Carolinian Canada Members & Friends Tour / Annual General Meeting 2019
Tuesday, June 25 / Stoneridge Inn, London, Ontario
11:00am—4:00pm
Download the Full Agenda Package
The Agenda Package Includes:
Feature Speakers
Land Acknowledgement
Schedule
AGM Agenda
AGM 2018 Meeting Minutes
Election Slate
Connect, explore & tour green ideas for a healthy economy, environment & culture with Carolinian Canada. How can we efficiently invest in healthy, climate-smart landscapes as a path to a green future? How can we build leadership together across sectors for a resilient ecoregion? Join the leaders on the ground growing healthy landscapes. Join the discussion.
Feature Speakers
Lina Bowden & Andre Vashist, VERGE Capital
Tours featuring Landowner Leaders:
Chippewas of the Thames First Nation
The Living Centre, Eco-Spiritual Educational Sanctuary
Talk - Tours - Brunch - AGM – Elections – Big Picture update
All Welcome $50 - FREE for members & friend. - Join Now
Schedule
11:00am—11:30am
11:30am—12:00pm
Annual General Business Meeting
See Business Agenda
Annual Report
Carolinian Canada Director Elections
12:00pm
Investing in Biodiversity for a Green Future
Lina Bowden and Andre Vashist, VERGE Capital
Indigenous and environmental sectors have been underestimated and overlooked in our capital markets. VERGE Capital will share how we plan to complement, accelerate and amplify the conservation sector's impact in Southwestern Ontario through innovative finance partnerships. Lina Bowden, FCPA, FCMA, MA is the catalyst behind VERGE Capital, a community-led collaborative that creates local investment for local impact in London and Southwestern Ontario. André Vashist is a serial social entrepreneur passionate about inclusive, sustainable and resilient communities. As Director of Social Innovation at Pillar Nonprofit Network, he supports the team managing initiatives that facilitate complex collaborations between government, academic, business, finance and nonprofit sectors, such as: Libro Social Enterprise Incubator, VERGE Capital and CityStudio London.
12:45pm
Health Break
1:10pm
Tour Departure
Tour includes uneven and wet ground – dress for weather – bring water, tick and bug protection
At each site, the tour may be split into groups.
1:30pm—2:30pm
Chippewas of the Thames First Nation
320 Chippewa Rd, Muncey ON, N0L 1Y0
The Chippewas of the Thames First Nations is a community supporting hundreds of acres of wildlife habitat, consisting of mature woodlands including wet woods and swamps, open savannas. Several species of rare wildlife and plants find their home here. We will visit a significant prairie and riparian habitat along the relatively shallow Antler River (Thames) which snakes through the community. http://www.cottfn.com/
SAVE: Saving nature as the backbone for healthy communities & planning for 7 generations
How do ancient local ecosystems and natural capital hold the key to a green future – for environment, community and economy? This community is a critical leader for protecting biodiversity and Mother Earth, as well as, working with Carolinian Canada on a Healthy Landscape Strategy for habitat investment with many community partners. On site, we will explore how communities can work together for healthy landscapes.
ALUS Middlesex is a non-profit, farmer-delivered organisation established in 2017. ALUS Middlesex works alongside local farmers to establish ecological projects. In essence, we are taking environmentally sensitive, marginal lands out of agricultural production and appointing them to the production of cleaner air, cleaner water, increased wildlife habitat and other ecosystem services. This tour will visit a future ALUS site, where a 30-foot tall grass prairie riparian buffer is to be planted along the Thames River that will help filter water, reduce erosion, sequester carbon, and provide wildlife habitat for species at risk. https://alus.ca/
STEWARD: Stewarding productive landscapes & improving sustainable landowner benefits
How is nature good for your bottom line? With ALUS we will discuss innovative ways to grow local to protect productivity; improve climate resiliency; save water; and scale-up healthy habitat.
3:00pm—4:00pm
The Living Centre
The Living Centre is a small business operated by Lorenna and Shantree Kacera, leading the way in combining the principles of permaculture with high quality ecological restoration. They protect a 25 ac mature Black Cherry woodland. This eco-spiritual educational sanctuary promotes biodiversity best practices through events, mentorship, demonstration, research and low impact buildings including an earthship. https://www.thelivingcentre.com/
SEED: Seeding a native plant EcoTrail & exploring innovative ways to generate revenue
How can we cultivate a green economy with native plants? We will explore the early stages of converting 25 acres to climate-smart natural landscapes including wetland, woodland, wet meadow and tallgrass prairie. They will demonstrate how they are transforming permaculture, researching and integrating native plants into extensive gardens for beauty, wildlife, sustainable food, foraging and ceremony. We will share and explore ideas about how healthy landscapes are economically sustainable.