Message through movies

There are still 9 days to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. Those people involved in climate change work can see it by the loads of e-mails received about newly available publications, newsletters and events organized around the topic. No doubt a change is expected, but how to reach the masses?

To my mind, one of the best ways is to showcase the urgency through a well-packaged movie. Recently I have been seen three different movies that express the message clearly and certainly appeal to different audiences. Out of these, my favorite one is "The Age of stupid". This documentary reveals well, how the ongoing processes influence the lives of people around different parts of the world. It makes you think, what is the quality of life and how can we ensure that everyone has the right for the same?

A second movie is "Swimming with the Polar Bears". The movie goes deep into our feeling of responsibility and also adds personal dimension to the global warming. What is my approach in life?

A third one differs a lot from the previous two, as it is a cartoon movie done around the Baltic Sea."The Lord of the Things" combines the different well-known legends and movies in order to pass the message among the age group of 11-13 years. It makes you think, would things be better without ignorance?

I hope you will take the opportunity to watch the movies and to pass the message!

More information about the movies:
"The Age of stupid"
"Swimming with the Polar Bears"
"The Lord of the Things"

Sampo of sustainability

Everyone is talking about innovations and new deals in the midst of different crisis. In many cases we forget that we can learn much from the history. In Finnish mythology, the Sampo was a magical artifact of indeterminate type that brought good fortune to its holder. The Sampo was something worth fighting for.

Several historians have tried to identify what the Sampo really was. According to Matti Klinge, finnish historian, the Sampo could have been a pole about mechantile law in Samppalinna, in the city of Turku, Finland. If we interpret this into current day - we could claim that still we are all looking for this Sampo - Sampo of sustainability. And it just happens to be that in year 2011 we will gather in Turku to share it.

For me Sampo of sustainability is the best that our societies could offer. Ingredients of this are shared values, active networks and joint efforts for everyones benefit. Are we able to act now so that we could spread the Sampo in January 2011?

The Sampo was a pivotal element of the plot of the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, compiled in 1835 (and expanded in 1849) by Elias Lönnrot based on earlier Finnish oral tradition. More from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampo

Who cares?

We all want to feel needed and do work that is appreciated by others. In many times the appreciation stems from small things. It is easier to talk about something far away and not to touch the closest things around you. We keep on improving the strategies and action plans and sometimes succeed on changing major issues. Despite this very often the small practical issues remain unsolved.

I work in a room with windows that led the cold autumn wind through their cracks and nearly without any light. I trust in the fact that the ones responsible for this value my work and do their utmost. I still trust that before X-mas the working conditions will be fixed. But what happens if nothing happens...

In developed society there are not tasks that should not be appreciated. It is said that the value of human being is measured by the fact how he treats the ones from whom he does not get anything from. How do you value the work of others?

Make it fun!

How many times we work so focused on our tasks, that we forget to include fun as the key ingredient into our actions?

Solutions are being created
when challenge has been found and it
meets the right mixture of people
with idea to solve it.
If elements of fun are added to the concept you are sure to succeed!

For food for thought about fun and solutions, check for example the Bottle Bank Archad Machine and Piano staircase at http://thefuntheory.com

Intermediaries of Sustainability

One often wonders - how many of the things we struggle with have already been solved somewhere in the world? Through the Internet, we get a clue of the answer. Still majority of the knowledge is with the persons. And only partially answers are available through a free search.

So in order to be efficient and result full, we would need to know the right persons or the way to work in the relevant networks. This is a challenging task, as the context changes all the time. For this task intermediaries are needed.

Anyone can be a practical intermediary. The most advanced cities have dedicated a person/persons for the task. They may be called as Co-ordinators of Sustainability or Climate Change experts. These are the key persons to advance the work towards implementing solutions. Does your city have one already?

Steps before actions

Nowadays, you can everywhere run into presentations, speeches and texts urging the actions to take place. "Enough for talking - time to take actions", "more actions, less talk" - is spreading fast. But why the process is so slow, although everyone knowns in principle, that changes are needed?

A true fact is that changes will only happen if the driving forces are strong enough or the organization culture enables visionary work. The force can be for example, a financial situation or a disaster that needs radical changes in previous manners. In any cases, nothing will happen unless there is a passionate person to create the demand or to push others to join him/her.This is vital. Sometimes a new combination of people will start something bigger than ever before or a person that has high enough status will trigger the process to start.

From the driving force, it is still some way towards real actions. A joint vision on the future is needed. This needs to be explicitly written, so that all are truly sharing it. Then one fact of success is based on how the organization works together and values the small steps taken. In many cases, the process itself results in bigger change then the real measurable outcome. This should not be forgotten.

During the planning process of Solutions2011 conference one encounters the process very vividly. It is fascinating to see how the different actors suddenly pull themselves together and start to jointly plan actions that just waited to be fulfilled. What kind of change would you like to see taking place?

Process of sustainability

It is challenging to create a conference, that focuses on the process of sustainability as widely as possible. It would be much easier to just arrange a conference without really thinking about the impact it could/should have on the hosting city or on the Baltic Sea Region. You could just tender out the elements needed and plan the programme. This is not what Solutions local, together will just do, it aims to do more than usually is done for sustainability.

How do you quarantee that the event will make an impact on the hosting city before and after it? A good example of the larger process that one can influence, is the reduction of CO2 emissions by year 2050. All possible efforts are needed to reach a maximum reduction, therefore this should be also enabled through the events organized. A reality is that in order to have an impact in the city of Turku, one needs to create a new working culture, where existing networks are acting together. Every actor is challenged to do things differently and think about the eventual common benefits. Actions are needed during the entire process.

The conference preparation team is committed to organize a conference with a true impact. The elements of the sustainability process will be revealed during the upcoming months. If you are interested to be part of the process, you are welcome to contact me.