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| Group photo of the remaining participating audience at my event, December 18 2010. |
At the event called "Fornybarfamilien", we came up with alternatives to energy saving, energy consuming, ecology practice, history of danish eco-societies and new economies. A New Year's Resolution is often something we think of as something being persuaded, just like doing the best for your family by buying the greatest stuff for Christmas, while another kind of Resolution could be one to prepare a family meal to the coming generation as in new habits, new environments, new systems of building and restoration, and new matrixes in organizations.
"Fornybarfamilien" (The Renewable Family) showed us that We are the Designers. Here I am trying to use my storytelling for this society's demand of excitement and participation in the age of the cyber nation which is the driving force of today's markets. The advertising industry has used this storytelling strategy for years! Now it is time for us to deliver the same in the sence of green storytelling! The consumers are the end target anyway. And they are driving our cycle in the sentence "what's in it for me". So therefor we are buying what is best told or best performed in the name of what is giving us a quality of life.
Qualities of life have different value in the different ages of time, it was reported. Before, products of high value was a status symbol and a tool to union the like-minded . Today, in our postmodern information society, the value is rather the quality of the products aim to bring us a most sustainable happiness. This way of thinking, is turning our consumer habits upside-down!
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| Demonstration of how to make your own solar heating from empty cans, by Denmark's engineer specialist on solar power: Ernst Drastrup. The demo was shown at the event. |
The main motivation of holding this event, was to stimulate the creative thinking of a greener household and home. Many of the seminar speakers did all of this. The first part of this concept, was a test for upcoming challenges and maybe another event where I would like to bring a greater surrounding and a social experience for the audience to join.
At this event, the participants kept taking notes and asking questions all the time in a very intimate dialogue. The citizen of Samsoe (Samsø / Samso ) Energy Island in Denmark, Stefan Wollfbrandt, told us about all the benefits of his low energy positive house. New economies like ecology and economy in a circular system were also presented in hands-on methods and history of peak oil. We found out that solutions must not consist of only one. Solutions are made to connect , just like any circular system. That is why Denmark, which is a flat country, is a great provider of wind energy, wheras Norway could use alot more fjord or mountain energy.
Each environment has its own solution. We cannot just go blind by the oil prophecies of a greater future because our past was so great and rich, when the resources are running out and as we know it - the peak will come not slow, but fast as long as the rest of the world market expand in a different alternative direction than Norway. We'd have to follow, and we're slow on preparing for its peak. Sweden and Denmark are alot more adaptive.
The vulnerability of not investing in green technologies before it is too late on top of the mountain, was well documented by BI Center of Climate Strategy. The ticking bomb of the green growth was illustrated by a bottle of ketchup being sqeezed like it is now, and suddenly - there will be green all over the place!
At the event, I presented where Denmark is on the map compared to us in Norway. We live in a country with great distance between each other (originally) with mountains separating us, and we are used to an "ownership"-culture where nothing compromises with the mindset of collectiveness. While the danes live flat and connected, they're used to lot more sharing-culture. The challenge for the case of Norway, is that our resources must be rediscovered by ourselves, as it differ from the danish, and we must open up our own eyes to discover our own possibilities.
We usually say that we are lucky to be powered by waterfalls and their engines. And of course it provides us with most of our energy consumption. But even though we can rely on that water power is clean and a good resource for Norway, we also have to ask ourselves whether this is ecologically and holisticly renewable energy or not when it dries our watery ground, cuts off biological diversity, and looks terrible when constructed in our fjords? How renewable is it, then?...
The word holistic, is a part of ecology and the new economy and the new energy politics. The challenge for Norway, is to find our holistic perception again.
Transition Towns Norway was represented at the meeting, as well. They gave us hope on a system of meeting structure that works in plenty other cities and countries, also in a very holistic way of organizing and future-thinking.
The most exciting thing about the "Fornybarfamilien"-event, was that we were able to connect on a grassroot level to exchange views and strategies and telephone numbers for further building, and also coming together for a plot of a "fantasy home!" Everyone was included, and felt included. And as we turned around, we noticed how important it was to get the "inclusion"-factor on, and the "happy-feel-in-an-interactive-moment" on.
A group of people living in a neighbourhood in Oslo asked for more information from Samsoe on how to continue their work, and no outcome is better than that! - The inspiration to a greater action.
Slow Food Oslo also wanted to get more team members to continue their growth in Oslo - ironically for a slower consumption, but faster developement. See , this has turned upside-down! The past organizations of "slow structure/business as usual" has been replaced by fast organization and further own a slow, circular growth.
Seminar programme in Norwegian:
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