1. Suggestions for Prayer, Study, and Action
Good is the Flesh
by Brian Wren
Good is the flesh that the Word has become,
good is the birthing, the milk in the breast,
good is the feeding, caressing and rest,
good is the body for knowing the world,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Good is the body for knowing the world,
sensing the sunlight, the tug of the ground,
feeling, perceiving, within and around,
good is the body, from cradle to grave,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
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Good is the body, from cradle to grave,
growing and aging, arousing, impaired,
happy in clothing, or lovingly bared,
good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,
longing in all, as in Jesus, to dwell,
glad of embracing, and tasting, and smell,
good is the body, for good and for God,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
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PRAYER FOR PEACE DURING 2012
Spirit of the Living God, come afresh on your Holy Land.
Help your people to restore broken relationships.
Give them patience to break down barriers of suspicion and mistrust;
ability to discern personal prejudice and the courage to overcome fear.
Teach them to respect each other’s integrity and rights
so that your kingdom may be established on earth.
For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
World Council of Churches
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One criterion of the grant is to create and make available, via the Internet, an open-source textbook for use in introductory college courses. A self-imposed criterion is to identify an expand ing field of knowledge, common to all three campuses, where the open-source textbook could provide a sound foundation for effective teaching and learning. To that end, the team guiding the project has selected "sustainability" as the general focus of the University's open-source textbook. It should be noted that "sustainability" was also the field of study identified by Illinois community colleges for a potential a partnership with the University of Illinois. This textbook serves a need identified by faculty teaching in the sustainability area, i.e. the lack of a single, comprehensive, introductory text.
"Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation" is a free, open-source textbook available for viewing online or as a download for use on e-readers or printing. First and second-year college students are introduced to this expanding new field, comprehensively exploring the essential concepts from every branch of knowldege – including engineering and the applied arts, natural and social sciences, and the humanities. As sustainability is a multi-disciplinary area of study, the text is the product of multiple authors drawn from the diverse faculty of the University of Illinois: each chapter is written by a recognized expert in the field. Designed for the new generation of e-readers, the book can also be viewed in a browser, saved as a pdf, or printed.
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Global Warming Effects and Causes: A Top 10 List
Derek Markham, PlanetSave, 7 June 2009
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2. News, Publications, Tools, and Conferences
NEWS
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PUBLICATIONS
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TOOLS & DATABASES
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CONFERENCES & JOURNALS
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3. Advances in Sustainable Development
ANALYSES AND RECOMMENDATIONS IN PREPARATION FOR
RIO+20
Road to Rio+20 – Fresh Opportunity to Scale-Up Sustainable Development?, AfricanBrains, 5 January 2012
Premises for a New Economy, An Agenda for Rio+20, Great Transition Initiative, January 2012
Why Rio+20's 'Green Economy' Approach is Not Enough, Jordi Sanchez-Cuenca, Polis, 26 December 2011
Summary & Analysis of the UNCSD Second Intersessional Meeting, 15-16 December 2011, IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin, 19 December 2011
Rio+20 Friends of the Ocean, Friends of the Ocean Forum, 19 December 2011
Could Rio+20 become a new precedent of sustainable development multilateralism?, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan, 16 December 2011
Rio+20: A global movement towards a sustainable economy, Global Reporting Initiative, 14 December 2011
International Policy: United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Pew Environment Group, 13 December 2011
Global Women's Submission for the Rio+20 zero-draft document, Women Rio+20 Steering Committee, 3 November 2011
Earth Charter Recommendations, ECI, 2 November 2011
ICT for a Greener Economy: Recommendations about using ICT for sustainable development, IICD, 24 October 2011
A New Assessment of Global Warming, Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project, 20 October 2011
Rio+20: An international perspective on the “green economy”, Club of Rome, 18 October 2011
Arab States Recommendations for Rio+20, ICSU-UNESCO, Cairo, Egypt, 12-14 October 2011
Policy Brief on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development, International Environmental Governance, 27 September 2011
Rio+20 recommendations by Nigerian Major Groups , ICSU-UNESCO, Abuja, Nigeria, 6 September 2011
What Do You Want From Rio+20? - Rio+20 Three Demands by Country, WRI, 31 August 2011
Global Environmental Quality: Recommendations for Rio+20 and Beyond, Brookings Institution, 8 August 2011
A High-Impact Initiative for Rio+20: A pledge to phase out
fossil-fuel subsidies, IISD, August 2011
Recommendations: ICSU-UNESCO RIO+20 Regional Workshop for Africa, ICSU-UNESCO, 1 June 2011
Recommendations for Local Sustainability, ICLEI, in preparation
Note: Initial discussions on the zero draft of the outcome document begin on 25-27 January 2012.
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4. Advances in Integral Human Development
"This Report explores the integral links between environmental sustainability and equity and shows that these
are critical to expanding human freedoms for people today and in generations to come. The point of departure
is that the remarkable progress in human development over recent decades that the Human Development
Report has documented cannot continue without bold global steps to reduce environmental risks and
inequality. We identify pathways for people, communities, countries and the international community to
promote environmental sustainability and equity in mutually reinforcing ways.
"The cover diagram symbolizes how different policies can have different implications for sustainability and
equity. Whenever available, we should prefer solutions that are good for the environment while also promoting
equity and human development. Pursuing sustainability and equity jointly does not require that they be
mutually reinforcing. In many instances they will not be. Sometimes the most feasible alternative involves
trade-offs between sustainability and equity and requires explicit and careful consideration. No trade-off is
isolated from a society’s structural and institutional conditions, and so we must address the underlying
constraints and identify positive synergies between sustainability and equity. This Report is aimed not only at
finding positive synergies but also at identifying ways to build them."
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5. Advances in Integrated Sustainable Development
Note from the CASSE editor: "The Natural Resources Forum (vol. 35, no. 4) asked 29 experts, including Herman Daly, “What do you think should be the two or three highest priority political outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), scheduled for Rio de Janeiro in June 2012?” His answer succinctly sums up the steady-state perspective."
Herman Daly - "The conclusion of the 1972 Limits to Growth study by the Club of Rome still stands 40 years later. Even though economies are still growing, and still put growth in first place, it is no longer economic growth, at least in wealthy countries, but has become uneconomic growth. In other words, the environmental and social costs of increased production are growing faster than the benefits, increasing “illth” faster than wealth, thereby making us poorer, not richer. We hide the uneconomic nature of growth from ourselves by faulty national accounting because growth is our panacea, indeed our idol, and we are very afraid of the idea of a steady-state economy. The increasing illth is evident in exploding financial debt, in biodiversity loss, and in destruction of natural services, most notably climate regulation. The major job of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development is to help us overcome this denial and shift the path of progress from quantitative growth to qualitative development, from bigger to better. Specifically this will mean working toward a steady-state economy at a sustainable (smaller than present) scale relative to the containing ecosystem that is finite and already overstressed. Since growth now makes us poorer, not richer, poverty reduction will require sharing in the present, not the empty promise of growth in the future."
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6. Sustainability Games, Databases, and Knowledgebases
7. Visualizations of the Sustainable Development Process
Protecting Our Commons
By Sarah van Gelder and Doug Pibel,
Yes! Magazine, 29 July 2007
Water, forests, and other natural "commons" provide the necessities of life. Shared stories, music, and knowledge enliven our cultures. Today, corporations are trying to enclose these and other commons—or externalize their costs onto them. But a movement is gaining momentum to protect our commons for generations to come.
For an animated chart where you can hover over the symbols to learn more about our commons, click
here.
There are links in the same web page to download 8.5x11 and 11x17 posters.
Courtesy of Yes! Magazine.
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8. Sustainable Development Modeling and Simulation
Energy infrastructures as socio-technical systems
Simulating Energy Transitions, Emile Chappin, Delft University, 16 June 2011, Figure 1.2, page 3
Electricity and CO2 prices and CO2 emission levels for three carbon policies
Simulating Energy Transitions, Emile Chappin, Delft University, 16 June 2011, Figures 4.13a and 4.13b, page 110
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9. Sustainable Development and the International Community
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