Pathways 2 Sustainability 2011 Pathways began as a community sustainability conference in Cochrane Alberta in May of 2009. P2S 2009 explored the five phases of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) sustainable community planning. Participants attended from across Alberta to learn about how to participate in creating sustainability plans for our communities.

Pathways 2011 is moving forward from planning to community-based action. With the involvement of the Alberta Rural Development Network and Growing Food Security in Alberta, Pathways 2011 will encompass a dialogue about the components of resilient communities: FOOD, FUEL, and FINANCE!

Pathways 2011 will be hosted at Red Deer College February 23rd - 25th in partnership with ReThink Red Deer, City of Red Deer, and Sustainability Resources Ltd.


Mark Anielski, Pathways Ambassador and Author of The Economics of Happiness
 

Pathways 2 Sustainability Feb. 23rd-25th 2011

"Food, Fuel & FInance - a conference dialogue for local resilient Economies"

P2S 2009 - Cochrane Conference

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Sustainability - More than a Buzz Word?

Sustainability in Alberta is being explored in communities, corporations, government policy forums, and is the foundation of Alberta's future. We live in a resource based economy.

Pathways offers Albertan's a new place to dialogue about how we can mobilize sustainability!P2S 2011

Pathways Network (Beta)

The Pathways Network is comprised of participants, supporters and champions of the Pathways 2 Sustainability Conference!
Participants in the Network can share inside tips about sustainable communities, profile green technologies and solutions, and help to shape the 2011 Pathways Conference Agenda!
The Theme for Pathways to Sustainability Conference 2011 will be based upon the key areas of:

Food

front_foodThe long term health of a community's food system is an important indicator of its vitality and sustainability. A logical and appropriate way to revitalize a community is by the development of a local food economy.

Abundant examples of people coming together can be seen around the world as they are designing and implementing sustainable, local food systems that are rooted in particular places, aim to be economically viable for farmers and consumers, use ecologically sound production and distribution practices, and enhance social equity and democracy for all members of the community.

Fuel

front_fuelThe all-around energy uses of humanity are so inefficient that 95% of it is wasted. Despite this wasting, the total amount of energy consumed amounts to less than one five-hundred-thousandth of 1% of the daily energy income from the Sun.

This means it is utterly possible for us to live on the fuels derived by its daily produced energy rather than by exhausting the millions of years of its energy concentrated in fossil fuels. And although the problems of our world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.

Finance

front_financeIn the last 20 years, new models of community investment and community enterprise have arisen to help get capital to communities. They in turn have raised still more questions, especially about the ability of communities to put capital to work, responsibly and effectively. Capital can’t get where it’s needed without connections: networks of intermediaries that channel it all the way from public, community, and private investors to the practitioners who can actually put it to work. For community-based initiatives - whether nonprofits, social enterprises, or co-operatives - capital is an age-old dilemma. How then is capital to be packaged, delivered, and applied in the next 10-15 years if communities are to preserve, or improve, their quality of life? What local and regional capacity must we develop so that communities can benefit from powerful but complex financial tools?