On January 18th, POLIS’ Laura Brandes and Shayla Auld led a workshop on “Decision-Making for a Sustainable Future” at Selkirk Montessori School, located on lək̓ʷəŋən territory in Victoria, B.C. Participants were all members of the school’s Sustainability Club.
Members of the Selkirk Montessori Sustainability Club
Laura and Shayla guided the group in an introductory dialogue by exploring the questions: What does sustainability mean? How can we achieve it as a collective? And who has a role to play in creating that change?
The students then began to look at the complexity of managing and governing water, discussing how water freely flows across human political borders. Shayla and Laura introduced how water allocation can involve several orders of decision-makers (Indigenous, local, provincial, and federal governments), a diversity of water users, and, of course, a finite amount of water to go around!
The group then worked on their acting skills as they participated in a hands-on, role-playing water allocation activity. Each student was given a role in their fictional community, including farmer, pulp mill operator, drinking water provider, and water bottler. And each community was given a bowl of shared water to represent the community’s river, its finite supply of source water.
Shayla and Laura acted as moderators, facilitating various real-life disruptions that affected the amount of water each community had access to. This included weather changes, unforeseen drought crises, and an introduction to the role of provincial legal orders. With each disruption, the students were encouraged to embody their assigned role and imagine how a community might agree or disagree on what types of water needs take priority, and how they might work together to ensure enough water all. Laura and Shalya also facilitated a brief discussion on water rights and licences in B.C.
The students had a lively discussion about future routes to take to avoid water depletion, encourage conservation, and, ultimately, build community.
In closing, the group reflected on the importance of water conservation, our interconnected relationships with water, and the many actions they want to commit to as a club and also on a personal level.
A selection of the group’s water sustainability commitments.
