Road to Rio

In 1992 I wrote an article exploring the hopes and aspirations of a movement seeking to encourage the world’s leadership to urgently address the environmental degradation that ails us still. I was in Rio for the Earth Summit.

There was no doubt a wave of hope that swept through all participants there, but despite the means being so apparent, we find ourselves in 2006 where this is talk of a resumption of commercial whaling and governments the world over are considering Nuclear as a “viable and clean” energy option. If, as Lawrence Lessig puts it, creativity is built on the past, clearly common sense is not.

If we’re unable to address the big issues, how can we expect to deal with the details, that which contributes to the sum of many parts that constitute the power bases that sustain poverty, wealth and everything in between?

iSummit 06

After 14 years since I participated in the Earth Summit, I’m returning to Rio de Janerio… this time as a guest of Creative Commons (CC) and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), with whom I worked with there in 1992. Although back then I paid for half my airfare and Pegasus Networks covered the rest.

Specifically, I’ve been invited to iSummit 06, to participate in the panel, Music, video and multimedia: the cultural commons. This will involve a brief presentation on the recent forum, Free Screen Culture and an overview of my CC projects which include Synesthesia Urbania and Secession Records. More significantly, it will focus on the online video resource tools for OPEN CHANNEL (OC) and our members being created in collaboration with EngageMedia.