2010 Community Sustainability Snapshot

File: 

2010communitysustainabiiltysnapshot.pdf

Opening Paragraphs:

Incorporated in the spring of 2007, the Fresh Outlook Foundation (FOF) is a registered charity that uses community based social marketing to develop and deliver sector-specific programs that promote sustainable ways in people’s
communities, workplaces, homes, and recreational activities.

Given that FOF founder and CEO Joanne de Vries has extensive communications consulting experience with provincial, regional, municipal, and First Nations jurisdictions
throughout BC, local governments became the foundation’s inaugural target audience.

To ensure FOF programs reflected local governments’ information wants and needs, the foundation conducted a comprehensive survey of BC’s regional, municipal, and First Nations governments in 2007. The primary objectives were to: 1) pinpoint the types, formats, and frequencies of sustainability information preferred by elected officials and staff; and 2) to identify other products and services the foundation could provide to help local governments better communicate with
their colleagues and constituents about sustainability. The resulting feedback has been used to develop a variety of events and programs, including regional workshops, electronic magazines, and FOF’s signature event — the Building
SustainAble Communities (BSC) conference.

BSC 2012 Evaluation Summary

File: 

bsc2012-evaluation-summary.pdf

The Fresh Outlook Foundation hosted its 5th Building SustainAble Communities conference from February 27th to March 1st in Kelowna, BC at the Delta Grand Hotel. This document is a summary of responses from the conference evaluation surveys.

What is sustainability?

File: 

whatissustainability.pdf

Opening Paragraphs:

The Fresh Outlook Foundation is passionate about and committed to “sustainability,” but what is sustainability in the community context?

The concept of sustainability, or sustainable development, emerged in the 1980s when growing numbers of people recognized the need to balance social, cultural, and economic progress with environmental stewardship. The concept gained worldwide momentum in 1987, when the Brundtland Commission reported that “sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

The Earth Charter speaks of “a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.”

Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Sustainable Community Development (CSCD) defines a sustainable community as one that “resembles a living system in which human, natural, and economic elements are inter‐dependent and draw strength from one another.”