Have you ever wondered what would happen when our creative and artistic energy merges with our passion and drive for water?
The following happens...
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| Ryan Janzen on Hydraulophone |
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| Ryan Janzen, Laura Bolt on Flute |
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| Ariel Dandan Mao, Winner of Artful Waters Hydraulophone Composition Competition |
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| Georgia Simms |
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| Evalyn Parry, Poet |
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| Steve Mann |
Steve Mann- Canadian inventor of the Hydraulophone (and labeled by the media as the world's first cyborg) and Ryan Janzen- composer and Hydraulist; Georgia Simms- fantastic dancer, choreographer and facilitator; and Evalyn Parry, poet, songwriter and ironic social commentator, all joined the Waterlution Toronto Hub community on June 4th-- to unleash the creative capacities of 65+ guests from Toronto and the region, collaborating towards an ideal future for Southern Ontario's water.
With no national water strategy in place, Canada and especially Ontario, are in need for emerging leaders and policymakers who will help push forward solutions for a collective, ideal water future. Artful Waters engaged guests in a World Cafe experience to catalyze solutions in creative ways. At every table, a different water topic was being assessed and a storyteller stayed behind after every group switch, to welcome & inform new members joining the dialogue. This process allowed for building on past knowledge and contributing to a collective wisdom.
The design incorporated intense brainstorming in session 1; wetting our feet in Appreciative Inquiry (Discover, Dream, Design) in session 2; and delivering a final "Provocation", presented creatively by group members themselves (expertise now resides within the group- therefore the twist at this event was that guests became the "Provocateurs").
Here are the outcomes of what was captured:
*click on each photo to enlarge
Water in the City + Blue Economy
Session #1
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cultural acceptance of dual water systems
o
don’t drink from the toilet
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charge $ for freshwater not for grey water
o
symbolic charge (like .05 plastic bags)
-
emergency
o
currently we are capable of storing oil + gas
(as back-up systems)
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wind and solar as alternatives to hydro + gas
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cold fusion
Session # 2
Emergency
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- individual water purification systems
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Spring water collecting for urban people
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- American companies
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TA / Great Lakes has enough water
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- Mega Quarry > Infrastructure
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Infrastructure
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- Flooding
- Aging
infrastructure
- Storm
water
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Grey Water Reclamation
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- Chemicals
- Dual
Infrastructure – Water/Sewage Treatment
- $
- Chemicals
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Ripples* (Ideas and patterns that stick)
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Infrastructure
o
Distribution
o
Treatment
o
Collection of waste
-
recycle inside buildings
o
new buildings built with grey water recycling
built in
Session # 3
BIG IDEA (under Blue Economy) 'Blue Strings for Growth'
Declaring our Waterfront as a Special Urban Sustainability District
- public participation
- food/water/energy
- encourage eco-tourism
- to exhibit and incorporate 4 elements: earth, air, fire, water
Water & Health
Session #1
Session #2
Source of life
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- health
- a
fetus develops in water
- require
water to clean and sterilize birth
- only
last 3 days w/o water
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Non-Intentional
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- farm
contaminants
- effluents
- additives
- storm
sewers
- pharmaceuticals
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Intentional
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- additives
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Water Footprints
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- education
- public
awareness
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Privatization
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- lobby
water as right
- commodification
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Commodification
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- if
you don’t have access it can impact your health
- gov’t
responsibility in protecting water / public health
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Maintenance of life
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Session #3
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Discovering
o
Media attention, awareness about consequences on
water + health (i.e Ganges)
o
Maintenance of life in North America (standards
available for all)
-
Dreaming
o
Water as a human right
o
Every household with a filter
o
Culture of conservation, not waste
o
Whole mentality being changed
o
Value of water, awareness
-
Ideas for Design: “water ethic”
o
Education, responsibility for water
o
Feeling of knowledge for change, life
nourishment
o
Healthy Commons
o
Healthy Environment
BIG IDEA- Provocation:
We need a “Culture of Caring”
-
If we treated water like we valued it
o
Healthy People
o
Healthy Commons
o
Healthy Environment
Voices for Water
Session #1
-
cradle to cradle
-
charge real price of water
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shared watershed commons
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more use of twitter
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cleanup our waters (lakes, rivers)
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stop using chemical cleaners
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use refillable water containers
Session #2
Voices for Water (Not just something we hear)
Limitations that silence voices
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- government
- closed
communication channels
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Lag time for cause/effect
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Religious symbols
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Events, festivals, pilgrimage
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Water herself
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- streams,
waterfalls, rivers, waves, tides
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Social media internet
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- censorships
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Human rituals
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-
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Film/ Visual Arts / Music
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-
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Ripples
-
Water is alive
-
Water is a global common
Session #3
BIG IDEA- Provocation
A dance performance- capturing water's elements: alive, global, without a voice, our role is to protect it
Participatory Water
Governance + Community
Session #1
Session #2
Recognition that there is a gap in governance in Canada
|
- people
& corporations are aware (from being affected)
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Different levels and access to participation
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- lack
of national strategy
- every
province/ter. does something different
- opportunities
to assess best practices
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Defining Governance
|
- who
can? How? Common values
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Complexity of the issues and players (interdisciplinary)
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- competing
interests
- not
everyone speaks the same “language”
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NWT – Water strategy
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- Aboriginal
Collaboration
- Leaders
that are pushing water governance
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Being here tonight means cs is growing around water!
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-
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Everyday people engaged & participating /
Municipalities acting & participating
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- incentives
for good behaviour
- “Blue
Strings” conditions for infrastructure grants through water conservation
measures
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Open & Transparent Process
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- access
to information
- EU
water directive database
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Ripples
-
what can Canada learn from other countries
around participatory governance (and import or share) in terms of knowledge
-
encourage development of water strategies
(national, prov.) through bottom-up approaches, civil-society engagement,
“commons”, etc.
o
limits to strategies – how do we move into
action?
Session #3
BIG IDEA- Provocation
A guided reflection exercise, asking us to think about all the challenges, success stories and dream about our ideal future of participatory governance.
Emergency + Emerging
Leadership
Session #1
-Actors: communities, bottom-up; youth, why;
place-based/cities
- municipal gov. why?
process
> pragmatism > pipes to fix/water delivery > it’s where we live >
daily pressing issues > scale fit > waterfront connects to other scales
eg. International law, prov. Mandate > denser/more people acting (places to
grow w. some amount of water)
- invitation to reframe leadership
- accessibility and circumventing traditional routes
- leader as city
Session #2
Youth
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- me
to we > from personal to the communal
- find
champions
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Challenge:
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- Economical
based decisions makes it difficult to focus on env. Issues
- Competition
from many other causes
- Barriers
put in place by existing government
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Accessibility
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- Right
- Elite
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Cities
|
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Communities
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- alternative
use
- make
the issue of water real
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Discussion of the issue at every level
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Protection
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- people
developing an understanding of the necessity of water and taking stand to
protect it & make it accessible
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Session #3
MAYORSHIP POEM
Mayor (despair)
May or?
May your
May I
May you
May we
Mais oui!
Strategies for Action
- Success Stories
Anti-bottled water 'campus-based'
Sierra Youth Coalition
Yellow Fish (print on rainwater drains and sewers to remind that water is heading towards an ecosystem that is alive)
Project Blue W
Session #2
Challenges
|
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| Planning & maintenance of public fountains |
- need fountain makeovers
- Redesign of outlets
- water fountain finders |
Policymakers- enforcement?
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- more academics entering politics
- regulate that which can be measured
- economic drivers
- lobbying
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Academia and research is behind closed doors
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- Lecturing style vs co-learning exchanges |
| Health misconceptions resulting in biased opinions |
- Media lacks expert references
- Need labeling for personal care products & logos
- streamlining of regulations
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Session #3
There is a lack of information and we need a consistent system of labeling.
We demand for LOGOS that are implemented by efforts from government, corporations, media and citizens, to help consumers make informed decisions.
Innovative Water Management
Session # 1, 2 +3
BIG IDEA- Provocation
This group declared the following a work of art in itself, capturing all conversation ideas.
(credit to Stephanie for working on it and being an amazing storyteller)
Huge Thank You to the Support Team: Rania Hajjar (who took all the photos and is in none!)
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| Vanessa Ho |
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| Julia Fortier |
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| Yamika Damani |
*and a special thank you to Natalija who helped harvest and type up the notes for this blog
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| Natalija Milicevic |
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| Dona Geagea |
*To browse photo album of Artful Waters: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4ztxfmc4on9aqk4/VBmJHsw6HY/Waterlution%20Last%20Hub (photo credits: Rania Hajjar)
*To view videos of Hydraulophone at Artful Waters: http://glogger.mobi/s/
