Last Monday we arrived on Texel with 30+ people, aiming to spend a productive week working on our proposal for Sustainable Texel 2065. A warm place, properly arranged for teamwork, was waiting for us to fill it with our energy, ideas, laughs and hope for a better future.
The first day we were asked to think about what could bring the people of Texel together, so that they will think, act, produce together and prepare a sustainable future and a cooperative society. For example, to think about developing the actions of the Verzamelpost and come up with ideas about activities, functions, concepts that can potentially attract the citizens of the island. At that specific moment, this call appeared to be one of our small tasks for the week. However, looking back someone could say that this has been the main topic!
Brainstorming on shaping a sustainable future on a span of 50 years, where all the sub-systems (organic waste, inorganic waste, sustainable lifestyle, mobility, entrepreneurship etc.) would be integrated we, all together, realized how hard it would be to come up with a final product that Texel would find it reasonable to support and to use as a map to work on for the future. Soon the focus was shifted from interrelating the sub-systems, which have been developed through teamwork, so that they will all be integrated in common pathways, to the invention of “milestones” (facts and decisions that will potentially change the reality of Texel) that will become the driving forces for the development of the island.
How many different opinions existed in the group of thirty people? Probably as many as the people, but due to the limitation of time we needed to keep the speed up, make points and conclude our thoughts. The matter of communication has been crucial, as we were divided in three teams that should work on the same track for the purpose of creating the Sophie movie, the documentary and the final report. The function of the “tuners”, two people from each of the three teams was very effective in creating focused and valid communication.
The word of the days was “crisis”, as the integration of environmental and technology crisis in the pathways to 2065 were considered to be the ways to raise the audience’s sensitivity and interest for their piece of earth. The goal was not to impress, but as it has already been addressed, to make people think differently about what they believed so far. We all develop our small sub-system, so that we can live and grow in convenience. A crisis though can have such a huge impact that every part of the community will inevitably be rearranged. In that case there are more chances that the community will survive if people act together for one chosen goal, rather than independently. The ideas of constant development and adaptability, that are taking place in the pathways, in between the crises, show that no matter what happens, humans will be moving forward, and so will Texel.
Stronger than all the sustainable technologies and practices is the realization of the people of Texel that they will experience the future together and therefore they should build it together, choosing their milestones and guidelines, just as we did. We are not only students in a course, but also in real life.
I could say that the ideas above are the very brief conclusion I can make for the product we created during the Bubble-week. To close-up, co-operation and communication go together with self-expression, friction, the process of rethinking and coming to an agreement. This is an answer to the question “How to get there” and does not have to do purely with sustainability principles.
All in all, on Texel we came across the complex situation of bringing the ideas of thirty people together, in one reasonable and strong plan. We shared all the moments, both the painful and the nice ones. As always, if we would do it again we would do it better ;) .