the DO lectures

I’m still shaking the Welsh mud from my hair and clothes after an intense and thought-stirring four days at the DO Lectures.  It’s kind of like a sustainable TED, though much more intimate and we all slept in tents.

The DO Lectures were hosted by howies, a British brand I’ve written about from time to time.  They collected a very eclectic group of 20 speakers, ranging from Michael Braungart (who co-authored Cradle to Cradle) to Russell Davies and Matt Jones (who tinker with technology in interesting ways) to Ken Yeang (who builds eco skyscrapers) to Andy Cummins (a surfer activist) to John Grant (who wrote the Green Marketing Manifesto) to Tim Ferriss (author of the 4-Hour Workweek, and the only other American there).

They invited 75 people to sit in on the talks live.  After editing, they’re going post the videos online with hopes they get shared and inspire people to DO wherever they are. To get invited, you just had to write them a hand-written note and cross your fingers.  It was completely free for everyone they picked. 

It was fun swapping stories with cloudspotters, climbers, foragers, farmers, activists, and bread makers.  In my tent, there was a writer, a water quality expert, a marketing consultant, a museum educator, and me.  You couldn’t tell any of us apart for all the rain and mud.  Which was part of the point I think.

Russell closed the last talk with a quote from a beekeeper who had spoken earlier: "push the bees in the direction they want to go."

A big thank you to howies for such a profoundly interesting weekend.  So interesting in fact, I didn’t have time to draw a cartoon this week (although I now have material to last for weeks).  All of my drawing paper warped in the rain anyway.  But it was well worth it.

PREVIOUS: if kids designed the food pyramid

NEXT: traditional marketing mix

BROWSE SIMILAR CARTOONS IN: Uncategorized