What Do We Want?

Tessy Britton on fine form describing the creative collaborative paradigm –

Over the past 18 months, Social Spaces has worked in around 80 communities, asking over 2,000 people what they would like to see more of in the places where they live. We have worked in all types of communities, including less privileged places, and the answers are the same everywhere. Not a single person has asked for more restaurants, clothing or jewellery shops. Instead, people in the UK said they want to live in communities where the divisions between age, culture, wealth (and lack of it) are bridged. They told us that they want to live in beautiful places and, very importantly, that they want new types of common space, places that can help to build more sociable communities. They want to create a sense of community, to pool their ideas, talents and to build on their innate resourcefulness and resilience through simple activities.

On Leadership and Solitude

“We have a crisis of leadership because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going.”

William Deresiewicz

Read his remarkable speech to West Point grads on leadership and the need for solitude and self-knowledge here.

Three Facts You Didn’t Know About The Greek Economy

An Irish Wedding: The Case For Growth

A great piece by pal Cian O’Donovan – introducing For A Better Europe.

A New Symbol For A New Movement

Something that’s connected, constructive, strategic and networked – the People’s Cube.

The people’s cube is on first sight solid and immovable from every way that you look at it. It has the simplicity and latent strength of a perfect molecular structure. Though in this case the molecules bonding together are symbolic of people standing together with their arms locked to form a symbol of strength and unity.

h/t Waging Nonviolence

Let’s Repower Australia – Great Video

• Strong personal stories
• (Real!) young people leading the way
• Tangible, meaningful ask
• The word ‘imagine’ : )

How Much Do Celebrities Influence Social Change?

As stars like Jay-Z and Will Smith come out to support Obama’s position supporting marriage equality, the question remains – how much do celebrities influence social change?

Kenneth Jost with CQ Press just released a fantastic whitepaper that explores the good, the bad and the ugly of celebrity advocacy. Full description below –

More and more, celebrities are using their star power to promote causes ranging from fighting poverty and protecting the environment to safeguarding human rights and working for world peace. More than 2,800 celebrities now support slightly more than 1,800 causes. In a celebrity-obsessed society, entertainers and athletes can help focus public attention on global trouble spots, raise funds for disaster relief or increase public awareness of little-known diseases or medical conditions. The idea of looking to celebrities to educate the public about important issues may seem paradoxical, but some celebrities work hard to master difficult issues. The singer Bono has met with world leaders on global poverty issues, for example, while actor George Clooney has helped document Sudan’s war against the breakaway state of South Sudan. Celebrity advocacy is likely to increase, experts say with social media such as Facebook and Twitter increasingly used to air views, raise money and engage supporters.

Download and read it here.

h/t Sea Change Strategies

Bristol Demands Energy Equality

I’ve just heard about this fantastic project being set up by some pals in Bristol. Check it out, and if you can, chip in to help make it happen!

Demand Energy Equality is a young project that seeks to share with low income communities the skills needed to build DIY solar panels from re-used materials. This enables them access to a technology they are otherwise priced-out of despite subsidising through their electricity bills those who have the necessary capital for installation. In this way the project seeks to redress increasing energy and financial inequality, enable access of lower income households to an independent (and price-hike insulated) source of low carbon energy and encourage lower energy lifestyles.

This summer we are planning to put together a pretty special initiative with Edible Futures (a Bristol based growing project working to create a resilient food system) to build the world’s first (we think!) solar tree. The tree will be built using an architect designed frame to mimic a tree’s ability to maximise the sun’s solar energy over a yearly cycle, with recycled photo-voltaic cell fragments making up the leaves. The power generated will power a rain-fed irrigation system for the Edible Futures garden. The project seeks to involve and inspire local communities in food and energy and practical solutions to the challenges faced in achieving sustainable sources for both.

This is where you come in…we need people to pledge between £10-100 before 5th June in order to reach our required funding total of £5k. If we make it as one of the first five projects in the Energy Share category on peoplefund.it to reach our total we will receive match funding up to £10k! Please consider making a pledge, and please forward this round your networks or to anyone who think might want to help. There is much in the pipeline for Demand Energy Equality and getting this off the ground will give us a real boost. Any help you can give will be massively appreciated.

It Is Easier To Obey A Law Than It Is To Love People

Community means communion of heart and spirit; it is a network of relationships. This implies a response to the cry of our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the weakest, the most wounded, and a sense of responsibility for them. And this is demanding and disturbing. That is why it is very easy to replace relationships and the demands they bring with laws, rules and administrative devices. It is easier to obey a law than it is to love people. This is why some communities are swallowed up by rules and administration instead of growing in gratuite, welcome and gift.

Jean Vanier

Travel Hiatus

As I’m travelling in the United States for the next three weeks I won’t be blogging regularly.

Instead I will be doing this, this and this regularly.

brb.