EcoRes Forum

[Administrator]

[Econf] Welcome to the 2009 EcoRes Forum! (Mary Leyser)
Mon Oct 19 09:25:42 EDT 2009

Welcome to the 2009 EcoRes Forum E-Conference "Climate Change and You: Putting a Face on Global Warming." A few administrative notes as we get underway:

NEW DUAL TRACK FORMAT
Question: Do you need to be an Internet expert to participate? NO! Only minimal skills are needed: Participants simply read and send email (Track 1) or log on to a web page and explore the site (Track 2).

Track 1 (Plenary): Submitted messages will be posted through the moderated discussion list multiple times daily. The list manager will select messages for posting based on relevance to the current topic, broadness of applicability, and originality (a similar message has not already been posted).

Track 2: Unmoderated online forums are open for participants to discuss topics related to conference themes. Join a conversation here -- or begin one of your own.

POSTING MESSAGES

To post messages to the Plenary (Track 1):
Posting to the plenary means sending an email to the list-manager for possible distribution to all members. To post a message, address it to econf at list.eco-res.org. If you are responding to someone else's posting, please make sure the subject heading is the same as the one you're replying to.

To post in Side Forums (Track 2):
Side Forums may be browsed without registration. To post, first create a forum account at http://eco-res.org/phpBB2/profile.php?mode=register. Once your account is activated, log in with your user name and password to post messages. NOTE: If you took part in the 2008 e-conference, your registration details remain the same.

LANGUAGE
The working language for our plenary discussion is English. Online forums have been opened for French, German, and Spanish-speaking participants; additional languages are welcome.

GENERAL GUIDELINES
To keep our workspace productive, please:

1. Keep your message relevant to our topic.

2. Treat each other with respect.

3. When you would like to have a personal discussion, or if you are offended by an individual's post, please send a message to that individual only, rather than to the entire group. Personal messages will not be posted.

4. Copyrighted material must include permission from the author.

5. Try to keep your postings short and concise: no more than two screens long.

6. Please use specific subject headers so people can easily decide which messages to read.

GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER
I'd like to get to know you better -- and so would your fellow participants! Please join us in the Coffee Shop (Track 2) to tell us more about yourself: who you are, what you do, and what brought you here: http://www.eco-res.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=98

READINGS AND RESOURCES: PARTICIPANT SUGGESTIONS
Please share your recommendations and links to resources, readings, organizations, conferences, and websites related to our themes in Track 2: http://www.eco-res.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=22

ARCHIVES
If you miss a day or two, catch up in our archives:
Track 1 email plenary archives: http://www.eco-res.org/archives.html [These archives have been moved to http://www.eco-res.org/phpBB2/index.php. -- Ed.]
Track 2 online side forums: http://eco-res.org/phpBB2/index.php

UNSUBSCRIPTION
Via email: Send an email from your subscribed email address to econf-request at list.eco-res.org with the word "unsubscribe" (no "") in the subject line or body. When you receive the confirmation email, hit "reply" and "send" without changing anything in the email and that email address will be removed from the list.

Online: Go to http://list.eco-res.org/mailman/listinfo/econf_list.eco-res.org and unsubscribe using your subscribed address and password.

If you have problems with unsubscribing, send an email to support at eco-res.org and we will do the rest for you.

GETTING YOUR EMAIL?
All participants should receive a confirmation email with instructions on setting your preferences for receiving messages. If you did not receive this, you will be unable to participate in the plenary. You may need to check your spam filter or talk to your system administrator, or you may wish to update your registration with a different email address. Note: Yahoo! addresses may not function with this list. Online email providers currently compatible include <http> Hotmail and <http> Gmail. To update your registration, please send your name, original email address, and second email address to update at eco-res.org.

[ECONF] LIST SETTINGS
To reduce email overload, default settings are in digest mode, combining multiple messages into a single email "digest." Digests are automatically created when a set size limit has been reached. Log in to change your password, unsubscribe, or change your personal settings: http://list.eco-res.org/mailman/listinfo/econf_list.eco-res.org

QUESTIONS/HELP
If you have questions or need assistance, please write to forum at eco-res.org.

BEGINNINGS
The econf plenary discussion will begin with a few brief posts with guidelines for participation and suggestions for effective intercultural communication, followed by opening remarks. At that time, the floor will be opened.

Thank you for joining us: I'm looking forward to sharing this discussion with you. It is my hope that this discussion will lead to many ongoing dialogues and spark long-term associations, as previous EcoRes events have done.

Here's to stronger, more substantial connections,

Mary Leyser

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[Econf] Making the most of your e-conference experience (Administrator)
Mon Oct 19 09:51:21 EDT 2009

Making the Most of Your E-Conference Experience: Guidelines & Suggestions for Participation

GETTING STARTED
All participants are encouraged to engage in the discussion as it unfolds. In your first post, please share a brief introduction about yourself (a few sentences may suffice). Regardless of background, experience, or perspective, as stakeholders in the issues of climate change, your input is valuable.

Remember: This e-conference will only be as useful as its panelists and participants make it. Your contribution is valuable!

There are many ways to participate:

Share your experience, as an individual or on behalf of your organization. Where possible, please provide examples or case studies. "Best practices"
and "lessons learned" from your or your colleagues' experiences will be greatly appreciated.

Ask questions and answer others'. If you use terminology that may be exclusive to your field, please include brief definitions.

Post links to case studies, reports, bibliographies, or other resources related to our themes (i.e., publications, discussion lists, databases, websites, and so on).

Network, network, network: Explore ways to form local, regional and international partnerships with your fellow participants.

Spread the word: Share what you learn in this forum with your colleagues, students, friends, and family.

Make it real: Take what you learn and put it to use. Then come back and share your experiences with us.

Think globally, act locally: Consider forming a local discussion group during the e-conference. When our discussion ends, keep yours going -- or start a new one.

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[Econf] Effective intercultural communication (Administrator)
Mon Oct 19 09:52:12 EDT 2009

Effective Intercultural Communication

"Intercultural communication occurs whenever a message produced in one culture must be processed in another culture." (Porter & Samovar, 1994)

One of the greatest strengths of this forum is its diversity. Our participants and special guests come with widely varying views on the environment, politics, ethics, and how (and even if) these fields overlap and interact. We see this as a strength, and ask that all participants appreciate this dialogue and debate as a vital, constructive part of issue exploration.

As we begin, please consider the following general guidelines for intercultural communication. Our group encompasses an endless variety of "cultures": gender, nationality, ethnicity, profit/non-profit, academic/activist, language/dialects, religious/non-religious philosophies, and much more.

1. Be sensitive in drafting messages: Please edit your posts carefully, bearing in mind that English is not the first language of most participants. This also applies to language differences in fields - not all fields define similar terms in the same ways. When possible, please avoid the use of jargon, idioms, and colloquialisms.

2. Be extra careful with humor: Without body language and facial expressions to assist in interpretation, email messages are very easy to misconstrue.

3. Best practice: Be sensitive, proceed carefully, and assume the best spirit and motive for each participant and each post.

Thank you!

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[Econf] Opening: Don't go back to sleep! (Mary Leyser)
Mon Oct 19 10:06:54 EDT 2009

Once again, welcome to the 2009 EcoRes Forum E-Conference: "Climate Change and You: Putting a Face on Global Warming." The last in this series of online discussions, this time we're going to draw the conversation down to a very personal level. We want to talk about YOU. Wherever you live. Whatever you do. You, and I. What your role is -- what my role is -- and more importantly, what our respective roles CAN be.

What are the questions we need to be asking? What about the answers? This isn't only something that scientists or think tanks should conduct research on, or that only entrepreneurial organizations and governmental agencies must work to address -- although those are all important pieces of the puzzle. At the same time we're working on or with these pieces, we have the opportunity to make huge strides in another way: By working on ourselves. Working in our communities. It's kind of like realizing that Nature doesn't exist 'somewhere out there,' that Culture isn't something that 'the Other' has. The answers also lie within -- within each of us. In the way we live our lives, the way we work, the way we think, the way we interact with each other. The answers lie within. And it is there -- within -- that we must "begin to make the changes that we want to see in the world."

Happily, we're seeing these ideas popping up all around us. They're being talked about in countless, and often unexpected, places around the world and in our own neighborhoods. Organizations, movements, and groups from the Pachamama Alliance to small neighborhood circles, from Unitarian churches to the Club of Budapest, from the women's movement to indigenous initiatives, are taking the first steps. A groundswell has begun. The climb to the tipping point of change -- this time for the good -- has commenced. Base camp is established, and the summit is in sight.

What does this mean for you? What does it mean for me? How can we take part in assisting this birth, this "WorldShift" that Laszlo has defined as "a worldwide shift from a path of unsustainability, conflict, and confrontation to a path toward sustainability, well-being, and peace." How can we help build the bridges between social, economic, and ecological issues to find answers that recognize, honor and incorporate all these aspects equally?

As Winona LaDuke shared in reference to what her people call "minobimaatisiiwin" -- the good life: "These teachings remind us that it is essential to reciprocate with our relatives, to be thankful, and to check our own behavior (not manage the behavior of our relatives through such paradigms as natural resource management)." Or as Goethe put it not too long ago: "Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."

Thank you for joining us for this discussion. As we begin to explore these ideas, please, join in the conversation -- share your thoughts, your ideas, your perspective from wherever you currently are in the world. This is where we begin. Here. Now. Today. "Don't go back to sleep."

Mary Leyser
EcoRes Forum

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[Econf] Opening the floor: Stepping outside the box (Mary Leyser)
Mon Oct 19 10:12:22 EDT 2009

To start things off, I’d like to share a recent personal revelation. This econf began much as the others did, with lots of planning and organization and left-brain thinking. But over the past weeks, the awareness has risen that this approach is, in a sense, my own attempt to cling to the old, the known, the ways (dare I say ruts?) of being that have always been comfortable for me, that seemed to fit the ways of being of the group that was coming together for this discussion.

But at the same time, I realized: This straight-as-an-arrow, blinders-on approach may be precisely the least useful paradigm for this time. If we want to find answers outside of the box, as we begin to realize we need to *live outside the box, then perhaps using the box to structure our search for answers isn’t the most effective theoretical tool.

And so, rather than sticking with an arbitrary structure for our little tête-à-tête, I’d like to try something new by going organic and asking: What would you like to discuss? What do you feel is a good starting place for exploring the realities of the impacts of climate change on you and your life – and perhaps most importantly – the roles you and I play, whether consciously or unconsciously, in the ongoing climate destabilization? Now is the time to pick the role you wish to play in what Thomas Berry called our “great work.” What will you be? How we live, what we choose to talk about, and the lens through which we view these changes reflect the roles we have chosen.

Do you like the role you’ve chosen thus far? Has it served you well? Fantastic: Keep it up! If it hasn’t, now is the time to explore new roles, new possibilities, learning together in a group of friends and colleagues. What have you learned in your role? What new things are you learning now? What does it mean to each of us – to you, to me, to live at this time of the Great Turning? To paraphrase the incredible work of the Pachamama Alliance: It’s time to awaken the dreamer. It’s time to change the dream.

So where do we begin?

Several possible starting points have been suggested: health and nutrition; green jobs and a new economy; clean resources and equal access to them; intercultural communication and environmental refugees; voluntary simplicity; living green; and more.

As the discussion flows, let’s maintain balance by keeping our minds *and hearts open, and see where this leads. The floor is now open: Welcome aboard for this final voyage of the EcoRes Forum. We’re delighted to have you with us!

Mary Leyser
EcoRes Forum
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<i>Thank you for being part of this forum! -- The EcoRes Forum Team</i>