Here is it’s latest newsletter All Together Now Newsletter June 2009

Rhodri Morgan

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said at the Hay Festival yesterday that all parts of Welsh society will have to play their part to fashion a sustainable future and a Wales fit for generations to come.

He did so announcing the Welsh Assembly Sustainable Development Scheme, a link to the WAG press release can be found here ‘Press Realease’.

It is stirring stuff, and for me is so refreshing given the current debaccle at Westminster to feel that there is some leadership somewhere to get behind.

He said:

• We must build sustainability into everything we do. There is a clear parallel with the difficult economic circumstances we now face – that of living beyond the country’s economic means to sustain us. Sustainable development provides us with a route to developing a lasting, strong and high skill economy that operates within environmental and financial limits. It needs to meet all the needs of our society now and in the future.

Jane Davidson said:

• This is a truly wide-reaching vision for Wales. We have committed ourselves to becoming a one planet nation – to use only our fair share of resources to sustain our lifestyles. This will ensure we leave enough resources for future generations.

Jonathan Porritt, Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission said:

• I am extremely pleased that the Welsh Assembly Government is showing such serious commitment to making Wales a truly sustainable country. I am also glad that the Sustainable Development Commission will have a new role in Wales in measuring the progress made by government in becoming more sustainable. If actions match the ambition shown in this document, Wales will set an example for the rest of the world to follow.

It is really positive that our Sustainable Lives inquiry can sit so squarely within this policy context.

Just after our first Sustainable Lives Meeting

Nine of us attended the first meeting.

At the first meeting we introduced ourselves as members and shared our expectations as individual participants and as group members.

We then started to create a shared map of the collective journey that we will need to take to create our new sustainable approaches to social care.

You can find a powerpoint presentation about the ground we covered in our first meeting by clicking on this link  Slides from our first meeting.

We will set the dates of the other meetings when we are all together.

Getting Started

I thought we could start with a few things to help us prepare; some practical, and some more personal. These are just suggestions if you have any other ideas let me have them and I will share them with the rest of the group.

This inquiry is as much about us as people as it is about our work as professionals, sharing our own experiences of community are really important in grounding ourselves in this inquiry and introducing us as people to each other.

1. It would be great if we could share an experience that we have had when we felt nurtured and supported by a community of people. We can share this stuff in any way; you can write me a few bullet points; record a sound recording (most mobiles will do this); send me a photo to go with it, record a video with a webcam or mobile phone; write a haiku – our imagination is our limit. I will do my best to publish anything on the blog (sculpture might be a bit tricky).
2. Send me questions that you feel need answering at the first meeting on the 6^th. Please feel free to offer anything from who is bringing the cakes, to group rules and agenda setting. On the basis of our views I will draft an outline agenda for our first meeting.
3. Please send me any resources that you want to share with the group, when we met we shared a whole range of ideas and areas for investigation. These can be shared on the blog; anything from a report to a ‘you tube’ video can be posted. Send them to me and I will post them up. I have posted a video of an interview with Edgar Cahn today, do have a look.

I have also published some posts to get us started, there are the background presentations and some links about Cooperative Inquiry, you can find links to them on the sidebar on the right.

Using the blog

The blog at www.sustainable-lives.org.uk will hopefully help us to engage a wider group of people in our discussions and enable us to carry on sharing between meetings.

You can use it in a wide range of ways:

• I can set you up as an editor so you can post content to the site as you choose.
• Alternatively you join in the conversation by posting comments at the site on pages that interest you.
• Please sign up for email updates, you can get a daily email update that updates you with all the posts made that day in one email, and all the comments in an other. If there is no comment that day, you get no emails. You can find the link to do this at the top of the side bar on the right.

Finally the pictures on the site are all from pictures that people have agreed to make public from Community Lives Consortium, if you have any other pictures let me have them. Alternatively if you feel artistic and have another idea for a header let me know.

Well enough of me, this is a lot more fun if we all join in, so let the inquiry commence.