Your day of reckoning?

The end of the year is normally time when we make conclusions of the past and prepare for the coming year. But when, actually, is the real moment of reckoning? One can say that yes, we do make conclusions and nice reports of the past year. Some of these are even read by others, but do we really change the way we behave or work? Do we learn from the mistakes done or is something else needed to trigger the process?

For many the real day of reckoning is not the last day of the year. It is the day when someone has time to go through the achievements and questions the gaps and mistakes. An extra effort is needed for that, it does not come automatically. The reasons behind the analyze can vary a lot. The main thing is that the real day of reckoning is possible only if we allow the change to happen for better or worse.

The real day of reckoning takes only place when the circumstances are right and the decisions-makers are brave enough to make decisions in favor of sustainability of all sides. In this, we are all decision-makers - so let us not forget that during year 2011!

Thank you for reading the blog this year - only a month to go to the Solutions local, together Conference!

Nearly 350 registered!

What is it that makes people do things in the last moment? Whether it concerns shopping, sending X-mas greeting or doing the last urgent bits of work before a break, it is always the same story. Planning ahead is sometimes not possible, but in most cases, one could avoid the last rush of stress. Or is it in fact the truth that we all want to be loaded with stress before we get anything done?

We want to feel important and needed. Partly for this we also want to complain how busy we are. The hard thing is to actually stop and enjoy the current moment without guiltiness and negative stress. The good, sustainable thing about X-mas is that it comes, whether we have cleaned the house of not. So no last moment stress is needed. Congratulations for those who have understood it!

It is not yet the last moment to register and we are reaching already 350 registered participants. This means that several sessions and restaurants at the conference are getting full and soon we are in the situation, where the last ones to register are too late. This is new for many, as normally conferences are hunting for persons to attend, this time this is not the case. Thank you for a nice X-mas present and see you at the conference!

Shopaholism?!

Some claim that the more we buy presents, the more we feel guilty of the time unspent with the ones we care. This was suddenly true with Lucas. He felt that during the past year he had been selfish and focused on himself, rather then on his family and friends. And this was influencing his behavior in shop now. He was looking around and thought that one present was not enough for his daughter and son, his children deserve more. Therefore he returned back to get one more, as all the others were buying so many presents too.

Lucas returned back home with bags full of shiny presents and extra plastic bags from all the lovely shops. His wife commented his bags with saying - "I hope you left something for the others too". Lucas stopped and felt ashamed - he had been lured to buy things, shopaholism had attacked him. In the midst of changing his thinking and behavior, he faced a setback. Lucas thought that the sustainable thinking would have been rooted in himself already, but this was not true.

If we are not careful, anyone of us, can be lured to buying unnecessary gifts in unrecyclable packages. Being sustainable requires more thinking and listening to the real needs. It is easy to be lured. In the end, our sustainability is measured at the counter...

Over 200 registered!

Some count days to the Christmas eve, some to the start of the New Year - for us - the counting goes a bit further until the start of the conference. This means, we have 51 days to go and many details to put in place. It has been great to see, how the word is spreading round and how conference participants and delegations are forming up. Already 200 participants are coming - are you still considering?

Location means everything. This is true as we face it daily. It is one thing to live close to other countries with just a short distance on train to reach other them, then in "far" North. This means that before reaching us, one needs to make a decision if it is worth while to create CO2-emissions for that. Some claim that we could create the same effect with video-connections. This is unfortunately not yet true, as how could we pass following things true it:

• person to person discussions with new people
• atmosphere and cultural insights, dancing
• smells and tastes of pure northern ingredients
• the feeling of excitement when solutions found their new homes
• market atmosphere with freedom to decide on what to see and hear
• excellent hosts with inspiration

Day to day communication can nicely be replaced with on-line connections, but this you need to experience yourself to be motivated to continue back home!

Responsible - trendy adjective

Responsible tourism, responsible food, responsible consumer, responsible travel... Everyone has suddenly woken up and manifastates that being responsible is now the trend that you should not just pass by.

There used to be a time that we were looking into WHO is responsible, rather than what the concept responsible means. From who the focus then shifted into responsible FOR WHAT? And only now the real analyses of what responsibility really means have started.

Responsible actions take into account the entire organization, not just the surrounding where the actions take place and the external stakeholders, but also the values of it, working environment and personnel. It is not enough to change the slogans of the organization and claim that we are truly responsible, if the actions are limited to recycling of papers or offsetting CO2 emissions.

It is time to focus on responsible solutions and start to use them - be trend-setter with true actions, take part in Solutions local, together - Conference. If you have already registered, you are among 200 forerunners, if not it is time to act.