in thetyee.ca
  https://thetyee.ca/Books/2012/07/13/Resilience-Imperative/
   
• The Resilience Imperative and Civil Disobedience
  https://steadystate.org/the-resilience-imperative-and-civil-disobedience/
   
• BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance
  https://www.socialeconomy-bcalberta.ca:443/

Co-operatives United is an inspiring global festival of events and exhibitions set in Manchester, UK, to mark the close of the United Nations International Year of Co-operatives. With 1 world premiere, 3 exhibitions, 10 conferences, 45 countries, 150 workshops, 200 exhibitors and 10,000 people, Co-operatives United will inform and inspire everyone building an ethical economy and a better world.

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This session explored how co-ops are catalyzing economic development where all else fails -- building local economies and stronger communities in Canada and around the world.

BACKGROUND

In central Bolivia, an oregano co-op has reversed rural out-migration and created new income for more than a thousand families.  In the Philippines, the National Federation of Co-operatives for Persons with Disability unites 16 co-ops that provide employment to over 600 people -- entirely owned and staffed by people with disabilities.  In Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, the 31 independently owned and controlled Inuit and Dene business members of Arctic Co-ops employ over 900 people and establish local control in key economic sectors. 

Building on the International Year of Co-operatives, this webinar shared insights from these three examples of co-operative innovation:  what made them so successful, lessons for CED efforts in any context, and what’s next for co-op development in Canada and the world.

SPEAKERS

• Gretchen Hernandez, Simon Fraser University
• Jason Frittaion, Canadian Co-operative Association
• Sherry Hennessey, Arctic Co-operatives Limited

WEBINAR RECORDING

This session, part of the Canadian CED Network’s International Committee webinar series, is made possible in partnership with Uniterra

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• International Year of Co-operatives
  /en/page/broken-link?old_url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.canada2012.coop

• Canadian Co-operative Association
   https://cdfcanada.coop/

• Arctic Co-ops
  https://arctic-coop.com/

• CoopZone: resources and consultants for co-op development
  https://www.coopzone.org/home

• The Resilience Imperative: Co-operative Transitions to a Steady-State Economy
  http://www.ccednet-rcdec.ca/en/resilienceimperative

On December 7, 2012, The European Union Knowledge Network's (EUKN) 5th annual conference will take place in Essen, Germany. The conference will be organised in close co-operation with the Ruhr Regional Association and the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

The EUKN conference is built around an interactive exchange on citizen participation in shrinking urban areas. To overcome the consequences of shrinkage, joint action is needed. Local authorities need to co-operate with citizens to find ways to maintain the quality of life in their city or town.

EUKN will present innovative examples of citizen participation with regard to their daily life in shrinking areas: health, education, employment, mobility, shopping and sports. Interactive on-site debates are an important part of the conference. They provide a deeper insight in successful policy approaches and offer insight into participatory process facilitated by local authorities.

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This Choice Matrix webinar: Tools for Community Action, will introduce CED practitioners to a website that will help find effective tools that fit their current project. But what is a tool? Any guide, worksheet, checklist, manual, “how-to” or process in text, audio or video formats that is focused on guiding the user through a task. This webinar will introduce you to hundreds of tools developed by professionals, for professionals, in a convenient and concise layout to help your community achieve development goals. 

The goals of this webinar:

• Develop participant understanding on how the Choice Matrix works
• To learn how the Choice Matrix could better aid you in your daily activities 

Contact: