Sustainability Street
Institute Inc.
228 Kerr Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065
+61 3 9416 4293
+61 3 9417 2859
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sustainability street approach glossary
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Passion ... yours: Change results from Passion or Fear. (Prof Steve Van Matre, IEE). Our job is to encourage, hope, inspiration, skills and vision. We must spurn doom and gloom but be very clear about the emergency facing the Earth. The “wake up call”, your personal, deeply felt plea, is the greatest tool of the SSA. Your passion can create the “critical moment” which launches change among individuals and groups. The Wake Up is the soul of the Sustainability Street Approach. However, it is not complete without trumpeting the vast array of good news stories and the numerous examples of human culture developing new respect for nature.
Beacon Communities: We are a fundamentally social, inquisitive and learning species. We like to “show off” on the one hand or to be “shown off to” on the other. We want to know what the “others” are doing and whether we can learn something. It’s the basis of the fashion industry. SSA Villages become Beacon Communities, demonstrate that a whole other local culture is possible. Beacon communities reach others through their Banners, the local press, Street Signs, or generally Sowing” Sowing: The holy grail of the four stage SSA cycle of personal and group learning and growth. Mulch, Grow, Harvest, Sow ... Learn, Do, Celebrate Teach Others.
True Fun: The deepest fun is found in the “process” of learning and self-actulaisation. The best fun a person can have is to hear themselves expressing their ideas in a group and then to see the group cradle the idea, build on it and help to make it real.
FATT: From At to To: Clouds, Rain, Rivers, Oceans. Both socially and educationally every single group is different and unique. We need to start where the community is AT and mentor them TO their fullest potential .
Play: Humans are on of the only species to take play in adulthood. Play is fun, but quite different to true fun. Play enlivens the brain, creativity and connections to each other. Play has a quantum benefit on health. Play is an ice breaker but riskier. Einsteind said “five minutes of play is worthy a thousands hours in sub-committee”. In the SSA, the DGEs are the vehicles for play.
Street: As in Sustainability Street is a metaphor. The “border” of a Sustainability Street Village may be defined as about as far as you’d care to walk to have a cuppa and discuss your worms with another. A local precinct with social and geographical proximity certainly fits well, but not exclusively. It could be a lane, boulevard or apartment block. A cricket club, playgroup or Federal Cabinet. “It’s A Village In Here”, if you like.
“Streeter”: A person who belongs to a “Sustainability Street Village”. Not to be confused with streaker, and certainly twice as interesting.
The Irony: The SSA experience begins with a “structure” to latch on to and a suite of “soft” rules ... 1, 2, 4, 8, 5, 2, 3., to provide a cradle for the new group to grow, and become able and inspired to choose it’s own adventure, in the long run.
Human Year: The SSA is best “planted” from March to November. December and Jan are the silly season. Last week/s of Jan. & February is the busy season!
Open Endedness: Like a jazz band, we need to be on the same song sheet,
same clear direction. But we need to be ready to adapt and adopt. When the clarinet comes in on a wonderful, unexpected solo, the rest of the band falls in with musical support ... until the next idea or “critical moment” makes a direction change irrestible.
Meeting Magic: Touches which demonstrate that THOUGHT has gone into the experience you create for people. Can be structural, organizing for maximum participation, or like condiments, ... music, ceremonies, gifts. Smarter not harder. Wee gems that are so easy but result in the “intake of breathe and are so memorable”, as with the sauce of a fine meal, MMs are the condiments to a fine gathering.
Dynamic Capacity Building: The ’92 Earth Summit coined the term Capacity Building and defined it as “providing the understanding, skills, inspiration and resources to enable communities to craft their own solutions. However, there’s still a tinge of Top Down in that. When capacity building become Dynamic through the delicious, serendipitous and unpredictable impact of the mileau of relationships and the peer to peer learning and development, it both “belongs” to the group and is limited only by the imagination of the group. Defined by and thrives upon.
Hyper Dynamic Capacity Building: When others are drawn in to join, support, nourish a Beacon community. People who move into an area because they have a good feeling and a drwn by the local Sustainability Street – It’s A Village Out There” street sign, like in the BRED Block in Moreland. Or like the Holroyd Bus drive, who stops at the street sign and tells all the passengers about the local SSA Village and their activities.
Belonging: The most powerful of human drives is to belong ... to genuine, authentic, caring and enjoyable “circles”. Family, clubs, society and SSA Villages. Groups of people who form relationships of belonging based on their mutual eagerness to shape the future and re-acquaint with the Earth, experience great resilience.
The Sustainability St project has been building better relationships with each other and building a much better relationship with the natural world are the greatest challenges of human history - Sustainability Street ... a new reason to be neighbours.
Sustainability Street Train the Mentor Program 
