Vaffanculo Day!!

Hello everybody.. Hope you all had a nice summer! Last saturday, here in Italy there has been one of the most important civil manifestation Italy have been seeing over these last years. Beppe Grillo, an ex comedian, managed to rise up more than 300 thousand signatures throughout Italian squares, in order to purpose a law which is aimed to prevent politicians who has been convicted by the courts to be elected in the Italian parliament (and more). What? - you'd say -.. Yes, 12% members of the Parliament have broken the law in the past, mostly for corruption in the nineties, during "tangentopoli" years, and, obviously, for mafia affairs. The day (which has been called "vaffanculo day" - literally "Fuck off day"), is the first step to get rid of the filthy side of Italy (the one which just deserve a fair enough fuck off!!). Now, this guy has been able to organize this thing only though his blog, one of the most visited in the world. There you can find many posts and comments by an independent thinker, and the cultural creative core of Italy. Just to remind us what a webpage, along with a critical mass, can do! Have a look guys, I'm sure next months we'll see him at the European Parliament! Go further!

Hey guys, I was wondering if you know some organizations, NGOs, small businesses, associations in Spain or Australia that are similar to Cultivate. Also related to minor community groups such as gipsies or aboriginals... I tryed to have a look online but I wasn't too lucky, so I though I could rely on (your) personal experiences!! Let me know if you have any info...cheers

A peer to peer Wi-Fi Community!

Ok folks, you have to listen this. When I came back to Italy a month ago, I found that the modem my parents were given by the bigger Italian ISP (Telecom Italia) did not work with my laptop. This was due to the crappy modem itself (which is basically old trashware from France), but also to my operating system (which is not Windows, but a Linux Distribution). Thus, I decided to buy another sort of modem, which is a wi-fi antenna for 20 euro (so that I could bypass cable configuration problem). Well the point is that this apparel generates 2 different wi-fi signal: one for you, and one for the whole lot of people worldwide spread who have bought the same stuff. So, if somebody of them walked near my place in Italy, S/he would be able to connect to the internet through my antenna. Obviously, for free!! And obviously, if I went to NY Time Square, I know I'd get free roaming for shure! The FON community was kicked off by this spanish guy, as a non profit organization, and his wish was to create a shared network similar to the ones used for file sharing and open souce stuff development. Furthermore, they are about to commercialize a mobile phone which works within this huge wifi network, using Skipe software (the picture). Quite interesting, isn't it?! Anyhow, you can get the antenna in the FON website (have a look!), but if you wanna get it for just 20€ you will have to be invited by a member (me!). So, have a look, and just ask! Maybe Cultivate itself might get a Fonera (the antenna). Then loads of people could connect to the internet from the courtyard!Uoooh!

Iameco

He guys, I must tell you a great thing. Yesterday I was reading an austrian newspaper and in the middle of the newspaper was a small article with the headline Eco-computer. I thought oh intresting, but its getting better, the article was about Ireland and the Iameco computers whiche Cultivate has in the shop. I found that so great that, that is in an austiran newspaper:-):-) Xxx

A Belated introduction...

Hi cultivators, This introduction, I know, is ridiculously late, but better late than never??? I just finished my thesis/ degree yesterday so I'm back online! I'm Linda, a 22 year old a philosophy and music (to be) graduate from Dublin. Met Erik and helped out with the annual Temple Bar cultivate fest in 2001, but since then I haven't been that involved. So, perhaps this blog will be a new beginning with cultivate... The site looks great by the way!

Le chat vivant

Ok lads, I embedded a-live chat on the bottom of the right column of the blog (check it out!!). This is meant to be a way to chat with cultivators who are online in the same while. I suppose.. I mean, I still have to figure out if people will be only able to chat with me, or if everybody will be able to chat among her/himself.. I really dunno! Let's see.. maybe some of those who are now working in Cultivate can just try to connect from different terminals in the same moment and see what happen.. Ray, let me know!!

Cultivate your hearth!

Hi folks! Sorry for delete (expecially Nicola).... I am Caterina, intern in Cultivate for 1 year in 2004! It was and it is a great place... and almost my second home, therefore difficult to leave it!!! Thanks to Cultivate I met wonderful people and among them my "sweet hearth"!I discovered new worlds and different approach to life... and I start travelling...since then I have never stopped! Thank you Nicola for the great idea of creating a link among all the people which, even for a little while, have been part of an amazing world... Cultivate. Ciao

The Meatrix

Hey lads, you have to have a look at this supercool webiste I found...check the movies out!!! ....not only for vegetarians (like me)....It's important to remember that we are what we eat, at the end. http://www.themeatrix.com/

Hi, sorry I am late

Hi everybody, and especially Nico. Sorry to be late for this ongoing, extended and I hope increasing party. As usual, I have been a bit busy... So this is cool, innit? I have wanted to see something like this online community for several years now, and thanks to Nico, we now have the start. Several reasons why I feel it is important: One, I am not the only one who mises you all. So it's a way to re-connect and stay in better contact. Another, many of the graduates from Cultivate's activities want to keep involved in the subject matter of sustainability and to do it creatively, cooperatively and proactively. But we are often scattered around the world, and find ourselves in places with less support. So here we can come back together and encourage each other, share experiences and inspirations, and make plans. And so many have left Cultivate saying something like, "I will go home and start a Cultivate in ____". But it's not so easy when you get back there. We have enough graduates from Spain, Italy, France and Germany to begin building local support networks in these places, creating the critical mass for something to happen in each country. I hope you can use this BLOG to assist the process. As we all work in different capacities, and as we gain more experience over time, our skills increase, our understanding gets deeper, and we become more able to offer each other support. Not just people from the same time at Cultivate, but now through this network spread over time and distance. We can use the BLOG to advertise jobs we may know about, or even be creating. We can ask what the others know when we look for new work or study possibilities, or projects to link with. We can share skills for projects we may be involved with, knowing that through the Cultivate community there will be some basic shared understanding, perspectives, and commitments. So come on everyone, let's use this for everything we can do with it! And if you know someone missing from here, and how to contact her/him, then let them know where the party is happening. Love to all of you, Erik

Meeting 19 May

Ok, I made it! I don't know what took me so long to figure out, the Google account probably, couldn't remember my password. Hi there, this is Anna. I live in Dublin and I was an intern at Cultivate in 2005. It was a good experience, and somehow changed my life (Anna and her Italian drama). I try to go to Cultivate as often as I can, which means that I am never around. But I did turn up for the last meeting (Mon 19 May). You all seem nice people so can somebody tell me why last Monday (apart from our beloved staff) had I the impression that I was sorrounded by people whose attitude was a bit over the top, so to speak? For a start, I think we badly need a Chair, a facilitator, call it what you want, but we need someone who knows when to tell people to please, stop talking (I'd love to be that person just for one time). The meeting was hijacked and the questions raised were far beyond the very nature of the meeting itself. If the meeting was called in order to involve new members and volunteers, we do need some structure and some organisation. For example, when Ben makes his introductions, I think it would be a good idea to keep it short and to the point. It is very difficult to maintain people's attention after 10 minutes, unless you engage in lively conversation. I struggled to follow him from A to Z, but as everybody else I had been working for 8 hours, and already a bit tired. So, I admit it, I couldn't. I don't even know if he got to The Point, i.e. where Cultivate is going, to what extent has its mission changed, and therefore the aims. Maybe he gave a brilliant explanation of it, but honestly I cannot tell. A few slides (or similar), that you can use everytime you hold these meetings, would help. And we need some input if you want some feedback. I asked 3 people inside the core organisation about the changes that you hope to bring about in Cultivate. None of them could give me any guidance, because they didn't know. There is somebody among us witholding vital information..............I seeeee youuuuu! :) Call me a bitch, call me a ball breaker, but it is frustrating to see the same problems untackled months after months. And anyway, I am not the only one who feels this way...........I seee yeee toooooo! ;) That's enough. This inhuman effort of diplomacy made me tired and in the mood for a nap. I gave - perhaps threw - some input and I would appreciate some feedback. The more controversial the better. Have a nice weekend Anna

Hello hello!

Hello hello, here is Francesca - The Second, as Ray called me - just came back to Dublin after a few months spent in India. I was an intern more than a year ago, and after the internship I organized the Cultivate Community Festival that took place last June. This summer I'll be working in Cultivate again on some events during the Dun Laoghaire Fest and the Electric Picnic. So it's sooo nice to be back among friends here at the centre...nice to be next to my favourite mentor...guess who's he????? I'm soooo excited to be in such an inspiring environment again! Well, Nic, at the end I missed you just for a week :( . Hope you had a great time in Dublin (but I'm more than sure you had)! Thank you for setting this blog up, it took me a bit to get in it, but I've had some help from my neighbour this morning, jeje. Talk soon

hey look, a real community...

Hi everyone on this blog,

Nicola's seedling seems to be growing... we at Cultivate don't want to let it die, so we are looking at setting aside a bit of time every week to add new blog entries and comment on existing entries. So, today, it's my job...

So, what's happening at Cultivate this week, who's doing what when and why? Ok, Martin is maxed out with publication design and the design for the new Cultivate website (yes, folks, we are going to have a new website, it's going pretty s-l-o-w-l-y at the moment because, well, Martin is maxed out with publication design and the design for the new website...) Erik is very excited because the Kaos Pilots are here in Cultivate working on roof top gardens (see their blog here). We have permission to use the roofs of the apartment complex across the street from the Cultivate Centre, I hope there will be some pictures to see soon.

Kathleen is preparing to give a gardening class for children in the courtyard tomorrow. She has amassed a small but potent army of empty jars for growing things in. It's been a pretty cold and cloudy week in Dublin so far - this is natural for a bank holiday - but we are hoping that it clears up tomorrow (she says she isn't but I think she's being modest).

Davie is working on the Education for Sustainable Development directory, the forthcoming Festival of World Cultures at Dun Laoghaire and the Electric Picnic. Josie is helping him with the directory. He needs help.

So it's fortuitous that Francesca (Francesca II) has come back!!! She was in India for six months, now she is back to help out with the Festival of World Cultures and the Electric Picnic. It's good to see her again.

Phil has lots and lots of inquiries and provisional (and actual) bookings for the Hall, she is snowed under and is getting an intern to help out. Alice is learning all about our partners at the Environmental and Sustainable Construction Association, because Rahim is leaving at the end of June. I don't know what Ben is doing.

Me, I'm doing this, trying to help Martin out with the website programming side, and giving a few basic HTML classes to new interns. We have seven interns at the moment, Annika from Sweden, Julie, Guillaume and Virginie from France, Kai from Germany, Martin from Spain and our last remaining Italian, Gianluca. Maybe you'll see them on this page soon, now that they're HTML experts (ahem).

Barbara is expecting a baby girl, Giulia, any time now...

Hello everyone. I'm Paul Lynch (no picture, sorry). I am from Limerick in Ireland and I live now in a little village called Ingå, 60km west of Helsinki with my wife who is a Homeopath and 6 months pregnant, little 5 year old girl Milla (who everyone knows there at Cultivate), and our 18 month old boy Isak. I helped to organize the first Junior Convergence a few years back and that was a lot fun. We left Ireland shortly after to return to Finland where we find life a little bit calmer, and easier to live with children. Since moving back we have built our own house ( as sustainably as we could) and I am now just about to open my own daycare school based on the small school system. The curriculum willl be based mainly on teaching the children respect for the environment and of course each other. We will be using as mush organic materials, food etc. as we can and spending a lot of time in the amazing forest surroundings here in Finland. I am a qualified kindergarden teacher and also work in my spare time on different building projects. I tried to use as much sustainable materials as possible and have studied and used a lot of these materials when building our own home. I have one real big belief, and that is that your health is your wealth, meaning that if you are going to live a sustainable life then you have to begin with yourself, your body, mind, and soul. Keep these well and healthy and the rest just takes care of itself. Thanks Now let the discussions begin! Paul

I'm IN!!!

Dear cultivators, I am Frederike (26 years old), I probably was at Cultivate for the shortest internship ever: One month! But Woaah, what a month! I would never forgive it! It was just wonderful! I was cultivating myself quite a lot before I met Cultivate, but after that, you wouldn’t believe. I got caught into the loop of learning, not only on sustainability issues, but also on systemic and complex thinking, Spiral Dynamics, U-process, Art of Hosting, Chaordic Design, Whole-systems change, Integral Theory, and on how to take more care of my plants. My passion is to shift consciousness! I just got graduated (7 months ago) and I work for 2 organisations in Holland, where sustainability, resilience and authenticity are at the core of it! I love it! ;-) Ooh and I love Capoeira too!

Green karma

Hi, I`m Guillaume, one of the new interns of cultivate. I`m from the smelling cheese and frog's country.

One word about me: I`m 28 (since yesterday), from Saint Etienne (France), I love playing guitar, taking photos, juggling, every kind of games or exhibitions and meet new peoples in different places or countries...

It`s the Leonardo program which allowed me to make this incredible internship in CULTIVATE and to take part of this great community. I love this place; its philosophy, its actions on the environment and the sustainable development and the way of life it is showing and teaching.

All this things are very important for me and that`s why I have studied this in university. I`m graduated in geography and now I have a post graduate in “environment/human interface” and another one in “landscape and rural development”.

This internship is a good way for me to meet interesting and open minded people, and to have a working experience (to find, one day, a job in this field). The last year I have worked some month in Barcelona in an urbanism and town planning company and now I`m here to learn about a different points of view.

After this experience here I`ll try to find a job in any country ( I would like a lot in Spain or Italy) on environment and sustainable development. So if someone have a job for a motivated person (me)... I also have a website (but which needs to be updated): http://guillaume.sciaux.free.fr/

Thanks Nico for this blog: It's a good idea to keep in touch with the cultivate`s community. Sorry for my bad English but I`m also here to improve it...

Cheers from Italy

Hi all, Thanks Nico for put in touch all these people and create this blog. I came back next week to give my contribute. Cheers to everybody from Italy Antonio

Hi Nic! I hope this picture is ok... At least I'm not alone. And now, guess which one it's me... I'm joking! I'm the one in the middle. I'm in Glendalough with some Italian friends that came over to visit me on Easter break. The one on the left is Chiara and the other one is Giorgia. We had a good craic here, and now that they are in Italy they are really missing Dublin. I'm gonna miss Dublin too! Just 10 days before coming back home... ;`((

Hi there! I'm Stephanie, 23 years old, from Switzerland. I'm intern at Cultivate until the end of the month. Before that I studied Geography in Geneva, then I decided to take a break because I wanted to travel, see new places, meet new people, improve my English and go away from the "academic world" in which I was... I really enjoy here because it's a place which I consider like corresponding as my ideas and values, a place where you are free to learn and work for what you are interested at most so it's really exciting. I don't know exactly what I want to become later... but I think I'd like to work with children or teenagers, to educate them and make them sensitive to a sustainable way of life, to help them to build a more respectful world... Because children are the adults of tomorrow... Otherwise I like a lot of things (ride by bike, play badminton, listen music, the swiss chocolate, ice-creams, to drink a beer playing cards in the sun with my friends, read, write poems and stories - only in french for the moment :-)) I'm a scout leader as well, so I can spend a lot of time in nature, far away from the dirty and noisy city (I hate cars!!) - but with lots of children shouting in my ears... So, it's what I like... I think it's the most important to know about me for the moment... For the rest, we'll see...

From Trash to Treasure

Hi everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself as Nic has invited me to join the Cultivate blog. My name is Mike Kavanagh (on the left in the photo). I'm originaly from Dublin where I studied Geology back in the late 80s early 90s. After a couple of years in Italy, I moved to Sydney 10 years ago and have just moved back to Europe. I am currently based in Pavia, south of Milan. I developed an interest in Sustainable Resource Management while doing a Masters in Groundwater Studies at UNSW and working as a Dryland Salinity Hydrogeologist in Central Western NSW. More recently, I have been working in Local Govt as a Waste Audit & Education Officer. I developed an interest in the wonderful world of waste after working in the Bower Re-use & Repair Centre Co-op and Reverse Garbage Re-use Centre Co-op in Sydney. I am interested in setting up a Re-use & Repair Centre in Dublin and would be more than interested in hearing from anyone else who may be interested in getting involved. I would love to see Dublin's re-use culture being promoted and developed to the same level that I have experienced in Sydney. I believe that every communitty neighbourhood would benefit from access to a Communitty Garden, a Food Co-op & a Re-use & Repair Centre............ I have a strong interest in Permaculture (completed my PDC with Robin Francis) but I still have a long way to go. I am particularly interested in Participatory Education for Sustainable Living using Communitty Gardens, Re-use Centres, Food Co-ops, Sustainability Centres and Interpretive Tourguiding Programs as Communitty Development tools. Guess that's enough from me at the moment. I'm very excitted about getting more involved with Cultivate and I'm looking forward to meeting up with some of you at next weeks Convergence. Ciao Mike

Cool!

I'm 23, from Italy, graduate in Business Administration, intern at Cultivate last year (Convergence was great!) Happy to join you! Keep in touch, Rosaria

Hi Nic, Hallo everybody!!! Who is the fantastic boy just next to you in your photo? It's me!!! Ok, I look like a killer on a Newspapep but I'm sure that you covered my eyes not to make the differnce of beaty so evident... ;o)! Yo've got a great Idea, see you soon pals! A great hug to everybody in Dublin! Daniele

Hi Nic, I always look terrible in pictures. I really hate them and for this reason I don't have any pictures of myself... If you want i can send you a picture of a pretty friend of mine or a picture of me as a baby. I was really cute at that time... I have to think about it. Xxx Laura

Cheers from Poland!

Hi there everyone! Couple of notes about myself... My name's Bart, I'm almost 23 and, as you all probably figured out from the title, I'm Polish. Used to do an internship at Cultivate two years ago, now at the end of my University studies. I'm majoring in Public Relations (aka PR) so there's a chance we could use my skills to start a campaign concerning environmental issues ;) Great to know we create this unique community of people who are not indifferent to our Planet's suffering... Can't wait to see us grow bigger and stronger! Cheers Bart

Hi all,

Dorothy (most people call me Dot), hope all had a good easter. I had many beach walks which I adore on Balmoney beach in Wexford Heaven!!!!!!!! I have a wide and diverse range of interests. I hate waste in all in forms and most particularly in relation to people and their capacity to develop to their full potential. It follows that I am passionate about sustainable development and the need to find ways to accomodate growth in a manner that is economically viable and environmentally and socially responsible. I adore the song Gallileo by Declan O'Rourke and I read simple abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach every day. The guiding themes of this book and on life (in my opinion) are, gratitude, serenity, order, harmony, beauty and joy. Favourite films include, It's a Wonderful Life, Mediteraneo, A Room with a View, The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemtion, The Third Man and many more. The picture is me at a conference in 2004.

So that's enough about me.

smiles for now,

Dorothy

Okay and here are some words about me...

I´m Mäggi ( Magdalena) from Austria. I´m 20 years old and came to Ireland in the of July to Ireland. At first I was in a strange place called Portlaoise, but I had luck and it seems that somebody wanted that I should be in Cultivate. And here I´m!!!!

Well unfortunately Austira is coming soon back... Which is on the one hand nice, but I like Ireland...

I love to travel around, listen to music, read, write letters and stuff, painting, meeting and celebrating with friends and to be in the nature to do sport or relax!!!

What the future brings, we will see, but i think it will be University... Architecture and Politics, maybe... But I have time at home to figure that out.

What else should I say...

Maybe some usual stuff:

My favorite film is FOREST GUMP, Once (by the way an irish movie, and it is just great), Vitus, Wie im himmel (no idea what the english title is, sorry:-) )

Yeah and what I think about Ireland and Cultivate. I think its just great. I found nice people here, and I´m happy about that. I love the partys here, and to be around with the people...Yeah and the mulled wines...

But also lot of things were not as I expected it. Ireland is green, but unfortunately also very dirty, so because of that I think Culitvate is just great!! People must get into their mind, that we have just one world...

So we celebrate for our world!!!

So yeah thats all for the moment:-)

Hello everyone, Francesca from Italy here. Guess I am the "oldest" intern so far as I was at Cultivate back in 2004 :) Talk soon

hi! this is lisa from germany. I did an internship with cultivate last summer and had a great time! it's really cool to have a place where we can keep in touch. great idea nic!

I'm in.

Hello Nic. this is Paul here in Finland. Got your email, very clear by the way. Now I'm in also. Talk soon.

Hi everybody and you too Nic Like the photo, think Daniele might have some second thoughts .. see you guys and let's start acting sustainable .. and maybe meet boyfriend/girlfriend .. a proposito di quello di cui si parlava .. chau

hi nico

Ok, it's done, i'm here! Ready to speak about sustainable things... See u!