Squaring the Circle- Yeah Its Possible

Geez. I haven't posted yet in November. Shame on me.

I am currently enrolled in another program, long distance learning through the Royal Roads University. The courses I'm taking are Enviro Law, Sustainable Development and Management. I have homework to do, but that's not the point. The point is I'm learning alot of new information, and when its coupled with the current happenings around SRKF and the Benevolent Foundation, it causes everything to click in place.

For example, define sustainable development. Think you can? There are multitudes of scholarly papers defining the term, and everyone has a different twist. For example, "The term ‘‘sustainable development’’ has been seen by some as amounting essentially to a contradiction in terms, between the opposing imperatives of growth and development, on the one hand, and ecological (and perhaps social and economic) sustainability on the other. These critics might indeed be said to believe that trying to achieve sustainable development amounts to trying to square the circle, in the sense of trying to achieve the impossible." (Robinson, J. 2003). Personally, I believe that sustainable development is not only possible, but absolutely essential to our future generations.

Next, do you know what social capital is? It is "the internal social and cultural coherence of society, the norms and values that govern interactions among people and the institutions in which they are embedded" (Serageldin, I. Vice Pres. Social Capital Initiative). In other words, social capital is everything from well defined organizations, such as the Elks Club, 4-H and the government network, to the inadvertent relation between two stangers that nod to eachother in a grocery store line (Putnam, 2001). Even us, SRKF and the Benevolent Foundation, are social capital.

I like the terminology, social capital. Capital is usually monetary, a given value, ie. valuable. The term socal capital implies a certain valuable aspect to the whole thing. Which goes without saying. Without social capital, society and culture would collapse.

So, what does any of this have to do with us? Why am I lecturing all of you? Social capital is the key to sustainable development. Sustainable development is the key to the survival of future generations. WE are SOCIAL CAPITAL. WE are the KEY TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. We will decide the survival of our children, our grandchildren, their grandchildren..... See the link?

We are on the right track. We need to change the social norms and values to support sustainable development. We are. This little group is striving forward, getting the word out, and bettering our community, and other communities around the world. Even shovelling the snow for a stranger will cause people to stop and think, and can ultimately change their views and values.

I'm excited. We are apart of an awesome group of people, with an awesome group of people leading us. This post was a long way of saying I'm excited about what we are doing, and what we are capable of doing. Lets keep it up.