An Integrated Perspective

In the unbridled mind of this particular iconoclastic visionary, a dedicated focus on any one of these tends could generate significant national socio-economic activity. My wish however, is that Canada stake out an international leadership role by swiftly integrating rudiments of the last two trends into the objectives of the first. My belief is that by so doing we could stimulate significant scientific and social innovation, increase our skill- and capacity-building bases, strengthen our local economies, requilt our Canadian social fabrics and ultimately solidify foundations for insuring the survival of Canadians seven generations from now.

The current challenge for which this paper was written, is that within the next 15 years, we raise our Canadian standard of living to a level equal to, or even beyond that of the United States. In the glaring absence of what new thinking is needed in order for our societies to evolve past crises in virtually every sector of our societies, that is quite a task.

Attaining a high quality of Canadian life within 15 short years will not be achieved by comparing our standard of living against those of other countries. We need to take our heads out of the sand, own up to what crises now face us and lead decisively the global challenges of meeting our current needs head on while ensuring that future generations will have the ability to meet their needs.

Rather than struggle with all the chaotically interconnected complexities of our daily lives wherein the quality of every aspect must be compared, assessed, debated, defined, and adjusted, I would suggest that we consider reframing the challenge before us.

The Challenge Reframed

At these pivotal points in history of irreverent education systems^[7], uprooted creativity, unstable economies^[8], shifting worldviews and values^[9], and growing commitments to restore and emulate nature in all that we do towards designing bold new tomorrows^[10], Canada needs a profound, unifying vision so compelling that few could refute its underlying purpose. Given the anxious uncertainty of changes confronting generations young and old, born and unborn, I submit that our national challenge is to become an inclusively transformative society out from which a high new standard of living will emerge as a matter of natural course.

Aside from an imperative need for well-targeted political incentives to encourage multi- collaborative action, I believe that a transformation can ultimately be successfully accomplished, and sustained, by focusing in on a crucial aspect of our society such that all else undergoes a transformation along with it.

That aspect of society is our children's education; adequately arming them for the harsh realities of the real world they must survive while they prepare for the future lives they should be free to define for themselves. Otherwise we risk soon paying the price for keeping them enslaved to fast fading paradigms.

Paradigm shifts are occurring more frequently, growing stronger in magnitude. Technological progress is turning fiction into fact, creating unsavory imbalances between teachers and students, parents and children, employers and employees. From all reports, the real world is about to get more confusing and a whole lot harsher!

Heeded Warnings

Today, I fear that without either decisive, value-based leadership, tangible national crises, or the release of an eye-popping study like the American 1983 federal report A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform, it is unlikely we will ever witness such a profound sea-change take affect in any Canadian education system. Published by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk, "[w]arned of a 'rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and people.'"^[11]

As long as we persist in ignoring valid warnings no less relevant to our collective future well-being, we have no right to expect our standard of living to swiftly improve. Dare we pretend that the future doesn't exist just because it hasn't really happened?

In 1989 a Kentucky State Superior Court chose to heed those warnings. Chief Justice Robert Stephens ruled that "Kentucky's entire system of common schools [was] unconstitutional." The court gave the legislature until April 15, 1990, to scrap the existing structure and to come up with "a new system of common schools in the Commonwealth." Judge Stephens emphasized that when the majority said "entire system" it meant just that. Each and every law and regulation "creating, implementing and financing" public education in Kentucky had to go. So did the State Education Department, as then organized, as well as all procedures for creating local school districts and school boards. The decision, he wrote, "covers school construction and maintenance, teacher certification--the whole gamut of the common school system in Kentucky.^[12]

While Toffler's and Naisbitt's projections bare little difference^[13], I believe that in all his books, only Toffler consistently pleads for transforming education systems. With the same vehemence that Stephen Covey prescribes the development of proactivity skills to achieve positive personal futures^[14], Toffler prescribes obtaining adaptivity skills by "educating for change or preparing people for the future."^[15]

And yet, a couple of years after A Nation at Risk was released, in Silverdale Washington, just across Puget Sound from Seattle, it was a copy of John Naisbitt's Megatrends that Central Kitsap School District officials presented to each member of a committee of parents, teacher, and others. Committee members were then instructed "to collectively curl up with the volume and ask themselves, How should a school be designed to meet the needs of students in the year 2020?"^[16]

The nature of threats and challenges that now confront global communities some 20 years later, extend way beyond the educational sectors. Rising to meet them though will take gutsy leadership entreating individuals to galvanize in a chaotic force to create a new order. The question is, can we press chaos to our greatest advantage?

Societies' Primordial Soup

Our education systems should represent societies' primordial soup out from which profound intergenerational, intersectorial lifestyles would naturally evolve and take shape. Our youth must be allowed to gain confidence that they can participate in - and contribute to - the everyday workings of society. More than ever, grownups need to witness the levels of responsibility and innovation our youth are capable of delivering.

'Harnessing chaos and stewarding change' is a strategy statement I coined to capture the essence of something I started to envision eight years ago. Wanting to insure my children, and future grandchildren, a higher quality of life, I asked myself the following question:

What if 20-25 years from now, a generation of students graduated high school with all the tools, insight and life-skills needed to enable them to hit the ground running and to make wiser life choices than any generation before them?

 

Since from my perspective, our communities were - and still are - diversely fragmented, and in dire need of healing,Healing Fragmented Communities seemed to eloquently capture the purpose of that valiant objective.

To help clarify this I offer a portion of Healing Fragmented Communities, an essay of self-examination I wrote back in 1998 and recently uploaded to a web site that allows for reader interaction for any paragraph.^[17]

From the perspective of looking outward from the widening career cracks I have fallen between, harsh realities few [individuals] confront seemed destined to only worsen. North American middle classes continued to disappear and as 'Baby Boomers' crept closer and closer to old age, medical systems and social safety nets were falling away.

Given the rifts that out-of-control social and economic imbalances were creating, in dwelling on the most likely of scenarios to be played out starting within the next decade, I seemed far from being an exception to the rule.

My big picture views led me on to deeper contemplation. The poor state of human relationships, high failure rates in organizational undertakings, and all things connected to issues of 'control' were at the root of rising trends in personal and professional growth and development. The absence of relevant, real life-skill lessons in North American school systems equated to teaching the principles of boat building, yet leaving the boat builders with little to no grasp on the essential principles of basic navigation [and elementary survival]. It now seemed so apparent that were children throughout all levels immersed with basic life and people skills along with the 3 Rs, they would obtain the tools for dealing with several generations of past demons lurking beneath the water's surface. They would grow up to give rise to new emotionally stable, more humane generations.

Seeing all of this at a period of increasing socio-economic awareness, and growing trends of new breeds of entrepreneurs setting their sails for uncharted seas of change, seemed to map out new courses for highly innovative, wholistic frontiers that would serve the purpose of healing fragmented communities.

Fed up with the fragmentations to which I had contributed, if even as one straw on the camel's back, I began to envision a diversity of team-based models and [multi-collaborative] strategies designed to avert a socio-economic collapse of our societies.

Confronting the underlying reasons for my [life] choices led me to crossroads I could no longer ignore - not if I cared enough about my part in the grander scheme of things - certainly not if I cared what the future might hold for my parents, children, future grandchildren and self. In realizing the insecurities and weaknesses that subtly influenced my life choices, I had to accept my responsibility for them. Reading the writing on the wall created a burning desire to rectify them by giving my life and work meaningful purpose. Unless I did something to turn my life around, I would soon be living on the street along with countless others - becoming a liability to family and community instead of an asset.

From the fence I was sitting on and the directions I was looking in, the community was fragmented indeed! ^[18]

How can we even think of trying to teach our children to live by rules that we must now admit do not work in today's society? Or as Jarman and Land claim, "at Breakpoint, the rule change is so sharp that continuing to use the old rules not only doesn't work, it erects great, sometimes insurmountable, barriers to success."^[19]

We ourselves are struggling to confront, understand and master the rudiments of fundamental change needed to transform our moribund institutions and organizations - even our communities. Mix all of these complexities in with those of our children's innate creativity, technological savvy and social connectivity that finds them teaching the teachers and leading the leaders, and the speedy transformation of how, or even why, we educate our children becomes an urgent necessity - not an option.

Although focused less on digital matters and more on sustainable development, what I am about to propose adheres to 'The Networked Society' scenario outlined in Don Tapscott's book 'Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation'. I, too, see only one of four possible scenarios working out best for all concerned - especially society.^[20]

Reaching for [what may now seem to be] impossible dreams must be as much out of concern for our children's and grandchildren's future quality of life as it is for our own. We must truly envision our Canadian cities as being home to the vibrant communities of unlimited opportunity in which our grown children would choose to live [and raise their families]. That aspiration must also reflect the legitimate needs of generations yet to come. Were this to become our core purpose we could foresee a newer quality of life evolve that could find Canada topping all of the international charts.^[21]

Setting the Stage for Transformation

With these objectives in mind, I have prepared a scenario practical to current pressing needs of students, parents and communities. Hopefully it suggests how multi-faceted, integrated transformations might actually be accomplished, even while faced with fiscal and bureaucratic restraints.

My hometown of St. Catharines Ontario, located in a region buried beneath the rubble of a collapsing smokestack era, sets the stage for a community-based initiative I will have shared with local officials after submitting this paper.

Like many others across Canada, the communities of the Niagara Region have been struggling for renewed life. We are fortunate to be home to Niagara College, Brock University, the Institute for Enterprise Education and the Business Education Council. Yet despite their existence our community wealth dwindles. Our human resources are tragically underutilized. Graduates scurry to greener, richer pastures. Our downtown centres yearn for revitalizations long overdue. In short, our sustainability is at severe risk!

I was proud to see my region and city among the first in Canada to adopt Smart Growth as strategies to stem urban sprawl and reduce development costs. In my estimation, Smart Growth could pave the way towards restoring our sense of community, as well as stimulating diversified industries dedicated to meeting the needs of undeveloped global markets in Sustainable Development. But the challenges for getting the public, even city councilors, to grasp and accept Smart Growth's purpose, promise and potential at these early evolutionary stages could prove restrictive. Unless of course, we take deliberate steps to lead it!

The idea of turning our downtown James Street into a pedestrian mall has been tossed around over the years, but with money - and vision - in short supply, it has been a hard sell. Perhaps this fictitious news article surrounding a new society strategy may provide the spark needed to ignite excitement in a complacent community.

Dateline: November 14^th, 2004: City and Region Transform Downtown and Education

An extremely ambitious, multi-collaborative project, initiated in St. Catharines has put the whole region on the verge of a profound transformation that has captured widespread attention and acclaim.

It all began in the fall of 2002 when St. Catharines, in partnership with the Region of Niagara, announced their intent to convert the foot of James Street into a pedestrian mall. Soon after that, offers of support and resources poured in from all over.

But it was not that proclamation which galvanized the community, setting off a frenzy of interest from the media. It was the unusual invitation extended to the education systems to actively involve their students and teachers in the facilitation, planning and implementation processes that generated all the excitement.

Here's how a representative of the initiative put it: "We intent to turn Niagara into a region wherein our children will want to remain because they had played an important role in bringing about its transformation. If it is new thinking that is needed to compete in a world undergoing uncertain change, then we had better start stimulating creativity and innovation. If knowledge and skills are better achieved through hands-on experience by those most anxious to gain them, then we want the doors of opportunity blown wide open. Together along with our children, we are going to claim our place in the 21^st Century."

And with that, schools received lists filled with progressive concepts pertaining to urban renewal and sustainable development. Smart Growth, learning communities, green roofs, energy auditing, building retrofit, traffic and parking control, utilization of common spaces. All these and more were expected to be integrated into the arduous undertaking.

The schools were also urged to help create a community currency system to be fashioned after the Toronto and Ithica Dollars.

All that was needed to energize the students and teachers was the open invitation to use the list of concepts to form groups of interest for research, planning and idea generation.

The municipal and regional staff, businesses and organizations were told to prepare to share their knowledge and responsibilities with students from co-op and community service programs.

A public James Street Resource and Urban Think-Tank Centre was quickly set up and jointly run by students and grassroots organizations. Regularly scheduled workshops brought facilitators, students, public and staff together to work daily on the finer details of the project's many aspects. Before long the centre and schools were buzz with activities. Keynote addresses, visioning sessions and intense discussions generated a wealth of exciting ideas. Even creative methods for managing, organizing and disseminating the flood of information for the project was devised.

Access was granted to empty buildings and offices for anyone wishing to get a feel from the layout or to carry out energy audits. Some even took to the rooftops with visions of green roofs, solar panels, or other ways to put unutilized areas to productive use.

One group of students explored how closed-loop systems could be applied to businesses in and around the mall for reducing waste. That resulted in adopting an existing American model where leftover food from the downtown restaurants would go to a nearby non-profit to be operated by students and seniors. There the food is carefully recooked and available at meager prices for less fortunate patrons.

Another group formed to plan and prepare green roofs to grow select spices and vegetables for the local restaurants.

Soon the region had witnessed a barn raising of major proportion. Today, downtown St. Catharines' stunning transformation is testament to the power of multi-collaborations, and what students, when given the opportunities, can contribute toward.

And as for the students - well, let's just say that they are just a wee bit more excited - and confident - about their futures. And everyone is a whole lot prouder to be living and buying in the Niagara Region.

Creativity, innovation and community involvement has finally arrived in Niagara.

Intentional Learning Communities

I admit to oversimplifying what in reality would be a far more complex process however, creating learning communities could provide transitional steps to transforming education. Intentional learning communities as suggested by the scenario, offer viable means of harnessing chaotic grassroots forces for the purposes of gaining skills while catalyzing solutions for specific intertwining problem areas of society.

As alternatives to - or components of - conventional education, learning communities have already begun to gain momentum throughout the world. For self-learners, and homeschoolers, collaborative environments wherein the entire community becomes part of life-long learning systems offer the greatest flexibility possible for just-in-time learning and experiential labs.

The Mead2001 Award was created by "the Institute for Intercultural Studies and Whole Earth magazine [which] joined together to honor small groups of thoughtful, committed citizens who have changed the world."^[22] Last year the Coalition for Self-Learning, of which I was an active member, was among the groups nominated to receive that award. Meeting over the Internet, members from Canada, the States, Japan, India, Russia and Denmark, exchanged views in alternatives to conventional education. Several members collaborated on producing a collection of on-line essays^[23] which lend support to many of the claims I've been making. In July of 2000, Creating Learning Communities: Models, Resources, and New Ways of Thinking About Teaching and Learning was published by the Foundation for Education Renewal.^[24]

The Coalition is representative of an exploding segment of international societies that are disenchanted with - even mistrusting of - public education systems. Groups such as these - homeschoolers for instance - would gladly accept opportunities such as the mall proposal suggests. And if the stewardship were to be provided, the same could be said for a great many students in high schools, colleges and universities. Even teachers and professors would love the chance to help pioneer such initiatives.

Protecting Our Most Valuable Resources

Our children do have the innate ability for being an infectious source of inspiration. We all know the astounding wisdom and leadership of which they are capable. Albeit no longer the 12 year-old who first enraptured the international stage in 1996^[25], Torontonian Craig Kielburger and his Free the Children Organization^[26] are shining examples to the valuable contribution children can make when determined to do so. Improving the future quality of life for millions of children the world over, these kids have bravely battled child slavery and inspired the establishment of collective education where none was previously offered.

These are times that cry out for renewed creativity.

In the late 1960s George Land gave 1,600 3-to-5-year-olds a creativity test, re-testing the same children at two 5-year intervals. 98% at ages 3-5 displayed creative genius, 32% at 7-10 years old and 10% at ages 13-15. Out of over 200,000 adults over the age of 25 given the same test, only 2% revealed creative genius!^[27]

To overcome the drought of creativity that our 20th century institutions have fostered, we so need right now to closely guard - and harness - the creative genius of our children!^[28] Much the same could also be said about our younger children's innate fascination with and respect for nature. This, too, could serve our quality of life objectives were we to take the care to preserve these connections with nature.

Escalating demands for restoring, and protecting our limited resources, fragile environments and social structures have already begun feeding into growing global interests of creating the next industrial revolution.^[29] Whole-systems thinking is essential to successfully meeting the needs of today as well as tomorrow. Since today's children will become tomorrow's entrepreneurs filling the needs of a 'restorative economy,' ^[30] it would be better all around if the rudiments of whole-systems thinking remained ingrained in our youth as much as possible.

Besides, our children's prodding nature could help to ensure that we ourselves, go further to fulfilling our impending moral obligations to the enormous demands created by the Kyoto Accord.

Confronting the 'Eco-Spasm' ^[31]

Were we to provide the means whereby skills such as adaptivity and creative genius can evolve, take root and be given free reign, we would be better equipped to avert socio-economic crises certain to fragment our communities further.

Toffler declares "two principles, or 'lessons' [which] emerge[d] sharply from the investigations that [had] led to" his 1975 Eco-Spasm Report. The following two principles "are [still] being violated every day by politicians, government officials, economists and others, faced with the prospect, even the reality, of eco-spasm":

1. Economics alone cannot solve the crisis; and
2. The past cannot (and should not) be recaptured.^[32]

In support of the latter, George Land and Beth Jarman strongly advised against going Back to Basics^[33] which for example, the Mike Harris provincial government proclaimed as being at the heart of their (recently failed) education reforms. That, and trying to control those reforms, clearly violated both of Toffler's principles!

But at the risk of appearing paradoxical, it would now appear to be a return to the basics of community, renewed respect for Mother Earth and re-discovery of our humanity which are driving the Breakpoint ever closer.

Innovation: The Heart of Social Transformation

Our recent political call for a Canadian innovation strategy is very heartening - if not long overdue. Certainly in the additional light of the Kyoto Accord, whether or not Canada does ratify, increasing our innovation will truly be essential if we aspire to gaining critical edges in the abundant emerging global marketspaces that these and other related trends are, and will be creating.

From a perspective of Breakpoint change collisions soon destined to occur, far too much focus is being placed on the conventional research and development of technical and scientific innovation. In order to successfully become an inclusively transformative society out from which a high new standard of living will emerge, equal, if not greater focus will need to be urgently placed on the research and development of social invention and innovation.

The strategies I have been proposing seem to take social invention to levels higher than just 'applying human creativity in new ways to solve social problems.^[34]' To avoid tragic consequences of reaching the Breakpoint suddenly,^[35] multi-faceted solutions to numerous problems now threatening our very existence, let alone standards of living, will need to be developed and dispatched with little more than hope of them working in all cases.

Very little sense exists in fostering scientific innovation to preserve and extend human life in socio-economic vacuums. Social invention and innovation, therefore, must become an integral part of any new thinking directed toward ensuring or achieving greater sustainability for post-industrial societies.

The Hidden Threat of Entrepreneurship

Regardless of whether we as a nation risk making the jump from modern to more sustainable post-industrial societies, countless entrepreneurs of every stripe will. Their valiant attempts at finding and filling a wealth of commercial, social and ecological needs could well be a panacea for national innovation and economic renewal. But since Canadian's are not really living in the best of times, and no one can say with any degree of certainty that the worst has even happened, entrepreneurial attempts present a potential socio-economic threat of significant impact. And that could ultimately affect the quality of life for millions of Canadians - and their families!

When I had the occasion in the past to pose these assumptions directly to them, acclaimed futurist Robert Theobald^[36] and Economist David Foot^[37] agreed. In a related matter, John Naisbitt supported my thoughts that expecting entrepreneurs to prepare detailed business plans was unrealistic in light of today's harsh realities.^[38]

To press my iconoclastic cynicism a bit further, I am of the opinion that traditional enterprise development processes are far more parasitic than symbiotic, thus hindering entrepreneurial aspirations. In the true entrepreneurial sense, this species rarely intend on much more than seeing their ideas reach the light of day. Even those that do aspire to more, often find themselves in shark infested waters.

With respects to current education models, we can’t seem to get beyond what equates to teaching the rudiments of swimming outside the water, then throwing students into the deep without any lifesaving devices or attendees. If swimming were really taught in this fashion, just how many new swimmers on average would sink to their deaths, [perhaps dragging others down with them]?^[39]

As we begin to seriously question and address aspects of our societies which impact upon our standard of living, I would strongly advise we not ignore the impacts of entrepreneurship upon the financial and emotional health of individuals, their families, friends and greater communities.

Measuring Our Progress

Assuming that we are committed to raising our standard of living within the next 15 years, it seems appropriate to insist that Bill C-268, otherwise known as the Canada Well-Being Measurement Act , be removed from the private member's business queue - or lottery system - and put squarely on the federal table for open, thorough discussion.

This Act intends to "develop and provide for the publication of measures to inform Canadians about the health and well-being of people, communities and ecosystems in Canada."^[40] Its key provisions call for a Standing Committee of the House of Commons to "receive input from the public through submissions and public hearings" so that they can identify "the broad societal values on which the set of indicators should be based."^[41]

One thing that is expected to result from the passage of this bill is replacing the ever-inaccurate GDP (Gross Domestic Product) with a model as suggested by the Genuine Progress Index, or GPI.^[42] The GDP's greatest failing as a true measure of progress, is that environmental disasters, or human tragedies for example, tend to increase our GDP. On the other hand, as cynical critics like to put it, the GPI would install the minus sign button missing from the GDP calculator.

Even as I now prepare to submit this paper, I received the heads up on Living Planet 2002 report to be released (tomorrow) by the World Wildlife Fund, based on world-wide scientific data. WWF's study will issue "a vivid warning that either people curb their extravagant lifestyles or risk leaving the onus on scientists to locate another planet that can sustain human life." And that "in a damning condemnation of [our] Western society's high consumption levels, it adds that the extra planets (the equivalent size of Earth) will be required by the year 2050 as existing resources are exhausted."^[43]

According to this study's frightening claim, there are remaining some 50 years before we witness "the end of earth, as we know it^[44]". Even if that were to be a gross exaggeration, it would still be extremely fatal for us not to get our collective act together. If passed by parliament early enough in the game, The Canada Well-Being Measurement Act^[45] could prove to be a major, profound step towards meeting our national challenge to become an inclusively transformative society out from which a high new standard of living will emerge as a matter of natural course.

If this final request of mine was to be fulfilled from all else that I have requested these past 11 pages, I am certain that all else that I have requested, would eventually be fulfilled within 15 years.

Repeating Successes

Remembering an historical, vision-driven undertaking so that we might repeat its astounding successes, we would have to equate this call to national action to that of John F. Kennedy firing the American starting gun for the race to send man to the moon and back. Just as was the case back then, our governments would have to dedicate support for the diversity of resources needed to reach our chosen destination. New industries will be needed to develop and produce the skills, and harness the knowledge gained, for the generation of best-practices, new products and services as they emerge.

How odd it seems that in the year 2002 AD, I should close with a quote from Mo Tao, who lived between 404-319 BC "Don't explain why it can't be done. Discover how it can be done." After more than two hundred centuries of endless discoveries making the impossible possible, the challenge [of creating an exclusively transformative society] is but a pebble tossed into the global pond. Now, let us see just how far the ripples radiate.^[46]

Footnotes maked by an asterisk (*) denote suggested relevant material without implying any passages quoted.

1. Bernie Slepkov, To Give & To Take: Healing Fragmented Communities - www.quicktopic.com/10/D/uUHJkGxQQpejW.html

2. Breakpoint change abruptly and powerfully breaks the critical links that connect anyone and anything with the past. ~ George Land and Beth Jarman, Breakpoint and Beyond: Mastering the Future-Today!, pg. 5

3. At the time this paper's submission, Living Planet 2002 was yet to be released at http://www.worldwildlife.org

4. Alvin Toffler, Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century, pg 460

5. Too many variations exist to be certain of the original quote.

6. Slight variation of U.N.'s definition for Sustainable Development by Guy Dauncey with Patrick Mazza, Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change, pg. 195

7. * Wendy Priesnitz, Challenging Assumptions in Education: From Institutionalized Education to a Learning Society; A Coalition for Self-Learning, Creating Learning Communities; Edward B. Fiske, Smart Schools, Smart Kids

8. The Eco-Spasm Report, Alvin Toffler, 1975 offers excellent addtional insight into the nature of and suggestions for managing the unstable economies we seem to be currently experiencing. (Eco-Spasm is defined in a later footnote.)

9. * "The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World", by Dr. Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson, defines that a 26 percentile of adult Americans are making comprehensive shifts in their worldview, values, and way of life; that these creative, optimistic millions are at the leading edge of several kinds of cultural change, deeply affecting not only their own lives but our larger society as well.
The Rise of the Creative Class, by Richard Florida, claims "[t]he Creative Class makes up nearly 30 per cent of the U.S. workforce - up roughly 10 per cent a century ago". - Globe And Mail, We can make it happen here, June 24, 2002

10. * Paul Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce, Paul Hawken, Amory & Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism. Jane Jacobs, The Nature of Economies. Janine Benyus, Biomimicry. David Suzuki & Holly Dressel, Good News For a Change.

11. Edward B. Fiske, Smart Schools, Smart Kids, pg. 20

12. Ibid., pg. 234-235

13. Based on question posed to John Naisbitt during his appearance at Brock University, March 27, 1997

14. Sephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

15. Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, pg. 2

16. Edward B. Fiske, Smart Schools, Smart Kids, pg. 150

17. www.quicktopic.com/10/D/uUHJkGxQQpejW.html

18. To Give and To Take: Healing Fragmented Communities

19. George Land and Beth Jarman, Breakpoint and Beyond; pg. 5

20. Scenario #1, Peaceful coexistence summation: The two generations get along, and society muddles along as it has done for the last few decades. Scenario #2, Cold War summary: The relationship between generations is tense but a standoff. Scenario #3, Generational Explosion summation: The environment is volatile and explosive. Scenario #4, The Networked Society: The generation [g]ap is reduced because adults are learning about the new media from children. New models of governance emerge and governments are reinvented. Truer forms of democracy emerge, in which citizens have more control over their own destiny. - Don Tapscott, Growing Up Digital, hardcover pg. 294

21. Bernie Slepkov, Inspiring Vision and Purpose for a Change - http://docs.trendspire.ca/inspiring-part2.html

22. http://www.mead2001.org/award.html

23. http://www.creatinglearningcommunities.org

24. Edited by Ron Miller; http://www.PathsOfLearning.net

25. * http://www.freethechildren.org/info/mediacanada04.htm

26. * http://www.freethechildren.org

27. Beth Jarman and George Land, Breakpoint and Beyond, pg. 153

28. Bernie Slepkov, Inspiring Vision and Purpose for a Region Change - Part 2, http://docs.trendspire.ca/inspiring-part2.html

29. Paul Hawken, Amory and Hunter Lovins; Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution

30. Paul Hawken, Ecology of Commerce

31. Spasmotic economy "careening on the brink of disaster, awaiting only the random convergence of certain critical events that have not occurred simultaneously--so far." Alvin Toffler, The Eco-Spasm Report, pg. 51

32. Ibid., pg. 69

33. Beth Jarman and George Land, Breakpoint and Beyond, pg. 60-63, 131, 229

34. Utne Reader April 2002; The Age of Ingenuity, pg. 50

35. * Author Barry Carter in 'Infinite Wealth: A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Era', 1999 citing from 'Breakpoint and Beyond: Mastering the Future--Today' by George Land and Beth Jarman, mentions the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution and American Civil War as three example historical Breakpoints resulting in great loss of life.

36. Email exchanges throughout 1999.

37. In private conversation during appearance at Brock University, March 17, 1997

38. In questions posed during appearance at Brock University, March 27, 1997

39. Bernie Slepkov, Opportunities in Transition: A DreamsTEAMS International Position Paper, submitted in 1998 to the Minister of Municipal Affairs

40. http://www.flora.org/sustain//MWB_open.html

41. Ibid.

42. Developed by Jonathan Rowe of the Real Progress Organization; http://www.rprogress.org

43. Mark Townsend and Jason Burke, The Observer International, Sunday July 7, 2002, The world's ticking timebomb: Earth 'will expire by 2050', http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,750783,00.html

44. Ibid.

45. For information, contact Mike Nickerson, The Sustainability Project/7th Generation Initiative, P.O. Box 374, Merrickville, Ontario, Canada, K0G 1N0 (Tel: 1-613-269-3500 Email: sustain@web.ca)

46. Bernie Slepkov, Inspiring Vision and Purpose for a Change - Part 2, http://docs.trendspire.ca/inspiring-part2.html