After speaking to a couple of locals, taking a look at the local menus, and talking with our fellow travelers, we would like to briefly summarize our observations and conclusions about environmental sustainability in Reykjavik:
On Tuesday morning, our group took part in what may prove to be a creative, effective means of tackling the issue of homelessness in Victoria: Micro-housing. Mayor Lisa Helps facilitated a workshop on the subject, bringing together city planners, politicians, officials, and citizens to discuss pathways toward housing a large population of homeless people in our city. The city is drawing inspiration from grassroots organizations in Oregon, who are pav
May 12th, 2015: An inspirational meeting at the Capital Regional District (CRD) head office with City Councillor and CRD Board member Ben Isitt, City of Victoria senior planner Kristina Bouris, and CRD planners Nikki Elliott and Katie Pearson, on creating “walkable, talkable” cities in Greater Victoria.
This afternoon was spent with UVic staff member and fellow traveller Ken Josephson, who taught us the importance of community involvement in map making and the benefits it offers. He shared with us some of the important work of Green Maps, an eco-minded mapping organization that works with communities to share environmentally sound activities, food, culture and shops across the globe. Ken is an active member of this organization.
We are a group of 32 sustainably minded students, faculty and family from UVic's geography department spending 30 days travelling through countries of Northern Europe. Our journey will bring us to Iceland; Stockholm, Malmö & Lund in Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; Berlin and Hamburg in Germany and finally Amsterdam, The Netherlands.