sábado, 3 de julho de 2010

press play to grow

http://www.pressplaytogrow.com/

Play Video Games & Grow! Press Play to Grow! is an initiative founded by Moses Silbiger, M.A. based on a multi-disciplinary academic
research + INDENTRO game design framework designed to catalyze awareness, personal growth and integrated development in multiple intelligences through video game play.

domingo, 6 de junho de 2010

how to save the world



http://howtosavetheworld.ca/

"The hard part is finding people who care.

And I thought: That’s what I should say when people ask me “how to save the world”. For a whole series of reasons:

1. In our individualistic western society, we try to do far too much alone. We need to organize, to cooperate, to collaborate. But we’re all so busy, so distracted, we don’t (most of us) have time or energy to learn what needs to be done, or to help get that work done. Finding others who can help, and know and care to do so, is even harder.
2. Enthusiasm drives a huge proportion of human endeavour. If we don’t really care, we will be hesitant to act, and we’ll give up easily in the face of adversity.
3. In my book Finding the Sweet Spot two of my key points are: (a) never start an enterprise alone; first find partners who share your passion and have complementary skills, and (b) the work you’re meant to do lies at the intersection of what you do uniquely well, what is needed in the world that no one else is precisely meeting, and what you have passion for.
4. We all need love to keep us going. Finding love is all about finding people who care.
5. Before we can care about something, we need to know about it. The important issues in the world today are complex, and it takes a lot of work to really know about them. So finding people who know, and who also care, is really hard.

I have no answer to “How do we find people who care?” and so, I admit, answering the question “How do we save the world” by saying “The hard part is finding people who care” is kinda like answering a question with a question. But I think it’s an honest answer, and one that can lead to a very important conversation on the huge challenges we face connecting, organizing, adapting, and collaborating to address the daunting and intractable problems of our time, problems which have us wondering “how to save the world”."

domingo, 9 de maio de 2010

Permacultura Princípios

http://www.rightlivelihood.org/mollison_speech.html

as found in

http://www.thefarm.org/permaculture/

Principles of Permaculture

Relative Location Components placed in a system are viewed relatively, not in isolation. Functional Relationship between components.

Everything is connected to everything else Recognize functional relationships between elements.

Every function is supported by many elements - Redundancy Good design ensures that all important functions can withstand the failure of one or more element.

Every element is supported by many functions Each element we include is a system, chosen and placed so that it performs as many functions as possible.

Local Focus "Think globally - Act locally" Grow your own food, cooperate with neighbors. Community efficiency not self-sufficiency.

Diversity As a general rule, as sustainable systems mature they become increasingly diverse in both space and time. What is important is the complexity of the functional relationships that exist between elements not the number of elements.

Biological Resources We know living things reproduce and build up their availability over time, assisted by their interaction with other compatible elements. Use and reserve biological intelligence.

One Calorie In/One Calorie Out Do not consume or export more biomass than carbon fixed by the solar budget.

Stocking Finding the balance of various elements to keep one from overpowering another over time. How much of an element needs to be produced in order to fulfill the need of whole system?

Stacking Multi-level functions for single element (stacking functions). Multi-level garden design, ie., trellising, forest garden, vines, groundcovers, etc.

Succession Recognize that certain elements prepare the way for system to supports other elements in the future, i.e.: succession planting.

Use Onsite Resources Determine what resources are available and entering the system on their own and maximixe their use.

Edge Effect Ecotones are the most diverse and fertile area in a system. Two ecosystems come together to form a third which has more diversity than either of the other two, i.e.: edges of ponds, forests, meadows, currents etc.

Energy Recycling Yields from system designed to supply onsite needs and/or needs of local region.

Small Scale Intensive Systems start small and create a system that is managable and produces a high yield.

Make Least Change for the Greatest Effect The less change that is generated, the less embedded energy is used to endow the system.

Planting Strategy 1st-natives, 2nd-proven exotics, 3rd unproven exotics - carefully on small scale with lots of observation.

Work Within Nature Aiding the natural cycles results in higher yield and less work. A little support goes along way.

Appropriate Technology The same principles apply to cooking, lighting, transportation, heating, sewage treatment, water and other utilities.

Law of Return Whatever we take, we must return Every object must responsibly provide for its replacement.

Stress and Harmony Stress here may be defined as either prevention of natural function, or of forced function. Harmony may be defined as the integration of chosen and natural functions, and the easy supply of essential needs.

The Problem is the solution We are the problem, we are the solution. Turn constraints into resources

Mistakes are tools for learning

The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited The only limit on the number of uses of a resource possible is the limit of information and imagination of designer.

Dispersal of Yield Over Time Principal of seven generations. We can use energy to construct these systems, providing that in their lifetime, they store or conserve more energy that we use to construct them or to maintain them.

A Policy of Responsibility (to relinquish power) The role of successful design is to create a self-managed system.

Principle of Disorder Order and harmony produce energy for other uses. Disorder consumes energy to no useful end. Tidiness is maintained disorder.

Chaos Has form, but is not predictable. The amplification of small fluctuations.

Entropy In complex systems disorder is an increasing result. Entropy and lifeforce are a stable pair that maintain the universe to infinity.

Metastability For a complex system to remain stable, there must be small pockets of disorder.

Entelechy Principal of genetic intelligence. i.e. The rose has thorns to protect itself.

Observation Protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor.

We are surrounded by insurmountable opportunities

Wait one year

Hold water and fertility as high (in elevation) on the landscape as possible

sexta-feira, 8 de janeiro de 2010

David Whyte, River Flow

Everything is waiting for you

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloofness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creates of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

from David Whyte, River Flow: New and Selected Poems 1984-2007