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Me and Nami Mowlavi; me and Guita and Willo Hoogenstraaten, conference organizers
January was a quiet month, with only a short trip to Thonon-les-Bains in France around Lake Geneva to speak at a World Religion Day observance. In February I went to Toulouse in the south of France to give a TEDx talk at the technical school of the University of Toulouse (https://youtu.be/gP4Kr2cYxdQ). In early March I drove to my wife's new home in Ormes for a family gathering to celebrate my grandson's first birthday (see separate page). At the end of March I went to the Netherlands for 10 days for the 2018 Justice Conference and some other talks (see separate page). In mid-April I flew to Honolulu, Hawai'i, for the 7th International Conference on Environmental Future: Humans and Island Environments (see separate page), where I gave a keynote paper. On my return, I stopped for 9 days in Quebec to visit my son and his family (separate page). Four days later I was off by train to Bonn, Germany, to participate in the Talanoa Dialogue at the UN Climate Change Conference on 6 May (see report on IEF web site). A week later I spoke at the ebbf - Ethical Business Building the Future annual conference outside of Geneva (separate page). At the end of May I went to Stockholm, Sweden, to participate in the New Shape Forum (separate page) where the team I was part of took first place in the New Shape Prize for global governance reform. In June I spent 10 days visiting my brother Greg and his family in Hluboka, Czech Republic (separate page), and also was a panelist at the World Conference on Religions, Creeds and Value Systems: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights in Geneva. At the end of June I went to the Morvan Regional Park in the centre of France to participate in a Triglav Circle meeting. The second week of July I was in New York to participate in the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, representing the International Environment Forum (separate page). In late July I spent a week in Italy visiting friends in Pontedera (separate page). In August, I went for a day to Paris to visit an exposition of Monet and American artists, including Mark Tobey (separate page), and participated in the French Baha'i summer school near Angers (separate page). In early September I participated in a retreat on everyday spirituality at the Domaine de La Garde in France (separate page), and later in the month went to Hamburg for a working groups meeting (separate page), followed immediately by an ebbf retreat at Acuto, Italy (separate page). In October I gave a keynote at a conference on spiritually-based management in Athens and visited the Acropolis Museum (separate page), and was deeply involved in the ECPD International Conference "A New Concept of Human Security" in Belgrade (separate page). I was in Paris on 8-13 November for the Paris Peace Forum (separate page) before going on to London to speak in the Houses of Parliament. The year concluded with the Swiss Baha'i Winter School in the alpine village of Leysin (separate page).
The Baha'is of Thonon-les-Bains observe World Religion Day each year in January. This year I spoke along with Nami Mowlavi, an astrophysicist at the Geneva Observatory.
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Me and Nami Mowlavi; me and Guita and Willo Hoogenstraaten, conference organizers
The family gathered at Martine's home in the small village of Ormes on the Saône River near Tournus, in southern Burgundy, France, for my grandson Luca's first birthday (see separate page).
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Saône River at Ormes; our house at Ormes; Luca's birthday party
At the Justice Conference at de Poort, I spoke on the "Great Dichotomy" and moderated a panel on the Talanoa Dialogue on climate change (see separate page), and had a good visit with my dear friend Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen and her family.
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On 16-20 April 2018 I participated in the 7th International Conference on Environmental Future: Humans and Island Environments (see separate page). We visited the botanical garden, took a catamaran along Waikiki Beach, and had dinner at the Bishop Museum.
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Lush tropical vegetation in the botanical garden
botanical garden
From Waikiki Beach, the tourist center of Honolulu, we took a catamaran for a trip outside the reef and along the coast past Diamond Head.
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Waikiki Beach and its hotels; the catamaran
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Views of Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach
The Bishop Museum has wonderful collections of Hawai'ian history and Pacific Island cultures
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Bishop Museum with beautifully-restored displays
After Hawai'i, I stopped for nine days to visit Montreal and Quebec with my son and grandchildren (separate page).
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With my son and grandchildren by the river; sunset over the St. Lawrence River; family in Quebec
On 6 May 2018, I participated in the Talanoa Dialogue under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, representing the Baha'is and the International Environment Forum (see report on IEF web site)
Photo by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
The ebbf - Ethical Business Building the Future annual conference was held at Chavannes-de-Bogis outside of Geneva, Switzerland, on 17-20 May (see separate page). I gave the closing keynote, and was reelected to the Governing Board.
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ebbf conference; my closing keynote; ebbf Governing Board
The Global Challenges Foundation organized the New Shape Forum in Stockholm, 27-29 May 2018 (see separate page), along with the judging of the New Shape Prize, which we won. There was no time for sightseeing, but we did enjoy the harbour around our meeting places.
New Shape Prize winners with GCF founder
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Stockholm waterfront
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I visited my brother Greg and his family in Hluboka nad Vitova in the south of the Czech Republic for 10 days in mid June (see separate page), plus more pictures of Hluboka and its castle from a visit two years ago.
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On 25 June 2018 I participated in the World Conference on Religions, Creeds and Value Systems: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights, held in Geneva at the United Nations Palais des Nations (see separate page).
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Palais des Nations; keynotes on religious perspectives
On 29 June-1 July I attended the Triglav Circle meeting at the Chateau de Poussignol in the Morvan Regional Park in the Nievre Department of central France (see separate page).
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The Triglav Circle; view from my window of the Morvan Regional Park
On 10-14 July I participated in the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York, where I contributed to one side event for the International Environment Forum, publicized our "IEF Panel on Your Smartphone" as a more sustainable way to contribute to the HLPF, and attended several other events, including at the Baha'i International Community (see separate page and report on the IEF web site).
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United Nations; PERL/IEF workshop; youth panel at Baha'i International Community
I also spent a week in July visiting the Stendardo family at their vacation home in Pontedera, Italy (see separate page).
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Stendardos and guests at lunch; playing petanque/bowls; the swimming pool
I went to Paris for a day in August to see the exposition "Water Lilies: American abstraction and the last Monet" which included a painting by Mark Tobey (see separate page).
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Place de la Concorde; Tuilleries Gardens; the Seine River
In mid-August I went to Angers, France, for the French Baha'i Summer School in a vacation village designed by Le Corbusier's studio (for the school, see separate page)
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Le Jardin de l'Anjou where the summer school was held
On 5-9 September I participated in a retreat at the Domaine de La Garde, near Bourg-en-Bresse, France, on "Everyday spirituality and our economic behaviour" (see separate page).
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The Global Challenges Foundation invited the working groups following up on its New Shape Prize to a working meeting on 18-20 September in Hamburg, Germany (see separate page).
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The ebbf fall gathering in Acuto, Italy, on 20-23 September was focussed on considering future activities (see separate page).
The village of Acuto
I was invited to give a keynote at the International Conference on Spiritually-based Management Models in Athens, Greece, on 11-14 October, and had a chance to visit the new Acropolis Museum (see separate page).
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For the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) annual conference in Belgrade, Serbia, on 27-29 October, I was asked to prepare the concept note, serve as rapporteur, and chair a two-day youth forum immediately after (see separate page).
On 8-13 November, I was in Paris for a meeting of our working group on Global Governance for the 21st Century, where we participated in the Paris Peace Forum, and gave two presentations at the National Baha'i Center and one at Sciences Po (see separate page and report on the IEF web site), before I went on to London to speak in the Houses of Parliament and for a group of youth at the National Baha'i Centre.
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My last trip of the year was just around Lake Geneva and up in the Alps to Leysin for the Swiss Baha'i Winter School, 26-31 December (separate page).
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Last updated 12 March 2019
Photographs copyright © Arthur Lyon Dahl 2018