Any business ideas?

The first morning of the course for future entrepreneurs had come. Over 25 participants with different backgrounds all expressed their expectations towards the content. It became evident, that the financial depression was forcing all of the participants to rethink about their future and this course had high hopes for it.

The course was mainly based on self development and practical tasks. Once the basics had been taught it was time to find a business idea that could be developed further. Lucas wrote several ideas for himself.

---A copy of Lucas´notebook--

• production of ice cream or frozen yogurt several of my friends are producing milk and eggs that could be used for this.... No - to many are trying the same.
  
• use of recycled materials for something else well, what would be the thing here..
  
• delivering of fire woods would this be rewarding enough
  
• garden planner trendy idea, but could I really do it
  
• logistic dealer for local food a lot of investment and networking.. needed but difficult
  
• ...
  

More carrots

On national level, a lot of discussion has been focusing on the future vision and what alternatives do we have for it. There seems to be a consensus that a change is needed and everyone has role to play in it. Still we are not burning yet for the change. Is it so that we do not have a huge need that forces us to do anything radical?

Before sustainable changes take place, we need to have many measures in place, both carrots and sticks. We can force some changes to take place by laws, taxes and limitations. Still the hardest challenge is - how to change the behavior of the citizens so that they feel positive about it? What changes trigger a behavior change and what kind of measures are needed for that? Many experts are looking for the answers in their own surroundings.

Many say that it does not, in the end, matter how do we reach the change, as long as it takes place. I do not totally agree on that, as we need to ensure that everyone is going to be on board. The carrots make things easier and we can all create them by being/looking for role models, organizing competitions or offering peer support. Hopefully the conference will be one of the big carrots! Let´s create the positive spin among our networks!

Life-course

Two weeks had gone since the citizens’ forum. That evening had not resulted in any decisions yet. A month had gone since he had lost his job. The job applications he had sent hadn’t resulted into anything either. Lucas wasn’t worried about it – the compensation from his ex-employee would help him to get by for a while. But Lucas was bored. What would he do?

While scanning through the Sunday papers in the library he saw an announcement of adult education meant for people who would like to be entrepreneurs. Maybe there would be something for me, he thought, and wrote down the Internet address for more information. One of the courses especially sounded interesting. It would be something totally different to what he had done earlier. He felt excitement rising within him. Could this be for him? Could it help him to utilize all the new information he had recently found out with his new way of thinking?

His imagination run wild when thinking about the possibilities that lay ahead of him. Even some of the new ideas would be nice to accomplish. He knew that that would require a lot of hard work but he wasn’t afraid of that. Some luck would also help. But, first he must send in his application.
---

Lucas was getting coffee ready for his wife who was due to come home any minute now. He had even bought some locally baked cakes as he felt like celebrating. He had just heard the news: he had passed the interview for getting on that course.

The real cup

Gathering hundreds of people together requires careful planning on catering. Well-organized coffee breaks and meals combined with in-between-refreshments are points that shouldn't be overlooked when planning a successful conference. But what is different when the catering should also be environmentally friendly - well, is it possible?

Real cups and glasses, not to mention the other necessary cutlery, napkins and tablecloths are the basic parts of catering for Solutions local, together - Conference. Locally produced food and drinks are also a must. The first contacts to local restaurants and other service providers were made already last year, and the latest one this week. They have all shown real enthusiasm towards the idea of a sustainably organized conference and have also expressed that "Nothing is impossible - just give me a bit of time to find out."

Cups and locally baked bread are the visible signs of environmental thinking. But where do the cups and napkins go after the coffee break is over? Or where was the flour or butter made used by the local bakery? We need to go to the origins when we think about the life-cycle of a product. Therefore the communication all the way through, from beginning to the end, is important for finding out the real carbon footprint. Very few have thought about it yet thoroughly. Are you one of the forerunners?

Disposable cup

On the way to the citizen forum on wind energy, Lucas meets his old friend that he has encouraged to attend the event.His friend lives next to the planned wind energy park and is very concerned about the value of his property if wind park is to be constructed next to it.

In the citizen forum, they meet several like-minded participants, but also many suspicious and even negatively orientated stakeholders. While zipping coffee from the disposable cups and eating imported cookies, the audience gets more and more emotional and starts to defend their own backyard, without thinking about the larger picture. The event finishes without reaching a shared consensus.

Lucas is surprised how little the organizers have thought about the small important elements of the event. As to him, the truth lies behind the details. Would the discussion have been different if fare trade coffee would have been served from real mugs?

From informing to involvement

During the resent years the focus from environmental awareness raising has changed more towards involvement of stakeholders. This means that the skills demanded from the employees of the local authorities are changing. Employees should be able to handle challenging communication, understand the dynamics of involvement and different methods of involvement.

A lot of cities have tested a number of stakeholder involvement methods and some have proven to be good practices in their local surroundings. A good number of these cases, can be found from a Good Practice Database in the Baltic Sea Region . The diversity of topics approached through active involvement is very wide. Nearly everyone of the practices evidence a more effective implementation of the topic developed through an involvement process. This is very important.

Solutions local, together - conference offers you a change to be involved as much as you would like to. Involvement requires an active approach from both sides. At the moment, we are trying to develop different ways for involvement. It will be challenging as the conference has tree languages to work with. If you have good ideas - let us know them.

Involve yourself

Lucas has decided that he will need to be well equipped to participate in the citizen forum on wind energy and sits by his computer. He goes through the search engines and find out that wind energy has been promoted quite widely, but it still has not spread all around the Baltic Sea Region. He wonders why it is so and decides to understand what it needs to get a decisions like this through.

What is the true aim with the citizen forum, is it to inform, influence or decide? Or all of this? Lucas is not sure anymore what kind of possibilities he has in order to enable a more sustainable change to take place. He would like to encourage his friends and relatives to join in, but is afraid that he would mislead them. He calls to the organizers of the forum and they tell him that the forum offers a possibility to discuss and share opinions. Lucas doubts that.

Lucas is convinced that he would have a lot to say and familiarizes himself with information on citizen forums. Luckily he found many good cases about it and feels that with the information gathered he is ready to take part and heads to the citizens forum on wind energy.