Waterbodies

Who's in Charge of False Creek? | Shelley Luce & Stephen Paetkau

False Creek, unlike most harbours around the world, has no single entity tasked with oversight and management. Instead, it has a tangle of overlapping jurisdiction between 22 government agencies. Today's anchor, Zaida Schneider, is joined by a pair of guests: one of whom was at the centre of one of the biggest success stories in urban marine restoration, and the other who has perhaps the deepest insight into the state of False Creek today — to discuss the most pressing issues facing False Creek, and how we can navigate them. Shelley Luce is currently the Campaigns Director of Sierra Club BC [https://sierraclub.bc.ca/our-staff-and-board/shelley-luce/], and was formerly the President and CEO of Heal the Bay [https://healthebay.org/]: an organization whose work continues to transform the ecology of the Santa Monica Bay near the city of Los Angeles. Stephen Paetkau is the co-owner and operator of Skookum Yacht Services [https://granvilleisland.com/directory/skookum-yacht-services], and due in part to his work retrieving derelict vessels, has clocked more time underwater in False Creek than anyone else.

Rising Tides | Angela Danyluk & Tom Lancaster

Sea level rise, combined with increasingly powerful storm surges, threatens catastrophic flooding to the homes and business along the shores of False Creek. Vancouver's world-famous seawall has already begun to crumble under the waves. The shoreline of False Creek today is, frankly, unprepared for the climate of tomorrow. The transformation of this city is certain, but we can do more than just endure it — we can be its co-creators. Today’s anchor, Mutuma, is sitting down with Angela Danyluk and Tom Lancaster to discuss the challenges and the opportunities of that transformation.  Tom Lancaster is the General Manager of Granville Island [https://granvilleisland.com/news/granville-island-welcomes-tom-lancaster-new-general-manager], one of the city’s most iconic locations, and one at particular risk of flooding. The diverse needs of Granville Island’s tenants are, in some ways, a microcosm of the entire city. Angela Danyluk is a Senior Sustainability Specialist at the City of Vancouver, the manager of Climate Adaptation & Equity, and was the project manager for the Sea2City Design Challenge [https://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/sea2city-design-challenge.aspx]: which, through community collaboration, produced a gorgeous vision for 4 key sites along False Creek: combining shoreline rewilding with urban development, and laying out a framework for how we can not just cope, but thrive with our future tides. In this episode, we’re diving into how facing climate change can make our city (and False Creek) better for everyone.

False Creek is ALIVE | Chris Harley & Colleen Kellogg

It's widely assumed that False Creek is so polluted that it is devoid of life. We’re here to say, in fact, no — False Creek is ALIVE! In this episode, anchor Matt Brown sits down with Chris Harley and Colleen Kellogg, to discuss the ways we can conceive of different levels of biodiversity, the features of False Creek (both physical and social) that affect it, the impacts of climate change, how False Creek could become a Living lab, and the 2022 BioBlitz: a community science survey that revealed over 500 different forms of life in False Creek — including some new to science! Chris Harley [https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/harleylab/] is a professor in the Zoology Department in the Institute for Oceans and Fisheries at UBC, and studies the impact of climate change on rocky coasts. He leads the Harley Lab, where he and his students investigate how climatic factors and biological relationships interact to create ecological patterns in time and space. Colleen Kellogg [https://hakai.org/] is a Research Scientist and Microbial Oceanographer with the Hakai Institute. Her research focuses on studying plankton communities and microbial ecology in coastal margins. Explore the 2022 False Creek BioBlitz on iNaturalist [https://inaturalist.ca/projects/false-creek-bioblitz-2022], and find the eDNA and other data on the Hakai Institute's GitHub [https://github.com/HakaiInstitute/False-Creek-Bioblitz-2022] — — — Learn more about the False Creek Friends Society, and get involved at https://falsecreekfriends.org/ Join our newsletter for updates and volunteer opportunities at https://falsecreekfriends.org/newsletter

False Creek Speaks | Kai Chan & Stepan Wood

Environmental personhood promises to enshrine natural entities (for instance, bodies of water) as legal persons, with their own rights and standing. It's a concept grounded in many Indigenous ways of relating to nature, and is popularly understood as a means to protect nature's interests under otherwise extractive or destructive economic and legal systems. But, in the absence of a deeper social and legal reimagining, is it enough? Today's anchor Mutuma brings us into conversation with Kai Chan and Stepan Wood, asking: if False Creek could speak, how would we hear it? Stepan Wood [https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/stepan-wood] is the Canada Research Chair in Law, Society and Sustainability, and Director of the Centre for Law and the Environment at the Allard School, UBC. He was recently awarded a Wall Fellowship for his efforts exploring how Indigenous and settler laws can work together to promote healthier relationships between humans and nature, and between settler and Indigenous societies. Kai Chan [https://ires.ubc.ca/kai-chan/] is the Canada Research Chair in Rewilding and Social-Ecological Transformation, and a Professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC, where he runs CHANS Lab (Connected Human-and-Natural Systems). He is also co-founder of CoSphere [https://www.cosphere.net/], a Community of Small-Planet Heroes, and is the host of his own podcast [https://www.cosphere.net/podcast] by the same name.

Food Sovereignty in False Creek | Leona Brown & Zaida Schneider

False Creek was once a place of abundant food, and we believe it can be once again. In this episode, we explore a big vision for False Creek's future — one that includes engaging educational opportunities, decolonization, and ultimately, the return of food sovereignty to these shores and waters. We also discuss the need for deep community democracy, and a brief history of how False Creek took the shape it is today. Leona Brown is a Gitxsan and Nisga’a mother of 3 children, of the Fireweed House and the Killerwhale Clan, an Indigenous Independent Cultural Facilitator, and a food sovereignty activist and advocate working with the Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation and the False Creek Friends Zaida Schneider is the president of the False Creek Friends Society, captain of the Seren Claer, an educator, and a retired TV journalist (where he covered national politics, technology, and social issues) — — — Learn more about the False Creek Friends Society, and get involved: https://falsecreekfriends.org/ Join our newsletter for updates and volunteer opportunities: https://falsecreekfriends.org/newsletter