[Sarah Vann-Sander]

I used to dream of taking over the World Bank and really creating change in the World! But after living in Europe, South America, the United States and South East Asia I started to realise how incredibly different the World is and how if we want our efforts to have lasting effects we need to think global but act local. Creating social change is very context specific and its about utilising the local knowledge and value system (rather than trying impose something from the outside). Of course a top-down approach is required in many cases, but its the simultaneously, iterative and adaptive nature of working with a bottom-up approach as well that I believe you will be the most effective.

[Sarah Vann-Sander]

Hi there,

I agree with both of your sentiments entirely. In a personal capacity I am very interested in ‘awareness’ in a spiritual sense, neurobiological sense and even the quantum mechanics of it all. But in a professional sense I am interested in creating social change through both global, local and community action. My research has found a very strong correlation between long-term social change and awareness/knowledge/social interconnectedness. Interesting, no? I am in the process of starting a nonprofit focussed solely on ‘marine awareness’ with the intended outcome to encourage marine conservation through local action. I think there is a shift in the way many nonprofits are going about business as they start to realise how important awareness really is in the equation. I would be interested in your thoughts on how we can develop the skills necessary to modulate awareness on a broader scale to, say, change perceptions about sustainability?

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