Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 1:13PM News side edie.net reported today that the UK government haven't got around to setting targets for the number of people who'll walk or cycle to the Olympics in 2012. It would seem sensible that they used targets to drive the quality and breadth of infrastructure they need, rather than build that first then set a target, but maybe I'm missing something.
Read the article here
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 8:51PM David Hieatt drew up this great list to remind the speakers at the Do Lectures what works. It's a good list for anyone wanting to engage an audience, with the exception of the one about sticking around, which works best if you're in a tent with wonderful people in west Wales.
A speakers Do List
1, Do tell your story. It will inspire others more than you will ever know.
2, Do inspire yourself too. Don’t do the talk you always do. Leave your comfort zone.
3, Do tell us of your struggles as well as your successes. Failure is often a better teacher than success.
4, Don’t read it. You know your story off by heart, so let it come from the heart. You will touch more people that way.
5, Do tell us your dreams, your passions, what you stand for, your crazy new idea or your brave new thinking. We need to know what drives you.
6, Do entertain. We cover some serious subjects but that doesn’t mean we have to be serious. Entertainment is good. People learn a lot while laughing.
7, Do disagree. Debate is important. You don’t have to agree with other speakers.
8, Don’t steal other speakers time. It’s a 25 minute talk.
9, Do give the best talk that you have ever done. (Eek)
10, Do stick around. The talks, the food, the beer, the music, the fire-side conversations, and just the pure magic of the Fforest location all go to make The Do lectures just a little bit special.
Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 9:57PM All 20 speakers for September's Do Lectures are now confirmed and slotted into the timetable, which is excellent as we can now concentrate on selling the last 40 tickets to indicidual and corporate attendees. If the mix of people has a chemistry that's even close to 2008, we'll have magnificent company as well as wonderful input from great speakers and thinkers.
Do, Do Lectures, TYF, Wales, action, lectures, sustainability Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:05PM Spent an interesting day in Cardiff - my second this week in the capital of one of the world's fastest moving countries on climate change. Day one was great, catching up with Steve Garrett from Cardiff's Riverside Market, Helen Northmore from Energy Saving Trust Wales and the folks at Cynnal Cymru before a reception to say farewell to the delightful Adrian Piper on his retirement as the Bank of England's Agent for Wales.
Day two, today, was even better - six hours of action planning with around 50 leaders from Local Authorities in Wales; speaking with Arup's Peter Head, top politico Jane Davidson and Tim Peppin from the Welsh Local Govt Association before moving into an afternoon that saw excellent distillation of ideas into action, facilitated by colleague Steve Bather. Now is the time to turn 'smart' goals into 'Do' verbs and make change happen - and if we can make this happen on the scale talked about this afternoon, a seismic shift would be possible. Steve, the WAG team and I will make the declarations public so that we can all play a role in giving our politicians the space to lead.
Key targets:
Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 12:40PM I've had the pleasure of working with nef's Nic Marks a couple of times this year when we co-delivered a workshop on sustainable communities to two audiences of senior decision makers from local government. Nic has just released the next Happy Planet Index, which, as always, makes interesting reading:
nef (the new economics foundation) is pleased to announce the release of the Happy Planet Index, the second global ranking of the ecological efficiency with which the world’s nations deliver long and happy lives for the people who live there. The report reveals a surprising picture of the relative wealth and progress of nations:
The new Index is based on improved data for 143 countries around the world, representing 99 per cent of the world’s population. By stripping the economy back to its ultimate outputs (lives of varying length and happiness) and fundamental inputs (the Earth’s finite resources) the HPI is the definitive efficiency measure. It provides a clear guide to what matters to us and what matters for the planet.
We hope you enjoy studying the index and would encourage you to share this email with colleagues. We believe that the multiple crises we face provide a unique opportunity for societies around the world to speak out for a happier planet, to identify a new vision of progress, and to demand new tools to help us work towards it. The HPI is one of these tools. But if it is to be effective it must also inspire people to act. Please join the Soil Association, Friends of the Earth, the World Development Movement, Onehundredmonths, 38 degrees, the Gaia Foundation and others by signing nef’s Happy Planet Charter to start this process of change
The full report and data are available for free download at the accompanying web-site: www.happyplanetindex.org
