By Bob Isenberger, former volunteer and employee of Ecologos/Water Docs

Stan and Mariam at the Closing Night of the 2014 Water Docs Film Festival at the AGO in Toronto

One can’t talk about Stan without also speaking of his wife Mariam and their three beautiful and accomplished children. While Stan is the public face of his work and creations, Mariam is ever-present in his mind and heart, and they are equal partners in every plan and decision. Together they co-founded Ecologos and she served on the Board of Directors in the early years and fed many of those who served on the Design Team (our name for the core planning committee). I think it’s fair to borrow the description of another well-known spouse and acknowledge that she has been his “strength and stay” through their many years of marriage. So, in this sense, Ecologos is facing not one retirement, but two.

I had the distinct pleasure of working with Stan, Mariam and the Ecologos team for thirteen years, first as a volunteer, and later as a part-time contractor. As such, I had the opportunity to watch as Ecologos continuously strove to become a powerful agent to protect and care for the world in which we live. During all of the group’s explorations and transmutations, I learned three key things to Stan’s success.

Stan speaking at the Water Docs Film Festival in 2018

First and foremost, Stan is a visionary. He can sense the potential in the earliest whiff of an idea, find ways to explore and test its validity, and then pull together the resources, skill sets and energy to create an exciting, energized and committed team to make it happen. The story of the creation of Ecologos demonstrates this clearly. Stan took a year to identify and interview a powerful collection of over 200 individuals whose values and worldviews he admired, then spoke with them about his plans. The results shaped the organization and goals which then became the Ecologos Environmental Organization.

Water Docs at School 2016 - Best Film winning class with guest speakers The Water Brothers

I also watched this happen with the genesis of the Water Docs at School program. Stan wanted a way to engage youth but we didn’t have the educational skills within Ecologos. Knowing that they did amazing work, creating dynamic, exciting ways to educate young learners, he approached Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF), a national nonprofit based in Toronto, to partner with. The result was a collaboration that resulted in Water Docs at School Action Projects which continues to create water protectors for life among Grade 7 and 8 students.

A second quality I have seen and admired in Stan is his ability to create community. Soon after I began volunteering, we would hold periodic public meetings at the offices of the Canadian Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA Canada), with many lifelong colleagues and friends, where supporters were invited to join in the conversation. After Mariam had fed everyone with her bountiful and delicious meals, we would gather to discuss a proposal or brainstorm to imagine new approaches to our work. Many of those ideas found their way into our projects and many of those who participated in those sessions continued to support and contribute to the work for years afterwards.

Water Hour Celebration at Stan and Mariam’s

The third quality I have so admired in Stan is flexibility and adaptability. As a growing and evolving entity, we tried numerous approaches to our goals. The initial organizational goal was quite grand and broad, and included attempts to tackle all of the world’s ecological and social justice issues. Not being bashful, Stan organized ways to explore occupying Ontario Place, or the existing infrastructure at The Kortright Centre, located north of Toronto. We finally realized we weren’t quite ready for that scale yet, and after much heartfelt reflection, narrowed our focus to be on water as a foundational concern that underlies everything else. We started by experimenting with The Water Hour project until we realized that while it’s easy to measure folks turning off their lights (as in Earth Hour), we couldn’t figure out how to measure people not turning on their water! “When one path isn’t fruitful, try another”, might be said to be Stan’s life philosophy when pursuing his passions, so on we went.

I began this blog with the intention of using the classic approach of “Threes”, within the characteristics I’ve discussed above. But after reflecting on these “three” and my time working with Stan, I have to mention a fourth trait which must be revealed in order to fully understand and appreciate him. Underpinning everything, he is intensely and deeply a man of principle. His lifetime of work in social justice and community building, and his passion for reading and learning from profound thinkers of all stripes, have built a bedrock of values and commitment that drive all his work. One example stands out clearly for me. At a certain point, the Design Team decided we wanted to annually honour someone who had done courageous and valuable work for the protection and conservation of water, and for this award, we selected the name Water Warrior. For Stan, the term ‘warrior’ suggested aggression and conquest, philosophies so antithetical to his own approach to the world. After some, shall we say ‘spirited dialogue,’ we suggested that current usage in environmental circles had evolved to focus on commitment, care, intense strength and fierce protection. When he challenged us to show him that this was the case and we were able to present him with many more examples than he had requested he finally relented, in what I took as respectfully accepting the opinions of colleagues, as a true leader will.

Ecologos volunteers with Stan and Mariam Gibson
(on the right)

Immense gratitude for Stan and Mariam; for their vision and passion; for their perseverance and enthusiasm over these many years. May they both now enjoy a well-earned respite, as Ecologos and the Water Docs team move forward, sustained by the stable foundation that has been built over the past two decades.

We’re helping making sure of that with the announcement of The Stan Gibson Legacy Fund. This fund was created to help gather donations for our organization and especially for Stan’s final hurrah, the #LaterNoMore initiative.

If you have any fond memories of Stan, Mariam, or our organization and want to wish him a happy retirement, you can contribute any amount to this fund and include a farewell message. These messages will appear in a virtual card we will be giving Stan on July 2nd, his 78th birthday.

You can contribute to that fund and write your message here.