| [College of ACES] | [University of Illinois] | [Illinois CES] |
Are you interested in Deep Sustainability.
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AN INVITATION TO JOIN THE DEEP-SUSTAINABILITY FORUM
This CSF forum is a challenge to people worried by the conflict between
human activities and nature's resilience and the apparent ineffectiveness
and complications in official reaction.
Much has been said and written on the theme, and various meanings given to
the word "sustainability." Most everything now is labeled sustainable,
without a reality check on the word. Yet, the non-sustainability of human
endeavor may cause the highest threat ever on our common future.
Deep-Sustainability will be a constructive conversation on the theme, with
the idea of understanding its root causes, then of dealing with it in
concrete, practical and effective ways. "Engineering" the move to deep
sustainability may require changes to society and to our vision of
ourselves
and of the world, but these changes need not be sacrifices to our qualify
of
life. On the contrary, they may be enriching in many ways. The challenge
now
is to become mature as a species and a civilization. This is the reason why
we are asking people to join an action-oriented conversation toward future
safety and security.
A personal will to face the issue and a commitment to simplicity are keys
to
success in the process. The issues are simple, but resolving them may be
difficult. Therefore simplicity is crucial.
We invite you to join us and work constructively, positively, and in full
respect for one another to identify the problems and develop solutions in a
joint endeavor.
To succeed, we must avoid pre-conceived ideas, avoid unfounded statements
and respect one another, while innovating dynamically. Also, what will
distinguish Deep-sustainability from many discussion groups, is that it
will
go beyond just examining worries about the future and sustainability. We
will focus on process, i.e., analysis, understanding of causes,
establishment of common understanding, and identification of possible paths
for action. We strongly discourage intellectual gamesmanship and
ideological sword-crossing. Attention to process and sincerity will be
required in a fruitful dialogue.
The list is moderated and those who trespass agreed upon rules will be
taken
off the list by a moderation committee. Decisions can be appealed and may
be reversed.
The list has a Board of Editors:
1) BILL REES, Ph.D., Director, School of Regional and Community, University
of British Columbia. At the forefront of the issue of non-sustainability
for three decades, he is the "father" of the concept of Ecological
Footprint.
2) LAURENT DOBUZINSKIS, Associate Professor, Political Science, Simon
Fraser
University, Burnaby (B.C.) Canada. Laurent Dobuzinskis is a long time,
member of the NCFS (National Centre for Sustainability).
3) YVES BAJARD, D.Sc., Secretary and Founding Member, National Centre for
Sustainability, already mentioned above. In most of his professional life,
which took him to many development schemes around the world, Yves Bajard
focused on a search for ways to reduce the risks, endemic in most
decision-making, which created a threat to nature and society.
The initial moderators will be Yves Bajard and Laurent Dobuzinskis. The
moderating committee is to be augmented to four persons, and subscribers
are
welcome to join the team. We'll make sure that the process of moderation
aims only at keeping the conversation on topic, at making sure that
statements made are founded and can be referenced to sources, and at making
sure also that there are no personal attacks or foul, insulting language on
the list. There will be no censorship within the framework of operation
spelled out above.
To subscribe to Deep-Sustainability, please send the message
subscribe deep-sustainability Yourfirstname Yourlastname
We look forward to seeing you there,
For the Board of Editors:
Yves Bajard
National Centre for Sustainability
For an insight into what we are doing, consult our Homepage at URL:
http://www.islandnet.com/~ncfs/ncfs/homemenu.htm
Mail address: 1 - 800 Gorge Road West, Victoria B.C. Canada V9A 1N9
Telephone (250) 480 5016 Fax: (250) 480 5261 e-mail: ncfs@islandnet.com
SUBSCRIBING To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
LISTSERV@csf.colorado.edu that says:
sub cnie firstname lastname
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
To participate in the discussion, send your messages to:
CNIE@csf.colorado.edu