highlighting the future's bizzare as it transforms into the present's mundane
Posts by Sayan
7 points on Green Economics and New Thinking
0Worldchanging posts about Green Economics and New Thinking. The 7 points are:
1) Scale. How big is the global economy relative to the global ecosystem?
2) Stress development over growth. That is, make the economy better at satisfying human needs, not simply bigger.
3) Make prices tell the ecological truth.
4) Account for nature’s services.
5) The precautionary principle. This is just the age-old wisdom of “first, do no harm” and “look before you leap,” but applied to public policy toward new products (like chemicals) and technologies that could pose serious risk.
6) Commons management.
7) Value women.
Caroline Casey – The Aisling Foundation
0Global X interviewed Caroline Casey, the founding CEO of The Aisling Foundation in Ireland (“aisling” is Gaelic for dream and vision)
Caroline is an Ashoka Fellow and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She was recently named an Eisenhower Fellow –which explains why she was in the U.S. for two months to meet other social entrepreneurs and expand her network.
Global X was mesmerized as Caroline told her personal story and how she was dealing with her own disability. Even though she is legally blind and can only see up to one meter, she managed to achieve, at age 34, the three dreams she had when she was a teenager: she was an elephant handler, she now works for herself, and she drove a race car at 185 km/h. As she puts it, “you don’t need eyes to have a vision!”
Global X loved what she said about disability: “It’s not about you!” Or about life: “We are all frightened, we all have obstacles, but we all have wonderful moments when we are heroes. We all have potential… It’s all about facing the demons and taking the risks.”
Her parting words as she was flying back to Europe: “It’s far better to be a dangerous dreamer than a day dreamer.”
Rahul Bartaky – Community Friendly Movement : global market for handmade products made by artisan communities
0Global X interviews Rahul Barkataky, founder of the Community Friendly Movement in New Delhi.
CFM creates a global market for handmade products made by artisan communities, thus creating employment opportunities for those who are dependent on handicrafts for their livelihood.
Rahul Barkataky describes a project they launched in Gujarat, an area that was devastated by earthquake in 2001. CFM was able to provide US$10,000 to a group of 375 women –a very significant impact.
Much more remains to be done, but Rahul Barkataky is optimistic: “Poverty may not be completely eradicated ten years from now, but there will be more positive stories with real impact. It will be a better place than now.”
Elizabeth Hausler – Build Change : earthquake-resistant houses in developing countries
1Elizabeth Hausler explains to Global X that she was finishing her Ph.D. in engineering at Berkeley when an earthquake hit India and killed 20,000 people. That’s when she realized that “it’s not the earthquake that kills people, it’s the building collapsing.”
She looked for a solution and launched Build Change to build earthquake-resistant houses in developing countries and change construction practices permanently so that homeowners in seismically active developing countries can sleep at night.
TED Talks- Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness
0What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to these questions, and his answer is influenced by his faith as well as by his scientific turn of mind: We can train our minds in habits of happiness. Interwoven with his talk are stunning photographs of the Himalayas and of his spiritual community.
Another thoughtful (and humorous) TED talk was the one given by Bob Thurman sometime ago. It is one of my favorite TED talks and I have blogged about it previously. But it is probably appropriate to include it once more:
TED on climate change
01618 days
TED has hosted a number of excellent speakers on the topic of climate change. However, I found 2 interesting almost opposite approaches to solving the issue.
In this talk, energy guru Amory Lovins lays out his plan for weaning the US off oil and revitalizing the economy in the process. It’s the subject of his book Winning the Oil Endgame, and he makes it sound fairly simple: On one hand, the deadly risks of continued dependency, and on the other, some win-win solutions.
Environmental scientist David Keith talks about a cheap, effective, shocking solution to climate change: What if we injected a huge cloud of ash into the atmosphere, to deflect sunlight and heat? As an emergency measure to slow a melting ice cap, it could work. Keith discusses why it’s a good idea, why it’s a terrible one — and who, despite the cost, might be tempted to use it.
Cyclone in Bangladesh
0The cyclone Sidr narrowly missed hitting India directly and instead hit Bangladesh causing widespread devastation. I encourage you all to donate to help alleviate the suffering of one of the poorest countries of the world. Coastal Bangladesh is bearing the brunt of environmental disasters – rising sea levels will make it worse. I support Direct Relief International since 100% of the contribution goes into disaster relief especially medical aid. Why should you donate? Sheril explains lucidly:
Rising from the deep: Hydrogen economy
0All the major petro-companies are pushing for the hydrogen economy as a replacement for fossil fuels….some argue that this would allow them to keep their existing monopoly on transportation fuel.
My gut feeling is this an over-simplification. I came across the concept of ‘deep hydrogen reserves’ sometime ago. Apparently the Kola Superdeep Borehole, the deepest hole drilled by man at 12+ kms (~7.5miles) has been found to be bubbling with hydrogen. So do you think, the petroleum companies will simply shift from petroleum drilling to hydrogen drilling? Or maybe even methane drilling? I would be interested in your thoughts / opinions.
Bill Clinton talks about conflicts, climate change and more…
01656 days
Check out this very engaging talk (embedded below) by former President Bill Clinton. He was a keynote speaker at the 2007 U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Summit hosted by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Worldchanging.org has good overview of his speech here.
UPDATE: Removed embedded video due to broken link.
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