Pink Sky has a meaning for the people who have thought the project; it personally inspires different
thoughts as it might inspire something different to each of us…
In English, « Pink Sky » … makes me think of… Pink sky at night shepherd’s delight, pink sky in
the morning shepherd’s warning from where I am from, we also use this expression… This is an
expression existing in different languages and cultures, based on an organic truth: the colour of the sky
tells us about the weather… like the moon, the stars and many other things having an influence on our
life, on us, human being.
Pink Sky project aspires to gather young people to lead them to develop ideas on an alternative
society…
Alternative & Society two simple words… but still sparking off radical points of view from ideal
utopia to craziness! In my opinion, it is also quite a personal point of view… Thus, asking the young
generation about their understanding and their views of an alternative society is very interesting. I
would even say there is a need to confront ideas on this theme.
Nowadays, if you bike to work rather than drive, you are some kind of hippie, close from deep
ecologists! Fortunately, this categorisation is quite volatile depending on where or with who you are.
Transport is a good example, when I have started doing car-pooling, people were wondering what kind
of weirdo I was, my parents and friends were worried and then with the so-called “crisis” people have
started to see an economic way to travel… Obviously not enough… Here, in Palermo – where gas is
really expensive and where presumably – the economic context is harder – there is traffic jam every
single day… like in any other city in this world. And like in any other city, one single person occupies
95% of these cars! I am not judging, I am observing, as I also observe that I am way faster moving
with my bike! Don’t we say “time is money”?!
Saying so, I suppose I have to belong to some kind of ecologic-capitalist??? I don’t know to which
category I belong to (hopefully none!?) but I know what I believe in and what I do not. I believe in
facts! -such as pink sky at night! – Are we not just another specie on this earth? Following this logic, I
believe in a natural behaviour of the specie I belong to.
Facts show that our acts jeopardize The Living, a natural behaviour – meaning in line with our
environment – will be, in my opinion an important part even the spirit of what I understand as an
alternative society.
According to me we have been trained for too long to think that: What is easier is better… “why
taking the stairs while there is a lift or an escalator?” The concept of transport is one of the societal
issue, it has to be added all social aspects of the everyday life such as cooking, washing, holidays…
Just talking about a “new” way of life seems impossible or crazy for most of us because this way of
living is comfortable; we all have TVs, and phones! We became simple consumers; we do not think or
care anymore. We’d rather eat a lot everyday rather than eating less and better.
An alternative society, starts by a new education, an education that teach you and our children how
to cook, how to sew, how to grow plants… in other words how to be able to do… It is valuable for
oneself as it is for our environment. In New Zealand, Wednesday, is also the day of the children, they
are going to school, they – girls and boys – are doing cooking or sewing in the morning and collective
sport in the afternoon.
An alternative society recycles. EVERYTHING can be recycled, nothing should be throw away,
because everything can be useful to someone, somewhere. We are killing our vital environment with
our plastics and other rubbish. Poorest people are often the most creative one, the example of Haiti or
Bartering of knowledge, of competencies as well as belongings could be another main concept of
an alternative society. Aiming to find the most suitable way to access to a sustainable way of life in
harmony with our current modern life and with our vital environment.
But what about you? How do you see an alternative society, not in the way, if you see it possible or
not, no, this is not the point, what do you understand as an alternative society?
I obviously did not mention all aspects of an alternative society; I actually think I have tried to
mention the easiest ones, ones we could even apply right now…
Finally, I do think that an alternative society is inspired by the needs of the people whom it is
composed, in other words: all of us. That is why your opinions, your reactions, your ideas as well
as your feedbacks on these few lines would be the greatest utterance … Here is my email address:
marie.huguet@ceipes.org A word to the wise is enough!
Marie Huguet
