Sustainocracy, the new democracy

(Photos: Peter de Koning)

We are all human beings. Our professional functions in our institutions should be supportive to the core natural values for sustainable human progress. Our institutions then become powerful instruments for sustaining our wellness today and for the future generations. In the past money driven economic parameters may have determined our choices and investments. Now it is our (own and environmental) health, awareness and safety, that leads us. Money is a means, just like technology, our talents, insights, commitment, etc.

“It is significant that I, a simple human being as citizen of this region, not in representation of any institution or government, just through the invitation to our cooperative, multidisciplinary initiative for health, air quality and regional dynamics (AiREAS), is formally asking the leading most knowledgable institutions of our region and country, to engage and help with their expertise and means, the health challenge and projects that we all (citizens and institutions) share in this world, country and region.”

As we sign and cut the cake we turn the world to what it should be, institutions as powerful instruments for wellness and sustainable human resilience in the hands of human awareness and prioritized health challenges. The photo is significant because all institutions, with people in leadership and management function, symbolically gather BEHIND me as the representative of our core natural human values in act of support and commitment. A beautiful and significant moment.

We will be rolling out a measurement network for air quality and sound. This will be done to support citizens and institutions of 21 municipalities in the region to take measures for health insights, improvement and maintenance. Three research actions have been formulated. City air quality, airport impact and rural (specifically cattle holding impact) pollution. We will be working on air quality and health through citizens and institutional engagement. AiREAS and its sister COS3i (social inclusion and engagement into our core values) already work with various municipalities on very local challenges through participation.

AiREAS was set up as sustainocratic cooperative in 2010 within the context defined by STIR City of Tomorrow. It does not wish to be another institution, therefore has no resources of its own. It ‘s function is to connect in a multidisciplinary way resources and people to our common challenge, in this case for air quality, human health and our regional dynamics. All necessary resources are brought in by the diversity of partners, based on projects and expected results, formulated together. The biggest challenge being our citizen’s engagement to our own health with the support of the institutions. AiREAS shares its results worldwide through open access publications.

Since 2006 Eindhoven colors with lights during its GLOW event. In order to gain more insight I decided to accept the invitation to act as official GLOW guide. It triggered me to go deeper into the stories behind the creative expressions of the artists, meet several personally and extend their messages to the visitors and groups who walk with me.

Most of the 750.000 visitors walk the 5 km route with 32 official light objects with just an Ohhh and Ahhhh experience. Photos are shared through social media with expressions in the range of “beautiful”, “best ever” or “I thought it was Christmas”….The enormous presence of people hardly gives time to really connect with the art or the message contained.

This year the overall concept is Living Colors, an allegation to the broad scatered spectrum of light colors that we experience in our visual world. But this definition is not enough. When talking to some artists we note multidisciplinary combinations of artistic specialties, such as light, with 3D and sound. They all experience a deep engagement in cocreating among the disciplines and make something truly unique by applying 1 +1 is much more than 2. The results are truly remarkable and best appreciated if someone draws attention to it. As a guide I have the opportunity to transmit some of the artistic energy.

Students from different highschools used the opportunity to pick up sustainability issues and design a light experience around it. We see references to water scarcity, air pollution, plastic pollution, making the city together, multidisciplinary cocreation, inner rest, global networks, etc. all expressed in combinations of light, interactivity, sounds and a sensory experience.

All this together makes GLOW 2019 into a communication platform, an opportunity to engage artistically with the modern world of observation, awareness, experience and reflection. The route also takes us through the modern expression of city development, the city as meeting place, with cosy (COS3I) social engagement place, some doing special things around GLOW to show themselves. Life music, nice family restaurants, cosy terrasses, make it more welcome to eat out than at home. Eindhoven transformed in recent years from a small industrial, sleepy technology town into a lively multicultural city for social inclusion and professional engagements. GLOW made this visible for the first time and guests from outside the city reacted with a sense of approval and enthousiasm. This GLOW became thus also a true integrator of social design and engagement.

The next level of human society development is the establishment of sustainocratic health zones. These zones are a cocreation of local residents, entrepreneurs, science, education and government. It is a commitment to Wellness Continuity through participatory engagement.

This is a real time example of our efforts in the region of Brabant (Netherlands)….