Third Side Forum

3S Questions – Local Grocer and Business Development

from Sarah Miller
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

In the Queen Anne Neighborhood of Seattle, WA a battle is brewing over plans to replace a local grocer and low-income apartment building with a large corporate supermarket and retail space.  Across the United States we've seen similar conflicts arise.  Here is an article about the Queen Anne situation and some other local experience with this type of issue from the past.

Saving a Local Grocer   

Grocery wars: Wedgwood vet gives Queen Anne reality check on QFC

What Third Side Question would you pose to help transform this issue?

All posted questions will be sent to Queen Anne Neighbors for Responsible Growth, the Cox family and the QFC grocery to support their work to transform this issue.  For more information on 3S Questions - visit the Third Side Tools.

The Third Side or a New Approach

from Gunter Pauli Torino Italy

Gunter Pauli, Founder and Director of the Global ZERI Network and Professor Systems Design at the Science University of Torino, Italy has provided us with a draft article on his work with systems and conflict resolution.  He compares his perspective with the Third Side focusing on the need for individuals to design new systems for conflicting parties to meet their needs and dreams without meeting.  The article includes several case studies.  Here are some excerpts from his article and a link to download the whole article.  Enjoy and please share your reflections on this approach.

Conflict Resolution within a System

Ways and means to respond to everyone’s needs and someday achieve everyone’s dreams

The Earth can respond to everyone’s needs  However, not to one persons greed! -- Mahatma Gandhi

Introduction

The capacity to respond to everyone’s needs seems to be a precondition for eliminating numerous root causes of violence. Indeed how can one ever expect someone, or a community, to live in peace with neighbors when their most elementary needs for water, food, housing, health care, energy and/or jobs are not being met. The observation that those who have more than they need for themselves and their siblings are stealing is not difficult to understand if basic conditions for escaping from this predicament of poverty are not available. Whereas violence cannot be justified, poverty and the injustice related to the unequal access to natural resources do create conflict. The control of water in the Middle East, the lack of food in Sudan, and the absence of education and sanitation in Latin America are some of the well-documented cases. If this is compounded with greed and power it can only affect the people more adversely.

In addition to the basic needs, people also have their beliefs and paradigms; in short everyone has a dream. The main hypothesis of this article is that when people are pursuing their basic needs, and aim to reach their dreams, it is bound to lead to conflict since there is a perceived shortage of material wealth and energy to respond to everyone’s desires on this world. Worse, when people are to pursue their dreams, it leads to immediate conflicts since the coming true of one person’s dream all too often seems only possible at the detriment of the other’s. This is true if one is only imagining the present and the future as a single target, which you either achieve or not. However, if you are able to think, design and operate the pursuit of your basic needs and your higher goals in life which we simply call dreams, within a system then it will soon become obvious that many - perhaps even all- can meet all their basic needs, and so many can achieve their -at first sight- opposing dreams.

We live in an interconnected world

The realization that it is possible to “have it all” is only a reality if we accept that we live in a world that is interdependent and interconnected. We are connected to each other, but at the same time we are part of and connected to the ecosystems that offer the services on which life depends. All life in the diverse climates and environments in which we live depend on the interactions and relations amongst bacteria, algae, fungus, plants and animals. Once we understand the interconnected world in which we live, then it is quite easy to imagine a world that will continue to have conflicts, but where each conflict that arises will be used to reach a higher level of understanding amongst all.

On the basis of the above, projects that have been monitored and in some cases designed by the Global ZERI Network have converted the one target approach, or sometimes known as linear thinking, into a multi-target approach, or better referred to as a systems approach. Without ever considering that this leads to strategies for conflict resolution, we concluded after more than a decade of field work and project analysis that the successful implementation of systems-based initiatives, will greatly reduce the risk of conflict, and in some circumstances the existing antagonism has subsided. It is therefore possible to claim that the target of reaching a “no waste society”, where everything is considered important, where everything gets re-used with added value, and where the hidden connections amongst all animate and inanimate life create such a wealth of opportunities for each and everyone that conflict simply does not make sense anymore.

Going for half or a complete dream

Traditional conflict resolution as proposed by William Ury and well known as The Third Side, have a proven conflict resolution methodology based on the approach whereby -in the end- people have to give up part of their dream in order to achieve a common good in which all have an interest. It has been rightly argued that reaching higher goals known as the common good motivates individuals to limit their personal wish list. All parties to the conflict reach an understanding that jointly one can achieve more than by simply pursuing personal targets. This is a very valid argument. However, the following brief case studies highlight the grand chance offered by an innovative approach, which will permit each to fully respond to their basic needs, or completely fulfill their dreams and still achieve the best possible attainment of the common good.

From zero waste to zero conflict

The three examples selected for this purpose are by no means perfect and detailed cases, but these studies rather offer an inspiration for further research, and a broader analysis on how a systems approach could eventually revolutionize conflict resolution in the years to come. Just as the “zero waste” approach that was pioneered by ZERI in the early 90s did not imply that there is no waste, but rather that whatever was considered useless by one was converted into something of value for another. We are not claiming that this approach described below will lead to “zero conflict”, but rather that conflicts are an important occurrence which eventually will lead to a better understanding how one can respond to basic needs and achieve dreams of all without any form of compromise. It is the conflict itself that unveils the numerous hidden connections and unrealized opportunities which would never have emerged unless a higher level of discomfort would have catalyzed a process towards understanding the real world in which we can thrive.

For more including three case studies download the complete article

The Global ZERI Network comprises scientist, vigorous operators, scholars, and entrepreneurs. There are teams around the world focusing on research, project development, and education: Santa Fe New Mexico, Durango Colorado, Chappaqua New York, Santa Monica California - USA, Curitiba, Porto Alegre - Brazil, Cape Town - South Africa, Kamakura, Tokyo - Japan, Manizales, Bogotá, Medellin and Marandua - Colombia, Bauchi - Nigeria, Sundsvall, Gotland - Sweden, Torino - Italy, New Delhi - India, Suva - Fiji.

Abraham Path Initiative – update

From Global Negotiation Project

The purpose of the Abraham Path Initiative is to inspire the opening of a route in the Middle East retracing the footsteps of the prophet Abraham, an effort to share Abraham's universal messages of oneness, unity, faith, justice, peace, and hospitality toward all.   

Among the many activities undertaken this year, the Abraham Path Initiative has primarily invested money and time in building connections.  While there have been many smaller meetings, this fall a group of individuals from Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, and the United States – clerics and laypeople, gathered in Harran to discuss and plan Abraham’s Path.  The meeting focused on building relationships and practical arrangements for the Path. Host committees and a network of partners were formed for Syria and Turkey.  These committees are comprised of individuals and organizations that will now be working together in those countries, supported by our central office at Harvard University.

This year we launched the Abraham Path Initiative website, www.abrahampath.org, which will continue to expand. We hope to have the website translated into regional languages during this upcoming year.  We have begun research on a guidebook for future travelers of the Path and a white paper that will be used to provide details and information on the project to funders and potential partners. 

The Abraham Path Initiative has established a director’s office at the Global Negotiation Project at Harvard.  The Global Negotiation Project will act as the coordinator for the project.

In 2006, the Abraham Path Initiative plans to hold meetings, similar to the meeting in Harran, in Jordan, Israel, and Palestine to continue to build partnerships and to develop the route.  The Initiative will publish a simple version of a guidebook and a white paper, create a DVD for promotional purposes, map the route with a team on the ground, and as mentioned above, translate and expand the website. 

In the fall of 2006, the Initiative will host an official ten-day Harvard-led delegation.  The Harvard delegation will meet with communities along the Path and develop contacts, enthusiasm, and create political good will towards the project.

Michigan researcher helps resolve the conflict between exotic birds and eco-tourists

From Josh Weiss
Boston, MA USA
excerpts from the University of Michigan’s Newswire

Shannon Bouton, a Ph.D. student in the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) at the University of Michigan published the results of her unique study of a wading bird colony in the Pantanal in an article co-authored with Peter C. Frederick (University of Florida) in Conservation Biology, the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.  Unlike other research projects that consider only the biological effects of tourism, Bouton has combined her biological research with a study of how the colony serves as a resource for the local community. Her practical suggestions for meeting the twin goals of managing and developing tourism and conserving the colony attracted the attention of top government officials and diplomats in Brazil and have made her study site at Porto da Fazenda a model for similar efforts in the region.

The first part of the study documented the potential effects of human activities on nesting and found that viewing from boats caused significant nest desertion and breeding failure. "Would you want to live in a place where people drove right up under your nest with noisy motor boats, talking and laughing all the while?" Bouton says. In addition, she points out, when the parents leave the nests there are many predators waiting to attack the eggs and the chicks.

Next, she and her team interviewed stakeholders in the community, including licensed guides, hotel owners and managers, boat drivers and local landowners. Tourists were given questionnaires to complete and return on site. Bouton developed a model of the interactions among the various groups, identified the areas of potential conflict, and developed some creative strategies for satisfying tourists while not unduly disturbing the birds.

Today, as a result of those suggestions, the forestry police have posted a guard in front of the colony to control the behavior of tourists and fishermen. A local conservation group, Associação Ecológica Melgassense (AMEC) has established a staffed observation post that is occupied year-round to protect the birds and the forest. AMEC trains young people from the community as guides to take tourists along newly constructed trails at a safe distance from the colony and runs workshops for local children and adults so that everyone is aware of the biology of the birds, their importance to the community and how to behave so as not to disturb them.

"The tourists really appreciate the new amenities," Bouton says. "Now there's a little shop to buy cool drinks, an orientation talk that tells them what to look for and well-informed guides to accompany them on the trail. Those who prefer not to walk can take advantage of spotting scopes on top of an observation tower. Tourism has increased ten-fold since our study, and at the same time the birds are happier and many more are staying in the colony."

For the complete story click here to link to: http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/2003/Feb03/r020403.html

Jan 31 - Reflections and Dialogue

In our Forum mailing we posted the following two Third Side News Stories.

Conflict Resolution Center Helps Businesses Resolve Workplace Strife - Companies are increasingly turning to conflict- resolution techniques and workplace mediation to resolve employee conflict in Santa Cruz. Over the past four years, the Conflict Resolution Center has helped 260 local businesses, nonprofits and government agencies with conflict-resolution issues.

Rwanda's Women Play A Key Role In Peace Building - Six years ago, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1325, calling for greater participation of women in conflict prevention and peace building. Today Rwandan women are playing a key role in the country’s reconciliation process.

Please share any thoughts or comments.

The importance of time …

"People try nonviolence for a week and when it doesn't 'work' they go back to violence, which hasn't worked for centuries."
Theodore Roszak

3S Questions - Tsunamai Relief and Deforestation

While we've reached the year mark of the Asian Tsunamai and we've seen much relief in the area it now faces new challenges.   One of this issues is the amount of wood needed to rebuild and unrestricted logging causing deforestation. Here are two articles describing this situation.

Recovery still has a way to go

Tsunami Relief Risks Rainforest Destruction

What Third Side Question would you pose to help transform this isuse?

All posted questions will be sent to (Agency Name) to support their work to transform this issue.  For more information on 3S Questions - visit the Third Side Tools

A Potential Third Side Project Initiative

Inspirational Third Side Story Competition and Fair
Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess

NOTE: This memo outlines one idea that we've been thinking about for promoting the Third Side.  We'd be interested in any thoughts that you might have regarding the feasibility of the project, potential collaborators, and opportunities for financial support.

Our idea is to organize an Inspirational Third Side Story Competition and Fair modeled loosely after the very successful International Science Fair.  Such a fair, which could be organized for high school students, college students, journalists, community leaders, or other groups, would be built around a contest in which participants would be asked to submit, using whatever communication media may they prefer (case study, short story, multimedia presentation, etc.), a genuinely inspirational story showing how individuals are successfully pursuing the spirit of the Third Side.  Submissions could be realistic fiction, outlines of specific plans for more constructively addressing real world conflicts, or case studies of successful (or at least instructive) Third Side efforts. 

Like the science fair, the Third Side Fair would give out lots of awards with the goal of finding ways of recognizing the accomplishments of anyone who took the project seriously.  Also following the science fair model we could recruit businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, service clubs, religious organizations, and organizations active in the conflict resolution field to help recruit participants and evaluate contest submissions and provide modest, but meaningful, public recognition and awards.  Our goal would be to secure sponsors from both sides of the political spectrum.

One of the big prizes would be an invitation to a Third Side conference (or fair) which would bring together the best participants for a couple of days of meetings and inspirational presentations from recognized leaders of the Third Side movement. It would also be great to be able to provide those who do exemplary projects with scholarships, internships, and even employment opportunities.

A second big prize offered to submitters of the high quality materials, would be an invitation to have their work published on the Third Side web site and, perhaps, in a book or journal of inspirational stories.  This publication component would have the advantage of quickly and easily generating a large and widely accessible collection of stories showing how the third side works and how others can take part.  The awards would also be handled as something of a news event which would further promote the visibility for the Third Side movement and the inspirational stories that the project would make available.

The invitation to participate in the competition would be accompanied by a web site offering lots of material about the Third Side and how to make it really work.  (Such material could be drawn from the existing Third Side web site as well as from our site, Beyond Intractability (www.beyondintractability.org).

While it would obviously take time to build the kind of support and participation that science fairs enjoy, it should be possible to produce and evaluate a pilot fair competition with modest levels of funding.  In addition to significantly promoting interest in the Third Side, such pilot project would also produce the basic materials needed to organize future competitions, thereby reducing costs.

What do you think of the idea?  Do you have suggestions for improving the idea?  About people who might be interested in collaborating or offering statements of support for this idea? Are you aware of similar of initiatives that we should consider working with?

Please share your thoughts and if you have any additional information please e-mail Guy and Heidi at burgess@colorado.edu.

Commuting in Washington State

From Kurt O'Brien - Poulsbo WA

I commute to my job at the University of Washington in Seattle by ferry, as I live on the other side of Puget Sound on the Kitsap Peninsula.  When the ferry pulls in to the pier, commuters begin to queue up and prepare to off load.  People are generally very polite, and form an orderly line as they wait for the brow to be lowered so they can disembark.  One evening, a young man went to the front of the line and pushed his way into the queue.  A passenger became angry and began yelling at the young man, telling him that he needed to move to the back of the line.  The young man refused.  Sensing that tensions were rising, a third man attempted to intervene and restore some order.  He calmly asked the young man to move to the back of the line, explaining the normal order of things and that it wasn't worth making a scene.  Still, the young man refused.  At this point the second man became irate, yelling even louder at the young man, telling him that if he wanted a fight he'd get one.  As the two of them moved off to the side, making ready to come to blows, the third man rushed forward, inserting himself between the two would-be combatants, telling each of them to calm down.  At this point, a few other passengers also came forward, prepared to help prevent the situation from escalating further.  These actions proved successful, as the two men separated.  The efforts of the third man to invoke the Third Side (role of Peacekeeper) prevented a potentially dangerous situation from erupting into a physical altercation.

Poldering in the Netherlands

From Mark Sommers - Oregon, USA

For a program on sea level rise, I recently interviewed a wetlands expert in the Netherlands. He told me a fascinating story/The Dutch have been settling on lands well below sea level for a thousand years. Their primary defense against inundation has been for each village to create and maintain its own coordinated program to maintain dikes and other measures. Everyone in the village is expected to take part in this maintenance effort, and regardless of their other differences all are expected to come to agreement on this crucial defense effort. The lands between the dikes just happen to be known as polders and the consensus-building process that organizes these  efforts is known as poldering.  My informant told me that poldering is probably the single most important factor in creating an almost uniquely Dutch penchant for social cohesion and reaching consensus in a society of stubbornly individual citizens. Ironically, the very term poldering is actually the essence of de-polarizing decisionmaking. In this cases,not only have the Dutch been able to establish the world's most effective defenses against sea level rise but in the process they have created one of our best models for getting along with one another in a modern industrial nation on one of the most densely populated landscapes on earth.