A great discussion today - thanks everybody for your input (including James on line) and thanks Martin for the scale container model.

I'll go through the video and edit the discussion. Two links from the discussion today that I thought may be of particular interest that fit with the philosophy of the project and may help inform the direction and style:

Alan mentioned Solar Punks "a movement in speculative fiction, art, fashion, and activism that seeks to answer and embody the question 'what does a sustainable civilization look like, and how can we get there?'" : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk

The Arcadians (very much worth a listen - again this fits well with the philosophy of the project - understanding we need to live within planetary boundaries, not being wasteful and clever use of the resources we have) : https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/68-simon-michaux

Are we Solar Punks? or Arcadians ?... something new that builds on all these ideas ?... or something new altogether?

More to come on the next steps.

A big thank you to everybody that came along to the launch of the Earth Lab project on Saturday. If you'd like to be added to the email list just send an email to admin@earthlab.nz.

Outreach - Individuals, Schools and Groups

This project is primarily about connections, the free sharing of ideas, skills, resources and knowledge from different cultural perspectives - supporting each other and fostering a collaborative environment. Please use your social networks to connect with your friends and to other groups, organisations, schools, colleges etc. and encourage them to get involved.

If you’re on Facebook please like the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/earthlabnz) and the Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/earthlab) and feel free to start or join in discussions around the project.

If you’re on Instagram you can follow the project here https://www.instagram.com/earthlabnz/.

The project also has a channel in our Nelson Tasman Climate Forum Society and Culture (S&C) group in Twist. If you wish you can join the S&C group here https://twist.com/j/05749e8e11541fbe47468117c7392f43 and you can then access the channel here https://twist.com/a/166517/ch/659575/.

Workshops

Education is a big part of this project and the plan is to run a number of workshops over the coming year that will provide opportunities to develop the Earth Lab project and learn from each other on a range of subjects. This could be workshops in schools for example on power generation, food production, recycling (waste and water for example) and ensuring that young people can contribute to the project as well as people from a wide cultural perspective.

I’d like these workshops to start as soon as possible so if you have skills or ideas that will help engage people with the project and that we could take out into the community or if you have connections with schools, organisations, community groups etc. where these workshops could be held please let me know.

Brainstorming, Presentations and Makerspace

We will have regular brainstorming sessions that could include presentations on topics (perhaps with guest presenters on specific subjects (feel free to suggest ideas and also if you have contacts of possible presenters) and also that we will come together to build elements of The Lab as ideas progress. A year will go by very quickly and that it’s important that as soon as possible we have a good idea of the direction of the project, what the Lab will contain and how it will operate (while acknowledging that the project is likely to evolve over the year).

There is now a 'Meetups' menu which will list meetup dates with the first being this Sunday (30th April) between 10am-12noon.

Finally

A big thank you once again for being part of this project. I hope that through this we can create awareness about the issues we face, the damage we have done and are continuing to do but also demonstrate a model for a more cooperative, less resource intensive, less wasteful but hopefully also a happier future.

Where: 123A Bridge Street, Nelson

When: 5:30pm, 22nd April 2023 (Saturday)

https://www.facebook.com/events/567930618777767/

https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-earth-lab-project-launch-tickets-616144142717

Join us on Earth Day to find out about The Earth Lab project and how you can be part of it.

The Earth Lab will be interactive art installation in the form of a quirky laboratory incorporating research and functional experiments building on projects from the past and new work combined into a space that will provide a focal point. It is an opportunity to incorporate work, ideas and cultural perspectives from the wider community and for people to learn about environmental issues (in a very wide context incorporating social issues for example), the problems we've created and the actions we need to take, but in a fun and engaging way. A 'living' evolving and ongoing project with an initial time span of 1 year (Earth Day to Earth Day) that will encourage a wide range of people to get involved, bringing ideas and skills together, sharing knowledge and strengthening our community.

How can we live better and within planetary limits?