As Bruce Sterling says in Tomorrow Now, “The future is a process, not a theme park.” What that means for Worldchanging, is that we don’t practice imagining the future in order to be right, we imagine it in order to think more clearly about the systems in which we find ourselves embedded. We think about the future not in order to predict it — that’s essentially impossible in any meaningful sense — but in order to see more clearly the ways in which we can act today to influence it. By using tools and modes of thought which encourage our foresight, we can anticipate new threats and opportunities, and better apprehend the nature of the tools we have at our disposal for acting in the face of those threats and opportunities. Imagining the future, then, paradoxically makes us more innovative and effective in the present. But imagining the future helps us with another important task, as well: remembering our duty to the people who will come after us. Many of the best things about our society are the legacies of people who came before us and made the conscious choice to leave the world a better place. On the other… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Imagining the Future at 2:04 PM)

Worldchanging board chair Ethan Zuckerman is in Africa, covering the TED Global conference. -ed Ory Okolloh asks, “what’s image got to do with it?” She tells us that our images of Africa focus on the negative stuff – the poverty, the corruption and the disease. People assume that as a Harvard-educated African, these aren’t issues that are personal for her. But she tells us, “I know what it is to grow up without money. The bellweather for whether our family was broke or not – when things were good, we had eggs and sausages, when they were bad, we had porridge.” It was difficult for the family to save, because her parents supported an extended family. But they made a decision to enroll her in a school they could barely afford, a private Catholic school. “I got kicked out pretty much every term,” when the family ran out of money. “Why don’t these guys just take me to a cheap school – it’s embarrasing.” Her dream high school was the Kenya school, a national school, but she missed the cut by a single point on the national exam. Her father suggested they go speak to the headmistress to see if… (more)

(Posted by Ethan Zuckerman in Empowering Women at 10:51 AM)

Worldchanging board chair Ethan Zuckerman is in Africa, covering the TED Global conference. – ed Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete took the stage with Dr. Larry Brilliant of Google.org and Bruce McNeighbor of Technoserve. Dr. Brilliant announces his support for “Believe, Begin, Become,” a national business plan competition, modeled on the successful experiment Google and Technoserve operated this past year in Ghana. He emphasizes the importance of job creation and business development as critical parts of economic development. Brilliant describes the program as “tried and tested” in Africa and Latin America, where it accompanies investment with intensive entrepreneurship training. He notes that Databank, a Ghanaian investment fund, has launched a $2 million “3B” venture fund to invest in these businesses over five years, investing between $50,000 and $150,000 in businesses that are recognized in the contest. Bruce McNeighbor outlines a timeframe for the project – it formally launces next week in Dar es Salaam and will start training entrepeneurs and helping them craft concepts into business plans over the next five months. At the graduation ceremony, 10 will be awarded capital, and 20 will be awarded certificates to allow entrepeneurs to purchase business services in Tanzania. President Kikwete acknowledges a… (more)

(Posted by Ethan Zuckerman in Social Entrepreneurship at 9:45 AM)

Rokia Traoré welcomes the assembled crowd to the first session of TED Global 2007, “The Africa You Don’t Know,” with a beautiful Malian song. I’m thrilled to see Chris Anderson joined on stage by my friend Emeka Okafor, the remarkable Nigerian entrepreneur, thinker and blogger who’s put together this program. Emeka is clearly nervous to be on stage, co-hosting with Chris… but he deserves the honor given the amazing work he’s done. Euvin Naidoo, the VP of Standard Bank in South Africa, welcomes us home to Africa. He invites the crowd to shout out the worst we’ve heard about Africa: corruption, famine, AIDS, slave trade. “But this is about Africa, the story we’ve not heard.” Africa is on a turnaround, in terms of how it manages its public image and how it manages its destiny. Naidoo’s background is in turnarounds, beginning his work with McKinsey in South Africa. As a graduate student in the US, he wrote a case study on turnaround, focusing on Nelson Mandela – this became part of a book called “Confidence”, written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Naidoo has tremendous pride that an African story was used as an example of turnaround for US corporations. Naidoo uses… (more)

(Posted by Ethan Zuckerman in Energy at 8:50 PM)

“Health and Heroism” is the theme of the second session this morning. Chris Anderson introduces the session by framing some of the difficult health issues, using maps from WorldMapper.com, cartograms that distort the world map to show statistical factors. Maps that show HIV prevalence and malaria prevalence inflate Africa to a huge size; maps that show public and private health spending and working physicians shrink Africa almost to invisibility. Lisa Goldman, in a three minute talk, reminds us that we’ve got tools that are effective against malaria: artemisinin, interior spraying with DDT and insecticide impregnated nets. The nets cost roughly $10 each and last 5 years – the problem is distribution, as they’re bulky and hard to transport. Ernest Chijioke Madu picks up an earlier theme: HIV and malaria are huge problems for Africa, but we need to address more “conventional” healthcare issues as well. More people in Africa die from heart disease and stroke than in the US. Cardiovascular disease kills 17 million people a year. 85% of global mortality is in developing nations, but 90% of medical spending and resources are in the North. “What will happen if you have a heart attack in your hospital room?”, Dr… (more)

(Posted by Ethan Zuckerman in Health at 8:33 PM)

[ © Axel Schmidt/DDP ]

Jo is our very busy press officer at the summit’s media centre. Here’s her first hand account from today.

From Jo:

It wasn’t until I saw the footage on the super-sized screens in the media centre that I really realized what was happening. A full on police chase with Greenpeace RIBS (rigid inflatable boats). As I watched, a police boat rammed one of our inflatables, knocking activists into the water. Six of our people suffered severely heavy bruising, but fortunately no one was more seriously hurt.

I ran out to the balcony, overlooking the beach – where we were holding a press conference. What I found was a massive crowd of people, cameras and notebooks everywhere. I pushed my way to the front – and lo and behold, there were more Greenpeace boats, being chased by police right in front of us.

It was an amazing feeling seeing the boats go past, with a huge crowd watching a seriously great action. I lost Daniel and Tobias in a surge of media interviews, as I ran back in to get a press release ready.

Continue reading Stirring it up at the G8 – and seeing our message get through…

Today's tip is pulled from an amazing organization across the pond called We Are What We Do. In the land of the tea-drinkers, kettles are electric, and they say: "Only fill your kettle with the water you need. If everybody did we could save enough electricity to run all the street lighting in the whole country."

It's true. And it relates to more than just tea! Boiling water for pasta or potatoes? Why fill that pot all the way up? It's only going to take longer to boil, and you'll probably have your bowties floating around in way too much water. The longer it takes, the more energy you use!

Image credit: Tena Engelman/National Park ServiceToday we talk about Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI) programs around the country. It all started in Pennsylvania ten years ago; now, EASI senior volunteers are involved in a wide range of projects, including trying to save a lake in Mexico.

Today's podcast is available here.

Here’s the statement from our team at the summit:

Greenpeace condemned G8 leaders for failing to live up to their historic responsibility for climate change by not agreeing to keep mean temperature rise below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels. The deal is “clearly not enough to prevent dangerous climate change” said Daniel Mittler, climate policy advisor of Greenpeace International.

Greenpeace welcomed that the G8 gave a political mandate for a start of serious negotiations for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to start at the climate negotiations in Bali in December.

The US isolation in refusing to accept binding emission cuts has become obvious at this meeting. “The Bush administration have agreed to “seriously consider” that the rest of the world is setting reduction targets, but is as far away as from agreeing to such targets themselves as ever” said Mittler.

Greenpeace reminded the G8 governments that they need to reduce their emissions by 80-90% by 2050 if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change. “Governments failed to commit to what science tells us is necessary here. They must now urgently do so at the United Nations.”

Update: Just found more footage and photos on der Spiegel.

Update 2: Just got good news, some severe bruising and one activist will have to stay in the hospital a bit longer – but no serious injuries. The boats and 19 people remain in police custody.

Climate change is a global emergency. Yet, despite the mountains of scientific evidence, that message apparently isn’t getting through to our world leaders. Today, Blair seemed to cave to Bush on the idea of the G8 agreeing to specific carbon dioxide reduction targets. Without specific goals it’s all talk, mutual backslapping and more procrastination – just what the Bush administration wants.

So this morning, 24 Greenpeace activists, using 11 speedboats took the message “G8: Act Now!” to the waters around the Heilingendamm summit. They entered the outer restricted area at 11am, informing the police as they did so. They came in from both east and west sides, entering into the inner restricted zone 10 minutes later.

Continue reading Into the exclusion zone at the G8…