Here in Quebec, we are fortunate to have thousands of lakes, and the tradition is to spend summer vacation splashing in the water at a lakeside cottage. Tragically, this tradition has been threatened in the past several years. Household use of phosphate-based lawn fertilizers and cleaning products has stimulated massive growth of blue-green algae in the lakes, which has choked out all other forms of aquatic life and turned the water toxic. It's poisonous enough to kill a dog.

I just finished reading an article about sustainable communities, in which the priorities were equity, the environment and economics. This seemed to be a rephrasing of the triple-bottom line factors of people, planet and profits. Seeing it this time raised a question: why do economics and profit get equal billing with the living systems (people and planet) of which they are a part?

As part of a volunteer initiative to encourage kids to stay in school, I recently spoke at a local high school about my career path.  At the end of my story, I summed up the three most important things I’ve learned:
 

• If the Earth is all one big living system, then each of us has something unique and valuable to contribute.  Nature isn't wasteful.  Your life's work is to discover your life's work.

Forget life after death – the bigger question is: do you believe in life before death?  As absurd as the question seems, the evidence would suggest that most of us don't, at least not fully.  And that may be the root cause of the most pressing challenges humanity faces.

I'm pretty constantly on my soapbox these days, hawking a view of organizations as living systems.  Included in this new paradigm is a shift in our concept of the work contract, from one that views people as resources or assets to one that recognizes their full role, contribution and humanity.

At a recent workshop, I was asked whether the Engagement Competency Model can be applied to very large companies. In other words, can a massive and decentralized organization be represented by one manifesto and one set of engagement strategies? And my answer was: yes, no and maybe. :-)

 I had a great time presenting a workshop at the McGill Business Conference on Sustainability this Saturday and got some really good questions and comments.

One was about Starbucks and why it started out feeling so alive and authentic and doesn't anymore, for anyone involved.

My company's work is based on a view of organizations as living systems. Why is this important?  It's the key to sustainability, in every sense of the word. 

I just came across a series of YouTube videos that make music videos out of talks by famous scientists -- supercool music, powerful visuals.  It's brilliant. One in particular beautifully explains life's interconnectedness. http://symphonyofscience.com/