With the threat looming of the U.S. getting involved in yet another devastating war, Films of Vision and Hope will take a look at a remarkable alternative. In 1948, Costa Rica dismantled its military establishment and intentionally cultivated security relationships with other nations through treaties, international laws, and international organizations. Free of the burden of military spending, they used the financial savings to invest in their people, creating strong public institutions including public higher education and universal health care. In short, Costa Ricans created a society committed to peace, solidarity, and international law. They have survived with safety and relative prosperity for nearly 70 years without a standing army. ‘A Bold Peace’ details the events that shook the country to its foundations, culminating in the 1948 civil war and the decision to abolish the military. Over the decades, the Costa Rican model has survived several serious crises, but the current threats may be the most formidable of all. See the trailer… https://transitionpaloalto.org/2020/01/07/a-bold-peace-january-fourth-friday-films-of-vision-and-hope/

This free event (part of the ongoing Red Vic Lecture Series) features a presentation from Shareable's Tom Llewellyn and celebrates the release of the new book “The Response: Building Collective Resilience in the Wake of Disasters” (download a free PDF).   It will also feature a screening of Shareable's 30 minute documentary film, “The Response: How Puerto Ricans Are Restoring Power to the People.”

Please join Climable.org at our 17th Soup Supper! We enjoy these conversations about climate change, clean energy, and our role as responsible stewards of the environment. We would love for you to attend and participate as we host our 17th installment, which will include the short film, "The Response: How Puerto Ricans Are Restoring Power to the People" about the mutual support network in Puerto Rico that arose in response to Hurricanes Irma and María. Please swing by any time after 6 pm (when soup is served); the convo starts shortly after 7!

The Sharing Economy Global Summit is the most comprehensive source of education, networking and information sharing for the global sharing economy. Startups and sharing economy industry groups from Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North Africa and North America will converge on London, the world's business hub, to learn strategies and tactics tested and vetted through real-world experiences.

The Global Summit offers programming and resources from experts focused on trust and safety, digital identity, screening, payments and fraud prevention, data privacy and cybersecurity, compliance and regulatory, legal and insurance, and product, technology and innovation. The content is designed to equip startups at all stages with effective risk management and legal strategies that enable them to succeed.

When environmental disasters occur, the majority of news coverage teeters on the edge of “disaster porn” at best; focusing on the sheer mass of destruction and disruption to the affected regions while celebrating a few token “heroes.” At its worst, the media often perpetuates harmful stereotypes, depicting people trying to meet their basic needs for survival as “looters” and justifying the extrajudicial killings of people of color by the police and mostly white vigilantes, like what occurred during Hurricane Katrina. But in both scenarios, reporting routinely underplays how local communities come together to respond to the hardships they face while supporting each other during times of disruption. It’s a good thing that people gravitate together during a crisis rather than pushing each other away because all signs point towards an increase in climate change-fueled disasters in the coming years and decades. We'll be screening “The Response: How Puerto Ricans Are Restoring Power to the People” followed by a potluck, and a Q&A presentation from Tom Llewellyn, the head of The Response Project. Bring snacks or drinks or gosh darn for real dinner food to share for extra good person points. Or just bring you and your questions. About the presenter: Tom Llewellyn is a lifelong sharer, commoner, and storyteller from Canyon, CA. He’s spent much of the past decade traveling the US and Europe inspiring and empowering communities to share. He’s the strategic partnerships director for Shareable.net, executive producer and host of the documentary and podcast series The Response, and co-editor/author of “Sharing Cities: Activating the Urban Commons” and “The Response: Building Collective Resilience in the Wake of Disasters.” Follow Tom on twitter: @Shareabletom

With Ukraine, Serbia and Romania representing the leading providers of digital platform workers in Europe and beyond, eastern and southeastern Europe deserve a close look within the context of the future of work and gig economy. Yet, the different effects of platformization on the economies and societies in these European regions have not been thoroughly examined nor fully understood. To fill this gap, the regional edition of the conference in Novi Sad aims to open discussions about the anticipated impacts of the platform economy on workers, businesses, and societies in these parts of Europe. The conference offers a curated program with an excellent line-up of speakers, amongst them academics, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial blockbusters, regional and national policymakers, union organizers, and platform workers. Scheduled for the 27th & 28th of February 2020 in Novi Sad, Serbia — the forthcoming European Capital of Culture 2021 — the conference focuses on the future outlook of eastern and southeastern European countries in the context of the platform economy. Language of the event: English

If you could learn first-hand from normal, every-day people just like you, who have already achieved financial independence and early retirement, would you do it? On March 7th, 2020 at the University of Cincinnati, we invite you to the EconoMe Conference. The EconoMe Conference has roots in the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) which is a lifestyle movement with the goal of financial freedom. We're bringing together leading experts from the FIRE movement for a 1-day event to guide us in questioning our assumptions about happiness, freedom, and prosperity through the lens of personal finance. More specifically, attendees will learn: - How to aggressively crush your student loan and other debt through resourcefulness. - How to use investments to make your money work harder than you ever could. - 7 ways to escape the rat race and create your own financial freedom. - How to feel the freedom of early retirement through intentional living. Attendees will also have the opportunity to network with and learn from hundreds of others in the FIRE movement, check out the new documentary Playing with FIRE, and enjoy a rocking after-party.

You already get that every business has risk. And you probably understand that identifying and mitigating risk can mean the difference between success and failure. This is especially true for innovative and disruptive marketplace startups. But with so much information out there, where do you start?

As the first and only conference focused on risk management and legal strategy for marketplace startups, the ecosystem has turned to the Marketplace Risk Management Conference because it’s the most comprehensive source of education, networking and information sharing. Join investors, founders, executives, lawyers and operators from marketplace startups in the sharing, gig, on-demand, peer-to-peer and collaborative economy.