Communities

I have been volunteering as the Director of Education at the Atlantic Wildlife Institute (AWI) for the past five years. What keeps me motivated is that AWI is focused on addressing causes, not symptoms. We could take in every single injured and orphaned animal in Eastern Canada and be no further ahead. Instead, we take a sampling of animals, about 300 a year, in order to understand causes of displacement, such as toxicity in the environment, disease or human infringement on habitat.

We share this information with researchers at universities, colleges and government agencies, and then we develop educational programming that helps people become stewards themselves. The few of us cannot make a large impact but we can be catalysts for change.

AWI is 12 years old and continues to use a scientific approach in helping people better understand their environment and the species they share it with. If you are looking for a national charity that puts its effort into programs, not advertising, then check us out and consider donating.

It wasn’t that long ago that politicians and some scientists were saying that global warming was only a half-baked theory. We now know that we’re going to be completely baked, and Al Gore’s Nobel Prize shows that the world understands.

Dave Pollard created this graphic showing the vicious circle of our industrial/corporate systems and how a more natural approach to work, education and communities is achievable, though difficult.

One of the major causes of global warming is corporatism, or the drive to keep making and selling more stuff, no matter what the cost to the world. Our communities (commuting in cars) and our schools (no critical thought allowed) reinforce corporatism. I believe that there is a true desire to get away from work as indentured servitude, education as propaganda and communities as holding pens. We just don’t know how to do it.

I commented on Dave’s post that some change at the local level has already started:

I see it in the small things, but there is a hunger for a more natural way of life. For example, a young couple recently bought a small farm here, with the idea that in several years it could help spark a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement. They presented this idea to a few families and within a month our Sackville CSA was born, with 20 families enrolled. The operators were amazed at their success and next year we will have 60 families.

We should look to the younger generation for the energy and then help them surmount the barriers with our business experience.

Is the industrial economy starting to crack and are we ready with alternative models and a shared vision?

There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

Leonard Cohen

 

Photo by:  Jurablog

Today is the day, aarh! [oops, it’s tomorrow, but what the heck, I’m starting a day early ;-) ]

[click on image]:

Update: Green4Generations has its own website.

Saturday was the first Green4Generations festival and trade fair in Sackville, organised by Wanderlust outfitters. Many groups came out to show what can be done locally to reduce our environmental impact. The day ended with a presentation by Peter Corbyn of The Inconvenient Truth slideshow, which was worth seeing a second time for me. For a town of 5,000 people we have a lot going on, from a solar heating company to recycled art and a green builders cooperative.

One of the newest groups is our community supported agriculture (CSA) association which launched its first local vegetable service this Summer. The main driver behind this initiative, in addition to local demand, is a young family that has decided to create a better world by growing food in a sustainable way. Kent and Ruth run Nature’s Route Farm just outside of town and have been supplying weekly food baskets to 20 families. This is expected to grow to 60 families for next year, and the produce includes local vegetables as well as eggs. The Sackville CSA also sources organic flour from Speerville Mill and other seasonal delicacies.

To really combat global warming, we all have to get involved, politically and locally. Here is Kent at the Fair, and his reason for involvement is pretty obvious:

Several people have already mentioned the report by David Wyld on, The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0. This is a US-centric report that not only covers the public sector and elected officials but has a fairly comprehensive section on the history of blogging. For anyone not engaged and wanting to get up to speed, this report would be a good addition to the book Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers.

It’s too bad that Wyld’s report is only available as a 7.2 MB PDF, but it’s suitable for those who prefer to read from paper (maybe on an airplane). From the report is a quick review on why you should blog (something that is still asked a lot):

Yet, the most important part of blogging may not be obvious to the blogger himself, as the very exercise of writing the blog raises one’s self-awareness. And by virtue of its being in the public sphere, “these fragments, pieced together over months, can provide an unexpectedly intimate view of what it is to be a particular individual in a particular place at a particular time” (Blood, 2000, n.p.). According to a recent survey of bloggers, approximately half of them view their blogging activity as a form of therapy (eMarketer, 2005b). Indeed, writing has been shown to be an extremely powerful activity; the more one writes, the better one thinks (Manjoo, 2002b). This can be an important method of self-development for everyone. For executives or public officials, this means they can use the blog as a means of self-analysis; at the same time, the organization’s stakeholders can gain a better awareness of the individual in the office. In the view of Dave Sifry, CEO of Technorati, a blog can be looked upon as “the record of the exhaust of a person’s attention stream over time.” He continued, “You actually feel like you know the person. You see their style, the words they use, their kids, whatever there is” (quoted in Penenberg, 2005, n.p.).

I recently received another request for information about blogging. It could have been e-learning, Web 2.0 or some other area, but a freelance writer found me online and asked for my input for an upcoming article. For the past several years I have given free advice and comments to anyone who asks. Here are two examples:

1. A few months back I received a well-worded request for an interview from Joe Horne, as part of a graduate class project of his. I consented to the interview, at a time of my choosing, and we had a great discussion. Joe followed-up with a handwritten thank you card. I must say that Joe’s extra effort was really appreciated.
2. This week I answered a series of questions that had been e-mailed to me by a freelance writer for a business magazine, without any previous contact. There was an additional request that I respond within two days. I answered the questions almost immediately and sent off my response. So far, not even a thank-you in return.

After four years in the free information business I wonder if I should have a policy on being a source. I have no hesitation in helping any bloggers who also make their information available. I also don’t mind helping researchers and students who are disseminating their findings. However, I’m starting to feel used in providing free (and synthesized) information or advice to someone who is being paid to collect it.

This issue has reminded me of a story that I previously reported, in Good manners are still important. It was about an uninvited “professional” dropping in on some bloggers and expecting to be treated as an equal, or even a celebrity. This uninvited guest assumed, incorrectly, that the corporate hierarchy prevailed.

In a wirearchy, your position means much less than your value to the network. For instance, everything on this site is free and licensed for sharing and all of the content is searchable. This adds a certain amount of value to the overall network.

A few years back, Netiquette was about “NOT ALL CAPS” and enhancing communications. Netiquette 2.0 should focus on sharing and enhancing the network, not just drawing from it.