I headed off in the morning to the Australian Science and Math School, hosted at Flinders University. The school is only a few years old, and is built with an open concept -- no classrooms, but instead a number of large spaces with desks and chairs that reconfigured in many different ways to foster teamwork and collaboration. We had a large group - about 50 teachers and school leaders, and had a really interesting day -- when I showed the "Are you listening?" video, a whole bunch of students gathered upstairs in the area overlooking where I was speaking to watch - I think they were really curious that so many teachers were learning about their way of using technology!

After a fantastic dinner by the water with a group of curriculum developers, I headed to sleep -- because I had to catch a 6:40am flight to Canberra!

I made it to the nation's capital early in the morning, and it was freezing! 0 degrees but it warmed up as the sun rose... I had a few hours to fit the gym and have lunch before heading to Canberra University -- the group in Canberra decided to have an evening workshop (4-9pm) with dinner. Although everyone had a full day of work before showing up, we still had a lot of active participation, and after wrapping up at 9 and getting back to the hotel around 10, it was time for sleep for another 6:45am flight back to Sydney for the last workshop of the trip!

Arriving in Sydney in the morning, with my 32kg on-the-dot bag faithfully appearing on the carousel, I headed off to Parramatta right on time, and arrived 3 minutes before the workshop was to begin! We had the biggest crowd of any session -- around 60 people, and so a lot of the interactive sections took a lot longer than usual, but they had great ideas and a large group of schools approached me after and wants to deeply engage their entire district with TIGed, which is exciting! After wrapping up and chatting with a bunch of the attendees, I was off to one of my favourite hotels in the world -- the Westin Sydney, to relax, enjoy their great gym, and have dinner with Jenny, who had the whole series of workshops organized, to debrief on the experience (yum, Tasmanian lamb!). After that, I met up with Jarra and Nick, and headed to Micky's for dessert (Banana Pancakes and Ice Cream!) to catch up and for me to celebrate the completion of 10 sessions in 11 days in 5 cities!

I'm writing this now on the flight to Vancouver -- I managed to get right to sleep after lunch on the 10am flight, which will hopefully mean I can work through the North American day and head to sleep at a proper time tonight. Saturday, we head to Quebec City for the World Youth Congress to meet TIG members from all over the world. I've also agreed to head to Brisbane on the 19th to speak at the Queenland Government's e-learning summit, and after that, I'll be ready to just settle down at home and enjoy the rest of the summer in Toronto :)

Now that I've been away a full week, I forced myself to carve out some time to reflect on the intensity of the time so far before kicking off the second stretch.

As always, our summers at TakingITGlobal are quite busy -- generally for the education "industry", most conferences are held during the summer when teachers have school holidays. This summer, as a follow-up to my keynote at last October's ACEL (Australian Counsel of Educational Leaders) conference (which was apparently quite good even though I was quite sick at the time), I was invited to be a "Traveling Scholar" for ACEL, presenting 5 full-day workshops on TakingITGlobal to school leaders and teachers across Australia. In addition, I started off the trip by keynoting a leadership conference at Melbourne Grammar School, and today keynoted the International Middle Years conference in Adelaide... so I've made quite good use of two weeks!

Sunday - Wednesday: Melbourne

After the trek from Toronto to Vancouver to Sydney to Melbourne, I knew the first thing I needed to do to keep my sanity was to spend a good amount of time at the fitness center at the Westin. What a great idea - it helped me refresh, have a fantastic swim in the beautiful infinity pool, and after a brief stroll that was quickly canceled when the rain started, I got to sleep at a reasonable hour.

On Monday, I woke up nice and early and arrived at the charming greened campus of Melbourne Grammar, one of Melbourne's oldest and most respected private schools. To their enormous credit, they had invited students from a broad cross-section of Melbourne to attend the conference, in addition to a grade of their students. I was brilliantly introduced by one of their capable students, and my keynote was well-received - with more questions from students than we had time for. Following the keynote, a panel including a futurist, scientist, and Aboriginal leader Patrick Dodson, who cited my presentation several times as they discussed issues of leadership in the 21st century and challenged students to act on the issues they felt challenged by. In the afternoon, I ran several hours of hands-on workshops guiding a small group of students through the TIG site and beginning the Guide to Action as a tool for action planning.

Tuesday morning, I visited Kilsyth, a suburb of Melbourne, and ran a 3 hour workshop with a group of teachers across that region looking at TIG and especially with an interest in Health education... it was a good challenge because we didn't have Internet except for a very slow 2G connection, so I was able to get well prepared and experiment with some activities for the following days' sessions!

That evening, I traveled to Mooney Valley Racecourse (home of Australia's best race - the Cox plate, worth $3 million!) and presented our work at TIG to about 150 principals, who also had some great questions, and I enjoyed meeting a teacher who grew up in Mississauga and had spent his recent years enjoying and exploring Australia's wilderness.

On Wednesday, I spent from 9 AM to 3:30 PM with an enthusiastic group of teachers and principals learning about TIG, exploring global issues, and understanding how to fit our programs and ideas at TIG into the curriculum and everyday use in their classrooms. I also shared our Best Practices on Global Education resource with them... and then I was off to the airport, heading to my next destination: Tasmania!

Thursday - Saturday: Hobart, Tasmania

On Thursday, I woke up and did it all over again, in a beautiful setting amongst Lemon trees at Lateare Gardens in Hobart with a fire burning to keep us all warm and cozy from the cold outside! I think the goals of what we do at TakingITGlobal really connected closely with some people - one teacher was literally in tears sharing how wonderful she thought what we did was... it's really a special opportunity (as exhausting as it is) to be able to share our work with people that are also dedicating their lives to helping young people develop. I think sometimes we all forget the power and opportunity we have to impact the lives of others - and I feel like a few people really felt reconnected to that opportunity, which is really an amazing opportunity to be able to stimulate.

After a short 2 hour break to refresh and do some e-mail, I headed off to the Hobart Yacht club, where I addressed about 50 high school principals, who weren't able to attend the day's workshop because they were having a leadership retreat. I had to pack 90 minutes into a 30 minute before dinner speech, so I think it was overwhelming, but many of them were quite excited by what we do... and I had delicious local Salmon which was a bonus!

The next day was my main day off. I decided not to head off to my next destination right away, but to stick around in Hobart and see some of the beautiful wildlife Tasmania has to offer. So I signed up for a Tasman Island Eco Cruise - having no idea how much of an adventure it would be! After a scenic bus ride to Port Arthur, one of the main convict colonies from the 1800s, we boarded a powerful boat (675 HP) that they describe as a 4x4 of the sea. Initially the ride was quite smooth - and we discovered some caves and amazing rock formations on the coast. The "swells" were only about 1 meter, and so it was just like jumping waves on a boat at home.

However, once we got out to the Tasman Sea, things got a lot more interesting. The waves and the winds were coming strongly from an unusual direction, and 2-3 meter waves and swells gave us quite a ride! I had chosen to sit in the 4th row (moved from the 2nd) and for close to an hour, we jumped waves and it felt like we were on a roller coaster as we plunged down after riding a wave.... but I stuck with my seat - a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

We arrived at two areas with Australian and New Zealand seals, and at a cove where dolphins chased our boat around until we had to leave - amazing to lean over and watch them at the water and bow of the boat jumping up playfully! A number of albatross with their huge wingspans also provided us with an amazing show - watching them fish and gracefully glide across the sky with nothing around us but huge rock and menacing water... or what looked menacing in my book. In 1998, however, the water was so rough that in the annual Sydney-Hobart race, five boats sank and six sailors were killed.

On Saturday morning, before heading to the airport, I spent a few hours enjoying the Salamanca Market, with hundreds of stalls offering delicious local treats and art and coffee and everything needed to pass a few hours and take in the culture of a place!

Sunday - Monday: Adelaide, South Australia

Now I'm here in Adelaide, where this morning I keynoted the International Middle Years of Schooling conference, and was again introduced by a fantastic student duo! I gave out dozens of bookmarks afterwards, with many many people promising to check out the site and connect their students into TIG. I was also followed by an excellent presentation by Professor Erica, who gave a talk on creativity that linked really perfectly and built on top of many of the themes I covered.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Australian Science and Mathematics School to do another day-long workshop, and then heading to Canberra the next morning... I'll be sure to check in soon with more! And I'll be editing this entry in about 2 hours with photos once they upload.

G'day for now, Mike

Yang Liu is a Chinese artist who was raised in Germany.

She uses simple icons to express what she feels are the basic cultural differences between East and West, or more specifically, China (red) and Germnay (blue.) Interesting!

http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/77/east_meets_west.html

I also like this work of hers, the message says "Children are the rhythm of the world"

For years, I felt like I was observing the world of graphic novels behind a glass wall. I wanted to like it, I tried to like it, but no matter how shiny the cover, or tempting the drawings, to me the stories never seemed powerful enough to shatter their own two-dimensionality. Then I realized that I don't necessarily have problems with the medium, it's the story that has to be right.

Persepolis is the first story that has made me realize the value of graphic novels as a medium through which to narrate personal journeys and present insights into different cultures. It takes a lot of skill to communicate feelings and thoughts in a wordless manner: through the choice of colour, facial expressions, and through the combination of a myriad other elements which are almost imperceptible and yet so effective in conveying what the author is trying to share with us. I confess I haven't read Persepolis (I watched the movie), but in following the story I realized how clever this medium can be. It can communicate things in a way a book never could, and its visual and audio restrictions make its impact almost more "noble" than a movie's.

And because Persepolis opened my eyes to the richness that exists in the world of graphic novels, I read The Burma Chronichles with even more interest. Suddenly, I found myself devouring the 208-page story in less two days, completely absorbed by stories of everyday life, of the bonds that emerge when one is away from home, on the life of those in the field, and on the comical situations that occur when one is not used to things like the weather, culinary standards and local traditions.

The book was written and drawn by Guy Deslile, a Canadian cartoonist who lives in France. His wife works for Medicines Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), and because of her job, he has lived in North Korea and Burma for significant periods of time. I loved this book because of the author's sense of humor and his undiscussed ability to reflect on cultures and customs using very few words. There's this vignette about how humidity can make the ink smudge that I will never forget. That, for me, was an epiphany. And also proof that intercultural dialogue knows no barriers.

Check out his stuff!
http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/shopCatalogLong.php?st=art&art=a41e32dcb62910

I am honoured to share a reflection on my experience at the 2008 Silver Bay Leadership Forum in Silver Bay, New York where they are celebrating their 90th Anniversary of a conference that explores the current and emerging state of leadership.

Last night I was one of three recipients of the Inaugural Leadership Forum Awards. As stated in the program “each of this year’s honoured recipients has been selected for his/her demonstrated ability to take bold action, provide solutions to complex leadership dilemmas, and generate tremendous followership. These leaders have also exhibited the rare ability to cross streams and address issues through commercial, governmental, social and economic channels”. We were recognized for our work in solving ‘wicked’ problems and as you might imagine, it was a very humbling and uplifting experience for me.

In accepting the award, we were each asked to make a few remarks and share our perspectives on leadership. I kicked off my comments on how leadership emerges based on your state of mind. I asked the room two questions. The first – ‘how many of you believe that every problem has a solution’? A collection of people put up their hands. I then asked ‘how many of you believe that NOT every problem has a solution’. An even larger group of people raised their hands. I then went on to share a visual diagram that came to mind while travelling to Silver Bay and reflecting on my perspective of leadership.

In the past, my perspective on leadership was somewhat simplistic and singular. Today, I see leadership in the context of trying to solve some of the world’s most complex and interconnected challenges. It is a moving and evolving target that requires constant re-alignment and mobility. In response to my questions that I posed to the room, I shared my realization that problems are interconnected – and YES – there are solutions, though we often need to invent and co-create them.

While preparing for my remarks on leadership on the plane, in addition to my diagram, I also prepared a series of reflections on what I have learned about leadership over the years:


For me, leadership has been about...

- Being aware of problems and taking an active role in being part of creating solutions
- Being called upon to reflect and represent collective and shared experiences
- Asking critical questions in order to better understand realties
- Energizing processes through taking interest, showing appreciation and participating
- Making connections between diverging ideas and different people with diverse backgrounds
- Reflecting on lessons of the past and making decisions that move towards a brighter future
- Having perspective with the ability to both focus in on a situation as well as see a bigger picture
- Taking responsibility for my actions and intentions
- Believing in ideas and possibilities
- Convening conversations across differences and differences
- Resolving conflict through deep listening, understanding and building trust
- Transforming ideas into actions and new realities
- Dancing with life and celebrating beauty in the midst of it all




While at Silver Bay, in addition to connecting with official conference delegates from various corporations and non-profit organizations, I also enjoyed spending time with the children of the delegates. They were truly delightful and took great interest in TakingITGlobal and my experiences with leadership. I enjoyed responding to their questions and learning from their own experiences. A highlight was also being able to go Kayaking & make a necklace at the Craft Shop!

It was so exciting for the TakingITGlobal team to be part of our sixth year at the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) these past few days here in San Antonio, Texas! TakingITGlobal had a great presence across the conference, and I am proud to share the ways in which we were able to reach out and connect with so many educators. To start with, I’ve personally just renewed my commitment to serve on the NECC conference committee for the next two years. I see my role as helping to think about the ways in which we can best engage the next generation of educators.

Before the NECC conference kicks off on opening day (Sunday, June 29th this year), an International Reception is held at the Global Connections Lounge, to welcome attendees from around the world (over 30 countries this year!) and to provide a space to share and discuss opportunities for global connections.

This year, TakingITGlobal was an organizing sponsor of the International Reception, and my co-founder Michael Furdyk along with our US Education Program Manager Emily Kornblut, presented an overview of TakingITGlobal’s recent work and invited the attendees to collaborate with us for greater global awareness. Following the International Reception, the conference’s Opening Reception was held, and provided about a dozen poster sessions for presenters to share their work. TakingITGlobal was one of the organizations provided with this opportunity. We spoke with hundreds of attendees and were able to share our programs with many enthusiastic educators.

On the following afternoon, we had a Spotlight Session, Social Networking for Social Good, held in the Lila Cochrell Auditorium, where we discussed the opportunity for educators to incorporate TakingITGlobal programs into the classroom, and shared many stories of how young people’s use of social web tools have provided them with life-changing opportunities to engage with the issues facing our planet. For the rest of the afternoon, our booth was abuzz with discussions of classroom collaboration and opportunities for partnership with dozens of school districts and organizations.

TakingITGlobal was also featured as an example of positive youth engagement by Education Technology consultant Sara Armstrong in her session Educating Students about Online Safety. The following morning was an exciting one – two educators who have been using our TIGed tools, Mali Bickley and Jim Carleton, were invited by ISTE to give a keynote speech about the collaborations they developed with schools around the world. During their talk, they highlighted TakingITGlobal.org as a social network for social good, and also showed screenshots of the TIG homepage and their TIGed classroom space.

On the final afternoon, Steve Dembo from Discovery Education featured TakingITGlobal as a resource in his session Policies, Safety and Socialm, where he provided our website as an example of well moderated, classroom friendly, safe social networking website. The conference was closed by TakingITGlobal US Advisor Idit Caperton, who provided the conference’s closing keynote, and highlighted TakingITGlobal as a resource for positive student engagement.

We have been so pleased to work with ISTE and engage with the NECC conference on so many fronts! Our partnership with ISTE has also lead to a recent presentation in Dubai and a future event in Singapore, and we were honoured to be mentioned in ISTE’s 2008 Annual Report as one of their key institutional partners!

Special Thanks to our TakingITGlobal staff at NECC !

(below photo: from left to right)

Michael Furdyk
Jennifer Corriero
Emily Kornblut
Kirsten Jordan
Luke Walker

Art and I don't always get along. It's hard to find art that really resonates with me, art I can engage with. Most art, notably modern art, is too pedantic and redundant for me. Lately, though, I have stumbled upon an almost invisible yet staunch genre (activist art, or environmental art, if you prefer) that is making me reconsider art's role in society. The discovery of new artists who- consciously or unconsciously- belong to this group is always casual but unfailingly comforting and stimulating. When I first fell in love with Ilkka Haslo’s work it felt like an isolated incidence, but one that quickly made me realize that "e-art"’s future was only just beginning. This feeling was confirmed when I found out about Tim Noble and Sue Webster, and now, well, now I consider myself lucky to have discovered two more artists in less than one summer.

In Paris, I had the chance to see some of the best environmental works from all over the world. The exhibit was called "Les Environnmentales: - 5th Biennale of Contemporary Art "In" and "With" Nature" and it was held at the TECOMAH Campus, Paris' college of environmental studies.

Today, instead, I found out about an exhibit that just ended here in Italy, and that was a collection of Jorg & Lucy Orta's best work over the past five years. Jorg and Lucy are two artists from Argentina and the UK who now live in Paris. Their latest collection revolves around the Antarctic, which is also the name of their exhibit at the Hangar Bicocca in Milan.

Most of the artwork was literally transported from the South Pole to Italy. The exhibit was a multi-layered one, presenting real-life survival equipments (from mobile intervention units and parachutes to medical kits) meant to make us reflect on the vastness of geography and on the symbolism and semantics of global warming. The artists see Antarctica as the last frontier land, a nobody’s land , a clear link between our past and our future. Antarctica, as they rightly point out, is the land where Potential and Threat meet. Clearly, allegory is what accompanies all of their work, as the Antarctic Village (2007), a collection of mutli-colored and multi-national tents, represents the best. The Ortas move from the poetic to the pragmatic with great ease, using materials that present slightly dystopic visions of the future of humankind. Their visual interpretation of global warming follows the theme of their work of the past five years, one that studied the many ways mobility, social relations and sustainability intersect with each other.

For more Orta goodness: http://www.studio-orta.com/

Another casual discovery, found when googling the Ortas, lead me to this blog: We Make Money Not Art. You can ignore all the Chevy ads and skip directly to their Green archive, definitely worth reading. Its pages take us from "Biopiracy: the new Colonialism", to Antarctica with the Ortas again, to the art of Greenwashing, to London, Budapest and more! Add to that links and resources and the you will quickly fall in love with this blog!

http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/green

Other links:

Ilkka Haslo (in particular, I recommed his Restoration and Museum of Nature series)
http://ilkka.halso.net/

and Tim Noble & Sue Webster
http://thinkorthwim.com/2007/09/21/tim-noble-and-sue-webster/

[Photo credits: Antarctica, Dome Dwelling. c: the artists.]

Giornata intensa, piena di stimoli e sicuramente arrichente quella di oggi. E’ in iniziata con una sveglia decisamente troppo sul presto (da brava europea continentale mi ero totalmente dimenticata dell’ora di “fuso orario” dell’Inghilterra, e quindi mi sono allegramente lasciata svegliare alle 5.30 del mattino.) E’ proseguita a pieno ritmo con il tragitto verso lo Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), dove Janet Jobson ci ha dato il benvenuto durante la prima sessione plenaria della giornata. Un armata di ragazzi determinati ed entusiasti si sono riuniti nella sala del SECC, cuscino firmato CIVICUS in mano, seduti per terra pronti a divorare ogni stimolo e andettoto che gli veniva presentato. Tra questi ragazzi c’ero anche io, che ho passato il resto della giornata a confrontarmi con sessioni di scambio di prospettive, opinioni ed escercizi di comunicazione incentrati su quattro temi: la poverta’, la salute, il cambiamento climatico e le disuquaglianze.

Durante il corso della prima seduti i ragazzi del mio gruppo, il gruppo verde, hanno parlato di poverta’ usando il metodo “Margolis Wheel”, noto anche come “speed dating.” In pratica, quattro sedie sono disposte in un cerchio, con altre quattro sedie che vanno tutte intorno al primo cerchio. Gruppi di due ragazzi si ritrovano quindi faccia a faccia, la persona seduta nel primo cerchio risponde alle domande della persona seduta nel cerchio esteriore. Ogni quattro minuti ci si sposta giu’ di una sedia, cosi da poter parlare con con piu’ persone possibile. Alla fine, quelli all’interno del cerchio cedono il posto a quelli del cerchio esteriore e il giro si ripete, solo che questa volta chi e’ stato all’interno invece di ripsondere alle domande le deve fare... e quindi ascolatre. E cosi’ facendo ho avuto occasione di parlare dei vari tipi di poverta’ che esistono oggi in Italia con 4 ragazzi, mentre un ragazzo argentino mi ha parlato della poverta’ degli agricoltori del suo paese, cittadini che si vedono strappare sempre piu’ terreni coltivabili dalle piantagioni di soia e che sono in preda ad un sistema di tasse che punisce i cittadini locali e fa rallentare l’economia. Ho chiesto a una ragazza indiana quale pensa sia il problema piu’ importante legato alla poverta’ nel suo paese e mi sono sentita rispondere “la sovrapopolazione”, sopratutto per via del fatto che in India avere figlie femmine e’ considerato un handicap e quindi spesso le famiglie continuano a concepire fino a che non hanno un figlio maschio. Con un ragazzo macedone abbiamo parlato della lotta alla corruzione dei pubblici ufficiali, e con una ragazza africana ho parlato di AIDS. E quando ci hanno chiesto di condividere i nostri pensieri sulla prima sessione di scambio, mi sono ritorvata col microfono in mano a palrare del bisogno di ritagliare spazi in societa’ che non ci limitino ad essere solo cittadini-consumatori, al rifiuto che dovrebbe accompagnare ogni cittadino (giovane ed adulto) di lasciare alle grandi lobby la possibilita’ di ridurre il nostro ruolo in societa’ a un passivo acquisto di una t-shirt per mettere fine alla poverta’.

Durante la pausa caffe, Jared mi e’ venuto a parlare per dirmi che aveva apprezzato il mio intervento e insieme ci siamo messi a parlare di corporate social responsibility e di cittadinznaza attiva. Il che ci ha portato dritti alla seconda sessione, questa volta incentrata sul tema della salute. Qui, abbiamo usato il metodo Open Space Technology, lo stesso che avevo gia’ sperimentanto ad Urbino per parlare (io, Jared, e Chris) del ruolo delle coprorations nel settore della sanita’ pubblica. In particolare, ci siamo chiesti cosa dovremmo pensare di una societa’ che acconsente alla privatizzazione del settore dell'assistenza sanitaria (in particolare, quali valori promuove una societa' del genere?) E, ancora piu’ importante per me, abbiamo discusso di cosa ci lascia accettare il fatto che le case farmaceutiche, che hanno cosi tanto potere su di noi, siano entita’ cosi poco trasparenti e democratiche. Per esempio, perche’ i soldi per una nuova cura vengono investiti solo se la cura stessa puo’ garantire futuri profitti?

Per la terza sessione, invece, abbiamo usato il metodo “teatrale” di interpretazione e scambio di ruoli. Riuniti in gruppi di quattro, uno ad uno abbiamo giocato tutti a fare: l’attivista, l’ostacolo, l’obiettivo finale e il testimone. Usando questo metodo, io e 3 ragazze abbiamo parlato di eguaglianza. Abbiamo discusso del bisogno di rendere i giovani parte dei sistemi decisonali globali, di capire le tensioni che esistono tra “bianchi” e “neri”, tra uomini e donne, tra ricchi e poveri. Cosi’ facendo, abbiamo riflettuto suglli strumenti che possiamo usare in situazioni di conflitto e abbiamo cercato di concentrarci sugli obiettivi, non sugli ostacoli. Durante il corso di questa sessione i facilitatori ci hanno chiesto di ricordare questa frase del Che Guevara: “Siamo noi i realisti. Noi che sognamo l’impossibile.” E cosi’ e’ stato.

A fine giornata siamo finalmente arrivati alla sessione che io personalmente stavo aspettando dalla mattina: il cambiamento climatico. Il modello che abbiamo usato per questa sessione ci ha spinto a pensare al potere- ai tipi diversi di potere positivo (people power, power within ecc.) e ai vari tipi di potere che entrano in gioco in situazioni legate alla politica ambientale. Io e il mio gruppo abbiamo discusso di rifugiati ambientali, e di come ci sia bisogno che vengano riconosciuti come veri e propri rifugiati dalle istituzioni internazioanli.

La giornata l’abbiamo conclusa durante la seconda sessione plenaria- abbiamo parlato dell’importanza della partecipazione, ma di come sia importante condividere il nostro potere, per non abusare dell’aspetto “trendy” della partecipazione. Abbiamo parlato del bisogno impellente di cambiare in modo radicale le nostre societa’, invece di dipendere da soluzioni troppo tecnocratiche. Abbiamo parlato della geografia come fattore che puo’ decidere i destini di intere popolazioni, ora che affrontiamo tre delle piu’ grandi crisi di tutta l’umanita’: la crisi del cibo, del petrolio e del cambiamento climatico. Sicuramente tutto questo e' stato qualcosa a cui pensare nei prossimi giorni e nel corso del nostro cammino verso un mondo dove ci sara' piu' giustizia sociale per tutti.

I'm speaking tomorrow at PUSH, an interesting conference here in Minneapolis, MN

The first session that just wrapped up was quite interesting - Chandran Nair took us through a look at the world's problems and how many misconceptions there are about what can solve them. What I found striking was the comparison of world problems to spending on trivial/much less meaningful things:

Health & Nutrition ($13B) : Petfood Spending in the USA ($17B)
Water and Sanitation ($9B) : Ice Cream in Europe ($11B)
Education ($6B) : Cosmetics in the USA ($8B)

Jonathan Greenblatt, one of the co-founders of Ethos Water, also gave us a compelling look into the world of Water and how simple and cheap ($25/person) it is to solve. The one thing I don't get - on a $1.79 bottle of water, Starbucks (which acquired Ethos) donates 5 cents (10 cents in Canada oddly). They were founded on the basis of donating 50% of profits... I can't believe profit on that bottle of water is only 10 cents! (considering how much cheaper other bottled water is). Anyway, he now works with a new magazine - GOOD - which has a unique subscription model of giving away the $20 subscription fee to a charity of your choice.

Amigos, camaradas, colegas...

Acabamos de publicar el décimo número (mayo 2008) de ilatina, la publicación electrónica de la Comunidad Latinoamericana de Juventudes (CLAJ). Ojalá la revisen y, por supuesto, comenten qué les parece. Ojalá también puedan compartirla con cualquier persona u organización que pueda estar interesada.

En este número, especial sobre Jóvenes, Migración y Ciudad:

John Doe y De Nadie... , Rodolfo Córdova (México)
¿Llegas o te vas?, María E. Rodríguez (Uruguay)
Los niños que faltan, Oscar Taffetani (Argentina)
Las maras y el circo de la violencia, Gema Santamaría (Nicaragua)
Denúncia Social... , Danilo Farias (Brasil)
Restaurar antes que condenar: hacia una justicia penal juvenil... , Ricardo Cerdas (Costa Rica)
-entre otros-

Bájala gratis en
http://www.claj.org.mx

ilatina es una publicación electrónica editada por la CLAJ, red juvenil sin fines de lucro. En sus páginas se expresa nuestra vocación por un diálogo libre y abierto, que genere opinión y contribuya, de alguna manera, al mejor entendimiento de nuestra realidad y por ende, al desarrollo de cada latinoamericano joven, mujer y hombre, por igual.


¡Hagamos opinión juntos!

Participa en el próximo número de ilatina

Escríbenos a: ilatina@claj.org.mx

Amigos, camaradas, colegas...

Acabamos de publicar el décimo número (mayo 2008) de ilatina, la publicación electrónica de la Comunidad Latinoamericana de Juventudes (CLAJ). Ojalá la revisen y, por supuesto, comenten qué les parece. Ojalá también puedan compartirla con cualquier persona u organización que pueda estar interesada.

En este número, especial sobre Jóvenes, Migración y Ciudad:

John Doe y De Nadie... , Rodolfo Córdova (México)
¿Llegas o te vas?, María E. Rodríguez (Uruguay)
Los niños que faltan, Oscar Taffetani (Argentina)
Las maras y el circo de la violencia, Gema Santamaría (Nicaragua)
Denúncia Social... , Danilo Farias (Brasil)
Restaurar antes que condenar: hacia una justicia penal juvenil... , Ricardo Cerdas (Costa Rica)
-entre otros-

Bájala gratis en
http://www.claj.org.mx/ilatina10.pdf

ilatina es una publicación electrónica editada por la CLAJ, red juvenil sin fines de lucro. En sus páginas se expresa nuestra vocación por un diálogo libre y abierto, que genere opinión y contribuya, de alguna manera, al mejor entendimiento de nuestra realidad y por ende, al desarrollo de cada latinoamericano joven, mujer y hombre, por igual.


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