Googling "Non-Violent Society" showed over 60,000 results. Why does a "Non-Violent Society" matter?
Yesterday, when I walked to the bus station of a small town, wonderfully located at the Lake of Zurich, I witnessed unprecedented verbal violence. Two young teenagers on their bikes, coming from a near-by school, shouted at a man death-threatening words of unbelievable violence.
At that instant the bare violence of the Küsnacht Teenager attacks in Munich, during their school trip, came again to my mind.
What are we doing wrong in our society? Where do we fail? Did Stanley Kubrick ("A Clockwork Orange") and Quentin Tarantino anticipate an era of violence, with young adolescents exposed to media, war games and the dark sides of the Internet, a young generation socially isolated and marginalized, neither cared of, nor loved, confronted with voyeurisme, war & sexual pornography and bald violence? An aseptic society which has lost its capability to distinguish between real and virtual violence, war and terrorism?
Refering to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung's last folio edition, entitled "Grandios Gescheitert" (grandiose failure), is our modern industrialized society disoriented and condemned to fail?
Where are the parents? What happened to the family? Who is taking care of the children? For Switzerland, divorces over the last 5 years averaged to a rate of 50%.
Again we as adults have to take the responsibility. We decided to have children. Children are not just an act of love and birth. If we want to have children, we have to raise and take care of them, act as responsible adults, as ideals, as socially and environmentally responsible persons, who take the responsibility at all points that relate to our children, their education and their future.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Consumer Behaviour
I am convinced that we as consumers can very much influence in which way businesses and economic power in a free market system will develop.
By 2050, 20% or 2 bn of the world's population, children and adults will struggle each day to find enough food and water in order to survive. If we relativize this projection of the human condition with the industrialized countries' push to consumption, our hassle to manage all the ads and marketing messages we are confronted every day, take your time, think and decide on where you want your consumption behaviour to be heading to.
Today I read a journey report of Ulla Lenze in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, from her last visit to Mumbai. This brings up the question of where these 2 bn life struggling people are located, and in that respect under which human or inhuman condition?
I think a fundamental question is, whether we need to continue to consume in our traditional way, to keep growing and save our economy in the industrialized world? Another fundamental question is, whether we can consume on one side, and at the same prevent the complete depletion of Earth's resources? What can we learn from history, from tradition? What can we learn from earlier crisis?
I believe that economic development will bring prosperity, benefit all countries and people, with a goal to be sustainable from a resource perspective and with the main objective, to reduce poverty and inhuman survival conditions.
We must change our consumer behaviour. Not only we as consumers. We must have leaders and businesses who exemplify and promote such behaviour. As consumers we have to learn ourselves and share our new knowledge with our children, our neighbourhood and community, how sustainable consumer behaviour is lived, whether its food, clothes, computers and more. We have to be more critical and promote those articles and providers who strive for sustainable economic development. We must learn to read and understand product labels, take into account the life cycle of a product, that is how a product is produced, where it comes from, where it will end or be recycled.
We have to be critical in our buying decisions. Do we really need the product? Why do we need it? To whom does it bring value? Does it help us to protect our environment?
We, as consumers in the industrialized world, have the power, means and solutions, to support and help the world to develop in a sustainable way. Do we need a new mobile phone, laptop or other computer device every year? At what speed and frequency, a new electronic device should be launched onto the market, what purpose does it serve? Do we have enough energy efficient resources to electrify our mobility needs, to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases?
We have to be educated, empowered and be able to rely on the world's most powerful, visionary leaders and industries, who can develop and follow a global and sustainable economic roadmap, and who support us in our endeavour to make our planet more transparent, more human and fair for everyone. The solution is in us, the solution is in everyone.
By 2050, 20% or 2 bn of the world's population, children and adults will struggle each day to find enough food and water in order to survive. If we relativize this projection of the human condition with the industrialized countries' push to consumption, our hassle to manage all the ads and marketing messages we are confronted every day, take your time, think and decide on where you want your consumption behaviour to be heading to.
Today I read a journey report of Ulla Lenze in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, from her last visit to Mumbai. This brings up the question of where these 2 bn life struggling people are located, and in that respect under which human or inhuman condition?
I think a fundamental question is, whether we need to continue to consume in our traditional way, to keep growing and save our economy in the industrialized world? Another fundamental question is, whether we can consume on one side, and at the same prevent the complete depletion of Earth's resources? What can we learn from history, from tradition? What can we learn from earlier crisis?
I believe that economic development will bring prosperity, benefit all countries and people, with a goal to be sustainable from a resource perspective and with the main objective, to reduce poverty and inhuman survival conditions.
We must change our consumer behaviour. Not only we as consumers. We must have leaders and businesses who exemplify and promote such behaviour. As consumers we have to learn ourselves and share our new knowledge with our children, our neighbourhood and community, how sustainable consumer behaviour is lived, whether its food, clothes, computers and more. We have to be more critical and promote those articles and providers who strive for sustainable economic development. We must learn to read and understand product labels, take into account the life cycle of a product, that is how a product is produced, where it comes from, where it will end or be recycled.
We have to be critical in our buying decisions. Do we really need the product? Why do we need it? To whom does it bring value? Does it help us to protect our environment?
We, as consumers in the industrialized world, have the power, means and solutions, to support and help the world to develop in a sustainable way. Do we need a new mobile phone, laptop or other computer device every year? At what speed and frequency, a new electronic device should be launched onto the market, what purpose does it serve? Do we have enough energy efficient resources to electrify our mobility needs, to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases?
We have to be educated, empowered and be able to rely on the world's most powerful, visionary leaders and industries, who can develop and follow a global and sustainable economic roadmap, and who support us in our endeavour to make our planet more transparent, more human and fair for everyone. The solution is in us, the solution is in everyone.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Energy Investment and Uncertainties Related to Climate Change
"The energy industry's decision-making process for energy investment is much more complicated today than it was before globalisation and liberalisation. The change can be explained simply by an environment which is more complex, full of uncertainties and unpredictable...With respect to climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) writes that 'uncertainties on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions create uncertainties in the political responses to increased GHG concentration. Uncertainties in the economic impact of climate change create uncertainties in mitigation policy that will be put in place. All these uncertainties, combined with the uncertainties about the cost of abatement technologies, create considerable uncertainties in the financial implications to companies'...The current approach to investment decision in a risky environment is: risk segmentation, risk analysis and risk mitigation...Risks related to investment in the energy industry fall into four categories: economic risk, political risk, legal risk and force majeure...The rationale used for investment decision is still to maximise the expected discounted cash flow (its net present value NPV) but, as the IEA puts it elegantly: 'Investment was made if the discounted revenues exceeded the discounted costs. Now, investment is made, only if the discounted revenues exceed the discounted costs by a margin sufficient to overcome the value of waiting'." (Chevalier 2009, pp. 50 & 51)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Climate Truth
In her essay "Truth and Politics", philosopher Hannah Arendt states that humans only accept truth, as long as the truth is not to their disadvantage and does not interfere with their pleasures. Hannah Arendt differentiates between "rational truth" (scientific and philosophic) and "factual truth" (truth based on human related facts, events, that serve political opinion). She writes that the "truth" of our thinking is only guaranteed, if our thinking is exposed to the general public, taking into account their thoughts respectively.
In an article of Professor Dr. Gerhard Schulze, Chair of Empirical Social Research at the University of Bamberg (Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Dec 31, 2009), I found an interesting quote from Professor Stephen H. Schneider, Climatologist at Stanford University and former scientific advisor of Al Gore (text translated from German): "On one hand, scientists are ethically bound to the scientific methodology. This means that uncertainty and differentiation are always taken into account. On the other hand it is in the interest of every human being to make our world a better place to live. To make the world a better place for everyone, support from every person is needed. Broad support can only be achieved if we reach the general public and make them aware of the problems, our world has to deal with. A large and global community is only reached through divulging scary scenarios, through issuing bald and dramatic statements. Although some level uncertainty always remains, these uncertainties are hardly raised publicly in order to keep the awareness creation and communication process as efficient as possible. There is no standard formula to cover the scientist's dual ethical and moral commitment."
In an article of Professor Dr. Gerhard Schulze, Chair of Empirical Social Research at the University of Bamberg (Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Dec 31, 2009), I found an interesting quote from Professor Stephen H. Schneider, Climatologist at Stanford University and former scientific advisor of Al Gore (text translated from German): "On one hand, scientists are ethically bound to the scientific methodology. This means that uncertainty and differentiation are always taken into account. On the other hand it is in the interest of every human being to make our world a better place to live. To make the world a better place for everyone, support from every person is needed. Broad support can only be achieved if we reach the general public and make them aware of the problems, our world has to deal with. A large and global community is only reached through divulging scary scenarios, through issuing bald and dramatic statements. Although some level uncertainty always remains, these uncertainties are hardly raised publicly in order to keep the awareness creation and communication process as efficient as possible. There is no standard formula to cover the scientist's dual ethical and moral commitment."
Sunday, December 20, 2009
The Search and Need of Certitude
Doubt is a challenging psychological condition. how long are we able to endure doubt?
how strong is our need of certitude? how can we overcome doubt or disbelief? is it through faith? is it through ideology? is it through the human nature and drive to reproduce and fight for the survival of humankind?
Let's consider the current debate on climate change and its expected impact on our planet: can we bear not knowing the exact impacts of climate change in the near future? do we deny global warming and climate change because we are afraid of its uncomfortable consequences? are we taking the necessary steps in the reduction of CO2 emissions to prevent the earth's surface temperature to increase beyond 2° C? or through our own psychologic defense mechanism, are we rejecting scientific or visual evidence (retraction of polar ice caps and glaciers, hurricanes, floods, drought and desertification in Australia and Africa) and thus fall into inaction?
how strong is our need of certitude? how can we overcome doubt or disbelief? is it through faith? is it through ideology? is it through the human nature and drive to reproduce and fight for the survival of humankind?
Let's consider the current debate on climate change and its expected impact on our planet: can we bear not knowing the exact impacts of climate change in the near future? do we deny global warming and climate change because we are afraid of its uncomfortable consequences? are we taking the necessary steps in the reduction of CO2 emissions to prevent the earth's surface temperature to increase beyond 2° C? or through our own psychologic defense mechanism, are we rejecting scientific or visual evidence (retraction of polar ice caps and glaciers, hurricanes, floods, drought and desertification in Australia and Africa) and thus fall into inaction?
Welcome Message
The purpose of this Blog is to provide you with an open discussion platform to the various facets of climate change and its consequences on our plant and humanity.
Some directions in using this blog:
- all contributors and contributions are welcome
- there is no right or wrong
- respect every author's contribution
- verbal and obscene attacks against contributors will be filtered
- express your own opinion
- use reasoning and argumentation
- be open and allow challenging feedbacks to your own views
- try to be concise
Enjoy using this open platform - help safeguarding planet earth, your contribution counts!
Some directions in using this blog:
- all contributors and contributions are welcome
- there is no right or wrong
- respect every author's contribution
- verbal and obscene attacks against contributors will be filtered
- express your own opinion
- use reasoning and argumentation
- be open and allow challenging feedbacks to your own views
- try to be concise
Enjoy using this open platform - help safeguarding planet earth, your contribution counts!
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