"No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.  We must learn to see the world anew"  Albert Einstein 

Creating new narratives that shift our world view to move to the tipping point of progressive change is what storyworks.ca is all about. 

I suppose the question remains is do we have the elected leadership in place to get on with the job of substantially addressing climate change?   With Australia finally signing onto the Kyoto accord this leaves the US as the only "developed" nation that has not recognized the accord.  With industrialized countries accounting for about 80% of the emissions directly linked to global warming the US government’s lack of willingness to join the international community in dealing with climate change is unacceptable. 

 Climate change is a crisis of unmatched magnitude in human history.  Coastline countries will disappear while food supplies will be dramatically affected.  Drylands will increase and massive migrations of millions of displaced people are direct results of this lack of leadership.  Canada’s record needs vast improvement as does it leadership on the issue.  There are steps that we all can do to stop global warming.  Putting climate change on the political agenda however remains one huge task for civil society if we are to direct the massive efforts we need to halt climate change.

One of the things that I have learned working in the NGO community for two decades is that we have a hard time telling our story well. In many cases we think we are telling stories but in fact we are not. We are experts in our content areas, we tend to be good at reporting to funders and we can masters at speaking jargon. But we really struggle to make sense of our work, its importance, impact or sometimes is relevance to many others.

Simmons in her new book says, “In this ocean of choice, a meaningful story can feel like a life preserver that tethers us to something safe, important or at the very least more solid than the disembodied voices begging for our attention.”

When millions of people stand up to make poverty history around the world or attend or tune into the Live Aid or Live Earth concerts, wear white bands, open their wallets for Katrina victims or drop off food to their local food bank in record numbers… we know that their is a great hunger to be “tethered” together to something important. Millions are looking for that “life preserver” civil society needs to throw these people a line… by being far more strategic and proficient storytellers.

Today, our culture rotates on shorter, faster, sleeker and smaller. The design and functionality of products and even of stories is receptive to the degree in which it can be condensed.

In a recent issue of Wired Magazine, the term "snack culture" was featured in an article which traced its evolution right from cave paintings, to the Readers Digest, to cliffnotes, the sony walkman, mp3s, the ipod nano to the one second film.

But does the landscape of the quick information bite necessarily impede the impact of social progressive agendas? Our snack culture may in fact pose an opportunity for civil society organizations to reach for clarity of purpose in their public engagement initiatives, to produce creative communications and to reach beyond policy change and begin to embed a new improved vision of the world into the very fiber of our culture.

Can we popularize the eradication of poverty, inequality and environmental degradation? Can we create massive social movements that embrace culture as much as substantive policy change?

The tipping point may in fact already be at hand even in the error of shrinking space for civil society. The very contraction of this civil society space has infused global movements with a sense of urgency to address climate change, the inequalities of globalization, the brutal infringement of human rights in the name of the war on terror and the heightened violence against women and children as a strategy of war.

The evolution of global movements is taking place, new collaborations, new organizational structures and new alliances are creating are being experimented with against the backdrop of a sense of urgency. The consensus that this is the last chance to get the future right is being embraced by a wide range of social movements.

Gore observes in reference to climate change, ” The central challenge is to expand the limits of what is now considered politically possible. The outer boundary of what’s considered plausible today still falls far short of the near boundary of what would actually solve the crisis.”

Concurrent to this reality, are millions of people participating in global movements to eradicate poverty and inequality. This mass mobilization of global citizens is infact pushing the boundaries of what is plausible. Civil society in today’s democracy deficit is positioned (for better or worse) to lead elected governments to the “near boundary of what would actually solve the crisis”

He notes, “The clash of civilization is not a reality it is a project of some people. We address this by building bridges.. finding bridges to our common problems.”
“I am really impressed with the possibility to get global issues on the agenda, like global warming. Somehow there is a shift … I feel that people are not letting governments get away from it… the fact that there has been this tremendous turn around gives me hope that we are still in the game, that there is still hope,” he observes.

The importance that civil society is playing in building bridges can not go underestimated. “not letting governments get away from it” from their responsibility to govern justly, humanely and with global leadership is coming to the forefront with the shift in the global agenda. It may feel like rolling a boulder up a steep hill… but in some corners of the world it feels like gravity is finally working in the favour of global civic society.

A report released by the African advocacy organization DATA sounds the alarm that G8 countries are way off track in meeting their promises.

DATA Report 2007 analysis on effective aid: The UK and Japan are on track to meet their promises. The US and Canada are off track. Germany, France and Italy are dangerously off track. In a DATA press release issued today,

* The G8 needed to increase aid by $5.4 billion between 2004-2006 to be on track. They only increased by $2.3 billion during this period.
* Of that $2.3 billion, most of the increase came from the UK and Japan.
* To get back on track the G8 must increase by $6.24bn in 2007.

Civic society through the global mass mobilization efforts of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty now takes on a heightened importance leading up to the G8 meeting this June in Germany.

Clearly the G8 lacks the leadership to do the right think… and is waiting for civic society to hold it accountable for promises it has already made. In Canada your voice can be heard by joining Make Poverty History.

Civic society is evolving in this era of globalization that exacerbates global inequality. More than ever civil society movements need leadership. Leadership that can traverse both the macro and micro levels of the new global stage. The old slogan think globally, but act locally is really being turned on its head.

Jim Collins in his book Good to Great and The Social Sectors, says, “True leadership only exists if people follow when they have the freedom not to. If people follow you because they have no choice, then you are not leading.”

One of the many challenges facing civic society leaders is to be able to lead within evolving structures of social movements, such as networks, coalitions and campaigns to name a few. When people “follow a leader when they have the freedom not to” social movements then become shaped by this “following” and in turn this becomes key in shaping the agenda of a social movement which strives to be representative, inclusive and participatory.

I remember when working with a NGO how I would craft the public service announcements each year that she would record as our volunteer spokesperson. Always without fail she would send me a kind note of encouragement after recording these spots. Her thoughtfulness always surprised me though… even now many years later I remain touched by her compassion for others in the smallest of things.

So when reading Peter C. Newman’s Macleans tribute to June, I thought it summed up the impact she had on so many of us when he cited a passage from Anne Dublin’s biography of June, “She sees the good things people do, however small, instead of being consumed by the bad stuff that can be ragingly conspicuous. By embracing the good, she finds the passion she needs to fight for it.”

Time and time again in the interviewing anti-poverty activists at the recent Global Call to Action Against Poverty international conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, each person when asked why they continue the complex and hard fight against global poverty the resounding reply was “I believe that we can create a just world.” I have to say I think June would have fit right into this crowd of 130 people from 88 countries from around the world.

Peter C. Newman’s article concluded, “Each person is like a stone,” June observed near the end of her life. “Individual actions, good or bad, send out tiny ripples that change the surface of the public pond. People, by choice, can spread warm understanding or cold indifference.”
Newman concludes, “Her choice was crystal clear.”

I think June’s legacy somehow was present at the recent GCAP conference as plans were being shaped to mobilize millions around the world to stand up to Make Poverty History.

A life lived like June’s remains alive in our collective rippling actions of “warm understanding and not cold indifference.”

“is the presence of gender inequality it is doing such ravishing damage in the world it is almost incomprehensible… this is the most important issue facing our world today.”

A handful of days before in Montevideo at the Global Call to Action Against Poverty where anti-poverty activists from 88 countries met; time and time again people stood up in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French and said the same thing.

Poverty is present in our world for a whole host of complex reasons. But the fertile ground upon which it takes root and flourishes… is that of inequality. The complete vulnerability of women around the world is crippling our collective attempts to eradicate poverty. And it will continue to do so. Poverty thrives on the backs of women around our world.

Our global solidarity to end poverty … necessitates that we join in solidarity with those working with women for equality.