Conversation Cafés

Protected Areas: A Path to Ecological Resilience

The conversation around resilience often centers around local, small-scale actions, ie. personal skill-building or community capacity-building. We want to expand the conversation to a larger context and talk about how we can foster resilience by protecting and preserving our wild spaces. Parks and protected areas are one of the best ways we can work towards a sustainable future; not only do they provide important ecosystem services and habitat, but they are a natural way to adapt to a changing climate. They also offer a space for people to connect with the land and improve mental and physical well-being. We intend this Conversation Cafe to be a safe space for people to talk about their experiences in the wild, why we need natural spaces, and some perceptions surrounding parks. We will open the discussion with how protected areas can contribute to social-ecological resilience in the face of rapid environmental change and urbanization, while ensuring that we maintain an open and authentic dialogue amongst participants. We hope to finish the conversation with a discussion of the impact that individual advocacy can have on seeing our wilderness protected, and how people can get involved to motivate and support positive change.

 

10:00 - 11:00 a.m. | Host: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Nikki Paskar

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How to Choose Sustainable Self-care to Increase Mental Wellbeing

Many people have a hard time doing self-care that fills their cup. Instead of looking at the wellness wheel, they can look at the 5 love languages. We can talk about which love language they are, or which apology language, and discuss ways to incorporate those types of activities in their busy lives. We all have mental health. People will mental illness can especially benefit as these are tools that can be done when energy is at an all time low.

 

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. | Host: Stef Guilly

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Conversations for Change

The power and transformational capacity of conversations. This will be a facilitated discussion on what our own most influential conversations have been like and with whom. It will explore the key components of these kinds of life changing talks and give participants a chance to go away with tangible ways they can begin having more empowering and inspiring conversations with the people in their lives.

 

1:00 - 2:00 p.m. | Host: Dolphin Kasper

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Maintaining a Paradigm Shift

My biggest challenge since getting my Permaculture Design Certificate has been keeping in line with the shift in outlook that it created in me. I would like to share insights that I've gained and invite others to share their experiences with similar challenges in maintaining positive changes in their lives.

 

2:30 - 3:30 p.m. | Host: Megan Wilson