Women's Earth Alliance

New Advisory Council Members

Congratulations!

Nomination and Voting Guidelines

Nomination

• If you're interested, you can submit your nomination (nominate yourself) by email/message to bowo or by listing your name in the Nomination and Voting section below and completing the required information in the Nominees Information section. 
• Please submit your nomination no later than Tuesday April 28th 2009, 5pm (PST) --> Extended to Sunday, May 3rd, 12pm (PST)
  
• WiserEarth Staff are not eligible for nomination
• Feel free to contact Bowo if you have any questions

Voting

• All editors (including WiserEarth Staff) can vote on two nominees to represent the editors community in the Advisory Council.
• Stepping forward as a nominee equals one vote. Thus, nominees can only vote on one other nominee. This keeps the voting rights equal for all editors.
• To cast your votes, please leave your username in the "Voted by" column below.
• One vote only per nominee.
• Voting begins on Monday, May 4th (PST) and ends on Monday, May 11th, 12pm (PST)
• You may change your vote up to Monday, May 11th 12pm (PST)
• Regardless of numbers of voters, the result is considered valid and final by the end of the voting period. The results will be shared on Tuesday, May 12th.
• Once Advisory members have been selected, they will convene on a private WiserEarth group

Additional Notes

• Be aware that this nomination and voting process is publicly viewable, and everything can be traced back to your username via the Show History section of this wikipage.
• WiserEarth's chief editor, Bowo will edit this wikipage from time to time to make sure the formatting and links work properly, but will not interfere with the nomination and voting process in any way.

Nominees and Your Votes

• Please edit the following table to list your nomination and cast your vote on a first come first listed basis.
• Make sure you understand the nomination and voting guidelines (see above).

Nominees Information

Ernest J.P. Muhly

JPMS

WiserEarth member since: Nov 07, 2007

Q. How did you come across WiserEarth?

I saw it mentioned somewhere -- but that was a year and a half ago and since I have problems remembering things from last week, there's no way I'm going to remember that detail.

Q. When and how did you become an active member of WiserEarth?

Mid-January 2008 when I responded to a request from Camilla Burg to help with a survey about Improving WiserEarth Groups.

Q. Why do you believe in WiserEarth mission?

Ecosystems organize and reorganize toward resilience. I think that WiserEarth provides a platform that allows for the evolution of the serendipitous and spontaneous collections of groups, information and people into sustainable movements that support the environment.

Q. What role do you think WiserEarth can play in the world?

There is a great need for a networking of people, groups and organizations. Too often people and funding organizations have felt that each new effort needed to be a stand-alone entity to be effective and creditable. WiserEarth offers opportunities for people and groups to focus on doing what they do best, while at the same time drawing on the experiences and resources of other WiserEarth people and groups to enhance their efforts.

Q. What knowledge and expertise can you contribute to the Advisory Council?

I am a generalist with almost forty-five years of educational and work experiences in areas from appropriate technology to supporting existing and sustainable ecosystems -- both hands on and theoretical. I have also trained in conflict transformation approaches, and would hope that my varied experiences would allow me to be accepting and supportive of a diverse range of options.

Q. Do you have anything else to say about your nomination or about WiserEarth?

It would be both fun and a pleasure to work with the WiserEarth Advisory Council.

Back to voting section

Mike Zeidler

superconnector

WiserEarth member since:  April 11 2008

Q. How did you come across WiserEarth?

I read 'Blessed Unrest' in late 2007

Q. When and how did you become an active member of WiserEarth?

On reading the book I was immediately taken with the sense of an Index which could indicate the scale and coherence of The Movement to policy-makers, institutions and regulators.    To my mind, the WISER network is of central importance both as a tool and as a mandate for the change-makers who are presenting the case for a new world view.  I signed in to the network a year ago in order to promote it for these reasons.

Q. Why do you believe in WiserEarth mission?

It resonates with the beliefs that have been slowly maturing with me over the past 14 years or so - in particular the application of nature's principles to human organisation.

Q. What role do you think WiserEarth can play in the world?

At it's fullest potential, I think WiserEarth could be one of the core strands of The Movement, creating powerfully magnetic convergence for the fast growing hordes of dissatisfied global citizens.  If WiserEarth can be both an effective mirror, and a skillful facilitator of the amazing diversity and passion within The Movement, then it will help create the new global identity that must emerge for all of us if we are to have great hope for the future.

Q. What knowledge and expertise can you contribute to the Advisory Council?

I have worked for 14 years with membership organisations, and have relevant experience of starting two separate business communities based on collaborative principles (Association of Sustainability Practitioners and The Hub Bristol).  I've also got a good deal of experience in 'partnership working' as a broker between pubilc, private and voluntary sectors, and a deep interest in the 'long view'.

Q. Do you have anything else to say about your nomination or about WiserEarth?

I'm grateful for the opportunity to join this group, and hopeful that WiserEarth can fulfil its potential...

Back to voting section

 Michael Kwan

 MichaelK

 WiserEarth member since:  February 5, 2007

Q. How did you come across WiserEarth?

I found an internship listing on a job site.  I felt it was a very meaningful project to take part in.  The longer I stayed the more excited I got about it.

Q. When and how did you become an active member of WiserEarth?

I began by researching organizations as an intern.  I was eventually hired as the Content Manager to monitor and organize content, update the home page, moderate discussions and work on outreach.

Q. Why do you believe in WiserEarth mission?

I've always liked how WiserEarth was a space which encouraged collaboration, and which provided a transparent view of the many thousands of organizations working towards a just and sustainable world.  I also strongly feel that the WE staff actively seeks and listens to the ideas of its members.

Q. What role do you think WiserEarth can play in the world?

I think it's developing as a space for people of many different countries and languages to effectively communicate and work with one another.  As WiserEarth improves its capacity to connect chagemakers around the world, people will more quickly share local expertise and successes, and find opportunities of collaboration.  WiserEarth can inspire us to look for allies and perspectives beyond one's own borders, and inform us of the importance of diversity and self-determination.

Q. What knowledge and expertise can you contribute to the Advisory Council?

I worked at WiserEarth as an intern for about 6 months, and then as a staff member for 8 months.  My WE experience has provided me with some valuable insight and lessons about online community building.  While working at WE, I was an active community member, frequently discussed and proposed feedback, and explored ways to encourage greater participation.    I am also trying to be an active user and follower of social networks/media.

Q. Do you have anything else to say about your nomination or about WiserEarth?

It's great to see how WE has been evolving.  Kudos to whoever thought of creating an Advisory Council.

Back to voting section

Deborah Phelan

boatsie

WiserEarth member since: May 24, 2007

Q. How did you come across WiserEarth?

After seeing Paul Hawken on Democracy Now soon after the publication of Blessed Unrest, I joined WiserEarth.

Q. When and how did you become an active member of WiserEarth?

I would trace my active participation back to my work with a WiserEarth group, Global Assembly Dialog, a process which connected me with such WiserEarth working groups such as WE governance, suggestions, and the Editor's group. My first major project was writing a proposal to create a 'for credit' internship program with universities around the world to engage graduate students in stewarding Areas of Focus.  After a hiatus from the group to work on the Obama campaign, I returned and assumed more active editor responsibilities, including participating in the annual email blast, creating a WE Editors Journalists page to work on the community's newsletter, and creating my own group, Transition Towns Marin.

Q. Why do you believe in WiserEarth mission?

I began researching and studying sustainability, gender equity, social justice and universal education as Education Editor for Magellan and Excite search directories back in the mid-90's, I continued this work in my master's project in education where my focus was on cross cultural communications and the role of Information and Communication Technologies in addressing the global digital divide.  WiserEarth's mission mirrors my beliefs and the practices which form the core principles of the organizations I most respect.

Q. What role do you think WiserEarth can play in the world?

I like to think of WiserEarth as the ultimate learning community, a place where students, activists, non government, even government, officials, routinely visit to participate in real life learning. My vision of WiserEarth? It is a buzzing, multilingual 24x7 sustainability factory, perpetually in a state of flow. And it is just starting to hum.

Q. What knowledge and expertise can you contribute to the Advisory Council?

I have worked for numerous nonprofits and startups throughout my career and have specifically focused on the online community for the past 14 years. As an active participant in numerous local and online communities, I have developed significant connections to organizations and individuals passionate about educating and engaging world citizens in working towards the development of sustainable local and global communities. After creating the online international K-12 education website Millenaire: The Third Millennium Education Project, I formed the nonprofit FluidArts, which partnered with  a group of international organizations to promote  the role of artists, scientists and educators in addressing the global digital divide. As managing editor for a social networking startup Jeteye, I became proficient in web 2.0 technology and online community building. Additionally, as a volunteer for the Obama campaign, I worked on event promotion, fundraising, canvassing, and was a member of the rapid response media team.

Q. Do you have anything else to say about your nomination or about WiserEarth?

What I am really most excited about now is the growing movement within the community to create, sponsor and collaborate on local real time events to put into practice the principles and ideas inherent in Wiser's shared vision. In his 2006 Nobel Lecture, Muhammad Yunus talks about globalization and a future which is not characterized by a worldview which continues to promote the concept that the 'strongest takes it all."

Yunus says:

"To me, globalization is like a hundred-lane highway criss-crossing the world. If it is a free-for-all highway, its lanes will be taken over by the giant trucks from powerful economies. Bangladeshi rickshaw will be thrown off the highway. In order to have a win-win globalization we must have traffic rules, traffic police, and traffic authority for this global highway."

WiserEarth, to my way of thinking, is creating equal space for those rickshaws.

Back to voting section

About WiserEarth Advisory Council

The Advisory Council is a voluntary initiative that will serve as the ambassador body for WiserEarth, building the bridges into the community and fostering a sense of accountability for the staff. We are currently looking for two editors that will be willing to become members of the Advisory Council

The anticipated role of the Advisory Council is to:

• Provide general guidance, oversight, feedback, and ideas for improving WiserEarth
• Advise on ongoing issues of strategy, management, community building, technology and any conflicts that may arise
• Play an ambassadorial role by introducing WiserEarth to a wide variety of networks of experts and potential funders.
• Where appropriate, support WiserEarth’s fundraising efforts through introductions and guidance

At the outset, the Advisory Council will be limited to 12 members, each serving two-year terms. Council members will convene for one annual general meeting facilitated and hosted by WiserEarth in Sausalito, California, USA.

The anticipated responsibilities for the Advisory Council members are:

• Attend one annual general meeting with travel costs covered by WiserEarth. The 2009 meeting will most likely happen in Sausalito in September. We are also exploring the possibilities of virtual participation.
• Actively participate in the discussions and activities of the Council
• Be available for individual consultation with WiserEarth Staff
• Where appropriate, suggest or advise on new funding sources for WiserEarth