Tuesday, December 24, 2002

Why a GIFTegrity ? Timothy Wilken, MD writes: Every member of a synergic help exchange would participate in two roles. That as a giftor and that as a giftee. Again we see as an INTERdependent life form, there will be times when we will help others and times when others will help us. The Gift Tensegrity or GIFTegrity works on trust. I give help to those in need and trust that when I am in need there will be those who will give me help. ... Synergic Trust was discovered long ago, and was once known as: The Spiritual Principle Of Giving And Receiving -- “When we give to one another, freely and without conditions, sharing our blessings with others and bearing each other's burdens, the giving multiplies and we receive far more than what was given. Even when there is no immediate prospect of return, Heaven keeps accounts of giving, and in the end blessing will return to the giver, multiplied manyfold. We must give first; to expect to receive without having given is to violate the universal law. On the other hand, giving in order to receive--with strings attached, with the intention of currying favor, or in order to make a name for oneself — is condemned.” ... And while, The Spiritual Principle of Giving and Receiving relies on “Heaven to keep account of giving”, the Gift Tensegrity relies on a public database to keep account of gifting and receiving. This database of the synergic help exchange is a public space where the exchanging of help is made visible to all members who are participants in good standing. (12/24/02) A Stolen River Rodger Schlickeisen writes: The Colorado River was once an unbroken ribbon of life from the northern Rockies of central Wyoming through the vast arid Southwest into Mexico and eventually the Gulf of California. But today the Colorado River is not healthy. In fact, it no longer exists in a form that could reasonably be called a river in its southernmost reaches. By the early 1960s, decades of massive U.S. dam projects and water diversions had continuously reduced the southern flow until not a drop of water reached the Gulf of California . The once incredibly lush delta ecosystem dried up, and wildlife was extirpated. Local fishermen were put out of business. Indigenous people lost a way of life they had led for millennia. Ask yourself: If the borders of the United States had encompassed the entire length of the Colorado River all the way to the Gulf of California, would the federal and state governments have permitted the delta and upper reaches of the gulf to be ecologically devastated? Such an outcome would have been inconceivable. (12/24/02) R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) Now in San Francisco through February 02, 2003, this one man play was written and directed by D.W. Jacobs from the life, work and writings of R. Buckminster Fuller and performed brilliantly by Ron Campbell. ...  I have seen this play twice, and I will see it again. It is wonderful for both long time students of Buckminster Fuller and first timers. Don't miss it!  (12/24/02) ECO-WAVE 2003 -- Call for Papers Ecological Design: The Unstoppable Wave--A Global Interdisciplinary Conference on the Next Great Wave in Architecture will be held in Berkeley, California Thursday-Sunday, August 14-17, 2003. This is an invitation for proposals for papers and exhibits on research, education, or practice in ecological architecture. Topics can include any aspect of sustainability, alternative materials and energy systems, environmental health, recycled building materials, bioremediation, permaculture, design education, and nature-based architecture. Proposals are sought from researchers, architects, educators, students and all others involved in ecological design, engineering, planning, and construction. Deadline for proposals:  January 31, 2003. (12/24/02) What was the Dymaxion Car? Stanford University's program on Science, Technology and Society now hosts a web site dedicated to Fuller's Dymaxion car. The pages by Michael John Gorman offer information about the car and its history as well as other ideas and inventions by Fuller. (12/24/02) Two Wars at Once United Press International -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned North Korea Monday not to take advantage of America's preoccupation with Iraq, as the United States is capable of fighting and winning two wars at once. ... "I have no reason to believe that ... North Korea feels emboldened because of the world's interest in Iraq," he told a briefing at the Pentagon. "If they do, it would be a mistake," because the U.S. military was perfectly capable of fighting two major regional conflicts while continuing to engage terrorists across the world. "We are capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case of the other," he said. "Let there be no doubt about it." (12/24/02) What is Sustainable Development Online? The role of Sustainable Development Online (SDO) is to map this sea of change and provide access to significant web sites built by organisations supporting the move towards SD. In this section of EW you will find descriptions of and links to many hundreds of web sites covering the broad subject of sustainable development. In this way SDO is a relevant and useful starting point to engage with SD subjects. SDO is continually updated and maintained and each web site listed has been visited by one of our researchers. Information can be accessed via SDO on many interconnected subjects, ISO 14001 to organic farming, SME support schemes to renewable materials. If you have a web site that you would like to be listed please do not hesitate to submit it under the appropriate section - one of our researchers will follow it up. (12/24/02) New Web Tools Help Feed the Hungry Wired Magazine -- Every year billions of pounds of surplus food ends up in landfills instead of feeding hungry people. To address the problem, the hunger relief organization America's Second Harvest hopes to make it easier for food manufacturers to donate instead of dump with a new Web tool scheduled to debut in January. America's Second Harvest solicits donations from the food and grocery industry and distributes the goods to food banks around the country. These food banks supply smaller organizations like homeless shelters and soup kitchens that feed those in need. Using a tool called Aid Matrix developed by the i2 Foundation, America's Second Harvest hopes to make the donation process easier, more efficient and accurate for all organizations involved. Under the system, the food manufacturer provides America's Second Harvest with a product master file that is loaded into a database, said David Prendergast, vice president of technology for the relief organization. The company's representative can then log on to the website and identify which products they want to donate. For example, a company may have a surplus of frozen pizzas. They can log in, alert America's Second Harvest, which in turn offers food banks the shipment of frozen pizzas in an equitable way. (12/24/02) 3:21:30 AM

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