Dear Saanich South,
Update: there will be a Memorial Service for Dick on Saturday October 13th, at 2pm at the Unitarian Church, 5575 West Saanich Road. All are welcome
Sad news: Richard “Dick” Bocking is gone. He died peacefully of old age on Sept 28, 2012. Many of us admired this long-time Saanich resident. He was kind and generous, creative and passionate – and a great
fighter for the environment.
To my mind one of his greatest achievements was “Sustainable
BC”. He was the key architect of this non-partisan policy document – adopted by the BC New
Democrats in 2007- which aimed to create a ecologically-focused paradigm shift in how we approach governmental
decision-making.
His commitment to the principles of sustainability is
exactly the change we need to see going forward. In his own words: “unless we
are able to make the environment sustainable, we will not have a future for our
children and grandchildren. Nothing else will be of importance if we don’t
address this crucial issue.”
Long before
climate change was a hot button issue he worked with leading climate change
scientists to create films about sustainability and global warming. He also
made films which focused on the performing arts. In fact more than two decades he
wrote, produced and directed documentary films for the CBC, and for television
networks in the U.S. and Europe.
Before his career in broadcasting, he served as a district
agriculturist in Alberta for seven years, and was embroiled in the debate
surrounding the effect of genetic engineering on food safety, the environment,
and the future of farming and control of the global food supply.
His book, Mighty
River: A Portrait of the Fraser, received the Roderick Haig-Brown Prize and
a certificate of merit by the B.C. Historical Federation. Mighty River celebrates the magnificence of the river that is
central to the life, economy and identity for British Columbia. In the book, the
Fraser provides a focus for analysis of the conflicts and choices that dominate
North America’s economic, social and environmental agendas.
Bocking’s first book, Canada’s Water - For Sale? dealt with the issue of water
export from Canada. He has contributed chapters and papers to several other
books and journals concerned with water resources.
To understand Sustainable BC
vision, you can watch this interesting 20 minute movie here: http://www.buildingsustainablebc.ca/movie
Lana Popham
MLA, Saanich South
