At the conference I attended in Kelowna last week, a short talk about our relationship with the land and our legacy for future generations made a big impact.

Welcome to the 111^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a simple living challenge for the week. Along with thoughts on our legacy for future generations, this week’s edition looks at the importance of climate change conversations, SunDay, electric ferries, and the joy of thrifting.

On my mind this week: What will be our legacy for future generations?

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to British Columbia to speak about my retirement coaching work at a conference of Indigenous employers from across Western Canada.

In recent years, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about Indigenous culture through courses and reading fiction and non-fiction works by Indigenous authors. It’s sad and frustrating that arrogant European settlers thought their ways were better than those of the Indigenous peoples who had inhabited our lands for thousands of years. If we open our minds, there is much we can learn from the intentional and sustainable way of life of our Indigenous peoples. 

The conference opened with a short talk by Pamela Barnes of the Syilx Okanagan Nation. Barnes is a Syilx knowledge keeper and adjunct professor in the nursing department at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus. She didn’t speak for long, but her words had a big impact.

Preserving the land for future generations

We’ve become accustomed to hearing land acknowledgements at many events, but Barnes spoke about the importance of the land in Indigenous culture. Indigenous peoples believe we don’t own land, but instead we borrow it from future generations.

We hear about pride of ownership, but Barnes suggested borrowing is more powerful than owning. Using the simple example of the beaded necklace she was wearing, she reminded us that when we own something, we can do whatever we want with it. We can care for it, or we can carelessly break it and throw it away with few or no consequences.

On the other hand, when we borrow something and know we need to return it, we’re more likely to treat it with care so we can give it back in the same condition we received it.

Ultimately, Barnes’ message was that we all have a responsibility to consider our legacy for future generations, and to leave things better than we found them. That’s something I’ve always believed in all areas of life. It’s also a sad reminder that, if we continue on our current path, we are not leaving the world in a better place than we found it.

We can and must do better for future generations.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• After the conference in Kelowna, we stayed in BC for a few days to visit our daughter Laura and our grand-kitty Luma. It was so nice to see them both.
• On Tuesday, we visited Wells Gray Provincial Park, where we saw some awe-inspring waterfalls and natural beauty. And we got a terrific view of a beautiful black bear in a tree!
• The lilac bushes and other blossoms in British Columbia were spectacular—some of the most amazing I’ve ever seen.

It was hard to come back to grey and foggy Ontario after that taste of spring weather. Here are some pictures of our time in British Columbia. It is such a beautiful place—especially for nature lovers.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Can we talk? The politics of climate change

A global study of 130,000 people in 125 countries revealed that 89% want more political action to fight climate change. Yet, most of them stay silent because they think they’re in the minority.

Another study revealed that only 35% of Americans talk about climate change, even occasionally.

So let’s talk about climate change and make a difference in our world!

(Source: Katharine Hayhoe on Substack)

September 21 is SunDay

Sunday September 21 is the fall equinox. It’s also SunDay—a day of action to celebrate solar and wind power. SunDay is led by a coalition of grassroots organizations, clean energy experts, solar industry and worker organizations, schools, farmers, and creative partners.

Visit https://sunday.earth/ to learn how you can get involved.

Could electric ferries be the way of the future?

In a promising development, a Spanish ferry company will establish the world’s first completely electric ferry service between Spain and Morocco in 2027.

The two custom-built electric ferries will carry 804 passengers and 225 vehicles along the 18-mile journey across the Strait of Gibraltar between Tarifa, Spain and Tangier, Morocco.

(Source: Happy Eco News)

This week’s simple living challenge – Discover the joy of thrifting

Simplifying life is a big part of living more intentionally. With that in mind, I kicked off the year with 52 ways to simplify your life this year, including a downloadable checklist of weekly tasks.

This week’s challenge is to shun fast fashion and big box stores and embrace the joy of thrifting instead. Learn more about the benefits of thrifting at 6 great reasons to love thrift shops.

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I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.