a conversation with Dean Steele-Bennett of Melbourne Greendrinks

TEN MINUTES WITH
DEAN STEELE-BENNETT

When I first meet Dean Steele-Bennett, he is a blur of smiles, handshakes and laughs as he works his way across the crowded restaurant. He is sporting a very stylish Melbourne-black tie, and is surrounded by beautiful people.

I grab him as he walks past and ask, "If you were a new college graduate with an education and interest in sustainability, who in this room would you talk to about getting an awesome job in that field?"

He pauses, surveys the room quickly, and says, "I know just the person...". I introduce him quickly to Vanessa, whom I have just met at this Greendrinks event, and her jaw drops as she rushes to follow him through the crowd to meet his contact.

Dean is the organizer of Melbourne Sustainability Drinks, one of 3 events listed for Melbourne on the Greendrinks website. He is a volunteer "green collar mentor" to the Fellowship participants undertaking the sustainability leadership program at the Center for Sustainability Leadership, and actively volunteers with other community organizations as well.

"I want to help show people how they can have a fun, cheeky, rewarding, and planet-friendly lifestyle," says Dean. "Living a more sustainable lifestyle does not have to be extreme."

Dean is a co-founder of The Shaper Group, a group of companies that work with businesses, government, and non-profit organizations who want to embrace sustainabilty. Their focus is to help these organizations imrpove their competitive advantage and reputation by embracing more sustainable business practices.

Prior to co-founding The Shaper Group of companies, Dean held various management, consulting, and senior research roles for Russell Reynolds Associates, Korn/Ferry International (FutureStep), and KPMG Executive Search. In addition to successfully identifying CEO, C-Suite, and other executives for leading ASX300, Fortune 500, government and higher education clients internationally, he is passionate about making a positive difference in his community...and is just a very fun guy to hang around with!

For more information about the origins, benefits, and future direction of this event, watch the video interview posted above! Click here for the trailer...

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Links to resources mentioned in the interview:

1. Future Canvas
2. Sustainable Living Foundation
3. Sustainable Living Festival
4. Carbon Innovators Network
   

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Street Music

AUTUMN SUN ON MELBOURNE

Melbourne's streets thrum with music, art and life at all hours. It's one of the things I love about this city.

The other day, I walked with the crowd up the stairs from the train platform at Flinders St station, in the midst of a mystical musical landscape created by a busker sitting on his guitar amp caressing his strings. The guitar had a clean tone, and the sweetly haunting music cascaded down the steps and washed through the crowd.

As I neared the top of the steps, a voice like butter wove lyrics that were vaguely familiar....after a couple more steps the penny drops, and I marvel at his strangely sweet version of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters". His music is like eating foie gras: it's oh-so-good, and it's oh-so fine... and you know there is a dark side to the pleasure you are indulging in the whole time.

I step onto the crosswalk and into the night, surreal now with his music fading into the background of moonlit city streetscapes.

It happened so quickly - the time it takes to walk up a flight of stairs, through the train station turnstyle, and to the sidewalk. I have the presence of mind to flip a $2 coin into his open guitar case, but not to stop and take a photo; though my guess is that would have diminished the surrealism of the experience. The moment, and the feelings he evoked in me, are etched into my memory banks of Melbourne.

Walking around the streets of Melbourne, this kind of experience can happen at any time, so rich is the tapestry of buskers... I have seen child prodigies on pianos, flautists, guitarists, quartets, preachers, acrobats, jugglers, beatboxers, comedians, and freaks... some talented, some you would pay to shut them up...

The other day I read an article in the newpaper about Rupert Guenther, a Melbourne street-busker who honed his unique style of improvising classical music on his violin for five years, eeking out a living by playing music for passers-by.

He attended a masterclass in February at the renowned Julliard School in New York being given by Dr David Dolan, a professor at Guildhall and the Menuhin School. Dr Dolan was so impressed with Rupert that he suggested he audition in the UK at Guildhall's Centre for Classical Improvisation and Creative Performance. Rupert took his advice, and is now on his way to becoming an internationally acclaimed artist and teacher, like many of his alumni at the prestigous school.

Sounds like a screenplay in the making... I just love the creativity that just oozes from the pores of this city!

NOT RUPERT GUENTHER

NOT RUPERT GUENTHER EITHER!


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Melbourne Greendrinks!

MELBOURNE GREENDRINKS!

Sustainability Drinks Melbourne is one of three similar events that is listed on the greendrinks.org website, and is held on the first Wednesday of every month at Tjanabi at Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne.

Organizer Dean Steele-Bennett started this event 18 months ago with 5 mates over a beer. They were lamenting the lack of a fun, informal, open forum for like-minded individuals concerned and involved with Sustainability issues to meet - as real people, instead of job titles or organizations - and collaborate on solutions...and thus was born Sustainability Drinks Melbourne! Six months later, a guest at their event told them the story of Greendrinks, and a new challenge was born.

Steele-Bennett selected Tjanabi as the venue for his event specifically because of their focus on "supporting practices that sustain the environment". The owner, Carolyn Briggs, is a Senior Elder and Spokesperson of the Boonerwrung people - the indigenous peoples of Melbourne. Tjanabi's menu features such traditional ingredients as kangaroo, emu, crocodile, wild boar and seafood. These foods are combined with some of the best quality regional and seasonal produce from the Gippsland region.

The event is marketed exclusively by word-of-mouth, and RSVPs are required, as Sustainability Drinks Melbourne regularly attracts 200+ people, and has to turn away 50-100 people each month due to the restaurant's capacity.

The organizers read about New York Greendrinks' record-largest GD event, with over 800 attendees, and began plans to set a new record for the largest Greendrinks' event in the world. This came to fruition on February 15th 2008, as part of Melbourne's annual Sustainable Living Festival. Sustainability Drinks collaborated with the organizers of EnviroDrinks and the O2Australia network, when a massive Greendrinks event was held in Federation Square with over 2,000 people in attendance!

This month's Guest Speaker was Marcus Godinho, founder of Fare Share, a non-profit organization whose goal this year is to deliver 1,000,000 free meals to the homeless and hungry population of Melbourne. Marcus was named to Melbourne's 100 most influential people by local newspaper The Age last year.

Fare Share turns good food that is otherwise destined for the dumpster into restaurant-quality meals for charitable organizations since the year 2000.

Over 1,500 volunteers are supported by only 5 paid staff, which includes two professional chefs. Local companies of all sizes utilize the volunteer program as a team building exercise, and do their part to contribute to their communities. The companies often realize additional benefits by reporting on their teams' participation in their annual Social Responsibility Reports.

We had a great night out with the organizing team and fellow attendees, continuing the conversation with new friends at a bar across the road at the conclusion of the event. A number of people walking up and introducing themselves to me throughout the night - everyone was warm, friendly, and interested in what the other had to say - there was an excited energy of innovation in the air, like we were all participating in something special. What a great environment for collaboration!

Later on, Daniel tells me that the typically diverse crowd that night included venture capitalists, documentary film-makers, governmental policy-makers, private consultants, students, job-seekers, entrepreneurs, and even an eco-friendly brewmaster. Stay tuned for an interview with the Organizer of Sustainability Drinks Melbourne, Dean Steele-Bennett!

For more information on how to support Fare Share, visit their website or contact Marcus at:
T: +61 3 9428 0044
M: +61 416 180 802
E: marcus.godinho@fareshare.net.au

For more information on Sustainability Drinks Melbourne, visit their website or contact Dean at:
T: +61 3 9614 6511
M: +61 424 507 446
E: dsb@executiveshaper.com

MORE PICS

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Chloe

YOUNG & JACKSON'S PUB,
HOME OF GRANDPA'S FAMOUS GIRLFRIEND:
CHLOE

The first time I ever saw a naked woman was at a bar with my Grandpa.

My Grandpa, Keith Lynch, owned the McKinnon pub [about 1/2 mile away from where Mum & Dad live today], and brought up Dad and his 3 brothers here; as a result the Lynch men are a very colorful bunch...our family get-togethers are always fascinating affairs!

The misadventures of the Lynch boys growing up in and around the pub would make for a great novel: pet snakes escaping into the neighborhood, unexpected overnight stays in the walk-in fridge, fast cars, and the girls next-door to name a few...but these are other stories that will be told another time...

This is a Grandpa Keith story [of which there are also a great many tales of misadventure], and I digress.

In 1985, the year before we moved to Oz, Dad took me on a scouting trip to Melbourne to prepare for the family's move the following year.

Grandpa was, of course, tickled to see his eldest son's eldest son come to Melbourne for the first time and took it upon himself to show me around. He booked us an all-day bus tour [highly recommended!] which included, among other things, a visit to Healsville Sanctuary to see a real live kangaroo, and a stop at Ferguson's Winery for lunch and a tour. breakfast that day was my first Aussie four'n'twenty meatpie [no the ketchup did not look like that on my pie]...

Long story short, after the tour was over and Grandpa had charmed all the ladies on the tour bus over lunch at the winery, he says, "I want to introduce you to my girlfriend", and takes me to the famous Young & Jackson's Hotel, across from Flinders Street station at the entrance to Melbourne central business district.

Grandpa sits me down at the bar, my 8-year old legs dangling off the barstool as I peer over the countertop, and orders himself a pint of beer, and me a shirley temple.

We sip our drinks and then raise our glasses to toast his girlfriend, "To Chloe!".... who is the 12 foot high nude oil painting hanging on the wall next to the bar!

"Sweet things do not go well
with a bitter Aussie lager -
Chloe is an exception"
-Rafal Zakrzewski, Beer Historian (2001)-

Today, the bar is different that I remember. My feet no longer dangle from the barstools, and I can lean over the countertop to order my own beer. Chloe now lives upstairs, overlooking the busy intersection that is home to Federation Square, St Paul's Cathedral, and Flinders Street Station.

I take a moment to myself today and climb the upstairs to visit her; she hasn't aged a day. As I hoist my glass to toast her, an old digger and his wife wink at me and comment about the gleam in my eye.

Here's to Chloe!

TO CHLOE!
AND TO YOU, GRANDPA...



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voyeur

THEME SONG FOR THE DAY:

1. "Guaranteed" by Eddie Vedder, from the soundrack "Into the Wild"
   

ACLAND STREET ROOFTOP

Today I people-watched.

This afternoon the sun broke through they grey of this morning, and so I ventured down to Acland Street in St Kilda, the wonderful little corner of the world that my Dad affectionately calls "The Armpit of the World".

It is such a surreal little stretch of asphalt, the gaping maw of Luna Park welcoming you to an avenue lined with cakeshops and coffeeshops and bookstores and boutiques. Garish characters on rooftops leer at you and wander the street muttering to themselves, while artists and musicians and other denizens of bohemia sit and sip on flat white coffees, passionately discussing existentialism, politics, music and art.

This trip to Melbourne has so far been a wonderful whirlwind of reunions with family and friends, a blur of lattes and pints of beer and delicious meals shared with warm conversations and catchings-up. I feel like I could quite easily spend the whole of the next 12 months looking up old friends and acquaintances... It would be so easy, and so safe to just stay here...

As I wandered through the streets and gardens today, I observed myself observing others, a surreal feeling of watching a movie that is playing out in real time right before your eyes, except that you are participating, and watching, all at the same time; a lucid dream, except that I am wide-awake...

...a now-familiar feeling has been growing in my belly - it is the feeling that bubbles up to my conscious thought stream and whispers "I am no longer here". I am ready to move on.

Being a happy child surrounded by loving family in Hawaii is a blessing that I shall always treasure - all my childhood memories are full of joy and laughter. You don't truly appreciate the beauty of a place until you leave it.

As little people we all make decisions about ourselves, other people, and the world based upon our experiences, that shape our thinking, and therefore our words, actions, and habbits....and therefore our REALITY.

The despair, angst and sheer anger that I felt during my teen years served to drive much of the outward material successes I enjoyed in my 20s, though has long since faded. Anger, when focused to a point, can create positive results. The problem is that anger is a poor foundation upon which to build a legacy, and, when suppressed, will explode violently.

This stands in stark contrast to my current experience of Melbourne: peaceful, joyful, and connected. I have made my peace with this city, and with the experiences and emotions of the past.

Today I wandered and watched, enjoying the simplest details - snippets of conversations overheard in the street, the laughs of a young family tending to their plot in the community garden, the cacophony of screeching seagulls and cawing crows bathed in the soft, warm glow of the afternoon sun. The big, cold blue sky stretches far away above me, fading into deep indigos as the quiet drama of another Melbourne sunset slips away on the horizon.

"...A mind full of questions
And a teacher in my Soul..."
- "Guaranteed", from the soundtrack "Into The Wild"
by Eddie Vedder -

THE ARMPIT OF LUNA PARK

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