As a modest practitioner I facilitate/communicate/educate for sustainability. Today after nearly 3 enjoyable/intense days of NOT open space I had my moment, 30 of them actually.
The culmination of a post-grad course in Education for Sustainability (EfS & I was a student) was a conference of the 80 strong national cohort of dedicated sustainability educators (sponsored by a federal department) and another 50 folk from industry/government/academia/etc, plus an army (mo better word) of wonderful volunteer trainees and other college support crew. As Western Australian cohort rep I had suggested OST, for all or part, which was assigned to a stream of empty rooms and no OST framework to enable their productive use (I requested that the OST tag was removed). However leaders and lecturers of the organising colleges had worked their guts out to offer an incredible gathering on a shoe-string. Great effort was put into the format, the structure, the excellent guest speakers (mostly piped via a recalcitrant Skype), the opportunity for graduates and others to share their learning, and some fine and delightful meal times. It was crammed with good stuff and by and large a good learning and social time was had by all. EfS principles were re-iterated - transformation and change, education for all and lifelong learning, envisioning a better future, critical thinking and reflection, participation, partnerships for change. And systems thinking, in this context defined as, "... an approach that encourages us to look at systems in an holistic manner. It aims to equip people to understand connection between environmental, economic, social and political systems, and gain understanding by examining the linkages and interactions between the elements that comprise the whole. Examining the 'big picture' allows us to identify points of intervention to support constructive change." Emerging from a shared concern that immediate and future action might be short-changed I convened a rogue OS meeting in partnership with a younger trainer: 'This is not the end - collaboration and networking in 2013'. The 45 minute opportunity turned out to be 30 minutes conscientiously counted down by one of the right people! 10 people offered 6 topics, some combined to create 3 conversations with outcomes, feedback and a closing circle. Hahaha, 35 minutes and one session later it was over and we all felt better. Still, as strategies were discussed, advocacy for orthodox structures arose; 'some people' might be uncomfortable without formal structure, chaos and confusion may reign. A little later, at the closing plenary, a proposal for the next EfS conference was called. The budget had been over $100,000 plus a similar amount of in-kind contribution. Something similar will require a travel/registration cost of AUS$1500-$2,000 per person. If you've made it this far, thank you. I'll ask more questions about including academic and industry experts in another post. They were very popular, and mostly excellent. Best wishes, Robyn Robyn Williams SeeChange Communicate, facilitate and educate for sustainability M: 0424 587 262 E: p...@iinet.net.au Fremantle ~ Geraldton _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
