3 Days Towards a Sustainable Future
In November, 2007, some of the best thinkers and doers on the planet spent 3 days at Central Hall Westminster discussing and designing the changes we all want to see in the world. Watch the 10-minute video below to get a sense of the event. And for complete coverage, the 2-DVD set (preview below) is available for £15 plus postage, and can be ordered here.
In an age of looming climate chaos and chronic social injustice, it's time to set a new course. The Sky's The Limit was a collaboration between Be The Change, the World Future Council and The Converging World - in association with the new economics foundation, Rights and Humanity and Artists Project Earth; and supported by our media partner, The Independent newspaper.
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS (To see the complete programme, click here)
Thursday, November 15 (9am - 6.30pm)
- George Monbiot - Britain's most influential environmental writer and campaigner; author of Heat
- Stewart Wallis - director of nef (new economics foundation), a top UK think tank.
- Prof. C.S. Kiang - renowned Chinese environmentalist, leading the new dialogue between China and the West
- Nicky Gavron - deputy mayor of London and founder of the C-40 international group of sustainable cities
- Rob Hopkins - founder of the Transition Towns movement now sweeping the country
- Bianca Jagger - chair of the World Future Council
- Evening Movie: UK premiere of a major new documentary, DALAI LAMA RENAISSANCE
Friday, November 16 (9am - 6.15pm)
- Miriam MacGillis - leading voice on New Cosmology and the work of philosopher Thomas Berry
- Hermann Scheer - German MP and the man behind the solar power revolution in Germany
- Jonathon Porritt - Britain's leading sustainability advocate, Policy Director of Forum for the Future
- Richard Reed - founder of Innocent Drinks, maker of smoothies and leader in corporate ethics
- Plenary with Business leaders - ethics and sustainability
- Evening session: Schumacher College - live video link to a global alternative economics think tank, meeting at Dartington
- Evening Movie: UK premiere of a major new documentary, DALAI LAMA RENAISSANCE
Saturday, November 17 (9am - 6.30pm)
- Maude Barlow - Canadian author and activist, a key figure in the struggle for global water rights
- Social entrepreneurs panel - a panel of young leaders redefining the nature and purpose of business
- Frances Moore Lappé - famed American author now deeply immersed in the living democracy movement
- Peace Child and Kidscall - activist youth groups working to safeguard the future
- Vandana Shiva - Indian physicist, ecologist and author, one of the most powerful voices from the South
...and throughout the event, Drew Dellinger - American 'spoken word poet', closely associated with the work of Thomas Berry.
Meanwhile, to get a sense of Be The Change conferences, please check out the videos on this site - there's one at the top of this page. The preview of our 2006 DVD includes David Orr, Tim Flannery, Bernard Lietaer, Scilla Elworthy, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and others; and the DVD from our 2005 conference has Ray Anderson, Vandana Shiva, Deepak Chopra and more. A preview of the 2004 DVD can also be seen. All our DVDs can be ordered online, and you can see the complete programme for all our conferences by clicking on the relevant year in the menu on the left hand side of every page.
Since we started work in early 2004, Be The Change has existed fundamentally as an annual conference in London. In 2006, we added a powerful new aspect to our work when we presented our first one-day Symposium, Change the Dream, to just over 100 of our core community.
Since then, symposia have started happening across the UK. Dates of new events appear here as they are finalised - and details are sent out via our newsletter .
Change the Dream does what it says on the label! In the course of a single day, it takes each of us from our varying levels of denial about what's really going on with our planet, through the despair and outrage as we learn the truth from a powerful range of thinkers (including Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, Julia Butterfly Hill, Paul Hawken, Desmond Tutu - and many others) - and towards the end of the day into a space of real commitment to action in our own community. Change the Dream is the most powerful tool we have yet found for empowering people on the local level; for taking the ideas and inspiration we share at our Be The Change conference out into the communities within which we live and work. If you are interested in joining us in this work, please read further.