Sustainable Development
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Solar and Cuba
Electricity has occupied my thoughts in the last week. Solar electricity and charging stations to be more accurate. To help the planet, we invested in an electric car, mainly because we are more or less 100% solar at home. Last week, we took off through the dry, red Alentejo countryside to Evora – a Roman town celebrate my birthday. We had done some homework about charging stations. Still, we fell at the first hurdle, not least because the instructions for charging were only in Portuguese and why not? It is Portugal, after all. We quickly translated the instructions. The other obstacle to accessing solar juice was the need for a…
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FairCoop and FairCoin – a global zoom call
The spoken English language occasionally creates a nuance that is amusing. In English, a fair cop is slang for being arrested when you know and admit you have done something illegal. But FairCoop is not anything to do with a fair cop, even though that is how it phonetically sounded in the meeting I attended on Thursday 25 January. Nenad Maljković, hosted a global zoom call of about 25 people in English. This in itself is a magnificent feat of technological facilitation. Nenad is from the Transition Hub in Croatia and the 7th Cluster coordinator for the Cooperative for Ethical Financing (Zadruga za etično financiranje); as well as the practice…
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Sunday – planting trees in the Mata forest, near Tavira
Around twenty people came to the Mata forest, near Tavira, (including one family with two small children) to plant trees on Sunday, 26 November. Young people and some people with years behind them mingled and worked together on a warm morning and into the afternoon. Around seven nationalities were represented, including Portuguese, Italian, German, Belgium, Swiss, French and British. The focus was the land. The aim was to not only plant trees but to care for some of the existing trees and plants, by watering, mulching, pruning, and cleaning. The trees planted were native and have a good chance of survival in this landscape. They include Carob, Strawberry Tree (medronha),…
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Planting trees for resilience – Sunday 26 November 2017
Five years ago a group of enthusiastic people, some dreamers, some with solid plans and hopes came together in a forest near Tavira, to plant trees. Some brought along their skills. Others brought tools and labour. The idea was born out of a small community group of friends who wanted to be part of a global vision under the umbrella of the Transition Movement. So what is the Transition Movement? The vision is one of inclusion and democracy. Transition’s role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support and train communities as they self-organise around the transition model, creating initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions. People get involved from all…
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NESI – The mysterious consciousness called happiness
How do you measure happiness is the question in the back of my mind as I interview Felipe Viveros, European Representative of the Bhutan Gross Happiness project. Originally from Chile, now living in the UK, Felipe outlined a narrative that is fascinating some in the Western world. Felipe is a writer and an ecologist with an MSc in Holistic Science from Schumacher College. He attended the New Economics and Social Innovation Forum (NESI) with Sonam Tsoki Tenzin, (Director) and Sherub Chokii (Administrator), two women from the Happiness Centre, Bhutan. They took part in a lively workshop entitled ‘Wellbeing and Happiness as policy tools and drivers of the economy.’ The ‘Network…
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NESI – Interview with Jonathan Dawson – Schumacher College
‘It is all a question of story’ – Thomas Berry It was the possibility of a new narrative that captured my imagination when deciding to attend the New Economy Forum in Spain in April 2017. The journey to the conference took just over three hours from my home on a hill in southern Portugal. Leaving a warm Eastern Algarve, I ventured into Spain, a cooler, wetter, but informative space. My intention in writing this article (and future articles), is to report and reflect on some of the learning encountered at the New Economy & Social Innovation Forum attended by 700 activists, thinkers, and doers from 43 countries. Attendess came together…
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Thinkers and Doers meet in Málaga, Spain for the first Global NESI Forum
What would a sustainable world involve? Can it be achieved? Should we leave it to politicians and corporate interests to determine our future? If you are a thinker and doer and want to be part of the process of finding solutions to some big issues, NESI may be for you. On 19th-22nd April, Málaga (Spain) will host the first New Economy and Social Innovation Global Forum (NESI Forum). Sounds grand but it is a simple enough concept. The forum will bring people together so they can focus on what is wanted to influence wider agendas. The issues associated with population increase, the democracy deficit and crisis, the changing environment, gender…
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Cambodia: the circus and plastic – Eco-tourism
I have fallen in love with Cambodia. We have been here for over two weeks, and I feel rejuvenated in a way that I find difficult to understand or articulate. I am trying to work out why Cambodia has enlivened my spirit. The intense oranges and greens of the landscape and the solid temples, mixed with a touch of French colonial culture, have captured my heart. Old art, drawings, and paintings sit on Cafe walls as a silent testament to an age before the Khmer Rouge. It feels like being dropped into a warm, soapy bath that smells of jasmine, but it is not like that at all. Our trip…
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Onshore or Offshore – Oil, Gas, Drilling in the Algarve
Neptune would probably not be happy with what is being planned 40 kilometres off the coast of Faro. Portuguese media are reporting that despite every Mayor in the Algarve being against offshore oil exploration, drilling for gas may start in October 2016. Antonio Costa Silva, president of the Executive Committee of the Partex Group, said there will be no oil platform in front of the beach. Everything will happen on the seafloor. It is not clear what that means. When gas was drilled off Scotland in the North Sea, was it on a earthquake fault line? The Algarve is on such a fault line. What is the motivation to continue to put…
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Corvina, calories, courts and climate change
As it is day three of A-Z of Blogging, I want a word beginning with C, so Corvina is a possibility. We cooked Corvina for dinner last night. It is a chunky white fish and cost about 12 Euros for just over half a kilo. Eating fresh fish is part of the pleasure of living in the Algarve. With few calories and packed full of nutrients, it could be a topic for writing, but it lacks a bit of oomph and passion.
