Sustainable Development and Sustainability Web Sites
Present, describe, and critique sustainable development and sustainability web sites. Include links to those sites. Provide comments on the sites that others have posted.
I just checked out the UN's dept. for sustainable development. Haven't looked into it in depth yet, but under their "areas of work," we may find some helpful ideas for the project.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD- is a collection of 200 members from 30 different countries that our committed to serve as a business leader for sustainable development world-wide. There website well organized and adequately informational. The council has four focus areas, energy and climate, development, business role, and ecosystems. In their development focus they explain they're involvement in three sections: creating awareness among businesses, advocating business perspectives to policy makers, and promote business-led action for sustainable development. They list several examples of past and current projects they are focusing on. This site has an overwhelming amount of relevant information. This site is a essential resource in understanding and keeping up-to-date with the sustainable development movement.
A couple of us groups met up during class time and had some questions came up. We need to make sure we know a name for our ngo. exactly we are usingand our purpose. What I mean by this is a well,cistern, or rain collector ect.... Hardware and facilitators are also other things that need to be clearified.we need to think low tech as far as pumps
"Damanhur, is an eco-society based on ethical and spiritual values, awarded by an agency of the United Nations as a model for a sustainable future.
Founded in 1975, the Federation has about 1,000 citizens and extends over 500 hectares of territory throughout Valchiusella and the Alto Canavese area, at the foothills of the Piedmont Alps.
Damanhur offers courses and events all year round, and it is possible to visit for short periods as well as longer stays for study, vacation or regeneration.
Damanhur promotes a culture of peace and equitable development through solidarity, volunteerism, respect for the environment, art, and social and political engagements."
This quote from the home page of the Damanhur website sums up what those who participate in this long-running social experiment hope to accomplish. This is one of the oldest active communities of its type. The spiritual core of the community is deeply rooted in sustainability. I think you will all find this site very fascinating. You can see it at: http://www.damanhur.org/
a) arcosanti.org is a website dedicated to a pedestrian-oriented city, that is planned to eliminate suburban sprawl so that the urban and natural environments should keep their integrity and flourish. About 70 miles outside of Phoenix, Arizona, Arcosanti is a living exhibition of a compact three-dimensional town, a proposed alternative to suburban sprawl, concentrated on 10 acres in the Arizona desert. Arcosanti is designed according to the concept of arcology (architecture + ecology), which was developed by Italian architect Paolo Soleri.
b) Arcosanti is a very unique idea and website, it offers courses to help build this community, while teaching the aspects of sustainability and creating a community with minimal impact on the environment. The only problem I found with the website itself was that it was hard to find info on what Arcosanti actually was. But the layout is appealing and easy to navigate.
a) The Natural Step is a not-for-profit organization founded with the vision of creating a sustainable human society. Naturalstep.org offers many ideas and ways to get involved to make communities and businesses more sustainable. They show how economic, environmental and social systems are mutually dependent and how to use this to help guide business strategies that will lead to a competitive advantage. They even provide ecourses for learning more sustainable practices and have partnered with many renowned universities around the whole in sustainability programs. They look at the whole picture to help support infrastructure and growth, while maintaining an environmental minded view.
b) This was my favorite website out of the ones I researched. It provides a clear focus and goal as you read the website, which is simplistic, but aesthetically put together. They keep up on education and ways you can get involved in your area and also news and media info focusing around sustainability. They also clearly define what they mean by sustainability and steps to help become more conscious about the choices we make that involve the world and environment.
You are identifying a number of good websites. Here is one that you may find interesting - it has a lot of useful material. It is "The Communication Initiative Network." http://www.comminit.com/
This global issues web site address the faltifacited issues of the world.Social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all. As a society we need to understand how all of these issues together create a larger issue that truly effects us all. To change global issues we have to first change our views of others in this world. for more information.
www.beoutside.org This is the Wolftree website. There is a Golden Eagle webcam that can be viewed. The Eagles are near Whychus creek. This is the organization that I did my service learning hours with. One of Wolftree's goals is to give students science literacy. Wolftree would like to encourage more young women and minorites to become scientists.
AllAfrica Global Media is part of a coalition of companies that produces and distributes news across Africa. As a multi-media content provider the website hosts a library of information regarding issues and current state of affairs in Africa. At first glance at this site my I was overwheled by the amount of links and information on one page. I found the site very confusing as some of the pages are in english while others are in French with in the same menu. On the home page of AllAfrica the have a side “Company Information” menu as well as some other important links on the top. Another confusion part of the website is a link “Site Francais” or “Site English” which looks the same as other links bordering. The most useful thing I found in the site was the “Who We are” page, which states what the NGO does, how it does it and how it is funded. The most significant thing I can learn from this site is the importance of organization and portraying information in a simple and attractive manor. This site acts as an ICT department of several sustainable development NGOs like the AllAfrica Foundation. Allafrica.com is a website dedicated to spreading ideas and concerns of Africa with all of Africa and the world.
commuteoptions.org is a really cool, local non-profit, they will actually PAY YOU to car pool! How cool is that? Remember that commute options week is June 11-18!
Prout, an acronym for Progressive Utilization Theory, is a socioeconomic model for holistic (true cost or full cost) sustainability. The theory is designed to allow each human being the opportunity to express their fullest potentials.
Prout first emerged in India during the 1970s as an alternative to both Capitalism and Communism, two systems that are inherently unsustainable. By advocating for decentralized economy and government, Prout aims to create sustainable development plans that are specific to each bioregion.
The Prout Institute website is a useful resource for finding theories, policies, practices, education models and community plans to promote sustainability in all aspects of life. No matter what interests or talents a person has, it is likely that this website contains helpful information on how we can effectively contribute to building a sustainable culture.
This permaculture organization promotes lifestyles that mimic the natural world as much as practically possible. Though building homes with inert materials, growing food, restoring “diminished landscapes and ecosystems”, building healthy communities and other sustainable practices, life can improve steadily over time. These perspectives and activities are explained and supported by this institute, helping regular people build lives that create “beneficial relationships” that mimic those found in natural ecosystems.
This website helps connect people with classes, projects, teacher trainings and other resources, supporting the global community that is involved with the permaculture movement. I especially appreciate the blog section of the site that is dedicated to various interesting permaculture-related projects. The blog can help inspire people to take small, fun steps towards building a sustainable lifestyles.
In Columbia, a group of people escaped the political terror of the 1970s to start a laboratory for sustainable development in the third world. Using only tools accessible to developing nations, the community grew to 200 people and is still self-sustaining today. Gaviotas is built in one of the least hospitable places on earth, the eastern plains of the Andes. After the area was essentially destroyed by cattle grazing, the community of Gaviotas reforested the area while making profits from the products of the trees they planted.
The village has no official leadership, not even police. The UN has called Gaviotas a model for sustainable development. Personally, I read a book about Gaviotas a few years ago and it rekindled my faith in the resilience of humanity.
The Friends of Gaviotas website offers surface-level information on the mission and actions of the community, and is a useful starting point for research. However, if one desires more information or a deeper analysis of Gaviotas, they must look elsewhere. This website is most useful for inspiration; I felt incredibly uplifted when I first read about Gaviotas, and I felt similarly when I explored this web site.
18 comments:
I just checked out the UN's dept. for sustainable development. Haven't looked into it in depth yet, but under their "areas of work," we may find some helpful ideas for the project.
http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd/aow_areawork.shtml
If you experience trouble posting on the blog, try writing your comments in a word file and then cutting and pasting them into the blog.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
WBCSD- is a collection of 200 members from 30 different countries that our committed to serve as a business leader for sustainable development world-wide. There website well organized and adequately informational. The council has four focus areas, energy and climate, development, business role, and ecosystems. In their development focus they explain they're involvement in three sections: creating awareness among businesses, advocating business perspectives to policy makers, and promote business-led action for sustainable development. They list several examples of past and current projects they are focusing on. This site has an overwhelming amount of relevant information. This site is a essential resource in understanding and keeping up-to-date with the sustainable development movement.
http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=Mjg5
I'm not sure why I posted as Ryan but, just for the record I posted they above message. Sorry for the confusion.
A couple of us groups met up during class time and had some questions came up. We need to make sure we know a name for our ngo. exactly we are usingand our purpose. What I mean by this is a well,cistern, or rain collector ect.... Hardware and facilitators are also other things that need to be clearified.we need to think low tech as far as pumps
"Damanhur, is an eco-society based on ethical and spiritual values, awarded by an agency of the United Nations as a model for a sustainable future.
Founded in 1975, the Federation has about 1,000 citizens and extends over 500 hectares of territory throughout Valchiusella and the Alto Canavese area, at the foothills of the Piedmont Alps.
Damanhur offers courses and events all year round, and it is possible to visit for short periods as well as longer stays for study, vacation or regeneration.
Damanhur promotes a culture of peace and equitable development through solidarity, volunteerism, respect for the environment, art, and social and political engagements."
This quote from the home page of the Damanhur website sums up what those who participate in this long-running social experiment hope to accomplish. This is one of the oldest active communities of its type. The spiritual core of the community is deeply rooted in sustainability. I think you will all find this site very fascinating. You can see it at: http://www.damanhur.org/
arcosanti.org
a) arcosanti.org is a website dedicated to a pedestrian-oriented city, that is planned to eliminate suburban sprawl so that the urban and natural environments should keep their integrity and flourish. About 70 miles outside of Phoenix, Arizona, Arcosanti is a living exhibition of a compact three-dimensional town, a proposed alternative to suburban sprawl, concentrated on 10 acres in the Arizona desert. Arcosanti is designed according to the concept of arcology (architecture + ecology), which was developed by Italian architect Paolo Soleri.
b) Arcosanti is a very unique idea and website, it offers courses to help build this community, while teaching the aspects of sustainability and creating a community with minimal impact on the environment. The only problem I found with the website itself was that it was hard to find info on what Arcosanti actually was. But the layout is appealing and easy to navigate.
naturalstep.org
a) The Natural Step is a not-for-profit organization founded with the vision of creating a sustainable human society. Naturalstep.org offers many ideas and ways to get involved to make communities and businesses more sustainable. They show how economic, environmental and social systems are mutually dependent and how to use this to help guide business strategies that will lead to a competitive advantage. They even provide ecourses for learning more sustainable practices and have partnered with many renowned universities around the whole in sustainability programs. They look at the whole picture to help support infrastructure and growth, while maintaining an environmental minded view.
b) This was my favorite website out of the ones I researched. It provides a clear focus and goal as you read the website, which is simplistic, but aesthetically put together. They keep up on education and ways you can get involved in your area and also news and media info focusing around sustainability. They also clearly define what they mean by sustainability and steps to help become more conscious about the choices we make that involve the world and environment.
You are identifying a number of good websites. Here is one that you may find interesting - it has a lot of useful material. It is "The Communication Initiative Network."
http://www.comminit.com/
This global issues web site address the faltifacited issues of the world.Social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all. As a society we need to understand how all of these issues together create a larger issue that truly effects us all. To change global issues we have to first change our views of others in this world. for more information.
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/367/sustainable-development
this is a great idea for service learning if anyone still needs to complete a few extra hours all on one day! go to restorethedeschutes.org
they are having an annual spring stream stewardship day on June 4th!
waterforpeople.org is a really similar idea to what we are doing for our ngo... They also really focus on a teaching philosophy for change!
www.beoutside.org
This is the Wolftree website. There is a Golden Eagle webcam that can be viewed. The Eagles are near Whychus creek.
This is the organization that I did my service learning hours with. One of Wolftree's goals is to give students science literacy. Wolftree would like to encourage more young women and minorites to become scientists.
http://allafrica.com/
AllAfrica Global Media is part of a coalition of companies that produces and distributes news across Africa. As a multi-media content provider the website hosts a library of information regarding issues and current state of affairs in Africa. At first glance at this site my I was overwheled by the amount of links and information on one page. I found the site very confusing as some of the pages are in english while others are in French with in the same menu. On the home page of AllAfrica the have a side “Company Information” menu as well as some other important links on the top. Another confusion part of the website is a link “Site Francais” or “Site English” which looks the same as other links bordering.
The most useful thing I found in the site was the “Who We are” page, which states what the NGO does, how it does it and how it is funded. The most significant thing I can learn from this site is the importance of organization and portraying information in a simple and attractive manor. This site acts as an ICT department of several sustainable development NGOs like the AllAfrica Foundation. Allafrica.com is a website dedicated to spreading ideas and concerns of Africa with all of Africa and the world.
commuteoptions.org is a really cool, local non-profit, they will actually PAY YOU to car pool! How cool is that? Remember that commute options week is June 11-18!
www.proutinstitute.org
Prout, an acronym for Progressive Utilization Theory, is a socioeconomic model for holistic (true cost or full cost) sustainability. The theory is designed to allow each human being the opportunity to express their fullest potentials.
Prout first emerged in India during the 1970s as an alternative to both Capitalism and Communism, two systems that are inherently unsustainable. By advocating for decentralized economy and government, Prout aims to create sustainable development plans that are specific to each bioregion.
The Prout Institute website is a useful resource for finding theories, policies, practices, education models and community plans to promote sustainability in all aspects of life. No matter what interests or talents a person has, it is likely that this website contains helpful information on how we can effectively contribute to building a sustainable culture.
www.permaculture.org
This permaculture organization promotes lifestyles that mimic the natural world as much as practically possible. Though building homes with inert materials, growing food, restoring “diminished landscapes and ecosystems”, building healthy communities and other sustainable practices, life can improve steadily over time. These perspectives and activities are explained and supported by this institute, helping regular people build lives that create “beneficial relationships” that mimic those found in natural ecosystems.
This website helps connect people with classes, projects, teacher trainings and other resources, supporting the global community that is involved with the permaculture movement. I especially appreciate the blog section of the site that is dedicated to various interesting permaculture-related projects. The blog can help inspire people to take small, fun steps towards building a sustainable lifestyles.
www.friendsofgaviotas.org
In Columbia, a group of people escaped the political terror of the 1970s to start a laboratory for sustainable development in the third world. Using only tools accessible to developing nations, the community grew to 200 people and is still self-sustaining today. Gaviotas is built in one of the least hospitable places on earth, the eastern plains of the Andes. After the area was essentially destroyed by cattle grazing, the community of Gaviotas reforested the area while making profits from the products of the trees they planted.
The village has no official leadership, not even police. The UN has called Gaviotas a model for sustainable development. Personally, I read a book about Gaviotas a few years ago and it rekindled my faith in the resilience of humanity.
The Friends of Gaviotas website offers surface-level information on the mission and actions of the community, and is a useful starting point for research. However, if one desires more information or a deeper analysis of Gaviotas, they must look elsewhere. This website is most useful for inspiration; I felt incredibly uplifted when I first read about Gaviotas, and I felt similarly when I explored this web site.
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