Live More Lightly - . . . saving our environment one small action at a time

Home

Welcome to the Live More Lightly Project

Thank you for visiting my site. My name is Victoria and I am deeply concerned about the future of our environment.

The majority of people in the Western world now realize there is a problem — but few feel empowered to take action. I believe that there are many small, easy actions that each individual can do to “Live More Lightly”.

After many years of research and changing my lifestyle to minimize my own impact on planetary resources as much as possible, the idea of writing a song to encourage others to take action resulted in the Live More Lightly Project.

The “Live More Lightly Project” is designed to encourage and assist others in making these small changes that can make such a huge difference in our future survival.

Live More Lightly -workshp-info

Accepting Donations

I have been busy creating a new Live More Lightly site and trying to set up more workshops. Developing these types of programs takes time, so I must learn not to be so impatient.

The latest progress I have made is to attempt to help fund my environmental effort in the traditional open source way — by asking for donations. I have set up a PayPal account and this little button below will appear on my new site sidebar. I am placing it here to make sure it works!

Farewell to ManDido Master Drummer

I was singing Kpan Logo yesterday while preparing a meal and thinking about my friend and mentor, ManDido. I could hear him singing the call in my mind, “Kpaaa-an Logo” and I thought about the amount of things he taught me about West African drumming and life.

tsmilestatu5

On Sunday, July 26th, starting at 3pm there will be a drum circle in his honour at Spanish Banks and there, his ashes will find a resting place. All are welcome to bring a drum and join the gathering.

May there always be a drum circle at Spanish Banks to carry on the tradition that was started by ManDido. I hear that the one he started in Montreal is still going strong, although Baba Dido has not been leading for decades. I hope that here too, his legacy will continue and Vancouver will always know the sound of the djembe, sogo and jun-jun drums that he brought to us.

Live More Lightly on WOOLOO

I have just entered a competition to present my Live More Lightly Workshop in Copenhagen as part of the cultural activities surrounding the United Nations (UN) Conference for Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 9th to 18th, 2009.

Check out my site on WOOLOO

Call for Proposals
Wooloo.org
(Berlin )

Following the great success of Woolo.org’s contemporary art festival in Berlin in 2008, we are proud to present NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN 2099 (yes, 2099).

NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN 2099 will take place as official part of the cultural program for the United Nations (UN) Conference for Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 9th to 18th, 2009.

To challenge the discourse surrounding our future co-existence on this planet – while simultaneously questioning the forms of governance being produced by the UN’s nation-based power structure – NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN has adopted the general theme of “2099”.

The festival curators invites artists to submit proposals for products, life styles and everyday interventions, as they could look and function in the year 2099.

GO TO www.wooloo.org to read more and submit a proposal.

Website: http://www.wooloo.org

It would be very exciting to present a workshop in Copenhagen. We really need to adopt a greener lifestyle and I provide simple ways to do that. Many people are afraid environmentally friendly living is expensive, but some of these actions save money. Always good in these difficult times.

I am currently looking at new templates and redesigning the Live More Lightly site to be more user friendly and offer more features than just a blog. WordPress is very powerful and I am just learning how to use some of the more advanced features.

There have been some developments in my artistic practice and I invite you to check out my other site Sound+Light+Motion on www.vix.ca.

Life and Times

I want to dedicate this site exclusively to the Live More Lightly Project, but many other projects, memorials to mentors and other life events sometimes find their way on to these pages. To increase the focus of the site, I am currently re-building it with a new theme and better navigation and I am building a more general purpose site for everything else. My new multi-media site , Sound+Light+Motion will contain all of the technical details of my computer/technology/opensource project development. It is still in the setting up stage, but I hope that I will be able to provide some interesting content.

Look for the new version of Live More Lightly soon.

Joining The Wiser Earth Network

we_logo_larger_tagline It is really important for me to try to connect to a larger community to try to get help with my project. I know that I will need to build support before I can get recognition and funding to enable me to encourage individuals to “Live More Lightly”. Today, I posted my solution, The Live More Lightly Project on Wiser Earth, a networking and community site. You can vote on the project and make a comment.

I was inspired by their tagline, “Connecting You to Communities of Action”, so I developed a more modest motto, “Changing the World One Small Action at a Time.” I don’t think it’s perfect yet, but it’s a start.

I have observed many individuals who are very successful in promoting their projects and it seems that joining networks and having lots of ratings and comments really helps. I continue to be inspired by Diane McEachern of Big Green Purse as she starts a women’s business initiative, Big Green Breakthrough. She is an author that has built on her success to make a real difference to the environment by offering a list of green products and rating claims of “earth friendly” and “natural”.

As I am looking for more work right now, I am going to try the Bright Green Talent site to try to obtain enough contract employment to support my project and myself with environmentally friendly work. Due to the downturn in the economy and the fact that I have not received any funding, I have had to reconsider my idea of riding my motorcycle across Canada. I still might be able to achieve this goal, but I really need to establish some financial stability before I can bring my workshop to the people.

Live More Lightly_Green 365@VCC

I had so much fun doing the Live More Lightly Workshop at Vancouver Community College! Many thanks to staff and student assistants who were very supportive. I was able to give away a handout of an excerpt from my upcoming book, the “Live More Lightly Songbook and Workshop Guide”. The book contains a chapter giving helpful suggestions that are easy to integrate into our lives. The “Many Small Things That We Each Can Do” handout was very popular and many were given away. At least two teachers want to use it as resource material for their class.

The photo below is of student helpers, Ting Ting (left, holding poster) and Yushu (right, holding handout).

Both Yushu and Ting Ting Enjoyed the song and helped me to find participants. My Hitachi video camcorder is working flawlessly now and I have the cable to download the video into my computer. It will take a bit of time to edit, but I will post some video very soon. I was lucky enough to buy a really good used tripod so I could set up the camera and use the remote. This is not the best way to do a video, but I hope to have enough good footage to make a short clip for the blog.

The photos of me were taken by a friend of mine with my camera. I will ask him if he wants to be credited, but I thank him for coming down and taking some great images of the event. I took the rest of the photos and I have been learning a lot about photography that I will share in future posts.

This is a photo of me choosing a participant to make their pledge. For more information about the workshop and the multi-media book please click on the links.

To invite Victoria to do a workshop with your organization please e-mail info(at)livemorelightly.com – just put in @ instead of (at)

Enjoy the photo gallery or read more about the event by clicking below. I am using the NExtGen Gallery plug-in and there seems to be some problems with the slideshow not functioning properly. Try clicking on an image and holding the left mouse button down.

The Vancouver Community College Student Union organized a “Water Taste Test” that was very popular. The idea was to find out if people could tell the difference between bottled water and tap water.

The goal was to discourage bottled water use. They attempted to prove that tap water was drinkable and free compared to bottled water, which is not much different and costs money. They cited statistics of a high percentage of water bottles being sent to landfills because they do not require a deposit. This fit in very well with the Live More Lightly pledge to bring a container for your drink – coffee or water.

There were many other activities and exhibits and many of the other exhibitors participated in the song.

Live More Lightly at Vancouver Community College

Vancouver Community College is having a celebration and I have been invited to present my workshop as part of the activities for students.

The theme of the Sustainability Fair, “Green 365 @VCC” fits in perfectly with the idea that we can live more lightly. I will be handing out my sheets with 50 things that “we each can do” on April 28th at the Broadway Campus (aka King Edward Campus) 1155 East Broadway and on April 29th at the Downtown Campus, 250 West Pender Street. Contact info and map here. Song performances will occur at noon and 12:45pm, so participants are welcome to come down and sing!

I am really excited about this opportunity and hope that many of the students will get involved.

Jack Velker Sunday Soul Service Memorial

I took this photo of Jack Velker at ManDido’s memorial service in January. At the time, it seemed like an unusual thing to do, but I wanted to remember all my friends that were there remembering ManDido. I didn’t have the courage to take photos of everyone, just the people I knew well. Now I am really glad I did because Jack has passed away.

I met Jack at the Sunday Soul Service at the Cottage Bistro at 4468 Main St. Sometimes they let me sit in and do my songs, and I was always happy to sit and listen to the house band. Ross Barrett, saxophonist and flute player, who was also at ManDido’s memorial, is pictured below. He was Jack’s partner in presenting the Soul Service each Sunday for the devotees of the Isis Cult. The Cult will be meeting in full force this Sunday to remember Jack (Facebook event here).

I always enjoyed going down and sitting in at the Cottage with the band, as the ranks of players swelled off the stage and on to the floor. Sometimes there were rows of people playing as Jack conducted chorus after chorus through “Little Liza Jane”.

When Jack strapped on his bandoneon, the “stomach Steinway”, as he fondly called it, Ross’s deep love for Latin music could really shine out.

The band was in fine form last Sunday and this Sunday will be a more official memorial. I don’t know if I will play, but I will be happy to listen and take photos.

Earth Day is coming up

Earth Day is an international celebration of the environmental movement. I am currently seeking a venue to do my Live More Lightly Workshop and will post the info here when it is finalized.

Last year I went with my daughter, Lung and another friend of theirs to the celebration at Jericho Beach. It is the largest one in Vancouver, put on by Evergreen a group that I know because of their wonderful work in renovating school grounds to have more plants and trees. This will be their 9th Annual event in Jericho Park where they plan to plant trees and other plants and host a celebration from 11am – 4pm on Saturday, April 18, 2009.