that provoke global warming. Human beings are exceeding nature’s capability to restore its equilibrium by itself. There are also migrations toward cities from rural areas; obviously, cities are not as sustainable as countryside. Related to social problems, population growth, poverty, access to social securities, medicines and education, they are all becoming impossible for governments and societies to solve. The gap between poor and rich is critical, but even worse is the one between educated and non-educated individuals, the former would find access to better life conditions while the latter usually would suffer in misery or survival environments.

For individuals sustainability [or sustainable development] is a concept that apparently stays very far from their reality and therefore it is difficult for them to find ways to act or behave in a sustainable way. In fact, that is obvious since the way we’ve been raised and educated. We never considered a day was coming in which we would face problems far beyond our understanding. To bring back air, water and soil conditions to what they were 200 hundred years ago plus bringing people’s minds and spirits closer to nature and peace is the problem of sustainability we were not trained for, but the one that urgently needs attention.

As Einstein would say, we cannot solve problems with the same type of thoughts that we used when we created them. Sustainability – or that plenitude and happiness of life that each person needs – might not be difficult to achieve, but surely we need to start learning from each other, from nature and from our past. It is needed a higher level of humankind consciousness and even more important, clear, regular and continuous efforts to restore human’s and nature’s balances.

The solution
If we would break down a “healthy sustainability” we would come to realize that processes, from a global standpoint, are in balance. When, for a moment, we focus on a specific one (economic, social, industrial, political, environmental, emotional or spiritual), we would see how it performs efficiently, that means, using resources at its respective level of sufficiency, no more no less, just what it’s needed.

That process will perform efficiently as long as it is properly saved, this means allowing it only to work on the range of sufficiency in order to avoid excesses or lacks. For example, food, if I eat less than enough one day, it might happen that I’ll feel weak or hungry for that day; but if that continues, eventually that lack of nutrients will become a more harmful problem… the extreme end would be anorexia. On the other hand, if I eat more than enough in one day, I might feel heavy, tired or sleepy. If that pattern continues for some months, I would definitely gain weight and eventually a health problem.

The chain that connects sustainability with savings looks like this:
Sustainability -> Balance -> Efficiency -> Saving

Saving as explained is a way to boost efficiency. The more efficient our activities the better balance we maintain and sustainability happens.

It is very simple, although sometimes challenging to realize it.

Saving -> Efficiency -> Balance -> Sustainability

"Save something today” is a technology engaged with the ways of tackling the world’s imbalances in a creative, participative and effective way, according to the capabilities, wishes and priorities of each person. First pursuing the individual’s integral equilibrium and then deploying it into our societies’ performance.

"Save something today” is a daily, progressive & habit-building activity as to maintain an appropriate use of all kind of resources; to say, bringing intellectual, spiritual, environmental, economic and emotional resources to their levels of sufficiency.

“Save something today” is a key to open the potential each person has. Since we have been teaching it to others and learning from their experiences, “Save something today” has become a complete framework of ideas and concepts.

At present, the “save something today” movement:
- is a harmonic relationship with life and its different aspects.
- provides strategies to perform changes more efficiently.
- prevents from becoming a victim of external changes.
- allows you a macro- & micro-systemic comprehension of situations - develops skills to widen progressively and continuously viewpoints.
- provokes an ability to learn from daily experiences transforming them exponentially into wisdom.
- teaches you to determine the impacts of your decisions in outreach and in different time scopes.
- widens your perception of time.
- make you build solutions to present problematic situations as well as to anticipate new ones, saving then their consequences.
- lays foundations for a sustainable world, because each saving contributes directly to an efficiency somewhere, somehow at a certain moment.

In the last year, we have been promoting the idea basically in four different ways: (1) word of mouth, (2) conferences and talks, (3) workshops, and from time to time (4) media (amateur radio programs, articles).

The plan to implement it is rather simple: educate people to learn how they can save something daily.

The financing
Since the beginning the project has been financed with our own resources and the resources created by the project itself. In this second category the fees to attend the workshops have provided the money for the organization, promotion and executions of the workshops and the profits have been used to set up an office, get equipments and finance other activities, such as trainings, promotions, free workshops or conferences at schools and institutes.

In the short term future, the workshops will continue as the main sources of income, but other sources are being developed.

A book has been published in Spain and it is expected to be available in bookstores in Spain and Mexico at the end of November 2007 and other countries (Latin America and United States) in December. The exemptions will be reinvested in providing education.

This book is also expected to be translated into English at the end of this year, and the rights would be sold to a publisher. Next year, there are plans to have it translated in at least five different languages. Money coming from selling rights and exemptions will be used for education purposes, as well.

There is another project programmed for the first semester of next year, it is the online version of the workshops. By this means, we can reach more people in different countries in a cheaper, faster way. Those of us, who have started saving something today earlier, can become mentors and starting consultancy projects, advanced applications of the technologies and other developments towards sustainability. At present, we are working on the first stages of this idea.

Next stage
We are aiming that a significant amount of people would improve their own personal conditions by learning to save anything, material resources, energy, water and money but also (and maybe more important) mental models, perspectives, paradigms, time and future problems. So that basically each person continues the solution to the problem of unsustainability. Because first he identifies himself as the most important person in the universe and starts building his most sustainable own performance that would eventually deploy to his surroundings (family, work, community and planet).

In our own world of possibilities we will continue to teach people, learn from people and taking advantage of the resources available to us to promote sustainability.

What makes us confident is that the more people know about the “save something today” movement, the easier to move forward. One year ago, we didn't imagine to reach in seminars about 800 people, but most important to include their savings quota in the world's sustainability. One year ago, the book, as another example, was only a dream.

Finally, even though, we are a few founders, the “team” is much bigger and growing. We are open to share our experience and ideas.

For further information and references:
www.somethingtoday.org
www.algohoy.org


contact@somethingtoday.org