It's been a year since I started blogging for Ci and I would love to continue it by writing about the things that I've learned so far about sustainability. When I started reading and learning about it, I got a different idea of the whole thing. For example before, I wouldn't thought that sustainability has a lot to do with society and how we all interact with each other or the way you feel spiritually. Now, basically to me sustainability has become a way of respecting and caring, not only about the planet and the creatures on it, but to myself and anything that I have around.

Also while reading and researching on this subject for the Latin society, I realized that people from South America, Spain, Mexico, etc... they all do care about sustainability and they fight in their own ways and means. There's a big growing concern about it and there are new and great organizations that are trying to translate what sustainability is and matter for all of us. If it's not the main concern in general for the Latins, I do believe that it will be and I'm proud of it. Everything has a beginning and people is finally realizing that we no longer can live without paying attention to the big important issues, and they can no longer live without caring about themselves and the nicest things in life, the ones that will make this a better place.  

Just to name some of the things that are happening in Mexico we have that right now, sustainability is a major concern in the tourist market since it's one of the main incomes the country has. Also architecture it's becoming more sustainable since it's the country is still growing. Lowing the Carbon emissions and lowing pollution it's also a big concern in Mexico. Mexico number 13 in the list of countries that have big carbon emissions and is responsible for 2% of the pollution in the world. Inside the country the governments from different states are competing against each other on having a better sustainable vision for 2009. Overall I think It will keep on getting bigger and louder so we can all make it happen.

For us, sustainability is simply about understanding the culture in which business operates.To do this, we look through a number of cultural lenses – fashion, art, music, food, films… and video games.

Now, I know what most of you are thinking: Sustainability + video games? A disproportionate number of video games – including hugely successful ones like Halo 3 (US$300 million revenue in its first week) and Grand Theft Auto 4 ($500 million in its first week) – are ‘murder simulators’, where you exercise you thumbs in ultra violent kill fests, right?

In many cases - yes, but it is also a hugely important industry that rakes in more money and - arguably as a result – now has more influence than Hollywood. It has a grip on the minds and hearts of millions of people and is a legitimate storytelling platform… it’s a medium that is going through a renaissance with acres upon acres of room to grow, so you can imagine how pleased I was to see read about Jason Rohrer, a video game programmer stationed in upstate new york, and particularly delighted to play his game – Gravitation(You can download it here).

It’s an extraordinary game – ridiculously simple, by contemporary standards. You – a character made up of 12 pixels – play ball with your son. The more you play, the greater your world becomes and the screen expands to reveal a ‘mario bros’ style platform above… jump up and your can reach the stars. These represent ideas, and once you reach them you head flames. Spend too much time collecting stars and you world shrinks, and when you descend to the lower level to play ball with your son again he’s not there anymore (this symbolizes the fact that he has grown up and moved on!). Spend too much time playing with the kid, and you don't get to fulfil your creative aspirations - or score points!

The point?? It’s about finding that balance between work and family. You don’t have to be a parent to understand this sustainability challenge – one that many of us tackle on a daily basis. In fact, 90% of North Americans ranked ‘Leading a balanced life’ as an important sustainability issue in the latest instalment of SHIFT.

Jason Rohrer – along with contemporaries such as Rod Humble and Ian Bogost – make up a 'new wave' of game developers keen on giving games more depth and purpose. Rohrer himself has been hired an ‘idea guy’ for Stephen Speilberg’s latest gaming creation.

In truth, I am not all surprised to see this shift. I have long been interested in the gaming industry - both as a gamer and cultural anthropologist, and with some purpose we asked respondents in our latest research, if they played or purchased video games. Crossed tabbed against a list of sustainability issues, you might be surprised at some of the findings. For North Americans who play video games almost every day:
-    ‘Feeling connected to my family, my friend and my community’ was important to 86% of everyday gamers;
-    ‘Pollution’ is considered a more important issue than global warming with 68% ranking it important compared with 59%;
-    67% of them believed ‘Being part of a better society’ was important to them;
-    to support the need for a game such as ‘Gravitation’ 86% of once a week gamers believed it was important to lead a balanced life; and finally
-    to punctuate the need for more depth and purpose in the games that are made, as many 62% of users believe ‘Higher purpose and spiritual contentment’ is an important issue.

I could go, there’s lot more, but the long and the short of it points toward the opportunity for mainstream gaming companies to create games with an equal measure of substance + style, safe in the knowledge that mainstream gamers (we have the data) want to be aware of the issues and are looking for a (gaming) life with some meaning.

Tragic, there’s no other word for it. A Wal-Mart Employee was trampled to death yesterday by a shrieking mob of shoppers desperate to make the most of the bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Ugly shopping scenes have become commonplace in most recent years but surely this is a shocking reminder that we - as a culture - need to revisit what is most important. Worse still, the NYT article noted that when shoppers were told they had to leave – that an employee had been killed - some people responded by yelling ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning’.

Terrible, terrible news… buoyed by the overall cultural shift to sustainability we are seeing in the marketplace, I am disappointed that people are still consumed with the notion that they need more stuff, regardless of the cost it has on others.

In a related story, in a Wal-Mart 15 miles away a customer sustained a cut on her leg when she was trampled by another crowd of overeager shoppers but she opted to finishing her shopping before filing the police report... I'd laugh, if it wasn't so sad!

Two months without a post and now two in two days… everything is changing today (see previous post)… and fittingly, it’s a post about Obama - and his Blackberry.

In an age where the infamously addictive device is commonly known as the ‘crackberry’, Obama is under pressure to give up his beloved Blackberry. The fear – according to aides – is anyone with the right technology will be able to track his movements and know his exact whereabouts, not to mention hack into his messages.

This poses a unique situation. On one hand, it’s one less thing for the president of the united states to have to manage and confiscating the device may make more time for a little (and I mean little) more personal sustainability. But on the other - and this is what Jonathan Freedland identified as unique in his guardian article – Obama’s Blackberry ‘represents a line out to the real world, a source of information - and casual communication with friends - that does not have to first pass through the filter of his advisers. Most of us would have more human contact if we gave up our BlackBerries: Obama may be a rare case of the reverse’.

Goodness, it’s been months since my last post… terrible, i'm usually the 'Blog Police' at work... oh well, thought I’d share this song with you… it’s by The Futureheads… not only is it a great song to get ready to before you head out for the night, but it’s got a great message… check out some of the lyrics:

‘We’ve never made a difference
But tonight it will be different
It opened up in front of us
And it can change for every one of us’.

Inspiration... it's everywhere!

I've just come back from a 'serious play' long weekend, sailing around the San Juan Islands in Washington (video footage here).  It was a regatta called Round the County that spanned 2 days, saw 64 boats participate, 46 knots of wind the first day and basically none the next day.  We placed 3rd in our division and 8th overall.  Sailing to me is one of the best examples of serious play.  We're all out there giving 110% because we love it and at the same time there is a lot at stake.  Overcoming fears and inihibitions, placing ourselves in unknown territory, pushing the limits of our bodies and designs, because in the end it makes everything seem easier and more alive.  

Tim Brown's Ted Talk on Serious Play came into my inbox this morning.  It's 30 minutes long but it sure is great.  He covers a lot of ground explaining how adults can overcome inhibitions surrounding play, learning from children, breaking habits, defering judgement and the absolute importance of creative experimentation.  

Seriously good stuff!

 

Have you ever wondered what happened after the tortoise beat the hare in that famous race? I hadn't ever really stop to think about what might happen the next time (or times).  While jamming on some ideas for stickers to give away for a bike safety station my friend was organizing, I did a quick search for images of the tortoise and the hare. We wanted the caption to say: "Are you really in a hurry?". On my search I found a speculative epilogue to one of my favourite children's stories.  I won't recap the story because it's quite short and a great read, but suffice to say, there are a few new morals that present themselves - learning from our mistakes, never giving up, and yes - collaboration.  Oops, did I just give it away?

This is not the end of my blog today.

In the context of slow and steady... an article today in Time Magazine caught my attention about social networking platforms, and the race to critical critical mass.

While MySpace got to critical mass first and Facebook became the poster child for the social-network generation, LinkedIn has always been the tortoise in this race. 

Reid Hoffman founded LinkedIn in 2003. I have not joined this network but after reading this article and given my intense interest in the Slow Movement, this platform is said to be focussed not on quantity but - quality. You mean I won't get invitations for Vampire, Werewolf, Mummy, and Lil' Green Patch applications? Great. That's not to say they won't be adding applications as they have just signed some deals with Google and Amazon, but they will be very mindful so as to not clutter the user experience - that they will actually be useful in fostering intelligent social connections between professional people.

The main point of this article is that LinkedIn continues to thrive in the midst of these unsettling economic times and it has a lot to do with Hoffmans' strategic, long term planning approach. The author of the article writes:

That's the kind of counter-conventional wisdom and smart strategy that Hoffman is known for. He was one of those guys who obsessively played military board games as a youth. (He once told me he never lost.) Over a year ago, Hoffman starting looking for funding to ensure that LinkedIn would be able to thrive during what he then described as the coming nuclear winter. (He figured a reserve of cash would help LinkedIn buy up companies during the downturn.) All in all, the company has raised $100 million, boasts a $1 billion valuation, and last week signed up its 30 millionth member. (A spokesman told me the sign-up rate has escalated of late and now includes one new member per second.)

Counter conventional wisdom... I like the sounds of that. Perhaps I will be the next new member of the second. Or perhaps I'll take my time to join into yet another. social. media. platform.  After lunch.

My friend Sobey introduced me to the City Repair Project a while back. I remember being blown away with optimism by the stories and videos I saw on the website. Just today, I was inspired to revisit the site because of an exciting project we are working on here. I believe more people should know about this project!  

City Repair Project is almost an entirely volunteer-run social-profit (non-profit) organization based out of Portland, Oregon but has spread to other communities across the US. What they do really well is engage with people where they live. In other words, they physically go to specific neighbourhoods, bringing with them the necessary tools, equipment and enthusiasm, and invite local residents to take part in a transformation of ordinary space to meaningful place. This could be in an intersection road painting, landscaping round-a-bouts, block parties and even the construction of shaded gathering places. The very process of bringing people together, outside, induces a sense of ownership of the place and from that ensues pride and collectivity.

City Repair Project volunteers are active in their own disciplines, which adds to the diversity and collective intelligence at each event – architecture, planning, permaculture, arts, builders, musicians, etc. all take part and contribute what they can.

The other fascinating thing about this project (you can hear it in this video) is that they did not have permission originally to carry out their vision. What happened when they went ahead anyway was an actual shift in beurocratic thought around the nature of public space in neighbourhoods.

More of that, please.

A little closer to home in Vancouver, there is a group here banding together to promote cultural vibrancy – to end Vancouver’s reputation as No Fun City. Their strategy is to engage with policy makers in order to alleviate the barriers in place for cultural organizers such as performance spaces, galleries and clubs. You can read their manifesto here > www.profuncity.com. Perhaps there is something to learn from City Repair Project.  

Pecha Kucha's rapid success is representative of the number one sustainability issue today: Feeling connected with my friends, my family, my community. Pecha Kucha Vancouver is hosted by the talented duo Steve and Jane Cox, owners of design consultancy Cause & Affect who do a great job of building creative community in Vancouver, first with their Movers & Shapers exhibit and now with hosting Pecha Kucha. 

I've been asked to present at Pecha Kucha Vancouver tonight and my 20 images are inspired by my friend Craig Damrauer, an artist and writer who lives in Brooklyn with his family. Craig created New Math: Equations for Living. His Equations for Living applies mathematical formulas to everyday cares and concerns. Distilled insight in a quick hit, they were first shown in conjunction with Move Lab, the curated shop/gallery of the lovely designer Missy Wilson in Manhattan's Meatpacking District around 2000 (I think it was). Here are some of my favourites:

BEAUTY = PUBLIC OPINION + EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
MODERN ART = I COULD DO THAT = YEAH, BUT YOU DIDN'T

You can check out more of Craig and New Math: Equations for Living via Google Books or his websites
www.morenewmath.com
www.assortedbitsofwisdom.com

Pecha Kucha Vancouver is being held at the Park Theatre, in the Cambie Village area. Tickets can be bought at the door or online. 

One of the reasons I love my job is the interesting and inspiring people I get to meet. Sometimes this means sitting in someone's living room hearing them talk about sustainability and social responsibility. Sometimes its connecting with other business leaders in the sustainability space. I was asked to participate in Focalyst Executive Forum the week before last in NYC at Chelsea Piers. It's a popular annual event focused on marketing to Boomers put on by AARP and Millward Brown. On the second day of the presented some findings on sustainability and the 55+ consumer from Ci's SHIFT Report:what issues they care about, what motivates them to make sustainable and responsible choices, the Sustainability Passion Index (SPI) and more. 

On the first day of the conference, I introduced Senator Tim Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation, just before his keynote, and then I moderated a panel of leaders in sustainability + business. My goal was to facilitate honest - not just glossy- discussion that left the audience inspired, and with a tool kit of ideas and approaches they could use. Jeff Renaud, Director of Ecomagination shed insight on GE's initiatives around Ecomagination, some of its hits and misses, some challenges and how GE faced them. Bill Bass, founder of retailer Fair Indigo, talked eloquently about the importance of authenticity and a key sustainability issue in the social sustainability pillar: Fair Trade. And Senator Wirth shared his perspectives and personal experience from hit and misses, to challenges and opportunities, informed by his long time experience as a Congressman, Senator, Co-Chair of The Clinton/Gore Campaing, President of the United Nations Foundation and Betterworld Fund and more. It was a great experience all around. Check out the UN Foundation's very cool Nothing But Nets campaign where you can buy a bed net to help save people from death by Malaria.

The one key belief all the panelsts shared: Change the Rules. Change the Equation.