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Sustainable Nova Scotia

See GPNS platform, 2005 and yahoogroups.com/group/nsgp/links for background materials on the Green Party of Nova Scotia. See also GPNS constitution issues and yahoogroups.com/group/nsgp/files .

For years, many of us have wondered about what a sustainable Nova Scotia would look and feel like. Some of us saw online networks as a way to keep in touch even when we had to be away. Eventually the wiki that follows began to evolve as way to communicate green thoughts, ideas and information to each other.

 

Current projects

Various somewhat related projects are now ongoing that are directly related to this effort. All invite your participation:

 

1. green economics theory based in practices like:
1a. Slow Food Nova Scotia which promotes a sustainable and organic lifestyle that is actually enjoyable, not painful.
1b. A popular environmental movement consisting of numerous groups in many parts of Nova Scotia. While this is largely uncoordinated, the movement is nevertheless connected through many informal networks. This movement can become stronger, and therefore contribute greatly to sustainability, by using wiki technology. For example, this wiki can become a fast moving means of creating website links, making calls for action?, and reporting news.

2. Green political action, whether or not associated with political parties carrying the name Green. This action includes:
2a. The HRM green platform, 2004, a "small-g green, progressive" platform which attempts to draw together radical, Green, NDP and green-sympathetic "solid citizen" input. Examples of this are opposition to urban sprawl, advancing sustainable transport, and similar actions. In 2004, this effort was led by Angela Bischoff and borrowed some of the successful outreach methods used in creating the Gomberg For Mayor of Toronto, 2000 platform. Most of this platform was adapted into the Imagine Halifax platform, 2004.
2b. The working draft GPNS platform, 2005, a "big-G Green, Four Pillars" (of the international green movement) effort to bring together the HRM and other municipal work together with First Nations outreach and the various provincial responsibilities implied by the federal Green policy of the GPC.

3a. An effort to create a viable Green Party of Nova Scotia (GPNS) that would run 52 candidates in the Nova Scotia provincial election, 2005 which was anticipated, but did not unfold, in 2005. In practice, both the election and the creation of the GPNS are now expected to unfold in 2006.
3b. A non-partisan outreach group such as would be formed by the Watershed Union of Nova Scotia proposal might take a platform, such as that generated here, and work on rural outreach? to create more locally-rooted riding associations in NS in anticipation of a Nova Scotia provincial election, 2006 should that occur instead - or in addition to - a 2005 election.
3c. In the 2004 federal election the Green Party of Canada candidates in Nova Scotia were: Katie Boudreau, David Fullerton?, Seamus Gibson?, Matt Granger, Michael Marshall, Chris Milburn, Rebecca Mosher,Michael Oddy, Sheila Richardson, Kevin Stacey and Martin Willison.  In 2006, the candidates were: (to be added) 

4d. The wiki-based livingplatform.ca which works mostly on FPVA?, Federation of Canadian Municipalities and provincial Green Parties? issues including those of the GPNS, GPO? and GPBC?. The Living Platform is for working on issues at all scales from global simultaneous policy to urban autonomy. See especially a list of Nova Scotia issues.
4e. The wiki-based Green Party of Canada "Living Platform" at greenparty.ca/lp fork?ed from the real Living Platform in February 2005. See en: wikipedia: Living Platform for details. lp.greenparty.ca is open to all members of the Green Party of Canada to edit, and for anyone else to comment on each page. This is the most open federal political party process in Canada, and having Nova Scotians overwhelm it with good input is not a bad thing. One page there of particular interest is City as Art, a draft position paper used by Michael Oddy of the GPC to explain the long-term Green vision for the intersection of urban policy and arts policy. This is based in part on some work by Paul Greenhalgh on prisons versus magnets, Frank Palermo on zoning?, Jane Jacobs and the late Tooker Gomberg, who had a substantial arts plank in Gomberg For Mayor of Toronto, 2000.

5. On-line media
The English and French Wikipedia contain many articles on Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, as do other large public wikis like Wikitravel. These projects also contain a great deal of information on eco-tourism?, sustainable development? and other topics of policy interest. All use an open content license? (Creative Commons for Wikitravel, GFDL? for Wikipedia) and participating in these projects is fun and easy - just "edit this page". Good background articles on important Nova Scotian, Canadian, North American, Atlantic Ocean and global history and politics and economics are usually welcome if they are correctly titled and written from a neutral point of view?. It is better to develop such background material in a large public wiki where the maximum editorial attention can be paid to it, and to focus small groups' attention on the development of policies specific to Nova Scotian initiatives. Ideally, we'd simply print and distribute the Wikipedia articles, perhaps with our own updates or "Secondary Section" explaining the relevance of the material to Nova Scotian policy issues. It would be quite powerful to hand interest group briefing?s to First Nations, artist? groups and business? groups, and then have them advance any given Green policy with the "powers that be". It is highly unlikely that any municipal councillor, provincial MLA, or federal MP can actually argue effectively against the strong consensus positions presented in a good Wikipedia article. Much more likely they simply agree with the background material, and are then arguing policy on ground of our choosing: a battle which we will almost certainly win, if we know the material far better.

 

Why wikis?

Wiki technology, also known as "repository", "repo", "content management" or "CM" or "intranet" software, is the most accessible way to collaborate online. Unlike the web, it doesn't force you to beg to change one word - unlike a blog, it doesn't force you to wade through everything anyone ever said on the topic, including what they now regret. It just shows you the current consensus - whatever no one can be bothered to change via "edit this page". One way to see it is as a way for many individuals to collectively write a web "site". Another way to see it as the most efficient policy process, the most efficient documentation sharing, the most efficient test balloon for a radical idea. If you don't like what you see, just "revert" the page. Easy. Nothing is lost. Every prior version of the page is in the "Versions" list.

Why in NS?

Many environmental groups in Nova Scotia and elsewhere in Atlantic Canada and New England are doing amazing work, much of which is appropriate to our communities, and they will all be invited to contribute to this project. Groups that aren't strictly environmental in focus will also be invited. We hope that a consensus vision will facilitate each group's work by showing our vision is better socially, economically and environmentally, even when some necessary proposals will cause difficulty adapting. Comfort with wiki editing is one of those necessary proposals! Click "edit this page" now and try it.

How deep is consensus?

We are not looking for a shallow consensus - a vision we can all agree to half-heartedly but do nothing about. We want a seven generation? vision that is inspiring, because that is the world we want to live in, and leave to our children and grandchildren and beyond - the kind of seven-generation consensus that brings every living voice to the table, to consider the needs of those not yet born. There is no need, then, to be limited by what any current government would do. This process is so much more efficient than theirs that we will rapidly pull ahead of them. We must assume that a sufficiently compelling vision could capture people's imagination and cause political and economic changes in ways unforeseen and unforeseeable.

Be Bold

So when editing, please err on the side of imagination rather than caution. Be Bold. Ask yourself this: how long will it take to express if I *don't* "edit this page"? Will it clutter up my head like everything else I don't act on? Get it out of your head, and maybe someone else can take the Best Next Step! Energy Policy Agriculture Policy Forestry Policy Discuss whether this is a worthwhile project: Meta Discussion Discuss Consensus Process - analysis of how consensus comes about, what it means, and how it applies to Sustainable Trade, Sustainable Policy and Simultaneous Policy. Most of this discussion is links to the outside. But please don't forget to keep Seeding!

 

If you have problems please help with the list of seedwiki bugs we are compiling. We are also looking at mediawiki to see if it is a more suitable platform for this and related projects, and at livingplatform.ca