Saskatchewan Representative - Billy Patterson

Billy Patterson

Province: Saskatchewan
Bioregion/Biorégion: Prairie/Prairies
Contact Information/Coordonnées:
billypatterson@gmail.com
www.treesforourchildren.blogspot.com

Greetings, I am Billy Patterson, in my third year of transdisciplinary environmental studies at the University of Regina. I am also a student researcher of climate change for the Saskatchewan Regional  Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development [www.saskrce.ca]. And I am the new proud parent of a beautiful baby girl, someone worth fighting for, Eden Ann-Lynne.

I am passionate about speaking out against the destruction of  natural environments and biodiversity, as well as seeking and advocating viable alternatives to these un-sustainable (and unjust) practices. I work towards sustainable policy and institutionalizing inter-generational justice within my own community, eco-region (moist mixed grasslands) and campus. I am an active and founding member of the Environmental Action Network (at the UofR), as well as a board member for the Regina Public Interest Research Group and the Art's Student's Association. These roles have been and continue to be valuable in learning many co-operative, networking, and consensus-based decision-making skills. I also recently served on the UofR student's union board as the Part-time Student's Director, where I took an active role in re-starting the sustainability committee as co-chair. I also (with the URSU financial committee) helped write the Ethical Purchasing and Business Partner's policy, which serves as an outline for URSU staff to keep in practice with the existing URSU Sustainability Policy's principles of local, organic, and fair trade options.

As a concerned citizen and recent first-time parent, I enjoy working with youth and students on local/regional issues that affect them. Engaging and informing them on issues such as; climate change, uranium mining and the global nuclear system, tarsands, and other issues of intergenerational and environmental justice.

I have a dream of living with my family in a sustainable community and culture based on innovative and traditional local ecological knowledge and a respect for the sustainable limits of the ecosystems we co-inhabit . My current and future work with the Green Party's of Saskatchewan and Canada reflects these aspirations in a modern political dimension.