Port Otago’s application to dredge the harbor, expand the existing port, and dump 7.2 million cubic meters of spoil six kilometers off Tairoa Head was notified to the public last Friday.
Take part in a community action project that will have real impact on the future of Dunedin City.
Apply your legal skills to an environmental conservation project and discover first hand how the public submission process works.
We encourage all people concerned or opposed to the proposed Port Otago dredging to enter a submission to the Otago Regional Council by Friday 5pm August 2010.
Starboard view on a SW journey home from Tuhua. This images reminds me that although good times must end and storms must be weathered, every cloud has a silver lining. Times, people & places that I love & remember: Home Time.
Saturday 24th October 2009, International Day of Climate Action
This weekend I was absolutely inspired by the collaborative efforts and talents of our young people driving action and solutions for climate change. The leadership that encouraged and inspired action is living proof that Gen Y is a growing force for positive change.
The creation of a Spring Food Festival, that drew more than 15000 visitors to the Dunedin Railway Station on Saturaday, shows that collaboration – with a focus on solutions vs. problems – is the best way to get individuals, communities, countries in fact the entire planet to unite for the common good.
For more information on the wonderful work of 350 teams around aotearoa and the world check out some of these links:-
It’s time to provide greater recognition for all types of volunteer community work because while it’s not the kind of work that “pays the bills” it is the efforts of volunteers in our community, every single day, that connects and holds our society together. Massive Respect.
Go to Time Trade and click on “go here to spend time”
You can then credit people for sharing their talents and time with you
And so it begins, Yay!
To connect with other members of our talent community:
Go to PEOPLE then click on members name or photo to view their full profiles
Click on the “Request Connection” link found below the profile picture to send email request.
Once the other person confirms the connection, you can begin trading time with each other.
Please guys, feel free to share feedback, ideas and criticism via the discussion Forum so that we can incorporate this into to the ongoing build process.
I am so excited to see the Time Trade begin to take shape. There’s 21 founding members here and the opportunity is ours to inspire and grow Time Trade as a community building tool and working alternative to $NZ. Thank you so much for being a part of the Time Trade journey.
10 years from now we will represent almost 40% of the workforce and slowly but surely people are beginning to accept that aspects of our Gen Y work ethic, our project orientation for instance, are more suited to work in a knowledge economy.
AUSTRALIA’S pre-eminent demographer, Bernard Salt, has stepped into the debate on whether Gen Y is work shy by declaring they’re not lazy but they have to adapt in the downturn.
“In fact they’re incredibly hard-working within the areas they are interested in. In fact they work quite assiduously when they are engaged by a particular project,” he said.
While always nice to see people portraying “Gen Y” (Gen We as I like to call us) in a rare but positive light it remains evident that Mr Salt still expects us to conform to the norms that he works by. Norms that perpetuate the myth that happy and worker are divergent states of being.
“With the global financial crisis the wheel is turning and it’s time for Gen Y to adapt,” he said.
“It’s important for Gen Y to realise that work is not a form of entertainment. You should not be jumping out of your skin for eight hours of work.” Source
Fair call, it’s not a party but what Mr Salt’s discussion fails to recognise is that there exists other options to remaining an unhappy, under challenged, albeit adaptable employee.
Gen We Entrepreneurs
Research indicates we have an entrepreneurial spirit that makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks. As the most highly educated generation we are armed with knowledge and insight and chomping at the bit to apply it to work life.
Those that expect us to be so desperate for employment, during this recession, that we will just adapt to be more like the old guard was at work, may be disappointed to find we are indeed well equipped to adapt but simply not as dependent on traditional “employment” as previous generations have been.
Today we recognise that we always have the option of working for ourselves. With the right team, building a company need not be as risky as it has been made to look. With today’s networking tools is it’s becoming second nature for us to find, connect and work with each other
Worknow, like Trademe, for services on a networking platform.
Six months ago I did not know either of my two co-founders. I met Jamie by applying for a house on Trademe. Josh and I connected through shared networking circles – Intersect Facebook and Twitter.
Today we are evidence of the collaborative teams and new ventures being established using networking technology to connect talented, passionate people.
We encourage and support a more entrepreneurial work ethic by providing tools to help other people connect with each other to create solutions, new knowledge and work opportunities.
Time Trade aka Time Banking is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community.
In recognition for your contribution you receive one Time Credit which you can then gift or trade, with other members of the community, in exchange for their talent and time. It’s a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections.
Here at Worknow we are building an online system to automate the transfer of time credits between Community Members. Our Time Trade system comes online August 2009. For more information check out these links:-
The abstract we submitted for a workshop at this years Volunteering NZ conference has been accepted.
Volunteering Unleashed – New times bring new approaches is the title of biennial New Zealand National Volunteering Conference. The conference, organised by Volunteering New Zealand, will take place 28 – 29 October 2009 in Wellington Town Hall. For more information on this years conference check out the Volunteering New Zealand Website
The abstract aligns with the one of two conference themes:
Volunteering Tomorrow: New Opportunities – new ways for volunteering
And will incorporate concepts on:-
* Generational diversity
* Volunteering in community development
* New and interesting ways of doing volunteering
It goes something (exactly) like this…
Using networking technology to connect with Gen Y volunteers
It irks me that people and media feel justified in deriding our generation. Almost daily I read about how lazy, fickle, disloyal and demanding generation Y is yet so rarely is voice given to the truth that we Gen Y have different attitudes, and workplace expectations to the existing generations.
It seems, my entire generation now has a point to prove and the best way I can see to do that is to overcome the negativity, choose lifestyle and community over career, step around the square box and do exactly what we are disliked for. Be different, challenge the status quo and find better, new ways to get work done. Perhaps these traits which appear as weaknesses may indeed be indicators of our strengths.
Disloyal vs Adaptive
Lazy vs Lifestyle
Demanding vs Achievement orientated
Long hours vs Get the job done
Employee vs Entrepreneur
Love us or hate us 10 years from now we will represent almost 40% of the New Zealand workforce. Our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks, our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect, share and work together in new, more effective ways.
Volunteering allows us to help others while building valuable work skills that will help us transition from study to work life. All we need do is connect with these volunteer opportunities and by connect we mean, online.
Worknow Bio
Aspiring to build a world class business that helps people and effects change Joshua, Jamie & Renee are a passionate, talented, new venture team with over 14 years combined experience in online development and marketing.
As veterans of web 2.0 and the social networking movement they believe social networking technology can help foster and harness the collective potential of existing communities and help people find, connect and work together.
Today they are here to discuss what it means to be Gen Y in today’s workforce and how volunteering can support young people in the transition from study to work.
The concept of Time Trade is a social change movement active in 22 countries and across six continents.
It began in the 1980’s ,invented by Edgar Cahn, a former legal advisor to Robert Kennedy, as a way to make up for the cutback of social services. While each time bank may state a different focus the system of trade is facilitated in order to help communities meet unmet needs with untapped resources.
“…To develop a sustainable community centered and supported network that will utilise available and untapped assets through a complimentary economy. Our ultimate goal is to help to bring about meaningful social change for the betterment of humanity…”
The following examples are the mission statements of various time banks as listed in the international Time Bank Community Directory
Time Trade is about Helping Others
Bringing People Together to Help Each Other
To provide access to services and high quality volunteer opportunities by serving our community with passion and commitment.
To support and expand our volunteer programs
Time Trade is about strengthening communities
To build a stronger, more unified community which supports, includes and honors persons of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.
Building a stronger community one hour at a time.
To strengthen friendships, families, neighborhoods and communities.
Time Trade is about connecting communities
Working together as a sustainable community of families to nurture quality time, talent and fun
To nurture, inspire, and motivate the building of a network of neighbors to come together to create a sharing and caring community.
To connect diverse neighborhoods, service organizations, food producers, businesses, and individuals in ways that promote resource exchange, cooperation, and community-building while increasing access to local services and goods.
Time Trade encompasses both broad and specific goals
To help mobilize social capital to fight poverty and build community in Lewis County.
To meet unmet needs of home schoolers with untapped resources.
To assist the senior and youth population in relationship building and tapping into valuable resources
Time Trade is about Respect Recognition and Empowering People
To invite all people in the community to join in a supportive, reciprocal network where all members are respected and valued for their time and talents, through the sharing of our needs and gifts.
To Empower the Disenfranchised and to do this with Compassion!
Time Trade is about awareness of alternatives
To experiment with innovative approaches to social welfare
By facilitating the exchange of services we redefine how people interact with each other
A network of members sharing their time and skills without the need for money.
Time Trade is about resilience
Helping our beautiful small community become closer and more self reliant.
Strengthening local economy in this time of hardship.
Inform the community of resources that will enable the community to become more knowledgeable through the circle of life, resulting in people always needing people.
We facilitate Time Trade as a means of recognition for the work contributed by volunteers in our community.
We hope to encourage more young people to volunteer because we believe volunteer work develops a service orientated work ethic and skills that assist the study to work transition. Some of the skills volunteers can develop include:-
Leadership & team building skills
Relationship building skills
Communication skills
Negotiation skills
Creative thinking skills
Organisation & time management skills
If you know a cause that could benefit from additional volunteer support or wish to volunteer your time and talent please contact us
Migration needed to care for ageing population. Source
Are we today so separated from our neighbors, so divorced from our communities that we must employ workers from other countries to take care of our own?
Has it really come to this? Are we simply to busy to care or is there not enough time to go around? Not exactly…
Community organisations like Age Concern do brilliant work in our communities, throughout New Zealand. So if you find the thought of our elderly people, alone and lonely; a sad, disturbing insight into your community – you can make a difference.
Volunteers & Time Trade
From delivering Meals on Wheels to in home visits or even just a friendly phone call. It really is this simple to make a positive difference to someones day. Do you have the time to help others? to make a difference and help build happier communities?
Yes! it seems that we do. Statistics New Zealand shows that kiwis contribute 270 million hours of formal, unpaid work for non-profit organisations annually.
270 million hours! Imagine then if we could take this time and use it as a trading currency to get people to support our older people. Actually, no need to imagine, we can.
Time Trade is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community.
In recognition for your contribution you receive one Time Credit which you can then gift or trade, with other members of the community, in exchange for their talent and time. It’s a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections.
Here at Worknow we are building online system to automate the transfer of time credits between Community Members.
What will you volunteer your time for when you can earn and exchange it for the time and talent of others?
Being Maori, I was raised with a cultural notion of collective and collaborative action.
As a child my mum and her brother and sisters would spend hours developing their collective world view. To onlookers it could have seemed that they simply talked and argued, often, about the same issues.
Yet, such a simplistic point of view belies the nuances of tribal etiquette that are integral to creating collective purpose. Simple rules that can and should be applied throughout society. For instance:-
When making a decision or deciding on a course of action that affects others, everyone is allowed the chance to voice their opinion.
Inevitably multiple opinions leads to conflict but it is important to recognise this as part of the process, rather than a problem. The discussion should continue for as long as takes for everyone to be heard.
It’s not about majority rule, tribal communities were never a democracy. Leaders must make decisions for others to follow.
Followers need not necessarily agree because in having their voice heard and in listening to others there now exists a shared understanding of why the decision is made.
Tribal etiquette can help build a shared sense of purpose and strengthen teams when we:-
Encourage and support collaborative process that openly allow people to offer their opinion or point of view.
Recognise that conflict is natural and inevitable, it can even be constructive. Note though, it has taken me many years to realise that many people do not share this understanding.
Don’t take conflict too personally, we all have the right to disagree.
Value constructive criticism, what better way to refine and craft ones thinking than to have it challenged.
Worknow is a community and marketplace to help people find, connect and work together
The greater our collective purpose the more shared intelligence we build together the stronger we become.
