A couple of days ago I had my first experience on a ropes course. We only had a short time at this facility and so the piece I chose to do was what was described as the most fearsome of all the apparati. It was affectionately dubbed “the Pamper pole” after the diaper brand. The Pamper pole is a a 10 meter high log stood on its end with a platform on top. It has little cleats that you can climb up and the point of the exercise is to get to the top, stand on a platform and leap …
On Friday morning, David Korten offered a very brief and very effective overview of the “perfect economic storm” scenario, whereby peak oil, climate change and the collapse of the US dollar provide the conditions for a fundamental global economic transformation. There are many places where this is being talked about (Google for more), but I as I thought about this scenario, I gave some thought to what this might mean for First Nations economies. It’s clear to me that any future economic development or endeavours based on oil – in other words, strongly dependant on long range distribution systems – …
The best line I heard at the BALLE Conference today was “faster learning beats better planning.” Instead of blogging presentations and such, I’m letting ideas seep in and run together and I’ll write over the next week or so about stuff I’ve learned and stuff I’m thinking about.
Live blogging from the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies conference here in Vancouver. Last night we got opened up with a welcome from Musqueam Elder Delbert Guerin, and then heard keynotes from Judy Wicks, one of the founders of BALLE and the proprietor of the White Dog Cafe, and Jim Hightower, who needs little introduction, and anyway any introduction you could give him would be too long. So just check his site. This morning, we have a panel with Michael Schumann, Michelle Long David Korten. So on we go…stay tuned and I’ll report in.
I’m sitting in front of an agenda wall here at the International Conference of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. On the wall is an agenda created by something like 40 youth who gathered here to talk about sustainability issues, action and change. The proceedings are being posted at the BALLE youth forum wiki, and we encourage you to show up there and join in the conversation. We’ll be here live and online until 4pm PDT (North America) and the wiki will stay live for the youth to use as a support tool. If you have anything to add, …