TRAVEL 2005


I frequently have to travel for work, Bahá'í activities or family visits. In 2005 I was away from my home in Geneva for 145 days. I usually do not take a camera with me as picture-taking often gets in the way of other things, but a few illustrations from recent trips are included below.

In January I attended the Mauritius International Meeting on Small Island Developing States (SIDS). This intergovernmental meeting organized by the United Nations reviewed action on the SIDS programme agreed in Barbados 10 years ago in implementation of the recommendations in Agenda 21 which I helped to draft. I was a member of the delegation of the South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission (http://www.sopac.org/) and helped them to launch the Environmental Vulnerability Index (http://www.vulnerabilityindex.net/) which I helped to design. I also represented the Global Islands Network (http://www.globalislands.net) and the International Environment Forum (https://iefworld.org/), which co-sponsored a panel discussion with the CSD Education Caucus which I chaired.

I also represented the International Environment Forum at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York in April.

In the summer I taught courses at three Baha'i Summer Schools in Cyprus (where there were also press interviews), Sweden and Italy. In Sweden my good friend and IEF general secretary Sylvia Karlsson arranged a public lecture at the Baha'i Centre in Uppsala and a visit to Carl Linnaeus' home and garden.



Hotel where the school was held

Cyprus Baha'i Summer School
Famagusta, July 2005











View from my hotel room

Crusader church in Famagusta
Famagusta
Cyprus



House where Baha'u'llah's exiled companions were imprisoned in 1868


Beach on the north coast
Visit to the north coast of Cyprus
House of Baha'i friends above the beach


Cathedral, Uppsala
Sweden
Visit to Uppsala


on the way to the
Swedish Baha'i
Summer School











Botanical Garden of Carl Linnaeus



Country house of Carl Linnaeus


The University of Uppsala

Sylvia Karlsson in Linnaeus' garden


The study of Carl Linnaeus


Village of Acuto from the terrace of the Baha'i school
Italian Baha'i Summer School
Acuto


August 2005








Ecological excursion to a nature trail
in the hills behind the school


Baha'is hiking through the hills


I took part in Governing Board meetings of the European Baha'i Business Forum (http://ebbf.org) in Madrid, Acuto (Italy) and Bradford (England) as well as the EBBF Annual Conference in de Poort, the Netherlands, where I gave a keynote introduction. EBBF also arranged for me to speak for the second year at an AIESEC student conference on ethical leadership in London.

I represented the International Environment Forum at the World Science Forum organized by UNESCO, the International Council for Science and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest in November, where I also recorded three radio interviews. I also represented IEF and EBBF and presented a paper at the International Sustainability Conference in Basel in October. In December I participated in the 9th Annual Conference and General Assembly of the IEF in Orlando, Florida (https://iefworld.org/conf9.htm) on "Education for Sustainable Development: the Spiritual Dimension".
 


IEF Annual Conference, Orlando, Florida


Group discussion with two Baha'is from Haiti

Academic trips included a lecture at the University of Corsica in May organized in collaboration with the Baha'is, a seminar on islands at the University of La Rochelle, France, in June, a seminar the Central European University in Budapest, and two days of seminars at the University of Bari in southern Italy in November, where the Rector made an introduction praising the Baha'i Faith and presented me with the medal of the University. In September, I went to Montpellier (France) to discuss collaboration with a new coral reef and coastal zone research programme in the South Pacific.

The Baha'is of Monaco arranged for me to give a public lecture on Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean, and two other talks in Monaco in October, where HRH Prince Albert II invited me to lunch.


The Casino of Monte Carlo

Gardens in Monaco

View from the train station

Harbor and Royal Palace behind
on the hill

Monaco


Family visits included trips to California to see my Mother in March, August and December, a visit to my Father in Maryland in April and a return for his funeral in June.


Mother's house in Carmel, California

Deer grazing below the deck
Carmel
California


August
2005











Back terrace overlooking the forest

Mother at the Baha'i party
The Baha'is organized a party in August for the long-time members of their community
Some of Mother's Baha'i friends
at the party
There is always work to do around the house like hauling firewood



and unjaming the chimney damper


I also stopped to see my son Alexander, his wife Mahalia and stepson Jéremie in Quebec in September, returning to see my new grandson Benjamin as well in December.


Mahalia is happy that Alex does the dishes

Mahalia and Jeremie prepare lunch

Alex and Mahalia's new house
in Lévis, Quebec

Backyard and swimming pool

The house in December snow

Benjamin in late December


A proud and loving father
 
In December I traveled to Taiwan to do research for the World Economic Forum as the guest of the government. There was time on the weekend to see International Environment Forum member Aaron Blomely and to meet the Baha'is and their friends at the Taipei Baha'i Centre.



Aaron Blomely and me

At the Taipei Baha'i Centre

See more family pictures on the Family page

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Last updated 8 July 2007