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I grew up in a wonderful place called Vancouver, Canada, a city wedged in between craggy peaks and the Pacific Ocean. After having completed my Master's degree in Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, I decided to go live in Paris, France. Why France? Well, who wouldn't want to live in Paris? Good cheese, good wine, lazy evening strolls along the Seine River with a light summer breeze blowing... It was all of that, but it was also a chance for me to reconnect with my roots: what does it mean to be French? Hmmm.... Bonne question. There are also other reasons that prompted me to cross the pond over to the Old Continent, and sustainability was one of these. Living in North America, there is a myth about how "ecologically advanced" Europe is compared to the rest of the world--windmills, ultra-modern and efficient public transportation, impressive social programs, and so on. So, I wanted to check it out for myself and see what the hype was all about, and if it was true. Wanting to work in Paris, I found a great job in a small NGO called Association 4D (http:www.association4d.org), which was created in 1993 right after the Rio Earth Summit to promote sustainability in France. It was through this NGO that I became the coordinator of the French Jo’burg 2002 Coalition, a coalition of over 120 French NGOs working towards the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. This was the third summit of its kind, after the Stockholm Conference in 1972, which was followed 20 years later by the Rio Earth Summit. Since I arrived in France in June 2000, I've noticed that things in Europe and even in France are moving along, slowly but surely. For example, among many other things, there's a European Sustainable Development Strategy (http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/eussd/index.htm) that was adopted by the European Council in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June 2001, and an in-the-works European Constitution (http://european-convention.eu.int/) which emphasizes that sustainable development is the overarching objective of the EU. To move towards sustainability, it's important to convince people that they have more to gain than to lose by changing their behaviour and consumption patterns. Everyone has a responsibility, whether it be national governments who set policies and implement things such as ecological tax reforms; or businesses, that must stop wasting natural resources or manufacturing obsolete or useless products, or even supporting dictatorial regimes in order to have access to natural resources. Trade unions as well are important stakeholders, as they can have a very positive influence within the workplace to promote sustainability through information sharing, capacity building and lobbying business leaders. We need to promote the good practices that already exist, and that is why I am involved in the production of short reports showcasing efforts by cities to implement sustainable development. An introduction to these reports and purchasing information is avaiable on the following website: http://www.igapura.org/réalisations.htm When I'm not involved in the NGO world, I go rock-climbing and mountain biking. Getting lost in the forest and walking the streets of Paris with friends is also fun. I love travelling, and one of the most magical places I've been to is Kerala, located at the very southern tip of India. See you around, and I'd love to hear from you! ------------------------------------------------- Some quotes I like: "Be the change you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi "Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever is either a madman or an econonist" - Kenneth Boulding "My karma ran over your dogma" - Anonymous Oh, and don't forget to calculate your Ecological Footprint: http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp
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