State of the World Forum, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, August 2009
State of the World Forum Gala Opening
Brazil, Brazil! I was so excited to be going to Brazil, and to be going as part of a conversation that I have wanted to participate in most of my adult life.
This year, 2009, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the conversation at the State of the World Forum was and is about reducing carbon by 80% by the year 2020.
*Overpopulation--we do not need more people. Including in Australia. The baby bonus of the Australian government is a knee jerk response to short term thinking. *Our addiction to fossil fuels and associated substances. As Bucky would say, we are dipping into our “cosmic energy savings account...a spending folly no less illogical than burning your house and home to keep the family warm..” (Critical Path, Introduction, page xvii) *Our careless consumption based society, where our consideration for the effects of our consumption, and its waste and bi-products are scarcely thought through. *The way we build homes, offices, clothing, transport systems--with lack of consideration about the best use of energy, resources, materials. *The now defunct economic system, which contributes to 80% of the global population being at or below the poverty line. *The way we gather and eat our food. From the chemical ridden farming practices, right through to our food choices and our exploding obesity problem. Personally very plugged in that few people actually see our rising obesity rates as part of the huge issue of climate change, poverty, over consumption etc.. *Our addiction to growth, growth, growth. More, more, more... How did I get to be attending the State of the World Forum?Great question! For many years I have wanted to be part of the most important conversations going on in the world, with people who had the skill and ability to do something about it. This meant that they were not traditionally defined and trapped within cycles of politics, government, or even traditional industry.Having spent the last 6 years as a student of Integral Theory, and 24 years as a passionate student of Buckminster Fuller, the marriage of climate change initiatives with the people from Integral Institute gave me the confidence that this would be a conversation where the scope of perception and understanding would transcend most of the prevailing views, where the solutions were coming from the same order of thinking that created the problems. I did not want to be in another one of these conversations. Limited in perspective, even though the intent might be high and true.Having spent the last 8 months working with my friend and colleague, Laurent , who was part of the organising team of the State of the World Forum, Laurent had experienced my work, and who I am, and I was invited, via him, to go along. Now I could put this down to knowing the right people and being in the right place, but I have finally got that it is more than that. I needed to be the right person to know the right people. Who I am in the world is what is important.(For all of us..this informs the core of my work, on self and others.) And I was in the right place. Kairos timing was at play. I was excited as well to have my other work colleague, Michael also attending State of the World Forum Brazil.
Laurent and Michael
I arrived in Brazil, and Belo on Monday, August 3rd. In our transport from the airport I met Daniel, a German, who looks like a Scot and teaches at Findforn College in Scotland, Kathy, a professor at Columbia University, Bremley , an energetic young man from India doing Economics at London Business school in between saving the world with his bare hands, and Steve, a designer of systems and process for people from Toronto, Canada. Over dinner I met most of the design team of the State of the World Forum. Peter Merry, and English man living in The Hague, Jim Garrison, the driving force, Morel Forman, creator of Gaiasoft, and a global activist, Richard David Hames , an Aussie, who lives in Thailand with his beautiful wide Suna. The next day the women got together to meet each other. I am not particularly big on womens only gatherings, however I was delighted with this meeting. There were about 30 women in the International delegation. The entire State of the World Forum had about 250 people, 60% of those from Brazil. While not all the international women had arrived, it was great to meet the majority. Immediately I met Cynthia from Atlanta I felt a strong kinship. Healthy, fit, vital, and strong clean energy. Had a great connection with Mary Beth from the USA, a biologist who is passionate about the Global Commons Esperide from the community of Damanhur in Northern Italy. Esperide is a natural goddess, exuding beautiful energy and fun. Her Damanhurian name is Esperide Ananas, which literally means evening butterfly and pineapple. She gave me complete permission to call her Pineapple. She is definitely more of an evening butterfly in nature than a pineapple! But I loved her for granting me such playfulness. The opening evening for State of the World Forum was a big political event. Ministers of the Environment in Brazil, Mayors of the city of Belo, and the Governor of the state of Minas Gerais. It was a very clear statement that Brazil as a nation is very serious about being a world leader in climate change. The national TV network, Globus, not only recorded the entire event, but has produced adds about climate change that you can see here. The State of the World Forum conference itself started the next day. It was a slow start to proceedings. While we did have headsets to translate English to Portuguese and vice versa, there was the usual speeches and such and it was looking like any other conference. People were starting to get anxious. The day went from 8.30 till 6, then dinner and more speeches. Oh dear... Day two started to ramp up. The table I sat at ended up with quite an extraordinary group of people, ranging from Andre, of Japanese background but a Brazilian youth, educated around the world and fluent in English, to Kathy, the Columbia Professor, to Rob Smith, CEO Integral Life , to Nancy Roof, editor of Kosmos Jounral and a veteran of the personal development movement, to Lawrence Bloom , Englishman, speaker at Davos in 07, and very active in the sustainability movement. Our task was to talk about what we thought was the most pressing issues that the world needed to address. Our conversation was rich and comprehensive, so much so that we decided to stay together for the entire morning, and not move to other tables as we were instructed to. I am very comfortable with being in the rebel team. Indeed, it would be no surprise to those who know me. At the end of the first round we were joined by Jean Houston , wise elder of social artistry. She brought story, myth and music to the dialogue. At the end of the second round we were joined by James Quilligan, passionate advocate for the Global Commons. By the end of the morning, we were to have come up with our top five areas that we felt need to be addressed.
Kathy and Andre
For our table group they were..(I may have the order a bit out...) *Creating a new story..new vision of the world (we did have Jean Houston at the table!) *Leadership development for a new world *Power and structure-governance, media, business, commons and civil society *Consciousness-the development of both personal and collective consciousness, including personal responsibility *Education The whole quorum of 250 State of the World Forum participants created all their five categories into a total of 8. Education Energy Ecosystems Economy New Story Governance Values and Life Style Infra structure
After lunch we returned to find that a ninth category was added to the eight categories that the whole 250 people had defined. Brilliant, much needed! That category was systems dynamics. We then had to choose a category to go play in. About 30 people chose the systems dynamics, which immediately broke down into three subgroups... *A group who were disillusioned with the whole process of State of the World Forum *A group who wanted to build a model around the global commons *My group, who were really interested in building a model that held the whole system design of State of the World Forum to account and in health. My group included Laurent, Cynthia, Rob, Sean Esbjorn-Hargens
(head of JFK school for Integral studies amongst other things).
Our task was to determine the breakthrough conditions needed for systems dynamics success. Given that we had some of the brightest minds in the room around Integral Studies, it was hilarious for all of us that came up with a list that only fit the
right hand side of the quadrants.
Our conversation moved to another room, to the original systems design team of about 30 players coming together. Really what we were talking about is how any organisation can facilitate multiple stakeholders with deep rooted passions to come together and create practical and ecological solutions to our most pressing problems. From my perspective it is one of the most necessary conversations to be had, as there are so many people out there doing such great work, but it is very fragmented and therefore possibly less effective. This conversation went into the evening, after dinner, and at times became heated. What I saw was that our little group was a fractal of the entire world situation, and right within our own dynamic was the very issues we needed to address in the world out there. It was a fascinating and enriching conversation and one of the highlights of the State of the World Forum for me. We did end up with a list of breakthrough conditions, in no particular order. These conditions were built to encourage further conversation via the Gaiasoft software being utilised for State of the World Forum Brazil. (Our own mini social network, so to speak) *Inquiring into purpose and surfacing assumptions before acting *Methods for addressing complex problems *That we have software that serves the process (versus having the process fit into existing software) *Anchoring The State of the World Forum into the integral ground of being *Cultivate and commit to wholeness (think Universe first, or start with the whole in mind) *All areas to identify conditions in the four quadrants *Use a scorecard to map overlapping conditions across areas *Method for aligning values across and within areas *Communication channels across all areas Part of the finale was a song and dance devised by Jean Houston’s group to depict a new story. It was fun and ended in Brazilian dance for anyone so inclined. (I am always inclined to dance).
Jean Houston and Troop, State of the World Forum, Brazil
For an official summary of the conference immediate outcomes, click here.
My summary of State of the World Forum, Brazil 09...These events are precessional. The main effect is often the side effect, and vice versa. What is immediately evident is often not what is going to be the most significant.What does happen is that networks of people come together and find each other, and these networks start to form hubs and relationships that grow into unpredictable and extraordinary artifacts. I was always clear that it was the relationships I built during the State of the World Forum that matter most. Finding like minded people with a passion and vision for similar things. My intuitive sense is that the relationships I have built will incubate and generate very exciting projects around leadership, a new economics, developing personal sustainability... I learned that we must not forget the arts...that it is music, art, dance, that have the ability to change the world. I felt very much at home in the conversation at State of the World Forum, finally grown up enough to be able to hold my own, add value, no need to hog space, not feeling less than, or better than...comfortable in my knowing that I have value to contribute and that that value may not be immediately evident to me or others...that I am on par with these people in a co-learning and collaborative space. Finally, in the recent books I have been reading, and my explorations and adventures through cyber space, I am convinced that the solutions are likely to come from the fringes...from positive deviants, artists, the unexpected. It will be the left of center...the black swans. In the mean time, we have much work to do. No small thing is insignificant. It is all, in its own way, perfect. I feel blessed to be alive and on this journey. Thank you State of the World Forum and Laurent.
Laurent and Cynthia, State of the World Forum, Brazil To Return from State of the World Forum to Guinea Pig C
|
