Sustainability and Growth. Is it possible to have both?

Jeremy Sturgess, well known Canadian architect and urban designer while in Cranbrook, gave a very informative lecture about building for sustainability. When asked how to reconcile sustainability and growth together he said , “ I think sustainability is about growth.”

On the one hand it would seem impossible to put these two concepts together especially if one is considering growth in the traditional sense of the word – getting more, getting bigger. To get more or to get bigger, resources are required. We know all about the most important resource required for human growth and survival –food! If there is no food we starve and die. Food sustains and prolongs life. To grow, live and die is the normal cycle of nature. However economies require food of a different kind and the main protein for our current economy is petroleum. Our economy is dependent upon oil. Over the last one hundred years our economy has grown and lived. However we need to face that when we have to drill deep within the ocean and use a complex process to extract oil from tar sands it is a sign that the supply is depleting. Economies are showing signs of stress and decay. Current economies as we know them are in their senior years so it would seem the result is inevitable.

On the other hand maybe growth and sustainability is about a slightly different concept. I have a pond in my garden. It does not grow bigger. However it is a living habitat that only needs replenishing with water once in a while. Water is essential to all life. Year after year the plants within it grow and bloom. The fish are provided with enough food generated by algae and the small water organisms. The pond is rich in varied plant and animal life. The pond needs some maintenance work but it is self-sustaining. It is a wonderful example of what our own larger environment must become. Within that pond is growth, carefully managed growth, self-sustaining growth full of symbiotic relationships and yet it does not get bigger and take over my entire garden.

Sustainability to me is about prolonging a healthy state of life or economy in a managed way. With a healthy, balanced and horizontal economy, growth, life and death of the individual elements will occur but the footprint will remain the same.

The Cranbrook Connected Committee is working hard to clarify this dilemma for Cranbrook. How do we prolong the healthy life of a community and be part of a self-sustaining world. We must look beyond the boundaries of Canada to assess the resources. Canada may have plenty still but the rest of the world does not and in our modern world of trade agreements we share.

Please give thought to the future and complete your Cranbrook Connected Questionnaire with what a sustainable Cranbrook looks like to you.

What’s Happening

December 2-4 and 8-11
It’s a Wonderful Life
Live Radio Play
Directed by Terry Miller
Studio Stage Door, Cranbrook
8:00pm
Tickets at Lotus Books $15


December 2nd
Meet and Greet for singles
Finnegan’s Wake
356 Van Horne St

Friday December 3rd
Art at the Fort Comes to Town
Key City Theatre
Artists Reception
5-8:00 pm

Friday December 3rd
A Classic Christmas
Cranbrook Public Library
7-10:00 pm
Music, Refreshments
Tickets $7 Lotus Books and Library

Art Fair
Artrageous Gallery
10:00am – 3:00 pm
250-426-4223

Saturday December 4
Author Readings
Cranbrook Public Library
Manual Training Building
12:30 – 5:00 pm


December 4 and 5
Christmas in the Kootenays
Symphony of the Kootenays
Saturday 7:30 pm
Sunday2:00 pm
Key City Theatre
Tickets at Key City Theatre
symphonyofthekootenays@shaw.ca

Sunday December 5th
Fort Steele Heritage Town
Sunday Sleigh Rides
11:00 am
Rides $2.25 per person
Photos with Father Christmas
Pets welcome
Photos$10 per photo
Lambi House

December 6th
TM Roberts School Concert
Key City Theatre

Tuesday December 7th
Arts Camp
Steeples School
10: -11:00 am
Children up to 5 years accompanied by an adult


December 7th
Highlands School Concert
Key City Theatre

December 8
Mass Elementary School Choir
7:30 pm
College of the Rockies


Teen Books needed for Christmas Hampers
Can be dropped off at Key City Theatre, Lotus Books
Falkins, Investor’s Ashley Furniture, COR,
Christ Church Anglican

Around Town and Looking Good!

The Christmas Season is upon us and the people of Cranbrook are putting on amazing light displays which cheer up the dark days of winter.



Downtown Cranbrook






Candy Cane Lane



The Clocktower - Downtown

                                      

Building Green

Calgary Water Centre

We have the technology to build more green buildings but why, for the most part, are we still building traditionally?  Much of the push back against going green is the perception of cost. Done right most of these green building premiums are recovered over the lifetime of the building.  When Calgary architect Jeremy Strugess designed the Calgary Water Centre he was allocated $200 per square foot.  This meant making some choices around simplifying the building but every cent saved was put into leading edge technologies and smart design choices regarding energy and water savings.  Lets look at a life-cycle costing method rather than the first cost decision making used today.  Instead of a 20 year building (the industry average for government/commercial buildings) the architect, Jeremy Sturgess believes this building is good for at least 50 years and probably much longer. Building Green is  good for the environment and our bottom line.
To learn more go to the Canada Green Building Council web site  http://www.cagbc.org/

THANK YOU to all the Cranbrook Winter Market Vendors



The Murdochs



Ruth Heath

Scott Buxton

Kim Leischner

Brenden Gillan

Derek Johnson

Patti Mann and Erna Jensen-Schill, Market Manager

Bev and Barry Timpany



Sharon Cross and customers

The first Cranbrook Winter Market from all accounts was a huge success. From opening to close the atmosphere was abuzz with a LOT of people showing enthusiasm for being able to buy locally made gifts and products. Over fifty vendors were selling everything from the fattest parsnips to the most delicate earings. A big Thank You Erna and all the vendors who made this market a reality, provided community spirit and breathed some life into a sad and lonely building

Thanks also to the musicians



Chris and Shannon, Purcell Organics














Thank You to all involved and WELL DONE.

Hurry back.

Cranbrook's Santa Claus Parade

Waiting!

Aspire Dance
CONGRATULATIONS on your First Place in Parade

Councillor Bob Whetham handing out candy

Cranbrook's Christmas Season Begins

Don't miss Cranbrook's first fabulous Winter/Christmas Market.  Old Supervalu building Baker St.

10:00am - 3:00pm  Saturday November 27th

Cakes

Flowers

Earings

Candles

Glass

Liana's bears

Gem Soaps

Parsnips, beets, teas and more

Bamboo Flutes

A perfect start to the Christmas Season.....lots of snow, good temperature, great community spirit, Santa Parade and a Winter Christmas Market.

300 years of Fossil Fueled Addiction

What’s Happening

Friday November 26th
Farmer’s Winter Market
5.00-9:00pm
and Saturday November 27th 10:00 am to 3:00pm
in the former Supervalu Building
Baker St, Cranbrook


Friday November 26th
Santa Claus Parade
7:00pm
Bring a donation or food item for the Food Bank


Friday November 26th and Saturday November 27th
"It’s a Wonderful Life"
Cranbrook Community Theatre
Studio Stage Door
8:00pm
Tickets $15 at the door and at Lotus Books


Friday November 26th and Saturday November 27th
Jeannette Oostlander Art Show
Day’s Inn
5:30 – 9:30pm Friday
10:00am – 4:00pm Saturday


Friday November 26th
Beth Crawley and Friends
Ali Bba’s Lounge
Finnegan’s Pub
7:00-11:00pm


Friday November 26th
Artrageous Gallery
Public Reception 6:00- 9:00pm
Silent Auction on Twice Loved Art
Members Exhibition ongoing


Saturday November 27th
Woodworking on the Road
Chip Carving Workshop
11:00am – 3:00pm Cranbrook and District Arts Council
250-426-4223


Monday November 29th
Friends of the Cranbrook Library
Travelogue
7:00pm COR Lecture Theatre
El Camino de Santiago with
Lorna Locke and Suzanne McAllister

Cranbrook's Urban Forest

This past summer we posted an article entitled ‘The Value of a Tree’. It has been a great year for Cranbrook’s Urban Forest and to see the value of trees being recognised and acted upon truly makes a person more optimistic. As well as the environmental benefits trees provide there is the ‘feel good’ aspect of being around plants of all kinds that makes any city more welcoming. One of the reasons may be what is known as ‘race memory’. In humans’ hunter-gatherer days, trees provided security and a place to hide from enemies. There is still something about sitting under or beside a tree that makes a person feel safer. Any gardener will tell you what a stress release and calming influence plants are. Working with the soil and knowing plants puts a person in touch with our planet and its natural cycles. By the number of positive comments heard over the summer and fall about the greening up of our city, it is obvious that even to non-gardeners. plant life helps sustain their well-being.


The City of Cranbrook Public Works Department has planted at least 75 new trees this season and the College of the Rockies has recently added more to its new landscaping. Cranbrook at one time had a separate Parks Department with its own greenhouses and full time city gardeners such as Bob Willis. To see a return to serious horticultural management within the city is encouraging. Our Urban Forest is now once again under the watchful eye of three qualified horticulturists and arborists and once again we can be optimistic that our urban forest will continue to sustain us in more ways than one.

'Autumn Blaze' Maples, Baker Park 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

City Crew planting the columnar Red Maples on the strip in the Spring

 
 

Balled and burlapped trees awaiting planting at The College of the Rockies

The most recent additions to the urban forest are the trees planted beside the renovated, new home for part of the East Kootenay Credit Union.  In this picture Don Holt assists in the planting.