Digital Eskimo » live local

Support your local economy this financial year

Sally Robertson — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 06:13:38 +0000

Thanks to everyone who came along to our screening of “The Economics of Happiness” last Thursday.

It was great to see so many people excited about the possibilities presented by the film and who believe in the power of localisation as a means to repair our fractured world.

It’s now really important that we harness the enthusiasm from the night and take action to join the movement for economic change.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Get active. The International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) has put together a great list of ideas and links to other resources that will help you get started.

Go local. A great place to start is live local. Share stories about things you’ve done to improve your community. They can be your experiences and adventures meeting neighbours, discovering neighbourhoods, saving energy and making our air and water cleaner.

Host your own community screening. It was really easy and really cheap. A ’screening’ can be as small as 3 people in your lounge-room. Click here for more details. We’re happy to share our studio DVD of the film so you don’t need to buy a new one!

Learn more about localisation and the other issues raised in the film. ISEC has collated a great list of online resources as well as the ‘Roots of Change’ study circle curriculum, which covers the full range of topics introduced in the film in depth.

Support ISEC. Help get the film out widely by making a donation through Network for Good.

Thanks again for your interest in the film. We’ve put a couple of photos up from the night on our Flickr account which you should check out.

If you have any queries/issues/ideas, or if you’re keen to borrow our DVD for your own screening, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

DE Flicks presents ‘The Economics of Happiness’

Sally Robertson — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:01:42 +0000

DE Flicks is back! And we’re giving you the opportunity to catch ‘a must-see film for the future of the planet’ (Zac Goldsmith, Member of UK Parliament).

When: Thursday 23rd June, 6:30pm
Where: Our igloo (Level 2, 44 Foster St, Surry Hills)
RSVP: Book your tickets here

Featuring a chorus of voices from six continents, including 350.org’s Bill McKibben, Vandana Shiva, Khyentse Norbu Rinpoche, and Clive Hamilton, The Economics of Happiness reveals some uncomfortable truths about today’s global economy and the economic decisions that are promoting, and diminishing, human happiness.

The film also takes a look at how people around the world are experimenting with ‘going local’ as a powerful strategy to repair our fractured world — our ecosystems, our societies and our selves — a movement that Bill McKibben describes (in his awesome book Eaarth) as the single most effective response to climate change. It’s a view we wholeheartedly agree with at Digital Eskimo and the live local foundation.

This special screening is free (a gold coin donation on the night is appreciated) and will give you the opportunity to hear from one of the film’s producers and directors, Helena Norberg-Hodge. Places are very limited so an RSVP is essential.

Don’t miss out – RSVP NOW!

The Santa Barbara Independent

live local nominated for two AIMIA Awards

David Gravina — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:00:45 +0000

We’re thrilled to announce that the online presence of the live local project has been listed as a finalist in the 16th AIMIA Awards.

The site has been nominated in both the Best Non-profit or Government and Best Science, Health or Environment categories.

The AIMIA Awards are Australia’s longest running and most prestigious Interactive Media awards and it’s fantastic to be recognised for our work on a low budget not-for-profit project such as live local.

Big ups to Piers Dawson-Damer who had the vision and courage to invest in the project. Also the project team here at Digital Eskimo; John Macfarlane, Jeremy Epstein, Chris Gaul and everyone in the project team for all their hard work. I should also thank all of the live local community who are what it’s all about in the end. (We haven’t won yet so I’ll hold off continuing the acceptance speech until the awards night perhaps!)

Tweeting the live local challenge

Sally Robertson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:10:08 +0000

Local living, global communications

In March 2009 we had just completed live local, an ambitious project which aimed to inspire people to improve their communities by experimenting with new ideas and sharing their stories. With the launch of the live local website fast approaching we needed an online strategy that would enable us to reach a broad audience without much of a media budget and few internal resources.

We decided to challenge two established bloggers, Kate Carruthers and Rebecca Varidel, who collectively have well over 30,000 twitter followers, to ‘live local’ for a week and to document their experiences on Twitter. The subsequent tweets created a fun, authentic real-time story that Kate and Rebecca’s community could share with the blogger and created a buzz around live local that gathered steady momentum in the lead up to the launch of the site.

Read the full article by John Macfarlane, the Experience Architect on the project.

the live local Foundation

David Gravina — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:31:29 +0000

I’m pleased to announce that myself and Piers Dawson-Damer have formally incorporated the live local Foundation. The live local project has always been about the community and the Not for Profit status of the foundation furthers that ethos and vision. We believe that through letting go of the profit potential of the project we can help it to grow exponentially and create far more impact than it could have achieved as a for profit business. We are in the process of setting up the infrastructure of the foundation and are looking to nurture partnerships and access to funding in the coming months.

About live local

The project’s first channel was designed to serve as a hub of inspiration for people looking to adjust their lifestyle in ways that have a positive impact on the environment and society. Everyday Australians (and soon global citizens!) are encouraged to upload and share their stories, experiences and adventures that come from living locally, such as growing a veggie patch in the garden, riding a bike to work or even cooking dinner for a neighbour. The project, launched in March this year, now has over 150 experiments running, and hundreds of active passionate members, who use words, images and videos to show how they are improving and enjoying their communities.

The board of the live local foundation includes myself, Piers and Gareth Johnston (who currently heads up the Australia & New Zealand Sustainability Business Circle). We are now in active discussions with strategic partners across finance, media and other areas and would be delighted to hear from you if you are able to support the foundation on a financial, in kind or volunteer basis. Please contact the foundation directly.

Living local at the Randwick Ecoliving Fair

David Gravina — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:40:55 +0000

On Sunday 27th September, members from the Digital Eskimo team represented at the Randwick Ecoliving Fair, as part of our ongoing support for the live local project. The day was a great success, despite the gale force winds that continually threatened to blow the fixtures away!

To read more about the event, please click through to the live local blog here.

Bicycle parking and repair station opens

David Gravina — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:55:28 +0000

Our single car space, which houses up to ten bikes, a repair shop and three worm farms.

The rest of the garage has room for just five cars.

To celebrate the upcoming Bike Week at the end of September Digital Eskimo has unveiled its latest sustainability initiative: our company bicycle parking and repair station. We’ve converted our single car space into parking for up to ten bikes, with a bike repair station catering to the needs of Digital Eskimo’s fleet and the local Surry Hills community.

If you ride a bike and you work or live in Surry Hills, you know the bike stores have all moved away – making even a flat tyre a real hassle. Basic bike maintenance is also difficult when you live in an apartment (as I do!) and do not have access to basic tools and an area you can make a wee bit of mess in. A good set of tools should be shared as well, so by providing this service we’re hoping to cut down on the need for everyone to buy their own repair tools.

It’s a community initiative so as we launch we are asking our neighbours to contribute/loan any tools they have lying around that they’re not using. Spare tubes, tyres and bike parts are also welcome.

So if you need help with a problem with your bike just buzz the doorbell and a Digital Eskimo will come down and give you a hand. Oh, and air is provided at no charge!

live local officially launches!

admin — Thu, 21 May 2009 03:35:05 +0000

The live local website was launched on Tuesday night at Table for 20, in Surry Hills and was well attended by experts in sustainability, business leaders (including Lucy Turnbull) social media gurus and TV personalities including Guerilla Gardener, Mickie Quick.

live local is a website where users can upload their stories, pictures and videos of living locally. It is free to use and already people are sharing ideas and inspiration. Examples include experiments as simple as #93 ‘A smile doesn’t cost a thing’ to local economic restructure in #99 ‘creating my own money’.

The website was officially launched by businessman turned Peak Oil expert, Piers Dawson-Damer and Digital Eskimo’s Dave Gravina. Piers and Dave share concerns about the threat of Peak Oil and climate change but see ‘re-localisation’ i.e. re-connecting with our neighbours as a creative, positive, accessible and optimistic response to the problem.

Applying practical solutions to climate change, guests were encouraged to bike and walk to the event. Food at the table was sourced as locally as possible, with tomatoes coming from the restaurateur’s Father’s backyard 15 km away. The wines were from Vinifera and Lowe Family wines in Mudgee and beer brewed just around the corner at the Single Origin cafe and we were entertained with beautiful music by Simon and Melinda of The Falls.

Expert verge gardener and inventor of the ‘chippo dollar’ Michael Mobbs shared his ideas about growing food and some of the tactics he used to transform Myrtle Street in Chippendale to an edible urban oasis. Mickie Quick talked about his experiences of re-claiming local spaces as part of his involvement with the TV show Guerilla Gardeners.

The live local Challenge began yesterday with popular Twitterers Rebecca Varidel, Kate Carruthers, and Dave Gravina already signed up to attempt eat only locally sourced food, biking and walking where possible and getting to know their local businesses, neighbours and community better.

Already, challenger Rebecca’s followers have begun a lively debate about how difficult it is to live locally – and the advice from other Twitterers on how and where to source local food is fantastic. You can join in the live local Challenge, and let us know you’re doing it!

For more information, interview requests, or to get involved in any way at all, get in touch with Kate Bedwell.

Experiments in local living

David Gravina — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:02:59 +0000

(image courtesy of Ed Mitchell)

live local is our latest project which we’ve developed as a kind of joint social venture with Piers Dawson-Damer. The website is a place to share stories about improving our communities.

It makes it easy for local residents to document their experiences and adventures meeting neighbours, discovering neighbourhoods, supporting local economies, saving energy, water and much more.

At its heart the project encourages people to take more time to connect and engage with their community. I think its clear the alternative; working crazy hours to earn more money to more buy ’stuff’ while leaving us little time to get to know our neighbours and spend time with family and friends, has spectacularly failed. Many of us crave a smarter way of living; one that makes us happier.

What’s exciting too is the localisation thing is simultaneously happening all around the world in response to major issues like climate change, peak oil and the global economic crisis. In some respects it’s both a return to traditional ways and a celebration of new ideas.

Take a look and share a story with your community.