12 actions for 2009

Make a rough plan for one area of your work or life that could reduce CO2 by 80% in the next 10 years

Identify the two actions that would make biggest difference to your personal ecological footprint

Get three new politicians on board with serious response to climate change

Plant four new vegetables to crop this summer

Walk or cycle all or part of your journey to work for five consecutive days

Talk to six your at work or in your community about plans for peak oil

Commit to a period of seven days without spending money

Take eight people to watch The Age of Stupid when it's released in March

Make two thousand and nine a year of big, bold and enjoyable decisions

Identify ten things in your house that you'll buy with a lighter footprint this year

Plan to cycle on day for five hours at eleven mph  to get to know your neighbourhood better

Commit to not flying for the next twelve months, and enjoy longer, lighter holidays

Let my people surf

After three days of pre-Christmas surfing under clear blue skies and warm sunshine, there are few better ways to herald the new year than to listen awhile to Patagonia co-founder Rick Ridgeway's talk about why it's important to do business differently. Click and think

Words and action

There's an interesting article on the Guardian's website about yesterday's action by Plane Stupid, campaigning at Stanstead against air travel and airport expansion. One of those stuck in the airport commented "I do understand [the protesters'] cause, but flying is the only option for me. My sister has just had a baby and I need to get home".

It's our use of language and way of thking that's got to change if we're going to find a new way of living - words such as only and need tend to close down options for alternatives. The perecption of 'need' is frequently an externalisation of a 'want', as is use of 'the only way'. Let's look carefully at the language we use, and get smarter about choosing words that help us take responsibility for our actions. Try these: "flying is the only option for me that doesn't involve a whole day's travel" or "I want to get home to see my sister".

Words are a fundamental start point for change.

Biomimicry Webinar on 2degrees

There's a biomimicry workshop coming up on the 2degrees network. Here's an indication of what it will be covering:

Biomimicry is a design science that starts with the assumption that after 3.4 years of evolution, and that there’s a good chance that some wonderful organism in nature has already solved the problems that we come across on a day to day basis.

Until now, most of the focus of biomimicry experts has been centered on products and process – looking at how nature creates structures of elegant complexity from a startlingly small resource of materials. Smart, open minded organisations are looking hard at this emerging pool of knowledge, learning how to make products at lower cost, with zero waste and with lower energy. Wonderful examples of biomimetic design can be found in projects ranging from the Sahara Greenhouse Project, which took inspiration from the perfectly designed Namibian Fog Basking Dune Beetle create liquid water from damp air, through to the creation of new materials with touchstones that range from spider silk to abalone shells.

The greatest challenges of sustainability come not from the way that we process atoms and make things, but from the way that we move thought processes in our minds, and organise ourselves for work. To make these changes work, we have stayed stuck to largely mechanistic ways, trying to motivate people using relatively crude processes and extrinsic goals – the “work harder and you’ll earn more money to buy more things” school of thought.

Biomimicry and the study of natural change processes offers one of the richest seams of knowledge and practice imaginable; nature has been building community and managing tension, complex communication and rapid change since the life first arrived on planet earth. Rather than stay obsessed with the belief that we have discovered yet another new way of making business more effective, there is real value in finding time to let go of our expertise and certainty, and look at how nature manages in the same circumstances that we are facing now. A couple of examples follow:

Example 1 – Stay Local

Old school, monkey mind thinking

Bring in things from the cheapest place. Bring in consultants from ‘exotic places’. Buy in quick ‘ready-made solutions’

Biomimicry principle

Self-assemble, from the ground up – use what is already there, on the ground and in the soil. Build strength with what is already there

Biomimicry in organisations

Use the expertise of the people who already live and work in the organisation or community – they’re usually the ones with the most relevant information – as in nature

Example 2 - Be present

Old school, monkey mind thinking

Once you’ve started, dogmatically pursue the course that was originally set, regardless of the contrary evidence around you

Biomimicry principle

Relentlessly adjust to the here & now – we call this ‘evolution’

Biomimicry in organisations

Notice what’s happening within key relationships and external factors – think what this means for you, then choose an action that’s appropriate

The 2degrees workshop Webinar will give examples of biomimicry in product and process design, and show how HR, CSR and change professionals can use the principles of biomimicry to refocus interpretation of challenging issues and opportunities. Nature has been managing on sparse resources for billions of years; we’ve got a lot to learn, and quickly.

Putting a dent in the universe

I came across this great piece of writing this evening from David Heinemeier at 37 Signals, who blogs with colleagues at signal vs noise. There's great content on the site, this included:

To truly be inspired for great work, you need to know that you’re making a difference. That you’re putting a meaningful dent in the universe. That you’re part of something that’s making a difference and that your role in that something is significant.

This doesn’t have to be grand at all. You don’t have to be looking for the cure for cancer. It could be done by a waitress at a neighborhood cafe that’s the gathering point of local artists. The key is that your efforts would be missed, your customers would have a sense of loss, if you stopped doing what you’re doing.

If you’re void that sense of purpose, the pleasure in your work will eventually wane and ultimately feel hollow. I’ve lived that sensation more than once. Working with tools and techniques and even people that I enjoyed, but where the end did not justify the journey.

You can only hide in shadows of the circumstantial for so long before your passion begins to fade. You can only excuse your lack of impact on the world with “but it’s great money” or “at least we’re doing agile” or even “this way I get to use Rails” until the playlist of stories repeat and it just all sounds the same.

Remember that your time is limited. By the time you discover that you’ve been coasting on empty calories, the pale face staring you back in the mirror might be hard to recognize.

I remember waking up to such a face on day long ago and thinking “the world would have been no different if I had not been here the past six months”. That’s a terrible feeling of regret.

But the good story is that it’s never too late to do something about it. I’d give up a cozy working atmosphere and using tools I enjoyed if it meant having to do work that just didn’t matter. You should too.