Nuno & Art

Ana's webs

Ana is my sister and the things she does in the internet are more or less like this. I am sorry, but it's in Spanish.
This other one is in Basque, so a little more difficult to understand. And finally, this other one is English, for friend that designs jewellery.
So you have a little idea of the way she works, so, please let me know if she could be helpful. But don't feel obliged to say that you like it because she is my sister ;-)

Another interesting link....

this is a cool one which has been sent to me, and could be relevant:

http://sca21.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

love,

Linda

Cafe Babel

And this another interesting link, specially for those who are interested in developing a REAL European public opinion.
I have to browse on it a little more, but it looks quite focused in some of the issues we are interested in.

EASY ECO

I am sure that some of you could be interested in attending this conference that will be held in Vienna next March.

Article

the magazine/newsletter I'm working on is doing a feature on Sustainability this time, so i offered to write an article about RAISE/RAISE plus. I was asked to write about 500 words, I managed to get it down to 670 and told the editor she'll have to edit it some more if necessary! (as designer, I'm the one who will have to squeeze it in!)
Anyway, this is what I've written - see what you think:

The RAISE project – A participatory approach to European sustainability

In Autumn 2005, I took part in a highly original experiment in public consultation. A group of 26 European citizens – one from each of the then countries of the EU, plus Romania – assembled for a series of workshops to learn about and discuss the European Commission-funded research programme on the ‘City of Tomorrow’. We were chosen through a random selection process, not for our expertise in the area of sustainability but as interested laypeople.

The participants were asked to discuss their understandings of sustainability, their vision of sustainable cities, and their opinions of research results in four substantive policy areas: urban governance, transport, built environment and cultural heritage. The outcome of the process was a ‘Citizens’ Declaration on the City of Tomorrow’, presented to the European Commission and Parliament in Brussels in December 2005.

Early in the process, solidarity, mutual respect and friendship developed among the group as issues were argued over and conclusions drawn in each of the categories. The greatest challenge was to condense our thoughts into a maximum ten page document – which was reduced even further to a single A3 tri-folded sheet. The Declaration can be found on the website at www.raise-eu.org/citizens-declaration.html, but among the main conclusions are: the need for involvement of citizens in the development of policy; education for sustainability; and local action.

The most significant outcome however was the creation of a unique group able to reflect views from all over the continent. Once the European Commission’s initial project (and funding) was over came the challenge of how to continue the work we had begun. To sum up sustainability in a single sheet of A3 seems like a hollow exercise, when the essence is about action and participation, particularly at the local level.

The first opportunity to continue came when our Cypriot member, Andreas, was elected as Mayor of the small town of Lefkara, with a vision of increasing participation and involving his fellow citizens in improving the sustainability of the town. It then took two years, and intensive unpaid work by two of the original facilitators, before funding was found to arrange transport for most of the original citizens to Cyprus.

Over two days the group planned and developed a workshop process using similar techniques to those in the original project. The Mayor set up a local meeting in which the project and background were explained, and the representatives from all over Europe met and made friends with the Lefkaran citizens. We facilitated the local people to discuss their hopes and fears for the town, and to generate ideas for creating a more sustainable future for Lefkara.

A month later, we met again in Brussels. Andreas reported back that a number of local groups of 8-10 people each are now meeting regularly in Lefkara to tackle different issues. Our visit was a trigger to encourage the local people to participate outside of the existing political system, and to see that groups of citizens can get together to make a difference.

The emphasis in the Raise process is on citizens acting, not as ‘experts’, but as individuals who have enthusiasm, energy and a wish to be involved. The process is organic, and has developed a long way from the first initiative set up by the Commission. What we offer is a framework, methods and tools for discussing ideas and making sure everyone’s voice is heard, to provide an example and a stimulus.

The future of the group is unclear, funding is hand to mouth, and everything depends on the commitment and enthusiasm of the participants, but it has acquired a life and a momentum of its own. Our next project will return to the original procedure of evaluating research results, this time specifically on transport, and will be meeting for workshops in spring 2008. No longer directly funded by the EC, but carried forward by the goodwill and energies of the group. Maybe thirty people can just save the world – one community at a time.

Linda Hadfield, BFWG Cambridge

Wikis

I don't want to be a pain with the wikis, but here you have an example of their potential:

(From Wikispaces Update, October, 2007)

http://openrsa.wikispaces.com , is a
great example of a community using Wikispaces to better engage its
members and to develop a culture of civic engagement.

Our Space: OpenRSA is an experiment in using a wikispace, events, and
other social software to help a 250-year-old UK membership
organisation re-invent itself by becoming more networky and less
hierarchical. The organisation http://www.thersa.org/ - Royal Society
for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce - started in
the coffee houses of Covent Garden, so we are just introducing new
tools for conversation with a wider reach.

Our Community: OpenRSA started as a Facebook group - now with 340
members - after a get-together of about 15 people. We set up the
wikispace to give us additional functionality for our larger meeting
on October 1. Anyone can get involved in OpenRSA who is currently a
Fellow of the RSA (and there are 27,000 of those worldwide) or
interested in becoming a Fellow. There's an official RSA Networks blog
here http://mtblog.typepad.com/rsa_networks/ . OpenRSA aims to be a
friendly unofficial complement run by volunteers.

Our Experience with Wikispaces: Wikispaces was an easy choice because
of past experience, ease of use, and functionality. Participants in
events can add their reports, we can embed video, and also take in a
feed from the chief executive of the RSA, Matthew Taylor. We'll be
doing more prior to an official RSA event for 250 Fellows on November
22.

Photoclima

Greenpeace has released a book with photos and simulated photos to illustrate what it might very well look like in southern Europe on 2077 due to the climate changes. The book can be downloaded free from Greenpeaces spanish website for those lucky enough to read spanish. Or, you can just watch the pichtures here http://www.greenpeace.org/espana/photosvideos/slideshows/photoclima

and warming...

when I arrived in Porto, around 19h30min, the temperature outside (according to a panel in the airport) was 16 degrees
It begins not to be so funny...

nuno

UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development

Could be a useful link

Confusedly sustainable (or sustainably confused)

Yesterday I was at a meeting of the British Federation of Women Graduates (BFWG) where we tried to decide our priorities for action on the sustainability agenda set by our international organisation, the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) http://www.ifuw.org/programme/index.htm. On Wednesday I was at a meeting to discuss an action plan for my village. Two weeks ago I was at meeting to discuss priorities for the sustainability strategy for Bedfordshire. http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/aio/4607400 Before that, in Lefkara; two years ago, in Brussels…

I have thought so much about this and confused myself so much that I have reached the point where I don’t know what to do or think any more. I sat dumb at yesterday’s meeting thinking that I should have something useful to say, but not being able to form the words. Everybody seems to be talking, but when it comes to thinking of ideas of what to do, all I can see are the reasons why these things won’t work.

It seems that if we take it from the highest level we come up with fine words, like our Citizens’ Declaration, or the IFUW statement. But if we look at the level for action, we come up against so many constraints and contradictions; things that are dependent on things outside of our control, conflicting priorities, processes that are already so far down their inevitable trajectory that it seems impossible to turn them back.

It seems there are two levers we need to push on to change the world. One is the lever of governance, policies, politics and power structures, to change the way things get organised and done. The other is the lever of individual attitudes and behaviour, persuading people to change the way they live and think and the things they do. Neither of these is an easy thing to change, they are both full of contradictions and conflicting priorities, and the outcomes are never predictable. And they both require powers of persuasion, something I’m not good at and shy away from. I mean, I hate telling people what they should do, I always try to respect the other person’s point of view, and not impose my own. And there is always an ‘aah, but…’ lurking at the back of my mind. I don’t think I am very good at explaining myself. That’s why I don’t say very much in meetings – I am a thinker (and a very confused one), not a speaker or a persuader, and I don’t like to say anything unless I’m 100% sure about it. So I get frustrated, and if I do say anything and people don’t agree or don’t want to hear I get angry, then I get angry with myself most of all and wish I hadn’t spoken in the first place.

Yes, I’m ranting again, sorry about that. I’m hoping something a bit clearer will come out of Brussels and I will be able to see a way forward. In the meantime, I am planning to add lots of links to this blog!

"summer time and the living is easy..."

Today I had my third surf lesson. I can stand on the board for 5 seconds...
The sun was shinning, there were actually people in bathing suits sun-bathing. Portugal is a sunny place, but this is too much.

I need some RAISE magic!

There is supposed to be a public meeting in my village on Wednesday to discuss the draft action plan for the village which we have made following the survey we did. But the guy who should be organising it has done NOTHING towards preparing for it (I booked the hall, wrote an article for the village magazine and made posters to put on the noticeboards). And it looks like it will be a complete disaster if I don’t step in and do lots of extra work in the next 4 days. Yes there is supposed to be a committee organising it, but everybody is busy with other things (I have 5 jobs at the moment!), and as the Chairman he was the one who should have been making sure we were working together and everything was being done.
I set up a website for the project 6 months ago, then after that he asked one of his drinking buddies to do it because ‘he is a professional’. The thing finally got done on Thursday, and I could have done it SOOO much better, all he has done is make a pdf from the sections of the report done by the subgroups and shoved it up there with no formatting and a front page which has been taken from the posters I made last week (but laid out really badly).
http://www.ipsoweb.com/thurleigh/
I would say we should do a repeat of Lefkara here, but I’d be ashamed to let my lovely RAISE friends meet the boring, infuriating a***h***s I live and work among :-(

Al Gore

Lesson about development to 3rd year students in Business Degree. I was talking about Al Gore and the new training and dissemination program he has announced for Spain. Suddenly, I realized that something was not very clear for them. Innocently, I asked, "do you know who is Al Gore, don't you?". Most of the heads denied. A quick survey demonstrated that 16 of 23 (69.6%) had never heard before his name (at least, they didn't remember it). But it was even worst that just one (4.3%) knew that he had won the Nobel Prize. Other one (4.3%) knew him because he saw the character... in the Simpsons!
I have repeated the survey in another group of students in the evening. The results have improved a little (54% know him, 46% not).
But the worst happened at home. When I have told my wife about the experience, she answered, "Al Gore..., he is French, isn't he?"

Winter

It was 0 degrees last night...
I had to bring my pot plants in from the patio into the house.
But at least it's sunny today.

6 hours

The new Constitution of Venezuela establishes the working day of 6 hours. These are the advantages of being sit down over an enormous barrel of oil. The problem is that it will not last forever.
Anyway, this man is wasting his talent for the comedy...

Moments

Today we all have received the Lefkara moments. It has been funny to discover than my PhD is focused in military policy in the Basque country. It would be an interesting topic, no doubt about it. However, I'll follow focusing in the agri-environmental policy. I hope that I will ever finish this task.

How was your day?

I spent yesterday (Saturday) morning on a Community Clean Up, picking up rubbish round the village...
... and the afternoon at a classical piano concert/tea and cakes at a friend's house.
Quite a bizarre combination!

People

We have shared an intense experience in Lefkara. We have done again the little miracle of gathering together very different people, discuss respectfully and being able to reach agreements...in a record time!!
But we also had fun and met wonderful people. As Petra, the young Slovenian architect, working temporary in Nicosia. Daniela, the German worker for the Commision, who is trying to make possible that Greek and Turkish children go together to school. Pani, from Lefkara, who is helping the youth of her town to keep away from drugs . Maria, the older Lefkarian "citizen", who astonished us with her energy and commitment. Lee, the English hotel manager, whose kindness made our stay there even more pleasant. And the new Raise people, as Evgueni, Nastia or Hana. And the "not-so-new" Irina, Matthias and Tanguy.
And of course, all the Lefkarian people. Thanks for all. We were at home.
Cheers!

Good (?) morning

Hi guys,
I think I got infected with Matthias' Brussels weather and brought it home with me..
'All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey,
I've been for a walk on a winter's day.
I'd be safe and warm if I was in LK,
Raise-Plus-Cyprus dreaming, on such a winter's day.'

And the first thing I had to do today was clean up mouse entrails from the kitchen floor... I love my cats!

work now, talk later
Love and hugs,

Linda

The First Step

It is not very impressing, but we shall improve it in the future. Just a little place to talk, to discuss or to share everything that concerns and those people who met for the first time more than two years ago in Vienna. And, of course, also for those that have joined us afterwards in Cyprus. For you all, this space of freedom. Enjoy yourselves. I love you all.