Transition Africa

Wow. Look - Transition Africa! http://www.transitiontowns-africa.org/
Developing livelihoods while adapting to climate change - essential

How reputation could save the Earth - opinion - 15 November 2009 - New Scientist

How reputation could save the Earth - opinion - 15 November 2009 - New Scientist

The power of reputation should be harnessed to stop selfish people from wrecking the planet
15 November 2009 by David Rand and Martin Nowak

HAVE you ever noticed a friend or neighbour driving a new hybrid car and felt pressure to trade in your gas guzzler? Or worried about what people might think when you drive up to the office in an SUV? If so, then you have experienced the power of reputation for encouraging good public behaviour. In fact, reputation is such an effective motivator that it could help us solve the most pressing issue we face - protecting our planet.

Environmental problems are difficult to solve because Earth is a "public good". Even though we would all be better off if everyone reduced their environmental impact, it is not in anyone's individual interest to do so. This leads to the famous "tragedy of the commons", in which public resources are overexploited and everyone suffers.

Public goods situations crop up all over the place, including decisions on maintaining roads, funding the police and whether or not to shirk at work. This leads us to an important question: is it possible to make people care enough about such problems to do their bit? To help answer this, researchers have developed a representation of such situations called the public goods game. The results give cause to believe that the tragedy of the commons can be overcome.

In the public goods game, each player is given a sum of money, say $10. They then choose how much to keep and how much to anonymously contribute to a common pool. Contributions are multiplied by some factor (less than the number of players) and then split equally among all players. If everyone contributes, the payout is higher. But making a contribution is costly, and causes you to end up worse off than if you did not contribute.

Imagine, for example, four people playing a game in which contributions are doubled. If everyone contributes their $10, they all end up with $20. But a player who refuses to contribute while the others put in the full amount ends up with $25 while the rest get $15 each. If only one player contributes their $10, they end up with just $5 and everybody else $15. The self-interested thing to do, therefore, is never to contribute.

When the public goods game is played in the lab, most people usually begin by contributing a large amount, trying to do their part towards maximising the group's earnings. Some people, however, decide to take a slice of the profits without contributing. Over time this free-riding undermines the others' willingness to pay and the average contribution decreases. This results in significantly lower earnings all round, recreating the tragedy of the commons.

The public goods game gives us an opportunity to explore interventions that encourage cooperation. Experiments have shown, for example, that making each player's contribution public can sustain contributions at a high level. It appears that the benefit of earning a good name outweighs the costs of doing your part for the greater good, and even selfish people can be motivated to care. It is worth contributing in order to protect your standing in the community.

Out in the real world, these experiments suggest a way to help make people reduce their impact on the environment. If information about each of our environmental footprints was made public, concern for maintaining a good reputation could impact behaviour. Would you want your neighbours, friends, or colleagues to think of you as a free rider, harming the environment while benefiting from the restraint of others?

The power of reputation is already being harnessed to protect the environment. Hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius have recognisable designs, advertising their driver's commitment to cleaner energy for all to see. Some energy companies give green flags to customers who choose to pay extra for energy from a more environmentally friendly source, allowing people to openly display their green credentials. Similarly, individuals who volunteer in environmental clean-up days receive T-shirts advertising their participation.

Tokens such as these serve a dual purpose. First, they allow those who contribute to reap benefits through reputation, helping to compensate them for the costs they incur. Secondly, when people display their commitment to conservation, it reinforces the norm of participation and increases the pressure on free riders. If you know that all of your neighbours are paying extra for green energy or volunteering on a conservation project, that makes you all the more inclined to do so yourself.

When people display their commitment to conservation, it ups the pressure on free riders

Even better than voluntary displays would be laws enforcing disclosure. For example, governments could require energy companies to publish the amount of electricity used by each home and business in a searchable database. Likewise, gasoline use could be calculated if, at yearly inspections, mechanics were required to report the number of kilometres driven. Cars could be forced to display large stickers indicating average distance travelled, with inefficient cars labelled similarly to cigarettes: "Environmentalist's warning: this car is highly inefficient. Its emissions contribute to climate change and cause lung cancer and other diseases." Judging from our laboratory research, such policies would motivate people to reduce their carbon footprint.

Although laws of this kind raise possible privacy issues, the potential gains could be great. In a world where each of us was accountable to everybody else for the environmental damage we cause, there would be strong incentives to reduce the energy we use, the carbon dioxide we emit and the pollution we create. In such a world, we might be able to avert a global tragedy of the commons.

David Rand is a postdoctoral fellow in mathematical biology at Harvard University.

Martin Nowak is professor of biology and mathematics at Harvard University.

DTs cope in the recession

According to the 2009 DTA survey, development trusts are increasing the use of assets as income streams to offset the decline in public grants such as the Single Regeneration Budget, New Deal for Communities and the European Regional Development Fund. Across the 466 DTA members (up 5%), earned income is up, numbers of staff employed has risen, and asset ownership is up. For instance, Sunlight Development Trust's earned income has grown steadily from £250,000 in 2006 to £1.4m in 2009.

Steve Wyler says "it is encouraging to see that they are holding their own." He cites examples of trusts with an entrepreneurial attitude that allows them to transition from grant-dependency to being viable independent firms.

http://www.dta.org.uk/aboutourmembers/developmenttrustsin2009.htm

Life lost for the sake of £3000

This is terribly sad and reminds me of some of Carolyn Kagan's work on the stress and psychological effects of living in a deprived area. It shows the level to which Council and government decisions impact on poor and vulnerable people and the extent to which some people are excluded from the chances we all have. If he can't afford a £5 a week rent increase how is he going to afford £3000 in legal fees? I'm very surprised it hasn't been reported more widely so i'm sharing it here.
Inquest to take place into death of rent row housing association tenant » Housing » 24dash.com

Government community empowerment agenda disempowering

"Consensus at times is hegemonic. When the policy of central government proclaims community empowerment, is there any need for community struggle? Where once 'community empowerment' implied conflict and an active counter-politics, today it is part of the vocabulary of new urban governance. Doutbless the shift towards a nominally bottom-up urban policy, and the new 'intsitutionalist' approach of planning together while living differently (Healey 1997), reflects a concern for the inclusion of diverse groups and that it is more democratic and potentially more effective than relying on the trickling down of market gains. Our concern is that a search for consensus can rely on a process of exclusion. More specifically, a policy environment that puts a premium on what is claimed to be a strategy based on 'holistic' partnerships may also crowd out dissent. In this case limited concepts of community and empowerment are measured by improving the competitiveness of individuals in the market, not in nurturing competing voices in democratic debate."

"Community Empowerment: Rethinking Resistance in an Era of Partnership", by Peter North and Irene Bruegel

Weed it and reap

Guardian article about a former drug addict turned community activist-allotment grower. You can watch a short film about him called 'Weed it and reap' here:

More altruism

Following on my theme in the last post, of people volunteering to be penalised for the greater good, I found this story about a group of rich Germans calling for higher taxes to pay for "ecological programmes, education and social projects". Particularly significant is their recognition that what we need to take us on the path to recovery is environmental and social solutions, not simply more economic growth:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8321967.stm

Scottish land reform - part 2

Oops! think I forgot my causes for optimism - these came from two people I spoke to briefly:

1. A beef farmer, arguing for less beef farming (we should be growing grain to feed ourselves not for animals or the whisky industry)

2. A landowner, with six acres of land for horses, arguing for a land tax.

The beginnings of altruism in the face of the urgent changes we must all make!

Land reform - it's not over til the fat cat gives up his castle

I was privileged enough to attend an extremely significant seminar discussing the future of land reform in Scotland last Monday (thanks Andrew Anderson!). The event was hosted by Local People Leading, who have set themselves up as an umbrella partnership to provide a single, coherent voice for the community sector in Scotland. One of their jobs is to keep reminding the Scottish government of their policy commitments to communities, and the need for further land reform in order to give the community sector a strong and sustainable asset base. They produce particularly good fortnightly briefings, which I often quote on the CLT site.

Andy Wightman presented on how the Land Reform Act 2003 emerged and what it was orginally conceived to achieve. He has done a lot of important evidence-gathering on land ownership in Scotland, and has set up a number of websites, including Who Owns Scotland and Commonweal, which aims to identify, document and restore Scottish Commons. The latter is a topic which has received some much-needed attention recently, with the awarding of the Nobel Prize for economics to Elinor Ostrom for her work on the commons.

The general feeling was that the Act has 'lanced the boil' of the injustices of feudal tenure, but has not gone far enough. There is a lot more to do in terms of changing the patterns of land tenure across the whole of Scotland - not just the Highlands and Islands. And not just rural communities but urban communities too. And there is a long wish list of related topics that community groups believe need attention - from asset transfer from the public sector, social enterprise support, community planning, to succession rights.

It felt very different to community sector meetings I have attended in England. I think the difference was the idealism, the faith that an abstract piece of legislation would change lives. And expectations. Expectations that politicians would deliver what was needed! I think someone actually bemoaned the lack of 'political vision'. It is a long time since i heard anyone in the community sector even referring to the possibility that there could be such a thing as political vision.

People I work with in England don't expect anything from the government or from politicians. This is how bad it has become. Westminster is a tired, jaded institution which seems remote to most of the country, and is tarnished by so many scandals. The contrast really struck home to me the lack of faith we have in our London politicians to do anything they say they will. How much power do they have, anyway? Hazel Blears really seemed to believe what she said about communities, yet residents her constituency of Salford have been scandolously treated by the City Council, and her public support was insufficient to progress a proposed community buy-out of a hospital site in Stroud. How can we trust our 'democratic' institutions - when they produce arrogant men who announce quite publicly that taxpayers (peasants?) are simply jealous of their vast estates?


















In Scotland, on the other hand, there is a feeling that the devolved government is more accountable, more responsive. It is newer, younger, less tainted by scandal. The first Labour government won on the basis of many promises to resolve longstanding injustices and reform land tenure. As a result there are now very high expectations. It is important that these expectations are not frustrated. Disillusionment with devolved government will hurt Scottish psyche. We must not let the Scottish dream die.

On the other hand, does waiting for action from authority not slow down community empowerment? It should come from the grass-roots, and does not need permission from local or central government. That is the positive feeling I get from colleagues in England. There is so much that can be achieved - without any kind of land reform or supportive legislation, there are still £490m of assets in community ownership in England.

For the Scots the history is present. It is not remote, in the past, but something that is still felt, that still hurts. But in trying to repair past injustices, taking on long, slow battles over points of principle, are we missing out on smaller, easier wins? Society does not change to fit legislation, legislation changes to reflect society. I felt that all the resources to achieve a brighter future were in that room, or represented in that room. Do we need local government or politicians? Get on and show what is possible, then wait for them to catch up! They soon will, if it's popular and successful, and then they will appear for the photo opportunity!

Rehab on the veg plot

Guardian article about a former drug addict turned community activist-allotment grower. You can watch a short film about him called 'Weed it and reap' here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNPEy9xQHY0

Pascal's wager on climate change

Discovered a very interesting blog by Paul Clark on the different ways of thinking we need to adopt in order to adapt to climate change. He has written about the need to adopt 'ecological literacy' if we are to survive as a species. This represents a shift in thinking, from structural -> process thinking, from measuring -> mapping, from objective -> contextual knowledge, from dealing in numbers to identifying patterns. This shift is already evident in many areas of thinking, eg organisational development, social media, some parts of academia, but will need to become a lot more pervasive and infiltrate the education system too.


He's a rare academic that takes a keen interest in getting involved in 'real life' - being a key player in Incredible Edible Todmorden. I'm looking forward to meeting with him on Friday, in the meantime I thought I would share one of his diagrams.

DTA Conference

By far the most inspiring 'turn' at the recent Development Trusts Association Conference (13-15 September) was by Stan Thaekakara - 'asking an Indian to talk for just 20 minutes is like asking an Italian to talk with his hands behind his back!'. He had everyone in the room feeling like we were one of his friends - quite a feat when talking to a room full of people. It was obvious that it was his warmth and humanity that had guided him in his working life - he started off in Tamil Nadu working on behalf of hill tribes in order to secure their land rights. Subsequently he set up Just Change India which aimed to go beyond the Fairtrade concept by linking producers, consumers and investors in a more direct relationship than they had ever had before. The commodity - tea - took him to visit disadvantaged communities in Britain. This is the interesting bit - he wanted to make the tea affordable to consumers as well as giving a fair price to producers. An exchange visit took place between Loughborough consumers and Tamil Nadu producers which resulted in lifelong friendships.

It's been a long time since we saw the world as 'one planet' - these days the world is constantly divided between 'developed' and 'developing', 'western' and 'the rest', 'rich countries' and 'poor countries'. Yet these two families from Loughborough and India may have more in common with each other than with the societies they live in. I am beginning to realise more and more that there is so much we can learn about community development and social enterprise from the 'developing world' - for instance leadership qualities, positive attitudes and respect for each other. Also new theories and techniques such as livelihoods, building IT skills, women's empowerment. Microfinance is one idea that's already spread to the developed world from Bangladesh.

As for the rest of the conference - there was also an extensive and tempting array of interesting workshops and site visits - unfortunately it was only possible to choose two! For any community project this must seem like a precious chance to learn the 'magic tricks' to make their dreams a reality - but where to start? The range of skills and specialisms required for asset-based community development is enormous - financial, business management, fundraising, managing assets and investments, housing development, negotiating with local authorities, planning, reporting, public relations, legal governance, facilitating community engagement, demonstrating your impact, monitoring and reporting.

Another theme of the conference was power down/transition to an oil-free economy. For an interesting perspective you can follow Rob Hopkins' blog here
All the resources from the conference are available here.

Social Media

As I have been running a Ning site for Community Land Trusts, I have become interested in the possibilities of social media. However, the more I find out, the more I realise how much time needs to be dedicated to constant monitoring and nurturing of networking sites such as Ning. Almost like having a baby! I realised i had a lot to learn, so put myself on a workshop run by David Wilcox of Social Reporter.




Here you can see a photo of me at the workshop (I am looking at the floor, concentrating deeply!). I can see there is lots to learn, but I can also see there are entries points for almost everyone here. There is so much potential here for local social activisim to be played out online, especially when there is a need to communicate amongst a wide network of people. The good news is a lot of it is free, open access, and could provide a voice for the excluded. The bad news is that… you guessed it, the socially excluded are also the same people who are digitally excluded! ie - no access to computers, or training.

I believe anyone could easily learn and benefit from engaging in these new ’social technologies’ – they just need a little support and encouragement. (as in look, it’s quite easy really!) That’s why I hope to run a workshop soon for the people who are using the Ning site for Community Land Trusts to show how they can get engaged. The first barrier will be persuading them to show up!
David Wilcox has made his book, Social by Social, available for free online. Next thing will be to have a look at that.

My first ever blog post!

Community Land Trusts are a way of taking land out of the open market and using it to benefit people rather than make profit. This is useful for preserving farmland, providing housing to meet local needs, providing allotments, etc. The land is an asset which can benefit, and create wealth, for the community – eg. through rental incomes, providing livelihoods, and creating a means of accessing credit. This wealth can be reinvested in local schools, community centres or regeneration programmes.

For the past two and a half years I have been learning about Community Land Trusts. It has brought me in touch with many other movements and forces for social change. It has opened my eyes to a whole new fascinating world of committed and determined people that say ‘I am going to change things, right here, right now’. These are people using their imagination and creativity to achieve things where time and again government and local agencies equipped with oodles of time and money have failed. They are implementing solutions while the rest of us continue worrying about the problem. The journey that started with Community Land Trusts I'm sure will branch off and lead me to encounter other types of heroic community action. Here, as I embark on the next phase of my journey, I will share my path and the ideas, stories, thoughts, and ideas I encounter. Anything that should give us all cause for optimism.