Mindfulness Practice and Sustainability

by Miranda Phillips

One goal of meditation or “mindfulness practice” is to promote wise action: that is, to help us act constructively despite certain common mind states (e.g. fear, anger, sadness). This in mind, mindfulness strikes me as a great potential support to sustainability activism, where fear in particular can hinder constructive action.

We live in an age of enormous and looming twin threats, climate change and peak oil: the first, with its accompanying rise in floods, droughts, fires, and warm weather diseases (malaria and smog-related asthma); the second, with its (at the least) social turmoil as we adjust to dramatically new habits, or worse, food shortages and economic collapse.

I find both of these threats deeply frightening. For most of the last fifteen years, I’ve responded to my fears in various ways: sometimes feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed to do anything; sometimes taking action but compulsively, washing out and reusing every plastic bag rather than considering: what would make the biggest difference in reducing my environmental impact?

Even when presented with solutions that experts agree are the best place to start, I’ve found that fear can still get in the way of taking action. I recently had such an experience regarding bus travel. In this case, however, thanks to mindfulness techniques, I was able to meet my fears more wisely and productively.

Conventional wisdom has it that, for most people, the largest part of our carbon footprint comes from transportation and home heating. After insulating my house a few years ago, I knew that reducing my car travel was the next step. I believed strongly in the value, indeed the necessity, of alternatives to driving. And yet, I still had made no moves in this direction until about a month ago, when my daughter’s enthusiasm for bus travel (and frequent requests for this as way home from daycare) gave me opportunity to reflect: Why don’t I just ride the bus with her?

When considering bus travel, I had a number of reactions: 1. Fear: “It’s going to take so much longer, and cost more”. 2. Guilt: “You really should”, and “why aren’t you already??” All accompanied by a knot in my stomach that has led me to, well, not ride the bus.

But recently, it occurred to me that I could respond differently. One standard mindfulness technique is to observe feelings in one’s body – one’s breath, or other strong sensations – and simply note whether these are pleasant, unpleasant, or neither. On reconsidering the bus, I again noticed the knot in my stomach, but this time just noticed it: knot, unpleasant. And, as often happens in my experience, the knot eased. In its place a space opened up for something else to arise: ideas for possible next steps. (By the way, if you try this, make sure your goal is simply to notice and name the knot rather than make it go away. Such “wanting it away” is another sensation that itself needs to be noticed and eased to allow for wise thinking and action to happen).

It occurred to me that I had been associating bus with these unpleasant feelings of fear and guilt and therefore avoiding it. I didn’t actually know whether the bus was itself unpleasant.  Certainly, it couldn’t hurt to try once and see. Long story short, my daughter and I are now very happy weekly bus riders. We get home only 15 minutes later that we used to. I get my exercise by walking up the hill to meet her before treating ourselves to the ride back. We’ve cut our local driving by 1/3. And the $3 we pay weekly I consider a voluntary tax on the luxury I have of being able to drive the rest of the time.

In yoga, it is a key principle that, in order to stretch safely, one must simultaneously stretch in opposite directions: “ground down in order to reach up”. Indeed, if I try to stretch up without also grounding down, it hurts, and sends me off balance.

I see this as a helpful way of understanding the value of mindfulness practice for activism in the world: to the extent that we can ground ourselves (with meditation or other practices) we are that much better equipped to stretch in the ways we want and need to in this age of climate change and peak oil. I see it as a form of preparedness as important as a stocked larder for helping us meet possible crises ahead. To the extent that we can bring our best selves to these situations, acting in wise, considered ways rather than out of fear and habit, we can help one another weather the change more gracefully.

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Also below is a link to a list of local resources for those interested in meditation practice. I myself have no experience with any of these venues except the last, which has been wonderful for me. They are listed in no particular order. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about any of them, though I’ve listed specific contact information for each below:

http://tinyurl.com/IthacaMeditationResources

Miranda Phillips
(Ithaca resident, Sustainable Tompkins board member
Contact Miranda@sustainabletompkins.org)

Source:
http://sustainabletompkins.org/sustainability-blog/mindfulness-practice-and-sustainability/

Mindful Living Revolution

As mindful living revolutionaries, our primary tool (for the heart does not need weapons) is simplicity. When we become clear about our daily intention, and are willing to simplify our purpose without confusion, in other words, when we know that conscious compassionate awareness is our core commitment, nothing stands in our way. Everything in our life experience - every interaction with our self, with one another, with our world-at-large - becomes an opportunity and part of our transformation. Deborah Eden Tull

Mindfulness is the practice of focusing our attention and awareness on the present moment with a gentle curiosity, an openness, and a willingness to be with what is. This gives us the opportunity to disengage from the conditioned mind and let go of unskillful and unsatisfying behaviors and habits, opening ourselves to the world of possibility. Mindfulness is a simple pathway to personal freedom. We can bring compassionate awareness to every moment and every aspect of our lives - from our relationship with ourselves and others to our relationship with work to our relationship with the environment.

Through Mindful Living Revolution, Deborah Eden Tull offers weekly classes, workshops, retreats, and personal consultations, to support us all in our efforts to create a kinder, more sustainable world from the inside out. She also offesr a blog and daily awareness practices on Facebook. Her second book, Mindful Living Revolution: How to Live Sustainably from the Inside Out, is in process.

Deborah Eden Tull’s blog: http://www.deborahedentull.com/schedule.html

Join the Mindful Living Revolution Facebook page for daily awareness practices to cultivate a kinder, more sustainable world from the inside out.

Source: http://www.deborahedentull.com/mindful.html

Psychology of Sustainable Behavior

It's a tough balance in offices trying to move towards institutional changes in sustainability. There are often many changes that occur, regardless of how the occupants consume. Higher efficiency heating and cooling equipment, or renewable energy sources can reduce our overall environmental impacts without changing our daily lifestyles. It is also a quick way to reduce our environmental footprints.

But, on the other hand, there is something to be said about the individual initiative to reduce our own consumption levels. While seemingly not as quick and impactful, there is always a place for small scale changes. And, one of the biggest misconceptions about individual behavior changes towards sustainability is that our individual actions are too small to make an impact.

Christie Manning, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Psychology at Macalester College, has investigated this topic in a recent paper, "The Psychology of Sustainable Behavior" (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 2009). She discusses why we are not always rational decision makers, and that despite a lot of evidence backing man-made climate change and the need to reduce global levels of greenhouse gas emissions, many of us don't take action.

Her paper explains that while we have a rational side that understands rules and logic, there is also an associative side that works in parallel with the rational. This side is the one that takes cues to other, non-rational, associations we might have for any image, object, idea, or words. For example, she discusses the idea of biking to work. While the benefits of lowered transportation costs, and exercise appeal to the rational side, there is always the side that reacts badly to the thought of helmet-hair or coming into work sweaty. While quantification points towards biking, there is another, more personal side to us that just doesn't want to.

This happens almost everywhere. I find myself printing out articles to read so I can take notes, even though I am fully capable of this digitally on my computer. On days when I am in a rush, I find myself forgoing the reusable shopping bag, or my coffee mug, for the disposable versions. So, Manning offers some seven suggestions, based on psychological studies.

Tip 1: "Make sustainable behavior the social default"

This is already true in the Netherlands, where curbside composting is as common as recycling for us. Don't let anyone see you throw it into a garbage bin instead of the compost bin, as neighbors are known to find it socially objectionable if you don't compost. To establish this type of social default, Manning suggests communicating that there is social proof. You may not need to show that the whole country is doing it, but you can give evidence that a large group of people are "being green." In addition, being able to show off sustainability is also a part of the social default. Being able to demonstrate that you are, like many others, acting sustainably, helps positively reinforce behaviors and encourage more of it.

Tip 2: "Emphasize personal relevance"

Rather than referring to the abstract environment or polar bears, the key to creating individual change is to make it relevant to that individual. And, unless they have a pet polar bear, or are personally invested in the icebergs in the North Pole, messages about these abstract issues are not going to hit home. Instead, issues must be catered to the individual's worldview, and their location. This requires determining who your audience is, what matters to them, and how to frame the issue in a way that is significant to them.

Tip 3: "Make hidden information visible"

This doesn't mean that the challenges of climate change should not be conveyed to people. Making this type of abstract information understandable to people can also be an important factor. There are many graphic designers, artists, and other industries that try to overcome perceptual barriers. Chris Jordan's photography captures ideas of waste and consumption in his mosaics. Also, this type of communication can be used as a feedback system, giving people updates about their progress, and helping motivate continual action.

Tip 4: "Foster mindfulness"

The fourth tip is to "foster mindfulness." Awareness of what is going on around makes the decision towards sustainable behavior much more lasting. For example, understanding that there are vampire loads to appliances left plugged in, even when in standby , can help people make the conscious decision to turn off, or even switch off appliances at the power strip.

Tip 5: "Create opportunities for competence, skills, and knowledge"

According to Manning, people are more drawn to activities that they feel they have autonomy and knowledge about. Thus, hands-on approaches, and letting people try strategies , or conveying effective strategies to people can help give a clear sense of direction when they are faced with a decision in the future. For example, the MetroTransit offers a bike rack test station at the Minnesota State Fair, and at St. Paul office. Users who might have been intimidated to use the bus bike rack when faced with traffic, an impatient bus driver, and a bus-full of people eager to get to their destinations, can now try out how to secure the bike and release the racks, without all the pressure. This allows one less barrier to get in the way of biking somewhere.

Tip 6: "Make change a byproduct of other events"

This tip is based on our habit-prone human natures. Making sustainable behavior something that you must opt-out of, rather than opt-in to, can make the sustainable behavior the habit. Alternately, when we do change major elements of our lives, such as job changes, or moves, it is a good time to intervene and propose other changes. For example, the last time I moved, I received a coupon book with cleaning supplies. Since I was in flux and had nothing at the time, I opted to get what the coupons indicated. If chemically-benign and safer cleaning agents were introduced at the time, I'd likely have gone for those options instead.

Tip 7: "Balance urgency with realistic hope"

The doomsday threats and constant message of having to change, or else…. has the potential to move people to gravitate towards inaction. Manning suggests goals that seem achievable. This can be done by establishing goals that people can tackle on a daily basis, instead of goals of saving the world. These incremental goals should also be expressed as such, in smaller portions, over time. For example, most goals for sustainability are set in stages - 10% reductions by 2015, followed by 30% reductions in 2030. Phasing helps make the goal seem much more achievable, and gives people small wins to feel motivated to continue.

Many of these suggestions seem like common sense - why wouldn't we present information that is relevant to the audience? However, despite the simplicity, there are often many cases where it is not done. With so many audiences in the sustainability realm, many reports and studies attempt to appeal to all of them with the most data and the most chapters possible, hoping one will stick. However, the result is that not many of the general public are captured with these types of data-filled reports. Even when presented with scientific data, from an expert that has spent years studying and understanding climate science, people are still doubtful. Thus, taking Manning's suggestions to heart, and carefully constructing audience analysis, and establishing goals and messages that will inspire people rather than turn them off to sustainability will be an important next-step in our Institutional Sustainability project.

Sources:
Manning, Christie. (Sept. 2009) "The Psychology of Sustainable Behavior." Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Full report found at http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/topics/preventing-waste-and-pollution/sustainability/sustainable-communities/psychology-of-sustainable-behavior-report.html

Source:http://blogs.mnhs.org/node/73

Mindfulness as a Path to Personal Sustainability

Everything you do actively creates your experience, in the past, now and in the future. Practicing mindfulness in your everyday living and adopting a mindset of sustainability allows you to live in harmony with yourself and the world around you.

In relation to sustainability, it involves developing a consciousness of cause and effect. In other words, being aware of how your behavior affects the current situation, as well as being aware of future implications. It is similar to the practices of ahimsa and karma in yoga philosophy.

Are you walking through life unconsciously or with eyes wide open? What are the downstream implications of your actions? Sustainability is the ability to live fully in the present without compromising the future. This applies to the environment as well as your own personal habits. It involves cultivating a practice of mindfulness in your everyday living. It also requires developing a knowledge base which allows you to minimize your individual toxic load and "footprint," while maximizing your own health and sense of joy.

We each have "spheres of environments" like the layers of an onion. It starts with how you treat yourself and your Source (whatever you consider to be a higher good). How you cultivate this inner world will then affect what radiates out to your personal space and family. Your choices within your intimate circle will then extend further to your friends and work relationships. Finally, your external actions will affect your community and our shared world.

My yoga guru Sri Swami Satchidananda once said, "To understand, we should stand under... then go a little deeper." Mindfulness is about being present and aware of what is happening in this very moment. It requires you to open your eyes and live with all of your senses -- to become an observer to your self and your surroundings. In relation to sustainability, it involves developing a consciousness of cause and effect. In other words, being aware of how your behavior affects the current situation, as well as being aware of future implications. It is similar to the practices of ahimsa and karma in yoga philosophy.

Ahimsa is often described as non-violence, though it is really about compassion and being mindful of your thoughts, words and actions. For example, even if you're a vegetarian because you don't believe in killing animals, you could still be violating the principle of ahimsa if you treat people in a rude and compassionless manner.

The Sanskrit term karma means actions and reactions. No action goes without its reaction. Every action will leave its result; every cause will bear its effect. In other words, you reap what you sow. For example, if you've been consistently rude and thoughtless during your life, it will come back to you in some way in the future -- or, as many believe, even in your next life. However, don't let this concept depress you. If your actions and resulting karma have been not-so-good in the past, you can start taking positive action now to turn it around! There is always hope.

Both of these concepts -- ahimsa and karma -- speak to personal responsibility. Everything you do actively creates your experience, in the past, now and in the future. Practicing mindfulness in your everyday living and adopting a mindset of sustainability allows you to live in harmony with yourself and the world around you... now and for years to come.

In order to use mindfulness as a path to sustainability, ask yourself:

• What is my individual "footprint" on my relationships, my living space, my work environment, and the larger world around me?
• Do I live in a manner that makes the people and places I touch better for me being there, or do I leave my own physical and emotional "trash" wherever I go?
• Are my relationships sustainable or are they toxic?
• Do I have toxic relationships that need to be "recycled"?
• Do I tune my mind to the positive, or is my default mode negative?
• Am I a toxic force in other peoples' lives?

Asking these questions is the first step; answering honestly is the real task. Practicing mindfulness may then lead you to take the next step and continue consistently on this path toward sustainability with a deeper sense of commitment. If everybody pondered these questions sincerely, we would have a better world. As Albert Einstein said, "We cannot solve problems at the same level of awareness that created them."

An excerpt from Seven-Day PWR Detox: Cleanse your Body, Mind & Spirit While Living Your Daily Life

For more information and inspiration, go to www.power-living.com. If you're wondering how coaching can help you, schedule a free consultative interview. To book Dr. Kennedy for a speaking event, go to www.drterrikennedy.com.

For more by Dr. Terri Kennedy, click here.

For more on mindfulness, click here.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-terri-kennedy/mindfulness_b_1385730.html

The Scarecrow

"Fiona Apple covered “Pure Imagination” for a Chipotle ad campaign criticizing factory farming. The video features a scarecrow witnessing the horrors of factory farming and animals undergoing hormone therapy, and in the end he starts his own business selling sustainable vegetarian food." ~ Carl Williott 

Mindfulness and Sustainability

At first glance mindfulness and sustainability might not seem to be that connected.  After all, what does sitting and concentrating on breathing have to do with ecological science, depleted non-renewable resources, or LEED certification?  

An interesting study in Social Indicators Research from Jacob, Jovic, and Brinkerhoff point out that mindfulness and sustainability are actually connected.  The study, titled Personal and planetary well-being: Mindfulness meditation, pro-environmental behavior and personal quality of life in a survey from the social justice and ecological sustainability movement, connects the practice of mindfulness to both behavior beneficial to the environment and higher rates of well being. One of the interesting items the study points out is that when people practice mindfulness meditations they are less likely to make decisions "on automatic."  Ever walk into a room and forget why you were there?  How did that mysterious bag of chips appear in your hands?  So with an increased skill in being mindful people have an easier time of making conscious and deliberate decisions.  Slowing down, taking the time the actually experience life and discern what you really want to do leads to more environmentally conscious decisions and higher levels of life satisfaction.  "What's good for you is good for the planet."  Sounds good to me!  

Another researcher's work, Oscar Kjell's study Sustainable well-being: A potential synergy between sustainability and well-being research in Review of General Psychology, takes a little different approach to the same general area.  Kjell points out that the key factors in sustainability research, such as interdependence, community health, and balanced adaptive processes, are also key factors in well-being research.  The optimal approach to well being is pointed out as one that takes into consideration the well being of community and that individuals are reliant/interdependent on their communities.  

So, if you've heard of Bhutan's experiments with the Gross National Happiness Indicator these studies might sounds familar.  Bhutan has found that when the development indicator that government pays attention to includes environmental health, education, psychological well being, community health, cultural diversity and reslience, political functionality, and economic wellness they have a better picture of what their country actually looks like.  With this better picture they can focus on the concerns that matter in people's happiness and well being.  What matters to you for your own happiness and well being?

So, sit, relax, take a few breaths, it's good for the planet.

Source: http://sites.mtmercy.edu/sustainability/blog/2012/10/mindfulness-and-sustainability

Five ecoliterate practices

With a goal of nurturing students to become ecoliterate, the Center for Ecoliteracy has identified five vital practices that integrate emotional, social, and ecological intelligence. They are described at greater length in our book, Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence (Jossey-Bass, 2012), from which the excerpt below is taken.

We work to inspire teachers to use a variety of learning opportunities that help students consider and apply these practices in a diverse range of contexts. These practices allow students to strengthen and extend their capacity to live sustainably.

1. Developing Empathy for All Forms of Life encourages students to expand their sense of compassion to other forms of life. By shifting from our society's dominant mindset (which considers humans to be separate from and superior to the rest of life on Earth) to a view that recognizes humans as being members of the web of life, students broaden their care and concern to include a more inclusive network of relationships.

2. Embracing Sustainability as a Community Practice emerges from knowing that organisms do not exist in isolation. The quality of the web of relationships within any living community determines its collective ability to survive and thrive. By learning about the wondrous ways that plants, animals, and other living things are interdependent, students are inspired to consider the role of interconnectedness within their communities and see the value in strengthening those relationships by thinking and acting cooperatively.

3. Making the Invisible Visible assists students in recognizing the myriad effects of human behavior on other people and the environment. The impacts of human behavior have expanded exponentially in time, space, and magnitude, making the results difficult if not impossible to understand fully. Using tools to help make the invisible visible reveals the far-reaching implications of human behavior and enables us to act in more life-affirming ways.

4. Anticipating Unintended Consequences is a twofold challenge of predicting the potential implications of our behaviors as best we can, while at the same time accepting that we cannot foresee all possible cause-and-effect associations. Assuming that the ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life, students can adopt systems thinking and the “precautionary principle” as guidelines for cultivating a way of living that defends rather than destroys the web of life. Second, we build resiliency by supporting the capacity of natural and social communities to rebound from unintended consequences.

5. Understanding How Nature Sustains Life is imperative for students to cultivate a society that takes into account future generations and other forms of life. Nature has successfully supported life on Earth for billions of years. Therefore, by examining the Earth's processes, we learn strategies that are applicable to designing human endeavors.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher, Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint. From Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social and Ecological Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman, Lisa Bennett, and Zenobia Barlow. Copyright © 2012 by Center for Ecoliteracy.

 

Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence

Read what happens when emotional and social intelligence meet ecological intelligence.

Ecoliterate Leaders

How ecoliterate educators and community leaders are creatively tackling food, water, and energy issues.

Becoming Ecoliterate

What it means, what it offers.

Taking a Power Trip

A field trip to experience the impact of mountaintop mining makes the invisible dramatically visible for students.

Jobs in a Biotic Community

Students learn about interdependence by taking a census of an outdoor site and identifying the different “jobs” of members of the biotic community.

Smart by Nature

From work with thousands of educators, the Center has developed a framework for schooling for sustainability, described in our book, "Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability." This framework...

Ecological Principles

Creating communities that are compatible with nature's processes for sustaining life requires basic ecological knowledge.

Source: http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/five-ecoliterate-practices

World Happiness Report 2013

The UN-sponsored World Happiness Report 2013 has just been released — a project that determined a country's level of happiness by using a number of social and economic indicators taken from 2010 to 2012. This map provides a quick overview of the results.

Above image: Max Fisher/The Washington Post.

To get these results, the researchers also considered three measures of happiness (each of which were evaluated by Gallup polls): Life satisfaction (on a scale from 1 to 10), positive emotional state the prior day, and negative emotional state the prior day.

After parsing the results from a recent University of Vermont study of geotagged tweets, the Huffington Post has compiled a map showing just how… Read…

European countries dominated the top five (Denmark, Norwary, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Sweden in that order), with Canada reaching sixth spot. Finland, Austria, Iceland, and Australia rounded out the top 10. The United States finished 17th, one spot below Mexico.

The unhappiest countries were all in sub-Saharan Africa, including Togo, Benin, Central African Republic, Burundi and Rwanda. Syria, a country mired in civil war, languished within the bottom 10.

The happiest countries appear to be those in the developed world, but it's also relatively high in Latin America and on the Arabian Peninsula.

Here are the complete results:

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And the regional trends in happiness over time:

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From the report:

For policy makers, the key issue is what affects happiness. Some studies show mental health to be the single most important determinant of whether a person is happy or not. Yet, even in rich countries, less than a third of mentally ill people are in treatment. Good, cost-effective treatments exist for depression, anxiety disorders and psychosis, and the happiness of the world would be greatly increased if they were more widely available.

The Report also shows the major beneficial side-effects of happiness. Happy people live longer, are more productive, earn more, and are also better citizens. Well-being should be developed both for its own sake and for its side-effects.

Governments are increasingly measuring well-being with the goal of making well-being an objective of policy. One chapter of the Report, written by Lord Gus O’Donnell, former UK Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, shows just how this can be done. It shows how different are the policy conclusions when health, transport and education are viewed in this light.

Governments worldwide are now measuring subjective well-being or are currently considering whether to do so. In this Report, the OECD explains the thinking behind their new international standard guidelines for measuring well-being, and the office of the UN Human Development Report explains its own approach to the issue.

Graphs via World Happiness Report 2013.

8 ways to build a community

Starting a new community can be daunting and it does not result in instant or guaranteed success. It requires, time, effort, patience and a lot of nurturing of community members to create engagement and build trust. How do you start your own online community? What should community managers be doing? How do you facilitate the sharing of knowledge?

We’ve taken our top picks of tips from experts who write about community management to highlight some of the ways in which you can start and build your community either on Wiser.org or elsewhere.

1. Learn what a online community manager does before getting started!

Photo credit: Liz Azyan

“The primary role of an online community manager is to encourage, facilitate and develop relationships. They need to ensure people with similar interests and objectives find each other, talk to each other and develop meaningful relationships. They need to build relationships with members and potential members themselves, and they need to continue looking for ways to bring people closer together.”

Martin Reed | Community Spark

2. Keep the dialogue going.

Photo credit: palomaironique

“As virtual as you may want to make it, it is still reality governed by the same operating principles as the rest of life. Cyberspace doesn’t live outside the rest of the universe… As manager of an online service, everything you do boils down to one thing: keep the dialogue going.”

John Coate | cervisa.com

3. What matters is how well you bond with other members.

Photo credit: Eric Chan

“If you’ve ever been part of a purposeful group you know it’s not the mission/common interest that matters. The most important missions on the planet often have the lowest level of engagement. What matters most is how well you bond with others members of the group… The better you get to know and like your fellow members, and the more you care about their opinion of you, the more you participate and thus work towards a successful goal… Your role is to create an environment, through both your mass and micro (one to one) communications, that facilitates this.”

Richard Millington | FeverBee

4. You need to host the behavior that you would like others to emulate.

Photo credit: BEV Norton

“Good hosts model the behavior they want others to emulate: read carefully and post entertainingly, informatively, and economically, acknowledge other people by name, assume good will, assert trust until convinced otherwise, add knowledge, offer help, be slow to anger, apologize when wrong, politely ask for clarification, exercise patience when your temper flares.”

Howard Rheingold | rheingold.com

5. Provide stimulating material and pass on rituals and community rules.

Photo credit: Wesley Fryer

“Facilitators foster member interaction, provide stimulating material for conversations, keep the space cleaned up and help hold the members accountable to the stated community guidelines, rules or norms. They pass on community history and rituals. They “hold the space” for the members. Perhaps more importantly, hosts often help community members do these things for themselves… Integrity, patience, a good sense of humor and a love of other people will be valued in any host. And as virtual communitarian Howard Rheingold so aptly wrote, ‘One point of heart is worth ten points of intellect.’”

Nancy White | fullcirc.com

6. Facilitate your community to help make amazing things happen.

Photo credit: Michelle Lee

“Being a community manager can be the most rewarding job imaginable… When people come together, amazing things can happen. Being the manager of a community that does amazing things is an amazing feeling.”

Martin Reed | Community Spark

7. Be open to criticism and show compassion.

Photo credit: Rain Rabbit

“… razor-sharp interpersonal communication skills, the ability to exhibit an enormous amount of tact, an extremely thick skin and a boatload of compassion for people you would rather not give an ounce. Did I mention grace under pressure, courage under fire, openness to criticism and tolerance beyond belief?”

Angela Connor | angelaconnor.com

8. Take a look at what other online communities are doing.

You may not be aware, but Wiser.org is more than just a community of people who are changing the world—we are also a community of groups. Some 3,000+ groups are collaborating, sharing knowledge, co-creating wikis and posting discussions on the Wiser.org platform. Take a look at some of the amazing communities:

The Story of Stuff community: If you haven’t seen Story of Stuff founder Annie Leonard’s brilliant videos yet, we recommend that you take a look and join their group!

Transitioners: There are many members of the Transition Towns movement on Wiser.org. Follow this link, then narrow down your search to find transition groups in your area.

Caux Hub: Attendees to the Swiss-based Caux Conferences have been using Wiser.org groups for to capture some of the learning from the Initiatives of Change conferences which took place over the Summer.

Source: http://blog.wiser.org/8-ways-to-build-a-community/

Water sensitive urban design

Click here to download Water sensitive urban design in the UK (pdf)

Click here to view Water sensitive urban design in the UK (interactive pdf)

Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) is an approach to design that delivers greater harmony between water, the environment and communities. This is achieved by integrating water cycle management with the built environment through planning and urban design.

Water sensitive urban design – Ideas book brings together a number of key strands and has identified the benefits and opportunities of WSUD in a UK context. It’s a journey that no one organisation can take on their own and it will require collaboration to embrace the organisations, disciplines and individuals to deliver a radical change in how water is perceived and managed in the UK.

This Ideas book is part of a suite of outputs produced by CIRIA with its funders and partners. Learn more:

• Creating water sensitive places – Scoping study
• Water sensitive urban design - Animation    

Visit www.wsud.co.uk for more information.