"Lord, help me choose a simpler life-style that promotes solidarity with the world's poor, helps me appreciate nature more, affords greater opportunity to work together with my neighbors, reduces my use of limited resources, creates greater inner harmony, saves money, allows time for meditation and prayer, and incites me to take political and social action."
State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures from Consumerism to Sustainability
By Erik Assadourian & Staff, Worldwatch Institute, 2010 ISBN 978-0-393-33726-6
SUGGESTION FOR ACTION
Investigate some of the many organizations mentioned in the State of the World 2010. There are some directories or sustainability / sustainable development organizations that may be useful in your search:
Pioneer systems theorist and environmentalist:
Biophysicist, PhD Harvard University, 1968
Team Co-Leader, Limits to Growth Research Project, MIT, 1970-1972
Professor of Systems Sciences at Darmouth College, 1972-2001
Founder of the Sustainability Institute, Vermont, 1996
Major works: The Limits to Growth, Report to the Club of Rome, Potomac Associates, 1972 The Electronic Oracle: Computer Models and Social Decisions, Wiley, 1985 Global Citizen, Island Press, 1991 Beyond the Limits: Global Collapse or a Sustainable Future, Earthscan, 1992 State of the Village Report, Sustainability Institute, 1997 Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System, Sustainability Institute, 1999 Limits to Growth-The 30 year Update, Chelsea Green, 2004.
About her way of thinking and acting:
she often referred to herself simply as "a farmer and a writer." When she founded the Sustainability Institute, she described it as a "think-do-tank." The Institute combines cutting edge research in global systems with practical demonstrations of sustainable living.
4. Surveys on Education for Sustainable Development
The Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) research project is moving forward as a series of surveys to identify the critical issues that sustainable developers must be ready to face. During the year 2009, survey test versions V0 to V1.7 have been posted. The survey is structured around the "key action themes" proposed by UNESCO for the "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" (2005-2014):
Paulo Freire's educational model of recursive questions and answers
Ken Wilber's integral model of experience, behavior, systems, and cultures
René Girard's mimetic theory of scapegoating behavior
Note: For a complete description of the design evolution, click here
The survey of the design is stable. However, the questions still need more work pursuant to an optimal combination of brevity (maximum of 16 questions), neutrality (unbiased questions), and questionnaire coverage of the most critical issues in sustainable development. Thus far the responses have been as follows:
As of 24 April 2009, 61 persons had taken the V0 test survey.
As of 27 May 2009, 129 persons had taken the V1 test survey.
As of 27 June 2009, 263 persons had taken the V1.5 test survey.
As of 31 July 2009, 513 persons had taken the V1.6 test survey.
As of 29 August 2009, 36 persons had taken the V1.7 test survey.
Links to the forms, data, and analyses for the initial series of surveys are listed below:
Posting of the ESD 2.0 comprehensive survey is still under consideration, but there is much information yet to be analyzed in the 1004 responses received during the 2009 series. Rather than posting comprehensive surveys, the plan going forward is to post short surveys as required to support further analysis of the transition from consumerism to sustainability.
"Worldwatch's flagship publication, State of the World, has educated a broad audience of students, journalists, policymakers, and concerned citizens about trends in sustainable development for a quarter century. The book has been published in 36 languages, and over the years it has authoritatively assessed issues ranging from population, energy, and agriculture to materials use, health, and trade policy. Topics are covered from a global perspective, with an emphasis on innovation and problem-solving. State of the World is recognized as a classic of environmental literature, having attracted luminaries from Kofi Annan to Mikhail Gorbachev to write forewords for the book. News media, policymakers, and NGOs worldwide cite the book for its cutting-edge analysis, reliability, and careful documentation of its arguments, all marshaled to speed the global transition to a sustainable world."
15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000)
For the more information about Beijing+15 and CSW54, click here.
Point of contact: UN Division for the Advancement of Women, daw@un.org.
The World Survey on the Role of Women in Development is the flagship publication of the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women. The theme for the World Survey in 2009 is "Women’s control over economic resources and access to financial resources, including microfinance."
Point of contact: UN Division for the Advancement of Women, daw@un.org.
Millennial assessments of the environmental problems confronting people of all nations have
shown that the problems are severe and, in large part, the product of human activities.
Climate change,
Decline of food security
Loss of biological diversity
Depletion of water and other vital resources with consequent conflict
Use of unsustainable and environmentally malign energy technologies
Deleterious changes in patterns of land use, and
Toxification of the planet with unregulated pollutants that may be dangerous even in traces
All threaten the human future. Yet society stubbornly refuses to take comprehensive steps to deal with
them and their drivers,
Population growth
Overconsumption by the rich, and
The deployment of environmentally malign technologies.
6. Climate Interactive Scoreboard (Courtesy of the Climate Institute)
This automatically updating widget reflects the current state of negotiations in Copenhagen, and the resulting temperature increase. Watch the video (top-right corner) to learn how this simulation calculates the long-term climate impacts of proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
7. Carbon Footprint Calculator (Courtesy of Carbonify and Michael Bloch)
Calculate your carbon footprint. With a bit of research, you may be able to gather the data required to calculate the footprint of your place of work, your school, your church, your local government, and any other institution that might benefit from becoming aware of how much carbon they are using. Sometimes this information is enough to trigger a shift to consumption habits and work practices that would decrease the carbon footprint.
Kingston, Jamaica, will be the host city for the World Council of Churches' International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in 2011.
The convocation will meet under the theme "Glory to God and peace on earth". It will be the culmination of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV), which has sought to network and bring attention to the peacemaking initiatives of its various member churches.
O, Birther of the Cosmos, focus your light within us — make it useful
Create your reign of unity now
Your one desire then acts with ours,
As in all light,
So in all forms,
Grant us what we need each day in bread and insight:
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
As we release the strands we hold of other’s guilt.
Don’t let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back.
From you is born all ruling will,
The power and the life to do,
The song that beautifies all,
From age to age it renews.
I affirm this with my whole being.