Barcelona
On 3-6 October 2013, the International
Environment Forum and ebbf, its partner
Baha'i-inspired organization for values in business, held their joint annual
conference in a lovely hotel in Castelldefels, near Barcelona, Spain. There
were about 140 participants from 22 countries across the world - from
Europe, Asia, the Indian sub-continent, Africa, North America, Australia and
the Middle East. The theme of the conference was "Co-creating
Sustainable Wealth: how can we combine ecology and economy?". The
conference explored positive solutions for transforming the economy and
building a more sustainable society by empowering individuals, communities
and corporations and other institutions. For reports of the conference, see
https://iefworld.org/conf17 and http://ebbf.org/blog/.
The conference site
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The hotel had a modern conference centre and a fine restaurant
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The view was lovely and some people jogged down to the beach, but
there was no time for the pool
Registration
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We were welcomed and met many old friends. Dale Allen from Swaziland
(right, on left) and Arthur Dahl have been friends since childhood
Opening keynote Thursday evening
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Arthur Dahl, IEF President, gave the opening keynote "What is
sustainable wealth" (download pdf https://iefworld.org/fl/Conf17_1_Dahl_Wealth.pdf)
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Closing quotation
Friday morning keynote
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IEF board member Victoria Thoresen gave the first Friday morning
keynote on principles behind sustainable consumption and production.
Download the presentation: https://iefworld.org/fl/Conf17_3_VWT.pdf
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ebbf Secretary-General Wendi Momen
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Wendi Momen, newly elected member of the IEF Governing Board, and
Secretary-General of ebbf
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Arash Aazami described his sustainable energy business model; IEF
member Jason Maude was master of ceremonies
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Dorothy Marcic ran two workshops to prepare a musical Saturday
evening; Elizabeth Walker Sobhani spoke on creating shared value
Elections of the ebbf Governing Board and IEF Governing Board
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LEFT: ebbf board: Mika Korhonen, Arthur Dahl, Françoise Le Goff,
Wendi Momen, Stephanie Akkaoui hughes (missing Mahmud
Samandari and Paul hughes)
RIGHT: IEF board members Victoria Thoresen and Arthur Dahl, and
newly-elected member Wendi Momen (missing Peter Adriance, Emily Firth,
Duncan Hanks, Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen)
The participants
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Workshops and discussions
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Arthur Dahl led a workshop on the principles underlying
sustainable wealth. Download the presentation: https://iefworld.org/fl/Conf17_2_Dahl_Principles.pdf
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A film crew interviewed participants and recorded some of the
presentations
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There were many opportunities for informal discussions. Center/right:
including IEF members Arthur Dahl and Les Gornall
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Coffee breaks on the terrace and meals were also intense networking sessions
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Participants
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Daniel and Myriam Schaubacher (Belgium) and Ezzat Zahrai (France);
Mika Korhonen (Finland) and IEF member Dale Allen (Swaziland); ? and IEF
member Andreas Vatsellas (Greece/Italy)