Bhutanese Lessons for Nova Scotia's Environmental Community

Date: Sept 12
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Bloomfield Centre, 2786 Agricola Street, Halifax, Seniors Lounge

Speakers:
Silver Donald Cameron, one of Canada's most versatile and experienced professional authors. His work includes plays, films, radio and TV scripts, an extensive body of corporate and governmental writing, hundreds of magazine articles and 16 books, including two novels. His non-fiction subjects include history, travel, literature, politics, nature and the environment, community development, ships and the sea, as well as education and public affairs. In 2009 he was invited as an observer to Bhutan for an important workshop on Education for Gross National Happiness involving the world's leading thinkers on holistic education. The mission was to create a national policy for educating all Bhutanese youth to be citizens who care enough to protect nature, culture and other humane values in their lifetimes.

Gwen Colman, managing director of GPI Atlantic and founder of the newly launched Genuine Progress Institute, an annual intensive training program in full cost accounting to value natural capital as well as social capital. Gwen will give an update on GPI Atlantic’s work in Bhutan partnering with the Bhutanese government and local NGOs, particularly around declaring Bhutan fully organic in agriculture with the help of Vandana Shiva, and the creation of a new Centre for Appropriate Technology, working with Bunker Roy, founder of the Barefoot College, as well as other projects in Bhutan regarding wilderness protection, waste management, and the creation of the Gross National Happiness indicators and accounts. Gwen is also the creator of GPI (Genuine Progress Index) Atlantic's youth program, which became the inspiration for a world-wide youth movement toward creating genuine progress based on the four pillars of Gross National Happiness: environmental conservation; cultural preservation and promotion; sustainable economics; and good governance. This coordinated network of young volunteers spans 18 countries and is a force for youth led positive change. Previous to her work with GPIAtlantic, Gwen worked as an editor and project manager on several large environmental impact statement and database projects.