James Samuel

I’m leaving New Zealand on Christmas eve, and would love to meetup with some people and share some ideas and knowledge. Purpose: to strengthen some existing connections and build some new ones. Right now my service is, to help networks utilise the rapidly evolving social tools to support collaboration.

New Zealand had one hour of the 24 hour project, which was presented live from the Auckland Museum on Thursday night. Most of the hour was taken up with a 45 minute slide show, and then a few people including myself, were given 60 seconds and a single slide each to bring a message of the work they are involved in.

The current path we’re on is not sustainable and many have realized that society has now arrived at a vulnerable point in history as a result of over-dependence on fossil fuels and carbon energy. In this article I will make the case for innovation as the post-carbon energy we have yet to tap, but are about to.

Here’s the Prezi I created to guide the five hour Social Media session with Otago Polytechnic’s heads of department. I’m posting it here as a resource for the people who attended that event, as there are a number of videos and links we didn’t have time to explore fully on the day. View this on [...]

I discovered this tool yesterday, while looking for a timeline of the evolution of social media technology. I decided to create my own timeline of how I’ve used social media, since embracing email back in 1985.

There has been a distinct increase in dialogue around energy in the last year, and I hear a growing acceptance of the idea that we live on a finite planet and will either reduce the amount of energy we demand from this planet, or hit some version of a brick wall when that demand cannot be met. Maybe we’re there already, we’re just not hitting the wall at a speed and therefore we’re not recognising it.

In New Zealand we have so many opportunities for redesigning our world in a positive manner, and embracing the uncertainty of these times we live in. Be gentle with yourself and each other, do your own research and seek out ways you can become part of the solution. The possibilities for the future are endless, and it’s up to each and every one of us to find where we can or feel moved to contribute, and play our part in singing a brighter and healthier future into existence.

Peak oil has been discussed in the mainstream New Zealand media in the past week. What is pleasing and maybe a sign of a sea-change is that unlike previous flirtations with the subject which have been disparaging and condescending, the latest articles take the issue seriously.

“…when a society reaches the limits of its stability, and turns chaotic, it becomes supersensitive, responsive even to small fluctuations such as changes in the values, beliefs, world-views and aspirations of its members.”

He didn’t leave us with a lot of hope, and understandably. The population growth statistics, and our impact on the life support systems we depend on, are hard arguments to refute, but a little more dialogue would have been great.