This post merges week 4 to 6 because that is the feeling of the past couple of weeks.  So much has been happening, intertwining my own research readings with lectures and presentations, it feels like an on-going action sequence.  Below is a list of interesting highlights!(Reminding again, that at this point of my research, what I'm able to share publicly is a selection of things I have come across)

Selected quotes: "But the care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only hope." Wendell Berry

"Nothing in the nature around us is evil. This needs to be repeated since one of the human ways of talking oneself into inhuman acts is to cite the supposed cruelty of nature." John Berger

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Is Buen Vivir is the new Joie de Vivre? A very interesting article by The Guardian on the social philosophy inspiring movements in South America got me thinking about Joie de Vivre vs Buen Vivir.  "If you put a price on nature, then you're suggesting an ownership of the planet ..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Talk: Tom Hulme of IDEO London Really engaging conversation with Tom Hulme,  on 'emergent design', the 'death of sole genius' and creating impact through design: - You got to build the muscle to push back, in the real world you are not spoon fed design challenges, and if you are they are probably the wrong ones.

previous TEDxCSM talk [vimeo 39718552 w=500&h=280]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Talk:  Prof Kees Dorst of Designing Out Crime Research Center, Australia "Up the down escalator" Design Thinking for the 21st Century A new approach to Design Thinking where he 're-frames' the problem, instead of  traditional brainstorming for solutions, by re-contextualizing the surroundings of the problem.  Also pinning the question, how do you deal with a fluid ever-changing world? - People understand things when they are done on a human level, away from the infrastructural approach to a human approach. - There's nothing wrong with fear, it is a survival mechanism, but it cannot rule the way of life.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Biophilia hypothesis" The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia (1984).  He defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life".