Global AtKisson Group-sponsored campaign takes flight

This May 2014 issue of WaveFront is all about pyramids. Can building Pyramids help advance sustainability? We believe yes … and now the evidence is starting to come in to support our dream, to spread the Pyramid workshop around the world.

Last year, AtKisson Group launched its volunteer-driven Pyramid 2030 campaign, with the aim of reaching out to make people aware of the UN “Sustainable Development Goals” … and get them engaged, in advance, in making them reality.

So far, so good: we have documented 28 workshops, in 19 countries, involving over 1,050 people. And those are just the workshops we know about. Those workshops have, in turn, led to everything from new sustainable city planning initiatives, to school-wide learning programs, to helping people think through new ways to live sustainably on houseboats in Hungary.

But for us, this is just a bare beginning. We have observed an upward trend in interest in Pyramid. And since we finished our new interim report, those numbers have already increased.

For example, just last week, the entire incoming class of MBA students at the prestigious Sasin Graduate Institute of Business, in Bangkok, Thailand, built Pyramids as part of their initial orientation. Sustainability awareness via Pyramid was literally one of the first things they did, on their path to earning an MBA.

(Kudos to the Sasin Center for Sustainability Management, and our longtime senior associate Robert Steele, for helping to make this happen.)

The free materials available for running a Pyramid 2030 workshop include an intro video, a manual, and presentation slides. Plus, you can dip into a big library of previous workshops to see how other people have http://medimagery.com/buytramadol/ done it. Anyone with good group skills can do this! Visit Pyramid2030.org for more info … and to get involved in helping us, to help the UN, to help the world get serious about sustainable development. And have fun doing it!

Meanwhile The World’s Biggest Pyramid …
… for sustainable development was built recently in Calgary, Canada. The Calgary Regional Partnership used Pyramid to work with a group of 65 mayors, city council members, researchers, and other stakeholders as part of renewing the region’s strategy plan. See the 3-min. video and get the whole story at the CRP Website.

The First Pyramid in Paris …
… for sustainable development was built in April 2014, and sponsored by the Paris regional government (Île-de-France) and its agency for renewable energy, ARENE. Over 65 participants explored the links between French and African cities and strategies for reducing carbon emissions through joint collaboration. The Pyramid itself was, appropriately enough, the world’s smallest: barely 40 centimeters tall, it was built of Geomagnets, and made for a very beautiful, almost jewel-like, symbolic statement of the Pyramid working process. Very Parisian! (Kudos to JF Fillaut of AtKisson Group Affiliate Cabinet Espere for making this workshop happen.)

“First Pyramids” were also built recently in South Africa (with GIZ), Prague (at Charles University), and Austria (Lustenau). Check out the report for details!

That’s it for this issue of WaveFront … but that’s just the beginning for Pyramid 2030, the AtKisson Group’s volunteer contribution to help accelerate engagement with the UN’s global Sustainable Development Goals. More information is available at the initiative website. Join us there! http://Pyramid2030.org

Sustainably yours,

Alan AtKisson