Beluga Grads called to action

I’m a Beluga Grad. If you’re between the ages of 18 and 35 and remember dancing around to Baby Beluga, chances are good you’re one too. “Beluga Grad” – “BG” – is singer-songwriter Raffi Cavoukian’s affectionate nickname for the children who loved his ‘70s and ‘80s children’s records.

Most Beluga Grads are now grown-ups, many with kids of their own. But Raffi Cavoukian, better known as “Raffi,” hopes that they’ll keep dreaming big.

To the joy of children – not to mention their BG parents – Raffi still makes music. However, he now focuses on “child-honouring” – a philosophy of respect and love which “links person, culture, and planet with the child at the heart of it.” Like so many of Raffi’s projects, child-honouring is rapidly gaining momentum, and a big part of its star appeal comes from its overwhelming engagement with sustainability.

EVENT The College of Sustainability presents Dialogue for Change, a lively on-stage discussion featuring internationally renowned thinkers in sustainability, on Thursday, March 19, at 7 p.m. in the Ondaatje Auditorium, McCain Building. Hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, host of CBC Radio's Q, Dialogue for Change will feature leaders in sustainability including David Orr, world leader in sustainability education; Raffi Cavoukian, singer, songwriter, author, ecology advocate and global troubadour; Elizabeth May, Leader, Green Party of Canada and co-author, Global Warming for Dummies; and Jeff Moore, co-founder of Just Us Coffee Roasters Co-operative. Admission is free and seating is limited.

“Sustainability is all about our children having a viable future that they can look forward to,” says Mr. Cavoukian. Dalhousie, with its copious quantities of Beluga Undergrads, is inclined to agree: as part of the Dialogue for Change Event hosted by the new College of Sustainability, Raffi Cavoukian will be speaking at Dal about child-honouring and the importance of a green, sustainable lifestyle.

He sees sustainability as a healing process. “If we do not restore the world… what kind of sustainability could we hope to sustain? If we stop damaging (natural systems), they can come back.”

But action needs to be taken quickly: “While there’s still time, the only moral thing to do is to detoxify the environment… there’s a sense of urgency.” Raffi emphasizes the importance of overall empathy when engaging in any worthwhile cause. Child-honouring, like sustainability, is respect and love for the possibilities offered by the future: for Raffi, to embrace the one entails the other.

Naturally, no pun intended, sustainability is a key issue for Raffi Cavoukian. “The good news,” he adds, “Is that there’s a design revolution underway right now. A green revolution.” Like Dalhousie, Raffi is at the forefront of that green revolution: he’s currently putting the finishing touches on a project that couldn’t have had better timing – or a more well-qualified founder.

“I’m about to launch a centre for child-honouring on Saltspring Island… it’ll be a multidisciplinary campus.” Sustainable environmental policies are vital to the project. “Child-honouring is an integrative philosophy, and sustainability is an integrated, restorative philosophy. If sustainability is about raising a generation of earth stewards, there’s no better way to do that than during their early years.”

So what kind of sustainable activity will the Saltspring Island project tackle? “We’ll be looking at children’s environmental health… The young child is the most vulnerable to environmental conditions. Children are the most vulnerable beings we have.”

That’s a philosophy Raffi has always lived by – for instance, he refuses to allow his music to be used in children’s advertising. His concern for children and the environment is also reflected in his music – take his award-winning ecology album Evergreen Everblue (1990), or his more recent rockabilly number Cool It. Mr. Cavoukian’s website, raffinews.com, describes Cool It as “a musical call-to-action on climate change” with guest vocals by David Suzuki.

Raffi also advises making personal changes at home, such as buying local, organic foods, in the name of sustainability. His comic touch brings to light what often gets overlooked – sustainability can be simple, rewarding, and even fun. “There are so many ways to do right by the child.”

So what’s Raffi’s advice to the whole world, right now – Beluga Grads and beyond? “Respect the children in your care, and love them so much that you create a world fit for their dreams and for their future.”

And what should we expect when Raffi descends upon Dalhousie? “I might unveil my new song called SustainABILITY,” Raffi mentions casually. “It’s a five-minute dancing tutorial… it’s reggae.”

Raffi’s sustainable reggae? You don’t have to be a Beluga Grad to say that sounds intriguing.

SEE: Dialogue for Change on Facebook