Blog
They are onto us…
Following the Guardian article in November last year, once again New Zealand has been accused of greenwash by international media. Playing once again on our 'connection' with Middle Earth, this time it is the Economist questioning our commitment to the Clean and Green...
Book Review: Throwim Way Leg
By Tim Flannery What an intriguing and enlightening adventure that Tim Flannery takes you on in ‘Throwim Way Leg’. While Tim’s personal experiences covered in the book are during the 1980s and 1990s in New Guinea, the pace of change he saw during that period is...
Farewell…
The team at Sustainable Future lost a long-standing, much loved and respected member of our team yesterday when Richard Shonakan passed away after a long illness. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Richard’s wife Karen and his children Isabella and Patrick....
We the People(s)
Yesterday and today I have been attending a conference organised by the NZ Centre for Public Law: We the People(s): Engagement and Participation in Government. Pictured on the right is Sacha McMeeking, who I also saw present at the Hillary Symposium in Christchurch...
Dr Merrin Pearse
On Thursday we met with Dr Merrin Pearse, a Kiwi 'Eco-preneur' living and working in Hong Kong. Merrin describes his role as ecopreneur as a possibility to connect businesses with conservation projects in ways that are mutually beneficial for both parties. We...
Book Review: The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
By Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett This is a book with a big idea, big enough to change political thinking, and bigger than its authors’ had first intended. In her Valedictory speech Jeanette Fitzsimons referred to The Spirit Level as an ‘important book’ and...
Book Review: The Top 50 Sustainability Books
The Top 50 Sustainability Books After a hiatus on our book reviews we are back! Before we kick off the column properly for 2010 we would like to draw attention to Cambridge University's new publication 'The Top 50 Sustainability Books'. We have this little gem on...
The Danger of Now – TEDx, Auckland
Last Thursday I spoke at the TEDx event held in Auckland (TEDx is a program of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience). It was a brilliantly organised event, and I was honoured to be involved. My presentation as the...
Lunch with Hardin Tibbs
Through an introduction made by Dr Morgan Williams, I met up with Hardin Tibbs in London for lunch. Hardin is a top futures researcher and strategy consultant, so I was very interested to discuss our plans for a national strategy, in particular how best to pursue Part...
Think Tanks in London
While I was in London I had the chance to visit a number of think tanks. It was great to see how these organisations operate, and the many different ways they are publishing and expressing their ideas. On Thursday I visited Forum for the Future at their office in...
Foresight – Government Office for Science
On Friday I also was able to visit the Foresight team, which operates from within the Government Office for Science. I met with Mary Lawrence, Project Manager, who was very generous with her time. Mary explained the history of the organisation, and the full breadth of...
Meeting with Professor Tim Jackson
I caught the train down to the University of Surrey, where I met with Professor Tim Jackson, author of the excellent SDC report 'Prosperity without Growth'. Tim and I had discussed the response to the report, and he kindly let me record a brief interview with him. We...
Book Review: 2009 State of the Future
Jerome C. Glenn, Theodore J. Gordon & Elizabeth Florescu “The good news is that the global financial crisis and climate change planning may be helping humanity to move from its often selfish, self-centred adolescence to a more globally responsible adulthood.” We...
World Futures Conference 2009
Another fantastic conference, and many lessons learnt. I will be writing more specific entries about the conference soon, but until then, slides from my presentation at the Professional Members' Forum on Monday are available here. I was also able to film a number of...
Millennium Project Committee Meeting – Day 2
Today I presented to the committee on the activities of the Australia and New Zealand node, which included discussing the following three points: Supporting the Annual Global MP Delphi In 2010, developing an ANZ Delphi (now creating a database of 100 remarkable people...
Millennium Project Committee Meeting – Day 1
Hi. I am now in Chicago. The World Futures Conference starts this Friday. Prior to the Conference proper, representatives from each of the nodes of the Millennium Project meet in advance to share information and discuss the next steps. I was fortunate to be asked to...
Visiting the EPA
I spent an hour at the EPA, talking to John Stassi. It was very interesting to see how the agency had evolved since its creation. Considering the plans rumored for the changes to New Zealand's own institutional framework, and the Phase 2 changes proposed for the RMA,...
Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden – Washington D.C.
We visited the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Yoko Ono's Wish Tree provided some interesting snapshots of what people wish for the world.
Second Hillary Symposium: World Environment Day
I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Second Hillary Symposium in Christchurch on Friday, World Environment Day. While the symposium had a significant focus on Christchurch, the take-away lessons dealt more with the global situation, and how any city could use...
Freezing for World Environment Day
Today the SF team locked up the office and went down to Lambton Quay to join in on the 'freeze'. The event this year was to highlight the need to unite to combat climate change, with world leaders to negotiate a new global climate treaty in December. Last year...
Third Expert Lunch
Today we had the wonderful Jan Bieringa come in to share lunch with us. Jan started (e)-vision, a digital media centre, in Wellington in the 90s, and was also a co-founder of the 7x7 Ideas Forum. She is currently working on a feature documentary and is the coordinator...
Second Expert Lunch
With the rain filling drains outside, the Sustainable Future team spent an engaging lunch meeting with Pam and Morgan Williams on Friday May 8th. Morgan was New Zealand’s second Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (1996-2007). Since stepping down from the...
Book Review: A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving
Eugene Bardach “The analytical work in problem-solving generally proceeds in a certain direction, from defining the problem at the beginning all the way to making a decision and explaining it at the end. But remember, this is a process much given to reconsidering,...
Nanotechnology
On April 23 and 24 I attended the Nanotechnology workshop organised by Dr Robert Hickson from the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. The event involved people from universities, research institutes and government departments, and was an opportunity to...
Launch of ‘Expert Lunches’
On 3rd April, the first 'Expert Lunch' was held at Sustainable Future's office. For the debut, we invited Dr Sean Weaver from Carbon-Partnership as the guest, accompanied by Scott Wilson from Water Matters Ltd. We took the chance to enjoy an almost unseasonably...
Book Review: Wool to Weta: Transforming New Zealand’s Culture & Economy
Paul Callaghan Auckland University Press, Paperback, $30 "We should discard the myth that because we are good at farming, our best high-technology future lies necessarily in biotechnology. Our best high-technology future will lie where our skills, our talents and our...
Insight vs. Foresight
I just got back to the office after a coffee with Victoria University's resident futurologist, the fantastic Ian Yeoman. We had a very interesting chat about trends and tourism in New Zealand (amongst other things) and one thing he said particularly stuck with me....
Pathways to Resilient Communities
On Saturday I was involved in the Pathways to Resilient Communities event, held at Te Papa. The event was organised by a group of committed people, including members of transition towns groups, Regional Councils, business leaders and other groups with an interest in...
Book Review: Outliers: The story of success
Malcolm Gladwell Allen Lane, Paperback, $40 In his latest book, Malcolm Gladwell questions ‘Why do some people achieve so much more than others? And what is the secret of their success?’ He explores these questions by weaving a wide range of research and observations...
Webstock 2009
I was lucky enough to be invited to hear Jane McGonigal speak at Webstock on Thursday. Jane is a world leader in Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and her discussion of what makes people happy and how these games help people to achieve this happiness was fascinating....
Book Review: Time Management from the Inside Out
Julie Morgenstern Hachette Australia, Paperback, $35 We have a very long To-Do list for 2009 at Sustainable Future, so we felt that it was apt to review a book we have been using to help us clear our desks for the New Year. Julie Morgenstern is a professional...
Sustainable Future’s Christmas function
On the 18th December 2008, the Sustainable Future Team embarked on our 'Magical Mystery Christmas Party'... The journey started by taking a ferry cruise through Wellington harbour towards a mysterious destination. We ended up at Days Bay, Eastbourne, to enjoy a...
Launch of the Conversations
Yesterday we launched our video project, the Conversations. This series of filmed conversations between eminent New Zealand thinkers was recorded in Wellington in June 2008, and went live on our website yesterday. Last night, to celebrate the launch, we gathered as...
Book Review: The Endless City
The Urban Age Project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society Phaidon, Hardback, $100 We end 2008 with a favourite of ours at Sustainable Future. The Endless City is a tome of a book, and is one you could easily spend hours...
UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development – Futures Dialogues 2008
On Monday 17th November 2008 was held the Forum for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development co-organised by the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO (NZUNESCO) and Sustainable Aotearoa New Zealand Inc. (SANZ). This day of reflection and dialogue...
Book Review: Hot, Flat, and Crowded
By Thomas L. Friedman Allen Lane, Hardback, $54.99 “In the green revolution we’re having, everyone’s a winner, nobody has to give up anything, and the adjective that most often modifies “green revolution” is “easy”. That’s not a revolution. That’s a party. We’re...
Shaping Tomorrow
A friend of mine emailed me a link to this site, and I thought you might find it interesting. Shaping Tomorrow helps people and organisations better anticipate and respond to upcoming change, by setting out to help review critical uncertainties, challenges and trends....
Book Review: The World Without Us
By Alan Weisman Virgin Books, $29.99 In this tour of a world without humankind, Weisman investigates the idea that Earth could be better off without us. Though Weisman acknowledges that the complete extinction of the human species is an unlikely event, the threats of...
Pathways to Sustainability Workshop
On Tuesday 9th September 2008 a workshop 'Pathways to Sustainability, What Matters Most to New Zealanders' was held at the Royal Society Lecture Theatre, co-sponsored by Anew NZ and Statistics New Zealand and facilitated by Leanne Holdsworth and Glen Lauder. Around...
Hard Work
Friday saw Wendy participating in a Plenary discussion of the annual Human Resources Institute New Zealand conference. The theme for the whole conference was Sustainability, and every effort was made by the Institute to 'walk the talk'. Details such as choosing 100%...
Book Review: Futurecast: How Superpowers, Populations, and Globalization Will Change the Way You Live and Work
By Robert J. Shapiro St. Martin’s Press, $44.95 Former U.S Undersecretary of Commerce, Robert J. Shapiro, outlines the three forces he believes will most significantly shape our future as being globalisation, aging populations and America’s position as an unrivalled...
7X7 – Seven Imaginations
Tuesday, 26 August saw the final evening of the 7X7 Ideas Forum. Wendy decided to use her 7 minutes to discuss a few insights she had whilst attending the World Future Conference in Washington D.C. The theme of the evening was Seven Imaginations, a perfect complement...
Return to the UN
My second visit was of a more general nature in that I was a tourist. I spent about three hours in the main building and the bookstore - which was superb. I have added some pictures of the sculptures at the front of the building (see above) as they gave me a great...
Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness – Harvard, Boston
A key part of Project 2058 is to develop a strategy for New Zealand's long term future, consequently a visit to Michael E. Porter (author of Upgrading New Zealand's Competitive Advantage), was a must. Unfortunately the man himself was on holiday, but one of his...
United Nations
Today I visited the United Nations, specifically the 'Office in Charge of the National Information, Monitoring and Outreach Branch of the Division for Sustainable Development for the Department for Economic and Social Affairs' - which was over the road from the main...
Book Review: 2008 State of the Future
By Jerome C. Glenn, Theodore J. Gordon and Elizabeth Florescu 2008 State of the Future explores possible and desirable futures based on the current state of the world. This is the twelfth report in the series and builds on all previous research and analysis asking the...
One more day.
Well it’s the last day, and I am sorry to see it come to the close. Today is what is called the Professional Members Forum, titled: Global Futures Projects: Innovations and Outcomes. Thankfully there were no more hard choices to make as the programme was set....
Monday: the last day of the formal proceedings, except …
Today there were so many presentations I wanted to attend (9.00-10-30) and they were apparently all fabulous. We all met up for coffee and the room was abuzz. People in particular to Google include: Medard Gabel (Big Picture Consulting); Jerome Glen and Theodore J...
Into the heavy stuff
Today I attended a presentation by Dennis M. Bushnell, Chief Scientist from NASA, who was fascinating, but I was out of my depth. He is clearly a brilliant man who has an extremely good grasp of technology. Much of his thinking will feed into ‘7x7’ in August and the...
The Conference Begins…
Tonight the conference began properly with the Opening Plenary. The key speakers were Edie Weiner, co-author of FutureThink: How to Think Clearly in a Time of Change, and Bill Drayon, a founder of Ashoka and former assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental...