Thankfully there are those who are tackling these thorny questions. In October 2009 the 6th Gaining Ground Summit series attracted 600 people to Vancouver, BC to learn, talk about, and build connections around the theme of “Resilient Cities.”

Check out Mark Holland’s Resilient Cities Manifesto:

“I will open to the pain that I cause in the world through my ignorance and fear and the distance I seem to have from my internal dignity and nobility, and I will feel the pain, shock and injustice of participating in the death of so many, if only by accident — and then I will move past the grief to the restless serenity of my responsibility — to my planet, to my community, to my family, and to myself.”

Games are essential to our human experience and they form a part of every culture.

Defined as structured activities undertaken for fun, games are more and more being used as educational tools. By making aspects of education and work fun through games, attention and retention among participants can be greatly enhanced. The defense industry has understood this for many years — investing heavily in gaming software to enhance soldier training.

Business continuity professionals can now use a new and unique tool to reinvigorate  readiness exercises.

Disaster games can provide the missing link — FUN — to address the often overlooked aspect of business continuity plans — realistic exercises! Through fun but realistic scenarios, your team’s creativity can be applied to quickly identify gaps in your plans so they can be corrected.

Remember: The purpose of a disaster game exercise is NOT to win the game -  but rather to identify weaknesses in your plans and to engage and educate the participants so they are prepared for when the real event happens.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN — BEFORE THE DISASTERS DO!

Other disaster gaming resources can be found here:

www.stopdisastersgame.org
www.incidentcommander.net
And for your kids can too: www.fema.gov/kids/games1

Anyway, my zoo trek reminded me that we all can — and must — do our part to preserve the precious planet that we share with all its amazing, colorful, and playful inhabitants (my daughter included).

Climbing ocelots need healthy tree limbs to pounce from. Waddling penguins need solid ice to slide on. Silly sea otters need healthy clams to crack. And my daughter (who contributed to this post) needs to marvel at these creatures’ splendor for years to come … and so do her children.

So what simple changes can we all make in the workplace to reduce our collective footprint — even if  you’re not a “green business”? Here are some things we’re doing. Please comment below and let us know what you’re up to.

• Ship using UPS’s carbon neutral program
• Go paperless — ask vendors to invoice electronically; get all your statements online
• Invest in a duplex printer — when you must print, at least you’re using both sides of the paper
• Recycle used toner cartridges — most manufacturers have a program to ship them back for free
• Get energy-efficient office equipment — printers and PCs that automatically sleep when not in use
• Use CFL lightbulbs — they use only about 1/10 the power of incandescent bulbs
• Host online meetings and conference calls in lieu of traveling (when you can)
• Go green with website hosting — options are available to not serve up content when site is idle
• And there’s countless things to do at home — even my daughter knows when raspberry season is!

I’ll leave you with this to ponder:

“Analyses of air contained in ice from the Antarctic ice cap show that there is far more CO₂ in the air today than at any time in the last 650,000 years.”  -United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction