My how time flies; it seems that only yesterday I put aside my career as wildlife biologist and began to develop a comprehensive program of cooperation and education for positive change. That is to develop a society aware of and concerned about the world and with the knowledge, skills and commitment to work together to solve our current problems and prevent new ones.

Without a rich uncle or patron I rode the rails, stayed with friends and crashed conference buffets as I searched for like-minded people and organizations.  I learned a lot about human nature, the life of a travelling salesman and the importance of a positive approach, even in the face of scepticism or opposition.  One works to make the world a better place because that’s the kind of person you want to be not because anyone promised you easy success.

As Pete Seeger once told a reporter who asked him if he was wasting his time on lost causes, “I don’t know if they are lost causes or not and neither do you. What I do know is that’s where people with good hearts and minds hang out and that’s where I want to be too. “

“Over the past 25 years I have had the privilege of working with some outstanding people and organizations too numerous to mention in this short blog.”  They all deserve a big thank you as exclaimed on our website.

However, I want to specifically thank our Chairperson Robert Bateman whose early confidence and personal integrity made a huge difference getting started as did the support of Robert Franklin and Ontario Hydro, Allan Taylor and the Royal Bank as well as the Bank of Montreal, GE Canada, Hazel Gillespie and Petro-Canada, Bell Canada, The Co-operators, CIDA and IDRC.

Of course, our success would not have been possible without dedicated staff and Directors to whom I am grateful for their hard work, creativity and support.   Without them we could not have produced 25 innovative publications and numerous pioneering programs and projects to help educators, community leaders, businesses, government, schools, families and concerned people like you to make a difference in Canada and 35 other countries with whom we have worked.   It’s quite a track record for an independent Canadian “boutique” determined to be catalytic rather than institutional in its approach.

As we began our journey many said we were naïve to try to work with business and government and there wasn’t enough time for education to work.  My how things have changed over 25 years!

As I look forward I see reasons for hope and pessimism.  The issues are larger, more complicated and more threatening as the world confronts climate change, and the decline of virtually every ecosystem and life support.  Too many governments, businesses and others still see the environment as a marketing opportunity or a cost of doing business. Too many people put their aluminium can in the recycling box before they drive their SUV for donuts or ice-cream.  That is if they are one of the world’s lucky ones,  wallowing in far more than their fair share as billions of others live on a few dollars a  week and without adequate food, shelter or  education.

However, a new generation is rising, informed and determined to create a world of peace, social justice and environmental stewardship. If we truly want a sustainable future we need to give hope to our young people and prepare the world’s citizens to work together to respond to changing environmental, social, and economic realities. We possess the means to create a world where every man, woman and child can live free of hunger and discrimination and obtain the health, education and opportunity to reach their potential while ensuring that human development does not squeeze other life towards extinction. We just need to find the compassion, creativity and foresight to make it happen.

Michael Bloomfield

Founder and Executive Director

Harmony Foundation of Canada

November 19, 2010

We created three blogs on our website. The China blog offers a package of short essays on the Canada-China relationship and how it can and should be improved to achieve our economic goals while acting on core Canadian principles of good governance, environmental stewardship and social justice. It also provides commentary on current events as they happen.

The Bloom blog offers insights into 21^st century issues including leadership, corporate social responsibility and our relations with and responsibilities to other people, other species and future generations. It also provides commentary on current events as they happen.

Finally, the Harmony blog will update friends and followers on our plans, activities and accomplishments.

So let’s do that! We:

1. Created and distributed (with support of RBC Foundation) Chinese eco-tips with message from   Dashan (CDN  Mark Rowswell) China’s best known foreigner,
   1. distribution began at Shanghai World Expo
2. Created a series of fact sheets for community education –water, waste, energy, transportation, carbon  reduction, composting  with more to follow
3. Completed a pilot project looking at Corporate Social Responsibility in China 
4. Completed a review of Canada’s Overseas Development Assistance policies and practices  
5. Finished simplified Community Action Workshop Manual English and Chinese with accompanying Trainer’s handbook and participants workbook
6. Connected Canadian Community Foundations with Effort to Establish same in China 
7. Launched series of carbon reduction community projects in Beijing neighbourhoods with local residents and leaders and our partners at Shining Stone Community Action
8. Supported 2010 International Youth Summit on Environment and Climate Change (IYSECC) and sponsored student regional survey on Energy and Climate Change
9. Completed plans for project to research, write and publish Making the Case for Sustainable Community Development in China: Lessons Learned Through A Cooperative Approach for Creating Sustainable and More Inclusive Communities
10.  Neared completion of electronic-presentation entitled Cultivating Healthy Food and Gardens for a Sustainable Future
11. And more.

Thanks to Bu Lanlin for her leadership on the China project and Chen Hulu for her good work on China community training and projects.

 Thanks to Johnny Wu, Mike Vasilev and Anne-Mette Hermensen for great summer work.

Visit our website at harmonyfdn.ca  to read thought-provoking blogs and find more details on our ambitious work.

Unfortunately, many inspiring stories and others that should deeply worry us about the kind of world we will live in and that future generations will inherit are overwhelmed by the noise and nonsense of popular culture. Celebrity worship and the latest techno-fads demand our attention as we all too often ignore important issues like the dangerous decline of insects essential to pollinate our food or ocean plankton which produce half of our oxygen supply.

Education and democracy are neglected as billions are diverted to armed conflicts and those who benefit from them. Volunteerism and voting are declining as more and more people ignore our responsibilities to each other.

The rich and powerful exploit others and most everyone ignores the pain and suffering we cause to other species. And, in our time of great need for principled leadership, today’s leaders do little more than manage problems and pass them on to the next “guy as they wallow in their sense of entitlement, dodging, dissembling, hedging, fudging, pretending, prevaricating and generally doing anything in their power to divert public attention.

In blogs to follow, we will share with you news of positive developments worthy of your support and others that require action lest we and our children and all life on earth choke and die on our own reckless pursuit of self-indulgence. We will write about education, democracy, responsibility and leadership and how they are inextricably linked, about the role of education in teaching morality and citizenship and the performance of our schools and universities, about our relationship with other life and the business of exploitation.

Yes there is much fatigue after so many disappointments from so many insincere leaders more interested in power and wealth than the public good. However, each of us bears some responsibility for Poor leadership and bad public policy if we sit on the sidelines as the world passes us by.

So most of all we write these blogs in the hope to inspire and inform so that you will get involved. It’s a fool’s work to expect the dinosaurs to save us from extinction.