It’s a worry! I’ve explained before that community engagement – especially with sustainability – is not an easy task. Many people argue that it is problematic and can actually hurt those it most intends to benefit. So let’s just have a quick look at some of the major criticisms. I’d love… Continue reading Criticisms of community engagement
Category: Wendy’s Blog
Wendy Sarkissian’s blog in sarkissian.com.au website.
Engagement without Borders, Melbourne, 2012
I was delighted to assist IAP2 with this forthcoming event at Abbotsford Convent on the 29th May in Melbourne. Download the PDF of the program here: Engagement Without Borders _outline program Personal, organisational, cultural, demographic or geographic; engaging with the full spectrum of our communities can be a significant challenge. … Continue reading Engagement without Borders, Melbourne, 2012
Helping Sally at dinner: what to do at the dinner table when sustainability comes up?
Old friends having dinner and reminiscing in the comfort of Sally’s spacious home. We’re talking about the environmental crisis facing the Earth, and my concerns about flying across the Pacific Ocean from Australia for my teaching job in Vancouver. I’m certainly worried about the environmental impacts of all that travel and yet I really want… Continue reading Helping Sally at dinner: what to do at the dinner table when sustainability comes up?
Officeworks and Reflex Paper: “I have to pay my mortgage and feed my dogs”
September 12, 2011 – 5:34 pm Officeworks Lismore: a Bulletin On Saturday I drove 72 kms. round-trip to my local Officeworks store in Lismore, NSW in the vain hope that they might have stopped stocking Reflex paper. I signed the pledge and the petition (with 11,000 others!) months ago and so far… Continue reading Officeworks and Reflex Paper: “I have to pay my mortgage and feed my dogs”
Local Wisdom about Apartment Storage
When I lived in Vancouver in 2007, teaching and managing a housing research project at the University of British Columbia, I had several interesting accommodation experiences. The first one was terrible: a chronically ill middle-aged couple with a dog who was dying of cancer. They slept with the dog and spent all day… Continue reading Local Wisdom about Apartment Storage
Funeral for Ross Kevin Taylor
It was standing room only in Adelaide Town Hall on Thursday morning August 18th when over 1100 people packed the historic concert hall to pay tribute to beloved landscape architect, Kevin Ross Taylor. The grand Victorian architecture and soaring ceilings of the most… Continue reading Funeral for Ross Kevin Taylor
Tribute to Kevin Taylor from David Yencken
Kevin Taylor Kevin Taylor came to work for Merchant Builders (a housing company that Johnny Ridge and I had started) when he was a young man. It was his first job. He came with a strong personal recommendation from Wendy Sarkissian (then lecturing in Adelaide) who had taught him. She… Continue reading Tribute to Kevin Taylor from David Yencken
Kevin Taylor: Tributes and Funeral
A great, humble and exceptionally beautiful man has died. On Sunday morning, 7th August, Kevin Taylor, Principal of Taylor Cullity Lethlean, Landscape Architects, Designers and community consultation specialists, Adelaide and Melbourne, was killed instantly in a vehicle crash in Darwin. He was 57. His passing is mourned by many, many friends all… Continue reading Kevin Taylor: Tributes and Funeral
Silencing Dissent: charity begins at home
April 29, 2011 – 4:07 pm In an eco-village, there is more to life than managing weeds and water quality in the dams. What we have learned about social reform and social change in Western countries over many decades is that burning books and silencing dissent are very dangerous practices. What is my dissenting… Continue reading Silencing Dissent: charity begins at home
Why bother with community engagement, anyway?
April 11, 2010 – 9:43 pm In the past couple of weeks I have been confronted by many aspects of the community engagement debate. Angry residents questioning my integrity as I try to help them with a local environmental problem I’d say qualifies as a “wicked problem” in their neighbourhood. Then I experience… Continue reading Why bother with community engagement, anyway?