Posted by Todd Saddler lauriet...@aol.com Greetings!
My good friend, John Engle, suggested that I subscribe to the OS listserve. John exposed me to Open Space Technology as he as promoted its use for our work with Beyond Borders in Haiti. I participated in 3 or 4 of our annual meetings that used Open Space, and was pleased with the results. Now I am living in Ithaca, New York, and am called to practice and promote sustainable living here in the USA. Based on my experience in Haiti, I am convinced that the typical American lifestyle is a part of the burden on the backs of the poor throughout the world, and is harmful to the environment. I am trying to stimulate the creation of a business or organization which will provide green design and building services in this area. It think that an Open Space conference would be a great way to bring together people who would be interested in collaborating with me on this project. While I have participated in Open Space meetings before, I have not yet facilitated one. I have a general feel for the principals and procedures, and have downloaded a few documents from the internet. I have also ordered a copy of Harrison Owen's book on "Spirit" from my local bookstore. If anyone on the list serve has advice or suggestions, I would appreciate your help! Below is a copy of the latest version of the invitation. You are invited to an Open Space conference on the theme: Building for Sustainable Living: Making it Available Our society defines us as consumers and makes it relatively easy to live comfortably in ways that degrade the environment and exploit other people. A few committed nonconformists are able, with difficulty, to create alternatives to the status quo, and thus provide a good example. But what about the rest? A growing number of people aspire to live sustainably, but are unable to strike out on their own and do it. The time is ripe for those who have the skills, experience, vision, and commitment to come together and create ways to make sustainable built environments a real, available, affordable option for everyone whose conscience causes them to want it. Open Space Open Space Technology, developed by Harrison Owen, is a method for organising a self-managed meeting or conference where participants create their own programme of work sessions. In these simultaneous sessions people discuss their concerns, explore issues and opportunities and find new ways forward. An Open Space event brings people together, often in large numbers and representing great diversity, to contribute their views, share their ideas and develop plans for creative and collaborative action. The output of an Open Space conference is a set of written reports, one for each session, usually with action points. This text is from http://www.openspaceworld.org, where you can find much more information about this exciting new organizational tool. If you haven't participated an Open Space yet, it will be worth your while to come for this reason alone! Where: The Common House at Ecovillage Ithaca. Please park in the visitor parking area or along the road, but not in spaces near houses. When: Saturday, March 10th, 2001, 1PM to 5PM, Potluck supper to follow. Cost: Free to the people - there will be a dish to pass supper. If you are able to bring a laptop computer, that would help us get the report out more quickly. If interested, please contact Todd Saddler 269-0587, lauriet...@aol.com. We need to have an aproximate idea of how many people are likely to come. * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== osl...@egroups.com To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@egroups.com: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed