Do USA speakers

SPEAKERS to DATE

The Buried Life – Imagine dropping out of college to do something that can inspire your friends. That is exactly what this incredible posse of four from Canada did several years ago. In homage to the poem from the 19th century, The Buried Life is a celebration of dreams (bucket list) and the desire to help others along the way. 1M+ Facebook friends and an MTV series later The Buried Life gang have created a revolution of optimism and compassion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRexWE9yBVA

http://www.facebook.com/tbl

Chris Henrikson –Prep school kid goes to Duke, writes a script that sells to Hollywood, moves to LA. He has it all ... or does he? Something is missing. He begins volunteering in a juvenile detention camp and his life turns upside down. He spends the next 15 years learning the hard way how to turn gangbangers and drug dealers into community leaders and healers. His conclusion: Street Poets Inc., the organization he founded to bring the transformational power of writing, music and indigenous healing to the juvenile halls, schools and streets of Los Angeles.

http://www.streetpoetsinc.com/

Heather Knight – Can robots interact with people, make them laugh or even change the world for the better? Heather, aka Marilyn Monrobot certainly believes this to be true. The joyful and dynamic verve that Heather brings to conversation is beyond fascinating. Not surprising given her luminary background: robotics and instrumentation at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, interactive installations with Syyn Labs, field applications and sensor design at Aldebaran Robotics, alumnus from the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab and currently a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute. Heather earned her bachelor and masters degrees at MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and has a minor in Mechanical Engineering. http://www.marilynmonrobot.com/

Nate Stanton – You grow up in a small town in New England fascinated by cartoons, films and reading comic books. You love to draw and dream about making a living out of it in some way. Years later your passion and aptitude become reality as you join the mystical world of Pixar. A Pixar mainstay for 15 years, Nate has worked as a story artist/supervisor on A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, WALL*E and the recently released Cars 2. http://www.pixar.com/

Pam Weiss – Leaving years of Zen monastic training and yet keeping the vow to carry the Bodhisattva spirit, insight and kindness, into the world and workplace was her vision and aspiration. Stepping out from a monastery into a corporate setting...unique courage. Now recognized as a pioneer in integrating the principles and practices of Buddhist teaches into leadership development and organizational transformation. Pam will share the teachings and impact of mindfulness in an accessible, down-to earth practice that suits the unique issues and concerns of our time. http://www.appropriateresponse.com

Cindy Meehl – You’ve never made a movie. You love horses. You met this guy named Buck. Seems incredibly plausible to suggest that you would then produce the award-winning documentary at Sundance Film Festival called BUCK that honors the legendary horse whisperer Buck Branaman. Cindy has produced a riveting documentary that is essentially a horse movie about people. http://www.buckthefilm.com/

David & Clare Hieatt – Living the good life in London, working at Saatchi, you then imagine what it would be like to go back to your roots and live in the sleepy but bucolic town of Cardigan, Wales. You move, create a thing called Howies, which is heralded as the Patagonia of the UK for action sports, and sell to Timberland. Along the way you have this burning itch to create something called The DO Lectures. 5M+ views later you realize that the itch is now a roaring bonfire that is capturing people’s fancy all over the world. Ideas + Energy = Change. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/21/do-lectures-festival-that-inspires

Chris Allen – How we would behave differently if our culture mimicked that of nature? Imagine a world where the companies, cities and nature were functionally indistinguishable? As CEO of the fascinating Biomimicry 3.8 group (or as they like to say...a cast of nature circus performers), Chris reveals a new set of principles that are reshaping how we design, behave and flourish. http://biomimicry.net/

Shira Lazar –Heralded by Fast Company as one of the most influential woman in technology, Shira is simply a ball of energy paving new frontiers for storytelling in the 21st century. A bold entrepreneur, Shira has quickly become an iconic web personality and most recently launched her own web based programming called What’s Trending. http://www.fastcompany.com/women-in-tech/2011/media/shira-lazar

Terry Kellogg –Endurance, adrenaline and environmental force, Terry is a man on a mission. 1% for Planet represents the nexus between business and environmental cultivation. Since joining the company in 2005 as CEO, Terry and team have grown company participation from just under 100 to well over 1200+ participants. An avid outdoorsman, Terry and his family live in the idyllic mountains of Vermont. http://www.vimeo.com/channels/onepercent

Shareable food ideas

The Shareable website shares neat ideas on how collaborative consumption can displace the need to own products, giving use through innovative access rather than ownership.

These sites are mostly from the US, and could be replicated effectively in many communities. Go to it.

• Grubly, Eat With Me and Housefed are the Airbnb for meals. Use them to find or host a meal in your neighborhood. Never eat alone!
• MamaBake - Large batch group cooking saves time and money, not to mention it's fun!
• Local Harvest - A massive directory that helps you find farmers' markets, CSA's, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area.
• Neighborhood Fruit - find and offer free fruit to your neighbors with this site and iPhone app.
• How to Share a Vegetable Garden
• How to Start A Farmers' Market
• Host a Baby Food Swap

Cleanstream, Clean Ideas

One of the most enterprising, simple and effective stories told at Hay this year was from Ellen Petts, MD at Cleanstream Carpets. 

They give longer life to carpets destined for landfill or recycling, and at the same time, create opportunities to give social ventures and other enterprising folk the opportunity to save significant cash by using pre-loved carpet.

www.cleanstreamcarpets.co.uk

Community Food Event

As part of my work with WLGA, I'm facilitating this free workshop with Katie Jones:

Allotments & Community Grown Food Event, Tuesday 20th September 2011 - Wrexham

As part of its Sustainable Development Framework, the WLGA have begun working in partnership with the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens [FCFCG] on community grown food issues.

The WLGA and FCFCG are organising an event for local authority officers involved in planning and managing allotments and community growing sites.  This event is an opportunity to:

• inform Local Authorities about developments currently taking place within the community growing sector in Wales (and further afield)

What is the aim? An exploratory event to enable the development of ways to promote good practice in allotments management and provision in Wales; promote resources that can facilitate good practice; develop models of good practice from the event; facilitate the development of supportive networks; signpost to organisations that can give help and support; offer constructive and productive delivery. It is also an opportunity to consult and establish circumstances, needs, barriers, etc. 

Who is the audience? Council staff, and others, responsible for the provision and management of allotments.

What are the desired outcomes?

• Development of an active, supportive, network in Wales in which council staff responsible for the provision and management of allotments can identify their needs, aspirations and barriers in order for support organisations to develop methods of meeting same;
• The establishment of a definitive list of council staff responsible for the management and provision of allotments in Wales;
• This will all help and support the strategic direction of council allotments’ services and land use planning at a localised level in Wales.

What will the day include?

• Talks & discussions from various experts in the field.
• Allotment case-studies from Local Authorities and communities.
• Networking opportunities.
• Workshops to share information and identify support needed.

Venue: Alan Waters Building, Alan Waters Country Park, Mold Road, Gwersyllt, Wrexham LL11 4AL

Finance Lab internship

The wonderful folk at Finance Lab, a collective of folk from WWF, finance, business and government collaborating to understand the changes needed to create a resilient finance system are looking for an intern:

Finance Innovation Lab

We are always looking for interns to support the work of The Finance Innovation Lab in process design (how we create change in the financial system), marketing (how we promote and talk about the Lab) and in business development (how we pay for the Lab).

Working on the Lab is a fantastic networking opportunity, a chance to gain exposure to some cutting edge thinking on social innovation, finance and sustainability.

You don't have to be an expert to help, but we do look for the following:
• A commitment to the aims of the Lab - to create a financial system that sustains people and planet
• Great communication skills
• A flexible, positive ‘can do’ attitude
• Knowledge of either innovation, business, finance, marketing, business development or sustainability is desirable

If you are interested please email Jen at jlmorgan@wwf.org.uk