CONVERGE THINK TANK pilot meeting: Equity within planetary boundaries Venue: European Parliament, A1H1 (Altiero Spinelli Building),

Date: Tuesday, 15 May from 15h00 to 16h30

January 12th, Coexist, Bristol 10:00 - 16:30

Both for research and for the many families involved in the Converge project, 2011 was a fantastic year. With GreenDependent in Hungary leading, the team researched initiatives that are convergent - i.e. are performing activities that are towards greater fairness and sustainability. It was a pleasure to develop our feeling for how Convergence is allready taking place in the real world, and to explore the work of these inspirational organisations. We look forward to sharing their stories and how they are part of the Convergence side of sustainable development later this year.

(Image by paintmyworldrainbow)

We also spent some time with the guidance of the Natural Step International in Sweden investigating how communities are engaging people - what it is that gathers people around a project. We hope that in understanding the qualities of a good engagement we can support the wider uptake of sustainable development through convergence by offering a guide to how engagement is allready taking place.

Bristol Converge food sector workshop 1 introduction

The workshop began at 10 am on November 1 2011 at the Bristol and Bath Science Centre, with 19 participants plus the Converge Project research team (9 people, Vala Ragnarsdottir, Harald Sverdrup, Deniz Koca, Sigrun Maria Kristinsdottir, Ian Roderick, Alice-Marie Archer, Charlotte Olof Biering, Emmilie Brownlee, and Jenneth Parker).

We started with a lecture given by Vala Ragnarsdóttir (see above slideshow), including an introduction of the Converge research project and of the research participants, and setting the stage for the day’s project. The introduction included “the state we are in”, resource depletion (including oil and phosphorous), what sustainability means, the TNS sustainability principles, the ISIS compass, city food production and an overview of what sustainable food production could look like for Bristol.

The aim with the whole project is to map what sustainable food systems in Iceland, Bristol and two impoverished villages in India look like. The outcome, the model, will be sent to the European Union, but participants will also get a copy of it and can use it as they please.

Bristol and the Southwest Food System Research Bristol and Bath Science Park on the 1st November, 29th November (2011) and 12th of January 2012 10:00 - 16:30.

You are invited to participate in an EU funded modelling of Bristol and the South West's food sector - The CONVERGE project is investigating how we can manage and allocate the earth's resources fairly and make the transition towards a sustainable future. For this research we will be working with local business and organisations affected by the food sector to investigate the potential impacts of things like climate change, population demographics, and rising oil and fertiliser prices on the food system and related industries. We do this through workshops - our first workshops took place last month in Reykjavik in Iceland - a country with a high dependence on imported goods. Through these workshops we will develop a vision for a sustainable food system, and produce a realistic computer model of how a sustainable local food system could operate in Bristol including production, employment, import, export etc. 

Reykjavik, Iceland 28. Sept. 2011

– The first workshop with stakeholders in the Converge Project was held today in Reykjavik, Iceland. Twenty-three individuals from all walks of life attended the full-day workshop, the first of three such meetings in Iceland.

The participants came from many different parts of the food production sector, Innovation Centre, civil society organizations, consulting, government, waste sector as well as consumers and members of the public interested in nutrition and food culture. The focus was on sustainable food production and consumption in Iceland.

The group made some very solid first steps towards a vision for a sustainable food system and a practical implementation plan which the stakeholders will be able to take with them at the end of the project. For more information on the workshops please visit www.convergeproject.org/workshopinfo

The CONVERGE seminar series has been running since May of this year with 3 seminars having taken place so far. Here are some resources from the 3 seminars - The seminars feature lectures and discussions with leading practitioners, researchers and businesses on questions central to the CONVERGE project’s research.

This event has now passed - View slides from this seminar, listen to podcasts.

15th June 2011 18:00 -20:00 St Nicholas House, Bristol, BS12AW

This event has now taken place: - View slides from this seminar, discuss this on TED or on linkdin

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The CONVERGE project invites you to the first of a series of events from the CONVERGE Rethinking Globalisation seminar series.

We launch the series on May 25th (13:00 - 16:00) in Bristol with a session on the latest research into resource burn-off rates, and how they may affect industry in Europe. We will look at how some resources may be substituted and at examples of companies who have dealt with changes to their access to resources. Following this we will have a discussion session on the impacts this could have on industry in Bristol in the future and on opportunities for partnership and further research.