Created by María José Galeano Galván

Social needs Economy from a sociological perspective is an institution and as such, one is expecting to find within it the “footprints” of other institutions that societies perceived related and interconnected (like Labour, Capital, Product, Profit, Currency, The markets… all the usual “suspects “) to create what we today call Economy. Gaianomy as a theory tries to analyse the impact changes in…

The advantage of looking at socio-technical systems is that the co-evolution of technology and society, of form and function becomes the focus of attention. Dynamics in socio-technical systems involve a dynamic process of mutual adaptation and feedbacks between technology and user environment.(Geels 2004)   The technologies that are prevailing within the sociotechnical sub-system of health and…

When checking my friends’ facebook updates this week, an old news regarding my home city, Montería, being awarded previously this year as the Earth Hour National Capital for Colombia popped out (Elespectador.com, 2014). After checking it, I became curious about the criteria to select the winners -especially because the awards are related to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s programs to develop…

The young people of Texel can be defined as the people aged from 10 -19, born from 1995 to 2002. This group belongs to Generation Z and concerns the people who are still in school. Because they still have not formed themselves entirely it is hard to empirically predict what their values are. We can however look at their behavior as a teenager to determine their values.   Family Because this group…

As entrepreneurs can be considered all the inhabitants of Texels that are looking for opportunities to improve life quality and are not afraid to trying to influence people around them to follow their initiatives.  The entrepreneurs of Texel can be found in a diversity of ages, interests, management styles and scale of businesses. They can be considered the most interested actor in Texel becoming…

Health and care facilities There are 5 doctors' practices on Texel: 4 in Den Burg and 1 in De Cocksdorp. Diverse healthcare services are available on the island, such as physiotherapists, homeopaths, family care and social workers.  The nearest hospital is in Den Helder. Transport to and from the hospital is guaranteed day and night. http://www.texel.net/en/about-texel/health-and-care/  …

Introduction Action plans for sustainability implies a balance between current development of society, economy and environment, and the chance to give the same opportunities to future generations. Moreover, these plans require a transition to less materialistic values and lifestyles in communities. Happiness is included as one of those values that can be beneficial for sustainability, and is…

Have you ever own a product that is damaged just after the warranty is over? There are many reasons that can explain such phenomena and are mainly related to bad product care. However, sometimes we face a situation in which the product was designed to function properly just during a certain time period. Afterwards, some repairs, updates, new gadgets and other general improvements are needed in…

In 1993, when the United Nation’s Brundtland Commission shared with the world the definition of sustainable development as the one “ that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, probably never imagined the buzz that the world sustainability would have a couple decades later. This not due to the lack of importance and…

One day, while talking to my flat mate about sustainable innovations, we focused our attention on jails. That day I read on the Colombian news about a crisis in the national jail system, where resources are not enough to sustain system’s requirements due to the amount of people sent to jail every year and the limitations of the current facilities, which resulted in overcrowding in all facilities…

As a chemical engineer, during my thermodynamics class, I studied the concept of activation energy, which is the minimum energy required by a chemical system of potential reactants to start a chemical reaction. Furthermore, for us to fully understand the concept, our teachers made us imagine an invisible barrier separating reactants from their truly stable state as products. Then, they compared…

While researching for sustainable happiness, I found out that the need for the transition towards a sustainable society is closely related to the concept of sustainable happiness, defined as the pursuit of happiness that does not exploit other people, the environment, or future generations  (O'Brien, 2008). Moreover, two kind of values were related to the ideals of sources of their happiness:…

During my master’s courses, I have been studying how to analyze and take into consideration different actors’ perspectives when facing complex situations. From such perspective, getting to know who the actors are and understanding their interests, resources, objectives and values are crucial steps into a successful problem solving, especially when decisions have to be made. On the other hand, I…