The Alberta Land Use Framework, developed in this decade through broad public consultation, is an example of a provincial policy document that reflects the principles of sustainability.
In many ways, the Cochrane Sustainability Plan reflects the same sustainability principles. In the Alberta Land Use Framework, the province captured the three desired outcomes of Albertans for managing land use activities. These desired outcomes apply in Cochrane as well as everywhere else: we desire a healthy economy supported by our land and natural resources, healthy ecosystems and environment, and people-friendly communities with ample recreational and cultural opportunities. How we achieve these outcomes is where the rubber hits the road.
To ensure that all three desired outcomes are achievable at the same time requires balancing of objectives and trade-offs among and between us and our competing claims to our land, air, water and non-human life forms. It requires each of us to be conscious and aware of what we are asking for with respect to community and to know when we have enough.
The Cochrane Sustainability Plan encourages each of us to engage in planning for a sustainable future where we can have a healthy local economy supported by our local land and natural resources, where our culture is cherished and supported by a well informed society who care not only about things that can be acquired today, but also about the natural world that supports us all and what it will be like in the future.
If we truly care about the land, the water, the air and biodiversity, we need to show it.
These components of the natural world are necessary for achieving all our other goals. Without water to drink and air to breathe, culture is meaningless. Without food produced on the land we starve away. Without life support systems, we cannot have the health and energy necessary to create new technology or design products that enhance our quality of life.
In Cochrane, like elsewhere in Alberta, it is too easy to take the air, land, water and other living things for granted.
These resources are the foundation of all our wealth, our buildings, our local economy and everything else. For one day, I challenge you readers to be conscious of the food you eat, the water you drink, the air you breathe, the plants and animals that you see around you.
Imagine if this were the last morsel of food available to eat, the last glass of water, or last breathe of air. Would you savour it? Gulp it? Would you share it? Would you save it? Being a sustainable citizen means that you might at least think about your options.
I encourage all people in Cochrane to take part in the “water conversations” that the province is hosting throughout Alberta.
These are opportunities for people to think about options with respect to water use in the province: to consider what value we put on water for industry, water for drinking, and water to sustain the aquatic ecosystem itself so there will be water available for future generations.
According to the Cochrane Sustainability Plan, we treat water as a precious resource. I am hoping to bring a water conversation to Cochrane on April 9 and if you are interested in being involved stay tuned.
This will be Cochrane’s opportunity to speak directly to provincial officials about how we think about water and how we value it.
What would you tell them?
