Invitation to become a member or subscriber

[Institute for Global Futures Research (IGFR)]

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INVITATION TO BECOME A MEMBER OR SUBSCRIBER
Dear Colleague,

This issue of the Global Futures Bulletin completes the 
complementary trial offer.  We hope you have found the Global 
Futures Bulletin useful.

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We would like to invite you to become a member of the Institute for 
Global Futures Research (IGFR) or to become a subscriber to the 
Global Futures Bulletin.  
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Membership fees are the same as subscription fees.  Membership 
includes subscription and additionally means that the subscriber 
supports the aims and work of the IGFR as an independent NGO, but 
not necessarily the views expressed in its publications.

A membership/subscription application form is included below.

The IGFR is an independent not-for-profit organisation funded by 
members and subscribers.  The IGFR receives no institutional or 
corporate funding.

The IGFR began without a well-defined methodology.  This was 
intentional as we opted for an evolving methodology, or toolbox of 
methodologies.

Gradually we are developing research groups around the (currently) 
40 research areas of the Open Research Program.

GENERAL AREAS OF RESEARCH
1. development issues, theory and paradigms
2. peace and conflict resolution.
3. climate change
4. energy
5. evolving world order
6. biodiversity and habitat
7. emancipation of women
8. megatrends in technology
9. comparative society
10. implications of globalisation
11. ethnic relations and multicivilisations
12. food and sustainable agriculture
13. international governance
14. Agenda 21
15. quality of life indicators
16. population issues
17. toxic waste
18. urban development
19. global finance
20. transport
21. future generations - ethics
22. water
23. global parameters, scenarios, new dimensions
24. disaster
25. futures studies methodologies
26. history of the future
27. longwaves and macrohistory
28. industry trends, industrial ecology
29. new economics
30. corporate citizenship
31. alternative communities and lifestyles
32. cyberspace revolution
33. global conventions and international law
34. world summits
35. Gaia theory
36. world health
37. world systems theory
38. equity
39. spirituality and religion
40. community development

These areas have been given uneven treatment to date.  We hope to 
become more systematic in focussing on each area in the future.

The Open Research Program is as much about involving people from 
a broad range of disciplines, including lay-people, as it is in 
achieving defined results.  If you are interested in participating, or at 
least in knowing more about the Open Research Program, please 
contact Sharon Hutchins, Research Program Coordinator at e-mail 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.

We are now systematically relating new material to earlier material to 
in order to give an integrated cumulative outcome.  Because of this 
we often find inconsistencies in facts or statistics which usually result 
in furthering the debate and a more accurate understanding of issues.

We hope, over the course of 1999, to assemble and condense the 
material we have in each of the research areas for easier reference.  
This will prepare us for devising a more sophisticated approach for 
studying the relationships between each of the research areas and 
how they relate to macrosystems.  We do not hope to build a grand 
model, so much, as to identify unexpected causal links and feedback 
loops.  For example, we can see how trends in transport relate to 
climate change or to sustainable agriculture and world food security; 
or how development of cyberspace might impact on demography and 
new development pressures on natural habitat; or the impact of 
economic globalisation on fragile democracies in developing 
countries, and the effect this may have on the incidence of armed 
conflict around the world.

We aim to continue close monitoring of other global futures research 
institutes such as the Worldwatch Institute, International 
Institute for Sustainable Development, Wuppertal Institute, 
Millennium Project, International Institute for Applied Systems 
Analysis, World Resources Institute, UNEP's Global Environmental 
Outlook program, Institute for Alternative Futures, International 
Geosphere Biosphere Program, Millennium Institute, Earth Council, 
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Club of 
Budapest, Club of Rome, Center for Defense Information, Institute 
for Policy Studies, Santa Fe Institute, Rocky Mountains Institute, 
World Conservation Monitoring Center, Tellus Institute, Stockholm 
Environment Institute, Global Scenario Group, SIPRI among many 
other initiatives, so that we can cross-fertilise debates and fora and 
build on each other's efforts, rather than continually reinvent the 
wheel and fire off flares into the wilderness.

We intend to expand our coverage of different ideological 
perspectives, to incorporate more dissenters who are sceptical of the 
typical discourses we present, thereby widening participation and 
enhancing richness of the debate.

Finally, we hope to produce reports which result from a distillation of 
our research, and give concise new perspectives and policy 
recommendations.  These will be available to anyone, but targeted to 
senior policymakers worldwide.

The Institute for Global Futures Research (IGFR) is a not-for-profit 
community-based organisation.

Your support at this critical stage in our development can make a 
significant difference.

Thankyou for your interest to date.

Regards,
Geoff Holland, Director
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Institute for Global Futures Research (IGFR).
P.O. Box 263E, Earlville, QLD 4870, Australia.
E-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
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Howard Adams, Director, The Gestalt Institute.


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Graham Ashford, International Institute for Sustainable Development 
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Deborah Moldow, Representative to the UN for the World Peace 
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Peter von Stackelberg, Applied Futures International.


'Appreciate your very impressive work!!!!'
Mark Dubois, International Coordinator, Earth Day 2000.


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Please fill out the following and return it to 
e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, or
fax: 61 7 4033 6881
mail: IGFR, PO Box 263E, Earlville, QLD 4870, Australia.

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Note: If you are paying by personal cheque from outside Australia, 
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We thank you for your continued interest in the Institute for Global 
Futures Research (IGFR).

Geoff Holland, Director,
Institute for Global Futures Research (IGFR)
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