The Do Collective

For a month or so, there's been an idea brewing in the back of my mind - a dangerous place to be at any time - of bringing together the magical variety of people who have attended or spoken at the Do Lectures into a loose group who can work together when the need pops up and bring a touch of Do spirit to the challenges they're working on.

Ideas sometimes have to wait for a while before they're ready, like the sourdough made by 2008 speaker Andrew Wheatley. This one's ready to go into the oven. In the last 10 days, the connections to Do have been amazing and rewarding, which says this is on the rise.

I worked on Tuesday morning with Eden Project Architect Michael Pawlyn who spoke last year, and Giles Hutchins, who is coming this year, to plan a biomimicry workshop that we're running in 2010 at Kew. In the afternoon, 2009ers Dan Burgess and Victoria Brooks from Naked shared their ideas and excitement about Do in 2010

On Wednesday I partied with the good folk at Futerra in London to celebrate the launch of sizzle, and discovered to my delight that Ed Gillespie and Solitaire Townsend want to come on board as Foundation Partners.

On Thursday and Friday GMO campaigner and farmer Gerald Miles and Soil Association Head Patrick Holden, who talked in 2009 spent time with us in St Davids planning the launch of Growing Wales, a Do Programme research projet to map out a self-sufficiency plan for our country.

Saturday's rest was partly used splitting logs with one of Gabriel Branby's Gransfors-Bruks axes. They are so, so sharp and glow with bright purpose.

Next week I'm designing the Do Design Map - as an outline plan for people who want to bring a little doversity in their lives. I'll be playing with runner and stream dipper Molly Pink Boots Mackey (who has just launched her lovely new busines and website), 2009 speaker Alan Moore from SMLXL and Julian Burton, who is coming to play in 2010.

As from now, the Do Collective is live and open for business with advice, coaching, design, ideas and inspiration for sustainability. If you've been part of Do or Little Big Voice and want to join the fun, drop us a line.

It's a small, wonderful world, is Do Land

CSA dividends

CSA, Community Supported Agriculture has been around long enough for reasonable people to ask themselves "why isn't more of this happening", a feeling that was picked up at today's Soil Association conference in Birmingham:

"People are sick of being told to worry about food. They need to feel empowered. We know of lots of alternative local food systems that are sustainable, resilient, viable and principled. They may not be able to solve the global problem, but they can say: 'Nothing we are doing will stand people in worse stead.'"
Bonnie Hewson, Soil Association CSA Project Manager. The Guardian, 3 February 2010

Having just attended the monthly St Davids Eco City Project meeting, where food and CSA was a big part of our discussions, Bonnie Hewson't comments have even more resonance. Gerald Miles, one of our excellent local organic farmers (we have a good share of them down here) talked passionately about the change from his early days of farming when he employed 25 people part time on the farm to now, when he employs none, and farms holiday makers instead. A St Davids based CSA scheme with as little as 20 households paying £30 a month could make enough difference and certainty of income for Gerald's son to become a farmer rather than leave the farm to find work elsewhere. Nine households at the meeting last night said they'd sign the dooted line. We feel empowered.

Do change

Here's a flavour of what's in store for the Do Lectures 2010 participants - an edited version of the intro I gave at the 2009 event. The issues are the same, just a bit more urgent. If there's one event that you attend in the next five years, I'd make it this one. www.dolectures.com

Do Lectures 2009 from Andy Middleton on Vimeo.

Ideas worth spreading

More good stuff from Seth Godin

Random rules for ideas worth spreading

If you've got an idea worth spreading, I hope you'll consider this random assortment of rules. Like all rules, some are made to be broken, but still...

• You can name your idea anything you like, but a google-friendly name is always better than one that isn't.
• Don't plan on appearing on a reality show as the best way to launch your idea.
• Waiting for inspiration is another way of saying that you're stalling. You don't wait for inspiration, you command it to appear.
• Don't poll your friends. It's your art, not an election.
• Never pay a non-lawyer who promises to get you a patent.
• Avoid powerful people. Great ideas aren't anointed, they spread through a groundswell of support.
• Spamming strangers doesn't work. Spamming friends doesn't work so well either, but it's certainly better than spamming strangers.
• The hard part is finishing, so enjoy the starting part.
• Powerful organizations adore the status quo, so expect no help from them if your idea challenges the very thing they adore.
• Figure out how long your idea will take to spread, and multiply by 4.
• Be prepared for the Dip.
• Seek out apostles, not partners. People who benefit from spreading your idea, not people who need to own it.
• Keep your overhead low and don't quit your day job until your idea can absorb your time.
• Think big. Bigger than that.
• Are you a serial idea-starting person? If so, what can you change to end that cycle? The goal is to be an idea-shipping person.
• Try not to confuse confidence with delusion.
• Prefer dry, useful but dull ideas to consumer-friendly 'I would buy that' sort of things. A lot less competition and a lot more upside in the long run.
• Pick a budget. Pick a ship date. Honor both. Don't ignore either. No slippage, no overruns.
• Surround yourself with encouraging voices and incisive critics. It's okay if they're not the same people. Ignore both camps on occasion.
• Be grateful.
• Rise up to the opportunity, and do the idea justice.