EarthFocus Magazine

Videos of the Massive Change Network Seminar, Geneva, 24 Feb. 2011

Earth Focus Foundation organized a special event with the support of the Green Film Festival in Geneva on the 24th of February 2011.

Earth Focus Foundation presented THE PLAN written and directed by David Osterberg and Michael Stenberg of Biospheric Pictures AB (2010, 58’, Sweden) followed immediately by live discussion with Bruce Mau and Bisi Williams, and director David Osterberg.

Video summary of the event:

After the screening of THE PLAN, Bruce Mau lead a discussion exploring these questions:

1. How can we get the power of design into the hands of the 99% who have not had access to higher education?
2. How do we break through the noise, and make the best of human culture the most visible?
3. What can we do to accelerate the best (and stop the rest)?

Interviews:

What is the Massive Change Network?

The Massive Change Network is purpose filled, entrepreneurial, experienced based design possibility network. The key strategic idea of the Massive Change Network to provide via various means and methods the inherent and native capacity of citizens, students, governments, business and community leaders to develop and enhance their critical design thinking skills. The vast majority of global citizens lack access to this critical working tool.

Our purpose is sharing knowledge with the 99% of global citizens who do not have access to college, university, or post secondary education. Our intention is to deliver the most knowledge, wisdom and culture to those with the least. The Massive Change Network is mandated to focus on inclusivity rather than exclusivity.

To greet the greatest opportunities and meet the most pressing challenges being presented to our world, citizens must be equipped to accelerate the uptake of new solutions. The emerging global conditions will require a new kind of scholar, worker, entrepreneur, leader, and educator. This emerging ecology of ever increasing technological, social, financial, environmental, governmental, and educational challenges, will require citizens committed to working collaboratively across professional silos, the ability to not only think critically, but creatively, and to move beyond theoretical musings to practical implementation. The 21st century will be the century where every citizen must become a life-long learner of some capacity. A network changes everything.

For more information visit:

• www.MassiveChangeNetwork.com
• www.brucemaudesign.com/98199/Massive-Change
• www.earthfocusfoundation.org
• www.festivaldufilmvert.ch
• www.lamuse.ch
• www.ville-ge.ch/mhng
• Slides of the Earth Focus Foundation

Earth Focus recapitulative video of 2010 events

Presentation of Earth Focus foundation in video featuring Mrs Nicola Spafford Furey during the 2048 project meeting in December 2010 in Geneva as well as young students at the GIN (Global Issues Network) conference and at the Global Youth Conference explaining their actions to change the world:

Global Youth Conference 2010: video summary

This video highlights the main points discussed at the last Global Youth Conference 2010 organized by the Earth Focus Foundation in Geneva:

Global Youth Conference on Climate Change and Sustainable Development

The Earth Focus foundation, continuing the work with young people started within the renowned Bellerive Foundation, organized the World Youth Conference (8-11 November 2010), in Geneva.

The conference welcomes young people from all over the world to contribute to the subject of Climate Change and Sustainable Development.

Video webcast of the conference

The conference consisted of plenary sessions with experts regarding the effects of climate change, such as:

• Mrs Nicola Furey, Vice President, Earth Focus foundation
• Dr Quentin Deville, Member of the Board, Earth Focus foundation
• David Hiler, Minister of Finance, Canton of Geneva
• HRH Prince Frederick von Saxe-Lauenburg^[1], Grand Cross Saxe-Lauenburg (GCSL), Fellow of the International Institute of Peace Study of London (FIIPS), Children of the World
• Antony Hequet, Münd
• Prof. Martin Beniston, Chair for Climate Research, University of Geneva
• Dr Curtis Doebbler, Visiting Professor at Geneva School of Diplomacy & International Relations
• Philippe de Rougemont, Noé 21
• Dr Maria Mendiluce, WBCSD
• Elliott Verreault, ItsOneHumanity
• Adam Koniuszewski, Green Cross
• Dr Rudolph Rechtsteiner and Hans-Jörg Haas, Greenpeace
• Martin Atkin, WWF
• Rosie Waygood, Children of the Earth
• Marie-Noëlle Keijzer ^[2], WeForest
• Heiner Benking, Council on Global Issues
• Carlos Giger, GoCycle
• Henry Derwent, International Emissions Trading Association

Stands from many of those organizations were present on site, to expose and promote their activities, give information and testimonies of their actions, and initiate discussion with the conference attendees.

Monday, November 8th

The conference started with encouraging words from the Earth focus foundation and a message from the Geneva Authorities. The audience had the privilege to attend very interesting presentations completed by questions and answers with the panel. You can view the webcast of the whole conference by clicking here.

Tuesday, November 9th

The themes of the day were "Education, Youth and Civil Society" and "Nuclear, Clean and Renewable Energies". After a presentation by Antony Hequet, Jon-Hans Coetzer, General Manager and Academic Coordinator of the Geneva School of Diplomacy & International Relations, introduced several presentations from students of the Koc School, Turkey, on the topic of education, youth and civil society.

The plenary sessions were complemented by workshops on various topics, such as:

• Ethics in Modern Society by Brianan Kiernan and Antony Hequet
• Climate Change and the Global Commons by Heiner Benking
• Ecology, Economy and Social Flow by Sarah Dreyfus
• A New Approach to our Environmental Dilemna by Rosie Waygood
• Connecting to our higher values and the power of thought by Karoline Buys
• Latin America: Strategies Inherent to Natural Resources and Sustainable Tourism as a Development Alternative (Venezuela) by Corina Cortes

Wednesday, November 10th

In the field of climate change and biodiversity, students from the Collège André Chavanne, Collège du Léman, Collège Rousseau and the Koc School have presented their work which led to intense debate and discussions.

The workshops covered different topics such as:

• Protecting Human Rights in a Future Climate Regime by Curtis Doebbler and Margreet Wewerinke
• The Hazards of Climate Change on Socio-economic Development by Dorina Drowniak, Bedir Özuslu, Cem Albayrak, Melih Yavci, Selin Arisal and Vidal Arditi
• Zermatt Unplugged by Brianan Kiernan
• Visualising the inner Yes to Creating a Sustainable World by Rebecca Inauen
• Creating from a space of alignment by Philipp Knechtle
• Oriental Coaching, a powerful tool to achieve a sustainable human development by Jordi Tebé

Thursday, November 11th

During the morning, Noé 21 and ItsOneHumanity presented films and Philippe de Rougemont animated a workshop and debate. Following the proposition of Prince Frederick von Saxe-Lauenburg, a 1 minute silence commemoration in memory of the First World War armistice was made at 11am, the 11th of November. A message from Jean-Paul Moka (viewable below), from Congo, was shown to the participants which had the opportunity to comment and respond to. The conference ended up with voting on a clear message to negotiators at COP 16 in Cancun and a walk to Place des Nations to deliver the message to United Nations, World Meteorological Organization, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and World Trade Organization.

Message from Jean-Paul Moka:

Here is a 10 minutes movie clip summarizing some of the events of the conference:

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^ Prince Frederick von Saxe-Lauenburg, with and for Children of the World, is organizing a Teddy Bears' picnic in Geneva, in Summer 2011. Please contact the foundation if you are wanting to collaborate, donate funds, time or anything from office space, phone line, fax machine or computer; any help is very warmly welcome!

^ For a limited time only, you can purchase an ecologic ICE-WATCH that will allow WeForest to plant 100 trees! More information on their website.

Coming Soon! A World Without Water

The Endangered Essence of Life

Water is a clear, colorless liquid. It is everywhere; underground and above, in people, in air, in lakes, in flowing rivers and ice. And yet, it is running out.

The Aral Sea, in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, is expected to disappear in 15 years, the Great Lakes, in Canada, are being acidified daily, the Sea of Galilee, in Israel, can be walked on, Lake Chad, in Africa, is reduced to 5% its former size, the Colorado River, in America, no longer reaches the sea and neither does the Yellow River in China.

As these seas shrink and lakes disappear, the UN has warned that by 2025 two out of every three people in the world will be facing water shortages.

Why Are Our Taps Running Dry?

The main cause is that although there is a lot of water, it is finite. And people are not. The population escalates and with it, the demand for freshwater.

Climate change has an effect too; temperatures are increasing as well as evaporation resulting to more droughts, floods and storms.

Large scaled irrigation, production of energy, war, tourism and trade all play a part in water shortages.

African Child

Who will cry for the African child?
Who while in the womb felt the high sun’s intensity,
Who while in the womb was carried to the forest to search for food,
Who felt the weight of the heavy wood their mother carried home.

Who will cry for the African child?
Who cried so much having been born in Africa,
Who happens to be born hundreds of miles from the hospital,
Who did not even have all the necessary vaccines.

Who will cry for the African child?
Who at five had the last hug from their own parent,
Who did not even have a single toy to play with,
Who cannot be proud of no injury at five?

Who will cry for the African child?
Who cannot have the basic needs of clothes, education and good shelter,
Who is left with only corporal punishment to be corrected,
Who cannot discuss or share the views of the parents.

Who will cry for the African child?
Who no longer inherits ‘parents’ but
Whose future is to be borrowing
parents,
Who studies so hard just to have enough knowledge to be unemployed.

Who will cry for the African child ?
Who is a victim of discrimination and corruption,
Who has no human rights,
Who has no place in decisionmaking even with his own fate.

Who will cry for the African child ?
Whose only job opportunity is to be a child soldier,
Who is exposed to wars, strikes and revolts.
Who are specimens for political experiments.

Who will cry for the African child?
Who is never free from the malaria parasite.
Who is HIV’s most fertile ground
Who can never be labelled as healthy.

Who will cry for the African child ?
Who is being taken for granted,
Who does not have control even over their own life.
Who even at 30 has very little hopes of surviving out of their parents’ household.

Who will cry for the African child?
Who makes the world laugh but the world makes him/her cry.
Whose hope for greener pastures to Europe and America are blocked, since they serve as a sample to show how strict embassies are.
Who has gone short of tears to cry for themselves?

Who will cry for the African child?
A GOOD CHILD HE/SHE TRIES TO BE

By Foy Franklin, Cameroon

Schools Lacking Water Affect Children’s Health and Future

Approximately 20 percent of the world’s population does not have access to safe drinking water, leaving them vulnerable to disease and food insecurity. In addition, almost half of the world’s population lacks adequate sanitation, which directly impacts human health and environmental sustainability.

Water-born diseases kill more than 6,000 people per day – mostly children. It is time to act – act in a concrete and practical manner. Schools provide the ideal ground to make a difference – for those who teach and for those who learn – the entire community benefits.

High dropout rates due to disease or inability to attend class, lack of awareness raising material and sanitation in schools, all combine in depriving the next generation with education that is critical for their development and a pathway to a healthier and prosperous future.

Water for Schools

Ahot mid-morning welcome   from Kathmandu airport, as we   finally arrived at our long   awaited destination… Nepal.

Since   October 2005 preparation had gone   into this Humanitarian Project that   fourteen students and five adults were   taking part in, gifts for the children had   been prepared, hotels and flights   booked, and after what seemed like   forever we had finally arrived.

As soon as we walked out of   Kathmandu Airport the humidity hit   us, along with the twenty or so   pushy Nepalese suitcase carriers,   who latched on to your suitcase   hurried away with it and stuffed it   into the nearest taxi and then   demanded a dollar.

As the first   image we received of this new   country it was overwhelming and   slightly stressful, we were told we   would have to get used to this, for it   happens everywhere.

After a bumpy   taxi drive through the main streets   littered with people from previous   demonstrations, holy cows and piles   of rotting rubbish we arrived at The   Hyatt Hotel, something which clashed with the   humanitarian work we were doing, because the   Hyatt is Kathmandu’s most amazing hotel situated   just five minutes from the beautiful temples,   however surrounded by poverty and pollution.

What is Poverty?

What is poverty?

Poverty is having to walk kilometres to get one glass of water.

Poverty is having a job that does not pay you enough money to feed your family, or not having a job at all. Poverty is living on the streets or living in a cardboard house.Poverty is also having a lot less than others, or having nothing at all.Poverty is not having enough food to live on.

Poverty is everywhere even in France, USA, U.K., just some places have more of it. Poverty has being going on for a long time. It cannot be stopped, but it can be helped.

Ryan’s Well Foundation - Everyone Can Make a Difference

Water is the most abundant compound on this planet covering 75% of the Earth’s surface. Out of this 97% is salt water. Another 2% is locked away in ice caps. This leaves only 1% of fresh, accessible water to share amongst 6 billion people.

The water distribution over the nations is unequal leaving millions of people living on less than 6 litres a day. In the western countries the average person uses about 143 litres a day so the contrast is incredible. 1 out of 8 children die each day from lack of water. That’s roughly 6000 child deaths a day.

At the age of 6, a young boy named Ryan Hreljac was motivated by his first grade teacher to make a difference. He wanted to build wells in Less Economically Developed Countries, or L.E.D.C.s.