Tomorrow some of the Foresight team heads to Tanzania for a workshop on ECO-RESORTS OF THE FUTURE with our sustainable host Habitaem. Participants will be joining us from as far as San Francisco and as near as down the road in Tanzania. Through the course of our few days in Arusha we will review some of the previous eco-models for resorts and attempt to define a vision for a new sustainable model for resort and tourism in developing regions of the world like Tanzania.

Sometimes clearing up your desk uncovers important facts. Today a March 8th 2006 Independent newspaper was uncovered by a colleague in the Foresight group. The front cover "This Is Your Life (If you are a woman)" was in honour of International Women's Day.

The following statistics (still topical in 2008) were included:
70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty are women and children
67% of all illiterate adults are women
85, girls worldwide are unable to attend school compared with 45m boys
In the US 35% of layers are women but just 5% are partners
Women in full-time jobs earn an average 17% less than British men
62% of unpaid family workers are female

The Women and Work Commission released a report almost two years ago in February 2006 to explain why the pay gap is not only bad for women, but also bad for Britain. Some of the key reasons identified for the pay gap include human capital differences (differences in educational levels and work experience), part-time working (the pay gap between men and women's part time hourly earnings and men's full time hourly earnings is large), travel patterns (on average women spend less time commuting than men and this can impact on women's pay), occupational segregation (women's employment is highly concentrated in certain occupations and these occupations are often the lowest paid), workplace segregation (high concentrations of female employees are associated with relatively low pay at the level of individual workplaces). Other reasons included job grading practices, appraisal systems, reward systems and retention measures, wage-setting practices and discrimination. The UK government is currently trying to addres the Pay Gap by improving the skill levels of current workers and by helping companies to optimize their female workforce.

For more stats the original Independent article can be found here.

Today is officially International Project Management Day and World Vegan Day. International Project Management day suggests putting some time aside to recognize the contributions of project managers to organisations, and World Vegan Day tries to raise awareness around the benefits of veganism and its positive relationship to the environment. The WVD website even goes as far as to say that by "2050 the world's livestock will be consuming as much as 4 billion people do... when many were doubting whether such human numbers could be fed at all."

When you consider that human population projections for 2050 are approximately 9.3bn, an extra set of 4bn mouthes to feed is a little disconcerting.

The podcast I did on demographics is now available online. My focus was on population growth, ageing populations and urban migration.

I am starting to wonder whether the increase in religion in the United States has anything to do with the fact that so many Americans live in the suburbs. Does the resulting lack of contact and sense of community drive people to jump into their cars and head to regular Sunday meetings with other humans? It's just a thought. Living in London, I have grown to appreciate the community feel of former London villages, which now serve as high streets populated with retail and amenities. I can't imagine ever living in an isolated suburb. The beauty of the city neighborhood is that you can reach out and connect whenever you want to. One is not forced to use a cup of sugar as a pretext to make contact. Although religious services may not strike some of us as community-feeling, they are definitely community-oriented. What is a church, temple or mosque, but a communal place for people to feel part of something meaningful.

I just heard from Patrick who is manufacturing kites in the urban slums and refugee camps of Chad, and as he writes in his own words "then passing out a good number of them to orphanages and schools where all those HIV orphans need a good dose of loving child psychology." My heart goes out to all those with bigger hearts, restless souls and endless supplies of bravery.

As I told him I can just imagine those little faces light up as the great big blossoming kite hits the sky. Wonderful potential.

Today marked the end of the Drivers of Change demographic roundtables. It was a bit of a quiet start last week with the Americas, but we picked up a little steam with the EU and by the time Australia and East Asia came around this week, it seemed like a more global perspective on the issues. It made me realize in some ways how much I have learned through the process, and how much more there is to learn.

Some of the key points that roundtable chair Tristram Carfrae raised for emphasis::
- Population stabilisation by 2050
- There are huge differences in terms of population growth: where it is happening (developing regions), where it isn't happened (EU)
- Can the development and growth in poor, urban areas be matched by much needed infrastructure
- The ratio of the working to the dependent is set to decrease. How are we going to handle that?
- Demographics affects us as individuals and as a firm

And finally, there are local issues in every country, region and city, despite some of the clear overlaps.

The next step will include meeting with business sectors in order to determine the business imperative for the research agenda. I am looking forward to this phase. It would give me great satisfaction to integrate the facts into out business in a way that makes sense for all of us.

As I seat here in Hong Kong's quiet room 1 (freezing due to the overactive AC) I can't help but wonder where the next chapter of demographic research will lead.

Jennifer sent me some links she came across by Googling the Japanese translation of the Envois installation she created on behalf of Arup. First came Googling in your native language, now comes Googling and Flickring globally ...Care to keep up?

I asked my Romanian friend Stefan for his perspective on the induction of Romania into the EU. It was a little less rosy than the press would have you believe. The fireworks seemed orchestrated more for and by the media than by the people who will actually be affected by the new year's change. As Stefan pointed out, while joining "any union might be problematic, the trouble is that the UNION obscures the more pressing plight of a real planetary union - without super-block or super-powers". Add to this the fact that friends who were formerly welcomed into Romania (Moldovians) will now need a visa to enter. Stefan sounded more resigned to the change than eccstatic.

However he was quick to point out that national prode is booming. There is the sense that FINALLY after all of these years, Romanians are finally being recognized and invited to join after years of suffering and neglect. Stefan also pointed out that the issue is twofold: while Romanians are now technically equals, they have also not lost their sense of mission. There is the sense that while their nation is being made "proper" by its due acceptance into the EU, it will not obliterate the creative spirit that is fomenting within Romanian and driving them to fully achieve a sense of self after years of suppression.

And last, one cannot help but note the somewhat ironic emptiness of having one's nationality made real by a union's symbolic acceptance. As Stefan notes: "The plethora of national symbols is now made proper and right by the new EU flag. I know it sounds grim - but it also incredibly funny and ludicrous. "

In the last few weeks I have been to Lisbon and Barcelona. During both of my visits I was struck by the visibility of the ageing population. I don't know where the elderly go in North America (aside from retirement homes which are, from what I hear, losing popularity among the striving baby boomers - no surprise) but you just don't see them as much walking the sidewalks, or hitting the local cafes. I am starting to wonder whether we discourage the ageing population from making public appearances due to their concerns with safety, or their sense of disjunction with not belonging to a swiftly moving planet.

You could say that because I have been doing some demographic research on the elderly and have recently attended a conference on ageing that I have become more sensitive to the issue. I could not disagree. It bothers me to no avail to see an older woman standing in the tube after a long day of work, while younger people sit. Despite this, I still think that there are greater numbers of older civilians that continue to participate in European life. I was struck by the demographics of a church that let out in Barcelona this past Sunday. There didn't appear to be anyone under sixty-five in the mass. I was then also struck by seeing circles of Spaniards joining together for what appeared to be a cultural dance. While I tried to follow their footwork, I couldn't help but notice that most of the participants were again over sixty-five.

This leads me again to wonder whether in North America we may inadvertently discourage our older population from being more involved, whether socially or politically in their communities. With the arrival of an increasingly ageing population, there are issues that we need to address as a society and as a culture.

In the last few weeks I have been to Lisbon and Barcelona. During both of my visits I was struck by the visibility of the ageing population. I don't know where the elderly go in North America (aside from retirement homes which are, from what I hear, losing popularity among the striving baby boomers - no surprise) but you just don't see them as much walking the sidewalks, or hitting the local cafes. I am starting to wonder whether we discourage the ageing population from making public appearances due to their concerns with safety, or their sense of disjunction with not belonging to a swiftly moving planet.

You could say that because I have been doing some demographic research on the elderly and have recently attended a conference on ageing that I have become more sensitive to the issue. I could not disagree. It bothers me to no avail to see an older woman standing in the tube after a long day of work, while younger people sit. Despite this, I still think that there are greater numbers of older civilians that continue to participate in European life. I was struck by the demographics of a church that let out in Barcelona this past Sunday. There didn't appear to be anyone under sixty-five in the mass. I was then also struck by seeing circles of Spaniards joining together for what appeared to be a cultural dance. While I tried to follow their footwork, I couldn't help but notice that most of the participants were again over sixty-five.

This leads me again to wonder whether in North America we may inadvertently discourage our older population from being more involved, whether socially or politically in their communities. With the arrival of an increasingly ageing population, there are issues that we need to address as a society and as a culture.

It would be hardly overstating the fact to say that lately I have taken an interest in the shifting status of professional, single women. Many articles have been written to either berate single women for failing to meet their responsibilities as "nurturers" or some books such as Watters "Urban Tribes" have written chapters in order to try and understand the cultural nuances surrounding the transitions. Naturally I gravitate more towards the latter but try to balance my perspective by reading anything I can get my hands on.

McCain seems troubled that young Americans seem indifferent to traditional notions of marriage and morality (as though the two are naturally connected), whereas Watters seems curious and considerate about his treatment of the rise of single women putting off marriage. It is hard not to notice the split among my own friends. While many of my female friends have married, many have also not gone to the altar. And I would have to say that for the majority who have not walked the aisle in white, it is not a political or religious choice. It has just not come up. I hesitate to use the word "yet" at the end of the sentence because it makes it seem like the only alternative to single, professional women. But it would also not be entirely true not to include the three-letter word because in speaking with my single, female friends (be they black or white or of mixed ethnic origin) there is definitely an interest in meeting the right person, marrying and starting a family.

But the facts do speak for themselves - to some extent. While married couples with children comprised 43% of households in 1950 they only accounted for 24% of households in 2000. The largest growing non-family household is the single household and single women are increasingly becoming owners - not feeling the need to wait and justify their longing for a home or their financial investment. Women living alone represented 67% of one-person households in 1970. And while by 2003 men were closing the gap, women still represented more than half (58%) of one-person households.

While McCain would like to describe this shifting scenario as a "titanic loss of family values" (as the title of his article would suggest), I would opt for the US Census Bureau's explanation that the "number and type of households are influenced by patterns of population growth, shifts in the age composition of the population, and the decisions individuals make about their living arrangements". Demographic trends in marriage, fertility, and mortality also affect family and household composition. As a general rule women live longer than men. It is also a pretty well known fact nowadays that a women's education level tends to affect marriage. The more educated the women, the later she tends to get married.

And let's face it our values and expectations of marriage have also changed. I highly doubt that in my mother's day she was told to look for a good "partner" in life. A 1965 survey found that 3 out of 4 women would marry a man they did not love if he fit their criteria in every other way. 90% of women now say they want to marry their soul mates. The fact is we can afford to delay marriage. The fact is we don't need the economic altar of marriage. But the truth is most of us would still like to meet someone who meets our ideals and make him our partner in life in whichever ways suit us as individuals - whether as cohabitation partner, common law or marriage partner.

And this seems to be the case with most changes between generations. As my father used to say, "Plus ca change, plus ca reste le meme". And while some individuals such as McCain would decry the delay in marriage and the shift in households and family structures as the end of "family values", I would suggest that it simply suggests a change in cultural values and in our expectations of institutions and societal roles. In the future Watters suggests that "what will seem weird to future generations is that we lived during the brief moment in history when we perceived the personal and professional accomplishments of women as being in conflict with their hopes of finding happy marriages." Ultimately not much has changed.

photo courtesy flickr

Did you know (because I didn't) that there are more than 20.8 million refugees worldwide, and that more than 9 million among them are children? Refugees are legally defined as people who are "outside their countries because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group".

6.6 million are called Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are uprooted civilians who have stayed within their countries. Recently the figure for IDPs has risen. 2.4 million people are stateless. 1.7 million have returned home but still need help. 775,566 are asylum seekers who have fled their own country for fear of persecution and are applying to be recognized as refugees. 80, 800 are resettllement cases.
And 29% are in legal limbo without clear status.

Right to Play is an athlete-driven, international humanitarian organization that has started up in order to promote play and learning among disadvantaged children who might not otherwise have the opportunity. Right to play programs are currently implemented in 23 developing countries around the world. Ronaldo, one of the world's top players, has become a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme.

The love of play is universal.
All you need is a ball.
A ball designed for refugee camp conditions.
A ball as an icon for the potential of refugee kids.

A ball can change the world.
Help them play, let them learn.

Ulysses

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vest the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers;
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breath were life. Life piled on life
Were all to little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

A section of Alfred Tennyson's poem, Ulysses

It is slightly ironic that today's baby boomers, a forceful generation that faced many firsts, is standing at the precipice of the past and the future, deliberating how to prolong the benefits of youth into an extended life expectancy. It seems somewhat cruel to have faced up to so many challenges: the demise of Nazi Germany, the civil rights era, women's admission into universities for the first time, and to have time suddenly reward you with old age. This is a generation that lived up to the expectations set for them and by them, and now they are being asked to retire and to pull out of the game they so actively participated in for the majority of their young and adult lives. Where is the justice in that? Don't we have a lot to learn from this group? Don't they have stories to tell us? And more importantly shouldn't we be listening to them, and to each other?

This morning my friend Riccardo and I got into a banter on favourite pieces of literature, Dante, the legend of Lancelot and Guinevere, and Alfred Lord Tennyson's
Ulysses was among them. It was Tennyson's poem that caught my attention. For me, there was really no need to write another book after Ulysses. Don't get me wrong. I love books. I love words. I am very content to curl up in the pages of a new found book. But for me Ulysses captured the human spirit so fully. While you might not agree with Ulysses or Penelope, it is their very flaws, their weaknesses as well as their strengths, that make them so compelling. And so human. They are no better than us. And no worse. They are like each of us; in all our rage and beauty as we face up to life.

Reading Tennyson's Ulysses I cannot help but feel sympathy for this grizzled man that has endured and withstood the tests of time, but finds himself reaching the edge. While his body betrays him with knots and failing strength, his mind and his spirit are very alive and still hunger for the adventures of the past. There is still so much more to discover. The concluded stories were in some ways just an opening of Pandora's box, and it seems premature to have the lid close on your fingers. As Ulysses says, "How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! As tho' to breath were life." (This last line needs no further explanation of the injustices and the lack of imagination we impress upon the ageing population).

Reading passages from the poem, I cannot help but draw parallels between Ulysses and baby boomers. Knowing all that you know makes you want to set forth to do even more. It is part of your lived experience, it is part of your history, and it is even part of your DNA. Truth be told while some parts wane, there is still "And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought" .After all these years of moving forward, how can you possibly retreat, or worse, step back and be told that the world is no longer yours to discover, or to experience. All of these experiences you endured have become a part of you and enable you to see the possibilities. Because despite the passing of time and the quiet slowing down of bodies, what does endure is the strong will and desire to strive, to seek, and to find. Come what may.

As Ulysses says:

Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

"Veterans are those born from 1922-1943. The Great Depression, World War II and Patriotism are the defining events in their life. They value hard work, law and order and respect for authority.

The Baby Boomers are those born between 1943-1960. Defining events include Television, the Civil Rights Movement, and prosperity. they value health and wellness, personal growth, and involvement.

Generation Xers are those born between 1960-1980. Watergate, MTV, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall are defining events for this generation.

They value diversity, global thinking, and pragmatism.

Generation Nexters are those born after 1980. Defining events include school violence, multiculturalism, and TV talk shows. They value civic duty, achievement and diversity."
An excerpt from an online discussion on Millenials

For more glimpses of the ongoing conversations on Millenials and other generations head to Fourth Turning

I spent last week in Copenhagen attending two conferences. The IFA 8th Global Ageing conference which focused on the global ageing trend and its impact on policies and cultural realities in the many different regions of the world. With decreased mortality, increase life expectancy, and a declining fertility rate the developed regions of the world are having to confront the impact of a reverse demographic pyramid. But not to be shut out the developing world is also expected to face the same predicament or opportunity in the near future. The active hosts included WHO (World Health Organization and the International Federation on Ageing.

Talks spanned from "Growing Old in a Foreign Country" where I listened to Professor Naina Patel of PRIAE (Policy Research Institute on Ageing & Ethnicity) speak about the very specific challenges faced by the elderly growing older in a foreign country. Often times foreigners face greater challenges due to a lower economic status. A favorite lecture was "Active ageing in age-friendly cities" where the organizer was WHO and Dr. Louise Plouffe described a program WHO will be rolling out in 2007 to encourage cities to create and sustain age-friendly environments.

The second conference Reboot 8.0 was a technological renaissance of sorts. I only managed to make it there for end of day Thursday and all day Friday, but it proved to be an interesting post-bubble look at current waves in the tech industry. One of my favorite scribblers Hugh Macleod was on hand to talk about the ability of any and every blogger to do commerce in the global cultural environment we now live in. He was particularly excited by the marketing effects of blogging, and it is hard to deny he has had success.

Other talks addressed digital ethics and the right of individuals where public digital dissemination is concerned. As Rebecca Blood pointed out, what right will a 3 year-old have in the future as a twenty year-old when her father Nicholas Nova addressed the emergence of objects in light of the networked world that we live in and the new ecology of things. In an interesting twist on reality, they asked whether objects might be able to produce insights of their own in our current hyper-world.

Themes that came out of both conferences were the following:

Reboot - Web 2.0 aka social software, the ability to work and be anywhere as a techpreneur, transparency, collaboration, the content generation, constant easy connectivity, how to turn a buck via your software more than hardware, digital ethics (?).

IFA's 8th Global Ageing Conference: Safety and security of the elderly, elderly friendly, global ageing as an ongoing process, the differences and similarities between ageing in the developed vs developing world, the economic impact and an appraisal of programs and policies for an ageing society.

All in all both conferences spoke about society and culture in the current and emerging context that we occupy in this global village.

Last week I spent a week in South Africa with the intent of digging deeper into demographic changes in South Africa. It was an amazing and eclectic visit to say the least. It involved a mix of former ANC activists, stunning mountain tops, and some delicious food I perhaps should not have eaten. Chris Luebkeman the director of our Foresight & Innovation group at Arup London led the Drivers of Change workshop with the Department of Transport and Public Works in Cape Town. Chris seemed curious but doubtful that our DHL shipment of all the Drivers of Change card sets would arrive in time for the workshop.

Later on that afternoon, after the no-show of our cards, Yasir, the chief director of the Transport Dept., introduced Chris, and then Chris launched into the Drivers of Change presentation. It was interesting to see what key issues came up during the course of the afternoon. I joined the STEEP group working on “social” drivers of change. Social exclusion and poverty/unemployment took up the top two spots as key drivers of change in South Africa.

That evening Yasir, the chief director at the Dept. of Transport took us out for dinner at a local Italian eatery on the waterfront. Chris and I were beat but held it together for the enjoyable dinner.

I had two meetings scheduled. One with the University of Cape Town’s professor of urban planning Vanessa Watson, and the second with former advocate and consultant Mirjam Van Donk. The first meeting was at UCT, where Vanessa Watson walked me through some of the challenges South Africa is facing in terms of urban planning. There is most definitely an ongoing tension between modernization and the push to urbanization and traditional African culture. We discussed the prevalence of mobility in African culture and how formalized housing did not work as a result of that, because it did not take into consideration the ebb and flow between urban and rural areas. Building for South African’s African many black cultures needs to incorporate informal characteristics within the larger formal plan. We moved onto the proliferation of mobile phones, a quite “modern” technology, but part of why it has taken off is because of its support of the social network that black Africans strongly embrace.

Mirjam picked me up on campus and we headed to the Cecil Rhodes Memorial overlooking a wonderful view of the city. Over lunch we discussed Mirjam’s thesis on the need for a broader conceptualization of HIV/Aids in Sub-Saharan Africa. I told her about the previous day’s workshop results, and Mirjam delved a little further into the work that she has done and is currently doing. The theme of implementable ideas came up a second time. It seems that a lot of time has been spent on analysis and that people now want action. This is usually a good sign. I think. Mirjam promised to send me some more documents and then dropped me off at the local Arup office.

Sitting at my temporary desk in the Arup office I couldn’t help but wonder at the amazing view of the mountains. It is absolutely stunning.

Flew to Johannesburg with South African Airlines. I was quite impressed with the service. I was picked up by Arup’s driver Moses who took me along a well-built highway that reminded me of Miami and briefly to the hotel to drop off my belongings, and then to the Arup office so that a local Arup-ian could lead me to the Witwatersrand University campus, where I was meeting sociology professor Devan Pillay. The campus (to me) appeared to be an intertwining intestine with very little clarity. I kept stopping to ask for directions, but it only seemed to get us to another stopping point. Eventually we found our way to professor Pillay’s office. I called him on his cell, and waited for him outside his office door. Aidan politely stayed by my side until the prof showed.

Devan then spoke to me about his interesting experience with South Africa. A former ANC activist, he had spent 20 months in prison. During his imprisonment he began studying spirituality, as it provided the only means of connecting to neighboring hardened criminals. Devan was also the first to question the relevance of HIV/Aids stats. Maybe I’m a dissident, he explained, but based on prior projections made while I was in government in the mid 90’s, half of the South African population should have been wiped out. He also pointed out that little was known of the upper-middle class teen neighborhoods in the north, where sexual activity was clearly going on without any sense of the implications to HIV/Aids stats. The association of HIV to sexual promiscuity among young blacks was an ongoing reference that some within the South African government and community are trying to dispel. I recalled seeing a billboard on a Jo-burg highway that read: “Aids likes to sleep around”.

The most interesting element of our meeting was that it was the first time anyone had raised the possibility that the methodologies being used to report on the scenario in South Africa were perhaps imperfect and needed modification. You can count on a dissident to raise questions and eyebrows.

Freedom Day in South Africa. Aidan took me for a tour of the Apartheid museum and Soweto. All in all an unforgettable day-tripping experience.

Chris flies in from Durban and meets me at the Arup Johannesburg office. We are expecting to meeting L. Suzulu and American consultant Garrett Matthews. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances neither happens. As Chris heads off to Dubai, I opt for a quiet early night at the Garden Court in Sandton a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg. Across the street from me is a convention center, a large mall and the Nelson Mandela Square. It seems funny to me that a planner thought this would make a cohesive arrangement.

All in all the week in South Africa has been a worthwhile one. There is something prohibitive about pure demographic stats. While the stats are informative they also stunt any deeper interpretation of context. In some ways, it is as though we are expected to accept facts at face value. But as professor Pillay pointed out, methodologies should more often be called into question with regards to South Africa, and perhaps the rest of the world.

Between my meetings with professors, professionals, and every day people, who lived and worked in South Africa, I saw that beneath the surface issues were a lot more complex and interconnected. Just because apartheid has ended does not mean that inequity has disappeared and that all South Africans have the same level of access to education and well-paying jobs. Like me, South Africa has just scratched the surface, and there is more work to get done in order to achieve social or human sustainability.

The team at Worldchanging is in the process of publishing a book on how to create change in the 21st century. The design of the book is quite stylish for a green thumbed group. It is 608 pages short with 8 different sections ranging from politics (networked politics, non-violent revolution) to shelter (green buildings and landscaping) and business (socially responsible investment, worldchanging start-ups), and the intro is written by a personal fave of mine Bruce Sterling. The initial print run is 200,000 books. Congrats on the five month feat.

For a closer look head here