Social Hallucinations

Walking Makes a Difference

2 days ago I wrote about the need for companies to give back to society, about the approach that is not about planning, modeling but DOING. Seeding in order to harvest. And this morning I stumbled upon this interesting solution - Pavegen.The idea behind is simple: creating energy from people's footsteps. So in fact people save energy, make a difference without any effort...well they walk but they would do it no matter what, so it is a win win for all parts: people and the Earth. Great idea!

Capitalism, Collapse and Renaissance

Alienation - one of the causes of the current crisis - the notion of human was replaced by models and greed of producing more. The system focused its all energy on producing profit and neglected society needs. Hundred years ago Max Weber wrote in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, that wealth can lead to salvation. Somewhere in the race to become saved, we've turned the wealth into hedonism. #System fail. It is time to rewire and reboot, cause we can't continue the same way we did before Lehman&Co collapsed.

The change is constant but this time it accelerates and often raises fear and distrust. Some companies feel lost and are reluctant to the change, and stay attached to the old way of doing things... probably to feel they are still in the control. But the world needs the new type of companies; companies that are socially useful, as Umair Haiq puts it. Companies where the question is not longer how much you produce but how much you manage to seed. The more you seed the more growth you create.

It is about finding a balance between generating profit and giving a part of it back to the society, doing good things for people, making communities life better, improving society.

Profit and wealth are positive aspects of business, cause they are means to doing good, to doing socially useful things. What we need is the renaissance of business and its values. Good people doing good business in the networked markets. Well, it may sound like the utopia right now when we are looking at the world around us crashed by the dehumanized models that should generate endless profits. But the change will come once the fear of the unknown disappears, we rediscover that real value lies in other people and society and reconnect the private with the public.

There must be hope for us...

What's the Point with Internet?

Technology, tools, wires, cables, waves...hyper-connectivity leading to removing "barriers to socializing". We can connect, talk, exchange ideas and create without thinking about time and space constraints. Is it a dream? Are we wise enough to use the advantage and possibilities to make a difference?

From always inspiring gapingvoid

DONE is the Engine of MORE

"There are three states of being: not knowing, action and completion" This is how The Cult of Done Manifesto begins.

It is all about optimizing your actions to get things done, to move on. It is about effectiveness and creating things. 

Personally I enjoy the state of creating, wandering, asking questions and exploring, the tickling feeling of uncertainty but there is always the moment when the urge to move on and see the thoughts taking shape emerges. Then it is all about getting things done, cause it "is the engine of more". When you are done with one project, you can start another one and begin the new exploration. Besides if you want to know who you are, don't ask. Do something. Doing will define you.

Changing Behavior

You want people to do something differently. You want them to influence them. But how to change someone's behavior? Defintely not by telling them to act differently. It will make them aware of the other ways of acting but it will not necessarily make them to choose your way of doing things...unless you create an envirnment that makes change of behavior interesting or funny....like VW did with their The Fun Theory.

Create something engaging, something that stands out and make a difference, spice up the ordinary behavior and eventually the change will occur. Great way of thinking - show and encourage - doing instead of saying.

Save the world before the end of the world

"In nature everything is interconnected, and we are responsible now for past mistakes" (journal African Wildlife)

Blog Action Day: Climate Change'09. Climate change is the talk of the town. The future doesn't look promising. Facts are scary. We are moving towards annihilation. What are our chances to survive? Are those rumors true? Can we change it? Does it matter what I do as a person? Is it a conspiracy theory?

All those questions are ringing in my head after discussions with people representing different point of views. I must say I am confused myself and often ask myself how much difference does it make that I segregate my trash and buy organic food produced in Denmark, while there are thousands of factories, companies across the world that don't care at all about environment but their bottom lines. What influence one person's actions have for the Earth?

Well, it makes the difference that you and me make small things, it makes a difference that you and me care, but we need to do more that just being what I would call "selfish green" - just doing things that make us feel better and things that concern only our micro worlds. It struck me when I was last week in Poland.

I was walking through huge supermarket, passing by shelves groaning from the glass bottles that are thrown away as there is no infrastructure that would allow people to deliver those to special containers or shops. I was passing by the walls of plastic bottles that are also thrown away without giving a further thought what will happen with those tones of plastic afterward...You just don't pay for the glass or plastic bottles. It doesn't cost you anything, you use what's inside than throw the bottle away together with organic waste, paper, etc. I asked a few people whether they try to segregate their trash. They looked at me surprised and asked where should they throw away paper, glass, plastic when there is only one trash container in their backyards (in the area where my parents live there is no sign of glass container at all!) After a few conversations, I've realized that the only thing they were thinking was getting products at good price and saving the money. The latter one is also what I've noticed in Denmark, as soon as you get outside the big cities. Consumption, ignorance, focus on different set of needs...this is the inconvienint truth about humanity.

Doing things is one thing and I dare to say it is a minority who does something actively to reverse the climate change, which ism apart from other nature related phenomena, caused by human ignorance and materialism. That minority has a huge task of not only putting pressure on the authorities to start political initiatives that make climate change easier, more accessible and cheaper for people, but also educating and influencing people around them how to make things differently.  It is about changing our way of thinking from begin 'selfish green' to being 'sharing green' and helping each other to make a difference. Small initiatives that can turn into small movements around the world. Ignite behavior and make other people to copy it. I taught my parents to drive long way in order to deliver glass, plastic and paper for recycling even though it costs them time and money and they pass on their behavior to their friends. This is how making difference can start... Make others to copy your selfish acts of green - this is my manifesto for stopping climate change :)

Photo by Ana Santos

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• "Blog Action Day: Is Climate Change / Global Warming Real?" and related posts (neatorama.com)

Quote of the Week

“There is no practical obstacle whatever now to the creation of an efficient index to all human knowledge, ideas and achievements, to the creation, that is, of a complete planetary memory for all mankind…the whole human memory can be, and probably in a short time will be, made accessible to every individual. And what is also of very great importance in this uncertain world where destruction becomes continually more frequent and unpredictable, is this, that…it need not be concentrated in any single one place.”

 

H.G. Wells, 1937 (talking about micro-film)

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