BC Healthy Communities From Silos to Systems: An Integrated Approach to Addressing Climate Change

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BC Healthy CommunitiesFrom Silos to SystemsAn
Integrated Approach to Addressing Climate Change
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• What is BC Healthy Communities?
• Province wide initiative
• Funded through Ministry of Health
• Space and administrative support are provided
  through the Union of BC Municipalities
• Guided by a diverse 15-member Steering Committee

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BCHC Mission(and passion)
To promote the Healthy Communities Approach,
offering a shared platform for

• Community Learning
• Community Engagement
• Expanding Assets
• Collaboration

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Healthy Communities is a big picture concept
Its not just a way of doing, but a way of
thinking.
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Weve been wondering

• why do we keep treating complex community issues
  
• as if there were simple solutions?

• how do we move beyond silos, and pay more
  attention to the whole system?

• how can we sustain our efforts with authentic
  leadership and commitment?

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• Why, with so much information and evidence
  about climate change is it so difficult to
  respond?
• How can we individually and collectively build
  capacity to respond to climate change?
• Capacity building goal
• From Awareness to Response-Ability

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What if we had a more complete roadmap for the
journey?

• more information, more effective tools
• see multiple perspectives
• navigate complexity acknowledge
  interconnected influences
• identify patterns and potholes
• enhance communication and learning across
  sectors
• timely response to changing issues conditions
  
• identify levers for effective change

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• The Climate Change Context
• What do we know?

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• What we know so far.
• Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have grown
  since pre-industrial times, with an increase of
  70 between 1970 and 2004.
• The future is undetermined the choices we and
  our governments make regarding development paths
  over the coming decades will determine the extent
  to which the climate will change.
• Changes in lifestyle and behaviour patterns can
  contribute to climate change mitigation across
  all sectors.
• Climate change mitigation is linked to broader
  issues
• IPCC May 2007

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We cant solve our problems at the same level of
thinking with which we created them.
Albert Einstein
So what can help us take our thinking and actions
to the next level?
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Healthy Communities Approach calls for
Complex thinking for complex times
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Community-making just isnt as simple as it once
seemed

• The issues communities are facing today are
  different than 20 or 30 years ago.
• There are more external factors affecting
  communities.
• Issues are becoming more complex.

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What are we noticing about community issues?
Complex Issues
Simpler Issues

• Known territory - everyone agrees
• what the problem is
• Only a few factors to consider
• Previous successes we can repeat
• what has always worked in the past
• Problem can be solved by a few actors
• High levels of agreement
• Step by step thinking and planning
• We have the know-how to address the
• issue

• New territory - little agreement on the
• problem, let alone the solution
• Tangle of factors (multiple, interconnected)
• Habitual action no longer works
• innovation required
• Multiple actors / stakeholders
• Multiple perspectives
• Cause and effect are distant
• Its okay not to know!

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When the only tool you have is a hammer, every
problem looks like a nail.
Abraham Maslow
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What if we shifted our thinking and actions ...
From silos to systems?
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A community is a system .a whole system. This
means looking at the whole - not just the parts.
It also means looking at interconnections,
patterns and influences among diverse factors
and actions.
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• The Sustainability Perspective

Sustainability Solutions Group (2007)
Is anything missing?
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• "We face a true planetary emergency. The climate
  crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral
  and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is
  also our greatest opportunity to lift global
  consciousness to a higher level."
• Al Gore, Winner Nobel Peace Prize 2007

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So, how can we expand our capacity to address
the complexity of human impact on the climate?
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One way is to pay attention to complexity in
people, and the communities we live in.
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Psychological Influences (Inner Individual)
Physical Behavioral Influences (Exterior
Individual)
Systems Influences (Social Ecological)
(Exterior Collective)
Cultural Influences (Inner Collective)
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Interior
Exterior
Individual

Collective
BCHC Capacity Building Framework
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For example, at a recent community forum,
participants found that they couldnt talk about
climate change without also talking about

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Were also learning that we cant talk
about housing, transportation, or food security
without talking about
Individual actions behaviours
Personal attitudes choices
Social ecological systems structures
Cultural values and worldviews
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Development that Serves Humans
Human Development

• housing
• food security
• economic development
• health community services
• education / literacy
• justice system
• environmental sustainability
• healthy public policy

• cognitive development
• emotional development
• values development
• moral / ethical development
• psychosocial development
• spiritual development
• interpersonal development
• worldview development

The Interdependence of Development
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food security
economic development
Mountain Pine Beetle
climate change
sustainability planning
Sustainable Development
homelessness
morals
interpersonal
psychological
mindsets
Human Development
worldviews
values
patterns of development
cognitive
spiritual
culture
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Physical and Behavioral Assets (Individual
behaviour, skills activities
Psychological Spiritual Assets (values,
attitudes, feelings, motivations, assumptions)
Climate Change
Cultural Assets (worldviews, shared visions
goals, collaboration, etc.)
Social and Ecological Assets (environment, social
systems, policies, services, institutions)
What do we typically do to address climate change?
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Achieving sustainability is not primarily a
technical or scientific challenge, although there
is much to learn about how ecosystems work and
respond to human activity. Nor is the challenge
to merely manage resources more effectively,
although there is much room for that too.
Rather, it is also about dealing with people and
their diverse cultures, interests, visions,
priorities, and needs.it is through consensus
that the people differences can be addressed,
understood and resolved. Gail Hochachka
Developing Sustainability, Developing
Ourselves
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Barrett Brown. 2006
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What do our solutions look like when we use
this lens?
Psychological and Spiritual Assets Healthy
mind, Healthy spirit
Physical and Behavioral Influences
Social and Ecological Assets Healthy
environment, economy, social systems,
institutions, policies, services
Cultural Assets Healthy cultural values, beliefs,
attitudes, assumptions
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Physical and Behavioral Assets (Individual)

• Program Participation
• Skills Abilities
• Actions
• Physical Health Well-being
• Objective knowledgethe facts

What happens when we dont pay attention to these
assets?
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What do our solutions look like when we use
this lens?
Psychological Spiritual Influences
Physical and Behavioral Assets
Social and Ecological Assets Healthy
environment, economy, social systems,
institutions, policies, services
Cultural Assets Healthy cultural values, beliefs,
attitudes, assumptions
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• Psychological Intentional (Individual
  Interior)
• Emotional ? how do I feel about this?
• Values ? What is significant to me?
• Morals ? What should I do?
• Participation ? how can I contribute to change?
• Motivation ? why should I act?
• Awareness ? how do I understand this issue?
• Self Esteem ? can I make a difference?

What happens when we dont pay attention to these
assets?
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What do our solutions look like when we use
this lens?
Psychological and Spiritual Influences
Physical and Behavioral Assets
Social and Ecological Assets (environment,
economy, social systems, institutions, policies,
services)
Cultural Assets (cultural values, beliefs,
attitudes, Assumptions)
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Cultural (Interior Collective)

• Shared meaning, attitudes, visions
• Culture of participation, collaboration
• Consensus on solutions
• Collective Inquiry
• Dialogue processes
• Collaborative problem Solving
• Participatory research methodologies

What happens when we dont pay attention to these
assets?
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What do our solutions look like when we use
this lens?
Psychological and Spiritual Influences
Physical and Behavioral Assets
Social and Ecological Assets (environment,
economy, social systems, institutions, policies,
services)
Cultural Assets Healthy cultural values, beliefs,
attitudes, assumptions
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Systemic and Institutional (Collective Systems)

• Transportation Systems
• By-Laws and Policies
• Infrastructure
• Funding
• Facilities
• Economic Incentives

What happens when we dont pay attention to these
assets?
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How do we begin to build capacity for the whole
person in the whole community?
Psychological and Spiritual Assets Healthy
mind, Healthy spirit
Physical and Behavioral Assets Healthy
body, Healthy actions
Social and Ecological Assets Healthy
environment, economy, social systems,
institutions, policies, services
Cultural Assets Healthy cultural values, beliefs,
attitudes, assumptions
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Integral Capacity Building Framework
When learning, engaging, expanding assets
collaborating, pay attention to ...
A comprehensive approach

• the WHOLE PERSON
• in the WHOLE COMMUNITY
• Individuals (interior and exterior experiences)
• The systems structures in
• which we carry out our activities
• The culture within which we live
• our daily lives

• 1. Learn
• 2. Engage
• 3.Expand Assets
• Thinking
• Knowledge
• Commitment
• Relationships
• Resources
• Partnerships
• Activities
• 4. Collaborate
• How to reach a chosen future

Psychological and Spiritual Assets healthy
mind, healthy spirit
Physical and Behavioral Assets healthy
body, healthy actions
Social and Ecological Assets healthy
environment, economy, social systems, Institution
s, policies, services
Cultural Assets healthy cultural values, beliefs,
attitudes assumptions
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How does BCHC support capacity building?

• Facilitation of Healthy Communities networks -
  regional and provincial.
• A website, newsletter, regional e-Bulletins.
• Regional forums and a provincial conference.
• Seed grant program.

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New lands cannot be discovered without losing
site of the shore for some time. Unknown
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Working with Complexity

• 1. Build awareness - self, others,
  organization, etc.
• 2. Study the big picture, not just the
  details (context)
• 3. Look for similarities in seemingly different
  situations (patterns)
• 4. Discover assumptions (your own and others)
• Wheres the juice? (root causes,
  interconnections,
• mutual influences, emergent change
  processes)
• 6. Invite insight and intuition (the voice
  within)
• 7. Take small action steps (rapid prototyping
  action/reflection/action)
• Learn from feedback, adjust action, find flow
• Celebrate the small successes, grow more of them

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Explore Emergent Approaches for Addressing
Interiority
Dialogue processes (generating shared meaning,
understanding) Participatory research
methodologies Community Conversations Popular
education approaches Storytelling Community
visioning Collaborative problem solving
Scenario building Appreciative Inquiry World
Cafe
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BC Healthy Communities
www.bchealthycommunities.ca