Part 3 – Compelling Measures

[Editor’s Note: as written twice – once here and once here – before, I am embarking on the humble mission of creating Vancouver’s most sustainable balcony. I’ve written a vision and conducted a SWOT analysis of my plan and am now moving on to a free-flowing brainstorm that will create a list of solutions and measures to help move this project forward].

This will be a simple post. In order to create the most sustainable balcony in Vancouver, I will need to answer the following question:

What do we need to reach a successful outcome?

• 100% shared-Bornk! Vision.
• Buy-in from the Strata Council (if not for the entire project, at least for the things that we can’t hide on the balcony).
• The mental and physical horsepower of Geoff Horn (gardener, builder, adventurer).
• Spatial audit and floor plan created by Stewart Burgess (local Architect-in-Training, DIY Living Enthusiast, and Founder of S||A Thinking).
• Locally sourced patio chairs and a table, preferably from pine-beetle-infested wood or wood from the waste-stream.
• Several native (and delicious non-native) species of plants (ie. cedar hedges, heirloom tomatoes, herbs, squash, beans).
• A barbecue that lives-up to all or most of the following qualities:
  • Excellent at cooking food
  • Solar and/or rain powered
  • Second-hand
  • Cost-efficient
  • “Cool” looking
• Yearly balcony-grown food supply that starts with 5% (2012) and reaches at 30% (2015).
• Two chickens.
• The space is beautiful in myriad ways as well as a functional space for cooking, entertaining, reading, gardening, harvesting, and sleeping when it gets really hot.
• From the inside, the balcony also looks beautiful – it’s not a place devoid of aesthetics and purely a functional food-providing space.
• Composting facility for the balcony – like this one!
• People who visit the balcony between the summer of 2011 and the summer of 2012 will be given a brief exit survey that will probably include three of the following questions:
  • What are were your three favourite things about your visit today?
  • How many balconies/decks have you visited in your time on this planet?
  • What does “sustainability” mean to you?
  • Of the balconies you visited, where would you rank this one in terms of “sustainability”? For example, is it “first” or “second” overall?
  • What are your age, gender and occupation?

Alright. Good brainstorm. I’ll see you on the balcony!