The Sustainability Symbol

“Dragonpreneur” Dubs Salt Spring cradle of  sustainable thought

By SEAN MCINTYRE
Driftwood Staff

As a former MBA professor at Hong Kong’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, one would have never imagined Philip McMaster would be leading a global charge to save the planet, but that’s exactly what he’s up to, three fingers at a time.
If you’ve already run into McMaster, or Professor P! as he’s known to school children on Salt Spring and beyond, he’s likely already asked you a few questions.
“The first thing I do is ask people to identify the two-fingered peace sign,” he said.
People always get it right, at which point he raises his ring finger and asks people the meaning of the three-fingered salute.
Few are aware of the symbol and that’s where McMaster steps in to help out.
“The three-fingered salute represents society, environment and economy,” he said.  A balance between these three elements, he said, is required to ensure people on earth live in a sustainable and
responsible manner.

 (Musical icon and Salt Spring resident Valdy shares Sustainability Symbol with Philip McMaster  Photo: Julianna Slomka)

 “Then, I ask them to repeat the exercise with three people they know,” he said.
Sounds like a simple enough idea, but the response has been so strong, McMaster has even surprised himself.
“Not only has the three-finger salute registered, it has taken hold,” he said. “The symbol is not political or religious in any way. it’s totally non-prescriptive. I’m just asking them to think. Once people start thinking about this, they’ll start acting that way.”

(Valdy shares Sustainability Symbol with off-island friends)

While McMaster admits he’s been preaching to the converted on Salt Spring, that wasn’t the case in Hong Kong, an environment where turning a profit trumps talk of sustainability.
McMaster taught his students the salute as a way for them to remember that there is more [to life] than making money for money’s sake.
“This way I hope they can remember to incorporate that balance into whatever it is they choose to do,” he said. “It is my hope that they will become part of the solution.”

Much like the peace sign defined a generation eager for social and political revolution, McMaster said he hopes the three-fingers will become a rallying point for a new generation of environmental consciousness.
The sustainability symbol, he said, doesn’t really ask participants to do or buy anything and that’s what has allowed it to take off around the globe, McMaster said.
Aside from taking off in parts of Hong Kong, McMaster has kept track of the symbols progress on his website.

According to the late news, he said, the symbol has reached Egypt and is about to enter Qatar. Before landing on Salt Spring two months ago, McMaster spent much of his time speaking at trade shows, music festivals and classrooms in Asia and across Canada.
The Quebec-born entrepreneur, teacher, photographer and activist is the founder of the UpNorth News, Cool to be Canadian and an e-waste initiative [called Aucun Ordi Perdu] basedin Montreal. McMaster has taught business in China and has developed an ethical-entrepreneurship program called Dragonpreneur.
McMaster also started an adventure travel company geared towards sustainable and environmentally friendly initiatives.
While he remains eager to cultivate his many organizations’ global reach, McMaster said he feels as though the number of like-minded people on Salt Spring make it an ideal base from which to work.
“I got here and everything really came together,” he said. “A lot of people are in tune with sustainability issues and that works for me.”

(Residents of Salt Spring Island, British Columbia Share the Sustainability Symbol after viewing Leonardo Dicaprio’s “11th Hour” Climate Change Film)

A passage on McMaster’s blog, www.dragonpreneur.com  summarizes his attitudes:
“On my first visit, mid September, there was a sense of synchronicity in the air - Salt Spring Island is a community of people who are making an effort to THINK about the way they live - the three finger Sustainability Symbol is no surprise for them,” he writes.

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SEAN MCINTYRE
Reporter
Gulf Islands Driftwood
328 Lower Ganges Rd.
Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2V3 Canada
Tel. 250-537-9933; fax 250-537-2613

A tongue-in-cheek story by Theresa Storm - Freelance Travel Writer who met Philip McMaster at the Adventure Travel World Summit in Whistler, B.C.

Oct07 2007       
Giving The Finger…s. Pass It On.
Giving the finger to the 500+ delegates gathered in the Whistler Conference Centre was a most unusual start to the third annual Adventure Travel World Summit, held for the first time in a Canadian outdoor playground.
Holding up two fingers, lanky Canadian expat Philip McMaster asked the multinational crowd what it means.
“Peace!” folks from 34 countries shouted in unison.
Adding a third finger, McMaster continued, “And this?”
Silence…
Rushing like a bull into the stillness, McMaster enthused, “the meaning of the three-finger salute is sustainability!”
 
 He created it, he explained, to help his Asian university students remember sustainability’s three elements: caring for society, environment and economy.

Like the peace symbol, McMaster hopes it will soon be universally recognized.
Showing their adventurous spirit, speakers and delegates alike embraced the timely symbol, giving each other “the fingers” throughout the four-day shindig.

(Photo: National Geographic Adventure Magazine Publisher Francis Farrell and Ang Tshering Sherpa, President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association)

After all, sustainable, a.k.a. green, a.k.a. eco, is one of the hottest trends in travel today and came up time and again.
 As well as crystal-ball-gazing at trends in the global adventure travel market, the industry types spent a couple of days sharing ways to move lookers to bookers – a challenge for all in the rapidly changing travel biz.

(Philip McMaster and Theresa Storm share the Sustainability Symbol  at the Adventure Travel World Summit)

P.S. from McMaster — please pass the three-finger symbol on!
 
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Theresa (at) stormcommunications.ab.ca

Fans of the show “Deal No Deal” and its host Howie Mandel are in for a treat next week - HOWIE IS GOING GREEN - complete with a guest appearance by Kemit the Frog! 

But we know from meeting him a few months ago at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal that Howie Mandel already “Thinks Sustainably” and understands the importance of the Sustainability Symbol… and DragonTHINK - Society, Environment, Economy!

 Howie Mandel, host of gameshow Deal No Deal, shares the 3 finger Sustainability Symbol with the world.. Good Deal Howie!

 non-Executive Chairman Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba.com and Philip McMaster, founder of Dragonpreneur and the McMaster Institute of Sustainable Commerce in Hong Kong.

Jack Ma’s Alibaba.com IPO raised HK$13.1 billion; with shares closing at HK$39.50 on Novemer 6th 2007.
I am proud to know the “Dragonpreneur” who launched the largest Internet IPO in Asia and second largest globally.

Read more about the amazing success story of the team from Alibaba.com and Taobao.com

http://www.alibaba.com/aboutalibaba/releases_071106.html

Congratulations Jack!

Read the rest of this entry »

SALT SPRING COMMUNITY ACTION  on SUSTAINABILITY

Professor P! (Philip McMaster) tells us that the McMaster Institute for Sustainable Commerce is looking for passionate people who have the skills and talent to create an exceptional web presence, animators, documentary film makers, educators, illustrators, cartoonists, photographers, translators, writers, administrators, legal experts and any individual who considers themselves to be part of the solution to global warming and climate change and wants to share their passion for the planet with others.  Action groups, Advisors and Active Contributors and Collaborators will be formed in the first two weeks of November here in Salt Spring -   All ages can be involved, and you can become part of the “Optimistic Truth” team by dropping into the I-SEA Centre at  124 Lower Ganges Rd. or by dropping your business card with the words “Optimistic Truth” in the Sustainability Challenge boxes around Salt Spring. Readers can participate at any level that suits them – join www.Rethos.com/Philip to join an on-line alliance of sustainable change agents,  or find out more about various programs and get help in learning how to profit from sustainable attitudes, by contacting the McMaster Institute for Sustainable Commerce (Hong Kong) through Margery Moore, Executive director of Institute for Sustainability Education & Action (I-SEA) in Salt Spring at (250) 537-4400 or offer to help Philip McMaster directly by leaving a comment on this blog (Please mention the Driftwood Newspaper in your call, email or blog comment)

WHAT YOU CAN DO HERE ON SALT SPRING ISLAND!

How you can become part of the Optimistic Truth, and the solution to Global Warming: 

A. Share the Sustainability TEST with 3 other people in your travels, at your school, work or community gathering.

    To Review,  here’s the Sustainability TEST! 

1. Ask – “What’s this symbol mean?” (hold up the Peace/Victory/two finger sign)     Ask – “What’s this symbol mean?” (hold up three fingers, Peace-plus-one) 

2. Teach – “Three fingers represents SOCIETY – ENVIRONMENT – ECONOMY and the balance between the three” “use this thinking and S.E.E. the change” 

3. Share – “Now that you know what the 3 finger Symbol means, do the exact same test (repeat 1,2,3) with three other people” 

B. Take a creative photo, make a drawing, or post a YouTube video of your friends who have completed the test (showing 3 finger Sustainability Symbol) send it in, drop it off at I-SEA, or any of the Sustainability Challenge Boxes around Salt Spring. (don’t forget to attach your name, phone # and e-mail to the image.) 

C. Pay it Forward - Enter the names of 3 friends you would like to see win the prizes in the Sustainability Challenge (add your name to the nominations for special recognition) Ballot boxes for the Sustainability Challenge are located throughout Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada.

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www.traveln-on.com - Washington D.C. Radio shares Sustainability Symbol with the world

At the Adventure Travel World Summit in Whistler B.C.  earlier this month, I met Tonya and Ian Fitzpatrick, two incredibly well educated and well traveled tourism professionals. Tonya and Ian are also the hosts of Travel’n On Radio, a local Washington D.C and international broadcast via internet

The interview we recorded at the Summit in Whistler airs Saturday (10.20.2007) at the top of the hour on 630 WMAL from 1-2 pm ET.  http://rope.wmal.com/aud_archive/TN071020.mp3

Please consider listening to the show live or over the Internet or you can wait for us to put up a link to the archived copy of the interview.

I’m hoping to “check in” with Travel’n On Radio from time to time with some interesting stories to keep their listeners informed about the progress of the Sustainability Symbol around the world.

 Here are the details to find the interview:

LINK to Interview: (Within the first few minutes, after the ads!) http://rope.wmal.com/aud_archive/TN071020.mp3

Travel’n On Radio

www.traveln-on.com

Following the story of Dawa Steven Sherpa and his father Ang Tshering Sherpa, I attendend the 2007 Adventure Travel World Summit in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada from October 4th to 8th 2007.

Attending this gathering of the world’s adventure leaders, communicators, and providers of connections with the Earth’s beautiful and exotic environments was another fantastic opportunity to share the Sustainability TEST and the 3 finger Sustainability Symbol with the worlds best communciators.

Posted on Flickr are a few of these people who THINK sustainably: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=3fingerw&w=7300793%40N06&s=rec

Beautiful Salt Spring Island, among the Gulf Islands near Vancouver Island B.C. has embraced the 3 finger symbol of sustainability.

On my first visit, mid September, there was a sense of synchronicity in the air - Salt Spring Island is a community of people who are making an effort to THINK about the way they live - the 3 finger Sustainability Symbol (DragonTHINK) is no surprise for them.

I’ve met more wonderful individuals on Salt Spring than any other place on Earth - people who appear to live what they talk (Walk the Talk) and largely live in harmony with Society, the Environment and the Local and International Economy.

I intend to post my experiences with:

1. Salt Spring Coffee Company and the 3 fingers of Sustainability

2. Kaz and her Salt Spring Retreat

3. Julianna and the kindness of Salt Spring community

4. Mt. Maxwell and a celebration of people, environment and entertainment

5. Margery Moore and the Institute for Sustainability Education and Action (I-SEA) on Salt Spring Island

6. Salt Spring Centre School and the next generation of Sustainable Citizens.

and many other experiences.

September 2007 - Lecture at University of Manitoba on Sustainability http://www.themanitoban.com/2007-2008/0912/111.In.Brief.php

 If two fingers mean “peace,” what do three fingers mean?

According to Philip McMaster, a lecturer at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the three fingers stand for “Society, environment, and economy.”

He devised the salute to teach bottom-line business students, children afraid of global warming, and famous entrepreneurs alike that “you can’t have one without the other.”

“Anyone with a hand and three fingers has got the truth,” McMaster said. “I call it . . . ‘An Optimistic Truth’ — you’re either part of the solution or part of the problem. If you’re part of the solution, then you’re with millions of other people who are making the world a better place.”

McMaster was at the University of Manitoba on Sept. 6 to give a lecture on his DragonTHINK /“SEE” principle (Hand of Gaia) at the invitation of business professor Barry Prentice of the Asper School of Management.

McMaster tied Prentice’s research, into the feasibility of airship transportation to Canada’s North, to his three-finger approach: it benefits the “society, environment and economy” of both the North and South, he said.

The three fingers are like “neurolinguistic programming,” McMaster said: “if you say it enough times to yourself, and the balance between Society, Environment and Economy (SEE) become part of your thinking process,  then that’s what you’re going to do.”

From THE MANITOBAN http://www.themanitoban.com/2007-2008/0912/111.In.Brief.php

The presentation at the Asper School of Business was a resounding success, with Professor P! (Philip McMaster) invited back to present to a second class.

Professor Barry Prentice sharing his thoughts on the implications of transportation within Society, the Environment and the Economy of Manitoba.

Professor P! (Philip McMaster) reveals the Secret symbol of Sustainability to student of the Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba

Students from class on Transportation learn about balance.