Patricia March 20th, 2008

Columbia University Event
Sponsored by The Global Cooperation Project.

I attended our first US educational event for the GCP in NY at Columbia’s prestigious SIPA buidling. My colleagues were presenting and the event had been arranged by Columbia student Glenn Sontagg.

The event took place on February 26, 2008. Focusing on a bold new paradigm for achieving enduring global peace at this critical moment for humanity, it was based on the book Not-Two Is Peace by Adi Da Samraj. (Adi Da is a graduate of Columbia University.)

The title of the presentation: Beyond Egoism.

Two guest speakers Rolf Carriere and Dr.Hugh O’Doherty shared their wealth of personal experience in international leadership and peace work. In this context, they presented an inspiring new vision of global leadership in peace restoration founded on radical transcendental insight into the fundamental nature of humanity.

About 80 people attended, including graduate students, faculty, guests from out of town and New York, and visitors from the U.N. The presentations were well received and discussions continued well into the evening.

A Columbia master’s degree graduate and retired former executive at a New York City health institution said that he felt the truth of the concept of the real changes being in the actual change of humanity’s consciousness – and that has to happen.

Joining in the discussion, a guest from Wall Street said the questions raised showed that people really wanted to understand a way to address their sense of overwhelm. At the very least people were in agreement about the fact that survival is not a given, and that the need is for right action such that right results will follow.

Comment from a Columbia graduate student: “This concept is unique; all the others seem to be dealing with the branches or extended aspects of the problems. But Adi Da cuts it all at the root in dealing with egoity.”

A New York publishing professional was encouraged by the sizable number in the room and by the positive energy exhibited by people responding to the message of “cooperation, tolerance and peace”.

Reaction from a San Francisco based student included the observation that the concept is “simple”, not like anything else that is out there, so much of which is all complicated, difficult and divisive. He felt there is a depth about what Not-Two Is Peace offers to the world.

The presentation was repeated for an invited audience in Chicago on February 29th.

• Community , Spiritual , Peace
• Comments(0)

Patricia February 22nd, 2008

photograph by Stu Worrall

© All rights reserved.

DO YOU KNOW?

This is one of the best newsletters on the environment, global economics and change!

Check out these statistics and sign up to stay informed.

 Need data? Sometimes numbers can tell a story. Here are some of the
 figures from the behind-the-scenes research for the latest book from Earth
 Policy Institute, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, by
 Lester R. Brown. Complete data sets and charts are now available on-line at
 www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/data.htm.

Did you know?:

The eight warmest years on record have all occurred in the last decade.

For seven of the last eight years, the world has consumed more grain
 than it produced; grain stocks are now at a historic low.

One fifth of the U.S. grain harvest is now being turned into fuel
 ethanol.

One third of reptile, amphibian, and fish species examined by the World
 Conservation Union are considered to be threatened with extinction.

Grain yields increased half as fast in the 1990s as they did in the
 1960s.

Life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa today is lower than it was in the
 late 1980s.

Today’s economically recoverable reserves of lead, tin, and copper
 could be depleted within the next 25 years if their extraction expands at
 current rates.

Nearly half of the annual global military budget of $1.2 trillion is
 spent by one country — the United States.

But not all the news is bad:

South Korea leads the world in paper recycling, recovering an estimated
 77 percent of its paper products.

Conservation agriculture is practiced on more than 100 million hectares
 around the world

Four years after London introduced a fee on motor vehicles entering the
 city center, average car traffic had fallen by 36 percent while
 bicycle trips had increased by 49 percent.

The world produces 110 million bicycles a year, more than twice the
 annual production of 49 million cars.

Fish farming, largely of herbivorous species, is the fastest growing
 source of animal protein worldwide, increasing by an average of 7 percent
 each year since 1995.

World soybean production has quadrupled since 1977. 

Coal use in Germany has dropped 37 percent since 1990; in the United
 Kingdom it has fallen by 43 percent.

Solar cell production is doubling every two years, making it the
 world’s fastest growing energy source.

Electricity used for lighting around the world can be cut by 65 percent
 through efficiency improvements like switching from incandescent bulbs
 to compact fluorescents.

** Find out more in Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization,
 on-line at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm, and explore the complete
 datasets at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/data.htm.

For information contact:
Earth Policy Institute
1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 403
Washington, DC  20036
Web: www.earthpolicy.org

• Community , Peace , Uncategorized
• Comments(0)

Patricia February 18th, 2008

Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons
by Peter Barnes

Society is indeed a contract…between those who are living , those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” Edmund Burke 1792, Introduction Chapter One

“Barnes has opened the dialog of the 21st century. He takes the traditional concept of the commons and marries it to the institutions of modern capitalism. In so doing he exposes those who take fromthe commons without paying, then make the rest of us buy back what we already own.”

I heard Barnes speak at the SF 2006 Green Business Conference in SF sponsored by Co-op America.

The Real Wealth of Nations by Rianne Eisler

“The Caring Revolution–A New Economics that Works for Businesses, Families and the Planet”

“The greatest problems of our time–poverty, inequality, war, terrorism, and environmental degradation–can be traced to flawed economic systems that fail to value and support the most essential human work: caring for people and the planet. Renowned social scientist Eisler introduces a bold reformulation: a “caring econonics” that transcends traditional categories like “capitalist” and “socialist” and offers enormous economic and social benefits. She provide a blueprint for putting this more humane and effective economic system to work. (Back Cover)

I heard Riane speak the beginning of December at the Praxis Peace Institute annual benefit. I feel Riane offers solutions based on solid research that are sustainable, compassionate, and practical.

Communities around the world would do well to adopt the economics recommended by Barnes and Eisler.

• Community , Spiritual , Peace
• Comments(0)