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GROUP DETAILS
Created: Feb 23, 2008
Updated: Nov 28, 2009
Membership: Open
Public
Andrea Berardi
AndreaBerardi
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Areas of Focus
About
My Bio
1971-1989....
Born in Naples, Italy in 1971. Lived in Ireland (1971-72), Ethiopia
(1972-78?), Italy (1978?-79?), Saudi Arabia (1979?-85), UK (1985-87) and Italy (1987-1989). I think I'm Italian, well, that is what it says on my passport, but I'm not sure.....as you can see, I have grown up in lots of different countries and during that time engaged with cultures in many more during my various travels. I do not really identify with the culture of any particular country or locality -- which probably has strengthened my "oneworld" aspirations.
1989-1999....
Met Jay (my partner) on the second week of a BSc in Ecology at King's, London (1989-92). Worked as Outward-Bound Instructor in Sabah, Malaysia (1992-93). Conservation MSc (1993-4) and PhD at UCL (1994-99). During the PhD I was also Jay's unpaid (!) field-assistant studying fire ecology in the Brazilian cerrado.
1999-May 2002....
Lectured at London School of Economics, University College London and Royal Holloway, and was a Research Associate at the Royal Holloway Institute for Environmental Research until April 2002. In 2001 and 2002 I was principal investigator on Earthwatch's "Italy's Volcanic Park Survey". Manu Tejasvin was born on the 9th of November 2001. Have also been collaborating with Jay on a study of Amerindian Fire Culture in the Brazilian cerrado. Manu was six months old when we took him to live with the Kraho!
June 2002 - December 2003
Got the lecturership in Environmental Information Systems in the Systems Discipline, Centre for Complexity and Change, Open University, UK. Anju Lakshmi was born on the 24th of June 2003. Jay and I also got Darwin Initiative funding for a project to develop an ecologically sustainable and socially just management plan for the North Rupununi wetlands in Guyana.
I also convened with Jay, a session at the International Conference on Tropical Savannas and Seasonally Dry Forests, Edinburgh, September 2003. The resulting book was published by Ashgate and is called "Savannas And Dry Forests: Linking People with Nature" (it is not recommended as an easy read! :-)
January 2004-December 2005
As part of my lecturership, I contributed to the production of T863 "Environmental Decision Making: A Systems Approach"-- a postgraduate part-time course delivered by the Open University. I was also awarded a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to research Virtual Team Working for Natural Resource Management.
Since January 2006
The new course - T863 "Environmental Decision Making: A Systems Approach" was presented for the first time in May 2006. The latest figures (for the course starting in November 2007) shows that we have more than 100 students! We were also awarded a further £106,000 to continue the Rupununi Project for another 18 months starting August 2006.
During this period, what I thought was repetitive strain injury got significantly worse and developed into myofascial pain syndrome. This has been extremely debilitating but I have found ways to keep working by using voice recognition software and doing lots of yoga!
Have just finished writing my bit for the new second level course "Understanding Systems: Making Sense of Complexity". This course is now live!
Ways I would change the world
Where do I start?!?
I guess the simplest and most basic step would be to guarantee every single family enough space to grow vegetables and fruit for personal consumption. At the moment, my family of two adults and two young children, can grow all of our vegetables and a significant proportion of fruits on just an area 10 m by 30 m in size. This has significantly reduced our ecological/carbon footprint while providing a wonderful excuse for exercise. This has also made us virtually independent from supermarkets since we can source most of the other things we need from ethical/fair trade/organic producers via the web. But most importantly, my children learn the value and effort of food and have a fantastic first hand experience of ecology.
The next step would be to design communities which are self-sufficient in energy and other resources such as water: well insulated homes with plenty of natural light; solar water heating; ability to work from home using ICTs; rainwater collection/grey water recycling; etc.
Then a significant boost in holistic education so that we can manage most of the challenges we face within the community: health; crime; ecosystem conservation; entertainment; etc
I could go on and on..........
Favorite Quote
"The Civilisation of the Dialogue is the only civilisation worth having and the only civilisation in which the whole world can unite. It is, therefore, the only civilisation we can hope for, because the world must unite or be blown to bits. The Civilisation of the Dialogue requires communication. It requires a common language and a common stock of ideas. It assumes that every man has reason and that every man can use it. It preserves to every man his independence and judgement and, since it does so, it deprives any man or any group of men of the privilege of forcing their judgement upon any other man or group of men. The Civilisation of the Dialogue is the negation of force. We have reached the point, in any event, when force cannot unite the world; it can merely destroy it. Through continuing and enriching the Great Conversation, higher education not only does its duty by morals and religion, it not only performs its proper intellectual task; it also support and symbolises the highest hopes and the highest aspirations of mankind."
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1952)
The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education, Vol. 1: The Great Books of the Western World. Chicago, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Places I've been
These are some of the most memorable places I have had the privilege to explore:
Lake Langano, Ethiopia.
Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo.
Chapada Diamantina, Brazil.
Campi Flegrei, Italy.
Temburong, Brunei, Borneo.
Rupununi wetlands, Guyana.
Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia.
Brecon Beacons, Wales.
Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
Merja Zerga, Marocco.
People I'd like to meet
Fritjof Capra
David Orr
Joanna Macy
Interests
Self-sufficiency: growing my own food; sourcing second-hand/recycle/local/natural materials: renewable energy home heating, etc
low impact entertainment: books; music; yoga; swimming; trecking; cycling; cooking; dancing; drumming!
Languages Spoken
English
Italian
Portuguese (basic)
French (rudimentary)
Comments (1 - 4 of 4)
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Hi Andrea,
Saw you on the UK group and thought it would be nice to drop by and say hello. Very much enjoyed reading your profile and all about your travels and fascinating experiences. It sounds like your children are very fortunate to have you and Jay as parents.
Hope to speak soon.
Kind regards,
Sally