[Peter Follett]

Well said Sarah

I believe that Mohandas Gandhi said something like “Be the change you want to see in the world”. I infer what you’re saying is “First, be the change that you want to see in your locality” Set the right example, then influence, influence influence.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by Peter Follett.

[Peter Follett]

Joern

My thoughts on things . . .

I agree that Euro readiness is ahead of USA, Canada and my home, Australia. I have always attributed that to the environmental and social effects of acid rain in the 60’s and 70’s, which I infer affected The Continent much more than other places. This, it seems to me, put (especially northern) Europe on a ‘green’ path ahead of other countries and made them more open to accepting the greenhouse science and the limits to growth. This fits with the generally more collective oriented cultures in Europe. This means that large scale social change is more likely to be effective.

Meanwhile the ‘new world’, with a more individual-achievement/growth oriented culture, has been busy defending its beliefs about individual rights, and thus blinded to ‘inconvenient truths’. This makes large scale change more likely to draw out strong resistance, and so local or regional action will be more likely in the short term.

Notwithstanding European progress, I agree that there is much lip-service there too – and all around the world. All developed nations have grown accustomed to high-energy lifestyles. Even Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is built on a mountain of CO2. Its a confusing predicament, reminding me of (I think) Einstein’s comment: “The problems we face cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that created them”.

I welcome your thoughts on these observations.

Regards

PF

• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by Peter Follett.

[Peter Follett]

Joern
Two tenets that I find useful in influencing and facilitating change are:
“Go with the goers” and “Fight the battles you can win”

So, with a view to continuous improvement:
Who/where are today’s motivated people? USA/EU?
Where can battles be won today? Are they small or large scale?

Does that mean we will move fast enough? No, not in the short term. But we will learn with every loss and win, and be more ready for the bigger battles that follow.

Peter Follett

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