Link Loving 23.06.11

• Nudging the world toward smarter public policy: An interview with Richard Thaler.
• America for sale: Is Goldman Sachs buying your city? Dylan Ratigan.
• How to make systems thinking sexy. John Thackara.
• How should Europe play the Kyoto question at the Durban climate summit? Alex Evans.
• Hanna Thomas is profiled in Twin magazine! Nice one Han : )
• How New Zealand became a green leader. John Peet.
• Food speculation: farmers, hedge funds and the Ecologist. Brett Scott.
• Does advertising make us work longer hours? Guy Shrubsole.

Refugees: 100% British

Very nice Amnesty, very nice indeed.

Path To Prosperity

You might not agree with him, but this sure is compelling.

Link Loving 22.06.11

• Antony Mason on the generational housing crisis.
• India threatens to pull plug on peacekeeping. Colum Lynch.
• Tamsin Omond on Slutwalk, novelty, compromise and making it new.
• The origins of fasting and hunger strike. Eric Stoner.
• Egyptian street art is blossoming. Ursula Lindsey.
• Humanity’s energy dilemma in three easy charts. David Roberts.
• New convention to recognise labour rights for millions of maids, nannies and cooks. Washington Post.
• If Congress really dislikes “judicial activism,” it needs to do a better job of writing laws. Linda Greenhouse.

The Finance Innovation Lab

Link Loving 21.06.11

• The EU and the Mediterranean democratic awakening. Hendrik Tiesinga.
• NESTA report at the performance gap between the US and UK venture capital funds.
• Rebels of Tahrir Square.
• Five positions in the Egyptian revolution. Alaa Al-Aswani.
• I like the idea of micro-patronage. Do you think it would work?
• The resume is dead, the bio is king. Michael Margolis.
• Placemaking as a new environmentalism. Ethan Kent.
• Why good companies create bad regulatory strategies. Andre Dua, Robin Nuttall and Jon Wilkins.

Gratitude

Speech Advice – What Else?

UK Youth Climate Coalition Co-Director Hannah Smith asked me for some advice for a speech she’s giving. She doesn’t need it – her energy and passion are more inspiring than anything I have to say – but I came up with the following. What else would you advise?

• Talk about what is useful to them, not what is interesting to you. We may be fascinated about paradigm shifts and worldwide revolution, and the audience will need to hear that from someone. Likelihood is, someone else will bring that viewpoint to the table. Think about the knowledge you have gained in the last 5 years of campaigning, about the mistakes you made when you first got involved with activism. What do you wish you knew then?
• Give them resources. What books should they read? What blogs should they follow? Who has inspired you and should they know about? How can they be part of your work once you’ve finished speaking?
• Give them responsibility. “You will be told you are the leaders of tomorrow, and that’s all nice and well. But if you want – you can be the leaders of today.” Tell them we need them. “We are the ones we have been waiting for”.
• Give them hope. Talk about how young people across Europe are working together towards Power Shift. Talk about how a new generation of climate campaigners is collaborating, sharing knowledge and winning campaigns. Talk about how the combination of smart tactics and passionate hard work is winning campaigns right now – NHS, forests etc.

What else?

Link Loving 20.06.11

• A very strong piece on Blue Labour from Jon Wilson.
• Get ready for climate policy backlash. Andrew Pendleton.
• Going to Berlin this summer?
• Rio +20: Big summit seeks big idea. Richard Black.
• What Leo Babauta is learning from taking only public transport while living in San Fran.
• How to queer ecology. Alex Johnson. Brilliant piece.
• After failed attempts to unionise Wal-Mart, the main union for retail workers created a nonunion group that has signed up thousands of members. Stephen Greenhouse.
• Repulsion is part of diversity. Penelope Trunk.

Suppose You Had The Revolution

“Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side won, and you had the society you wanted. How would you start living, you personally, in that kind of society? Start living that way now! Whatever you would do then, do it now.”

Paul Goodman