Snow is falling, community is breathing -- by Chris Corrigan

BC coast seen from Bowen: photo D. Millar

Bowen Island is 20 square miles of rock lying two miles off the west coast of Canada. It is home to 3700 people, three mountains, two valleys, four lakes, about 15 beaches, two species of salmon, one village and me and my family.

Excerpts from Bowen Island Journal and Bowen Island Ourselves:

Light flurries as I leave the island for my last trip of the year. If you are worried about the road conditions, have a look at the Road Status Map, and update your section to gift information to your neighbours.

13 Dec 09 -- Last night a lovely community gathering at the Library, where 100 of us gathered to hold a candlelight vigil in support of the global call for a real deal on climate change. Caitlin organized the whole thing and she and Aine spoke. Aine talked about the need for world leaders, especially older ones, to make decisions with their grandchildren in mind so that they can tap into the perspective of the youth who are to inherit what we leave for them. The choir sang Dona Nobis Pacem and I helped the group in a rousing rendition of With my own two hands, the great Ben Harper song [click to listen - lyrics here]. We even added an improvised verse, being islanders:

We stand with Tuvalu
With our own two hands
They're an island too
With our own two hands
They're sinking into the blue
With our two hands, we support them with our own two hands.

Pacific Islanders unite!

How a small community organizes

(from the Bowen Island Ourselves online forum)

NYTimes 12 Sep -- Athens on the Net “crowdsourcing”: put citizens’ policy ideas on the Internet and allow them to vote on one another’s proposals. Bowen Island forum is created.

Sally Freeman 15 Oct -- posted a Great Bear Rainforest video.

22 Oct -- twitter to discuss Official Community Plan and later on, Transition Towns.

Paul Rickett 30 Nov -- ideas from Chris Alexander, A Pattern Language.

Richard Smith 3 Dec -- more people idling in the ferry line up this morning (10:30 ferry, you know who you are...). And I picked up garbage on Adams' Road.

Brenda McLuhan 6 dec -- new island group True Green urges managed growth, higher density.

Fitch Cady 9 Dec -- I think we can speculate on future waves of immigration to the island till the two or three cows (that actually enjoy rural living here) come home. Let’s get a nice big clearly color-coded map of what’s already grandfathered - occupied and unoccupied - up on the internet.

James Glave 19 Dec -- video of ferry lineup, requesting drivers to turn off motors.

Suzanne Schoegl 20 Dec -- a potential locum [replacement] MD is interested in working on Bowen from January until May. One of the hurdles is accommodation.

Chris Corrigan 2 Jan 2010 -- a half day Open Space conversation on "What does Green mean for Bowen?"

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See also Chris' Bowen pictures on flickr.com