Reviewing Karmakonsum Greencamp

This weekend I visited the Karmakonsum LOHAS Conference and Greencamp. Most of this kinds of events mix in some green washing elements within the program, and I was excited to hear rather critical or in-depth approaches on these items from the stage (see my report on the Karmakonsum blog).

With this balanced program Organizers Christoph Harrach and Noel Klein-Reesink showed that they have a good sensibility for the case. The atmosphere was neat and informal, the audience was a good clash of green business professionals, marketeers and activists.

Compared with the conference, the green camp started totally different. Christoph and Noel pointed on the freedom and open space idea of the camp, and created some creative chaos on stage. 'Anyone still wants to give a workshop?'. Christoph did not only ask the audience what Karma means, he started the day with a meditation with the whole audience. Reactions in the public showed that some people got here for Karma, while others were far more interested in the topic of Konsum.

The Greencamp program was very diverse, from a workshop on LOHAS lifestyle by Ivy main editor Michalis Pantelouris, a workshop on online communities by Daniel Pichert from Fairdo, a workshop on the social fashion label Armedangels by Anton Jurina
till a workshop on meida and sustainability by Christian Neugebauer. A large, respectful program, created by the visitors.

For a Conference 2.0, the workshops I visited were still unnecessary topdown, while the public existed of professionals in the field. This reflects the double position of 2.0 methods, on the one hand it gives power to the people through blogs and communities, on the other hand web 2.0 functions are used strategically to create influence on a community.

The real value of the conference and camp lies in it's power to get people together and create a strong network of people working with the topic of strategic and ethical consume. In other words: good karma. Meeting still people on the station, I felt that the conference had a strong, positive flow. Energy I am still running on, a lot of new ideas for projects and cooperations.

Picture: workshop with Armed Angels

Engagement2.0: Sexy Online Charity

Yesterday I was at a meeting organized by the German sustainability network 3plusX on "Engagement 2.0". Five fresh German online charity portals presented their work and vision. All of them intermediate online between concrete help projects and givers, may it be individuals or companies. All developed their web2.0 strategy to communicate the projects informative but sexy.

What I like about these portals is that they aim to make engagement easy, informative and concrete. For a lot of people a boarder to give money to charity is because they don't know what happens with their money. The charity culture in Germany is much less developed as in the UK or States.

A large part of the discussion was about how these portals generate their money. Some get their money over corporate sponsorship, while others take a small part of the collected money. Off course, both have good arguments.

The initiatives still have to prove what they are worth, but they are all the kind of projects realized with sweat and ideals. Just one critical question: is it really needed and workable to have so many different portals? Should they be concurrents or cooperate?

I am not going to give any ratings here, just look at them yourself and decide what you think of them:

Betterplace
Helpedia
Elargio
Reset.to
Netzwirken

Wave of Social, Green and Political BarCamps from Berlin to Tibet

When I first heard about BarCamps, I had a clear image of some bearded men with beers, hanging around a campfire. Very campy, but the idea of a BarCamp is hanging around for more reasons than campfire and beer.

BarCamps are a new phenomenon that are boosting a wave off grass roots social change through new media usage. Now the Bar Camp concept is implemented for a broader range of social issues. The barcamps started as an informal form of knowledge sharing in progressive use of computer technology, such as the development of open source internet applications. The methods used are connected to the informal hackers meetings and the Open Space methodology. According to BarCamp.org , a Barcamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. "It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants."

According to Wikipedia, The first BarCamp was held in California in 2005, in the offices of Socialtext. It was organized in less than one week, from concept to event, with 200 attendees. Since then, BarCamps have been held in over 31 cities around the world, in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Australasia and Asia. In 2006, BarCampEarth was held in multiple locations world wide.

The BarCamps, either focussed on social issues or not, are a great and easy form to spread and exchange knowhow and come to new ideas and common vision.

Upcoming Social BarCamps:

Social Camp in Berlin, Germany
German NGO's, netfreaks and social innitiatives gathering in Berlin
GreenCamp in Frankfurt, Germany
meeting of LOHAS experts, green entrepreneurs and environmental activists
Lhasa Bar Camp in Tibet
Don't know how serious or underground that one is
BarCamp Caucasus
the largest new media and blogs event in the Caucasus, powered by Soros
BarCamp Asia in Bishek, Kyrgystan
MediaBarCamp Belarus / Lithuania
EcoCamp - Conversano, Italy
PolitCampGraz - Graz, Austria
CommunityCampBerlin - Berlin, Germany
CreativeCamp - Kilkenny, Ireland, Europe
Health2.0 Unconference Amsterdam - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Social Innovation Camp in London, UK

for more BarCamps in your area visit the BarCamp Wiki

Self Hub Berlin and the Supermarket 2.0

Last days I kind of literally stumbled over two interesting project spaces in my living area in Berlin Kreuzberg. The first one was a project called "supermarkt2.0". In an old supermarket space, they created a common work place for all kinds of creatives, without walls, so you could walk around and "shop" around. Architects, fashion photographers, pottery makers, painters, city planners, web designers all working criss cross through each other, without separating walls. I just passed by, were invited inside and had some talks on interesting topics such as whether there are blob like buildings in Berlin or not.

Self HUB
Yesterday I was at the opening of a project called Self HUB. It's a flexible working and common space for "social pioneers". The idea of the Hub flew over from London, and already developed itself in several cities across the world, from Rotterdam to Johannesburg. They organize all kinds of coaching and network projects for people who work on social innovation. That includes sustainable development but also psychology. Cultural creatives in the wider sense.

Social networking is the new black, the black2.0 off course.

I met a lot of people, not everyone I recognized as a social pioneer, but definitely there was an unusual open and friendly atmosphere, and I felt they were really putting their sweat and tears into this new project. For German social pioneers, you must check them out and will hear from one of their upcoming projects.

NVOHK: eco-fashion managed by the people who wear it

All these new, green eco-fashion brands. They are soo cool, soo green, soo georgeous. A serious fashion event can't do without them. And there we are. Sometimes I wonder, why all activists, all creatives, all green thinkers are capitalist entrepreneurs nowadays. Do we really believe consumption can save the planet? Concurrence will make us more friendly to each other? Fashion brings enlightenment?

In this light, initiatives that strive to create a different company model are rather interesting. There is a growing a amount of network / community based social companies. Although they are pioneers, they also set the trend in an era dominated by web2.0.

Fashion 2.0
A good example of a community managed company is the eco-friendly surf brand NVOHK. They recruite members through what they call a "crowdfunding business" to develop and launch a new lifestyle brand that blends social responsibility and financial performance.

Based in Los Angeles, Nvohk is recruiting 20,000 - 40,000 members to contribute $50 a year to develop and shape the nvohk brand. Members will make major business decisions including logo design, web design, product design, advertising, etc. Members will also receive a free member t-shirt, 35% of nvohk's net profits in the form of reward points that can be redeemed to purchase products, and 25% off all nvohk products. nvohk will donate 10% of net profits to environmental organizations selected by its members.

I just heard from my partner Cecilia that she already is a member. I am curious...

Source: www.projectnvohk.com