27 Countries, 27 Participants
Sergey, the Bulgarian (where else) was the first participant I spoke to during the break. He was quiet unassuming as he explained his job as a botanist; tracking the migration of bird species affected by global warming. I was struck by the sincerety in his voice, his was a huge task – there are over 10,000 known species of bird in the world.
Then there was Dominique, the belgian, an economist whose mission in life was to track the data of member nation signatories to the kyoto protocol. And Connor, an affable Irishmen responsible for creating capacity building centres around the world to educate communities on the nature of climate change.
There were more amazing people, 27 in all, from 27 different countries, all doing thier part in some small way to changing the world.
What was refreshing for me was the sincerety of their work; the diligence, the integrity – the sheer monumentalness (new word) of the task before them.
Group Work
What was also refreshing was no sign of ego-centric branding, no opt-in was required, no live event to attend, no free report to download, no game changers world changing cliche to tag. Yep, they might be out of date, but for me, it just felt more real, more grass roots, more actually making a difference than telling you to make a difference.
And we could all do with more of that.
