EDAP Planning Group, March 14, 2011 Meeting Minutes

[Irene Hinkle]

Energy Descent Action Plan Team

Planning Group Meeting, Monday March 14, 2011

Synopsis Minutes

Attending:  Adam (Facilitator), Tom, Travis, Cipriano (Cip), Jen, Monica, Tris, Frances, Lia, Linda, Irene

These meeting minutes have two parts. First, a synopsis of (1) the desires for the next meeting and (2) what members of the group have learned about creating social change are listed. Second, more linear minutes of the flow of the meeting follow the numbered text.

Adam offered to facilitate the next meeting as we link the exploratory work of our last meeting with the materials that Tris has provided and the desires that the group expressed about how we want to move forward with the EDAP(T).

 

Part One: Synopses 

1: Desires for Next Meeting:

Open meeting with reports from The Committee of One Reports.

Capture important visions / frames that emerged out of the March 14^th EDAP(T) meeting that are important to a successful EDAP(T).

Forming a Common Vision Leading Toward Goals

Discus timeline for TW EDAP(T)

More concrete ideas of what we do and do NOT want it to be.

Conversation is informed by a review of the helpful links discussion and summary of the Totnes group process that Tris set up (and has offered to email out).

Design parameters for whatever the structures are going to be for the EDAP(T).

Satiate those chomping at the bite… feed desire for assignments… explore Big Picture, Plan….

Establish Tasks….

2: What People Have Learned About Creating Social Change:

Tom Anderson: Bottom Up or Top Down. However change happens there needs to be buy in for change. Bottom Up change eventually needs to get people at the top to change; whereas Top Down change has to inspire people below to change.

Francis: Three motivators for social change: (1) Fear; (2) Task/a Job; and, (3) Vision / A Common Ideal. Fear being the weakest….. and Vision being the strongest motivator.

Lia: (1) Looking at the Darker Side of Human Nature is Important. (2) Not polarizing, not an Us and Them situation; not trying to get “them” to change.

Irene: Affinity Groups. Organizing with a sense of scale. Effective Affinity Groups have a max. size of 15 (scale for participation). Max. in education setting is 17. Affinity Groups help keep things real. Advantages of working with people you know. 

Adam: (1) Value and Make Room for Fun (and our bodies), (2) a sense that we can win, and (3) creating / framing a story that people feel they can influence in a positive way. A preference for Inclusive / Dialogical movements rather than Exclusive / Monological movements.  

 

Part Two:  Minutes of Meeting

Attendees list sources for inspiration/information they use regularly:

Tom:  favorite website: The Archdruid Report http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/ by John Michael Greer blog

Travis: Craigslist Fan

Cipriano: Energy Bulletin http://www.energybulletin.net/

Monica: Permaculture Design book

Tris: The Black Swan book, by Taleb

Francis: Al Jazeera.net http://english.aljazeera.net/

Lia: encourages web surfing, sometimes Common Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/

Linda: GMwatch.org http://www.gmwatch.org/

Irene: 92.1 CBC radio, NPR, Wikileaks, TED http://toolbar.inbox.com/lp/lpu.aspx?tbid=80481&c=Wikileaks&...  and http://www.ted.com/

Adam: The Spirit Level book by Wilkenson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_Level:_Why_More_Equal_Socie... and Picket (can do a video search on google)

Jen: Family

 

Centering activity about feelings, hopes, fears

Negatives to avoid: tedious apathy, unfocused discussion, indecision,

Good intentions, clarity, anticipating results, lots to work with, sounds like a plan, spiral down then spiral up, glad we don’t want all those things we said we didn’t want, reassurance, human connection.

 

Future Visioning - Look back from 2016: What worked with EDAP(T)

-huge buy-in from the community

-people motivated to get off their ass and act

-downtown waterfront redeveloped for aquaculture

-abolishment of personal cars

-vision to anticipate web interest with proper bandwidth for website

-back to the basics

-clear sense of collective focus

-No GMOs Gardens, no lawns

-Everyone in the county got their say on the EDAPT

-slowed the pace of change to a human scale

-kept everything local

-parks turned into food forests

-airport turned into a public garden

-no cars

-lots of energy and excitement about being involved in the EDAPT process on the part of participants

-my neighborhood finally came together

-alternative transportation is a reality

-bicycles everywhere

-right people came along and contributed at the right time to make the EDAPT happen

-eco-villiages everywhere

-lawns into gardens

-farming

-the process and enablement of a clear vision.

-alternative energy and viable grid, small generators everywhere

 

What Attendees Have Learned About Creating Social Change:

Tom: Experience in management, is that if change is initiated at the top, it can be successful for the short term by sheer force of will, but it will have to draw in people below to last, the opposite is true from the bottom up.

Frances:  Three things that bring people together:

1) common fear –weakest, negative bonding

2) common task - o.k. but not lasting past common goal

3) common vision – A Common Ideal - strongest bond

Irene: Affinity groups: Organizing with a sense of scale. Effective Affinity Groups have a max. size of 15 (scale for participation). Max. in education setting is 17. Affinity Groups help keep things real. Advantages of working with people you know = accountability and resists infiltration and subversion.

Lia: need to admit to the darker side of humans and have a way to deal with it, not polarize ourselves with people who resist change, no us-and-them situation because that empowers others to entrench in opposition

Tris:  the challenge is getting people’s attention.

Adam: Keeping our chin up for when people recognize that this affects them and they are ready to do something. WIIFY:  What’s In It For You? (1) Value and Make Room for Fun (and our bodies), (2) a sense that we can win, and (3) creating / framing a story that people feel they can influence in a positive way. A preference for Inclusive / Dialogical movements rather than Exclusive / Monological movements.

 

What would be a fruitful way to use the next time we get together?:

-capture the important frames from this evening and reflect them back to the group, themes for the vision for the success of the EDAPT for future reference and sense of scale and positive focus

-assignments

-big picture plan/action

-what we do not what the EDAPT to be/more concrete ideas of what we do and don’t want it to be

-extension to the helpful links section online and the summary of the Totness Group followed in producing their EDAPT, knowing what other groups have done in this process for more concrete terms.

-make an assignment to ourselves to look at that above and Tris will send an email with the hotlink for the crucial 3 pages of the Totness Group.

-structure our common vision more, and from that produce some goals, assignments.

-establish tasks

-build the parameters for the structure is going to be for the EDAPT

-“committee of 1” reports as icebreaker

-who is our EDAPT audience?

-Ning site listing of things we should address and people can respond online or bring them to the next meeting

-set preliminary goals, what is the next goal

-decision on computer place to work/committee report

-Action plan timescale discussion

-recognition of a human pace

-timeframe

-who target audience is and what is the call to action/what do you want it to do

-agree on a way forward

-clarify vision

-discussion of paraphrase and consensus decision making training..seeds for community change.

 

Next meeting: Monday, March 28, 2011, same time and place, Adam facilitating.

[Irene Hinkle]

Thank you, Angela.  I appreciate the encouragement.  Adam also helped to shape these minutes so I share the honors with him this time!  : )

[Angela MacLeod]

Irene,

Thanks  for posting these notes from the meeting. I really appreciate that you took the time to do this. It helps me feel included. I wish all the TW groups could post meeting notes but I know that is a lot of work. I like your organization of the notes and the links.

 

Angela