Crapitalism

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” ― Edward Abbey

My Manifesto For A Happier World

--by Mark Williamson, Original Story, Mar 20, 2013
 
We all want to lead a happy life. But in our quest for 'progress' we've been pursuing priorities that put our happiness at risk - not just for us as individuals, but for society as a whole.

Our collective aim should be a society with the greatest possible human happiness and wellbeing - with policies, institutions and social attitudes that help people to lead flourishing lives. This is the spirit behind a resolutionwhich was adopted last year by all 193 United Nations member states, calling for "a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth", and one which promotes "happiness and the well-being of all peoples".

To support this emerging shift in priorities, the very first United Nations International Day of Happiness is being held on 20th March this year. In the UK and all around the world people will be taking action to encourage a greater focus on happiness and also to celebrate Happy Heroes - the unsung people and organisations who do so much to bring happiness to others.

But what does a happier society look like and how can we make it happen? As Director of UK-based Action for Happiness, a growing global movement of people who care deeply about this topic, I've had the privilege to meet with many of the world's leading experts as well as engaging with many of our 80,000 supporters and followers to hear their views.

My conclusion is that a happier society is possible - and rather than being some nebulous or idealistic dream, there are some clear actions needed to make this happen. It will of course require a shift in priorities for our governments and institutions. But it will also only happen if we as individual citizens play our part, particularly by choosing to live in a way that contributes to the happiness of others.

So below is my 12-step manifesto for a happier world, which calls for change not just from our leaders but from all of us. I'm not pretending these are simple changes or can happen overnight. But if we were to put these ideas into practice I'm certain we could create a society which is not only happier, but also more productive, caring, fair, responsible and sustainable.

For our political leaders:

Ensure a Stable Economy. A healthy economy is the foundation for happiness and wellbeing. We need an equitable economic system which puts long-term stability and high levels of employment ahead of "growth at all costs".

Focus on Wellbeing. What we measure is what we get. In addition to conventional financial indicators, we need our governments to measure people's wellbeing and consider the impact on wellbeing - for both current and future generations - in all policy decisions.

Support the Disadvantaged. Priority should be given to improving the wellbeing of those who are most in need, not just through financial support but also by empowering people and helping them to help themselves.

Prioritise Human Relationships. Relationships are central to our wellbeing. We need to prioritise healthy relationships in all policy areas, especially through support for troubled families and children in their early years.

For our institutions:

Healthcare for Mind And Body. Mental health is just as vital as physical health. We need a healthcare system that prioritises both mental and physical health and provides high quality support for all those struggling with anxiety, depression or other mental illness.

Education For Life. Education is about learning for life, not just gaining academic qualifications. We need schools that help children develop character and learn essential life skills, like emotional intelligence, mindfulness and resilience.

Responsible Business. Truly successful businesses have happy employees and a purpose beyond profit. We need workplaces where people feel valued and trusted and where sustainable and ethical behaviour is at the heart of all decision making.

Balanced Media. The way we perceive the world affects what we do and how we treat each other. We need a media that portrays a balanced view of what's good as well as bad in our world, not a constant diet of cynicism and negativity.

For each of us as individuals:

Family Values. Happy homes are the bedrock of a happy society and, above all, we need to cultivate warm and loving family relationships. For our children, our priority should be their emotional health and helping them to develop positive values and attitudes.

Contributing In The Community. When we connect with and help others around us, everyone benefits. We need to get involved in our local communities, be good neighbours and support those in need. Our actions can help to build trust and reduce isolation.

Making A Difference. Our working lives should be about more than just earning a living. Whatever job we do, we should aim to make a meaningful contribution - and help create a workplace culture which is trusting, friendly and responsible.

Taking Care of Ourselves. We can't contribute to a happier society unless we take care of our own well-being too. We all need to look after our health, both physical and mental, and develop within us the life skills and attitudes needed for a happy and fulfilling life.

Together our actions make a profound difference. We can call for change from our leaders but we can also "be the change" in the way we approach our lives and the way we treat others. So if you share this vision for a happier and more caring world, please take the pledge to create more happiness and do whatever you can to support the Day of Happiness on 20 March.

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Reprinted with permission. Dr Mark Williamson is director of Action for Happiness, which launched in 2011 and has members from over 100 countries who are taking action in their everyday lives to help build happier communities, families, schools and workplaces.

Celebrating the very first International Day of Happiness: 20 March

Happiness Goes Global -- How Will You Celebrate International Day of Happiness? 

Randy Taran

How many times a year do you get an excuse to celebrate happiness? Why not right now? The UN has declared March 20, 2013 to be the first International Day of Happiness. Why happiness now? More and more, people are asking what is the definition of human "progress," and recognizing that it must include happiness and well-being, not just bottom line economic growth. The good news is that it that you don't need to go searching for the secret happiness sauce -- you already have everything you need to ignite happiness within yourself and influence those around you. Exercise your happiness; this is your day!

History:

International Day of Happiness gained momentum after the Hon. Jigme Thinley of Bhutan, the country that pioneered the concept of Gross National Happiness, inspired the Assembly to introduce a UN Resolution to consider the greater happiness of a country's citizens. In an unforgettable conversation we shared at the Rio+ Conference, he spoke of his goal of countries coming together in a new vision for global happiness, which starts with each individual. Inspired by Bhutan's call to action, a UN conference on happiness and well-being was held, leading to 193 countries to unanimously sanction the equinox day of March 20 as the first International Day of Happiness. Now the world is on board and you can be too!

How to Get Involved?

While nations are gradually introducing happiness and well-being as an important part of sustainable development, it's exciting to see that individual citizens are mobilizing to take their happiness into their own hands too. Project Happiness, which teaches the skills for greater well-being to students around the world, is working with Action for Happiness, an organization based in the UK, that is bringing together a network of like-minded organizations and people to expand happiness everywhere. One of the quickest ways to get involved is to celebrate acts of generosity, kindness, enthusiasm and connection -- focused on bringing happiness to others. It's easier than one may think to ACT:

A: Affirm the pledge -- make a personal pledge to create more happiness in the world

C: Cheer Happy Heroes -- celebrate the people who bring happiness to you and others

T: Take part -- do something to mark the day and spread some happiness

Wherever you are in the world you can take part on the International Day of Happiness by:

• Cheering your Happy Heroes or using the #happyheroes hashtag on Twitter

• Sharing what you're doing on the day using Cheers or the #happyday hashtag on Twitter.

Because your sense of well-being influences others more than you know, it makes sense that as you increase your happiness, it positively affects those around you. Why not make International Happiness Day the start of a year where you commit to well-being, positivity and gratitude? It will uplift your outlook and ripple out to those you care about too. You know about the benefits of exercise, sleep and food that give you energy. Here are a few other ideas to get started. The cost is nothing but your desire, and the pay offs are enormous:

5 Ways to Activate Your Happiness:

1. Kindness Counts: Research shows that people who did five acts of kindness per week over six weeks experienced increased happiness and other positive consequences. You don't have to practice this every day to discover that being kind to others makes you happier. When has this shown up for you?

2. Time for Happiness: Rather than linking money and happiness, we are better off examining the relationship between time and happiness in our lives. We can be happier by following these time-spending happiness rules: "1) spend time with the right people; 2) spend time on the right activities; 3) be aware that happiness changes over time." What times in your life have brought you unforgettable happiness?

3. Feel the Flow: When hours feel like minutes and you are totally absorbed in what you are doing, you are in a "flow" state. Athletes call it being "in the zone." Research shows that flow state happens when you have the right ratio of challenge to skill level, i.e., when you're challenged just enough to engage your skill set at the appropriate level. What makes you feel that way?

4. Mindset Matters: When something bad happens you can either choose to put yourself down and succumb to the "inner critic" or look into what there is to learn from the situation. If a presentation didn't go well, you can either say: "I'm always bad at this type of thing" (Dr. Carol Dweck calls this the fixed mindset) or: "It happens; next time I'll prepare and practice more," (the growth mindset). Which perspective will you choose?

5. Count Your Blessings: Practicing gratitude and visualizing your best positive self help increase and sustain positive emotion. Those making daily gratitude lists (even 1-3 things that you are grateful for) reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and energy. Worth a shot?

Make International Day of Happiness your personal day to celebrate the happiness already in your life, expand on that and share it with others. Think of it as fuel for a better world. Research shows that happiness is contagious, and even small acts create big ripples of change. You are the change you've been waiting for.

What advice would you give someone who longs for a happier world?

For more by Randy Taran, click here.

For more on happiness, click here.

Why Happiness Should Be a Global Priority 

Richard Layard

This Wednesday sees the very first United Nations International Day of Happiness, which is being celebrated around the world on 20 March. This follows a recent resolution adopted by all members of the UN General Assembly calling for happiness to be given a greater priority. So why are people now taking happiness so seriously at national and global levels?

Happiness means the quality of life as each person experiences it. This is a key outcome in itself and is an important measure of success for any country, regardless of the level of economic development. It tells us whether people are leading lives they find satisfying and fulfilling. So information on the causes of happiness helps policy-makers to choose policy goals that serve the real needs of their people.

But, in addition, happiness is a major determinant of the other goals that policy-makers care about. Personal resilience predicts educational performance better than IQ does; and higher wellbeing improves work performance and workers' earnings. By contrast depression and anxiety account for 40% of underperformance at work, 40% of time off work and 40% of disability. Their overall cost amounts to some 10% of GDP. Greater happiness increases life expectancy; by contrast depression reduces life expectancy as much as smoking does. So happiness is a major contributor to many of our most important social goals.

As a result of 30 years of research, we now know a lot about what affects happiness. The main influences are economic, personal/social and environmental. On the economic front, income is important in every country, and poverty is a major source of unhappiness. But it is not the only thing that matters. In most countries income explains less than 2% of the overall variance in happiness (the other identifiable factors explain about 20%). Across countries, income differences explain about 6% of the differences in average happiness, while social factors explain a great deal more. Work is also vital for happiness and its importance goes well beyond the income which it provides. Education is also important, largely as a factor affecting productivity, income, employment and health.

Turning to personal/social determinants of happiness, the most important in developed countries is mental health. In these countries it accounts for 40% of all illness (weighted by severity) - more than heart disease, cancer, lung disease and diabetes all combined. It is also largely a disease of working age so that it has massive economic consequences, while physical illness is more concentrated in later life. In poorer countries by contrast physical illness has major impacts at every age but mental illness remains an equally important cause of low wellbeing.

Another crucial determinant of happiness is the quality of human relationships - above all in the family but also in the community and at work. Secure employment is vital for those who want to work and personal security against violence is vital for everyone. Good governance is essential too - wellbeing studies show the corrosive effect of corruption, and the crucial role of personal freedom and the rule of law.

Finally comes the environment. Research shows clearly the importance of today's environment for people who are alive today - including housing, urban design, transport systems, and green space. But the environment is also important in a quite different sense, since how we treat the planet today determines the world which future generations will inhabit. So when we are considering happiness and quality of life, we must take into account those future generations as well as our own.

The implications of all this evidence are far reaching. Here are six of the most important actions which are required if we want to create a happier society:

• Mental Health. Evidence-based treatment should be as available for mental illness (including depression and anxiety disorders) as it is for physical illness.
• Economic Policy. Employment is so important that no risks should be taken with economic stability, simply in order to increase economic growth.
• Communities. Measures to promote economic growth should be accompanied by explicit policies to sustain social cohesion, stable family life, and personal security.
• Equality. More equal incomes are desirable because extra money improves wellbeing more for the poor than the rich. Moreover a greater spirit of equality in a country increases mutual respect and trust, which are crucial for wellbeing.
• Schools. Schools should aim explicitly at developing young people who are emotionally resilient and eager to contribute to the social good.
• Families. Stable families are so important that every society needs its own system of support for couples in conflict.

Governments should make the happiness of the people the main outcome which they pursue. As Thomas Jefferson said "The care of human life and happiness... is the only legitimate object of good government". That is why there is now a growing demand to include subjective wellbeing in the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.

But, perhaps most importantly of all, we need to encourage a more empathic and caring culture, where people care less about what they can get for themselves and more about the happiness of others.

This is why I'm supporting the Day of Happiness, when Action for Happiness is encouraging people everywhere to make a personal pledge to live in a way that contributes to the happiness of others. If more of us made that our central purpose in life we would have a far happier and more cohesive world.

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-taran/international-day-of-happiness-un_b_2886300.html
• http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/richard-layard/why-happiness-should-be-a-global-priority_b_2900256.html

Want to Create Family-Friendly Places? Get the Kids at the Table!

• http://www.pps.org/blog/want-to-create-family-friendly-places-get-the-kids-at-the-table/

Children play on the Museum of Art and History’s rooftop sculpture garden during a Placemaking workshop / Photo: Greg Larson

In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake changed the face of downtown Santa Cruz, damaging dozens of buildings and hobbling the local retail scene. The Cooper House, which had been a key public gathering space in this oceanfront city’s core, was ruined. When the site was re-developed, a larger building was placed along the street, and a smaller adjacent public space, Abbott Square, was tucked away in the middle of the block as a retail pass-through. The square never really became a real destination for downtown…but now, with the help of the adjacent Museum of Art and History, that may be about to change.

PPS’s Cynthia Nikitin and Priti Patel visited Santa Cruz recently to kick off a series of Placemaking workshops with the MAH, a cultural institution that has been re-inventing itself as a participatory community hub since bringing on Nina Simon (a past Citizen Placemaker interviewee) as director almost two years ago. The museum has outlined a new vision “to become a thriving, central gathering place where local residents and visitors have the opportunity to experience art, history, ideas, and culture.” To further that mission, the MAH is taking advantage of a 50-year lease on Abbott Square to bring the excitement within its walls out into the public realm, creating a great new destination for Santa Cruz.

Naturally, Nina and her staff brought the same innovative spirit that they’ve applied to exhibitions and events at the museum to the Placemaking Process. While hundreds of citizens and stakeholders participated in workshops and meetings over the course of several days, it was a children’s workshop organized in collaboration with one of the dads in the community, Greg Larson, that really showed off the museum’s capacity for thinking outside the box.

“The children’s workshop was exciting because it speaks to two things,” says Cynthia. “First, it showed that it’s not really far-fetched to think that kids can talk about public space and contribute really meaningfully to Placemaking. Kids have great imaginations, and they can look at an adult problem and think differently about what they want to do with it. Second, it highlighted the museum’s role as a community institution, as a creative and networked place, and so clearly spoke to that vision that the staff is working toward.”

“Kids have great imaginations, and they can look at an adult problem and think differently about what they want to do with it.” / Photo: Greg Larson

One of the most exciting things about this unique component of the process in Santa Cruz was that it grew organically out of the museum’s public engagement efforts leading up to the workshop. “One of the things we’ve heard over and over again from people is that there’s no place for families to come downtown with their kids,” Nina explains. “When I ran into Greg, a museum member and manager for an adjacent town, I invited him to the Abbott Square workshop and he asked if he could bring his daughter. He runs a dads group, and offered to put together a family component to the workshop.”

Greg worked with the MAH’s Director of Community Programs, Stacey Garcia, to plan activities to engage local kids into the Placemaking process. On the day of the event, Greg and 25 local kids (aged five to 10) joined the adults in the opening presentation on Placemaking in the workshop led by Cynthia and Priti, before breaking off for a series of adventures and brainstorming activities. The first stop was Abbott Plaza itself, where everyone was encouraged to think about ideas for the space. “We told them, ‘Imagine you could have anything you want in this square, and got them to start sharing ideas while they were in the physical space,” Greg recalls.

Next, it was up to the museum’s rooftop sculpture garden, where kids were encouraged to play on the art while considering what made the space fun, and thinking about what would make them want to come back. After that, they went back inside to do some more traditional group brainstorming, drawing their ideas on big sheets of butcher paper, and then sharing ideas with each other. Among the ideas generated were a theater space, Chinese lanterns, a giant slide, a maze, a chocolate fountain, a zipline, flowers, a climbing wall, a tunnel—even a replica of the Titanic!

Sharing ideas with the group / Photo: Greg Larson

The kids then voted on their favorites to select a few key “big ideas” to present to the grown-ups, and then spent some time coming up with three skits to act out during that presentation to illustrate their ideas for the climbing wall, maze, and tunnel. Once they were back with the adults, the skits proved to be a big hit. “The kids crawling around and over and under the tables in the room during their skits got the adults more engaged,” says Greg. “It was beyond theater in the round; the kids took the stage to the adults.”

True to form for an arts-friendly town like Santa Cruz, those adults were ready to play ball! Says Cynthia: “One of the dads worked with the city, and also teaches rope climbing, and it got him thinking, ‘You know, we could hook some guide wires between the buildings, and I could teach lessons in the plaza. It’s not that far-fetched.’ Kids wanted a zipline, and he was like, ‘You could do that, actually…’ These kids didn’t know to be cynical.”

In fact, the ideas were so well-received that, according to Nina, the kids’ contributions had a marked impact on the adults’ discussion. “You could tell that the adults really became the stewards of the kids’ ideas, in a sense. It re-oriented us to what it really means to create something that’s family-friendly.”

When you approach it the right way, Placemaking has the potential to bring out the kid in everyone. While priorities have to be determined and decisions have to be made, at the start, there is potential in every public space for an amazing new destination to emerge. Sharing freely and openly at the outset is key because, even if some of the more outlandish ideas won’t be feasible, they can help to set a tone and establish the kind of flexibility and open-mindedness that lead, ultimately, to stronger results.

“I think that the main takeaway was that it really is possible to engage kids in productive ways, parallel to adults, in a creative design process,” says Greg. “It’s important for it to be multi-modal, experiential, reflective, artistic, tactile. If there’s anything consistent to what the kids drew up, it was that the square and the art on the square needs to be engaging, or participatory as Nina would say, where they can touch it or interact with it, not simply observe it.”

We’ll be back in Santa Cruz next month. We’ll keep you posted as the new Abbott Square shapes up!

Click here to view a slideshow of the results of the kids’ workshop!

Stronger Citizens, Stronger Cities: Changing Governance Through a Focus on Place

• http://www.pps.org/blog/stronger-citizens-stronger-cities-changing-governance-through-a-focus-on-place/

“If vibrancy is people, then the only way to make a city vibrant again is to make room for more of them.” / Photo: PPS

A great place is something that everybody can create. If vibrancy is people, as we argued two weeks ago, the only way to make a city vibrant again is to make room for more of them. Today, in the first of a two-part follow up, we will explore how Placemaking, by positioning public spaces at the heart of action-oriented community dialog, makes room both physically and philosophically by re-framing citizenship as an on-going, creative collaboration between neighbors. The result is not merely vibrancy, but equity.

In equitable places, individual citizens feel (first) that they are welcome, and (second) that it is within their power to change those places through their own actions. “The huge problem with citizenship today is that people don’t take it very seriously,” says Harry Boyte, director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College. “The two dominant frameworks for citizenship in political theory,” he explains, “are the liberal framework, where citizens are voters and consumers of goods, and the communitarian framework, where citizens are volunteers and members of communities. In other words, for most people, citizenship is doing good deeds, or it’s voting and getting things. We need to develop the idea of civic agency, where citizens are co-creators of democracy and the democratic way of life.”

It is bewildering, when you take a step back, to realize how far we’ve gotten away from that last statement. We have completely divorced governance from citizenship, and built thick silo walls around government by creating an opaque, discipline-driven approach to problem-solving. Busting those silo walls is imperative to creating more equitable communities. Rather than trying, haplessly, to solve transportation, housing, or health problems separately, as if they exist within a vacuum, government should be focused on building stronger place.

a new citizen-centered model has also begun to emerge, that we’ve come to call Place Governance.” / Photo: Andy Castro via Flickr

Revitalizing citizenship through Place Governance: Why we need a Copernican revolution
As the link between bustling public spaces and economic development has grown stronger, some government officials have started advocating for change in this arena. After so many decades of top-down thinking, the learning curve is steep, and many officials are trying to solve human problems with design solutions. But a new citizen-centered model has also begun to emerge, that we’ve come to call Place Governance.

In Place Governance, officials endeavor to draw more people into the civic decision-making process. When dealing with a dysfunctional street, for instance, answers aren’t only sought from transportation engineers—they’re sought from merchants who own businesses along the street, non-profit organizations working in the surrounding community, teachers and administrators at the school where buses queue, etc. The fundamental actors in a Place Governance structure are not official agencies that deal with specific slices of the pie, but the people who use the area in question and are most intimately acquainted with its challenges. Officials who strive to implement this type of governance structure do so because they understand that the best solutions don’t come from within narrow disciplines, but from the points where people of different backgrounds come together.
One of the key strengths of Place Governance is that it meets people where they are, and makes it easier for them to engage in shaping their communities. We have seen the willingness to collaborate more and more frequently in our work with local government agencies. Speaking about a recent workshop in Pasadena, CA, PPS President Fred Kent noted that “The Mayor and City Manager there fully realize and support the idea that if the people, lead they [the government] will follow. They recognize that they need leadership coming from their citizens to create the change that will sustain and build the special qualities that give Pasadena a sense of place.”

Finding ways to help citizens lead is critical to the future of community development and Placemaking, which is exactly why we have been working to form cross-disciplinary coalitions like Livability Solutions, Community Matters, and, most recently, the Placemaking Leadership Council. “Democracy is not a government, it’s a society,” argues Boyte. “We have to develop an idea that democracy is the work of the people. It’s citizen-centered democracy, not state- or government-centered democracy. That doesn’t mean government doesn’t play an important role, but if you think about government as the center of the universe, we need something like a Copernican revolution.”

“We have to develop an idea that democracy is the work of the people. It’s citizen-centered democracy, not state- or government-centered democracy.” / Photo: PPS

Attachment then engagement: Co-creating a culture of citizenship

The engagement of citizens from all walks of life is central to Place Governance, and while a great deal of Placemaking work comes from grassroots activity, we need more change agents working within existing frameworks to pull people in. As the Knight Foundation’s Soul of the Community Study has shown for several years running, “soft” aspects like social offerings, openness, and aesthetics are key to creating the attachment to place that leads to economic development and community cohesion. But counter-intuitively, civic engagement and social capital are actually the two least important factors in creating a sense of attachment.

As it turns out, that’s actually not bad news. It’s all in how to read the data. When the SOTC results came out, Katherine Loflin, who served as the lead consultant for Knight on the study, recalls there being a great deal of consternation at the foundation around this surprising result. But SOTC does not measure the factors that are most important to place generally; it measures the factors that are most important in regard to peoples’ attachment to place. Working off of the specificity of that premise, Loflin dug deeper into the data to see if she could find an explanation for the curious lack of correlation between engagement and attachment.

“By the third year of Soul,” Loflin says, “we decided to start testing different variables to see whether civic engagement has to work with something else to inspire attachment. We found that one thing that does seem to matter is one’s feeling of self-efficacy. You need civic engagement plus the belief that you can make a difference in order for it to create greater attachment. We can’t just provide civic engagement opportunities, we also have to create a culture of success around engagement if we want it to translate to feelings of greater attachment to a place.”

Matt Leighninger, the director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (a Community Matters partner) echoes this need when talking about his own work in engaging communities. “The shortcoming of [a lot of community dialog] work,” he says, “is that it is too often set up to address a particular issue, and then once it’s over, it’s over. You would think that people having an experience like that would lead them to seek out opportunities to do it again on other issues, but that often doesn’t happen. Unless there’s a social circle or ecosystem that encourages them and honors their contributions, it’s not likely that they’re going to stay involved.”

“In equitable places, individual citizens feel (first) that they are welcome, and (second) that it is within their power to change those places through their own actions.” / Photo: Jennifer Conley via Flickr

How Placemaking helps citizens see what they can build together


Creating that support system is what Place Governance is all about. In addition to their capacity for creating a sense of attachment to place, great public destinations, through the interactive way in which they are developed and managed, challenge people to think more broadly about what it means to be a citizen. Place Governance relies on the Placemaking process to structure the discussion about how shared spaces should be used in a way that helps people to understand how their own specific knowledge can benefit their community more broadly. “We can set up the conversation, and help move things along,” Kent says, “but once the community’s got it, they’re golden. Just setting the process up for them to perform—that’s what Placemaking is.”

If the dominant framework for understanding citizenship today is passive, with citizens ‘receiving’ government services and being ‘given’ rights, then we need to develop affirmative cultures around citizen action. We should also recognize that elected representatives are citizens, just as surely as we are ourselves. We need officials to focus on creating great places with their communities rather than solving isolated problems for distant constituents. Equitable places are not given, they are made, collaboratively. Everyone has a part to play, from the top down, and from the bottom up. “The default of consumer culture,” Boyte says of this much-needed shift in thinking about citizenship, “is that people ask what they can get, rather than thinking about what they could build, in terms of common resources.”

Governance is social, and citizenship is creative. The only things standing between where we are and where we want to be are those big, thick silo walls.

Global Sustainability Summer School 2013 – Complex(c)ity – urbanization and energy transitions in a changing climate

• http://gsss-potsdam.org/

• Welcome
• Programme
• Application
• Supportive Team
• Logistics
• Travel
• Summer School 2012
• Contact

Welcome

Global Sustainability Summer School 2013 – Complex(c)ity – urbanization and energy transitions in a changing climate
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), in partnership with the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), the Oxford Martin School (University of Oxford), the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), call for applications from suitable candidates  for the 2013 Global Sustainability Summer School. This event which we shall be holding in Potsdam, Germany for the second time is unique of its kind in Europe. It will bring together young scientists, professionals from governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as the private sector from around the world.
For further details, including eligibility and application requirements go to application.

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The 2013 Global Sustainability Summer School is organized jointly by PIK and IASS and will be hosted at both institutions in Potsdam, Germany.
This intense two-week programme explores 
global sustainability issues from a complex systems perspective with particular focus on urbanization, climate change and sustainable energy supply.
Issues addressed will include the following:

• Key issues of urbanization, energy transition and climate change as they could be understood in the complex systems framework
• Transdisciplinary research in the context of urbanization, energy and climate change
• Global urbanization trends and sustainable development
• The role of cities in driving global environmental change
• Feedback loops between cities and climate change
• Energy transition in practice
• Managing urban energy supply; facing climate change; economy, governance and environmental stakeholders

The summer school will provide a unique opportunity for students and speakers from all world regions to foster and enhance international cooperation and exchange. The programme will comprise lectures, various discussion formats, field trips and interactive project activities including hands-on demonstrations, workshops and group projects.  In addition to this there will be a series of traditional lecture-style presentations.
Please note that the 
topics and format may be changed at any time due to unforeseen delays or other issues.
The summer school will be conducted English.

The Mekong Movie

The Mekong Movie

Filmed in four countries and produced in four languages, ‘Mekong’ includes footage of China’s Mekong [Lancang] dams and footage of the controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos. The film examines the issues of hydropower development and its impact on the lives of Mekong citizens.

• http://www.mekongcitizen.org/ 
• Link download the movie:
  http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10206844/mekongmovie/Mekong_DVD.mp4

Green School - Getting Kids In On a Sustainable Future

By Suzanne Lindgren

 

A sustainable future means teaching kids about climate change and living in balance with the earth. Green School's "Greenest Student on Earth" contest will reward three environmentally conscious students with a year-long scholarship.  

When it comes to saving the planet, there’s plenty of urgent action to take right now. But as we struggle to slow the environmental destruction that’s led to a changing climate, we must also plant the seeds of permanent and profound sustainability. It makes sense to start with children, for whom a small shift in direction now can lead to an entirely different path later. An international school in Bali, Indonesia, aims to do just that.

Aptly titled Green School, the organization teaches sustainable thinking and practical skills to students from pre-kindergarten through high school, including kids in their own sustainable future. “We have to teach the kids that the world is not indestructible,” says Green School co-founder John Hardy in a 2010 TED Talk. No one knows exactly what the future holds, and kids need to be prepared to live on a planet that could be very different than the one we inhabit. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are still important, Hardy muses, but the adults of the future are going to need a broader skill set—from building with bamboo to planting medicinal gardens.

In 2012, Green School was recognized by the U.S. Building Council as the “Greenest School on Earth.” The campus itself is solar-powered and self-sustaining, a product of Hardy’s three-tiered philosophy, “be local, let the environment lead, and think about how your grandchildren might build.”

This year, Green School is looking for environmentally conscious, action-oriented students to attend classes at the Bali campus. The school’s “Greenest Student on Earth” competition starts March 5 and ends on April 22, Earth Day. At the close of the competition, three students—one each from elementary, middle, and high school—will win a one-year scholarship to Green School.

To enter, the school asks that students submit a 2-3 minute video answering the question, “Why are you the greenest student on earth?” The video should highlight environmental achievements, hopes and goals, as well as how the student would benefit from a year at Green School.

Winners will be announced June 5, World Environment Day. For more information watch the video below and visit the Green School website.

Read more: http://www.utne.com/environment/getting-kids-in-on-a-sustainable-future.aspx

Lone Indian Man Plants 1,360 Acre Forest single-handedly

The story was shared on facebook...
The Man Who Planted Trees from MrGreatShortFilms on Vimeo.

Guru OnNet 

I read this superb story when I was in school, titled: "The Man Who Planted Trees" by Jean Giono

It really fired my imagination on what a single lone person could achieve given time, effort and belief.
a) Amazingly beautiful short animation video: vimeo.com/32542316
b) pdf of the story: ftpf.org/The_Man_Who_Planted_Trees.pdf
The story tells of a shepherd who keeps planting acorn seeds in a barren wind-swept land.
After 20 years the whole landscape turns green wit...
h a huge forest of acorn trees and streams flowing.
Till today I believed this to be a true story!!
Then I saw an article on our office noticeboard talking about a real life tree-planter from Assam.
It also said that the story is a fictional one.
On searching a little I found these amazingly real people who've far exceeded the story.
And now I believe the story it even more!!
1) Elzeard Bouffier - The Man who planted trees by Jean Giono: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Planted_Trees

A little over 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav “Molai” Payeng began burying seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in northern India’s Assam region to grow a refuge for wildlife. Not long after, he decided to dedicate his life to this endeavor, so he moved to the site where he could work full-time creating a lush new forest ecosystem. Incredibly, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acre of jungle that Payeng planted single-handedly.

It all started way back in 1979 when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng , only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. That was the turning point of his life.

“The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested,” says Payeng, now 47.

While it’s taken years for Payeng’s remarkable dedication to planting to receive some well-deserved recognition internationally, it didn’t take long for wildlife in the region to benefit from the manufactured forest. Demonstrating a keen understanding of ecological balance, Payeng even transplanted ants to his burgeoning ecosystem to bolster its natural harmony. Soon the shadeless sandbar was transformed into a self-functioning environment where a menagerie of creatures could dwell. The forest, called the Molai woods, now serves as a safe haven for numerous birds, deers, rhinos, tigers, and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat loss elsewhere.

Despite the conspicuousness of Payeng’s project, Forestry officials in the region first learned of this new forest in 2008 — and since then they’ve come to recognize his efforts as truly remarkable, but perhaps not enough.

“We’re amazed at Payeng,” says Assistant Conservator of Forests, Gunin Saikia. “He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero.”