A conversation with Shirley Eade, founding member of the Craik Sustainable Living Project (CSLP) and organizer of the annual Solar Fair. Shirley tells us why Craik became a beacon of hope for environmentalists while pursuing a sustainable development path.

0:00 - 1:04 Intro

1:05 - 5:11 arriving at Shirley and Austin Eades. Austin speaks about his tree planting projects.

5:12 - 9:23 Why Craik? "...the right people at the right place at the right time..."

9:24 - 10:37 People have to admit that it's good, but what is it (eco-development) good for?

10:38 - 12:57 "... about 2001 the idea came up... things happened fast... can't afford to study things to death. That's what I like about a little town, if you got a good idea, do it!"

12:58 - 16:22 "... I have to give credit to council. We didn't know what an eco-village was... 'let's put up a demonstration building'".

16:23 - 23:13 "...I can go to Craik (for the Solar Fair) or I can take a workshop... I'd like to see CSLP figure out what that generates in a community."

23:14 - 25:00 Has the CSLP accomplished everything it set out to do? "I think we did a great job considering how many people we had to do those things."

25:01 - 29:00 "I've got lots of great ideas for the next five years..."

29:01 - 32:53 I'm curious about the pace of change? "The change is happening and... all of a sudden you're there. ... education is the answer."

32:54 - 38:05 Solar Fair, tell me about that and why you were motivated to put it together. "There was no place people could go and look at photovoltaics, wind generator, biological water system and have someone come in and talk about going off-grid. Why doesn't Craik do that? We got the (Eco) centre... the reputation."

38:06 - 44:15 Are you exited about Solar Fair 2009? "...we're adding the farmers market which I'm really excited about... we're gonna offer some tours* this year"

*Pelican Eco-Tours 1-306-734-7777

44:16 - 46:19 "...before someone else puts one (farmer's market up) why don't we be first?

46:20 - 48:43 "How do you stay motivated?”... new ideas... new people help."

48:44 - 52:36 What can we do next? "maybe people have some new ideas, something we haven't thought about... I'd like to see more interaction with the school."

53:37 - 54:29 wrap up

54:30 - 55:06 Extro