Annual voting results

It has been a while since the last event in SL - mainly due to problems with the audio streams which have now been resolved.

So in 2008 meetings will begin again.

An annual round of voting on policy suggestions took place recently. Some suggestions gained significant support for inclusion in the Simultaneous Policy package. Others now drop out of the process due to lack of support.

For information on the policies people are supporting to address global problems and the top issues see the 'policy' section of:
http://www.simpol.org.uk/

And I hope to see you at the SL-SPAG hang out on Tangun in the new year!

Guardian letters on SP and climate change

There are some interesting letters in the UK daily newspaper, The Guardian, on climate change following the Live Earth concerts.

Including one on SP and another on Contraction and Convergence, a suggestion submitted for consideration by SP Adopters.

See:
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2121720,00.html

Problems with audio files

Apologies to anyone who is having difficulty accessing audio streams. This is due to problems with major maintenance at the host.

You can still hear the streams on the rolling SL-SPAG Radio station. See the links at the side.

Global action on climate change

Monday 2 July 4pm PDT (12 midnight UK time).
Tuesday 3 July 11pm PDT (7 am 4 July UK time).

SP Adopters' amphitheatre (see the link at the side).

Human activity, such as burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, has increased levels of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere. These so-called greenhouse gases trap heat reaching the Earth from the sun and temperatures are increasing. If this continues unchecked the planet will become inhospitable to human life.

Second Life Simultaneous Policy Adopters' Group (SL-SPAG) is holding a policy forum on climate change. SP brings people together around the world to discuss solutions to global problems, with a strategy for gaining political support for their implementation, a strategy that is working.

Aubrey Meyer, Director of the Global Commons Institute, spoke at an SP event at the UK Parliament earlier this year and his presentation will be played with live explanation of SP from Luzo Orbit and discussion.

You can listen to the full set of presentations from the event at:
http://luzoorbit.blogspot.com/2007/03/climate-change-policy-forum-28-february.html

Meetings 2-5 July

Due to popular demand from North American SL residents, there will be a series of meetings from 2-5 July held later in the SL day.

The programme will be posted here shortly.

Discussion on top SP policies: 4-8 June

SP Amphitheatre, Tangun.
4-8 June, 5 am PDT - 1 pm UK time (GMT+1).

Discussion forums have been added to the Simpol-UK website where it is possible to comment and vote on policy suggestions submitted so far.

Go to the 'policy zone' of:
http://www.simpol.org.uk/

The next SL-SPAG Radio special will look at the current ranking of suggestions. What's the most popular? How can Adopters submit proposals and get them climbing the list? How will the detail of policies be developed and decided?

Follow the link at the side to visit the SP Amphitheatre in Second Life, or listen on line by clicking on the link or cutting and pasting it into your mp3 programme:
http://www.mediamax.com/mikebrady/Hosted/topideas0607.mp3

Remember to vote for SL-SPAG to win a New Media Award if you have not done so already. It would great to see more comments on the Award site, as well as the ranking votes. See:
http://www.newstatesman.com/nma/nma2007/nominations/200703130001

Shaping the Simultaneous Policy

Discussion forums have been added to the Simpol-UK website where it is possible to comment and vote on policy suggestions submitted so far.

Go to the 'policy zone' of:
http://www.simpol.org.uk/

The next SL-SPAG Radio special will look at the current ranking of suggestions. What's the most popular? How can Adopters submit proposals and get them climbing the list? How will the detail of policies be developed and decided?

It will be ready for the next round of meetings, starting on 4 June. More details shortly.

Feedback on last series of meetings

A couple of things came from our last series of meetings. One is that now is a good time to lobby candidates for the US Presidency as they are looking for votes and through local party organisations, you should be able to get word to their campaigns fairly easily.

Second, is the rather obvious need for information in the right language! Fortunately a Brazilian volunteer has offered to translate the Simpol website into Portuguese. There are other languages on the international site, which has just gone live in its new format.

How to get your politicians to sign the SP pledge

Campaigners workshops
SP Amphitheatre, Tangun.
8-11 May, 5 am PDT - 1 pm UK time (GMT+1).

Politicians are asked to sign a pledge to implement the Simultaneous Policy alongside other governments. More and more are doing so. If your representatives haven't signed, come to learn how can you persuade them. If they have, come to share your experiences.

Follow the series of meetings, I'll prepare an audio summary for broadcasting on SL-SPAG Radio and selecting on the audio library in the SP Amphitheatre.

For resources for campaigning and press releases on past successes, see the Simpol websites (links at the side).

Remember to vote for SL-SPAG to win a New Media Award if you have not done so already. It would great to see more comments on the Award site, as well as the ranking votes. See:
http://www.newstatesman.com/nma/nma2007/nominations/200703130001

Listen to Luzo Orbit's talk to the Babylon group

You can listen to the talk by clicking:

http://www.mediamax.com/mikebrady/Hosted/babylonintro.mp3

For further information see the previous posting.

Introductory talk on SP to Second Life Babylon Group 26 April 2007

Luzo Orbit will be giving an introductory talk to members of the Babylon group on 26 April at 9am (5 pm UK time, GMT + 1) repeated 1 pm SLT (9 pm UK time, GMT + 1).

The event takes place at Babylonia. You can find out more about the Babylon group at:
http://babylonia.triss.be/

If you are a member of SL-SPAG, log into SL and you shold find a message from me with the Landmark to the location (I am unable to build an SLURL to it for some reason). If you are not a member then join now by doing a group search for 'SP Adopters'. If you are not a member of Second Life, then you can download the browser at http://www.secondlife.com/

You will also be able to hear the talk on SL-SPAG radio at the same times. A link to an archive of the talk will be posted here afterwards.

If you have not already voted forSL-SPAG and SL-SPAG radio in the New Media Awards, please do so by clicking here. You can leave a comment and a rating.

I'll be covering the basics of the Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign in the audio broadcast, then there will be time for a text chat.

For background information in advance of the meeting see the Simpol websites, particularly http://www.simpol.org.uk/

There is a multi-lingual international website, which is currently being revised at http://www.simpol.org/

SL-SPAG Radio talks to the world!

Second Life SP Adopters' Group (SL-SPAG) has set up an internet radio station to complement its meetings in the on-line virtual world. This is great for people who don't think Second Life is for them, or don't have the technology to access it.

There is over 3 hours of material on the radio loop, with regular updates. This includes presentations by John Bunzl, the recent policy forum on climate change at the UK Parliament, past radio interviews and reports on the policies that SP Adopters are talking about. The Second Life meetings have attracted people from North America, Europe, Australia, Brazil, China and New Zealand.

The radio station is also reaching an international audience. The stats show listeners from:
USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Sweden, Argentina, Netherlands, Australia and Italy.

Spread the word by directing people to Luzo Orbit's blog at:
http://luzoorbit.blogspot.com/

And vote for SL-SPAG to receive a New Media Award for innovation at:
http://www.newstatesman.com/nma/nma2007/nominations/200703130001

Discussion groups 2-6 April

Holding corporations accountable

1 pm UK time (BST), 5 am SL time (PDT) SP Adopters' Amphitheatre, 45 minutes.

Transnational corporations become increasingly powerful and have the economic power to threaten governments.

How can the power of corporations be balanced? In a globalized world is it time for global systems of accountability?

Some of the proposals from RL Simultaneous Policy Adopters will be on SL-SPAG radio at 5 am, with 30 minutes of text chat afterwards.

Listen on-line by clicking this link:
http://www.mediamax.com/mikebrady/Hosted/tnc020407.mp3

For further information, see the policy zone of the Simpol-UK website.

If you think these meetings are cool, vote for SL-SPAG in the New Media Awards. See:
http://www.newstatesman.com/nma/nma2007/nominations/200703130001

New Media Award for SL-SPAG? Please vote!!

Second Life Simultaneous Policy Adopters' Group (SL-SPAG) is having meetings most week days now.

This week they have been on the them of 'Climate change - cultural diversity is part of the solution'. This includes an interview about a Real Life (RL) project on climate change, which serves as a starting point for discussion.

At today's meeting there were participants from Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, UK and United States. An international meeting with no air travel!

The events are starting to get picked up by others, as on this blog:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2007/03/riks_picks_for__3.html

This is a great new way to spread the SP message and hear what people around the world think of the issues and the potential and challenges of SP.

As an innovative way to campaign, it has been submitted for a New Media Award. You can give SL-SPAG your vote at:
http://www.newstatesman.com/nma/nma2007/nominations/200703130001

Discussion groups 26-30 March 2007

Climate change - cultural diversity is part of the solution

Simultaneous Policy Adopters Group (SL-SPAG) meeting - all welcome.

1pm UK time (BST), 5am SL time (PDT).

There will be an interview from SL-SPAG Radio with Shilpa Shah of the RL Akashi Project. You can find out more about the project at:
http://www.myspace.com/theakashiproject

Here is how it is described:

---
I'm an innovative, exciting new project exploring what climate change is and making the issues relevant and interesting to different community and faith groups. I'm a partner project, between Cambridge Carbon Footprint (a small funky environmental organisation), Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum (an umbrella organisation for lots of cool organisations in and around Cambridge) and Cambridge Architectural Research (a sustainability consultancy, who host the project in their offices). I'm coordinated by Shilpa Shah, who likes to talk lots and meet new people.
---

SP is all about bringing people together around the world to discuss the policies they would like to see to address global problems, so Luzo Orbit thought it would be interesting to hear how Shilpa is working with people from different cultural backgrounds at a local level in Cambridge. It turns out there is a lot to learn as many people from minority cultures in the UK have links to other countries through relatives. On climate change this may mean they have a better understanding of the impact climate change - and over-consumption in the rich world - is having elsewhere.

Find out more by listening to the 12 minute interview.

You can listen in-world in the SP Amphitheatre or through the internet at:
http://www.mediamax.com/mikebrady/Hosted/akashi0307.mp3

The interview is now in the rolling programme on SL-SPAG Radio at:
http://www.live365.com/stations/luzoorbit/

At the meetings during the week 26-30 March, the recording will be played and then there will be a text chat discussion for about 30 minutes. Come along on any of the days.

For alerts about SL-SPAG events, search for the group SP Adopters in world. To support the campaign officially, you will need to register in RL (see the links to the Simpol websites).

At recent week day events, there have been typically 4 or 5 participants from around the world taking part in discussions led by Luzo Orbit. We've had people from countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.

So please do come along and join in.

Discussion groups 19-23 March 2007

Simultaneous Policy Adopters Group (SL-SPAG) meeting - all welcome.

1pm UK time (GMT), 6am SL time (PDT).

There will be an interview from SL-SPAG Radio about Fair Trade, which sets out criteria for assuring producers in developing countries receive a fair price for their produce. It is a voluntary scheme. Should the Simultaneous Policy (SP) include measures to make all trade Fair Trade?

SP Adopters discuss the policies they would like to see to address global problems, such as unfair trade, and call on politicians to sign a pledge to implement SP alongside other governments. A growing number are doing so around the world, moving us closer to implementation.

SL-SPAG has regular discussions and a programme of more in-depth polic fora with guest speakers.

You can also listen to interviews and presentations on SL-SPAG Radio in-world in the SP Amphitheatre or through the internet at:
http://www.mediamax.com/mikebrady/Hosted/fairtrade03.mp3

Listen to the rolling programme on SL-SPAG Radio at:
http://www.live365.com/stations/luzoorbit/

For background information see the SP websites (links at the side) and the discussion paper from RL Cambridge SP Adopters' Group (CAMSPAG). See:
http://www.simpol.org.uk/policy_fairtrade.php

The politics of climate change

Climate change is dominating the headlines in the UK at the moment, with opposition and governing parties arguing over what they will do. See:
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2032532,00.html

The opposition is arguing for taxation of air travel and personal allowances. The government is saying international action is required - otherwise the economy will suffer. It is a classic Simultaneous Policy (SP) scenario.

John Bunzl explained to Luzo Orbit what is going on, what we can hope for from the politicians and what it all means to SP in an interview broadcast on SL-SPAG radio at 6pm yesterday. You can now select it on the radio player in the SP Ampthitheatre (Button dated 13March07). Alternatively listen here:

Listen now/Download mp3

It is now on the loop with past interviews, presentations and the climate change policy forum. Listen to the loop via:
http://www.live365.com/stations/luzoorbit/

Report on climate change event on 11 March

SL-SPAG (Second Life Simultaneous Policy Adopters' Group) held its first policy forum on Sunday 11 March 2007.

It was a great success and great fun, with people teleporting in to sit in the SP Adopters' Amphitheatre in front of a screen showing slides about the Contraction and Convergence (C&C) policy proposed to address climate change.


There was an audio stream from the RL (Real Life) policy forum held by Simpol-UK at the UK Parliament last week, with Aubrey Meyer, Director of the Global Commons Institute, presenting C&C. SL-SPAG Coordinator, Luzo Orbit, hosted the event with text chat in the virtual world. Many thanks to Verum Vacirca for including the event in the Diversity Festival.

Key slides from Aubrey's presentation are given below. A full powerpoint presentation can be downloaded from:
http://www.gci.org.uk/

You can still hear the presentation. See
http://luzoorbit.blogspot.com/2007/03/climate-change-policy-forum-28-february.html

Slide 1: Business as usual (BAU). Carbon dioxide concentration and temperature rising out of control.


Slide 2: Squiggly line - economic growth cycle imposed on carbon concentration. Coloured graph - Contraction of overall carbon dioxide production with time, with different colours signifying different countries outputs.

Slide 3: Without swift action, the sinks that absorb Carbon Dioxide (such as the Amazon) could fail and become sources of Carbon Dioxide (the Amazon is already drying out to such an extent in some areas, that there are forest fires). Below, the plan for rapid contraction, with convergence of per capita output of carbon dioxide.


Participants in the meeting were from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States.

SL-SPAG enables international meetings, without the air travel.

In RL voting last year in the UK, Simultaneous Policy (SP) Adopters voted climate change as the top issue to be addressed. SP provides a democratic space for discussion, development and approval on policies people around the world wish to see implemented. Adopters undertake to vote for any candidate at elections, within reason, who pledges to implement SP alongside other governments, or, if they have a party preference, to encourage their preferred party to support SP. Politicians in an increasing number of countries are doing so. SL-SPAG members are encouraged to sign up to the campaign in RL.

The day after the meeting, the UK Finance Minister (or Chancellor, Gordon Brown) was under pressure to support taxation on air travel, proposed by the leader of the opposition. The Government response is that action is only possible by simultaneous international agreement, otherwise UK airports and businesses will lose out. This fear of putting a country at a competitive disadvantage is the obstacle SP aims to overcome by bringing people together around the world to provide the lead to politicians. See:
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2032532,00.html

See the websites (links at the side) to sign up as an SP Adopter if you have not already. Time is of the essence!

See the Simpol-UK website to comment on policy suggestions and propose your alternatives if you wish.

Climate change event in Diversity 2007 Festival - 11 March 9 pm GMT (UK time)

Diversity Festival event, 11 March, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm PST.
Peoples' Theatre, Han Loso and
SP Adopters' Hang out, Tangun
With Aubrey Meyer (recorded last week) and Luzo Orbit.

You can listen in live on SL-SPAG radio. See:
http://www.live365.com/stations/luzoorbit/

Human activity, such as burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, has increased levels of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere. These so-called greenhouse gases trap heat reaching the Earth from the sun and temperatures are increasing. If this continues unchecked the planet will become inhospitable to human life.

Second Life Simultaneous Policy Adopters' Group (SL-SPAG) is holding a policy forum on climate change during the Diversity Festival 2007. SP brings people together around the world to discuss solutions to global problems, with a strategy for gaining political support for their implementation, a strategy that is working.

Aubrey Meyer, Director of the Global Commons Institute, spoke at an SP event last week and his presentation will be played with live explanation of SP from Luzo Orbit and discussion.

SL-SPAG Radio launches

If you visit the SP Amphitheatre in Second Life now the radio player gives you the option of SP Radio.

You can still select specific interviews and tracks, but the radio runs continuously.

I am planning to do an 'SP update' slot each week, with a live broadcast of news and responses to questions.

So look out for the first 'SP update' next week. Wednesday 14 March at 1pm PST (9pm UK time), with a special report on climate change event on 11 March (I hope you'll be listening).

You can listen to SL-SPAG radio in the amphitheatre, or visit the station home page at:
http://www.live365.com/stations/luzoorbit/

Alternatively post the following URL into your browser window and it should open up your radio player:
http://www.live365.com/stations/luzoorbit?play

It's not too slick at the moment. Recording of public meetings needs some quality control.

And I'm working on the jingles.

Climate Change Policy Forum - 28 February 2007

Organised by Simpol-UK

It was not possible to broadcast this live due to regulations in the House of Commons (UK Parliament), where the meeting took place.

You can hear the presentations here using an on-line mp3 player, either separately or in one go. You can also download all presentations as a podcast.

A: Chair, Donald Martin, welcome and introduction. 1 min 20 secs

B: John Stewart, Director Airport Watch. 7 mins 25 secs

C: Martin Horwood MP, host. Mr Harwood has signed the pledge to implement the Simultaneous Policy alongside other governments. 3 mins 58 secs

D: Aubrey Meyer, Director, Global Commons Institute. 24 mins 11 secs

E: John Bunzl, National Coordinator, Simpol-UK. 9 mins 23 secs

All presentations - listen on-line.

All presentations - podcast.

An edited version of Aubrey Meyer’s presentation will be broadcast in Second Life as part of the Second Life SP Adopters’ Group event during the Diversity Festival at 9 pm UK time on Sunday 11 March.

Live speakers and question time too. Visit the blog for full details and the URL for the streaming server if you won't be in Second Life to attend the meeting.

John Bunzl's LSE talk

You can now hear John Bunzl's lecture at the London School of Economics from 27 February on the radio player in the amphitheatre. Just click on the player and select 'JB Lecture'.

You can listen to it with your on-line mp3 player by clicking here.

Or cut and past the following URL into the audio stream field of your player.

http://download-v5.streamload.com/mIHjyhuL~wF1K~eORT~2dl2~1uXOxFGJhKVY/mikebrady/FileManager/lsepresentation0207.mp3?action=stream

It has come out fairly well. Certainly clear enough to hear. There is a bit of key tapping and a short stuttery section when I was trying to run my Second Life browser at the same time as Nicecast. But not bad for a first attempt.

Leave your comments here, letting us now how well it came across. I'm particularly interested to know if you heard it live.

Having fun

Well, I've been making improvements in the SP amphitheatre. But there has still been some time to explore.

Dragonfly showed me a cool place for snowboarding.

This is at Wolf Mountain.

Here's a cool Salsa place worth visiting, which I took a snapshot of. This is at Acropolis Gardens.

SP climate change meetinghttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Simpol-UK, coordinator of the Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign in the UK, held a policy forum on climate change at the UK House of Parliament on 28 February.

We weren't able to broadcast this live as we had hoped due to Parliament's rules. So we are planning to broadcast the recording with a live question and answer session. I am thinking of 1 pm PST on Sunday 11 March. Would you come then? This could make it part of the Diversity Festival. IM Luzo Orbit if you have a preference for date and time.

Speakers were:

Aubrey Meyer, Global Commons Institute. This has developed a science-based proposal for saving the planet for human life, know as 'contraction and convergence'. Simply put, we need to contract our carbon emissions and converge as nations, so there is global justice in how we use our common ecosystem.

John Stewart of Stop Airport Expansion, spoke on the need for a coordinated policy on air travel, which is growing to become a major source of carbon emissions.

John Bunzl, Director of the International SP Organisation, picked up on the need for simultaneous action by countries around the world and explained how SP is working to make this happen.

The Member of Parliament who hosted the event, Martin Horwood, spoke very strongly in support of SP. He has signed the pledge to implement SP alongside other governments. A growing number of politicians are doing so.

If you wish to help the campaign, contact your elected representatives and call on them to sign the pledge. Also sign up as an Adopter in RL to vote on policy suggestions and put forward your own. See:
http://www.simpol.org.uk/

Meetings on 28 February

It is not possible to broadcast the meetings on 28 February live.

Recordings will be made available on-line and in the SP Adopters' amphitheatre in Second Life soon.

Details will be posted here soon.

Live broadcast from the London School of Economics

To listen enter the URL into your on-line mp3 player.

NO LONGER VALID

Email your input in question time to luzoorbit((AT))hotmail.co.uk

Replace ((AT)) with @

Broadcast testing today

Finally cracked how to broadcast into SL. After downloading various packages which internet searching suggested would help the solution came via a chat with the guy who runs the Hummingbird Café in SL.

There will be a test today. I will be online much of today (Monday 26th February). If you can come into SL, send an IM to Luzo Orbit and I'll tell you how to listen.

If you can't make it into SL and want to try out listening in the old-fashioned way, send an email to luzoorbit@hotmail.co.uk and I'll tell you what to do.

SP tent at the diversity festival

Verum Vacira, who is coordinating the Diversity Festival 2007, has kindly offered SL-SPAG a tent in the exhibition area. I've set up a few things from the noticeboard. Landmark givers, link to this blog, free t-shirts etc.


Above: In the non-profit section with Verum.

Below: Trying out the sofa in the tent. I'll aim to hang around there as much as I can.


If you can help staff the tent sometime to talk to people about SP, please send me an IM in world.

You can go direct to the tent by clicking this SL-URL:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Han%20Loso/170/47/62/

Or go to the SP amphitheatre (link to the left of this blog)) By the noticeboard is a big banner with Diversity 2007 on it and a box with a link to the festival complex and a notecard. Go to the festival complex and use the teleporter to go to the NP (Non-Profit) section.

Hear John Bunzl in the amphitheatre

Things are moving on a pace.

There is now a radio tuner in the amphitheatre and you can select to hear different recordings.

Here I am adding more of Chris's music (under the name RED).

And now I am starting to build up an audio library of interviews given by SP campaigners, starting with the founder of the campaign, John Bunzl.

This is an interview given to Global Public Media in January 2006.

You can also hear it online at
http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/interviews/650/

I'm looking to make the access system a little more sophisticated for browsing what can be heard and perhaps delivering a notecard with a summary.

New artists in the SP amphitheatre

A historic day yesterday as I cracked converting and uploading audio files so they can play in the amphitheatre in the SP Adopters' hang out.

The first song streamed into the area was 'Happy end of the world' by my RL friend Chris Blythe, with Fleur Sant. Drop in and listen by activating the in-world music player at the bottom of the browser window.

In the immediate future, I will be adding a radio player so you can opt to listen to an album of Chris's music, specially prepared for the SP amphitheatre, or to various radio interviews given by Simultaneous Policy campaigners.

See the previous blog for news of RL meetings that will be coming to the amphitheatre at the end of February.

Music wise, I am planning to feature new artists and look forward to arranging live concerts as well a putting up albums on the radio player. If you know anyone who would like to be featured, please direct them to this blog so they can contact me.

Here is the technical stuff on how I did it which may help you. Me too, if I forget. This is for a Mac.

The original file was in Quicktime, so the main challenge was converting it to mp3 as it seems SL will only play mp3 files.

1. Opened it with Quicktime pro and exported as an AIFF file.

2. Opened the AIFF file with Audacity (which won't open Quicktime files). Audacity can be downloaded from here. It needs LameLib to work, which can be downloaded from here.

3. Exported as mp3.

4. Uploaded to a free hosting site I found called MediaMax.

5. Opted to listen to the file from MediaMax, selecting to download the playlist file (this is usually automatically opened by iTunes or another media file - but save it instead).

6. Open Word or other text programme and open the playlist file. This will contain the URL of the streaming audio file.

7. Go to the land in SL where you want to play the audio. Click on the land description at the top of the browser to open the control window. Select the 'media' tab. Type the URL into into the top audio field (cut and paste doesn't work to put things into SL unfortunately).

If you have a radio player there will be a playlist where the URL can be put. Alternatively it should be possible to create a playlist with more than one song in MaxMedia so an album of songs can be played.

Watch this space for news of these plans being implemented.

SL and RL meetings 27/28 February 2007

There are three meetings coming up in London which I hope to bring into SL.

If you are able, you are welcome to come along to the RL meetings. I aim to stream the meetings themselves, or interviews with speakers, into SL.

The three meetings are:

27 February: London School of Economics Environmental Initiatives Network (LSEEIN) meeting on SP. 6.30pm – 8 pm (UK time) 10.30am - 12 noon (PST).

28 February: Simpol-UK strategic planning meeting (open to SP Adopters). 10am – 1 pm (UK time) 2am - 5am (PST).

28 February: Simpol-UK Policy Forum on Climate Change. House of Commons. 3pm – 5 pm (UK time) 7am - 9am (PST).

Details of locations of the RL meetings are given below.

Also see the notice board at the SP Adopters’ hang out.

Details on how to participate in SL will be sent out in due course.

The following is the email announcement sent out by Simpol-UK to the global email lists. To join these RL lists sign up as an SP Adopter at http://www.simpol.org/ or http://www.simpol.org.uk/ Please mention you heard about SP from Luzo Orbit if this is the case.

---Simpol-UK announcement
There are three important meetings concerning SP taking place on 27th and 28th February which should interest you and we hope you'll come along and participate.

London School of Economics Environmental Initiatives Network (LSEEIN)

LSEEIN are holding an event focused on Simpol. It will be held at the LSE, Lecture Theatre U8, Tower 1 on Tuesday 27th February 6.30pm - 8pm. For more information, please go to
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/alumniRelations/reunionsandevents/events/20070227.htm

John Bunzl will be speaking along with other speakers yet to be confirmed by LSEEIN.

To reach the venue, enter Houghton St from Aldwych and walk to the end, turn right to Clements Inn - Tower Block 1 is on the right and the lecture theatre is on the 8th floor. For more directions, go to http://www.lse.ac.uk/ and click on 'Maps & Directions'.
The meeting is free and open to the public. To book your place, please email alumnievents@lse.ac.uk or call 020-7955 7050.


Simpol-UK Strategic Planning Meeting 28 February

All UK Adopters are welcome to participate in shaping Simpol-UK's strategic plan for the coming 1-2 years. The meeting will be held on Wednesday 28th February, 10am - 1pm at Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL in the Betrand Russell room. Attendance is free and if you will be coming, please let us know by contacting Diana Trimble dtrimble@simpol.org or call 020-8464 4141.

Simpol-UK's first Strategic Plan was agreed in 2004 and our progress in the following two years against the objectives and targets set are summarised in the Simpol-UK 2006 Year Report which can be freely downloaded from http://www.simpol.org.uk/yearreport06.php
If you require a copy by post, please request one from Diana Trimble dtrimble@simpol.org


Simpol-UK Policy Forum on Climate Change 28 February

In our 2006 survey of Adopters' priorities on the policy content of SP, climate change was voted the nr. 1 priority by UK Adopters. As a result, we are holding a meeting open to all Adopters and the public to provide more information on this urgent issue and how it can be tackled. The meeting will be held at the House of Commons, Committee Room 16 on Wednesday 28th February 3pm - 5pm. Speakers invited are:

Aubrey Meyer, Director of the Global Commons Institute http://www.gci.org.uk/ will speak on Contraction & Convergence, a global policy to deal with climate change which has received widespread public support and has been submitted for possible inclusion in the Simultaneous Policy (SP).

Norman Baker MP, former campaigner on the environment for the Liberal Democrats. http://www.normanbaker.org.uk/

A representative of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research which advises the government on climate change.http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/

John Bunzl, National Coordinator of Simpol-UK and trustee of ISPO will speak about SP as an alternative yet complementary means by which citizens can drive their politicians and governments towards cooperative international action to combat climate change. http://www.simpol.org.uk/

Attendance is free but please email dtrimble@simpol.org or call on 020-8464 4141 to let us know if you are coming.

Many thanks
John Bunzl

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John Bunzl - National Coordinator
Simpol-UK
The Simultaneous Policy Organisation of the UK
http://www.simpol.org.uk/
SP: Humanity taking responsibility

SP Adopters' t-shirt free at the hang out

Well folks, here it is, available in standard and female versions.

It has the SP logo and the slogan 'How do you want the world to be?' With the Simultaneous Policy name and website. Just like the RL version available at www.simpol.org.uk

Except the SL one is free, you can copy it to give away and it's a lot easier to change the length of the sleeves.

You can pick one up at the noticeboard in the hang out.

This is my first proper item of clothing made in SL, so don't be too critical.

And if you have any ideas for t-shirt designs, SL or RL, please let me know.

SP newsletter

The international newsletter, It's Simpol ! Winter 2007/07 is now available. And guess what? It has the hang out featured on the cover!!!


You can find it via the link posted on the noticeboard at the hang out. Or download it direct from the Simpol-UK website.

Swimming pool installed

I've built a swimming pool at the hang out. Here's Dragonfly trying it out, while I relax.

You need swimmer 1.1 to swim in it. You can pick that up at Siggy's Waterworld. Price was L$400 last time I visited.

Try out the pool next time you visit or sunbathe around it. The radio covers this area now, so you can hear the same music as at the dance floor and hot tub.

If you would like a pool, let me know. This fits on a 512 sq. m. plot. It needs water from Siggy's Waterworld, which is L$250. I can install a pool without the water (and help you with that once you've bought it) for just L$200. Bargain. IM if you are interested.

SL-Simultaneous Policy Adopters' Group meeting 11 Jan 2007

The first meeting of the SL Simultaneous Policy Adopters' Group (SL-SPAG) took place on 11 January in the amphitheatre on Tangun.

(Above: settling down at the amphitheatre. The chat and screen worked fine, a language translator looks promising and we will try a group test of the Ventrilo voice system at a future meeting).

It was a great meeting with half a dozen of us from UK, Canada and USA, plus a couple of visitors from the Diversity 2007 project.

It was agreed to try to set up some events and speakers, starting with a friend of Dnali's who is an expert on climate change. Look out for an announcement soon. Join the SP Adopters' Group in world to receive alerts.

There is a noticeboard in the meeting place with useful information. This includes notecards and Land Marks (LMs) for use in world and links to websites in Real Life (RL).

If you are a member of the SL-SPAG that does not make you an RL supporter of the campaign. To register in RL visit the website http://www.simpol.org/

Please mention you heard about the Simultaneous Policy campaign from Luzo Orbit or though SL-SPAG when you register.

The Simultaneous Policy (SP) is being developed by people around the world to address global problems such as climate change, unfair trade and unsustainability. Anyone can get involved in SL by joining the SP Adopters' Group or just come along to meetings to find out more.

We'll have guest speakers on topics you choose. I'll also stream into the amphitheatre meetings from RL and act as host to put your questions to speakers when possible.

We can use the technology for other things too, such as bands or training on aspects of SL. Just let me know what you want to do.

In parallel with this is the Cooperative Communities idea, which is a campaign in SL for neighbours, particularly on the mainland, to work together in developing their land. It's about cooperating and consensus. Those of us with land bordering each other around the hang out are the core of the new group and we agreed to meet whenever there are issues that need discussing.

At the end of the meeting we had a visit from Verum Vacirca who is organising the Diversity 2007 project. You can find information about this by picking up a notecard at the hang out.

SL-SPAG is interested in cooperating with the project, particularly a plan to have a world map where cultural and other information can be displayed. One idea is to do something on global warming to show how many tonnes of carbon dioxide are produced by people in each country and how simultaneous action is needed to address this problem.

So a great start with lots of ideas. I look forward to the next.