Media Highlights
For media inquiries or to request a press kit, please
contact Jaime Kowal at 778-858-4865 or email info@jaimekowal.com
Studio 4 Interview: Watch
now (quicktime)
Recent radio interviews include: CBC's All Points West with
Jo-Ann Roberts, CKNW's The Bill Good Show with Christy Clark, C-FAX
Newsline with Joe Easingwood, CBC's The Early Edition with Rick Cluff,
KBS Radio with Wayne Kelley.
Recent articles include: The Vancouver
Courier, The North Shore Outlook, The North Shore News and Shared Vision
Magazine.
Sustainability Expert Dave Biggs' Wish List for 2007
Broadcast on CBC radio's The Early Edition with Rick
Cluff, Monday December 18, 2006
Three wishes for a sustainable
future:
1. Open debate on the Gateway Proposal initiate a community
dialogue
"I wish community members
and local stakeholders could take a long-term look at the proposal
to double Hwy 1 and twin the Port Mann Bridge. The Province's current
proposal is a short-term fix for traffic congestion and may lead to
even more difficult and unpleasant challenges in the long-term. From
a sustainability perspective, the proposal must be examined with a
long-term view."
2. Walkable Community
Development - vocal support for more accessible transit
"I wish
that citizens in Greater Vancouver would encourage municipal zoning
proposals that allow people to live and work in areas within walking
distance from the regions most important transit lines including, the
new Canada Line connecting Richmond/Airport/Vancouver with rapid transit
Skytrain. Our aging population, many of whom seek to downsize and use
alternative transportation, will thank us for our foresight. Residents
over 60 years of age are projected to more than triple over the next
25 years due to baby boomers."
3. Sustainability
at Home - start where you live
"I wish
that every resident would select three sustainable solutions and act
on them in 2007. Eat local and eat organic more nutrients creates
a sustainable future that starts in our own backyard. There are many
websites offering easy and effective ways that individuals can make
changes to enable a more sustainable region. Excellent examples can
be found on www.onedayvancouver.ca, www.davidsuzuki.org,
and www.worldchanging.com.
The new book, Waking
Up the West Coast: Healers and Visionaries is another great resource
too. "
"Photographer aims
to wake up West Coast
Jaime Kowal provides overview
of ethical living"
By Yumimi Pang
December 1, 2006
Photographer Jaime Kowal was enjoying her life and
work, but had the nagging feeling that she wasn't giving back as much
as she could.
"I really wanted my work to mean something at
the end of the day," says Kowal, a North Vancouver resident transplanted
from Ottawa. "My work is my life, I love what I do. I just had
this feeling that (my work) wasn't contributing in the way that it
could."
Through her frustration, an idea was born that would
marry her passion for photography and desire to contribute, and it
resulted in Waking Up the West Coast: Healers and Visionaries.
In the book's preamble, the 27-year-old first-time
author describes her work as an introduction to "the vast wealth
of passion, knowledge and experience that exists on Canada's West Coast,
promoting optimal health, supportive relationships, informed consumer
choices, a just society and a healthier planet."
"The day I started research, it just never stopped,
it was like Pandora's Box," says Kowal in an interview. "Once
I did start I just kept uncovering these layers, like layer after layer
of information and recommendations and resources."
After a year and a half of constant work, Waking Up
the West Coast launched last October and is a product of Kowal's self-established
firm, Catalyst Publications.
The fruit of Kowal's work is plentiful; the book includes
118 contributors, all B.C.-based, running the gamut from socially conscious
businesses to non-profit organizations to artists to educators and
holistic health experts. Even the book is environmentally friendly
since it was printed with 100 per cent post-consumer waste.
The goal is to give the reader an overview of home-grown
outfits that support a green life, health and well-being and educated
consumer choices.
As a North Vancouver resident, it's no surprise that
Kowal features several North Shore contributors in her book, including
Espiritu Healing Arts, the Vancouver Waldorf School and LOHAS by design.
There are no chapters in the book, since Kowal didn't
want to pigeon-hole her contributors, but there are general categories
including arts and culture, business and economics, social activism,
sustainability and the environment and holistic health.
"Those five categories really make up the holistic
experience of all the different ways that we can approach our lives
and all the different ways we can interact in our lives," said
Kowal, who lives the lifestyle and recently completed training in teaching
Kundalini yoga.
Kowal, whose life path has changed significantly since
graduating from Ryerson University in fashion marketing, was particularly
inspired by her contributors. For example, she was struck by ForestEthics,
a Vancouver-based organization committed to protecting millions of
acres of endangered forest including Clayoquot Forest and others in
Canada, the U.S. and Chile. ForestEthics' work with companies like
Staples and Office Depot to encourage the companies to purchase recycled
paper is a way that Kowal sees as small actions that add up to a huge
difference.
At book's end, Kowal has included detailed lists of
how to take action and recommended readings and resources, all of which
is a compilation of the book's contributor's suggestions.
"The point of the book is for people to see some
issues and to see how easy it is to make changes," said Kowal.
When asked how she felt about the fact that a cynic
might see the book as simply a collection of advertisements, Kowal
countered: "I think if we're going to see positive changes in
the world, we do need to be using the services and products like these
organization and others. In a way it absolutely is advertising; we're
promoting the fact that these companies are responsible, they're ethical,
they're well-educated and researched, they're passionate."
Wake up and take action
By Daniel Pi
Nov 16 2006
Somewhere between photographing a Disney parade at
age 10, studying fashion marketing at Ryerson University and working
alongside National Geographic photographers at a New Mexico workshop,
Jaime Kowal found her passion with cameras.
For her, photography is an art that's taken her across
five continents on numerous adventures.
But the 27-year-old doesn't just want her photographs
to speak to people, she wants her work to move people into taking action.
The North Vancouver-based photographer recently published
her first book, Waking Up the West Coast: Healers and Visionaries,
which combines her passion for making images with living a sustainable,
ethical and healthy lifestyle.
The book lists 118 B.C. individuals, groups and businesses
that are either socially and environmentally active or pursue natural
and holistic health care models. Accompanying each entry are portraits
taken by Kowal, along with stories and advice on how to begin making
lifestyle changes.
But Kowal hopes readers won't
just leaf through the book, set it down and move on.
"While this is a tool...
what I want people to do is take action," she said. "It's
a really good way for people to access good choices."
Think of it as the Yellow Pages for alternative lifestyles,
said Kowal.
For example, someone looking for a holistic veterinarian
can turn to page 41 and read about North Vancouver's Dr. Peter Dobias
and the Healing Place Homeopathic Centre. Organic grocery seekers can
check out Capers Community Markets (page 19), which originated in West
Vancouver.
Eight North Shore businesses and individuals are profiled
in Waking Up the West Coast alongside well-known groups such as the
Pivot Legal Society, Sierra Club of B.C., Summerhill Pyramid Winery,
A Loving Spoonful and YMCA of Vancouver.
But those listed in the book aren't the only ones doing
good work. "This is not an exhaustive list, I want to honour everyone
doing this work," Kowal said.
"I was limited with my pages, photography and
time and I wanted to focus on fewer people with more of their stories."
Two businesses she profiled - Victoria's Elite Earth-friendly
Cleaners and Vancouver's Ethical Funds Company - recently won awards
at the 13th annual Ethics In Action Gala - which recognizes businesses
with good corporate citizenship and community values.
For more information or to get a copy of Waking Up
the West Coast: Healers and Visionaries, visit
www.catalystpublications.com.
"Good book for positive thinkers"
By Cheryl Rossi
November 8, 2006
Photographer and yoga instructor Jaime Kowal was so
overwhelmed by bad news about the state of the world a couple of years
ago that she decided to compile a book to inspire positive action.
"I just realized that we were really sorely needing
a tool or a resource or a book that would act as a portal into this
world of positive solutions and philosophies and progressive business
ideas," she said.
She had a brief moment of doubt, thinking "That's
crazy, I can't do that." Then she started her research the next
day.
Waking Up the West Coast: Healers and Visionaries profiles
118 mostly Lower Mainland-based business leaders, social entrepreneurs,
educators, advocates, artists and holistic healers. It includes a foreword
written by American wellness guru, Dr. Andrew Weil.
Each page in the coffee table book includes a colour
photograph of the highlighted individual or organization, a description
of the subject's philosophy and work and contact details. A final section
includes suggestions for becoming more socially active, environmentally
friendly and boosting one's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual
health. It includes recommended books, movies, music, guided meditations,
instructional DVDs and websites.
"So many people are looking for solutions right
now, so many people are wanting to improve their health and their lifestyles
and they don't really know where to start," Kowal said. "Everyone's
time-starved and it's difficult to find a starting point, so really
what this is is a starting point."
The book, which includes a holistic rebirther, the
CEO of a tidal power company and ethical investment experts, is meant
to appeal to a wide audience.
"For those people who are just starting to become
aware of the different alternatives it's a really important resource
for them."
Kowal hopes her book will inspire readers to take action
to improve their world. She believes it's too easy to be overwhelmed
by fear and helplessness. "If this book can empower them to take
one positive step in their lives that will make them feel good about
what they're doing then, I feel like this would be a success."
Kowal launched the book two weeks ago. The book will
be distributed across North America and Australia and Kowal's interested
to learn what its far-reaching impact will be.
"We're so fortunate in British Columbia to have
such a rich resource to draw from because there's no lack of visionary
ideas where we live. I think we might take that for granted sometimes," she
said. "Economically and socially and creatively we have this freedom
to express ourselves and to practise these ideas and it's phenomenal."
http://www.vancourier.com/issues06/112106/news/112106nn9.html
"If you want to know how
Jaime Kowal is helping the sustainability movement, you're looking
at it"
By Jon Azpiri
June 2006
The 27-year-old photographer has created a series of
stunning portraits that will be featured not only in the pages of this
magazine but in a new book, Waking Up the West Coast: Healers and Visionaries,
scheduled for release this fall. The coffee-table book features portraits
and profiles of more than 120 leaders in the fields or health, wellness
and sustainability. "The mission of the book is to bring people
together to raise awareness of these progressive ideas and people who
are practising their business with heart," says Kowal.
Like many shutterbugs, Kowal was inspired by nature,
having captured spectacular landscapes on five different continents.
After settling in BC, she decided to focus her eye not just on nature
but also on the people who are working to protect it. "We want
readers to realize that they have choices," she says. "There's
no lack of positive solutions out there."
www.shared-vision.com
Shared Vision Magazine - Monthly Coverage
Look for our Contributors
on the cover and inside pages of Shared Vision Magazine! Every month
four profiles of Contributors from Waking Up the West Coast:
Healers and Visionaries are featured. Shared Vision Magazine advocates
a model of healthy living that integrates social, physical, intellectual
and spiritual growth. |
