Bridgedale360 in English

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“The customer is always right!” – claims the dogma of the growth-focused consumer machinery. The consumers know best and can make their own choices. But the consumers are exposed to a myriad ...

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Everybody’s seems to be raving about the environment nowadays, and this is of course marvellous. But isn't it strange how the simple solutions are often swept under the carpet, when all we need is a little bit of organising? For example; just think about how much we would save if all ...

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Our modern, money-focused society is driving us towards ever increasing levels of consumption. Even with a struggling global economy and with a general concern for the climate, every year Christmas sales are reaching new heights. We're a society conditioned to consume to such a level,...

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Did colonization come to an end in the 20th century or are we still witnessing a neo-colonial era in which international corporations exploit resources from financially and politically unstable regions? ...

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In 2013, in Bangladesh, the Savar building collapse hit the headlines:an eight-story commercial building collapsed, causing a death toll of 1,129 people. This incident is considered to be  the ...

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Finance and ethics - is it even possible to put them in the same sentence or is “wall street ethics” too big of an oxymoron? According to a study in May, 2015, almost “half of those ...

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How big is our power as consumers? It sometimes may appear that our consumer power only boils down to choosing the product which is best value for money, but just how true is this? In 2014, thanks to 272,000 people signing petitions and campaigning to urge food and beverage companies ...

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The rich get richer and the poor get poorer - a catchphrase most of us have come across. But what are the reasons for this growing rich-poor gap? How does the current banking system enable this?

Ima...

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Often, we consider ourselves as poor if we don’t have enough money. But even if we have no money, we have resources and capacities that we can share and that might be of value to others. Think of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the longest-lasting economic depression of the 20th ...

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Have you heard of that guy that swapped meat for tyres? Well, it happened in Greece where barter economy is becoming more and more common because of the financial crisis. In simple terms, it all boils down to swapping - a moneyless system in which goods and services are swapped at ...

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Have you ever traveled somewhere considering consciously what impact you had on the the environment and people in the host community? Did you fly, drive, use public transport or hitchhike? What did you consume on your travel and who produced the goods? Who owned the hotel where you ...

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It´s time to become a shopkeeper! Yes, you can do it!

It is going to be the shop of everyone's dreams - a shop where everything is free. Well, almost free.. While one might not find the ...

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Have you ever hesitated to throw your old pullover away, because it is kind of still good, however it does not fit you anymore? It keeps collecting dust in your wardrobe year by year… And how about the beautiful set of Christmas-themed cups and plates that a friend of yours gave you? ...

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“There are more than 11 million vacant homes across the EU. The EU estimates the number of homeless people to be 4.1 million - which means that, in theory at least, every one of them could have more than one roof over their head.” - Gone are the days when buildings were used for ...

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“Tragedy of the commons”, is a term coined by William Forster Lloyd and used by Garret Hardin in his widely cited essay. The concept refers to the issue of public resource ...

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We all have a great potential to step into our full power and become the women and men that we imagine we can be. Each of us has a “Secret Giant” inside, just waiting to step out and be huge, to...

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Each person has something that brings deep joy and pleasure to our lives. Whether it's making music, photography, reading, writing, acting, running, playing with children, being outside, cooking a meal, or doing math equations, we all have things that we love to do, which others don’t...

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The mythos of the crazy entrepreneur is spread worldwide. Generally it’s a male, an eccentric and stubborn character with genius ideas but that few others believe in...Until a few years later, when the success is already a fact. He’s alone, and he’s ready to sacrifice his life and ...

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“People before profits”! But in the rat race of profit-making nowadays, is this yet another utopian dream - can we truly put people before profits and still earn enough to make a living? This is exactly what we call a social enterprise - a business motivated by effecting positive ...

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Maybe no other invention represents the modern lifestyle as strikingly as the flushing toilet. Imagine when it was first introduced back in the 16th century!  How the huge sanitary problem that all urban areas ...

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Composting is one of the best examples of nutrient cycles, the reusing of nutrients from dead material to support new life. Yes, the simple compost heap which humanity has been using for thousands ...

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Allow your imagination to travel, to travel back in time and out across The Great Plains (what is now known as the central United States of America), to a time when tribes of the Native American people called this land home. ...

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Zero Waste is a concept which may seem completely unrealistic to many, a philosophy of redesigning the consumption style and the life cycle of resources so that all waste is reused, nothing is thrown away or discarded. While it is quite uncommon in our societies, there are some ...

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“Feed people, not landfills”, different campaigns keep urging. Indeed, up to 50% of the food we eat gets thrown away in the garbage by consumers in the US and Europe. But isn’t this ironic in a world with approximately 795 million people that do not have enough food to live a ...

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What do you think of when you hear the term “water footprint”? Do you think of the water you drink from the tap? The water you use for doing the dishes or for showering? This is the so-called “direct water footprint”, but the vast majority of our water footprint is actually composed ...

Did you know that the average human produces 511 litres of urine in one year? Imagine if you could actually use this amount of liquid for a good purpose instead of simply flushing it away.. Well good news, actually you can! Not only will this be helping to preserve the energy and ...

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With two thirds of the earth's surface covered by water and it making up 75% of the human body (the human brain is made up of 95% water!) it is clear that water is one of the primary components of our planet. Water circulates through the land just as it does through most animals, ...

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With approximately 97% of our planet's water residing in the oceans, and these in turn making up around 71% of the planet’s whole surface and with scientists of the belief that between 50-80% of all life on earth is to be found beneath the ocean's surface, the sea is a pretty big deal...

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Our relationship to food is a central one that reflects our attitudes to the environment and ourselves. Silently eating a meal can be a wonderful opportunity for meditation and reconnection. Through conscious...

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"When we eat, we literally take parts of Earth into our bodies and Earth becomes us. When we walk, it is Earth’s energy—bequeathed from the Sun—that walks us!" - Chris Uhl

Food is more than sticking yummy ...

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Globalization has increased our interdependence in all dimensions of life and food is a prime example of this phenomenon. Years ago, and still today for many developing regions, self-sufficient, ...

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If we put soil and plants into a closed room, we create circumstances to get a deeper understanding of basic life processes and interplay in nature. Facts we earlier learned about respiration and photosynthesis in plants suddenly become much more challenging when we put them into a ...

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Most buildings constructed before the industrial revolution were more ecologically minded than those built today. Buildings were made using local materials and passive solar energy design was a must ...

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Most of us are aware of the benefits of using solar-powered devices - it reduces our electricity bills and it is eco-friendly, as we use a natural resource - the sun! But few have stopped to actually ...

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The Butterfly Effect is explained in Chaos Theory (simplified) as the idea that very small changes (for example, a butterfly flapping its wings) can alter the world around it in very large, unexpected ways (in the case of the butterfly, the result being changing the course of a ...

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Houses nowadays can be built out of nearly anything  - concrete, wood, steel, glass, stones. You might have heard that ecological houses are built even out of straw-bales… crazy, right? ...

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Sociocracy is a decision-making process that enables every member of an organisation to have a voice in its management. As such, it creates feedback loops in a system, helping information flow not only from top-down but also from the bottom-up. As each individual is a part of the ...

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Sociometry is a method for visualising positions in a group and can be used for all kinds of purposes. It can be used for getting to know each other, for exploring group dynamics and for seeing where the group stands concerning certain topics.

Sociometric explorations highlight ...

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Discussions in large groups are often challenging. It can be difficult to have your opinion heard and often the discussion can diverge from the topic.

So how can we solve this problem? Is there a way for ...

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

- Harriet Tubman

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Every project starts with a dream of an individual. Every person has many dreams and yet many of them ...

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Since Facebook was launched in 2004, it’s been a space to share openly about what we eat, where we travel and who we spend time with. Social media challenges the definition of the word “friend” as our ...

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Appreciation is the act of recognizing the best in people or the world around us. It is affirming past and present strengths, efforts and potentials. It is about seeing somebody else's glory and at the same ...

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Have you ever felt like you are better or more talented and privileged than other people? Do you feel there are unconscious ranks developing in groups (school, friends…) in which the more “good looking, ...

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In the present educational (and overall societal) system, we are inclined to believe that competition is crucial for motivation, improved learning and success in general. But in this immensely ...

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The sustainable revolution in society is being spearheaded by youth. However, it must be spearheaded by both women and men. Gender equality and sustainability go hand in hand. In that sense, developing ...

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Leadership is a mix of many qualities, but they can all be summarized in "engagement". When thinking about leadership it is common to think that a group or a person can do almost anything and of course this belief brings disappointment. Leadership is not to be seen as an ...

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Through childhood, youth and adulthood we’ve all had teachers. It begins with our parents and then with our friends. Early on we also embark on the lengthy 10-15 year journey of formal schooling. Some ...

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Have you ever come across groups of people holding free hugs signs and offering free hugs to other people? Perhaps you have read the story of the Greek restaurant owner who opens his restaurant at night ...

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You are young, burning for change and a better world...But you feel that your cries often fall on deaf ears when it comes to big-scale institutions or governments. How can you bring about the ...

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In different parts of the world, people are getting together in intentional communities to try to find answers to the many of the economic, socio-cultural and ecological issues we’re facing today. These alternative communities can appear in diverse forms and are commonly referred to ...

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In almost every corner of Europe there are grassroots initiatives engaging in creating a more sustainable and socially just society. The continent is literally boiling with environmental and solidarity ...

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“It’s not that people are bad, but if we make eye contact, or engage in conversation, then we have to admit they exist and that we might have a basic human need to care. But it’s so much easier to simply ...

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The 3-2-1 process was developed by Ken Wilber and his associates at Integral Institute as a simple and effective tool for working with the ‘shadow’. The process helps to uncover our shadow ...

“When Native people speak, they are not talking from the head, relating some theory, mentioning what they read in a book, or what someone else has told them. Rather, they speak from the heart, from the traditions of their people, and from the knowledge of their land: they speak of what they have ...

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While conflicts create points of tension, they are also creative opportunities to experience different perspectives and to find solutions that are satisfying for all those involved. However, to fully resolve a conflict and use it as an opportunity of learning, certain needs must be ...

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Every day we find ourselves in situations where we have to listen and speak. While we often do not realise it, the art of true listening is hard for many people and puts a lot of stress on any dialogue.

When it is our turn to listen, it is often easy for our minds to drift: “how should...

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How many of us go to therapists in our modern world? Why have therapists come to occupy such an important place in our lives? If we reflect better - bottom line, isn’t a therapist someone that we pay to ...

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The world is amazingly diverse. We live on a planet with so many other types of beings, plants, animals, fungi, and more. There are many thousand species that we know of on this planet, and probably many...

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How long had the earth existed and life unraveled before the appearance of human civilization? In this activity, the planet’s history of life is represented as a walk with milestones that represent the turning ...

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Humans have become a dominant animal presence on this planet, living in almost every ecosystem, and rapidly destroying natural habitats to make space for more humans and to gain resources needed to support a modern lifestyle. Yet humans are just one amongst thousands and thousands of ...

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Nature is both a great teacher and the perfect classroom for learning. Observing the natural patterns we understand how the world functions and how much different elements are intertwined. Where else can ...

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Think of all your conveniences! Your TV, your dishwasher, your flushing toilet, your smartphone. Your electric heating, your comfortable furniture, your supermarket food always accessible! And think of your life. Your daily routines, your family, your relationships, your longings, ...

“The beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people”

- Unknown

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Throughout history, humankind has witnessed the power of diversity when different cultures and religions came in contact – for instance, the increased contact with the Islamic world in the muslim-occupied regions ...

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How much do we know about ourselves, other people and the world? What could be the best tool to explore these dimensions? Could we explore them with our bodies? Through movement and moments of stillness, ...

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One of the most fundamental question is almost never asked: “Who am I?” Yes, of course, I am a man, a woman, an architect, a student, a son, a mother, a human being... But beyond that? What is the true ...

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Bringing the sentiment of ‘Work is Love in Action’ into your life, is about cultivating a sense of mindfulness and presence into the everyday activities and actions of your life. It can have the ...

“At school we were taught mathematics, reading, and the geography of the world, but few of us were taught much about the geographical mapping of the home we live in—our bodies”

- Donna Farhi

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How often do we consider deeply the importance of our physical ...

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Europe is currently dealing with one of the largest examples of human migration in modern times, after the Second World War. While there have been many inspiring and highly positive outcomes from the ...

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Twist and shout, jazz out, rap on and rock out! Almost all of us have danced to some beat at a certain point in our life. It comes naturally, almost as if we have an innate ability to dance! Well, ...

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A flash mob is a seemingly pointless gathering of random people, doing a specific act, and then dispersing. Think of a train station in which people, who were waiting, start to dance to music that is ...

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It is not so easy to imagine being another person, for the simple reason that we are living our own life, and this takes most of our time, so we do not get a view of other people’s lives too often. Oftentimes, it is very difficult to put ourselves in the shoes of another gender; if I ...

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In the recent years, printed newspapers have been increasingly losing readership. This is where experimenting with digital technology and alternative ways of storytelling enter into ...

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We all have a part of ourselves that we show to the world, and a part of ourselves that we don’t show. One way to begin to create community and connection with others is when we start to show our inner lives to one another. The Yaya Box activity involves making an artistic ...

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You might associate punk music with loud guitars and pointy haircuts, but this is only one aspect since punk's first appearance long time ago. At that point in time, these were musical features that ...

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The human mind is specialised in extracting and interpreting patterns. The natural world presents an infinite source of patterns, ready there for the human mind to perceive and process. They can ...

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A perception of separation has emerged on a number of levels throughout our society; between humans and the natural environment, between species, cultures, each other and even within ...

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Throughout the development of Western society, people have come to the viewpoint that the world is a mechanistic system where the components are separate with clear boundaries. We tend to divide things into small pieces and look closely at each piece, forgetting about how they impact ...