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 (http://www.bcca.org/ief), 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://www.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 (http://www.bcca.org/ief/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

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