UNI Sustainability Symposium

Last weekend I really enjoyed participating in the inaugural “Sustainability Dialogue & Action 2013” symposium hosted by University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The symposium was geared to presenting solutions to the various sustainability challenges we face. My fellow keynote presenters included Majora Carter and Winona LaDuke, two accomplished leaders who shared their stories and how they’ve overcome challenges to improve the livelihood in their respective communities. The three day event was a refreshing look at how individual actions can make a profound difference. There were numerous speakers and panelists sharing their work including college initiatives such a biodiesel programs, garden projects, recycling and clean energy programs, as well as research on ways to mitigate water pollution in agricultural lands and initiating local food programs.

One of the overarching themes that emerged in the symposium was the importance of placed-based programs. The significance of local actions and being rooted in one’s community was emphasized by both Majora Carter and Winona LaDuke. When one of the participants mentioned their desire to move elsewhere because of their frustration and exhaustion from fighting for the protection of a local watershed, LaDuke and Carter highlighted how that desire typifies our collected anxiousness about confronting local challenges and instead wanting to move away to a more desirable place. An alternative approach: to stay in our neighborhood and improve it so that we change it into a place that we want to live in.

Majora Carter’s work in urban renewal in the South Bronx area of New York City also highlighted the importance of spending the time up-front to do detailed research in order to determine what initiatives will likely succeed. She described how her team spends many hours figuring out what the needs are in her community and who has already invested in local projects. They also identify the abandoned and neglected real-estate sites that would lend themselves for renovation and provide potential commercial opportunities. This research lays the groundwork for who might be interested in investing in the local community and create new job opportunities. Seeing her slides of the amazing transformation from degraded empty lots to beautiful parks and new commercial spaces was incredibly uplifting.

Kudos to UNI Provost Gloria Gibson, Professor William Stigliani, Sustainability Coordinator Eric O’Brien and the entire UNI team for pulling off a fantastic symposium. Their collective efforts brought awareness about sustainability issues to the students and local community members and how they can get involved to make a difference. More of these efforts at the local level will keep spreading the work and encourage all of us about taking actions for positive change.

Technology and Connection

A recent article by Barbara Fredrickson in The New York Times, "Your Phone vs. Your Heart" (NYT, March 23, 2013) really captures the importance of social interaction and the impact of technology.
As Fredrickson (author of Possitivity and Love 2.0) points out:


"Plasticity, the propensity to be shaped by experience, isn’t limited to the brain. You already know that when you lead a sedentary life, your muscles atrophy to diminish your physical strength. What you may not know is that your habits of social connection also leave their own physical imprint on you.". . . .

Work in social genomics reveals that our personal histories of social connection or loneliness, for instance, alter how our genes are expressed within the cells of our immune system. New parents may need to worry less about genetic testing and more about how their own actions — like texting while breast-feeding or otherwise paying more attention to their phone than their child — leave life-limiting fingerprints on their and their children’s gene expression."


Something we've all probably suspected given how absorbed so many of us have become to phones, computers and other screens on mobile devices.

With the enormous push for technological efficiency as seen through online education, communications, photography, emails, I wonder about its impact on old fashioned face-to-face conversations. I recall a discussion years ago when I was working on an exhibit for a museum in Alaska. We were considering developing an expensive multimedia presentation that would tell the natural and cultural history of the region. Then the thought came: Why not just hire a local elder from to tell stories about the region to the museum visitors? It provides employment, is much more engaging and more affordable!

Similar decisions face us as we aim to solve problems using strictly a technological lens. There is a place for technological solutions, but comprehensive, enduring solutions call for a greater context which includes the social interaction and human well-being aspects.

Mentors. Patrons and Sponsors

A couple of weeks ago I attended a very interesting panel and live music event put on by Tom Sebastian and John Berg, co-presidents of Swirl, an advertising agency in San Francisco and Bob Weir and Chris McCutcheon from TRI (Tamalpais Research Institute) studios in San Rafael, California. The event, named The Patron Project, took place at TRI's state-of-the-art studio in San Rafael. There were about 150 attendees, mostly from the music industry.

The objective of The Patron Project is to begin an important conversation about the role of patrons in the arts and the role of brands and how brands can better support artists. The panel was composed of legendary musicians including: Bob Weir, Sammy Hagar, Lukas Nelson (Willie's son) and Jerry Harrison. There were also several professionals from the entertainment industry including, Kevin Eagan from Microsoft's e-commerce, Simon Fleming-Wood from Pandora, Jason Fisher from Redbull Media House, Gunnar Larsen from Dolby Laboratories and Dax Kimbrough formerly from EMI Music/Capitol Records.

Bob Weir set a context for the dialog reminding everyone about the critical importance that patrons have played through the ages including, for example, the vital role that the Medici's played in supporting artists during the Renaissance Age. Then, the question was raised exploring the difference between sponsors and patron's--- sponsorship, was pointed out, usually involves a time-limited commitment and the financial backing for one of more specific events. Patronage, on the other hand, focuses on the long-term development and financial backing of artists.

The benefit of Patrons underscores the vital role that seasoned veterans in the music industry can play in the success of younger musicians as they come up in the industry. However, the role of patrons goes well beyond musicians and extends to many of the others arts including: writers, painters, dancers, sculptors, actors, etc. In the new economy with an explosion of online media distribution channels, social media as well as blogs, wikis and other new media tools, calls for creative ways to get visibility and create a following. In a sense, the transformation that is occurring in the music industry is similar to the changes affecting the print industry; the old media tools such as print media and television are being superseded by the Internet and digital distribution methods.

In addition to the critical role of Patrons, it's helpful to think of the role of mentors in helping young artists perfect their craft and navigate the seas within their industry. Mentorship (originally from Greek mythology, Mentor as Odysseus trusted counselor) brings together the notion of a patron with the benefits of a trusted counselor and teacher. In a way, a mentor is a step closer to the artist and provides a nurturing and wise counsel that so many youth yearn for as they enter the arts profession. I've noticed in several conferences, the young participants are hungry for mentors who can help guide them as they contemplate getting experience and building their skills ranging from technical know-how to leadership and personal growth.

A huge thank you to the creators and developers of The Patron Project for courageously planting seeds for a conversation that is needed and will undoubtedly spread far and wide. This is a welcomed dialog that applies to people in all areas of the arts. I look forward to seeing additional events that generate new ideas for young artists to succeed.

Leadership and MOOCs

A couple of weeks ago I attended the "Emerge Leadership Workshop" at NatureBridge in Sausalito, California. This workshop was led by Kathleen O'Brien, John Cunningham, Ann Edminster and David Eiseberg. I found great value in looking at the different dimensions of leadership. Even though the examples and material was drawn form the building industry, the concepts applied to all sectors. In addition to the presentations, there was an amazing group of participants from the for-profit, non-profit, government and education areas. We had time for walks along the beach, reflection, working on case studies in small groups, and the presenting to all the participants. I'm a firm believer that improving the way the we work together in teams and developing our leadership skills is essential to solving the challenges that we face at a local, regional and global level. For more information, check out: http://www.emergeleadership.net/

I've also been researching MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course). MOOCs are web courses aimed at large numbers of students with open access. There's a huge wave of interest in MOOCs since some of the larger universities have entered the space. Stanford, Harvard, MIT and many universities are  offering classes through various platforms. Some of the platforms include Stanford's Class2go (open source), Coursera (with nearly 2.5 million members), edX (non-profit started by Stanford and MIT; edX's first class in circuits had 155,000 students), and Udacity. Futurelearn, a British firm, is developing an alliance with 12 UK universities to provide MOOCs. Additional players in the online education space include Khan Academy, which has an incredibly extensive learning modules, and Blackboard which provides online education tools. There are also other firms providing the social networks that facilitate the interaction between online learning communities including GoingOn.

What is interesting about this new online education revolution is that technology now makes it possible to reach millions and potentially a billion or more people with educational content. Many of the MOOCs are free and students from across the globe are enrolling in courses ranging from computer science, database management, history, etc. The potential is there for students to eventually design their own degrees or certificates by taking courses from these well known, prestigious universities.

One of the greatest advantages of MOOCs is that the learning increases dramatically due to the volume and diversity of interaction among the students from countries around the globe. Students enjoy interacting with their peers and learning from their different experiences and points of views. Some of the current challenges with MOOCs involve assessment and creating the necessary infrastructure to manage the sheer volume of questions when courses have tens of thousands of participants. To date, many of the students who enroll in MOOCs do not complete the courses.

Thomas Friedman wrote an insightful piece about MOOCs and online education in his New York Times column (Jan. 26, 2013), "Revolution Hits the Universities." As Friedman points out, "Nothing has more potential to lift more people out of poverty — by providing them an affordable education to get a job or improve in the job they have. Nothing has more potential to unlock a billion more brains to solve the world’s biggest problems. And nothing has more potential to enable us to reimagine higher education than the massive open online course, or MOOC..."

As with many new technologies, its still unclear how the online education market will evolve with these new tools. What's remarkable is how quickly a new education paradigm is unfolding.

Acts of Kindness

During this holiday season, I'd like to share stories and photos from "22 Random Acts of Kindness". (http://www.boredpanda.com/random-acts-of-kindness/).

These uplifting stories highlight the tremendous capacity for compassion and giving that we share as humans.

Enjoy, and the very best for 2013.

Chasing Ice

Since hurricane Sandy hit the Eastern seaboard of the US several weeks ago, the theme of resilient communities has been at the forefront. Coupled with resiliency the impact of climate change has been the underlying theme. One of the greatest challenges of understanding climate change is seeing the connections of episodic weather patterns over time. In addition, witnessing the changes on our planet has been difficult to grasp.

The movie Chasing Ice, Directed and Produced by Jeff Orlowski and featuring the stunning photography of James Balog provides a stunning record of the impact of climate change as reflected on the vanishing ice around the globe. The film conveys the beauty and horror of witnessing melting glaciers in Alaska, Greenland, Iceland among other locations. We learn about Balog's and his team's determination to document the vanishing ice while photographing the melting ice under very harsh conditions over several years.

The melting ice caps and calving glaciers provide a visible and powerful way of seeing how rapidly our planet is changing. And we see how real these changes are and what actions we must take. The website provides useful resources on how to support the scientific work and how to get involved.

Similar to Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth, which elevated the climate crisis to a global level, Chasing Ice will likely follow suit in alerting us about the incredible impacts of our fast changing climate as seen through the melting of glaciers. The movie succeeds in illustrating the passion of James Balog in his quest to tell the story of the vanishing ice, and why we all should wake up and do what we can to reduce the impact of the climate crisis.

Whidbey Geodome Project

One of the most awe-inspiring events at this year's Bioneers conference (Oct. 19-21) in San Rafael, California was the Whidbey Geodome's Earth Portal. As a special project of New Stories (a non-profit supporting emerging stories as a tool for understanding humanity), The Earth Portal provides an immersive multimedia experience where we can take a journey from the Earth to our solar system and beyond to infinite galaxies. The Geodome reminds me of the classic Charles and Ray Eames "Powers of Ten" film where we can play with scale.... only in this case we pull away from the Earth, our galaxy and way beyond to an amazing perspective on our place in the universe. The technology is also very well-suited to learn about the many of the ecological issues that we're confronting here on Earth including climate change, fracking, loss of biodiversity, etc.

Everyone who watched the show with me was awestruck by the remarkable perspective that the Geodome delivers. This is a remarkable tool for schools to inspire students (and adults!) about our planet and ways of understanding our role in the universe. Because it's portable, it can be set up temporarily at schools, conferences, fairs, etc. For the past six months, it was set up in Seattle as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the World's Fair.

I look forward to hearing more about the Whidbey Geodome as it becomes better known and experienced by everyone. Check it out!