Chris Buse Dalla Lana School of Public Health University of Toronto CPHA May 27, 2014 Toronto ON
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Transcript of Chris Buse Dalla Lana School of Public Health University of Toronto CPHA May 27, 2014 Toronto ON
Chris Buse Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of TorontoCPHA May 27, 2014 Toronto ON
The emergence of the transition movement in Canada: Implications for public health
Outline
• Emerging threats to health equity and public health practice in the 21st CE
• Transition Towns: A social movement preparing people to meet the challenge?
• Transition Emerging Study– Overview– Preliminary findings– Next Steps
Emerging Threats (to health equity)
Climate change
Ecosystem degradation
Widening socio-economic inequities
Resource depletion & energy insecurity
Implications for Public Health Practice
“Public health's role is to protect and promote health, prevent disease and reduce inequalities in health: Encouraging and supporting the transition to a sustainable, just and healthy
future is entirely consistent with this role.”
CPHA (2013) Global Change and Public Health: Addressing the Ecological Determinants of Health (Draft Report – August 9). Ottawa.
Integrated Healthy Settings Approach
Parkes et al. 2012
The Transition Town Movement: A Technology for Building Resilience
• Transition initiatives “are an emerging response: in essence, a powerful carbon reduction ‘technology’ and a new way of looking at responding to climate change and peak oil” (Hopkins 2008, p.1).
Goals of Transition Initiatives
Building Community Resilience
Transition to a low-carbon society
Reskilling
Emphasize connectedness
Re-localizing
production of basic needs
Resilience, Equity and the Development of Ecological Social Practices: Examining The Transition Town Movement in Canada
FUNDER: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), 2012-2015
RESEARCH TEAM: Blake Poland (PI)(UofT), Paul Antze (YorkU), Randy Haluza-Delay (KingsUCollege), Cheryl Teelucksingh (Ryerson), Chris Ling (RRU), Lenore Newman (UFV), André-Anne Parent (ULaval), Chris Buse (UofT), Rebecca Hasdell (UofT), Rivka Kushner (UofT)
MOVEMENT ADVISORY GROUP CHAIR: Michelle Colussi (CCCR)
www.transitionemergingstudy.ca
Research Goal: "To understand the Transition Town movement in Canada as an attempt to meet a series of looming environmental and economic challenges by forming more resilient, equitable and locally engaged ‘communities of practice’ that foster a new ‘culture of sustainability’ among participants."
Methods Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Document Analysis Web scan (N=88) Internal Documents Update Webscan
e-Surveys Transition Initiative Founders (N=47)
TT Participants (N=289)
In-depth interviews
Local TT Founders/Leaders
(N=20)
Community key informants, municipal
councillors (N=10)
Key informants on equity in transition
in UK, US, Brazil (N=6)
Dialogic Workshops
Regional workshops
National KT summit
Components of TES Methodology
Distribution of Canadian Transition Initiatives by Province/ Region, up to and including 2012 (N=60)
Descriptive Statistics for Canadian TIs (N=47)Selected Variables Categories CanadaTIs Identified Through Webscan 88TIs Participating in Survey 47 Initiatives Registered on TT Network 37 (79%)Average Age of TIs in years 2.9Number of Organizers 5 or less 15 (33%)
6 or more 31 (67%)Frequency of Meetings 1-2 per year 4 (9%)
1 per 2-4 months 7 (15%)1 per month 25 (53%)> 1 per month 6 (13%)
Frequency of Events No events 2 (4%)1-2 per year 5 (11%)1 per 2-4 months 10 (21%)1 per month 18 (38%)> 1 per month 9 (19%)
Perceived Local Political Climate Conservative 27 (58%)Progressive 18 (38%)
Perceived Impact of TI on Community3 Moderate 15 (32%)Weak 25 (53%)None 4 (8%)
Event Focus (N=4695)Economics and Livelihood;
5%Environmental Degradation & Remediation;
14%
Energy; 4%
Food; 32%
Health and Well-Being; 6%
Transport; 3%
Relationship Building; 16%
Building and Housing; 3%
Planning and Envisioning;
11%
Heart and Soul/Inner Tran-sition; 6%
Interest in health and well-being from a national survey of Transition participants (N=289)
Situating Health in Transition: Findings from a National Survey of Movement Participants (N=289)
• Relationship between: – Interest in health and food (Spearman’s = 0.281,
p<0.01– Interest in health and enviro degradation (Spearman’s
= 0.233 , p<0.01)– Health also associated with alternative transportation,
energy issues, inner transition, housing, planning• Longer lived in community, greater interest in
health (Spearman’s = 0.104, p<0.05)– Relationship not explained by age
Still a work in progress…• Lessons for public health include:– Reframing of environmental threats as opportunities for
community building and social connectedness– Emphasize transformative learning, connectedness, resilience– Emphasis on entire communities as settings for health
promotion
• How do sustainable practices scale up and out?– It is a global movement, but to what extent does change in one
neighbourhood influence change in a city?
• How can strong interests related to health be leveraged for social change?
Thanks!
To what extent have initiatives discussed diversity?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes, A lot
Yes, Some
No, but we should
No, there are other priorities
Economics and livelihood
2%
Education22%
Energy4%
Food20%
Inner Transition1%Health and Well-
being2%
Heart and Soul5%
The Arts15%
Transport2%
Social11%
Com-mittee meet -
ings10%
Climate Change7%
Building and Hous-ing1%
Activism1%
Distribution of Event Focus in Ontario (N=318), 2008-2012
workshops; book clubs; speakers; groups discussions; re-skilling;
conferences
garden share; seed and plant swaps; tree planting; community gardens; agriculture; food security; local food conference;
permaculture; farming
Events using arts to explore peak oil,
climate change, and transition; screens;
movie nights; films and discussion
Education 21%
Food 20 %
The Arts 15%