løsnet #61-62 1. del

Special international issue: Creating Oneness

Creating Oneness

LØSNETInternational Climate Edition

No. 61-62 Dec. 2009

Creating Oneness

"We have to reinvent ourselves at a species level". "We are not at collection of objects, but a communion of subjects". Thomas Berry

Program of NGO-meetings during COP15 included in this section

•Lifestyle Changes as Climate Strategy

•Ecological/technical Projects and Ideas

•Redefining Economics: Creating Sustainable Abundance

•Inner Climate Change

Creating OnenessLØSNET

International Climate EditionNo. 61-62 Dec. 2009

LØSNET International Climate Edition No. 61-62 Dec. 2009

3 Editorial, by Kaj Hansen, Hildur Jackson and Mette Petersen

4 Road to Redemption or Ruin, by Maurice Strong8 A Time to Act, by Ross Jackson 10 Planetary Boundaries of 9 areas from prestigeous institutes, by Jørgen Steen Nielsen 13 Poem by Rashmi

14 Declining Global Population is an Insurance Policy! Sven Burmester by Hildur Jackson16 The Threat Matrix, by Albert Bates20 Can We Curb Global Warming with Renewable Energy? By Søren Skibstrup Eriksen, Da- nish Engineers solution, IDA www.futureclimate.info22 The Human Dimension- a Sustainable Approach to City Planning, by Jan Gehl and Bir gitte Bondesen Svarre24 The Copenhagen Call - Global Business solutions. From webpages Copenhagen Climate Council (Connie Hedegård)26 Changing Direction: Restoring Mother Earth by Hanne Marstrand Strong29 Manifesto on climate change and the future of food security Produced by The International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture30 Ecovillages and the transformation of values, by Jonathan Dawson32 Faith Leaders Address Climate Change, by Dena Merriam, GPIW

35 GEN’s new flyer with proposals for agreements, by Global Ecovillage Network36 Climate Forum’s proposal for declaration38 State of the World Forum takes on Global Leadership for 2020. Includes business and NGO´s, Jim Garrison by Daniel Wahl40 Dealing with Global Warming from a Higher Level of Thinking, by Ross Jackson42 Inner Climate Change, by Hildur Jackson44 Climate Change and Agriculture: Biodiverse Ecological Farming is the Answer, not Gene tic Engineering by Vandana Shiva48 A Call for True Leadership, by Rolf Jackson 51 Activities during COP15 collected by Hildur Jackson and Troels Dilling-Hansen54 Climate Bottom Meeting – Windows of Hope, by Troels Dilling-Hansen

I. Defining the situation/problems in a holistic context

II. Attempts at Partial Solutions

III. How do we co-operate globally on all levels and sectors? Who are the agents of change?

What is the vision?

Content3 Editorial, by Mette Petersen

4 Reduction of CO2 from 3 different eco-villages in Denmark, by Kaj Hansen6 Lifestyle in the three ecovillages described by the members themselves:

Hjortshøj Ecovillage, The Svanholm Collective and Munksøgård9 Conclusion: Lifestyle Change is the key10 "Friland" Recreating Inner and Outer Freedom, by Steen Møller to Hildur Jackson12 The Danish Ecovillage Fri and Fro and Sustainability, by Lars Levin Andersen14 Hertha - A Community Based on Inclusion, by Ole Uggerby16 Christiania - Current Situation Autum 2009, by Britta Lillesøe20 The Ecovillage of Sieben Linden - being the change we want to se in the World,

by Kosha Joubert and Martin Stengel22 Mallorca goes Green, by Kerstin Salén24 The Kovcheg Ecovillage, by Fedor Lazutin and Dmitriy Vatolin

26 Harvesting Coal with a Stirling Motor and Digging it Down, by Lisa Abend and Thomas Harttung28 Opportunity30 Earth Democracy, about Vandana Shiva´s work, collected from www.vandanashiva32 Organic Solutions to Climate Change and Food Security: Shumei Natural Agricul ture, by Kristine Mayo34 Support to IRENA, the new government agency for renewable energy, by Preben Maegaard36 100% renewable energy in Thisted, Denmark, by Preben Maegaard40 Cradel to Cradel - Industrial Revolution, Take Two, by Martin Fluri44 Climate Friendly Transportation in the Future, by Christian Ege46 Copenhagen as Example on Climate Town, by Thomas Christensen48 Transition Towns Movement, by Niels Johan Juhl-Nielsen and Erik Lemcke

50 The Carbon Board, by Ross Jackson54 ALBA - an Economic Cooperation Between 9 Economies in South America with Global Perspective, by Sven-Erik Simmonsen56 MERKUR - Cooperative Bank, by Lars Pehrson58 Cohousings, Ecovillages and "ollekoller" Create Local Abundance and Reduce CO2 Emis sion, by Hildur Jackson61 The Federation of Damanhur and the "Credito", by Esperide Ananas

64 The Danish Spiritual Landscape, by Hildur Jackson and Rolf Jackson69 Save the World - a Message from Grace - Movement for a Free Earth, by Sabina Lichten fels, Dieter Duhm and Mara Vollmer72 Education: GEDS and the EDE - Gaia Education, the Cutting Edge ofSustainability Education, by May East74 Mind and Life Institute - Educating World Citizens for the 21th Century, collected from www.mindandlife.org by Kaj Hansen75 Changing Values: Gender Reconsiliation in South Africa, by William Keepin and Cynthia Brix, Satyana Institute and Judy Connors, Phaphama Initiatives

Lifestyle Change as Climate Strategy

Ecological/Technical Solutions

Economic Solutions

Content

Inner Climate Change - Change of Values and Worldview

LØSNET is a quarterly membership magazine for members of the Danish Association for Ecovillages (LØS), an association for so-cial, ecological and spiritual communities rural and urban, and for all who work for sustainability.

See list of community members at www.los-net.dk

This special Climate issue is distributed for free during the Copenhagen Climate Confe-rence (COP 15)

This issue is financially gracefully supported by: Gaia Trust and The Climate Bottom Meeting

Editors on this issue is shared between Hildur Jackson, Mette Petersen and Kaj Hansen

The content does not nessecarily express the opinions of the association.

Layout and DTP: Troels Dilling-Hansen and Allan Elm

Frontpageillustrations: Japanese art by Akira Takahashi expressing purification and oneness (please see oppo-site leave for explanation)

The Snail house at Fri and Fro (Photo: Lars Levin Andersen, Fri og Fro)

Contact: Articles (and pictures) please as word-do-cuments (or compatible) to Troels Dilling-HansenBjedstrupvej 31DK8660 SkanderborgMail: [email protected]: www.losnet.dk

Chairman: Lone SamuelssonMunksøgård 804000 RoskildeE-mail: [email protected]: 7741 0180, cellphone: 3167 0180

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Coverillustration: Akira Takahashi presents this image to the world in order to purify the Earth. He has presented it to various sa-cred places. He asked the Konohana Family, an ecovillage in Japan to send it to suitable places over the 5 continents and receiving one we feel this is an appropriate way to spread it to more people all over the world here at the Climate Meeting in Copenhagen using it as a frontpage.In the picture, a Chinese phoenix that em-braces the Earth also holds a similar Earth. A Chinese phoenix is a sacred bird that sym-bolizes peace, Happiness and Longevity.

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DVD1: med en længere film om LØS og en film om GEN, samling af alle tidligere udgivne LØSnet, bøger og andre vigtige, historiske do-kumenter i PDF-format + lidt forskelligt. DVD2: 18 dokumentarfilm fra forskellige danske økosamfund, dækkende alle aspek-ter af de forskellige udgangspunkter og til-blivelsestidspunkter. Også her supplerer vi med jeres indsendte dokumenter, billedma-teriale, som vi har sat sammen på forskellig måde. Bl.a. er de økosamfund som ikke er repræsenteret ved en film, blevet begavet med en powerpoint-præsentation.DVD3: 20 små dokumentarfilm om forskel-lige temaer indeholdt i bæredygtighedscirk-len med interviews med personligheder fra vores bevægelse. Også her supperet med artikler og billedmateriale der refererer til de enkelte temaer.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

We l c o me to Co-p e n h a -

gen and to the Climate Meeting. Welcome to all readers!

This is a spe-cial, free issue of LØS’NET—the newsletter of the

Association of Danish Ecovillages, which has been published since 1993. For the first time it is in English as a service to all our guests from abroad on the occa-sion of the Climate Summit in Copenha-gen in December 2009. See the middle pages for the conference program.

The Earth needs a clear and strong climate agreement in Copenhagen. The Danish Presidency has a unique chance to show solidarity with the Small Island States, Africa and all of Nature by put-ting new items on the agenda. Please show courage and take the lead.

Humanity is facing so many serious global problems that it is difficult to grasp all of them at once. Many different sectors are now cooperating globally to create an overview and a larger picture. This is promising. We have gathered many of their newest ideas and analy-ses here. The main topic of the official conference is reduction of CO2 emis-sions and how this can be done— by some combination of rationing, natio-nal commitments, investment in renew-able energy and other new technologies and technology transfer. This is being addressed by scientists, governments NGO’s, and the business community at the official conference.

But there are also other serious glo-bal problems which needs addressing and which will be dealt with at the two major NGO Forums and by a group of spiritual leaders who are coming to Copenhagen to contribute to the dia-logue.

Our 400-year-old worldview is based on separation has become dysfunctional and is no longer working satisfactorily, while a new worldview of oneness and interconnectedness is emerging. Change

Editors: Kaj Hansen, Hildur Jackson and Mette Petersen

part of a bigger picture and realize how all these different aspects are impor-tant and need to be recognized as such and included in our thinking. We need to move to another level of understan-ding and cooperation. Let us discuss in Copenhagen how we can get all these topics on to the future Climate agenda, and debate which measures and structu-res are needed to achieve the common goal.

We need a shift in consciousness if we are to find cooperative and ef-ficient solutions to the many global problems facing us, and if humanity is to survive and thrive on this won-derful planet Earth with her billion of years of evolution that have brought us to this point. Let us not waste our heritage. We all need to demonstrate good will and cooperation from the top down and from the bottom up. We need all points of views included. And everybody must accept the solu-tions if they are to be successful. Let us create a new and hitherto unseen cooperation between governments, business, science, spirituality, NGOs and civil society. Let us create an at-mosphere of love and cooperation in Copenhagen.

of values and consciousness is a major theme of the Climate conference. Spiri-tual leaders are meeting with scientists and environmentalist in materializing the understanding that we live in a living universe and that we are all one.The ecovillage movement has something to contribute that is quite unique, avai-lable for all to see on the ground, and not widely recognized, namely that a change in lifestyle can reduce CO2 emis-sions by more than half without any reduction in the quality of life, in fact, with an increase!.

Restructuring the economic and fi-nancial system is also a part of the so-lution, which should not be neglected. A new “Carbon Board” proposal is put forward that is simple to implement, ef-fective and fair, and with a guarantee to actually reduce emissions, thus secu-ring global justice at the same time as making sure we reach the target of CO2 reductions in time.

The carrying capacity of Earth’s eco-system has been exceeded by about 25%. There are simply too many of the human species. We need to deal intel-ligently with overpopulation and avoid the taboo of talking about it.

The ecovillage movement was started to create sustainable solutions to systemic problems. We feel that we may therefore in this crisis situation contribute with what we have learned over the past two decades. Not that we believe we have the total solution, but we see a pat-tern of how all these different sectors may begin to experience themselves as

Photos:Left Top : Hildur Jackson, Gaia Trust Bottom: Kaj Hansen at Social Forum 2007

Editorial

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

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The unsustainable nature of our current economic system was dramatically revealed by both the climate change

and the economic crises. They are inex-tricably linked on a systemic, integrated basis and cannot be managed as separate and competing issues. The climate change challenge requires us to make changes in the fundamental nature and functioning of our economic system and resist the temp-tation merely to patch up the existing system to enable to continue, however, temporally, on the pathway that led to its crisis. Only through fundamental change can we transcend these crises and rebuild the economic and social foundations of our civilization to ensure its survival and sustainability.

When climate change was first cited as an environmental risk at the Stockholm Conference in 1972, it was seen as a more distant prospect but requiring immediate attention and action to avoid. The world was not listening then. As one of my first initiatives as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program I convened leading experts on the subject. Now the Inter Government Panel on Cli-mate Change, a representative group of the world’s leading scientists which had its genesis in these earlier initiatives, has sounded the alarm that Greenhouse gas emissions have been growing more rapidly and the risks to which they give rise more imminent. We cannot afford, and must not allow, further delay as it is clear that some of the consequences of climate change are already irreversible.

A recent study by Global Humanity Forum headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, estimates that the economic and human costs of climate change has already amounted to an estimated USD125 billion per year and loss of 300,000 lives.

This underscores the urgent necessity of agreement in Copenhagen on new measu-res beyond the terms the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. This must include binding commitment designed to ensure that global emissions do not go beyond the threshold of irreversibility. It is sha-ping up to be the most difficult and most important international agreement ever attempted.

All countries will suffer the consequen-ces of climate change and all will need to cooperate in the measures required to re-duce and mitigate its effects. Developing countries which have contributed the least to these crises are likely to suffer most. Yet they have the least capacity to deal with it. Their responsibilities must clearly be recognized as common but differenti-ated from those of the principal industrial countries which have produced the accu-mulated emissions that gave rise to the crisis and enjoyed the economic benefits which accompanied this.

Greenhouse gases from every source con-tribute to their global accumulation and it is in the interest of all countries that de-veloping countries be fully engaged in the global efforts to manage the crisis. This makes it imperative that in the fundamen-tal transformation we must make in our eco-

nomy developing countries be accorded full and equitable participation in its benefits. We cannot achieve security and sustaina-bility of our civilization if the majority of the world’s people continue to be deprived of its benefits and opportunities. Indeed, it would be compounding the already tra-gic and dangerous situation we face if the current crises where to lead to deepening rather than bridging the rich-poor divide.

This is the broader context in which we must view the position of the developing countries. They cannot be expected to agree to curb their emissions unless it is accompanied by massively increased inter-national support, not only for the actions they must take to reduce their emissions, but for their entire economies. This must go beyond the aid they have been so often promised but not delivered to enable them to share the benefits of the world economy much as the disadvantaged regions of most nations share the benefits of their national economy. While it would be too much to expect this kind of fundamental change to be fully agreed in Copenhagen it could be accepted as a priority objec-tive and a process established to negotiate agreement on its achievement. In the me-antime Copenhagen must produce speci-fic commitments to provide developing countries with access to the technologies and financial support to enable them to achieve the levels of economic efficiency to accelerate their development while li-miting their greenhouse gas emissions.

This does not have to come from new mo-ney requiring increases in already strained

Copenhagen – Road to Redemption or to Ruin

By Maurice Strong, Maurice F. Strong, PC, CC, OM, FRSC (born April 29, 1929, in Oak Lake, Manitoba) is one of the world’s leading proponents of the United Nations' involvement in world affairs. Supporters consider him one of the world's leading environmentalists. Secretary General of both the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which launched the world environment movement, and the 1992 Earth Summit and first Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Strong has played a critical role in globalizing the environmental movement. This article was finished October 14, 2009

The unsustainable nature of our current economic system was dramatically revealed by both the climate change and the economic crises. They are inextricably linked on a systemic, integrated basis and cannot be managed as separate and competing issues. The climate change challenge requires us to make changes in the fundamental nature and functioning of our economic system and resist the temptation merely to patch up the existing system to enable to continue, however, temporally, on the pat-hway that led to its crisis. Only through fundamental change can we transcend these crises and rebuild the economic and social foundations of our civilization to ensure its survival and sustainability.

I. Defining the situation/ problems in a holistic context

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budgets. It is primarily a matter of changing priorities in the allocation and use of existing resources to be capable of meeting the needs of reconstituted econo-mies on a continuing basis.

We must treat climate change as a secu-rity issue – the greatest security risk that we have ever faced to the survival of life as we know it. Only thus will be able to agree to the specific level at which global

emissions must be capped and commit-ments by each country to the reduction of its emissions that will be necessary to achieve this. The positions of the princi-pal emitters will be the main determinant

Copenhagen – Road to Redemption or to Ruin

By Maurice Strong, Maurice F. Strong, PC, CC, OM, FRSC (born April 29, 1929, in Oak Lake, Manitoba) is one of the world’s leading proponents of the United Nations' involvement in world affairs. Supporters consider him one of the world's leading environmentalists. Secretary General of both the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which launched the world environment movement, and the 1992 Earth Summit and first Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Strong has played a critical role in globalizing the environmental movement. This article was finished October 14, 2009

The unsustainable nature of our current economic system was dramatically revealed by both the climate change and the economic crises. They are inextricably linked on a systemic, integrated basis and cannot be managed as separate and competing issues. The climate change challenge requires us to make changes in the fundamental nature and functioning of our economic system and resist the temptation merely to patch up the existing system to enable to continue, however, temporally, on the pat-hway that led to its crisis. Only through fundamental change can we transcend these crises and rebuild the economic and social foundations of our civilization to ensure its survival and sustainability.

Maurice Strong, Earth Council, explains that the vast expansion of economic activities that transform the earth's natural wealth into monetary assets undermines our future, and stresses the need to promote "sophisticated modesty" as a way to improve the quality of life while minimizing individual contributions to environmental degradation.

I. Defining the situation/ problems in a holistic context


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of success at Copenhagen and substantial differences continue to divide them. To limit temperature increases to 1.5 de-gree centigrade below pre-industrial levels will require the more developed countries to reduce their collective emissions by more than 85% from 1990 levels by the year 2050. If a higher temperature range is accepted this will require much more radi-cal measures by the principal emitters. De-spite increased awareness and concern it would clearly be a daunting challenge for governments to accept firm and binding commitment to this in Copenhagen. But they must at the very least establish the framework for it and agree on certain key issues and a continuing process of nego-tiation. Reduction of emissions resulting from the meltdown of the world economy will buy some time but must not be a pre-text for delay or complacency.

Together the United State and China ac-count for some 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Their cooperation in meet-ing the climate change challenge is essen-tial, indeed decisive. Although the Obama Administration accords high priority to climate change it may be difficult to ob-tain congressional approval for the kind of commitments that will enable it to take the lead in Copenhagen. China’s situation is different. Although it has now surpassed

the United States in current emission le-vels, it is still well behind the United Sta-tes in per capita terms, The average Chi-nese produces only 1/5 as much in carbon emissions as the average American. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, the United States has produced more than 1 trillion tons of carbon emissions from fossil fuels compared to China’s 300 mil-lion tons. Thus China can be expected to require actions on the part United States that take account of its role as the largest contributor to the current crisis.

Paradoxically, China will be able to demon-strate in Copenhagen that it is already ta-king more action than the United States to limit some of the main sources of its emissions, as for example, imposing stric-ter limits on emissions from vehicles and committing to a 20% improvement in its energy efficiency by 2010. China’s Energy and Resource Institute has suggested by that by 2020 the country could reduce its current emission growth rate by half and effect a reduction of 1/3 in its absolute emissions by 2050. This is certainly an am-bitious goal but like many goals that China has set for itself throughout its history, it is one it could well achieve. China’s re-cent initiatives to undertake constructive cooperation with the U. S., and others in addressing climate change are certainly

encouraging. On the other hand, there are still many bridges that have to be crossed before the positions of China and the Uni-ted States can be more fully reconciled.

The climate change and economic crises require a degree of international coop-eration that has only been achieved on a limited basis in wartime and never on a global scale. Global government is neither necessary nor practical. What is necessary is a global system of governance through which the nations of the world cooperate to address issues which none can deal with alone. Highest priority must be given to those issues which affect the security, sustainability and survival of all humanity. This is certainly true of both climate change and the related needs for fundamental changes in our current economic system. I believe in the principle of subsidiary that all actions should be dealt with at the levels closest to the people concerned. On this basis, the role of global government would be to provide the framework of principles and context required to facilitate actions which can be best taken at the local, natio-nal or regional levels.

Moving to the carbon-free economy re-quires that Copenhagen produces a com-mitment to a Climate Security Program and at least the main elements of it as well as

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establishment of a “Climate Security-Fund” to finance its implementation. This would provide for firm and continuing commit-ments by the more developed countries based on their emissions and their Gross National Products (GDP). The initial scale of this Fund will need to on the order of USD 1 trillion over a ten year period. This will inevitably be viewed as unrealistic in light of the current financial crisis which will be used to justify such resistance. But it must go well beyond foreign aid as conventially defined and be integrated into the process of fundamental changes in our economy. It will ultimately exceed the initial target fi-gure of USD1 trillion which is the estimated cost to the United States alone of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It will take a strong will and binding com-mitments by the more developed countries to undertake the changes of their econo-mies that this will require and for the de-veloping countries to be in the position to absorb the resources they receive to build sustainable and competitive economies.

Some of the measures which could contri-bute to this process would be fees on the use of the global commons – the ocean, the atmosphere and outer space that are not under national jurisdiction, a Tobin-type tax on financial transactions, taxes on

fossil fuels and other sources of emissions and shifting subsidises from those sub-stances and practices which contribute to climate change to those which contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions. De-veloping countries must also be accorded expanded opportunities to earn credits by their ability to reduce emissions at much lower cost than can be achieved in more developed countries which will pay them for this. This will involve an improved and extended version of the Certified Develop-ment Mechanism (CDM) established under the Kyoto Protocol Trading in these emis-sions credits has already become a rapidly growing business and developing coun-tries must be supported in fully accessing and benefiting from these markets.

Throughout human history, civilizations have risen and fallen, often due to mis-management of their environment and the resources on which they depended. The consequences were clearly devastating for those affected, but there was always so-mewhere else for them to go. The climate change crisis is fundamentally different because it is global in scale and affects the survival and sustainability of all nati-ons and people. It is also different in that we know its causes and probable conse-quences. We are the first generation ever to have responsibility for our own future.

What we do, or fail to do, will determine the future of life on Earth. This requires unprecedented levels of cooperation both within and amongst nations. But it does not require homogeneity in our life styles or cultures. After all, we can learn from nature that the healthiest and most su-stainable natural ecological systems are those which maintain the highest degree of diversity and variety.

While the fundamental changes I believe must take the place at the level of indivi-dual people as well as nations it promises to produce improved conditions of life and a more secure and sustainable future for all people. It is instructive to reflect that the conditions required to support life as we know it have only existed on Earth for a small portion of its history and within relatively narrow parameters. The unprece-dented growth of human numbers and the extent and nature of human activities are now impacting the conditions on which our survival and wellbeing depend. Our very existence is now at risk and its fu-ture is literally in our own hands. We have the knowledge and capacity to ensure our survival. The real question is do we have the will to make the fundamental changes that this requires? Copenhagen can put us on the road to redemption or move us further on the road to ruin.

Left: one way of solving the energy-problem is Windmills, here from Copenhagen, which is a big city-environnemetal pioneer. Right: 2008 we crossed a line of ½ of humanity living in cities, here Tokio with 30-40 mio people. Fotos: Editor.


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A Time to Act

By Ross Jackson, co-founder and chairman of Gaia Trust, Denmark, the primary funder of the Global Ecovillage Network and Gaia Education. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research (the theory and practice of problem solving) and, for many years, worked in the business world, specialising in investment theory and international finance.

Today, crisis is all around us. We are living right on the edge of breakdown, our well-being—if not our very survival—threatened not only by climate change, but also by resource depletion, toxic pol-lution, social breakdown, growing inequalities in wealth and income, terrorism, increasing crime and a rate of species extinction not seen in 65 million years. Powerful forces are driving our civilization towards a deep abyss. We are so familiar with all of these things that it does not occur to us to ask ourselves if there is a common thread linking them. Instead, we tend to focus on one issue at a time, often the one that was the headline in yesterday’s news, or is the subject of next month’s global conference.

Today, crisis is all around us. We are living right on the edge of break-down, our well-being—if not our

very survival—threatened not only by climate change, but also by resource depletion, toxic pollution, social break-down, growing inequalities in wealth and income, terrorism, increasing crime and a rate of species extinction not seen in 65 million years. Powerful forces are driving our civilization towards a deep abyss. We are so familiar with all of these things that it does not occur to us to ask ourselves if there is a common thread linking them.

Instead, we tend to focus on one is-sue at a time, often the one that was the headline in yesterday’s news, or is the subject of next month’s global con-ference.

The Common LinkThere is a common thread lin-king all of the above phenom-ena. It has to do with our so-called worldview—the “taken for granted” way that we look at the world. A worldview is not a fixed mental concept, though it tends to be stable for long periods.

The problems we face in the world today are not just about global warming. They are rather symptoms of a common under-lying disease. If our civilization is to survive, it is critical that we understand the causes and take appropriate action once we comprehend the interrelations-hips and what is driving them. Action is required at all levels, but especially the way we deal with global issues.

The Dominant WorldviewThe so-called Cartesian/Newto-

nian worldview came to dominate the way Western civilization looked at the world from Isaac Newton’s time to our own, and not without good reason. The reductionist, mechanical approach to problem solving combined with the con-cept of separation of humankind and Na-ture proved to be a powerful tool in the development of the industrial revolution and modern science. It is generally consi-dered to have been a resounding success as one of the key factors in increasing the general standard of living, particu-larly in the industrialized countries.

However, its successes have not come without costs. Often these costs appear elsewhere in the global system than we might intuitively expect, for example in damage to the environment and human settlements far removed from and out-side the field of vision of the centres

of the industrialized world of the West. In this regard, it is important to realize that, until recently, the vast majority of people in the world outside of the West were far less influenced by this para-digm, e.g. in China, India, Africa, the Middle East and South America. Many of these peoples experienced only the ne-gative effects of this paradigm through colonialism, environmental degradation and commercial exploitation. In all of these other regions of the planet, more Life-based worldviews have always do-minated, at least until very recently.

Global WarmingThe burning of fossil fuels seemed like a reasonable thing for humans to do once oil and natural gas resources were discovered and the necessary techno-logies developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Few, if any, gues-sed that this seemingly innocent act was going to cause Nature to react in an unexpected and potentially disastrous way one hundred years later. Uninten-ded responses are typical when we mess with complex ecosystems that we do not thoroughly understand. We are likely to experience many more such surprises in the future.

Today, the threat of global warming is the most visible of all the threats fa-cing us at this time, but by no means the only one. For many years, the econo-mic/political establishment ignored the warnings from many environmental or-ganizations and scientists in what only can be called a failure of global politics. They continue to ignore other just as critical problems, and have no other so-lution than more consumption and more economic growth, which is like throwing gasoline onto the fire.

Need for a New WorldviewWestern civilization has held the Car-

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tesian/Newtonian worldview for too long. The strategies of this paradigm, which seemed to work so well in a “new frontier” society work no longer in a “spaceship Earth” society. We have to-day a world where man is considered to be separate from nature and where loyalty stops at national borders. It is no wonder that a civilization has evol-ved that is based on the exploitation of nature and the weaker parts of human society. This has to end.

Our society is in need of a new wor-ldview that does not see Nature simply as external resources to be exploited, separate from us, but rather sees the whole planet as a living en-tity. It is time we traded our hubris for a little humility and realized that we are an integral part of Nature, and all 7 billion of us have equal rights. It is time to put nationalist thinking behind and begin to think in terms of a single global society that is in desperate need of so-lutions that will work for everyone, regardless of the economic costs.

Political ParalysisPoliticians have somewhat reluctantly agreed to discuss a binding agreement at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 but without much ent-husiasm or conviction. Unfortunately, the outlook for success is bleak. Politicians seem less and less able to keep up with the demands of the people, who want less talk and more action. The impression is that leading politicians are talking around the climate problem, playing po-ker with our future, manoeuvring to see who is going to benefit most, or pay most of the costs instead of taking this threat seriously. It is fine and good to talk about technology transfer, an increase in the percentage of renewable energy used,

and voluntary quotas for reducing CO2, as are campaigns to encourage individual citizens to be more energy conscious, but alone, these things are not sufficient. If we do not establish a mechanism to con-trol and reduce the absolute amount of CO2 released, then temperatures will con-tinue to rise and an irreversible positive feedback mechanism set in.

Unless we see some sign of leaders-hip very soon, further increases or insuf-ficient decreases in CO2 emissions are the most likely scenarios for the coming years.

There are several global crises looming on the horizon that must be de-cisively dealt with at the planetary level besides global warming—unsustainable economic growth, over-consumption—which is threatening to collapse the whole ecosystem—population control,

peak oil, GMOs, pollution, water rights, an alarming decline in biodiversity and not least, rapid species extinction, all of which are consequences of an un-sustainable life style and a lack of ef-fective global governance. What, if any-thing, does the current political leaders-hip intend to do, besides trying to put out fires?

COP 15COP-15 is the first of these pressing issues to be dealt with by the reigning political/

economic establishment. It can be seen as a test of the viability of the current

structure, which is more and more looking inadequate to the task. Unfortunately, their approach to global warming is beginning to resemble the approach taken by these same people to debt reduc-tion in the developing countries, the Doha round negotiations in the WTO, and reform of the global

financial casino, namely a lot of talk, a lot of good intentions, and a

lot of delay, followed by a declaration of success and a failure to follow up on

commitments. If COP-15 results in this same pattern,

the world’s people—especially the young, will be very unhappy. They want to see action—NOW. If the international political system that we now rely on to deal with global problems fails to deliver at COP-15, then I think the time has come for civil society to debate seriously whether the world needs a level of global governance above the level of national politics and how this can come about. We are getting to the point where global politics is too important for national politicians, and ra-dical new thinking is required if our civili-sation is to survive, let alone thrive.

If there are any statesmen left on the international scene, please step for-ward.

By Ross Jackson, co-founder and chairman of Gaia Trust, Denmark, the primary funder of the Global Ecovillage Network and Gaia Education. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research (the theory and practice of problem solving) and, for many years, worked in the business world, specialising in investment theory and international finance.

Today, crisis is all around us. We are living right on the edge of breakdown, our well-being—if not our very survival—threatened not only by climate change, but also by resource depletion, toxic pol-lution, social breakdown, growing inequalities in wealth and income, terrorism, increasing crime and a rate of species extinction not seen in 65 million years. Powerful forces are driving our civilization towards a deep abyss. We are so familiar with all of these things that it does not occur to us to ask ourselves if there is a common thread linking them. Instead, we tend to focus on one issue at a time, often the one that was the headline in yesterday’s news, or is the subject of next month’s global conference.

Ross's grandson Christoffer with dolphin in Jamaica


10

In a major project, 28 outstanding researchers have attempted to de-fine the limits of how far humans

can go in affecting the natural planetary systems. For three of the nine critical sy-stems, they think the limits have already been passed. The good news: humanity can still evolve and thrive in numerous generations, provided that we define and respect the ”planetary boundaries” within which development can take place sustainably.

As a first step, the research team has made the first estimates of how close

we are to transgressing the limits to su-stainability in a series of areas.

»The pressure of humanity on the pla-netary system has reached a level where sudden and violent global changes of the environment cannot be excluded”, says Professor Johan Rockström, leader of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at the University of Stockholm.

According to the project, the thres-holds of planetary systems have already been passed in three areas. The team of researchers has been drawn from NASA Goddard Institute, Potsdam Institute for

Climate Impact Research, University of Stockholm, Australian National Univer-sity, Max Planck Institute, University of Oxford, University of Alaska (Fairbanks) and the University fo Copenhagen. Their report has recently been published in the prestigious magazine Nature, sup-plemented by a 36 page article on pro-ject’ website.

9 areas of reseachFrom Copenhagen University, Katherine Richardson, ( also chair/head of the Cli-mate Commission of the Danish Govern-

Nine Planetary BoundariesAf Jørgen Steen Nielsen, Information

There are Limits to Growth - Now we have to find them.In a major project, 28 outstanding researchers have attempted to define the limits of how far humans can go in affecting the natural planetary systems. For three of the nine critical systems, they think the limits have already been passed. The good news: humanity can still evolve and thrive in numerous generations, provided that we define and respect the ”plane-

tary boundaries” within which development can take place sustainably.

11


Table of the nine planetary boundaries

Earth System process Control variable Threshold avoided or influenced by slow variable

Planetary bound-ary (zone of uncer-tainty)

State of know-ledge

Climate change Atmospheric CO2 concentration, ppm; Energy imbalance at Earth’s surface, W m-2.

Loss of polar ice sheets. Regional climate disrup-tions. Loss of glacial freshwater supplies. Weakening of carbon sinks.

Atmospheric CO2 concentration: 350 ppm (350-550 ppm) Energy imbalance:+1 W m-2 (+1.0 – +1.5 W m-2).

1. Ample scientific evidence. 2. Multiple sub-system thresh-olds. 3. Debate on position of boundary.

Ocean acidification Carbonate ion concen-tration, average global surface ocean satura-tion state with respect to aragonite (Ωarag).

Conversion of coral reefs to algaldominat-ed systems. Regional elimination of some aragonite- and high-magnesium calcite-forming marine biota Slow variable affect-ing marine carbon sink.

Sustain ≥ 80 % of the preindustrial aragonite saturation state of mean sur-face ocean, including natural diel and sea-sonal variability (≥80 % - ≥70 %).

1. Geophysical pro-cesses well-known. 2. Threshold likely. 3. Boundary posi-tion uncertain due to unclear ecosystem response.

Stratospheric ozone depletion Stratospheric O3 con-centration, DU.

Severe and irrevers-ible UV-B radiation effects on human health and ecosys-tems.

<5% reduction from preindustrial level of 290 DU (5 - 10 %).

1. Ample scien-tific evidence. 2. T hreshold well estab-lished. 3. Boundary position implicitly agreed and respect-ed.

Atmospheric aerosol loading Overall particulate con-centration in the atmo-sphere, on a regional basis.

Disruption of mon-soon systems. Human health effects. Interacts with climate change and freshwa-ter boundaries.

To be determined 1. Ample scientific evidence. 2. Global threshold behaviour unknown. 3. Unable to suggest boundary yet.

Nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the biosphere and oceans

P: inflow of phospho-rus to ocean, increase compared to natural background weather-ing N: amount of N2 removed from atmo-sphere for human use, Mt N yr-1

P: avoid a major oceanic anoxic event (including regional), with impacts on marine ecosystems. N: slow variable affecting overall resil-ience of ecosystems via acidification of terrestrial ecosystems and eutrophication of coastal and freshwa-ter systems.

P: < 10× (10× - 100×) N: Limit industrial and agri-cultural fixation of N2 to 35 Mt N yr-1, which is ~ 25% of the total amount of N2 fixed per annum naturally by terres-trial ecosystems (25- 35%)

P: (1) Limited knowledge on eco-system responses; (2) High probability of threshold but tim-ing is very uncer-tain; (3) Boundary position highly uncertain. N: (1) Some ecosystem responses known; (2) Acts as a slow variable, existence of global thresh-olds unknown; (3) Boundary position highly uncertain.

Global freshwater use Consumptive blue water use, km3 yr-1.

Could affect regional climate patterns (e.g., monsoon behav-iour). Primarily slow variable affecting moisture feedback, biomass production, carbon uptake by ter-restrial systems and reducing biodiversity

< 4,000 km3 yr-1 (4,000 - 6,000 km3 yr-1)

1. Scientific evi-dence of ecosystem response but incom-plete and fragment-ed. 2. Slow variable, regional or sub-system thresholds exist. 3.. Proposed boundary value is a global aggregate, spatial distribution determines regional thresholds.

Land system change Percentage of global land cover converted to cropland.

Trigger of irrevers-ible & widespread conversion of biomes to undesired states. Primarily acts as a slow variable affecting carbon storage and resilience via changes in biodiversity and landscape heteroge-neity.

≤ 15% of global ice-free land surface converted to cropland (15 – 20%).

1. Ample scien-tific evidence of impacts of land cover change on ecosystems, largely local and regional. 2. Slow variable, global threshold unlikely but regional thresholds likely. 3. Boundary is a global aggregate with high uncertainty, regional distribution of land system change is critical.


12

Biodiversity loss Extinction rate , extinc-tions per million spe-cies per year (E/MSY).

Slow variable affect-ing ecosystem func-tioning at continental and ocean basin scales. Impact on many other bound-aries – C storage, freshwater, N and P cycles, land systems. Massive loss of biodi-versity unacceptable for ethical reasons.

< 10 E/MSY (10 – 100 E/MSY)

1. Incomplete knowledge on the role of biodiver-sity for ecosystem functioning across scales. 2. Thresholds likely at local and regional scales 3. Boundary position highly uncertain.

Chemical pollution For example, emis-sions, concentrations, or effects on ecosys-tem and Earth system functioning of persis-tent organic pollutants (POPs), plastics, endo-crine disruptors, heavy metals, and nuclear wastet.

Thresholds leading to unacceptable impacts on human health and ecosystem functioning possible but largely unknown. May act as a slow variable under-mining resilience and increase risk of cross-ing other threshold.

To be determined 1. Ample scientific evidence on indi-vidual chemicals but lacks an aggregate, global-level analysis. 2. Slow variable, large-scale thresh-olds unknown. 3. Unable to suggest boundary yet.

ment), says: “ Together we defined nine areas, which will be researched separate and together.

We regret to have to say that three of the boundaries have alreqdy been trans-gressed. This is true for the amount of nitrogen in biological circulation, the destruction of biodiversity and the more general climate changes.” Furthermore, the researchers’ analyses point to four additional areas where limits are close to being transgressed: global freshwater use, global land use, acidification of the oceans and phosphorus in the biosphere and oceans.

She adds: “But this does not mean that we cannot recover. In the same way that you can improve your health by stopping smoking, you may trans-gress the limits of Earth in shorter pe-riods without doing irreparable damage. But the longer that humanity is on the wrong side of this threshold, the greater is the danger of permanent damage.”

AnthropoceneProfessor Will Steffen, co-leader for Global Environnemental Changes at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Di-rector of the ANU Climate Change Institute of Australian National Uni-versity says: “We are now entering the Anthropocene, a new geological era in which our activities are threa-tening the Earth´s capacity to regu-late itself. We are beginning to push the planet out of its current stable Holocene state, the warm period that began about 10,000 years ago and during which agriculture and complex societies, including our own, have developed and flourished. The expan-ding human enterprise could under-mine the resilience of the Holocene

state, which would otherwise continue for thousands of years into the future.”

Researchers worry especially about the risk that planetary systems suddenly”tip”, i.e. transgress critical thresholds and change very abruptly.

“If these thresholds are transgressed, important subsystems, like the monsoon rains, can tip into a new balance, often with devastating consequences,” the ar-ticle in Nature explains. Researchers re-commend that the world tries to stabi-lize CO2 concentration at not more than 350 ppm (CO2 molecules per million air molecules). “Today, concentration is al-ready 387 ppm - almost 40% above pre-industrial levels It is not enough, accor-ding to the research project, to just stop the ongoing increase in emissions and concentration. The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has to actively be brought down in order to minimize the risk of climate tipping. “The 350 ppm li-mit has the goal of preserving the enor-mous icecaps at the poles” (Greenland and Antarctica), the scientists write.

Declining BiodiversityThe Nature article notes that extinction of living species to ay seems to be hap-pening at a speed 100-1000 times fa-ster than what is the normal speed for extinction of species because of human practices such as industrial agriculture, urbanism and burning biomass, as the most important causes. Up to 30 % of all mammals, birds and reptiles will be threatened by extinction in this cen-tury.”

When species disappear, the stabi-lity of local or regional ecosystems can transgress a critical “tipping point”, but according the team of researchers it is very difficult to set a tolerable boundary

for the extinction of species. Researchers mention a rate of extinction of 10 times the natural speed as a possible limit.

The global nitrogen system is being severely disturbed by industrial agricul-ture. “Human processes - especially the production of fertilizer for food produ-ction as well as cultivation of legumes - every year transform 120 million tons of inert nitrogen from the atmosphere into very reactive forms - more than the combined effect of all natural processes on land. A lot of this reactive nitrogen ends in the environment where it pol-lutes waterways and coastal waters, is stored in land systems and adds green-house gasses, such as nitrous oxide, to the atmosphere.” The research team estimates that the tolerable level of reactive nitrogen should probably be no more than one fourth of the present day level.

Complex IssuesThe ambition of the project of defining the boundaries of sustainability is further complicated in that the separate systems and their boundaries affect each other. “For instance, major changes in the uti-lization of the land systems of the Ama-zon basin can affect the water resources as far away as Tibet. The boundaries of climate change depend on staying at the right side of the boundaries of fresh wa-ter, soils, particles, nitrogen, phospho-rus, as well as ocean and stratospheric boundaries. This is complex, interdisci-plinary research work, which is still in its early days, the team emphasizes.

However, “The evidence so far sug-gests that, as long as the thresholds are not crossed, humanity has the freedom to pursue long-term social and economic development,” the report concludes.

13


Rashmi’s poems

No tears for the last Man

Sitting alone in New York getting the mes-sage of his fathers death and not being able to get home for the funeral Rashmi

wrote this.

All things arise from the earth.They are nourished by the Earth

They live in the womb of the Earth.And all things return to the Earth.

Nothing is more sacred than NatureNothing is more pure than Nature.

Those who befoul Nature are its enemies.They are criminal.

They prepare their own necropolis.

Because, when all human drama is over,Nature will speak the last word.

And there will be no one to shed tears for

The last man

2 March 1996

Of Learning and Immortality

Then they asked:Master what is education?

The wise man spoke silently,“There is no masterand no education,

my people”People were bemused

Master continued,“Life is an opportunity to realize ourselves.

We are creatures of learning.

To learn is to be creative.To learn is to know

the root of our existence.To learn is to preserve

Our sacred Earth. To learn is to live

in harmony with the whole.To learn is to givebirth to the future.To learn is to reach

enlightenment - Nirvana.To learn is to be liberated

from the finitenessof Space and TimeTo learn is to be

immortal”.Master was no more.

Sep 6 1998

Rashmi Mayur from the IISF (International Insti-tute for Sustainable Future), collaborated with GEN 1995-2003.He wrote the poen of immortality at the first session of the Gaia Education Meeting 1998 at Fjordvang, Thy


14

We meet in Vartov, in the center of Copenhagen where Grundt-vig, famous Danish author and

founder of the Danish Folkhighschool stands in marble in the courtyard. Sven will be speaking in an hour about Con-fucius and the Chinese miracle.

I start asking him what is the carry-ing capacity of Earth as far concerns Humans?

Sven: In my lifespan the global population went from 2,2 billion to 6,8 billion. In Denmark from 3,7 mill. to 5,4mill. Tell me one thing which has improved? Not to speak about the global situation. 3 billion live for under $2 a day. One billion is starving. FAO, (Food and Agricul-ture organisation of the UN) at one time estimated that one billion could reach the development level of the developed world (this was when we were 5 billion people). One billion would be the carrying capacity and the projections are 9 billion. Quite a difference!

Q: Why is reduction of population not being discussed as part of the climate discussion?

“I do not know. Could have to do with the Catholic Church. And from a point of view that technology will suffice.

Q: China and Vietnam have had a po-licy? Are there other countries that have? What do you think about that?

The most important political mea-sure ever taken on this planet is China’s population strategy. China could have

been 800 million more people now. In China a generation ago there were 4 persons to take care of the grandpa-rents. Now there is one person. So we must ask: Is that person 4 times more productive now?

The answer is: yes. Is this person willing to pay? This is a political ta-xing problem. Chinese pay 20% in taxes. We pay 50% in Denmark- in the least. In the US it is 38 %. I used to say to the Chinese: the US is twice as socialistic as China. There

Declining Global Population is an Insurance Policy!

Interview with Sven Burmester by Hildur Jackson

Sven Burmester was vice president of the World Bank under Robert McNamara with a special interest in population control. On his card he calls himself author and explorer, as he has writ-ten several books and as he has lived in and speaks the languages of China, Egypt, the USA and Denmark, where he grew up. He has a deep understanding of the Chinese and Muslem cultures

Rank Territory Value191 Germany 9192 Italy 9193 Lithuania 9194 Belarus 9195 Russian Federation 9196 Czech Republic 9197 Ukraine 9198 Slovenia 9199 Latvia 8200 Bulgaria 8

HIGHEST AND LOWEST BIRTH RATES

Technical notes

© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan)

births per 1000 people per year

Rank Territory Value1 Niger 522 Angola 503 Guinea-Bissau 494 Somalia 495 Democratic Republic of Congo 486 Uganda 487 Mali 478 Sierra Leone 479 Burkina Faso 4610 Chad 46

Land area

0

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n

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tern

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ope

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ern

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eric

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ern

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dle

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frica

Total Births

www.worldmapper.org

Produced by the SASI group (Sheffield) and Mark Newman (Michigan)

“The birth of a baby is an occasion for weaving hopeful dreams about the future.”

133 million babies were born in theyear 2000. In territories with thefewest births per person, more peopleare dying than are being born. Aswith all population statistics, even thisvital one, figures are rough estimates.

More children are born each year inAfrica than are born in the Americas,all of Europe and Japan put together.Worldwide, more than a third of amillion new people will be born onyour birthday this year.

• Principal data source: World Health Organisation,2005,World Health Report

• Birth data is from 2000.• See website for further information.

This map shows the proportion of the world’s totalbirths for each territory.

Map 003

Aung San Suu Kyi, 1997

REGIONAL BIRTH RATES

birt

hs p

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ousa

nd p

eopl

e pe

r yea

r

10000

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20

101950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

World

Africa

Asia

Europe

Latin America

Northern America

Oceania

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/World_population_%28UN%29.svg

1 af 1 07-11-2009 17:39

Population Groth, Source: Worldmapper

15


is a huge potential in China to solve the problems of the elderly. The more we are, the worse it gets.

China, Vietnam and Korea have reached stability. In slightly diffe-rent ways. China has had a one child policy. Vietnam has done better with a two children policy. This policy has then been modified by late marri-age at 28 years and spacing between children with 5-6 years between.

Populations are declining in Japan and Europe. Politicians complain. Ja-pan is worse off with an aging popu-lation. Politicians should instead ce-lebrate and be happy. It is wonderful. We will be fewer people!! Productivity will take care of the problems. Take the case of the metro in Copenhagen. There are no people to run it. This is a fantastic example of productivity.Today 3% of the population living in the countryside produces 19 times as

much as 50% of the population pro-duced when I was young.

Russia and Italy are seeing a redu-ction of population for different rea-sons. Italy is fascinating as it is the home of the Catholic Church. I do not know about Russia.

Q; How do we create a global just redu-ction? What are the policies needed?

Populations start declining when people get rich. Women want educations and work. They want fewer children. In the rich countries we have no problems. It will take care of itself. Hitler awar-ded prices for many children. We should award prices for few children. In the poor countries it is more difficult; before they get rich enough, they will be too many people and ruin the planet. They have to get up to something similar to our stan-dard, so their population policy has to be different. So you cannot make a just

solution in the poor countries. If we are so concerned, we can import people.

Q: Fertility problems due to pollution, GMO, endocrine disrupters (phtha-lates) and reduced quality of semen may reduce population the hard way?

That may be, but we cannot manage with 50 billion. I am very interested in insurance policies. Your house may not burn down but it is smart to buy an in-surance policy. The planet may not be ruined but it is prudent to have an insu-rance policy: declining population.

Rank Territory Value191 Germany 9192 Italy 9193 Lithuania 9194 Belarus 9195 Russian Federation 9196 Czech Republic 9197 Ukraine 9198 Slovenia 9199 Latvia 8200 Bulgaria 8

HIGHEST AND LOWEST BIRTH RATES

Technical notes

© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan)

births per 1000 people per year

Rank Territory Value1 Niger 522 Angola 503 Guinea-Bissau 494 Somalia 495 Democratic Republic of Congo 486 Uganda 487 Mali 478 Sierra Leone 479 Burkina Faso 4610 Chad 46

Land area

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Japa

n

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tern

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ope

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th A

mer

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ern

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eric

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East

ern

Asia

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dle

East

Asia

Pac

ific

Sout

hern

Asi

a

Nor

ther

n Af

rica

Sout

heas

tern

Afri

ca

Cent

ral A

frica

Total Births

www.worldmapper.org

Produced by the SASI group (Sheffield) and Mark Newman (Michigan)

“The birth of a baby is an occasion for weaving hopeful dreams about the future.”

133 million babies were born in theyear 2000. In territories with thefewest births per person, more peopleare dying than are being born. Aswith all population statistics, even thisvital one, figures are rough estimates.

More children are born each year inAfrica than are born in the Americas,all of Europe and Japan put together.Worldwide, more than a third of amillion new people will be born onyour birthday this year.

• Principal data source: World Health Organisation,2005,World Health Report

• Birth data is from 2000.• See website for further information.

This map shows the proportion of the world’s totalbirths for each territory.

Map 003

Aung San Suu Kyi, 1997

REGIONAL BIRTH RATES

birt

hs p

er th

ousa

nd p

eopl

e pe

r yea

r


16

II. Attempts at Partial SolutionsBy Hildur Jackson

Our political leaders are torn between the demands of the growth economy (supporting the survival of the “business as usual sector”) and serving the people who have chosen them. They often end up listening too much to business and financial institutions.. So a strong pressure from civil society, NGO’s and the professional world is necessary for them to take relevant action. This pressure is building up as more and more groups come up with ideas and proposals of how things can be changed In recent years, different sectors globally, regionally and locally have started coopera-ting in taking responsibility for the global situation. Prestigious Institutes meet to define a more holistic concept than climate change to define and make sure we keep inside Planetary Bounda-ries. Danish Engineers have worked with engineers from 11 countries to find ways to curb Global Warming. Scientists got the Nobel prize for their wake-up call in the IPPC, the UN Climate Panel. A Manifesto on how ecological farming all over can contribute to reduce co2 emissios should be part of the agenda. Erik Rasmussen from Monday Morning together with Connie Hedegård, have summoned Global Business/Industry to see what they can come up with/what are their needs. Su-stainable communities around the world demonstrate that they can cooperate and teach sustaina-bility while they are actually living a lifestyle which less than half the CO2 emissions. The Climate Forum is working on an NGO WHITEPAPER, which all NGO's (civil society) will hopefully be able to sign at the Climate Meeting.The State of the World Forum is taking on leadership by continuing the process of finding a solution where every sector is listened to and reaching a higher level. 30 Faith leaders will meet during the conference and draft a declaration which will be presented to the Climate Meeting. All this will hopefully put maximum pressure on the official meeting so they get the courage to do what is needed.

All the Trainers of the EDE, Ecovillage Design Education, together at a meeting at Wongsanit Ashram, ThailandPhoto:Hildur Jackson

17


When the delegates meet for the United Nations Framework Con-vention on Climate Change in

Copenhagen, they will set the course in our response to the climate crisis from now until mid-century. Given what we know is already the warming pipeline, irrespective of emissions changes, what will the temperature be like in mid-cen-tury?

In the Canadian Pacific, one out of five rivers will be too hot for salmon, steelhead, and trout. Annual wildfires will have doubled in Australia, Southern Europe, and Brazil.

Tree swallows will be nesting weeks ear-lier than they do today, and a northward shift of red fox habitat will have invaded the Arctic fox’s range. Two thirds of the polar bear population will be gone.

Over 600 million coastal dwellers will have been forced to move inland to escape rising tides and more violent storms. In Africa, India and Southeast Asia, monsoon changes will bring con-ditions similar to those of the American Dust Bowl era of the 1930s.

Pollination of rice falls from 100 per-cent at 34°C to near zero at 40°C. Corn and wheat lose ten percent of their yields for every degree of temperature above 35°C.

In the Himalayas and on the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau, where the major rivers of India and China will no longer have the benefit of melting glaciers—because there will be no glaciers—there will be no water to sustain agriculture or the population of cities during the dry sea-sons. Eighty percent of South American glaciers will be gone by 2020, threate-ning the agricultural security of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

All of this, and much more, will occur from an average warming of about 2 degrees

Reseach of tempeture risingA longitudinal study released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Woods Hole Marine Laboratory and others in 2009 examined all of the ma-jor current climate predictive models and concluded that the Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change’s 2007 report was already seriously out of date. Newer, more advanced computer projec-tions place median surface warming in the 2090 decade at 5.2°C compared to 2.4°C in the IPCC report. After 400 runs of the comprehensive model, there is a 90% probability range of 3.5 to 7.4 de-grees of warming in this century.

Of course, if two degrees of warming has unacceptable consequences, the consequences of a 5.2° rise or a 7.4° rise in a single century is unimaginably

catastrophic. If a rise of 0.9 degrees in the past 100 years has led to wide-spread amphibian extinctions, poleward isotherm migration of hundreds of miles, super-hurricanes and historic droughts, what will a 50-million-year rise in 100 years mean? Worse, what temperatures will follow in later centuries?

Tipping points“Tipping points” are points in the func-tioning of a system (including the sy-stem of all life on Earth) where small change can result in large effects. Up to a tipping point, changes in the system have little or no effect until a critical mass is reached. At that point, a further small change can ‘tip’ the system into a significantly different way of functio-ning.

ExamplesMelt enough ice and you are no 1. longer sending meltwater into the ocean but whole glaciers; Pump enough CO2 into the atmos-2. phere and it can reach a “point” where the last part per million of gas has an effect similar to the last 100th degree Celsius that turns a pot of water into billowing steam, the result is frequent typhoons, tornadoes and violent storms; Warm the ocean enough and toxic 3. gas begins to “burp” at the sur-face from melting clathrates in the ocean sediments (and this is al-ready being observed off the coast of Norway).

Ocean circulationRecently a panel of the US National Aca-demy of Sciences employed ‘‘degenerate fingerprinting’’ to forecast the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation under a 4-fold linear increase of atmospheric CO2 over 50,000 years. A gradual decline in ocean circulation is observed for ne-

The Threat Matrix By Albert Bates, The Farm Ecovillage, Tennesy, USA

Albert Bates wrote “Climate in Crisis" in 1990 and was one of the founders of GEN, (The Global Ecovillage Network) building networks in the Americas in the 1990's. He has built the Ecovillage Training Center at the Farm Ecovillage in Tennessee, USA.


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diversity. Arctic sea-ice disap-pears. Droughts spread through the sub-tropics, accompanied by heatwaves and intense wild-fires. Worst-hit are the Medi-terranean, the southwest Uni-ted States, southern Africa and Australia.

2C-3CSummer heatwaves such as that in Europe in 2003, which killed 30,000 people, become annual events. Extreme heat sees tem-peratures reaching the low 40s Celsius in southern England. Amazon rainforest crosses a “tipping point” where extreme heat and lower rainfall makes the forest unviable – much of it burns and is replaced by de-sert and savannah. Dissolved CO2 turns the oceans increa-singly acidic, destroying re-maining coral reefs and wiping out many species of plankton which are the basis of the ma-

rine food chain.

3C-4CGlobal food production is under threat as key breadbaskets in Europe, Asia and the United States suffer from glacial melt, drought, and heatwaves that outstrip the tolerance of crops. Oceanic changes alter weather patterns and lead to hig-her than average sea level rise in the eastern US and UK.

4C-5CMuch human habitation in southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and other sub-tropical areas is rende-red unviable due to excessive heat and drought. The focus of civilization moves towards the poles, where temperatures remain cool enough for crops, and rain-fall – albeit with severe floods – per-sists. All sea ice is gone from both poles; mountain glaciers are gone from the An-des, Alps and Rockies. Massive releases of methane – a potent greenhouse gas – come from melting Siberian permafrost, further boosting global warming.5C-6C

arly 40,000 years, but then, suddenly, a “tipping point” is reached and the circu-lation collapses without warning.

Cessation of circulation on this scale would cause greatly magnified warming close to the equator while freezing and re-glaciating the eastern coast of North America and much of Western Europe. The “pile-up” effect as the conveyor slows would back up into the Indian and Pacific oceans. All oceans would dimi-nish their capacity to gather and store heat, creating a much larger seasonal and decadal temperature variation at Earth’s surface.

"Six degrees"In his book, Six Degrees, Mark Lynas de-scribes the path ahead in these terms:

Less than 2CTropical coral reefs suffer severe and re-peated bleaching episodes due to hotter ocean waters, killing off most coral and delivering a hammer blow to marine bio-

All pictures from the homepage of the Farm, showing different aspects of communal life at the Farm

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Global average temperatures are now hotter than for 50 million years. The Arctic region sees temperatures rise much higher than average – up to 20C – meaning the entire Arctic is now ice-free all year round. Most of the topics, sub-tropics and even lower mid-latitudes are too hot to be inhabitable. Sea level rise is now sufficiently rapid that coa-stal cities across the world are largely abandoned.

6C and aboveDanger of “runaway warming,” perhaps spurred by release of oceanic methane hydrates. Could the surface of the Earth become like Venus, entirely uninhabita-ble? Most sea life is dead. Human refu-ges now confined entirely to highland areas and the polar regions. Human po-pulation is drastically reduced. Perhaps 90% of species become extinct, rivaling the worst mass extinctions in the Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history.

Extinction ThreatWith our own extinction threatened, policymakers have been grasping at mo-numentally expensive straws like solar radiation management (such as mirrors in space or sulfur injections to make clouds) and geoengineering (such as vacuuming carbon from the atmosphere or fertilizing the oceans for plankton). The consensus of climate scientists, as expressed at recent international confe-rences, is that whether geoengineering can even be considered as an emergency

measure, and whether it would work, is not known.

Social Architectural FailureAt the launch of the Stern Review, Sir Nicholas Stern described climate change as “the greatest market failure the world has seen.” It is also the greatest lea-dership failure in the history of human civilization. A 2009 study by the United Nations University Center on Internatio-nal Cooperation of the institutions that have been tasked with confronting the dilemma we face has concluded that they are completely inadequate to the task. UN policymaking architecture is a wishful but unrealizable process of mul-tilateral consensus, one that is all too often characterized by incoherent goals, fragmented implementation, and unre-

liability over the long time periods in which consistent and sustained effort will be needed.

“Age of Climatocracy”The report’s authors characterize the process now being witnessed as the “Age of Climatocracy,” in which early success in negotiations nonetheless fails to lead to a sustainable deal and a “Multilateral Zombie,” in which an early breakdown in international co-operation is followed by the eventual emergence of a new or-der based on a patchwork of bottom up solutions, such as voluntary carbon tra-ding.

What is the power of 7 billionThis is not to say that a patchwork of bot-tom up solutions might not be precisely what is required to bypass the impasse that governments, media, and academia have erected to prevent concerted ac-tion. Mohandas Gandhi rallied the grea-ter population of India by walking to the sea and picking up a handful of salt, and by training his hands to spin cloth from cotton and silk. Permaculturist Geoff Lawton re-greened the desert in Jordan by building swales and planting trees. We know the power of one. What is the power of 7 billion, driven by a cultural, ethical, and spiritual impulse?

If the will to survive is still there, there is yet hope. As this book demonstrates, even now, at the threshold of our 50-mil-lon-year century, there is yet hope.


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Can we Curb Global Warming ? By Søren Skibstrup Eriksen, The Danish Society of Engineers (IDA)

“Yes, we can - It is possible to bring about dramatic reductions in greenhouse emissions using technologies that already exist!” This was the outcome of the Future Climate Confe-rence held in Copenhagen on the 3rd and 4th of September 2009 arranged by IDA. During the Conference, Engineers Associations from 10 countries presented the results of their work in the Future Climate Project. The participating associations have been developing national climate plans and technology forecasts. The plans and forecasts demonstrate how greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced substantially.

The findings from the project demon-strates that we are still able to take the pressure off global warming up

to 2050 and thereby keep the rise in glo-bal temperature below two degrees cen-tigrade. We know which technologies to use to achieve this goal, many of which are already on the market.

A Climate Plan for Denmark, IDAAs part of the Future Climate project members of the Danish Society of Engi-neers have made a National Climate Plan for Denmark.

The IDA Climate Plan 2050 is a holistic message on the way in which the Danish climate gas emissions can be reduced by 90 % by 2050 while also improving Denmark’s self-sufficiency, economy and developing Danish trade and industry.

At IDA, we take it for granted that we, the inhabitants of the well-to-do OECD countries, cannot in the long-run sustain greater greenhouse gas emis-sions per inhabitant than inhabitants of other parts of the world. Since Den-mark’s greenhouse gas emissions are ap-proximately double those of the average world citizen, this means that we as a country must undertake a substantial reduction commitment. The IDA Climate Plan 2050 has therefore aimed to show that it is technologically and economi-cally possible to reduce greenhouse ga-ses emissions in Denmark by 90 %. This corresponds to each Dane contributing no more than around 1.3 tonnes CO2 equivalents by 2050.

A Danish Climate Plan based solely upon renewable energyWind turbines and biomass constitute the backbone of The IDA Climate Plan

2050 that is based solely upon renewa-ble energy. In 2050, Danish greenhouse gas emissions will originate largely from agricultural production and the emissions that are linked with the Da-nish people’s food consumption. In The IDA Climate Plan 2050, 60-65 % of the electricity production is based on wind

power. The majority of the combined heat and power production is based on biomass and waste and thus constitutes the stabilising element of an otherwise fluctuating energy production.

The remaining electricity and combi-

ned heat and power production are based on solar cells, wave power, geo-thermics and solar heat. Such a comprehensive development of renewable energy sour-ces requires the initiation of a number of consecutive initiatives.

It will be necessary to increase re-search and development within the critical technologies. It is particularly important to also provide necessary op-portunities to test and demonstrate the technologies and to establish innova-tion markets and feed-in tariffs that can support a market characteristic following the new technologies. In the windmill area, it is also important to draw up a longterm development plan for off-shore and on-shore wind turbines as soon as possible.

Energy consumption in buildingsThe IDA Climate Plan 2050 also looks at the energy consumption in buildings and homes being markedly reduced in the forthcoming years, and at making the mass housing CO2 neutral through a combination of energy savings, the inte-gration of renewable energy and the de-velopment of district heating based on renewable energy. The energy consump-tion in buildings and homes currently constitutes more than 40 % of the total Danish energy consumption. Denmark currently has the world’s most stringent energy requirements for buildings, but it will still be necessary to sharpen those requirements.

Passive HousingThe first houses that do not use energy have already been constructed, and it is recommended that requirements be introduced at this early stage into the building regulations stating that

About the Future Climate project,wwwfutureclimate:

Future Climate – Engine-ering Solutions is an inter-national project for now 13 Engineering Associations. The objective of the Pro-ject is to demonstrate su-stainable energy technolo-gies and solutions that can contribute toward a scena-rio where the global tem-perature will not increase by more than two degrees centigrade.

More information on the project can be found at: www.futureclimate.info

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houses erected after 2020 must be erected in accordance with the Zero Emission Housing standard. However, the greatest savings poten-tial is in the existing housing, and even by 2050, the majority of the housing will con-sist of homes that were erected before 2009.

The Climate Plan looks at a substantial reduction in energy consumption through continuous renova-tion up to 2020 and at bringing 75 % of the poorest insulated struc-tures up to the current building regulation re-quirements. In 2030 the energy consump-tion in buildings will be halved compared to the present level due to further reductions. Many energy savings are privately financially profitable and in order to support renovation of private buildings it will be necessary to pre-pare a long-term plan for increasing energy efficiency and for state funds to be earmarked that will speed up energy savings in pri-vate residences and in non-profit resi-dential buildings.

It is essential to discuss which fi-nancial initiatives will be implemented and to consider whether funds from the National Building Fund should be used within the non-profit sector. It is at the same time necessary to fortify research and development in new energy saving materials and to further improve direc-tions and guidelines for workmen and private persons, and to establish overall better information in the field.

Energy savings are a major toolThe IDA Climate Plan 2050 for Denmark emphasises cost-effective solutions, which mean that energy streamlining and more efficient utilisation of nature’s resources constitute a cornerstone of the plan. All in all, the plan looks at the Danish energy consumption being redu-ced by 50% in 2050.

This conclusion do the Danes have

in common with the participants in the international project. One of the main points in the report issued by the Future Climate Project is that a large propor-tion of the reductions could be reaped through energy savings. The majority of the organisations, therefore, expect to be able to reduce the emission of green-house gasses at a national level by up to 50 percent - solely through energy effi-ciency improvements within areas such as manufacturing, industry, construction and transportation.

Future climate engineering solutionsOvercoming climate change is a major challenge for the global society, and the foremost engineering challenge of the 21st century. There is crucial need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in order to keep the rise in tem-perature below two degrees Celsius.

The engineers agree that energy ef-ficiency improvement is the area where we can get the most value for money. Energy savings should therefore be in-

cluded as a central element of every effort to reduce the emission of green-house gasses.

As the next step after energy saving technology is key. A number of construc-tion, heating and power technologies are commercially available to make new buildings net-zero GHG emitters and sig-nificantly reduce the carbon emissions from existing building stock, in both ca-ses with economic benefits. This inclu-des inter alia heat pumps, solar power, district heating, efficient electrical app-liances, pumps and lighting, and an im-proved building envelope. In the mid to long term buildings can become power generators and an integrated part of the electricity grid through the introduction of improved photovoltaics.

The Future Climate project has demon-strated that, with available and known technologies, it is possible to make sub-stantial GHG reductions in the near and the long term to meet the project target of an average global temperature rise below 2˚C – the”<2˚C target”


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The human dimension – a sustainable approach to city planning By Jan Gehl and Birgitte Bundesen Svarre

For decades the human dimension has been an overlooked and haphazardly addressed urban planning topic. A common feature of almost all cities is that the people who use city space in great numbers have been increasingly poorly treated. Limited space, obstacles, noise, pollution, risk of accident and generally disgraceful conditions are typical for city dwellers in most of the world’s cities – regardless of global location, economic viability and stage of development. This turn of events has not only reduced the opportunities for pedestrianism as a form of transport, but also placed the social and cultural functions of city space under siege. Fortunately, several cities realize the value of putting humans first in order to create more lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities.

For decades the human dimension has been an overlooked and hap-hazardly addressed urban planning

topic. A common feature of almost all cities is that the people who use city space in great numbers have been in-creasingly poorly treated. Limited space, obstacles, noise, pollution, risk of acci-dent and generally disgraceful conditions are typical for city dwellers in most of the world’s cities – regardless of global location, economic viability and stage of development. This turn of events has not only reduced the opportunities for pede-strianism as a form of transport, but also placed the social and cultural functions of city space under siege. Fortunately, several cities realize the value of put-ting humans first in order to create more lively, safe, sustainable and healthy ci-ties.

The human dimension – a necessary new planning dimensionAfter years of neglect of the human di-mension, here at the beginning of the 21st century we have an urgent need and growing willingness to once again create cities for people. New global chal-lenges underscore the importance of far more targeted concern for the human dimension. Planning with a human di-mension demands focuses on the needs of the people who use cities.

The vision of ensuring lively, safe, su-stainable and healthy cities has become a general and urgent desire. All these four objectives can be strengthened im-measurably by increasing the concern for pedestrians, cyclists and city life in general. A unified citywide political in-tervention to ensure that the residents of the city are invited to walk and bike

as much as possible in connection with their daily activities is a strong reinfor-cement of the objectives: lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities.

Cities must urge urban planners and architects to reinforce pedestrianism as an integrated city policy to develop lively, safe, sustainable and healthy ci-ties. It is equally urgent to strengthen the social function of city space as a meeting place that fulfils the aims of social sustainability and an open and democratic society.

Wanted: lively, safe, sustainable and healthy citiesThe desire for a lively city is strengt-hened when more people are invited to walk, bike and stay in city space. A lively city has a number of positive side effects as a city with life also can contribute to a more safe, sustainable and healthy city.

The desire for a safe city is strengt-hened generally when more people move about and stay in city space. A city that invites people to walk must by defini-tion have a reasonably cohesive struc-ture that offers short walking distances, attractive courses of space and a varia-tion of urban functions. These elements increase activity and the feeling of secu-rity in and around city spaces. There are more eyes along the street and a greater incentive to follow the events going on in the city from surrounding housing and buildings.

Left: Business-cycling in CopenhagenRigth:Herald sq_NYC, Both Photos: Jan Gehl.

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The sustainable city is strengthened generally if a large part of the people transport system can take place as green mobility, that is, travel by foot or bike. These forms of transport provide marked benefits to the economy, resource con-sumption, the environment, and the need for good city space.

Another important sustainable aspect is that the attractiveness of public trans-port systems is boosted if users feel safe and comfortable walking or cycling to and from buses, light rail and train. Good public space and a good public transport system thus become two sides of the same coins.

We are seeing a rapid growth in pub-lic health problems because large seg-ments of the workforce in many parts of the world have become sedentary, with cars providing door-to-door transport. A whole-hearted invitation to walk and bike as a natural and integrated element of daily routines must be a non-negoti-able part of a unified health policy. The desire for a healthy city is strengthened dramatically if walking or biking can be a natural part of the pattern of daily ac-tivities. The city of Copenhagen as well as New York City have realized visions of a more human dimension in city planning by prioritizing bicyclists and pedestrians.

Better conditions for cyclists – more cyclists – case: CopenhagenThe City of Copenhagen has been restruc-turing its street network for several deca-des, removing driving lanes and parking places in a deliberate process to create better and safer conditions for bicycle traffic. Year by year the inhabitants of the city have been invited to bike more.

The entire city is now served by an effective and convenient system of bike paths, separated by curbs from sidewalks and driving lanes. City intersections have bicycle crossings painted in blue and spe-cial traffic lights for bicycles that turn green six seconds before cars are allowed to move forward. Such initiatives make it considerably safer to cycle around the city. In short a whole-hearted invitation has been extended to cyclists, and the results are reflected clearly in patterns of use.

Bicycle traffic has doubled in the period from 1995 to 2005, and in 2008 statistics showed that 37% of personal

transport to and from work and educatio-nal institutions was by bicycle. The goal is to increase this percentage considera-bly in the years to come.

As conditions for bicyclists improve, a new bicycle culture is emerging. Children and seniors, business people and stu-dents, parents with young children, MPs and mayors ride bicycles. Bicycling in the city has become the way to get around. It is faster and cheaper than other transport options and also good for the environ-ment and personal health.

Interplay between city life and the quality of city space - case New York CityAlthough pedestrian traffic has traditionally dominated the streets of Manhattan in New York City, it has been difficult to find a spot for sitting, watching, enjoying city life.

In 2007 an extensive program was la-unched to encourage greater versatility in city life. The idea was to provide bet-ter options for recreation and leisure as a supplement to the extensive purposeful pedestrian traffic. For example, on Bro-adway expanded sidewalks have provided room for café chairs and places to stay, while a number of new car-free areas with many opportunities to stay have been established at Madison Square, Herald Square and Times Square.

In all these cases the new opportunities were adopted at once. Almost day-by-day the new invitations have enriched city life and made it far more multifaceted. Even in New York City there is obviously a need for city space and great interest in partici-pating more in city life now that there are more opportunities and solid invitations.

Cities by people and for peopleWhat is remarkable about the development in Copenhagen as well as in New York City is that it reflects a growing understanding that cities must be designed to invite pede-strian traffic and city life. These cities want people to walk in city space, they recognize the importance of pedestrian traffic and bi-cyclists for sustainability and health in so-ciety, and they acknowledge the importance of city space and city life as an attractive, informal and democratic meeting place for their residents in the 21st century.

Planning with hu-man beings as the point of departure – and not the number of cars, the number of square meters or tech-nical specifications of different transport systems – can create more sustainable ci-ties, environmentally as well as economi-cally and socially. Four goals – one po-licyConcern for the hu-man dimension of city

planning reflects a distinct and strong demand for better urban quality. There are direct connections between improve-ments for people in city space and the strong desire for lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities.

In developing countries, the plight of the human dimension is considerably more complex and serious. Most of the population is forced to use city space in-tensively for many daily activities. Tradi-tionally city space has worked reasonably well for these uses, but when car traf-fic, for example, grows precipitously, the competition for city space intensifies. The conditions for urban life and pede-strians have become less and less digni-fied year by year.

Compared with other social invest-ments – particularly healthcare costs and the car traffic infrastructure – the cost of including the human dimension is so modest that investments in this area will be possible for cities in all parts of the world regardless of development status and financial capability.

The human dimension – a sustainable approach to city planning


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”We, the politicians of the world, have a responsibility to reach a truly global climate change agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009. But it is the business society that can deliver the tools to turn our vision into reality. Businesses can provide the clever solutions to make it possible to live in a both modern and sustainable society.”Connie Hedegaard, Minister of Climate and Energy, Denmark

The Copenhagen CallFrom Homepage of Monday Morning, edited by Erik Rasmussen and put together by Troels Dilling-Hansen

The results of the World Business Summit on Climate Change, mai 24.-26.th 2009 will be pre-sented to the Danish government, host of COP15, and to world leaders negotiating the terms of the next international climate treaty.Global business leaders assembled in Copenhagen at the World Business Summit on Climate Change issued „The Copenhagen Call,” a powerful and concise statement that sets out the elements business believes are required to forge an effective new global climate treaty.

Global business leaders assembled in Copenhagen today called for ambitious, global action on cli-

mate change.As the World Business Summit on Cli-mate Change drew to a close, business

announced that a new global climate treaty must set bold targets for emis-sions reductions by 2020 and 2050, li-miting the global average rise in tem-perature to a maximum of 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. This requires

immediate and substantial action leading to an abate-ment of around 17Gt versus business-as-usual by 2020, they said.

Emissions reduction at this scale will profoundly affect business but the “Call” states that business leaders stand ready to make those changes and support ambitious political decisi-ons that support economic recovery and safeguard the planet.

This and further re-commendations form the basis of “The Copenhagen Call” – a concise state-ment, which sets out the elements business believes are required for an effec-tive new global climate treaty to be forged.

“The ambition of the

Copenhagen Call shows that business need not be a conservative voice on climate change. Many of the businesses represented at this significant event in the lead up to COP15 want brave decisi-ons that will tackle this most wicked of problems,” says Tim Flannery, Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council.

Presented to the Danish Prime Mi-nister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, the Copenhagen Call will be ta-ken forward by them in to the last six months of negotiations before the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in December.

“Economic recovery and urgent ac-tion to tackle climate change are com-plementary – boosting the economy and jobs through investment in the new infrastructure needed to reduce emissi-ons,” the Call further states.

Erik Rasmussen, Founder of the Co-penhagen Climate Council, explains: “Reducing the emissions that until now have been so linked to our economic growth and betterment will be an enor-mous, unprecedented global challenge but will also provide significant oppor-tunities for sustainable growth, green

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jobs, development and innovation.”In order to set a firm foundation for a sustainable economic future it is impe-rative that the following six steps are implemented:

Agreement on a science-based 1. greenhouse gas stabilization path with 2020 and 2050 emis-sions reduction targets that will achieve it; Effective measurement, reporting 2. and verification of emissions performance by business; Incentives for a dramatic incre-3. ase in financing low emissions technologies; Deployment of existing low-4. emissions technologies and the development of new ones; Funds to make communities more 5. resilient and able to adapt to the effects of climate change, and Means to finance forest protec-6. tion.

Presented by the Copenhagen Climate Council, the Copenhagen Call was infor-med by discussion with the World Busi-ness Council on Sustainable Develop-ment; 3C; the World Economic Forum; the UN Global Compact and The Climate Group, and deliberations among partici-

pants at the World Business Summit on Climate Change May 24-26 2009.

Comment at the web by Aladar Stil-mar, July 18, 2009A road map for a goal of reaching that the atmospheric carbon dioxide level dropped below 300 ppm (where histo-ric record indicates to be for over 800 thousand years):

New electric power generating ca-•pacity can come online only nuclear after 2013The existing railroads to be conver-•ted to electricity before 2013 The transportation of merchandize •and goods to be done by train on the distances over 25 km from 2014 Short distance• transport of goods to be done by electricity driven trucks from 2014 The• coal burning power plant units to be replaced by nuclear starting from 2014 and phased out before 2030 New coal burning power plant unit •could be put in service in the future only after the atmospheric carbon dioxide level dropped below 300 ppm The public transport is turned to •electric before 2015 The private transportation is sup-•

plied with replaceable rechargea-ble electrical batteries and on the highways replacement batteries are available in new refueling station system for long distance travel from 2014 Only electric cars are sold from •2015

That would work.

Comment at the web by Marcus Hoy, May 28, 2009I have been trying to get more info on this "Copenhagen Call" from the organi-sers - so far without success. The final declaration states that "The views ex-pressed here... do not necessarily reflect the views of all participants" but gives no more details.

So are we to surmise that consensus could not be reached on even what ap-pears to be a very general text?

As far as I can tell, no businesses at-tending the conference made concrete commitments to reduce their individual energy consumption or carbon foot-print.

Some of them but not all, have ex-pressed support for certain political goals, as detailed in the final declara-tion.

"I believe in our resourcefulness and in our capa-city to come up with workable solutions to the problems we have ourselves created. Necessity is the mother of all in-vention."- Sir Richard Bran-son, Member of the Copenhagen Climate Council Here the statement is delivered to Danish Prime Minister Lars

Løkke Rasmussen and UNFCCC chief Yvo de Boer to take forward into the final six months of negotiations leading to COP15.Photo credit: CopenhagenClimateCouncil/PeterSørensen ©


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Many years ago, I visited the Pr-ophecy Rock of the Hopi Nation in Arizona. According to Hopi

tradition, the symbols on this rock warn of the time when this life will either be destroyed or restored to a paradise, de-pending on our actions as caretakers. In 1948 Hopi elders warned the world and later attended the Stockholm con-ference in 1972. In the early 1990’s,the Kogi people, who live in the mountains of Columbia, came out for the first time

to communicate with the outside world. They warned us all that we were killing the “great mother” earth.

Tibetan PropheciesIn eighth century Tibet, the prophecies

of Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche as he is also known, warned that certain conditions will come to pass in our time because of man’s insatiable egoism and mans molesting the elements. He knew of climate changes to come. According to these prophecies, the celestial order is disrupted:

Plague, famine, and war begin to •terrify terrestrial life; disorder turns to chaos, leading to panic which ra-ges like a wildfire. No rain falls in season, and when it •does, the valleys are flooded.Drought, frost, and hail govern many •unproductive years.

“Changing Direction: Restoring Mother Earth”By Hanne Marstrand Strong, founder of the Manitou Foundation and Earth Restoration Corps

For thousands of years, humankind has been warned of impending disaster, one that threatens the very existence of life on earth. These warnings have come from prophets and people of various religious and indigenous traditions, many of which share similar scenarios on the fate of humankind. Human behavior, egoism and the focus on material gain have replaced moral and spiritual integrity and we are now witnessing the results. Perhaps the gravest result is climate change. Why haven’t we listened to these warnings that have been given throughout history?

“We cannot look at the earth as a resource to

be plundered, she is the source of all life”

Hanne Strong

Down: Earth Restoration Corps group. Photo: Hanne Strong

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Earthquakes bring sudden floods •while fire, storms, and tornadoes destroy cities in an instant.Impostors and frauds cheat the •people; drunkards preach the path to salvationThe advice of sycophants is follo-•wed; loquacity and eloquence pass as wisdom; the butcher and murde-rer become leaders of men.Unscrupulous self-seekers rise to •high position.Embodiments of malice and sel-•fishness become revered teachersBehavior that was previously •anathema becomes toleratedIdeals are established contrary to •tradition; all good customs and ha-bits are rejected and many disag-reeable innovations corrupt the people; people will die of starvation even as there is food to eatThe food itself will become lifeless•And people will be bombarded •with useless information that leads nowhere and distracted by meaning-less pursuits.He also said that one of the few re-•medies for this time is to reforest the planet.

Jacques CousteauIn the early 1970’s, my husband and I often met with the late French oceano-grapher, Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau at that time was working on a study of the earth’s carrying capacity. He concluded that if everyone on the planet followed the wasteful lifestyles and consumption patterns developed in the West, the planet could support only 400 million people without ecological systems being damaged.

Our current population exceeds 6 billion. A particularly distressing fact is that many people around the world want to live like those in the West. This over-development is a recipe for self-destruction. The western world must take the lead in setting a new example of simplicity and moderation.

Many later scholars and scientists such as Anne and Paul Ehrlich, Den-nis Meadows Donella Meadows, Maurice Strong, Rene Dubois, Barbara Ward, Dr. James Hansen and Al Gore have also de-livered alarming messages that we must change direction. Professor Schellen-

huber said that climate change could bring the population down to one billion people. The United Nations has reported that agricultural production could be cut in half.

“Global warming doesn’t ring our alarm bells”Why are we willing participants in our own demise? Nicholas Kristof, author and journalist, explains this very well in his 2009 New York Times Commentary Let-ters when he wrote about a recent study on peoples’ lack of capacity to deal with circumstances that they do not conceive as immediately threatening. He expla-ins that the human brain has prepared us to deal with imminent danger but if it is a future threat it doesn’t activate our warning system. He writes that the most serious threats sneak under our brain’s radar and “global warming doesn’t ring our alarm bells”.

Stockholm 1972The IPCC and IPY projections are way off, things are happening a lot faster than they are projecting. The glo-bal ecological and social crisis is real. Thirty-seven years ago, the first global summit on the environment took place. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 brought environmental issues to the forefront with governments, inter-governmental agencies, NGO’s and the public participating.

Eighteen Western governments met secretly before every preparatory meet-ing to see how they could prevent any significant agreements from being made. Although governments were well aware of the climate change issue it was pur-posely kept quiet. We all need to ask why we can spend trillions of dollars for wars and to bail out fat cats but we cannot afford to save the planet and its people? Inaction equals mass murder.

Earth Summit Rio 1992The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Ja-neiro was attended, under the auspices of the United Nations, by the largest assemblage in history of presidents and heads of state as well as thousands of non-governmental, grassroots, and indi-genous peoples’ organizations. The of-ficially adopted 400-page document en-titled “Agenda 21” did not mince words when it stated, in its Preamble, that: “Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. The world is confronted with worsening poverty, hunger, ill health,

illiteracy, and the continuing deterio-ration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well-being.”

Although the world’s leaders acknow-ledged that the pattern of unsustainable development was destroying the founda-tion of the natural world and threatening the future of cultures and civilizations, in the more than seventeen years since the summit, the promise of Agenda 21 is not being fulfilled. And the little that has been accomplished has not gone beyond so-called technological “quick fixes” and green wash, except for Fidel

Castro who returned to Cuba from Rio and implemented most of it.

Personal and social transformation is a pre-condition for restoring our EarthAfter more than forty years of work in this field and witnessing the environ-mental and human consequences of unconscious behavior and development first-hand, I came to the conclusion that only through people across cultures and social backgrounds uniting and taking part in the daunting task of working to restore balance in ourselves can we be-gin to restore the planet. Personal and social transformation is a pre-condition for restoring our Earth. This involves a life-affirming choice of developing our moral and spiritual character.

Through this process of re-awa-kening, we are able to summon the gratitude, humility and compassion and in short, the peace of mind and heart necessary to re-connect with the time-less laws of nature. Only this can give us the strength and courage not only to do what is right but what is demanded of our generation.

Young people, women and indigenous peoples are key to this processYoung people have the most to lose, namely, their futures. They can become the practical and moral agents for the enormous change of direction called for.

“Changing Direction: Restoring Mother Earth”

We are now witness to the environ-mental and cultural degradation around us. The most critical ele-ment or root cause of our current predicament is human behavior, the way we humans unconsciously think and act, consume and waste on this planet.


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It is hopeful to know that many young people are engaged in this work already and the number of youth involved in changing our future is growing.

How will we facilitate this change and pay for this massive undertaking? One way called for in Agenda 21 is re-allocating resources now committed to the military. We need to re-orient our efforts toward the creation of new work opportunities in a new economy based on principles of sustainability, green livelihoods and restoration.

It is especially important to create meaningful employment for young Mus-lims in order to redirect their energy and give them hope. Visionary world leaders, including captains of the corporate world and international organizations who understand the problems we face need to come forward and help finance the restoration of the damaged ecosy-stems devastated by heedless behavior. The training and hiring of young people is essential. Restoration is already a tril-lion dollar economy and growing fast. There are already millions of jobs in the new restoration economy.

Humanity must re-establish harmony with the elementsHow can we from industrial and industria-lizing countries alike so unconsciously jeo-pardize what is so simple in terms of human survival - clean nutritious food, clean water, and clean air by actively participating in our own demise? We have alienated oursel-ves from the life-giving elements embodied in nature’s laws, which have sustained all life since the beginning of time.

Humanity must re-establish harmony with the elements of air, fire, water, earth, and space if we are to restore our planet. We are molesting these essential life giving elements and diminishing their capacity that is in turn creating an imbalance cau-sing changing weather patterns.

People at the grassroots level also have an obligation to take increasing responsibility for moving the process forward. Right thinking, right action, and right livelihood on a global scale have to come together with great strength and commitment to turn the tide. This is what I call the ecological and spiritual revolution, upon which it is possible to instill the transformational and practi-cal tools for the next generation to live more simply and create sustainable jobs/livelihoods. Such a revolution will allow

people to develop the qualities of per-sonal humility, gratitude, respect, love, voluntary simplicity, and the compassion necessary to carry out the task at hand.

As part of this process, people need to participate in and support effective grassroots organizations and movements that will move us in a positive direction. Governments, scholars and grass roots organizations alike have stated that the upcoming conference in Copenhagen on climate change, COP-15, is going to be a complete bust.

The US climate change bill is totally ineffective and there was complete inac-tion at the recent G8 Summit. There has been no substantial progress, only talk and more talk. Leaders and decision ma-kers that could move the climate change agenda forward are not doing it. The is-sue of climate change needs grassroots people to take this on in full measure and demand change.

If humanity has a future, which is doubtful, these are some key points of the drastic changes we will have to embark on:

Every person must scale down on 1. production, consumption and wa-ste.Emissions must be cut to below 2. 350. Every soldier from every army 3. around the world needs to lay down their weapon and help to restore and reforest the planet utilizing C3 and C4 trees local to that environ-ment. An Immediate ban must be put in 4. place to prevent the cutting of old growth trees around the globe. A Ban must be placed on releasing 5. the approximately 100,000 toxic chemicals into the atmosphere,

streams, rivers, soils and ground-water. Human and animal waste needs to 6. be captured and used as an energy source, replacing natural gas. Wa-ste has to be kept away from our waters, soils and air. All nuclear weapons must be de-7. stroyed. People must turn to a mainly vege-8. tarian diet.Ocean dumping and over fishing 9. must be banned. Major soil restoration efforts must 10. be made worldwide.Sustainable technologies must be 11. implemented worldwide.Major support must be given to 12. small-scale organic farmers.

These are just a few points, there are many more to mention. These points may seem unrealistic to some people but this is what it will take if we are to survive.

UnityWe are living in increasingly critical and uncertain times. Yet we all share a com-mon ground that can unite us if we so choose. It does not matter what philo-sophy or religion we embrace or what our social and cultural backgrounds are: no one is untouched by our environmen-tal degradation, by human suffering, by global insecurity, and by the human be-havior patterns responsible for the crisis. Most Governments are not going to help. It is up to each one of us to scale down our consumption and production pat-terns and develop the highest aspects of being human. Through our respective cultural and spiritual traditions, we can realize that we are part of a much greater whole.

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Manifesto on climate change and the future of food security

By The International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture

This manifesto is an agro-ecological response to challenge posed by cli-mate change for ensuring the future

of food security by mitigation, adapta-tion and equity, based on the following principles:

1. Industrial Globalised Agriculture Contri-butes to and is Vulnerable to Climate ChangeIndustrial agriculture, based on chemicals, fos-sil fuels, and globalized food systems enabled by energy intensive and long distant transport, has a negative impact on climate. Industrial agriculture presently contributes at least one quarter of current greenhouse gas emissions. This dominant system, as promoted by the current economic paradigm, has accelerated climate instability and increased food insecurity. It also increases vulnerability because it is based on uniformity and monocultures, on cen-tralized distribution systems, and dependance on intensive energy and water inputs.

2. Ecological and Organic Farming Con-tributes to Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate ChangeAgriculture is the only human activity based on photosyntesis and has a potential to be fully re-newable. Ecological and organic farming mitiga-tes climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon sequestration in plants and soil. Multifunctional, biodiverse farming systems and localised diversified food systems are essential for ensuring food security in an era of cli-mate change. A rapid global transition to such sy-stems is an imperative both for mitigating climate change and for ensuring food security.

3. Transition to Local, Sustainable food Systems Benefit the Environment and Public HealthEconomic globalization has led to a nutritional transition away from local, diverse, seasonal diets to industrially processed synthetic foods, which are leading to new food-related diseases and ill health. Economic globalization policies increase the burden on the environment through resource and energy intensive consumption patterns. Localization, di-versification, and seasonality are important for im-proving human well being, health, and nutrition.

A transition to local systems throughout the world will reduce food miles by shortening trans-port chains and reduce the “energy backpack” of

food in terms of packaging, refrigeration, storage, and processing.

4. Biodiversity Reduces Vulnerability and Increases ResilienceBiodiversity is the basis of food security. Biodiversity is also the basis for ecological and organic farming because it provides alternatives to fossil fuel and chemical inputs. It also increases resilience to cli-mate change by returning more carbon to the soil, improving the soil’s ability to withstand drought, floods, and erosion. Biodiversity is the only natural insurance for society’s future adaptation and evo-lution. Increasing genetic and cultural diversity in food systems, and maintaining this biodiversity in the commons are vital adaptation strategiesresponding to challenges of climate change.

5. Genetically Modified Seeds and Breeds: a False Solution and Dangerous DiversionGenetically modified crops are a false solution and a dangerous diversion from our task of mitigating climate change, running counter to providing sustainable food and energy and to conserving resources. GM food, fibre, and fuels aggravate all the shortcomings of industrial monoculture crops: more genetic uniformity and hence less resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses; and more demand for water and pesticides. They have been created on the basis of a discredited and obsolete genetic determinist paradigm and thus carry extra risks to health and the environment. They also lead to pa-tent monopolies which not only undermine farmers’ rights but also impede the dedication of research on biodiversity for adaptation to climate change.

6. Industrial Agrofuels: A False Solu-tion and New Threat to Food SecurityFood is the most basic of human needs and su-stainable agriculture must be based on food first policies. Industrial agrofuels are non-sustainable and spread genetically modified organisms by stealth.

Agrofuel plantations are aggravating the pro-blem of climate change by destroying and replacing rain forests with soy, palm oil, and sugar cane plan-tations. This has led to an unparalleled land grab of indigenous and rural communities.

Industrial agrofuels are responsible for perverse subsidies to non-sustainable agriculture which threaten the food rights of billions of people. To make matters worse, food prices are increasing due

to the rapid conversion from growing food crops to growing agrofuels.

Sustainable energy policies require decentrali-zation combined with a general decrease in energy consumption, while maintaining food security as an overarching objective of food and agriculture systems.

7. Water Conservation is Central to Su-stainable AgricultureIndustrial agriculture has led to intensive water use and increased water pollution, reducing availability of fresh water. Drought and water scarcity in large parts of the world will increase due to changes in climate. Reducing intensive water use in agriculture is a vital adaptation strategy. Ecological and orga-nic farming reduces demands for intensive irrigation while enhancing soil capacity for retention of water while improving water quality.

8. Knowledge Transition for Climate Adaptation Climate change is the ultimate test for our collective intelligence as humanity. Industrial agriculture has destroyed vital aspects of knowledge of local ecosystems and agricultural technologies which are necessary for making a transition to a post-industrial, fossil fuel-free food system.

The diversity of cultures and of knowledge systems required for adapting to climate change need recognition and enhancing through public policy and investment. A new partnership between science and traditional knowledge will strengthen both knowledge sy-stems and enhance our capacity to respond.

9. Economic Transition Toward a Su-stainable and Equitable Food FutureCurrent economic and trade regimes have played a major role in creating perverse incentives that increase carbon emissions, accelerating climate change.

The growth paradigm based on limitless con-sumption and false economic indicators such as gross national product (GNP) are pushing countries and communities toward increasing vulnerability and instability. Trade rules and economic systems should support the principle of subsidiarity - that is favouring local economies and local food systems which reduce our carbon footprint while increasing democratic participation and the quality of life.


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Ecovillages and the Transformation of Values

By Jonathan Dawson, Ex-president of Global Ecovillage Network, GEN

Ecovillages are engaged in the transformation of values in three ways that may make the transition to sustainability easier and more graceful.

The most visible and tangible pro-jects within ecovillages tend to be those related to technology; most

first-time visitors to ecovillages come to find out about ecological housing, bio-logical wastewater treatment systems, renewable energy technologies, commu-nity currencies, and the like. Less imme-diately obvious, but arguably even more significant however, is the contribution of ecovillages to a radical transformation of values and consciousness. Delinking

Growth from Well-beingThe attempt to delink growth and the ac-cumulation of material goods from well-being lies at the heart of the ecovillage concept. The low levels of consumption that typically prevail within ecovillages result partly from the design of their sy-stems so as to reduce energy and ma-terials intensity and partly because, by opting out of the global economy to va-rying degrees, they forgo opportunities to maximize income.

There is substantial anecdotal evi-dence that the quality of life within ecovillages is generally high—certainly much higher than would be expected

for communities that operate on low levels of income. This anecdotal evi-dence has been re-inforced by a 2006 study comparing the contribution of built (economic), human, social, and natural capital to quality of life in 30 intentional commu-nities with that in the town of Bur-lington, Vermont. The study found

that the quality of life was slightly hig-her in the intentional communities de-spite the fact that average incomes were significantly lower because of a greater cultivation and appreciation of other forms of capital, especially social capi-tal. Of special importance in determining quality of life, the study identified the strong social bonds that develop within intentional communities, their “owners-hip provisions as well as…process for allocating work and rewarding contribu-tions” and the “emphasis the community placed upon the preservation of natural areas.”

The authors concluded: “Results of this study represent an existence proof: it is possible to achieve a high (and probably more sustainable) quality of life while consuming at rates much less than the U.S. average.… We have much to learn from intentional communities around the world that have been acti-vely experimenting with issues related to quality of life and sustainability.” (Kenneth Mulder, Robert Costanza, and Jon Erickson, “The Contribution of Built, Human, Social and Natural Capital to Quality of Life in Intentional and Unin-

tentional Communities,” Ecological Eco-nomics, August 2006, pp.18-19)

It is especially interesting that many of the activities and design features that are responsible for low energy and re-source use within ecovillages are also among the most important in contri-buting to a better quality of life. The decision by many ecovillages to grow a significant amount of their own food, prepare and eat meals together, create car clubs, community-owned renewable energy facilities, community currencies and investment, and so on involves eco-villagers working cooperatively together in a way that strengthens relationships and builds a strong and nurturing sense of connection with place.

Reconnecting People with the Place Where They LiveOne of the more pernicious impacts of today’s globalized economy is the wea-ker connections that people feel to the place where they live. There has been a progressive homogenization across the world over the last 50 years or so of foodstuffs, clothing, farming technolo-gies, building materials, styles, and so on. As a part of this trend, increasingly diets no longer reflect the changing seasons. This disconnect is enormously important in providing a seed bed for alienation and consumerism.

Reestablishing a keener appreciation of the qualities, patterns, and rhythms of home places and what they can su-stainably yield is fundamental to refin-ding a balanced and respectful place within them. Nurturing just such an en-hanced appreciation is of central impor-tance to the ecovillage ethic. In part, this manifests in attempts to increase levels of self-sufficiency. Ecovillages typically seek to develop an enhanced understanding of ecological building

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techniques using local materials, local medicinal herbs, wild food foraging, or-ganic food production and processing, energy generation with locally available renewable resources, and so on. They are seeking to deepen their connections in their own bioregions, to increase resi-lience in a period of energy transition, and to reduce dependence on money and the global economy.

Similarly, many ecovillages are enga-ged in initiatives to restore the health of their surrounding ecosystems. Many have projects to plant trees and pro-tect vulnerable areas from commercial development. Over the last 40 years, to cite but one example, the Auroville ecovillage in southern India has planted more than 3 million trees and engaged in widespread earth restoration projects that have simultaneously enriched the diversity of local natural systems and woven people more deeply into the web of life.

Affirmation of Indigenous Values and Practices The corporate marketing and advertising industries have played a central role in shaping the values underlying today’s consumerist culture. They have played an especially devastating role in under-mining the cultural self-confidence of groups falling outside of the global con-sumer class. Consequently, an important dimension of the value shift required in the transition to a sustainable global so-ciety lies in celebration of the diversity of human cultures, encouraging each to value and take pride in their distinctive-ness.

Ecovillage networks in developing coun-tries tend to be very active on this frontActivities with new groups generally focus on building cultural self-confi-dence and celebrating the communities’ strengths and achievements. The Sri Lankan nongovernmental group Sarvo-daya, a founding member of GEN, works with over 15,000 communities island-wide. It has developed a methodology for community assistance that begins with an empowerment program. This includes a strong element of social and spiritual empowerment, including medi-tation, cultural validation, peacemaking, and conflict facilitation. Only when this foundation has been built does the more tangible work of economic empowerment and physical infrastructure development begin.

The Ladakh Project in India similarly places great weight on building cultural self-confidence. It has helped to establish the Women’s Alliance of Ladakh (WAL), a network of over 6,000 women from almost 100 different villages, with the twin goals of raising the status of rural women and strengthening local culture and agricul-ture. Some of the more creative programs initiated by WAL are No TV weeks, aimed at encouraging people to resist the consu-merist ethic; annual festivals celebrating local knowledge and skills, including tradi-tional spinning, weaving, and dyeing and the preparation of indigenous food;.

ConclusionTogether, these three living experiments – delinking growth from wellbeing, re-connecting people with their home pla-

ces and the affirmation of indigenous values and wi-sdom – form an essential part of our journey towards sustainability. It may well be here, rather than in the development of the hard-ware of community, that history may judge ecovil-lages to have had their most lasting and trans-formational impact.

Left: Vandana Shiva and Jonathan Dawson during IFOAM in Copenhagen, Photo: Hildur JacksonRight up: Leh village in Ladakh. Photo: www.isec.org.uk/pages/ladakh.htmlRight down: EDE in Brazil, Photo: Mai East


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The faith leaders brought together by GPIW believe the environmental crisis is a call for all nations and all

sectors of society to come together and find ways to reduce the impact of human activity on earth’s climate. Human so-ciety has undergone rapid economic and technological development that has out-paced our wisdom without due conside-ration of the toll this is exacting on our ecosystems and climate and the well-being of all life. Spiritual and religious communities globally believe the moral, ethical and spiritual underpinnings to this call are too great to ignore.

Balance and moralIncreasingly, faith leaders around the world are acknowledging the moral im-portance to factor into economic acti-vity consideration for the earth and her resources. For the human community to deal effectively with climate change, we

Faith Leaders Address Climate ChangeBy Dena Merriam, Founder & Convener, the Global Peace Initiative of Women

The Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) – an international non-governmental women’s organization based in New York – is gathering 40 spiritual and religious leaders in Copen-hagen, Denmark from December 7-13, 2009 for the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP-15). Organized by GPIW, the international faith leaders will participate in public panels and workshops that address the spiritual dimensions and ethical implications of climate change. With provisional United Nations Observer Organization status to the COP-15, GPIW is also sending members of its delegation to the global assembly. The group’s leader and GPIW founder, Dena Merriam, says “The deeper understanding of interconnection is to know that all that is comes from a single source. To harm one part is to harm the whole. By knowing this we will naturally create a more conscious and caring way of living on the earth.”

must recognize that the environmental crisis is a moral and spiritual crisis. Re-ligious and spiritual leaders have a cen-tral role to play in helping the human community shift course and evolve more life-sustaining societies, where develop-ment is guided not only by immediate needs but by the wisdom of longer-term vision. We must now balance our ma-terial progress with the spiritual know-ledge of how to use wisely the resources given to us.

“Awakening to Oneness” is the theme of the GPIW gathering in support of the COP-15. The environmental crisis had made many more people awareness of the princip-les of interconnection and interdependence. We know that the actions and beha-vior of one nation affects all

others. As never before, we are bound to work through this crisis as one global community. But there are many ways to understand interconnection and the de-eper spiritual significance of Oneness. This awareness can guide us through the many changes that must take place and help us develop a more sustainable and life supporting future. Working through carbon trade agreements is important but it is not enough. For the human commu-nity to set itself on a truly sustainable course, a shift in mind set, in understan-ding, is needed. And thus the spiritual and political forces must work together.

Left Down: “Making Way for the Feminine” – Jaipur Summit, March 2008 – African Delegation This gathering organized by GPIW brought together more than 400 women and men from over 45 countries for four days of dialogue on the feminine principles that can help cultivate deeper understanding of interconnection and Oneness .

Left Up: In February 2009 the Global Peace Initiative of Wo-men in partnership with ITRI of Japan, brought together de-legations of senior Hindu and Buddhist leaders from around the world to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for “GIVING GLOBAL VOICE TO EASTERN WISDOM” A Hindu-Buddhist Partnership for a More Compassionate World.

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Spiritual leaders at COP15During the last several years, religious leaders have begun to issue statements on climate change, but these initiatives have centered on the Abrahamic tradi-tions. The GPIW delegation to COP-15 will be the first truly inclusive global gathering of spiritual leaders to show a commitment to collaborative action on climate change. With the rising global prominence of Asia, it is essential that the Hindu, Buddhist and other Asian faith communities share in shaping the dialogue and action that is to emerge. The delegation will include highly re-spected spiritual and religious leaders from all the major faith traditions, ba-lancing East and West, North and South. The wisdom of each of these faith communities teaches care for the earth and all life forms, and the key spiritual principles of gratitude and sharing. As we seek to evolve a way of living that is more sustainable and thus more consci-ous, we will need to find ways to share earth’s resources and the responsibility for curtailing pollution and waste.

A new global partnershipIn a demonstration of religious unity, the GPIW delegation will craft a joint statement of principles and action steps that they will promote in their commu-nities. They will call for a new global partnership between political, economic and spiritual leaders to strengthen ef-forts to implement the framework put in place during the COP-15 meeting. Their primary goal is for the world to understand that one of the key trans-formations needed is to awaken again the understanding that the elements, the essential building blocks of life, do

not exist merely for our consumption and use, but like us are part of the great web of life, very much needed for the wellbeing of the whole. This understan-ding will change the way humanity rela-tes to the rivers and oceans, forest and mountains. It will help awaken a sense of integration and an understanding of the Oneness that underlies all life.

Bottom up approachSince 2002, the Global Peace Initia-tive of Women (GPIW) has been leading faith groups in collaboration with global NGO’s, local stakeholders, and likemin-ded individuals to create a bottom up approach to social change. GPIW has answered a crucial need to represent, support and facilitate faith leaders at the global level in their efforts at lea-dership in social and community advo-cacy.

Spiritual thinktankIn November of 2008 the Global Peace Ini-tiative of Women organized a think tank at the Aspen Institute in Colorado entitled “Gathering Spiritual Voices of America”. This meeting of 80 spiritual leaders from across the United States came together to explore the ways that religious leaders can join in a collective voice in times of crisis and be an inspiration for a new type of activism, based on love and compassion, rather than fear and anger.

The Parlament of World ReligionThis parlament was established in 1988, and has gathered many tousend people every 5 years from 1993, where it was held in Chicago. 1999 in Cape Town, 2004 in Barcelona and now dec. 3.-9.Dec. 2009 in Melbourne, Australia. The Theme is "He-aring each other and healing the Earth." 650 programs have been offered. See more at www.parliamentofreligions.org

Right Up: Women Faith Leaders Retreat on Compassion – Taipei 2006 Hosted by Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist CenterL to R Dena Merriam, Founder GPIW, the late Master Sheng Yen, Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister

Right Down: he Summit Co-Chairs, Swami Dayananada Saraswati, head of the Acharya Sabha of India along with Sangha Raja Bour Kry, the Supreme Patri-arch of Cambodia. The environment and climate change was a major theme at the gathering.


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III. How do we co-operate globally on all levels and sectors?

Who are the agents of change?What is the vision?

Will governments take leadership or will change have to come from below?

The ecovillage concept is one such holistic vision created on the ground in different places all over the world at roughly the same time - and it has ma-nifested in a remarkably similar manner and with the same value system eve-rywhere. Since the early 1990s, ecovil-lages have been cooperating in a global network (GEN) and getting their experi-ences documented in a new sustainabi-lity design education, books and films.

The World Social Forum has held meet-ings since the famous Seattle meeting in 1999 where NGOs and labour unions cooperated for the first time, but have so far failed to create a single cohesive vision.

The State of the World Forum is taking a global leadership role in their 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign. The 350 campaign is another global initiative culminating at the COP-15 Climate Sum-mit. People’s KlimaForum09 is working on a declaration for Cop15 to unite NGOs and put pressure on governments. It can be seen on their website. Spiral dynamics - a body of learning that is developing tools and language to embrace the need for accepting all that is while moving to a higher level of con-sciousness as problems cannot be solved at the level where they arose. What we need may be the NGO thinking and ini-tiatives to merge with a transformation of consciousness.

At a recent meeting, Andrew Harvey—a mystic and teacher, who just published a book on sacred activism and is coming to Copenhagen with the Spiritual Lea-ders group—recounted his vision of such a merger: “I had a dream in which my teacher, Bede Griffith, showed me two rivers. One was a river of fire which was going towards the sea and the other was an even bigger river of even more intense fire, which was also going to-wards the sea. At the sea, they met and erupted in a glowing and glorious radiant divine Hiroshima of energy. And then I heard this voice saying, ‘These two rivers are the two noblest forces of the human psyche. These two rivers are the river of the mystic’s passion for God and the ri-ver of the activist’s passion for justice. When these two rivers meet, what hap-pens is that a third fire is born and that is the fire that is ordained to transform everything; that fire is the fire of divine compassion and love in action.’ “It was that dream that inspired the term ‘sacred activism’. It was in honour of that vision that I wrote my book.” He continued: “I am going everywhere talking about this vision of sacred activism but I am also bringing out a way of grounding it in the world. On Thanksgiving Day, I am releasing a glo-bal website called Networks of Grace, and these networks are going to be cells of between six

to twelve people gathered around a bro-ken heart, or a profession, or a passion, who will dedicate their lives to getting this grassroots radical revolution of the third power— Love in Action—going in their local communities. It is the only way in which we will have a chance of making it work. “If you are waiting for the multinatio-nal corporations to solve your life situa-tion, you will wait until the last tree is burnt down. If you are waiting for the politicians to undergo spiritual transfor-mation and suddenly spend millions to save the environment and feed the poor, you can as well wait for the last ani-mal to disappear. This revolution of the soul in action depends upon you and me getting real about three things: about the tragedy of where we are, about the opportunity of where we can go, and about the heartbreak that we all feel. And when we get real about all of those three things, then we are impelled to work together in the networks of grace to do something about them.”

By Hildur Jackson

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GEN's new flyer made for COP15The movement to create ecovillages is perhaps the most comprehensive antidote to dependence on the global economy. Around the world, people are building communities that attempt to get away from the waste, pollution, competition and violence of contemporary life.

Helena Norberg-Hodge, Director of the International Society for Ecology & Culture

Ecovillages are living experiments in sustainability, demonstrating that it is possible to live well within our means.

Some of our members have among the lo-west per capita carbon footprints in the industrialized world. Yet they do so while maintaining a high quality of life based on democratic self-governance within socially inclusive communities.

The message emerging from ecovillages at this key moment in our history is that a low-carbon lifestyle is possible within vi-brant and well-designed communities – and indeed that this is the path that is most likely to deliver both human wellbeing and planetary sustainability.

We strongly endorse the call of the 350 campaign for a agreement at Copenhagen that guarantees greenhouse gases stabilise at no more than 350ppm.

As an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations, GEN has been an active contributor in the UN’s COP process since 2002. GEN’s principal representative to the

UN, Albert Bates, is the author of Climate in Crisis: The Greenhouse Effect and What We Can Do (1990, foreword by Al Gore) and co-author of the chapter on Tipping Points for the Civil Society’s Report to the Secretary General on Actions to Eliminate Climate Change, in preparation for UNFCCC COP-15.

EcovillagesEcovillages are urban or rural communities that strive to integrate a supportive and in-clusive social environment with a low-im-pact way of life. They integrate principles of ecological design, renewable energy systems, commu-nity-owned social economies and democratic self-governance.

Ecov i l l ages exist on every continent and in a myriad of different

social and ecological contexts. They repre-sent a citizens’ response to the brutality, ugliness and injustice of today’s dominant consumerist culture.

Another world is possible – we are crea-ting it!

What you can do:Support the 350 campaign

Create an ecovillage or visit one near youBecome a member of GEN

www.ecovillage.org

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Preliminary title: System change – not climate change

1: People are rising to the threat of climate changeIn this introductory paragraph examples will be given of environmental- and cli-mate struggles that are unfolding wor-ldwide.

2: The problems of climate changeA short status on the climate change problems and its connection to vari-ous other environmental problems (de-pletion of water resources and other resources; pollution; rise in sea level; deforestation; loss of habitats; decrease in bio diversity etc.)3: The causes of climate change In this chapter a nuanced criticism of the systemic causes behind the cli-

mate crisis and the broader ecological crisis will be presented. This includes the mastery of nature paradigm and its connection with the growth paradigm; globalization; the motive of profit and the accumulation of capital. This also includes the North-South problematic, the ecological debt and climate Justice issue. Furthermore this chapter will criticize false solutions, including the quota-trading regime. Finally the COP15 agenda will be addressed.

4: Sustainable transitionAn argumentation of the necessity of a fundamental paradigm shift should be presented through a description of su-stainable transition. A characterization of production and consumption within the ecological scope; focusing on local life circles, decentralization, de-growth,

reorganization of agriculture, fishery, transport and industry to sustainable systems based on renewable energy, fewer working hours, changed habits of consumption and real democracy.

5: The roads to transitionExamples of how to accomplish this transition immediately should be given. This includes characterization of reform processes of the political system.

6: Building a global movement of mo-vementsConcluding the declaration with a call for mobilization describing how different movements, networks and organizations together can create a global movement of movements that is able to trigger the necessary changes of agendas and en-force real changes.

When finished, the declaration will be handed over to the politi-cal leaders at the COP15 supply-ing them with inspiration as to how a fair and just climate deal can be put together.

ContactsOfficiel contact is [email protected] and contact about the decla-ration is Matilde Kaalund-Jørgen-sen at [email protected]

Proposal for structure of the KlimaForum09 (NGO)declaration

From homepage www.klimaforum09.org

Klimaforum09 is the Peoples Climate Summit, and behind this is 28 danish NGO's and sup-ported by 61 international organisation.

The actual declaration will be finalized during the first four days of Klimaforum09

Demonstration in Copenhagen 2009. Photo: Klimabevægelsen

Topkvalitet fra frontløberen AURO. Prøv naturharpiksmalingen

til væg og loft. Eller økologisk lak, lasur, olie, voks, lud, sæbe

eller rengøring til dine gulve, møbler og træfl ader. Indtørrede

rester og behandlet træ kan uden betænkelighed komposteres.

Varer i 3 serier: Classic (citrusduftende med biologisk ned-

brydelige opløsningsmidler). Aqua (vandbaseret og biologisk

nedbrydelig uden opløsningsmidler). Pur Solid ( langtrækkende

og forbrugsbesparende, biologisk nedbrydelig, uden vand og

opløsningsmidler). Økomaling.dk er importør af

Vægmaling nr. 321Giver perfekt maleresultat. Åben-poret mathvid vægmaling med naturlig citrusduft. Vaskebestandig kvalitet med større dækkeevne end AURO rumhvid nr. 320. Drypper og sprøjter meget lidt. Kan tones med 330-serien. Kan fortyndes med vand. Indtil 9 m2/l. Også til lerpuds. Højt dækkende indendørsmaling.

Vælg økologisk maling – godt for mennesker og natur

Prof. Vægmaling nr. 322Åbenporet skurebestandig og meget slidstærk kvalitet med bedste dække-evne blandt AUROs emulsions-væg-malinger til professionel brug f.eks. til institutioner og hospitaler m.v. Drypper og sprøjter meget lidt. Kan tones med 330-serien. Til indvendig brug. Diffusionsåben. Kan fortyndes med vand. Indtil 10 m2/l. Meget god dækkeevne.

neestil på nettet

Bestil på nettet

Bestil pBestil på nettet

BesBestil på nettet

estiBestil på Be tBestilBestilBestilBeBBestil på nettet NUNUNUg få ffragten grati

ragten grati

og få fog få fragten gratis!

ogog få fragteoooog få fragten gratis!

(Kbh og omegn)

(((Kbh og omegn)


375,-FRA KUN

425,-FRA KUN

37


Topkvalitet fra frontløberen AURO. Prøv naturharpiksmalingen

til væg og loft. Eller økologisk lak, lasur, olie, voks, lud, sæbe

eller rengøring til dine gulve, møbler og træfl ader. Indtørrede

rester og behandlet træ kan uden betænkelighed komposteres.

Varer i 3 serier: Classic (citrusduftende med biologisk ned-

brydelige opløsningsmidler). Aqua (vandbaseret og biologisk

nedbrydelig uden opløsningsmidler). Pur Solid ( langtrækkende

og forbrugsbesparende, biologisk nedbrydelig, uden vand og

opløsningsmidler). Økomaling.dk er importør af

Vægmaling nr. 321Giver perfekt maleresultat. Åben-poret mathvid vægmaling med naturlig citrusduft. Vaskebestandig kvalitet med større dækkeevne end AURO rumhvid nr. 320. Drypper og sprøjter meget lidt. Kan tones med 330-serien. Kan fortyndes med vand. Indtil 9 m2/l. Også til lerpuds. Højt dækkende indendørsmaling.


Prof. Vægmaling nr. 322Åbenporet skurebestandig og meget slidstærk kvalitet med bedste dække-evne blandt AUROs emulsions-væg-malinger til professionel brug f.eks. til institutioner og hospitaler m.v. Drypper og sprøjter meget lidt. Kan tones med 330-serien. Til indvendig brug. Diffusionsåben. Kan fortyndes med vand. Indtil 10 m2/l. Meget god dækkeevne.

neestil på nettet

Bestil på nettet

Bestil pBestil på nettet

BesBestil på nettet

estiBestil på Be tBestilBestilBestilBeBBestil på nettet NUNUNUg få ffragten grati

ragten grati

og få fog få fragten gratis!

ogog få fragteoooog få fragten gratis!

(Kbh og omegn)

(((Kbh og omegn)


375,-FRA KUN

425,-FRA KUN


38

The 80% by 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign

Interview with Jim Garrison (JG) by Daniel Wahl (DW)

This interview was held at the Bioneers conference in California in October 2009. During the conference the State of the

World Forum (www.worldforum.org) and the Bioneers (www.bioneers.org) announced their collaboration in the preparation for the State of the World Forum in Washington DC (February 28th to March 3rd, 2010) and in formation of ‘rapid regional response teams’ to help with the process of turning this ur-gent call for action into reality.

DW: Jim, what is your principle concern about the Copenhagen negotiations?

JG: The central contradiction in the global warming crisis is that while the urgency is get-ting increasingly acute, our governments are negotiating as if we have another forty years to solve the problem. This timeframe is at the heart of the Copenhagen negotiations – redu-cing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. But we do not have another 40 years to solve this crisis. We have only a few at the most to take the action required and at some level virtually everyone paying any attention knows that. We must be guided by science not political expedi-ency, and our scientists are saying that global warming is about ready to spin out of control with devastating consequences to civilization as we know it. We must therefore take decisive action. We must accomplish by 2020 what our governments are negotiating for 2050. Only ta-king action within the 2020 timeframe will suf-fice to solve the escalating crisis we are in. This is the stark reality we must face and the reason for the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign.

DW: Why is 2020 the right timeline?JG: Lester Brown points out that re-

ducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 will allow us to stabilize the global tempe-rature rise at just over 1C and will level off concentrations of CO2 at around 400 ppm. This will allow for an essentially gracious “emergency landing” so that we can then begin the process of actually reversing CO2 concentrations back down to 350 ppm, which Jim Hansen and a growing consen-sus of scientists and policy analysts agree is the tipping point above which devastating climate change is inevitable. The world is currently at a 0.8 global temperature rise above pre industrial levels and at 385 ppm. Human activity is putting 70 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every 24 hours and escalating tons of methane.

DW: What does the 2020 Climate Lea-dership Campaign seek to accomplish?

JG: We are mobilizing a global campaign to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 by networking any cities, states and regi-ons anywhere worldwide that are making the 2020 commitment. Our commitment is to deploy Rapid Regional Response Teams to assist, comprised of professionals and specialists drawn mostly from the local area as well as internationally. These teams will be deployed to any city, state or institution making the commitment to reduce its car-bon emissions by 80% by 2020 and develop sustainable lifestyles and economies.

DW: How does the 2020 Campaign relate to the Copenhagen negotiations?

JG: The 2020 Campaign turns Copenha-gen on its head. COP15 is an intricate se-ries of negotiations by which all the nations are trying to reach agreement before any of them actually do much and then at a pace that is essentially catastrophic in its con-sequences. The 2020 Campaign sets forth a single strategic goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 and encourages any and all pathways to achieve that goal at a pace that will largely remedy the problem if it succeeds. Within the context of a single common goal, as much diversity and inno-vation as possible is encouraged at local and regional levels. This allows for a complet-ely flat organizational structure in the 2020 campaign. Everyone is responsible for global warming. Everyone must come together to solve it. Our convenings are to share infor-mation and build collaborations.

Ironically, time is on our side. The world situation is only going to get more clima-tically turbulent and as it does, more and more people, cities, states and institutions will realize that 2020 is the only realistic timeframe for decisive action. Our job right now is simply to begin, to identify the cli-mate leaders, bring them together, share in-formation, profile innovations, and demon-strate that the 2020 goal can be achieved using existing technology and in a way that generates savings, jobs, and opportunities, leading to climate prosperity.

Jim Garrison and the State of the World Forum mobilize a global urgency coalition calling for 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020.State of the World Forum was founded in 1995 by Jim Garrison with Mikhail Gorbachev, who served as the Convening Chairman.The Forum was established to create a global leadership network comprised of eminent individuals -- ranging from Heads of State to grass roots organizers, Nobel Laureates to business leaders, po-licy makers to social activists -- drawn from the governmental, business and civil society sectors, committed to discerning and implementing those principles, values and actions necessary to guide humanity wisely as it gives shape to an increasingly global and interdependent world.

39


DW: The launch in Brazil was a great success. What is happening in Brazil as a result of the 2020 Climate Leadership campaign and the State of the World Fo-rum in Belo Horizonte?

JG: Yes, we launched the 2020 Cam-paign in Brazil in August, 2009. Our prin-ciple success has involved the support of Globo TV which controls 80% of the Brazi-lian media market and is the fourth largest media company in the world with affiliates in 114 countries. It has initiated a prime time nationwide ad campaign about glo-bal warming to support the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign. It has also rewrit-ten several of its popular soap operas with sustainable lifestyle themes and begun to develop public education on global war-ming in over 7,000 schools nationwide. This action is unprecedented. It marks the first time anywhere in the world when a major media company has decided to be-gin educating an entire nation about glo-bal warming with an emphasis on climate leadership. The fact that this includes the 2020 goals is an extraordinary development in a nation emerging as an important player in the world community.

In part because of Globo, President Lula and the governors of the Brazilian Ama-zonian states have publicly committed to reducing deforestation in the Amazon by 80% by 2020, thus demonstrating that the 80/2020 goal is now gaining currency and providing the 2020 Campaign a critical plat-form upon which to build. Essentially elimi-nating deforestation in that region would both address the most crucial challenge in the fight against climate change – stop-ping the deforestation of our rainforests -- and would provide a compelling model for other regions to follow. The 2020 Cam-paign was involved in the process leading to this commitment and has developed an agreement with Governor Anobio Marques of the Amazonian state of Acre to convene an Amazonian Summit in May 2010 in part-nership with Governor Arnold Schwarze-negger’s recent Global Climate Summit, at which the Amazonian governors made their 2020 announcement and at which we made the proposal for the Amazonian Summit.

DW: How far along are the plans for the forums in Washington DC and the Ama-zon in 2010?

JG: In partnership with a growing “urgency coalition,” the 2020 Campaign is convening a Climate Summit in Washington, D.C. February 28 – March 3, 2010 as a “post Copenhagen” opportunity for analysis and redirection. This will be around the time when the Senate Cli-mate Bill will be up for a vote and therefore an optimal opportunity for positioning the importance of sub national initiatives. There will be a strong Brazilian presence. In the aftermath of Copenhagen, we want to use the Washington event as a staging opportunity to organize Rapid Response Teams to support the Amazonian commitment. We also want to profile any initiatives, especially in the United States, that would indicate similar 2020 com-mitments. Ideally, we would want an organi-zation like RMI or Apollo Alliance to present what a 2020 strategy would look like for the U.S. The key political point we would make is that the 80/20 strategy is not merely the only viable strategy but that an entire region – the Amazon – has stepped up and made the 2020 commitment. It is a crucial opportunity to show that civil society is taking the requi-site leadership to actually solve the problem and is building a robust and credible coalition with sub national governments and the pri-vate sector to do so.

DW: What about your Amazon Summit?JG: The Amazonian Climate Summit in

May in Rio Branco will focus on this region’s 2020 commitment and do so in a way that seeks to build a relationship with Governor Schwarzenegger and his Global Climate Sum-mits. Governor Marquez has agreed to invite representatives from all nine Amazonian na-tions with the strategic intent of having them join the Brazilian Amazon which opens up the possibility to think through the strategy of creating a pan Amazonian commitment to reduce deforestation by 80% by 2020. Pachamama Alliance is taking leadership in this strategic intention. Representatives

from other rainforest nations, particularly Indonesia with the second largest forest, would also be invited. Although it might not be accomplished immediately, we can build on the Brazilian Amazonian commit-ment and seek to galvanize a global commit-ment among rainforest nations for a 2020 goal. Only ambitions of this magnitude are commensurate with the danger we are in. The Summit would also be an attractor to fi-nancial planners, interested companies, and specialists in the various areas implied by the commitment to stop deforestation and develop sustainable economies. There will be immense opportunities for investment as the commitment to stop deforestation and develop sustainable economies proceeds.

DW: The campaign committed to an in-tegral approach from the very start. Why do you think this is important?

JG: We will not achieve the 2020 goals without a transformation of human consci-ousness commensurate with the transforma-tion of our economies from fossil fuels to clean technology and renewable energy. We must change our attitudes, lifestyles and cul-tural assumptions as radically as we have to transform our transportation systems, how we provide energy to heat our houses, and how we build and maintain our buildings. We have to change our interiors as much as our exteriors. In this sense, global warming is a gateway, an invitation to realign every-thing humanity believes and does with the natural rhythms of the earth.

DW: Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions. Good luck in Copenhagen. I am looking for-ward to seeing the campaign develop until we meet again in Washington DC in February 2010.

Jim Garrison at meeting in Brazil. Photo: Web - State of the World Forum


40

Dealing with Global Warming from a Higher Level of Thinking

By Ross Jackson, PhD

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"Albert Einstein

If we are to deal efficiently with the problem of global warming, we would do well to pay serious attention to the

wise words of Albert Einstein. The climate problem facing humanity at this time was created from a mindset based on competi-tion, exploitation and mutual suspicion.

If we look at the way sovereign nati-ons are currently tackling the problem, it is clear that the Kyoto approach of negotiating national CO2 emission re-ductions is an attempt to solve the problem at the same level where it was created. Each nation considers indepen-

dently what is in its interest, what costs it will incur without impinging on its economic growth, or what finances and/or technology will be made available to it and on what terms, what competitive advantages other nations might achieve, etc. etc.

This approach will never lead to a sa-tisfactory solution, but only to constant haggling and non-enforceable commit-ments. The approach is so bureaucratic and full of possibilities for breakdown that it is highly likely that the very complexity of the negotiations will be used by some, who are not seriously in-terested in taking on the painful com-mitments that are required, to sabotage the process while putting the blame for failure elsewhere.

Higher level of institutionIf we are to find durable solutions to this problem, we should not expect to find a solution within the mindset of competition, which has created it. To find a usable solution we must move to a higher level, to the mindset of coopera-tion, where qualities like moderation, ef-ficiency, sustainability, equality, fairness and social balance trump the interests of individual nation states. What does this mean in practice? It means an ac-ceptance of a higher level institution – above the level of the nation state that is given the responsibility of implemen-ting a fair and equitable solution which is in the interest of all world citizens and the environment.

Left: Something new is being born. It's holistic, holografic and manifest oneness. Photo: Suste Bonnen. Idea: Hildur Jack-son. Painting: Karen SvenssonRight: Girls from Crystal Waters. Photo: Crystal Waters

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Nations contra the EarthThree such climate solutions with the ne-cessary characteristics have been put for-ward during the last two years, but have been hitherto ignored in a political pro-cess that is focussed exclusively on the competitive aspects of any treaty and on a continuation of the clumsy, bureaucra-tic and ineffective “Kyoto” approach.

All three are of the “cap and trade” va-riety, all are designed for global, as oppo-sed to national implementation, and any of them could do the job with guarantee, based on the principle: keep it simple. All are not only simple but also effective – no need for horse trading among 170 sovere-ign states, in fact no special treatment is given to any single state. While they differ in some respects, a common characteristic of the three is the concept of rationing, i.e. putting a physical limit on the amount of fossil fuels allowed into the global economy each year rather than relying on nebulous national emission reduction targets.

Thus, nation states have to agree on just one major thing – the total emissions limit for each year, a relatively straight-forward decision based on science. Another common trait is the establishing of a supranational agency with the in-terests of the entire planet as its man-date. This agency, beyond the influence of individual governments, shall have the exclusive right to auction off each year a

limited and declining number of per-missions to emit CO2 - permissions that must be purchased in a competi-tive auction - not granted for free!

CO2-priceOnce a high price is put on the cost of emitting CO2 in this way, there is no need for horse trading. The rest will be taken care of automatically by the glo-bal private sector with the blessings of 7 billion citizens, provided only that (1) the agency’s revenue is distributed fairly, for example equally to the 7 billion world citizens who are the ul-timate owners of the atmosphere (my preference), or possibly in part to en-vironmental restoration projects and technology research, and (2) the private sector can trade per-missions amongst themselves glo-bally, thus assuring that the most efficient technologies will get the greatest market share and be most profitable. The three are:

The Earth Atmospheric Trust1. 1

Kyoto2 2. 2

The Carbon Board 3. 3 4

Carbon BoardThe Carbon Board is my own proposal that I put forward in November 2008 after studying all the major proposals on the table and com-paring them based on a number of criteria. 5

I have a natural preference for The Carbon Board scheme, but in any case, I firmly be-lieve that one of these three, or something very similar, will have to be adopted eventu-ally if we are to avoid runaway global war-ming. The current approach of negotiations among the same sovereign states that cau-sed the problem in the first place on natio-nal emission reduction targets, technology transfer and who pays whom what, is highly unlikely to solve the problem satisfactorily or quickly enough to do the job.The Carbon Board proposal, including a discussion of the differences among the three viable candidates, is included el-sewhere in this publication.

ReferencesSee www.earthinc.org/earth atmos-•pheric trust.php and www.kyoto2.org/page5.htmlRoss Jackson, “An Ideal Climate Ag-•reement?” (Permaculture Magazine, UK, no.58 Winter 2008). Ross Jackson, “Climate Solutions: •Part 2, The Carbon Board”, in Gaian Economics, Living Well within Pla-netary Limits, editors: Jonathan Dawson, Helena Norberg-Hodge and Ross Jackson (UK, Permanent Publi-cations, 2009).Ross Jackson, “Climate Solutions: •Part 1, Comparing Alternatives”, ibid; See also www.ross-jackson.com (ar-•ticles English) for references 3, 4 and 5 on-line


42

Inner Climate ChangeBy Hildur Jackson

Is it possible to prevent a runaway climate? Are we not doomed as it is human nature always to want more—more consumption, more wealth, more outer experiences? This is the fatali-stic worldview of a great many people. Instead we need a worldview of interconnectedness, oneness and inner climate change

During the recent financial crisis, many analysts mentioned greed of the financial sector as a major cul-

prit. My mother always said with a quote from Swedish writer Hjalmar Søderberg: “The human condition is the lust of the flesh and the irreparable loneliness of the soul”. Like the rest of the Western world, she lived a worldview of separation, of soul disconnected from the flesh; of the two sexes never being able to meet.Too Limited a worldviewThe world is beginning to realize that this worldview of separation is too li-

miting. 100 years ago, Einstein, Bohr and Heisenberg were able to present us with a more uplifting worldview of inter-connectedness and oneness, something Eastern spiritual traditions through me-ditation had realized long before.

It has taken 100 years for it to ma-nifest as a different concept of human possibilities. Now what we need most is an inner climate change. We need to melt away all our fear, anger and jea-lousy and to come out as wise elders ready to take responsibly, and to realize our fundamental oneness.

What is the new concept of hu-mans?The new concept of the human being is that we all have a divine nucleus and access to divinity. We need to remove all the impressions, the blockages, all the layers of society from this and for-mer lifetimes in order to get back to who we really are. Different spiritual systems have set up slightly different systems for doing that. But when you “peal the onion”, you find that they are remarkably similar.

Left Down - LØS had a gathering at Ecovillage Fjordvang in 2000, where we danced in the mornings. Photo: Troels Dilling-HansenRight: EDE at Findhorn 2002 - in the highlands, where they are restorating the nature. Photo : Akane

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Different teachers, same teaching Thomas Keating (a US Catholic priest), in a video: “Invitation from God”, tells us how we need to let go of all that is preventing us from reaching the centre.

Eckert Tolle, in his “Awakening the Earth”, formulates how the pain-body (negative emotions like greed, fear, an-ger) is not really us; and how we must avoid giving energy to it. Then the true person will emerge.

This is very similar to what Dalai Lama explains in “The Art of Happiness”: "Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own action." We just need to constantly give energy to the positive aspects and withdraw it from the negative. It is a long process but you can be sure of success eventually.

In Sahaj Marg, a raja yoga system now practiced in 90 countries, you clean impres-sions away and get help from a “preceptor” trained to do this on a daily basis.

It can also be done by constantly li-stening to one’s heart or reading good literature. My old dad read Goethe every evening and I think Goethe was his spi-ritual guide through difficult situations all his life.

Does it work?Many indigenous peoples will be in Copenhagen for the Climate Meeting to show us what is possible. And many people from the eco-village movement will confirm that changing lifestyle is a highway to spiri-tual transformation. The alternative he-alth movement is another gateway for many people.

But we can also teach this: For example, “medita-tion for human in-tegration” is the motto of Sahaj Marg. We need to teach it on a massive scale—in schools and eve-rywhere else. When Oprah Winfrey and Eckert Tolle put on

their talk show on US television, they had 2 million viewers on the first night, and the system broke down. The pro-gram was available for all to see on the Internet for free.

How does it work?People who develop their spiritual di-mension are difficult to spot. They do not look any different. But they have different priorities. For them less can be better. They want to be in nature. They want to help Mother Earth. You can build another world with them. They are ready for the transformation.

What comes first?Will it be possible to transform soci-eties before people are transformed? This is a question that occupies many people. What comes first, the chicken or the egg? Time is so short we have to do everything as soon as possible. We need the global commons to realize that a change of consciousness is every bit as important, and as worthy of major new programs and support, as technical so-lutions to climate change.


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By Dr. Vandana Shiva. She is a trained-Physicist, philosopher, environmental activist, eco feminist and author of many books. Vandana is currently based in Delhi. Vandana Shiva participated in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main participants were women, adopted the approach of forming human circles around trees to prevent their felling. She is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization . Shiva has fought for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food. Intel-lectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, genetic engineering are key areas of her concern. In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which led to the creation of Navdanya. Her book, “Staying Alive” helped redefine perceptions of third world women. Shiva has also served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as non governmental organisations, including the International Forum on Globalisation, the Women’s Environment & Development Organization and the Third World Network. And to GEN. She is a councillor of the World Future Council .Navdanya is a network of seed keepers (http://www.navdanya.org/earth-democracy/seed-sovereignty)and organic producers spread across 16 states in India. Navdanya has helped set up 54 community seed banks across the country, trained over 500,000 farmers in seed so-vereignty, food sovereignty (http://www.navdanya.org/earth-democracy/food-sovereignty)and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country. Navdanya has also set up a learning center, Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed) on its biodiversity conservation and organic farm in Doon Valley, Uttranchal, north India. www.vandanashiva

Climate Change and Agriculture: Biodiverse Ecological Farming is the Answer, not Genetic Engineering

Industrial globalised agriculture is heavily implicated in climate change. Industrial agriculture is also more vulnerable to climate change which is intensifying droughts and floods, and in top genetic engineering is embedded in an industrial model of agriculture based on fossil fuels. It is falsely being offered as a magic bullet for dealing with climate change, but it has the opposite impact on peoples lives and the biodiversity of nature.

Industrial globalised agriculture con-tributes to the three major green-house gases – carbon dioxide from

the use of fossil fuels, nitrogen oxide from the use of chemical fertilizers and methane from factory farming. Accor-ding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC), atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased from a pre-industrial concentration of about 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in 2005. The global atmospheric concentration of CH4 has increased from pre-industrial concentration of 715 parts per billion to 1774 parts per billion in 2005. The global atmospheric concen-tration of N2O, largely due to use of che-mical fertilizers in agriculture, increased from about 270 parts per billion to 319 parts per billion in 2005.

Industrial agricultureIndustrial agriculture is also more vulne-rable to climate change which is intensi-fying droughts and floods. Monocultures lead to more frequent crop failure when rainfall does not come in time, or is too much or too little. Chemically fertilized soils have no capacity to withstand a drought. And cyclones and hurricanes make a food system dependent on long distance transport highly vulnerable to disruption.

GMOGenetic engineering is embedded in an in-dustrial model of agriculture based on fossil fuels. It is falsely being offered as a magic bullet for dealing with climate change.

Monsanto claims that Genetically Modified Organisms are a cure for both food insecurity and climate change and has been putting the following adver-tisement across the world in recent months.

All the claims this advertisement makes are falseGM crops do not produce more. While Monsanto claims its GMO Bt cotton gives 1500 kg/acre, the average is 300 – 400 Kg/acre.

The claim to increased yield is false because yield, like climate resilience is a multi-genetic trait. Introducing toxins into a plant through herbicide resistance or Bt. Toxin increases the “yield” of toxins, not of food or nutrition.

Even the nutrition argument is ma-nipulated. Golden rice genetically engi-neered to increase Vitamin A produces 70 times less Vitamin A than available alternatives such as coriander leaves and curry leaves.

The false claim of higher food pro-duction has been dislodged by a recent

study by Dr. Doug Gurian Sherman who was former biotech specialist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and former adviser on GM to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, of the union of concerned scientists titled “Failure to Yield”. As Sherman States –

“Let us be clear. There are no com-mercialized GM crops that inherently in-crease yield. Similarly there are no GM crops on the market that were engine-ered to resist drought, reduce fertilizer pollution or save soil. Not one”.

Herbicide resistance and Bt ToxinThere are currently two predominant applications of genetic engineering – one is herbicide resistance, the other is crops with Bt. toxin. Herbicides kill plants. Therefore they reduce return of organic matter to the soil. Herbicide re-sistant crops, like Round Up Ready Soya and Corn reduce soil carbon, they do not conserve it. They is why Monsanto’s at-tempt to use the climate negotiations to introduce Round-up and Round-up resistant crops as a climate solution is scientifically and ecologically wrong.

Monsanto’s GMOs, which are either Round Up Ready crops or Bt toxin crops do not conserve resources. They demand more water, they destroy biodiversity and they increase toxics in farming. Pe-sticide use has increased 13 times as a result of the use Bt cotton seeds in the region of Vidharbha, India.

Monsanto’s GMOs do not improve far-mers’ lives. They have pushed farmers to suicide. 200,000 Indian farmers have

“9 billion people to feed.A changing climateNow what?Producing moreConserving moreImproving farmers livesThat’s sustainable agricultureAnd that’s what Monsanto is all about.”

45


committed suicide in the last decade. 84% of the suicides in Vidharbha, the region with highest suicides are linked to debt created by Bt-cotton. GMOs are non-renewable, while the open pol-linated varieties that farmers have bred are renewable and can be saved year to year. The price of cotton seed was Rs 7/kg. Bt cotton seed price jumped to Rs 1,700/kg.

This is neither ecological nor econo-mic or social sustainability. It is eco-cide and genocide.

Genetic engineering does not “create” climate resilience. In a recent article “GM : Food for Thought” (Deccan Chronicle, August 26, 2009), Dr. M.S. Swaminathan wrote “we can isolate a gene responsible for conferring drought tolerance, intro-duce that gene into a plant, and make it

drought tolerant”.Drought tolerance is a polygenetic

trait. It is therefore scientifically flawed to talk of “isolating a gene for drought tolerance”. Genetic engineering tools are so far only able to transfer single gene traits. That is why in twenty years only two single gene traits for herbicide resi-stance and Bt. toxin have been commer-cialized through genetic engineering.

Recent reportsNavdanya’s recent report “Biopiracy of Climate Resilient Crops : Gene Giants are Stealing farmers innovation of drought resistant, flood resistant and salt resi-stant varieties” shows that farmers have bred crops that are resistant to climate extremes. And it is these traits which are the result of millennia of farmers

breeding which are now being patented and pirated by the genetic engineering industry. Using farmers varieties as “genetic material”, the biotechnology industry is playing genetic roulette to gamble on which gene complexes are responsible for which trait. This is not done through genetic engineering; it is done through software programs like athlete. As the ETC report states,

“Athlete uses vast amounts of avai-lable genomic data (mostly public) to rapidly reach a reliable limited list of candidate key genes with high relevance to a target trait of choice. Allegorically, the Athlete platform could be viewed as a ‘machine’ that is able to choose 50 – 100 lottery tickets from amongst hund-reds of thousands of tickets, with the high likelihood that the winning ticket will be included among them”.

Breeding is being replaced by gam-bling, innovation is giving way to bio-piracy, and science is being substituted by propaganda. This cannot be the basis of food security in times of climate vul-nerability.

Earth democracyWhile genetic engineering is a false solution, over the past 20 years, we have built Navdanya, India’s biodiver-sity and organic farming movement. We are increasingly realizing there is a convergence between objectives of con-servation of biodiversity, reduction of climate change impact and alleviation of poverty. Biodiverse, local, organic systems produce more food and higher

By Dr. Vandana Shiva. She is a trained-Physicist, philosopher, environmental activist, eco feminist and author of many books. Vandana is currently based in Delhi. Vandana Shiva participated in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main participants were women, adopted the approach of forming human circles around trees to prevent their felling. She is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization . Shiva has fought for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food. Intel-lectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, genetic engineering are key areas of her concern. In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which led to the creation of Navdanya. Her book, “Staying Alive” helped redefine perceptions of third world women. Shiva has also served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as non governmental organisations, including the International Forum on Globalisation, the Women’s Environment & Development Organization and the Third World Network. And to GEN. She is a councillor of the World Future Council .Navdanya is a network of seed keepers (http://www.navdanya.org/earth-democracy/seed-sovereignty)and organic producers spread across 16 states in India. Navdanya has helped set up 54 community seed banks across the country, trained over 500,000 farmers in seed so-vereignty, food sovereignty (http://www.navdanya.org/earth-democracy/food-sovereignty)and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country. Navdanya has also set up a learning center, Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed) on its biodiversity conservation and organic farm in Doon Valley, Uttranchal, north India. www.vandanashiva

Climate Change and Agriculture: Biodiverse Ecological Farming is the Answer, not Genetic Engineering

Industrial globalised agriculture is heavily implicated in climate change. Industrial agriculture is also more vulnerable to climate change which is intensifying droughts and floods, and in top genetic engineering is embedded in an industrial model of agriculture based on fossil fuels. It is falsely being offered as a magic bullet for dealing with climate change, but it has the opposite impact on peoples lives and the biodiversity of nature.


46

Use of the Biodynamic preparations to manure and

crops

The Biodynamic farming method is good for the climate and for the soil quality.

More scientific long-term trails* with conventional, organic and Biodynamic methods show it is the best farming system in build-ing up carbon from CO2 into the soil.

They also show that Biodynamic fields have better humus qual-ity, soil structure, biodiversity and biological activity.

Biodynamic agriculture is organic and more:it is based on a holistic approach on life, nature, soil and on food quality. We see the farm as a living organism that produces healthy food with nutrition for human’s body and soul.

* ‘Biodynamic agriculture research progress and priorities’. M. Turinak et al. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 24 (2), 146-5. Cambridge University Press 2009. Read it at www.biodynamisk.dk

Farming and eating the Biodynamic way– for better humus, health and climate

The international Demeter Standards are stricter than the EU organic standards in order to ensure health and environment. F. ex.:• Use of the Biodynamic preparations to manure and crops• Husbandry obligatory - for the health of the farm• No use of slurry from conventional farming• No dehorning of cattle• No use of conventional grown fodder• No use of GM-like seeds (CMS-hybrids) • Only 10 additives allowed (49 in organic,

370 in conventional products) • No homogenizing or UHT-treatment of milk• No use of nano-tech chemicals

Read more about Biodynamic farming and food at www.biodynamisk.dk and www.demeter.net

BiodynamicQuality

farm incomes while they also reduce wa-ter use and risks of crop failure due to climate change.

Biodiversity offers resilience to reco-ver from climate disasters. After the Orissa Super Cyclone of 1998, and the Tsunami of 2004, Navdanya distributed seeds of saline resistant rice varieties as “Seeds of Hope” to rejuvenate agriculture in lands reente-red saline by the sea. We are now creating seed banks of drought resistant, flood re-sistant and saline resistant seed varieties to respond to climate extremities.

Navdanya’s work over the past twenty years has shown that we can grow more food and provide higher incomes to far-mers without destroying the environment

and killing our peasants. Our study on “Biodiversity based organic farming: A new paradigm for Food Security and Food Safety” has established that small biodi-verse organic farms produce more food and provide higher incomes to farmers.

Biodiverse organic and local food sy-stems contribute both to mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. Small, biodi-verse, organic farms especially in Third World countries are totally fossil fuel free. Energy for farming operations comes from animal energy. Soil fertility is built by feeding Købsoil organisms by recycling organic mat-ter. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Biodiverse systems are also more resilient to draughts and floods because they have

higher water holding capacity and hence contribute to adaption to climate change. Navdanya’s study on climate change and organic farming has indicated that organic farming increases carbon absorption by up to 55% and water holding capacity by 10% thus contributing to both mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Biodiverse organic farms produce more food and higher incomes than industrial monocultures. Mitigating cli-mate change, conserving biodiversity and increasing food security can thus go hand in hand.

All Photos from Navdanya’s home-page, left photos at the site, the last their logo.

47


The Organic

House

www.byoko.dk www.songtotheearth.dk

Køb annoncer i LØSNET Du gik lige glip af denne mulighed til 4000 kr for en hel sides annonce

1/8 side 250 kr. (temanr. 500 kr.)1/4 side 500 kr. (temanr. 1000 kr.)1/2 side 1000 kr. (temanr. 2000 kr.)1/1 side 2000 kr. (temanr. 4000 kr.)

Rabat ved ét års annoncer: 25% 1 side måler 17,5 x 26,5 cm (eller til kant)Henvendelse [email protected]

LØS Årsmøde 2010Fredag 23. april til søndag 25. april i Vrads, www.vrads.dk

Årsmødets tema:Fællesskab og Spiritualitet

Fredag: Nyt fra fællesskaberne

Lørdag: Rundtur i Vrads Bustur til andre spirituelle fællesskaber i området

Søndag: Generalforsamling

Use of the Biodynamic preparations to manure and

crops

The Biodynamic farming method is good for the climate and for the soil quality.

More scientific long-term trails* with conventional, organic and Biodynamic methods show it is the best farming system in build-ing up carbon from CO2 into the soil.

They also show that Biodynamic fields have better humus qual-ity, soil structure, biodiversity and biological activity.

Biodynamic agriculture is organic and more:it is based on a holistic approach on life, nature, soil and on food quality. We see the farm as a living organism that produces healthy food with nutrition for human’s body and soul.

* ‘Biodynamic agriculture research progress and priorities’. M. Turinak et al. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 24 (2), 146-5. Cambridge University Press 2009. Read it at www.biodynamisk.dk

Farming and eating the Biodynamic way– for better humus, health and climate

The international Demeter Standards are stricter than the EU organic standards in order to ensure health and environment. F. ex.:• Use of the Biodynamic preparations to manure and crops• Husbandry obligatory - for the health of the farm• No use of slurry from conventional farming• No dehorning of cattle• No use of conventional grown fodder• No use of GM-like seeds (CMS-hybrids) • Only 10 additives allowed (49 in organic,

370 in conventional products) • No homogenizing or UHT-treatment of milk• No use of nano-tech chemicals

Read more about Biodynamic farming and food at www.biodynamisk.dk and www.demeter.net

BiodynamicQuality


48

The causes behind the crisis are le-gio. They are rooted in historical, socio-cultural, economical and

technological issues. But more subtly there are powerful subjective causes re-lated to the intrinsic dynamics of power and the cosmic purpose of mankind.

One of the intrinsic tendencies of po-wer is to accumulate and centralize. This tendency has contributed greatly to the crisis itself. But it also means that, unless great wisdom is employed, the structure created to deal with the climate issues can become a global monster spawning a host of insidious side-effects.

Attempting to address the economical, ecological and social issues contributing to climate change, without addressing the underlying emotional issues is sure to fail. It is like ordering a child, who has just been sub-jected to a severe trauma, like the loss of a parent, to sit still and be attentive in the classroom. The blatant disregard of the child’s need to heal the deep hurts will cause the child to react emotionally un-til its emotional needs are met. This is a healthy reaction to an unhealthy demand.

A healthy reaction to an unhealthy suppressionMankind will likewise continue to recreate the recurrent patterns of self-destructive behaviors until the emotional and spiritual pains underlying these behaviors are recognized and hea-led. This is natural and unavoidable and ultimately healthy reaction to an unhe-althy suppression of spiritual truth. It is the fear of addressing these issues squa-rely that is the true culprit.

To begin addressing these issues, the following actions should be taken:•TheMediasneedtogiveroomtovoices

of spiritual wisdom currently being ig-nored.

•Apreambleshouldbeaddedtothecli-mate treaty unequivocally stating the spiritual principles on which it rests.

•Finallya“UniversalTruthandReconci-liation committee”, modeled over the South African example, should be in-stituted as a means of healing painful historical abuses and the attendant past-life traumas that is a powerful subjective cause behind mankind’s present difficulties.

The Need for a New Collective Myth‘A Myth is a great lie veiling an even gre-ater truth’ says another ancient adage. As part of my work to reveal the hidden causes governing the crisis of mankind, a new myth arose from the bottom of the sea of consciousness. The story na-

med itself ‘Grail Wars’ and impelled me to write it. It is the story of mankind’s struggle for truth and freedom since the dawn of time right up to the present day.

In the story, the NGO's of the world unite in demanding that the world lea-ders acknowledge the need for a spiritual awakening by including a preamble to this effect in the treaty. If they do not include the preamble presented to them, the NGO’s will denounce the treaty as flawed and useless. The preamble is:

Fictional Preamble (from ‘Grail Wars’)We the nations of the world, upon ente-ring into a treaty to protect the global

environment, hold it to be self evi-dent that the basis of internatio-

nal cooperation must be a spirit of spiritual truth, universal

love and willing sacrifice, if global peace and justice are to be ensured.

•Spiritual truthentailsthe intelligent recogni-tion and application of the laws of manifesta-tion, by which the hu-man being, through its spirit, mind and desire

influences its environ-ment.

• Universal love entailsthe recognition of the unity

of all life and the intrinsic bond that ties man to his fellow beings

and the greater planetary sphere of consciousness.

•Willingsacrificeentailstherecogni-tion of the responsibility of the part towards the need of the whole, in or-der to secure a vibrant, healthy and just world.

We the nations of the world, hold it to be self-evident that to violate;•the laws of spiritual manifestation,

A Call for True LeadershipBy Rolf Jackson

‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions,’ says an old adage. This piece of folksy wisdom is particularly pertinent as world leaders meet in Copenhagen to address the threat of climate change. It is pertinent because the pervasive lack of insight into the subjective causes behind the crisis means that the effects of the initiatives taken could end up being as disastrous as the climatic effects themselves.

49


expressed as truthful living, •thelawofuniversalunity,expressed

as love in action, or •thelawofsacrifice,expressedasser-

vice to mankind is certain to result in pain, suffering and death. Therefore the principles of Truth, Love and Service, intelligently inter-preted and justly applied, must hence-forth be the cornerstone of the ongoing efforts towards healing the planet of mankind’s historical indisgressions and abuses.

The battle beginsAs a consequence of the NGO’s firm stance on spiritual principles, the fictio-nal summit breaks down and the battle for a new world order founded on spi-ritual principles begins. In the end the Gaian League is born and a new dawn of mankind arises.

The story is a dramatic rendering of mankind’s present predicament, naming the difficult truths of the past and of-fering a path to global healing. But it is not an easy path and many will react violently to it because they are unable to stomach the ignominy of mankind’s sordid past. (Read more at www.grail-wars.com).

Mixing Religion and PoliticsTo begin with any attempt at addressing the emotional and spiritual issues under-lying political conflicts is sure to evoke an instinctive cry of ‘mixing religion and politics.’ However, those arguing thus, overlook that they themselves are guilty of what they so desperately fear – subjecting the political process to the whimsical propensities of the irrational mind.

Contemplating issues of cosmic pur-pose in the context of political discourse is neither whimsical nor irrational. The existence of cosmic intelligence is a lo-gical consequence of the mother of all sciences; quantum mechanics. Any in-terpretation of quantum mechanics that deny the existence of such a cosmic agency, results in notions of reality that are incoherent and meaningless. The lack of scientific consensus concerning the interpretation of quantum mecha-nics aptly illustrates this.

Some might feel that this discussion is far removed from the urgent issues fa-cing us, but this is not so. The beliefs we hold about reality IS the key issue facing us. Making mankind recognize the illusions it has chosen to believe in is therefore THE key issue. Dealing squarely

with this issue will determine the suc-cess or failure of future efforts.The True Political StruggleTrue political struggles concern not po-licies but the stories we tell ourselves about who we are – our defining nar-ratives.

The present mainstream narrative is techno-material in nature and considers itself the epitome of sophistication. It argues that rationality, capitalism, indi-viduality and market-democracy repre-sent a natural destination for mankind. The superiority of this narrative is con-sidered so self-evident that ‘the end of history’ has been proclaimed.

However, a growing minority rejects this narrative because its shortcomings are obvious to those willing to question its premises. To replace it an eco-spi-ritual narrative is growing stronger and becoming more well-defined through ef-forts of grass-roots all over the world.

The fundamental premise for the emerging narrative is that all life is one. All life springs from a subjective well of being. We are therefore intrinsically connected not only to our fellow human beings, but to all the kingdoms of nature as well as to cosmic powers radiating from the heavens. From this perspective the universe is a great unfolding wheel of consciousness and we are here to participate in birthing the jewel of self-realization and co-creative evolution.

From this perspective, it is clear that the main problem haunting mankind consists of wrongful responses to cosmic influences. From the signs of the zodiac,

and the planets of our solar system, cosmic influences impinge on mankind and birth certain tendencies. Due to mankind’s lack of true understanding of these influences they tend to become distorted.•Impulses towards world unity birth

standardization and regimentation.•Impulses towards expressing beauty

birth a pathological preoccupation with looks and status symbols.

•Impulsestowardsspiritualaspirationbirth rigid self-denial and arid intel-lectualization.

•Impulses towards creative freedombirth reckless capitalism and ruthless exploitation.

•Impulses towardsspiritualgreatnessbirth the desire to rule and control.

The lack of appropriate responses birth insidious and injurious conditions in mankind. To make matters worse, man-kind’s responses to the problems, caused by the wrongful responses, often add to the difficulties as man wage war on the children of his own desires.

A New Political ProjectThe only genuine solution to this pre-dicament is to address the underlying causes. The great political project for the protagonists of the eco-spiritual movement is therefore:

To foster in mankind the ability to re-spond correctly to cosmic influences.This project is profoundly different than present day politics and is not easily achieved. If at the end of the Aquarian age (two thousand years hence) this has been achieved, it will be a marvelous achievement indeed. Realistically the short term goal should therefore simply be to foster a political environment con-ducive to this way of thinking and poin-ting the arrow of human ambition in this direction.

Some may argue that it is a vague and ill-defined vision. But its vast scope and somewhat elusive nature is a strength and not a weakness. Two hundred years ago, the visions of individual freedom, democracy and civil rights, birthed du-ring the age of enlightenment, were si-milarly vague. They were embodiments of certain principles that were recogni-zed as intrinsically meaningful.

In a similar vein, the vision of a cos-mic dimension in politics opens new vi-stas of thinking and invokes a different notion of reality that may hold solutions not even dreamt of today.


50

Techno-materialism RevisitedFrom this perspective individualism, ca-pitalism, rationality and market democr-acy look very differently.

Individualism is not considered a de-stination, but a step towards genuine group-consciousness and cosmic self-realization.

Capitalism is recognized as a particu-lar flavor of financial ecology. It is seen as a power that should not rule society but which properly harnessed can be brought to serve the purposes of man-kind.

Rationality is not seen as the epitome of human achievement, but as a tool whereby the intuitive reaches of cosmic awareness can be correctly recognized, interpreted and harnessed.

The market democracy, where money buys influence and sound-bites supplant reflection is seen for what it truly is – an abomination that must be discarded. In its place must be instituted a holistic democracy – or Holocracy – where mo-dern media and technology does not dull the mind with senseless trivia, but sti-mulate reflection and empower people to make wise decisions.

The Need for True LeadershipTo successfully navigate the difficulties ahead, True Leadership is called for. This kind of leadership is somewhat of a rarity but Mahatma Gandhi and Nel-son Mandela offered shining examples of what it takes.

To deal with the challenges ahead, we need to understand what they did and how to imitate them on a far gran-der scale. We need to educate our youth in this discipline and support our pre-sent leaders, in invoking the power of true leadership. To begin with we must understand what True Leadership is all about.

What is True Leadership?True leadership is ultimately a mystery. It is an awakening to a greater self-rea-lization, which is translated into a blos-soming of that which is true and beau-tiful. True Leadership is an expression of soul consciousness. Without acknowled-ging the reality of the soul, and hence the reality of the brighter worlds, from whence cosmic power emanate, true leadership become meaningless and is reduced to a pointless struggle to attain the unattainable.

The issues of leadership facing man-kind can therefore be reduced to:

Are we essentially immortal souls parti-cipating in cosmic evolution, or are we biological machines, doomed to oblivion as our time on Earth expires?

This is the key question facing us and on the answer we pick depends the direc-tion we chose.

Pursuing True LeadershipMany will recognize the nobility intrin-sic to True Leadership. Some will want to pursue it. Only a few will be able to practice it…

Because practicing true leadership ultimately requires trusting your intui-tion even in the face of death.

The difficulty arises when holding on to a perceived and intuited truth re-quires significant personal sacrifice. In practice it may mean losing a job or a significant relationship. Perhaps it in-volves being demonized and ostracized by your friends and co-workers, because you force them to face ugly truths they wish to ignore. It may even involve the ultimate sacrifices of torture and de-ath.

When faced with the prospect of sig-nificant personal sacrifice, most people will recoil because they view the situa-tion with the eyes of the limited per-sonality rather than the eye of the im-mortal soul.

To the soul, the personal sacrifices may be painful, but because the greater

purpose is clear, the pain is bearable. From the perspective of the soul, the gain is greater than the pain. Unless the difficult choices facing mankind are viewed from this perspective, evoking the required will to sacrifice will be im-possible.

Therefore fostering a healthier soci-ety requires a change in mentality as well as a new political awareness.

The Candid TruthI have tried to put the truth as plainly and candidly as possible. In the end there is only one true solution:

Acknowledging that the human soul is but an extension of a greater sphere of cosmic being.

The key difficulties in current leadership practices are all generated by the fai-lure to acknowledge this simple truth. Power abuse, suppression of civil rights, economical inequalities, environmental degradation, drug abuse, crime, issues of race, gender and religion, climate change, cynicism, public apathy, de-pression and a host of other difficulties are all consequences of the inability to acknowledge this simple truth.

Our personal and professional relati-ons are generally so inundated with is-sues related to the lies we have been telling ourselves that acknowledging the simple truth feels like personal disaster. It feels like the end of the world and the consequences seem devastating and incalculable.

Such is the layout of the land and hence the difficulties facing mankind at this significant junction in history, where mankind as a whole is slowly awa-kening to the painful realization of its sordid past and the awesome truth of its cosmic destiny.

There is no easy path to True Lea-dership. However, there is no path to genuine world peace without it. Read more at www.grailwars.com and www.gaia.dk

Rolf Jackson is an author, educator and spiritual activist working in nu-merous fields, including leadership development, community building and spiritual politics. At present his work revolves around the intentional community project “Bjergager Solby” in Denmark where he actively seeks to translate visions of a brighter future into a living reality.

Painting by Amnart Klanprachar, Thailand

51


Activities during COP15By Hildur Jackson, Mette Petersen and Troels Dilling-Hansen

This is a description of the two major collaborating NGO-Forums, other exhibitions and other activities during COP15

Official Meeting at the Bella Center- DEC 7-18, 2009Governments meet in Copenhagen in De-cember to reach an agreement to solve the problems of the global climate at the Bella Center near the airport (metro station Bella Center). Civil servants and governments from all over the world will meet here form Dec 7- 18. For the first time NGO’s have been invited to join the official conference. They have to be accredited before the meeting. Several people from GEN are participating: May East, Jonathan, Dawson, Albert Bates, Esperide Anannas, Marti Mueller, Jim Garrison, Ross Jackson. NGO-s have a stand at the exhibition area.

A group of Danish NGO,s have been following all the preparatoty meetings and written a report for all in English see www.worldclimatecommunity.dk/en/Public/ The official homepage of the UN Climate Conference. http://en.cop15.dk

The Copenhagen Climate CouncilDanish Buisness together with Climate minister Connie Hedegård created „The Copenhagen Climate Council”, which has arranged several global meetings see their results www.copenhagencli-matecouncil.com

Dec 12-13, 2009 Exhibition at Forum Copenhagen Bright Green Exhibition- Not Just Another Trade ExpoBright Green takes place from December 12-13 and is an exclusive and ambiti-ous event organized by the Confedera-tion of Danish Industry (DI).

Dec 15-17, 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit for MayorsWe will gather the mayors from all the large cities that are willing and able to take action to improve the global climate and that can also support an ambitious climate agreement in con-nection with the UN Climate Change Conference in 2009. See www.copenha-genclimatecouncil.com

NGO Forum I: People’s Climate Forum 09 Place: DGI town 5 minutes walk from the main station.Time: Monday the 7th- Friday the 18thFacilities:Facilities: 4 halls, one for 1000, one for 272 and two for 100 peopleProgram: daily activities of plenary ses-sions, seminars & Debates, Klimaforum Guest Speakers, meditation and Film, theatre & music programme. Web address: www.klimaforum09.org; Contact: [email protected] have been calling for participation from all over the world.

Global Just Leadership from Civil So-ciety NOW Dec 8.th 16:00-18:00 (Big hall for 1000 people)We have come to Copenhagen knowing that the political negotiations among the governments will be difficult and that a climate change agreement may not be reached during this conference. The fi-nal treaty that emerges is likely to fall far short of the actions needed to halt or slow the effects of climate change. Thus the responsibility for shaping our response to climate change, for creating a more sustainable world in community, will fall back to civil society:

Road to Redemption or Ruin. Video •message from Maurice Strong- who arranged the Stockholm meeting in 1872, The Rio conference in 1992, The Johannesburg conference in 2002 Changing Direction: Restoring •Mother Earth. Hanne Marstrand StrongThe Carbon Board, A global and just •CO2 Scheme Guarantied to Work. Ross Jackson, Gaia Trust, GEN and Gaia Education.China Leads the Way, Hui Ng, Beij-•ing2020 Climate Leadership Campaign. •State of the World Forum taking on Global Leadership. Jim Garrison,

President.Climate Change seen from the •South. Vandana ShivaNGO Whitepaper. Tony Andersen/ •Maltilde Kaalund-Jørgensen, initia-tor and contactperson of People’s Climate ForumPanel debate and dialogue of where •to go.

A big demonstration with the support of many groups to go to the Bella Center on Dec 12thWe hope this to become a Singing Re-volution. See http://12dec09.dk/con-tent/english

The central outcomes of Klimaforum09 will be a global climate declaration ex-pressing the hopes, ideas, and visions of citizens groups and social movements from all corners of the planet.

NGO Forum II: Climate Bottom Meet-ing - Windows of HopeTime: December 5th -18th, 2009Web address: www.climatebottom.dk. Contact: [email protected]: Christiania (get off the metro at Christianshavns Torv on the isle of Amager), The Meadow of Peace (Fredens Eng in a big heated tent for 500 per-sons with isolated floor) and The Fac-tory (Fabrikken) with the cinema The City of Lights (Byens lys).

Additionally we will have smaller workshops and exhibitions at the Main City Square by City Hall (Rådhusplad-sen), and at the Climateforum (the lar-gest NGO-meeting). Arranged by: The Network for the Con-servation of Christiania as a Green Ur-ban-biotope, two Agenda 21 centers in Copenhagen (Sundby and Inner City), LØS, The Danish Ecovillage Network, LØS and GEN, Global Ecovillage NetworkPeriod: From the 5th to the 18th of De-cember, 2009.

Climate Bottom Meeting - Windows of Hope - headlinesIt is our aim to deliver hope from the bot-


52

tom of the hierarchy of the society, from the living roots – to show that another sustainable life is possible – and sustaina-ble in a very broad sense, in social life, in economics, in our spiritual life and in our relation to climate and nature. We hope to create an atmosphere of community with a mixture of lectures, discussions, music, dance and singing.

We will have speeches and workshops from many prominent scientists, NGO's, ecovillages and indigenous communities, politicians and artist, religious leaders and YOU, if you have something to offer.

We will create an Experimentarium, a big playground where adults and children can experience a living and ever-changing exhibition and community. There will be an exhibition of sustainable building techniques from several countries and cul-tures, both modern ecological construc-tion methods and examples of indigenous architecture.

Christiania’s popular Christmas Mar-ket will be held simultaneously with the Climate Bottom Meeting and we hope to integrate these two events.

We will also have an outpost at Vartorv near The Main Square with yurts where we will deliver a small taste of “Windows of Hope”, but also have exiting exhibitions.

Troels Dilling-Hansen. Phone: +45-86577403 / +45-27572187

Britta Lillesøe. Phone: +45-32 57 08 34 / +45-20 64 08 34; E-mail: [email protected]

Peoples Climate ActionA secretariat has been established to coor-dinate the NGO activities: People's Climate Action up to the Climate Meeting. Their secretariat is on Fælledvej 12, where also MS (Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke) resides. The leader has worked since March: Lene Ven-nits (+45 20 57 89 32) and +45 21 24 42 57).

They have a website which will help people to be housed privately and very cheaply. You contact the host family directly your-self. www.peoplesclimateaction.dk.They have a calender on their website where the total program of activities out-side the Bella Center (official conference) will be listed before and during Cop 15

Global ObservatoryA group of scientists have set up a tent so that the conference at any time may get any information needed for the negotiati-ons. www.globalobservatory.net.

ALBA Meeting Dec 17. 16.00-20.00 A huge economic meeting with the leaders of the 9 ALBA countries in Valbyhallen.(Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Raul Castro, Daniel Ortega and 5 more presidents. 18 organisations, parties and labor unions behind it. Room for 5000 persons.Sven-Erik Simonsen. c/o DanskCu-bansk Forening, Nygårdsvej 52, st. 2100 København Ø, Telefon: 3630 2252/50777906. Mail: [email protected] & [email protected] www.alba-alternativ.com & www.cubaven-ner.dk

World Spiritual leadersDena Merriam of the Global Peace Initia-tive of Women (GPIW) and Marianne Mar-strand (director) have invited 30 spiritual leaders to the meeting Dec 7- Dec 13

The purpose of this is for the group to meditate together and create a loving atmosphere conducive to reaching a ne-cessary agreement. And come up with a declaration to be presented to the confe-rence. They will stay at the Admiral Hotel. Contact Marianne Marstrand

Dec 10th they will have a dialog at The National Museum.

And the 12th. they will start the day at

the Climate Bottom Meeting at Christia-nia.

They have also several program at the DGI-Forum

Green Ecumenical Service in the Cathe-dral of CopenhagenOur Ladies’ Church, Dec 13th. The Archbis-hop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, will focus on our hopes, prayers and respon-sibility for All of Creation. Danish Queen Margrethe has accepted the invitation to join, as has also Desmond Tutu, SA. Part of this service will be this event:

Let the bells ring, the conch shells, drums and gongs sound 350 times for cli-mate justice!

Churchbells all over Denmark and the World will start ringing at 15:00, 350 ti-mes, which signifies that Creation is suf-fering and that 350ppm is the alarm num-ber for CO2 concentration which we must keep below. See www.oikoumene.org/en/events-sections/countdown-to-climate-justice/bellringing.html

Indigenous PeopleA group of Indigenous spiritual leaders (Fire and Ice : http://www.fireandice2009.com/) are coming to Copenhagen. They will be participating in the NGO Forums negatiations.

Things to visit in Copenhagen during the Climate Meeting

ExibitionsRed Alert - The Ice is MeltingSevenMeters.net is a manifestation that, using red blinking LED-light, is to symbo-lize that we are moving towards a climate catastrophe. And that our politicians (and thus their voters) are not doing enough to meet the threats of Global Warming.

7 Meters is the hight with which the water will rise if all the ice in Greenland melts.24 kilometres of 15,000 red blinking LED-lights will appear in 7 meters height during UN’s climate summit in December 2009 in Copenhagen, we will send a vi-sual statement about the enormous conse-quenses our actions will have in the long run.

100 Places to Remember Before they DisappearPhotos By famous photographers and places- from reports from IPCC. The exhi-bition will be open 24 hours a day un-til 27 December 2009. It is situated on the square of Kgs. Nytorv in the centre of Copenhagen – at the end of the walking

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street, Strøget and near Nyhavn harbour. www.100places.com/en

Exhibition at Christiansborg Slotsplads under COP15 Ålborg Zoo will create a naturalistic po-larbear cut out from 2 tons of iceblocs, produced with CO2 neutral electricity. The polarbear will melt, while politicians sit and talk, as a metaphor for the problems of the real polarbears, where the ice is melting under them as we speak.

International Exhibition on Climate Change in the Botanic GardenThe exhibition demonstrates the scientific view on climate and climate change. By means of objects, film, photos, animati-ons and texts, this complicated subject is illustrated in a lively and accessible way. Open all week except Monday. Address: Øster Farimagsgade 2 B, walking distance from Nørreport. http://snm.ku.dk/english/udstillinger/climateexhibit

“Green Architecture for the Future” at Louisiana Museum of Modern ArtThe museum is located in Humlebæk in northern Zealand with a panoramic view across the Baltic Sea. The museum inclu-des a sculpture park facing the sea and illustrates the interaction between na-ture and its own collection of art. The exhibition focuses on new departures in architecture that meet the need for su-stainable development. Themes: The City, Climate & Comfort and Metabolism. Till Dec. 18th, 2009. Train to Humlebæk. Special discount tickets

can be bought at all major DSB stations in the metropolitan area. www.louisiana.dk/dk/Service+Menu+Right/English.

Nature Strikes BackThis comprehensive exhibition on the occasion of the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference portrays the relations-hip between man and nature in all the art forms (sculpture, painting, graphic art, etc.) from antiquity to the present day. The wide-ranging but carefully staged se-lection of works presents a very topical in-terpretation of man’s view of nature over the ages. This stretches from the poetical and symbolic concept of the relationship which was established both artistically and intellectually long ago in antiquity to the attempts of the present day to drive nature out and marginalize it.

The National Gallery of Denmark is the only place in Denmark which features 700 years of Western art and cultural history under one roof. The museum houses a large collection of Danish and internatio-nal paintings, sculptures, drawings, and installations. The oldest works in the col-lection originally belonged to Danish ro-yalty. The address is Sølvgade 48-50. www.smk.dk. Transport via Train and Metro to Nørreport and 10 minutes walk.

“Indians of the Rain Forest” and “Den-mark from Glaciers to Global Warming” At the National Museum in Copenhagen. Two special climate related exhibitions. Just behind the Town hall square. www.nationalmuseet.dk/sw20385.asp. The ad-dress is Ny Vestergade 10.

The Tycho Brahe Planetarium shows whether-films on nature’s magnifi-cence, below the surface of the sea, out in space or in the jungle. Special: Age of Stupid. Address: Gl. Kongevej 10 just a few mi-nutes walk from the Town Hall Square and the Central Train Station.

The new Opera House on HolmenBy Danish ark. Henning Larsen is worth a visit. www.operaen.dk. Getting there: Pe-destrians/bicycle/bus nr 66Metro (Christianshavn Torv) /boat from Nyhavn 71 in the evening hours. Copenha-gen Water Taxi sails to and from the opera house. Prior to and after performances there are continuous services from Admiral Hotel. Read more at www.flyvefisk.dk

Interesting websites on climate issues

tcktcktck.org is an unprecedented global alliance, re-presenting hundreds of millions of people from all walks of life. It is made up of leading international, national and local organizations addressing environment, de-velopment, poverty, human rights, health and humanitarian issues.

peoplesclimateaction.dk/uk/ Check out the overview of climate activi-ties. If you have a climate activity for the civil society in which everyone can partici-pate, please log in and create a new event on the link.

globalcitizen.net Global Citizen is a fact-based platform for solutions without borders. Modern media and traditional dissemination of scientific insights fall short in providing operational know-ledge, broad networks and practical solutions. Thus, Glo-bal Citizen tries to find new ways of sharing knowledge, building networks and genera-ting solutions.

www.goldendays.dk/compo-site-64.htmGolden Days: A networking or-ganisation focusing on history and culture in Copenhagen.

Meadow of Peace

Main EntranceFactory and City of Light

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Christiania


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By Troels Dilling-Hansen

We have now concluded all our efforts to create a bottom conference at the site of the biggest city-tribe-ecovillage Christiania. We want to tell the world of our deepest worries for the Earth and our deepest hopes grounded in down-to-earth lived life. From all over the world people are coming to join our effort of creating an atmosphere of community - One earth, one humanity, one climate. This page shows just a few of the prominent people coming. But see the updates at WWW.CLIMATEBOTTOM.DK!

Dec. 5.th Climate, Community, and Su-stainability The Climate Bottom Meeting will open its first window with a grand opening ce-remony, led by indi-genous representati-ves.

This will be follo-wed by workshops and lectures, storytelling

and relevant entertainment between talks and discussions. Our goal is to illu-strate the connection between sustaina-bility and community, where sustainabi-lity is broadly understood and created at all levels, socially, economically, eco-

logically, and culturally. One Earth, one humanity, one climate!

Dec. 6.th Worldview, Culture, and Con-sciousnessIngvar Villido, Valley of Flowers, Esto-nia: The new Beginning.Esperide Ananas, Damanhur, Italy, Marti Muller, Auroville, India:“Spirit in Community”, John Croft, Sieben Linden,Germany/Australia, Rolf Jackson, Bjergager Solby,DK, spiritual scientist, Brian Fyhn, Quaker Movement,DK.Tor Nørretranders, Writer, DK, Carsten Jensen, Writer,DK. Vinya Ariyaratne, Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka, Hosszu Zoltan Krishna Valley, Hungary, Sister Jayanti Brama Kumaris, India/GB, Satish Ku-mar, India/GB: “Loving Nature, Aurelio

Left top. Love over all to all - a declaration of love from Christiania to eve-rybody and everything.Left up. Climate Bottom Logo next to our outdoor preperation meeting.Left. We had a wonderfull annual European Global Ecovillage Metting in Ke-uruu, Finland, July 2009. Thank you so much for your hospitallity. See you next year in Damanhur. Left Down. First preperatory-Bottom-meeting in the Factory, Christiania, Jo-erg, Heiki, Julia and TroelsLeft Down Mid. Normalia was a huge youth-project in April 2009, with lots of music and happenings - protesting against the attemps from the government to normalize ChristianiaRight Down Mid. Breatney Spears was involuntarily part of the party!!!Right Down. Springtime at the shore of Christiania - all Photos Troels Dilling-HansenRight mid. Medicine Story will be part of the big group of indigenous peoples at the Climate Bottom Meeting, expressing a last warning. Photo: Ditlev NissenRigth top. Singing at the fire in Keuruu. Photo: Troels

Climate Bottom Meeting Windows of hope 5.-18. december 2009

55


By Troels Dilling-Hansen

We have now concluded all our efforts to create a bottom conference at the site of the biggest city-tribe-ecovillage Christiania. We want to tell the world of our deepest worries for the Earth and our deepest hopes grounded in down-to-earth lived life. From all over the world people are coming to join our effort of creating an atmosphere of community - One earth, one humanity, one climate. This page shows just a few of the prominent people coming. But see the updates at WWW.CLIMATEBOTTOM.DK!

Tepankali, Mexico, Carlos Prado, Bo-livian indian.

Dec 7.th - The Local, The Regional and The Global - North-South Dia-logueDialogue1 New visionsAre ecovillages capable of transfer-ring themselfs to the larger society?Participants: local ecovillages, indian communities, climate expertsDialogue 2 North-South Content: Climate debate, and discus-sion of relation between climate change, poverty and north south ba-lance. How to collaborate.

Dec 8.th. Man and Money – From Glo-bal Economy to Local ExchangeEconomics of responsabilities Worldcafe dialogue Ove Jakobsen, Professor at Centre for Ecological Economics and Ethics, Nor-way, Ross Jackson, PhD, Gaia Trust, Denmark, Ludwig Schuster, architect, researcher and project manager for su-stainability, Berlin (Germany)

Economics of Solidarity - The Local PerspectiveWorldcafe dialogue Jonathan Dawson, Sustainability Edu-cator, Board member of GEN and of the Findhorn Ecovillage, Esperide Ananas and Macaco Tamerice, Damanhur Federa-tion, Niels Johan Juhl-Nielsen and Erik Lemcke, Roskilde University, Denmark

Dec. 9.th. Democracy and Conflict Re-solutionMedicine Story, indian, Prachar Huta-nuwatr, Director of Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand, Jacqueline Mukangira, Am-bassador, Rwanda

‘Spiritual Approaches to Resolving Conflict’ Zarko Andrecevic, Chan Buddhist Teacher, Croatia, Sraddhalu Ranade, Scientist, Educator and Teacher at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, In-dia, Sufi Rehman Muhaiyaddeen, Sufi Leader, PakistanRenaud Russeil, Brahma Kumaris, Else Hammerich, Peace-Guard, Bo Reichardt, Kirkeasyl, Climate Justice Action, Natasha Verco,Theatergroup Solvognen, Jacob Holdt, Lahka Lama, Budhist teacher, Mariama Guldagger, singing

Victor Leon Ades, Conpaz, Parliamen-tary Council for the Culture of Peace of State Assembly of Sao Paulo, Brasilien.Marina Silva (ex.senator in Brazil, Elvira Mendes (Chiko Mendes daughter) 'I love Amazonas', music

Workshops:John Andersen, The Growth Center– ‘The relation between the inner and outer cli-mate’, ZEGG - "ZEGG Forum life"; sha-ring and deep listening: Come Together Songs with Hagara Feinbier and Bar-bara Stützl, ZEGG; Ditlev Nissen, In-volvering Nu. A dialogue-zone about the climate.

Climate Bottom Meeting Windows of hope 5.-18. december 2009


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Dec 10.th. Care and Social Responsi-bilitySinging with MariamaPower of CommunityBarbara Stützel, ZEGG, Germany, Ma-caco/ Capra, Damanhur, Albert Bates-The Farm, USA

The Divine Feminine: An East-West dialogue between: Sr. Joan Chittister, Benedictine Nun, Swamini Pramananda Saraswati, Edu-cator & Leader in pollution reduction of the Ganga River, India

Buddhist Voices Respond to Climate Change Prof. Dr. Phra Dharmakosajarn, Rector, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya Uni-versity (MCU), ThailandVen. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Buddhist Monk & Scholar, USA , Zarko Andrecevic, Chan Buddhist Teacher, Croatia, Bikkhu Bud-dharakkhita, Uganda Buddhist Centre in Kampala, Venerable Dharmeswar Sraman, Supreme Patriarch of Bangla-desh, Venerable Chang Wen, DDMBA

The Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change”Moderator Andrew Harvey, Joan Brown Campbell, The National Council of Chur-ches, USA, Swami Veda Bharati, Vedic Scholar & Hindu Meditation Master, In-dia, Richard Cizik, Founder, New Evange-licals, USA, Michael Kagan, Co-founder of the Jewish Climate Initiative, Sheikh Saliou Mbecke, Sufi Leader, Senegal

Social healingKaren Abrahamsson, Kim W. Rasmus-sen, Søren Hansen, Hertha Communty (antroposofic), Erling Deigaard, Ecovil-lage Andelssamfundet Hjortshøj, Hos-szu Zoltan, Krihna EcoValley, Hungary (200 inhabitants, President of Senegal network: Ismaël Diallo, Carlos Prado, -Indian healer, Bolivia. May East and Victor Ades with circle gender dance.

Dec. 11.th, EDE, Community Edu-cation, Research and Social experi-ment

Teaching change of valuesTeaching intuition, Ingvar Villido, Esto-niaRupert Encinas, American medicine man.Spiral Dynamics, May East,Hanne Strong, ERC,Childrens Wisdom, Michael Stubberup, Kaj HansenEcology in Schools, Lars Myrthy

Teaching sustainabilityGaia Education,EDE; GEDS, Ecouniversity, May EastDeniz Dincel, EDE in Turkie TDHMarti Müller Auroville, India, visionkeeper for GEN Kosha, EDE and learning partnerships, Sie-ben Linden Ismaël Diallo President of Senegal net-work :, EDE in AfricaJohn from Orissa, IndiaERC,Creating jobs worldwide Hanne StrongBija Vidyapeeth, IndiaSEM, Spirit in Education, Thailand, PrachaFolkecenters in DK and Mali

Social ExperimentsFreeland, Transformation Towns, Daman-hur, China, Hiu NG, ChristianiaFilms in The Light of Town

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Dec. 12.th. Awareness / Transparency - Prayer and Song for the EarthDanish Priests, Medicine Story, 25 Spi-ritual leaders and healers from all the world. See program, Vandana Shiva

Biggest DemonstrationIngvar Villido (Valley of Flowers, Estonia), Chief Sonne Reyna, Grævlingehæren fra Djursland, Marianne Rydvald, Mariama sings with drums from Ghana, Suffi music with drums and heartbeatLakha Lama – healing Songs to Mother Earth - Eagle Flying, USAEstonian concert in finish tradition. Also samish songs and a sibirian shaman drum-mer.

Dec. 13th Ecological Construction and Ur-ban RegenerationVillages and larger cities are moving towards transformation. In 2007 a new movement cal-led ’Transition Town Movement’, now called ’Transition Culture’, was founded in England.We will experiment with many different buil-ding techniques, and exhibit sustainable pro-ducts and architecture. Come and learn more about sustainable building and see for your-self, firsthand, what green building is like.

Dec. 14th Renewable Energy – Ecological FootprintKaj Hansen, report from 3 Danish ecovilla-ges and their energy-consumption, Martin Stengel, Sieben Linden: What is your per-sonal footprint?, Jonathan Dawson, Find-horn Ecovillage footprint analysis.Martin Lidegaard CONCITO: The Ecological think-tank., Jan Mallan, DANTAN: "Biogas

in Tanzania", Esben Larsen & Chresten Træholt, Lectorer DT, Bill McKibben, The organisation 350ppm, Preben Maegaard, Nordic Folkecenter, Søren Hermansen, Samsø Energy Academy, Gordon Mackenzie, Risø, Lars Barfoed (Transportation minister), Lars Engstrøm, a little history about Chri-stiania bikes".

Dec. 15th From Waste to Design, Cradle to CradleWe invite you to understand waste as a re-source, on the same lines as all biological material, which can be composted or reu-sed. Everything Is – only the form chan-ges!Toomas Trapido, About cleaning Estonia in one dayZdenek Lycka, ambassador from Czech Re-public. Anders Hansen, Waste-art in Christiania.Tor Nørretranders, Author: What do we want with the worldAili Pyhala, Dr. of antropology. Cradel to cradle representation.

Dec. 16th Organic Farming and Agricul-ture, Forest Garden and BiodiversityThe green agriculture movement Peder Agger. ”biodiversity”, Knud Andersen. ”Levende hav”, Mira Illeris & Esben Schulz. „Permaculture“Michael Tersbøl. „Ecological agriculture”, Klaus Løhr-Petersen. „Biodynamics, Silke Hagmeier, Sieben Linden. ”The Oilfree Horsedriven Agriculture”, Indigenous people: ”Forgotton hidden wisdom”

Growth and heathHanne Leni. ”From Rio to Christiania City-biotop”, Christiania gardeners: ”The green lung in the city”, Bodil Søgård, Roberto Perez Rivero:”Tropic sustainable city agriculture”A theater play about the farmer and the city wife, and world music from Camino of Ecovillage Hjortshøj

Dec. 17th Health, Healing, and CultureBritta Lillesøe, Christianias Unique Cul-ture, Carlos Prado, (healer in traditional indian medicine), Mariama Guldagger, Third wife experi-ences from Senegal, Elisabeth Felix, Theater instructor and choir-leader in Hertha Community.

Charlott Bamford: "feel life”, Edwin Zeruta Zebullas, Rolf Dorset, Aut-hor: "Live of light", Anne Christine Hagedorn: "Inner cli-mate, Knud Overø, Author

Dec. 18th Conclusion and Party: Bottom Hope Manifesto Albert Bates, GEN and Ross Jackson, Gaia Trust, “Closing circle about COP15 seen from Bottom up”, Closing ceremonies and lots of music and dance.

Dec. 19th, Cleaning up and partyMusic with The Copenhagen new rockband: ROD (Root).

Left Up: Japanesse busi-nessmen in Christiania-bi-kes. Photo: ChristianiaLeft, Bottom: Christiania is known for its loving and untrtaditionel demonstrati-ons, Photo: EditorRight: Meddow of Peace at Last Bottom meeting 2002 at the Social Summit, Photo: Niels Vest

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