propelling.ca

swimming in the baltic

working up to it, last year i was in a canadian lake on may 24th, how cold can the sea be? came really close today, there was some serious talk about diving from canoes this morning, but time became an issue.

it was also a real possibility in my mind when they lit the giant bonfires in celebration of spring. the idea of warming up really fast once emerged had some appeal. that was a few weeks ago.

the countdown is on, need some brave co-swimmers to join me in breaking the ice!

>laura

city mouse, country mouse

people who choose to live in cities constantly reference human thought and development, everything they do is in reference to other human beings, buildings streets and store-fronts designed by human beings reflect back. all of their natural experiences are mediated by other human beings, water is delivered in pipes made by humans, food is packaged and made available by other human beings, even parks are consciously designed and managed by other human beings. the common wildlife in cities, gulls, rats, squirrels, having adapted, reference human patterns more than natural cycles. the stars in the city shine dimly

i have struggled with the choice of where to live, living rurally feels like a better choice in many ways, being closer to natural cycles. when i lived rurally, i missed cafes, modern dance and running into random combinations of friends and acquaintenances on the street. someone in the country actually told me that i was, without a doubt, "a city girl", and not being sure what their evidence was, i've got to admit that it seems to be true

people often want to get out of cities, to "get back to nature", to remember natural cycles. there's an urge that happens less often for some, more often for others, to get "perspective". on the human project perhaps, and reflect its value in the larger picture?

i like the smell of the woods every day and the tides coming in and out of the harbour, these things are relaxing, reminding me that a frantic full-time city job is not worth it, no matter what i am getting paid, or how important other humans believe the work i am doing to be.

when i lived rurally, i was commuting to a city job four days a week, working on a small farm and relaxing the other days. this was hard on the head, not invested in the rhythms of the rural place, a visitor in the city. yet, it still seems like this is the necessary bridge, to bring these two very different experiences of life together

now contemplating alternating six months in a rural place and six months in a city, maybe this is too dramatic in its even split, but the idea is nagging, "you have to do both!", and somehow richly experience each way

cities need a lot of love and care, people living in cities are forgetting how to eat good food, how to recognize the sounds in the woods, how to take care of natural spaces in a collaborative way. can't avoid the challenge of urban sustainability, and lots of smart people are thinking about how it could happen:

http://www.livablecities.org/
http://www.icsc.ca/
http://www.unhabitat.org/wuf/2006/default.asp

>laura

gaviotas, a village to reinvent the world

a brief description of the ongoing reforestation work in Gaviotas, a town built in the Colombia llanos grass lands starting in the 1970s:

on the surface, a fairly straightforward effort to plant Caribbean Pines. the growing pines shade the soil and the needles add a mulch layer, changing the soil PH, which allow long-dormant seeds of hundreds of varieties of rainforest plants to sprout. animal life follows. the forest structure acts as a biofilter, and produces much improved water quality over the surrounding region, which in turn has spurred an industry which supplies potable water, eliminating a large proportion of the health problems in the area.

the pines produce resin used in paints, lacquers and cosmetics. low quality residuals of the resin production that can't be sold are used as a stabilizing/waterproofing element in rammed-earth blocks, which are used to construct most of the village's buildings. the plastic bags used to collect the resin are recycled into plastic irrigation pipe for the tree nursery.

the short planting season of the pines caused the Gaviotans to develop some of the most efficient tree planting equipment to be found anywhere, capable of planting one tree a second. their remote location and the difficulty of obtaining outside materials brought on the development of a new way of containerizing the resin which lowered costs and reduced wastes

also, the Japanese pay for the reforestation as part of a carbon pollution reduction credit system. carbon-polluting Japanese industries "buy" the sequestration of carbon in the forest.

it's one of those "wins", clustering on-the-ground innovation in a way that provides financial benefit for citizens, within sustainable limitations, and may begin to start a process of restoration, as the rain forest regenerates in central Colombia, outcrowding the pines

further research on clustering linked sustainable innovations:
www.zeri.org
www.friendsofgaviotas.org
Download shrimp_cluster_innovation_pauli.pdf

>laura

may day! may day! time for fika

time to reflect on work

may day is a day of worker solidarity
those who work stand together to demand better compensation and more respectful recognition of their labour, with origins in the struggle for an eight hour working day

it is one of the few international banking holidays

also, this year, may day falls on sunday, the christian day of rest, the day when god who created the world stepped back to reflect on his work

read an article recently about a company that implemented a "day off at work" once a month, this was not a holiday, but a time for workers to be together at work and reflect on their common project. the company found that the introduction of this monthly event meant that the quality of work increased dramatically, and the connections between people at the workplace deepened, which eased the working environment in numerous and immeasurable ways

they commented that they would not consider trading back an extra day of productivity for the positive changes within the company

it highlights for me, the value of this academic program, this incredible and necessary luxury, time to reflect on the purpose of the whole human project, to take a wide systems view, to pull back from engagement and gain perspective

also too, fika is a time in Sweden for meaningful conversation, a break in the working day to connect with people and reflect, this refreshment allows work to continue through the day with inspiration

it leads me to ask, what is the value of productivity for the sake of amassing piles of stuff? without reflection there is little value in our work, without clear vision of the intention of work, product quickly heaps up as obsolete garbage and we have to find something else to do with our busy hands and minds

i hold gratitude over the years to the workers who have put their lives and hearts at stake in order to slow down the productivity machine and gain time to reflect and remember the quality of being human, to tip the balance on the human side, and implicitly ask the question, what is it all for?

>laura

buddhist approach, bush approach

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an ongoing study in competing world views and versions of reality

current standings, trends observations and results to be posted periodically at

http://www.propelling.typepad.com/thescore

>laura

dental work, the roots

i went to a Natural Step conference in Atlanta years ago, priviledged as a "young Canadian" supported by the regional government to attend. one piece stands out amidst all of that tremendous learning and exposure

applying my critical thinking skills, whole systems understanding, and desire to become an investigative journalist, i asked one of the conference facility workers where the garbage went, once our conference wrapped up

he explained to me that the neatly separated (into three streams) garbage that our conscious conference produced would be bundled into one and delivered to the landfill

my reaction at that time was one of immediate judgement, i said something incoherent to the entire conference audience at the open plenary session following lunch, communicating my feeling of hypocricy

i had the sinking sense that the entire sustainability endeavor was a kind of feel-good make work project with a tenuous foundation in reality, a simulacra lifted up from real tangible change. this was a sour place to be, and i held a lot of fear and urgency about the future of humanity at that time

now with a more subtle appreciation of the Natural Step's strategic approach to sustainability, i see clearly that its not time to do high-fives and feel good about the committment to change just yet, there are a good many years to run strategy on whether and how concerns should and could be communicated. critical thinking skills and whole systems understandings will be applied to leverage as much change as far upsteam as possible, with the understanding that we are all in this together

it is not even a time to feel optimistic or pessimistic, but a time to adjust your feeling, and optimism is a more strategic outlook for effective leadership

a good time for those who understand about bolstering and resiliency

>laura

how do you feel?

running along the woods path, having just finished a workshop on permaculture, singing to the beat of feet, dappling sun on the path, singing when sun hit, and stopping when shade of the tree, having been instructed to observe the shade in the landscape, intently observe, now noticing it, sensitized to it, and making it interactive with all parts of my experience, and singing on the path, to the beat, getting to know the beat, of my heartbeat

scattered and disconnected, trying to connect it all back together in odd and novel ways, and some of these are so very beautiful

>laura

banking in the free world

referring the Equator Principles, a voluntary set of social and environmental guidelines for major banks in large project funding (over $50 million) adopted in 2003 by 10 banks from seven countries, including Citigroup, ABN AMRO, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Suisse First Boston:

http://www.equator-principles.com/principles.shtml

adherence to Principles has been criticized by BankTrack, an international network of advocacy NGOs, who benchmark the Equator Principles against the Collevecchio Declaration on Financial Institutions and Sustainability here:

http://www.banktrack.org/index.php?id=47
http://www.foe.org/camps/intl/declaration.html

looking for examples of so-called *islamically sound* interest-free banking models? or at least fresh new financial models that use very low or socially responsible interest rates?

>laura

of personal value

reading through other classmates' blogs, i have to reflect what i feel, which is that my writing is far too vague, and although deeply felt, the words i choose are simple and lacking the complexity of the personality that writes them - me

it may be impossible to understand how to enact the ideas i put forward, i need to push them forward to implementation, demonstrate how i at least, use these ideas, these "deep thoughts"

and i have to acknowledge my "deep thinking" as a handicap, it slows me down, my thoroughly complex style of thinking differs from others, as i have recently found out, who are able to think strategically all the time

these "poems" that i offer to readers, should inspire activity, but the energy embodied in my approach is probably actually aimed posterity and time capsules, in trying to uncover my motivation as a communicator, i am dismayed to find that i am actually trying to make an argument with the future, to negotiate a space for our time in history, to document in the most beautiful way, the way we are thinking in current civilization, the way i am thinking

my current updated goal is to learn how to communicate in a way that inspires immediate action by people, so that my record is left in social movement, not words on paper or ever-so-fleeting digital memory

and what people want is fun, it makes me sad, actually, but what it seems is that people want to be entertained, and furthermore, want to be attracted to potential actions, they want their lazy asses to be compelled somehow, through an enticing mix of fear, excitement and attractiveness

it makes me angry, actually, i must acknowledge my unresolved feelings around this crap, but yet i am willing to work with it, and learn from it, and now expressed, i no longer hold this feeling quite as strongly

my overwhelming impression is that people don't take things seriously enough, but i understand too that there needs to be more humour in social change strategies, i am just at present too angry and sad to be able to move past my mourning to a more effective and useful position, although i know it is coming and i am beginning to heal the vast wound i have cultivated over many years

i can't begin to analyse the personal nature of my attitude and personality, just move on, and use my power of choice to adopt a different and more effective approach to the change i want to see in the world

gosh-dang-it

also too, while i am feeling my anger, a mini manifesto

we, the agents of a new world order, declare the following:
less paperwork and discussion!
less planning!
less conferences!
less working!
more on-the-ground innovation and active social interaction of reality based on deeply held values

less build up of obsolete garbage and technologies!
less shallowly held efforts and initatives!
less commissioned studies for the shelf!
less social engineering in service of a economic dynamic that has lifted up from real value!
less people working in mindless factories for fourteen hours a day!
more simplicity in the integrity of people and places

you fill in a new "stanza"
less _____________________!
less __________________________!
less _______________!
less ___________________!
more _______________________________________

oh help, i want to love humanity, but it is so friggin hard sometimes, to love this bunch of silly monkeys

>laura

around the world

social sustainability is an inviting challenge, an opportunity for us as one huge human body, restless and pioneering our way off this planet, to calmly accept that we are here to stay.

there is only one earth, we can accept it in all of its richness, and appreciate the effect of seasons on what value we hold and manage.

we are in the young days of our joint evolution with other creatures and life forms. there are many deepening days yet to come.

we are special monkeys, having the unique ability to evolve through consciousness and reflection, not necessarily bound to the next generation to completely change the content of our character and behaviour. we can adapt quickly, and respond sensitively in the symbiotic relationship with our host

we are moving beyond our biological imperatives, and, at the same time, there is a role and responsibility for consciousness that we do not yet understand

>laura