I'll keep this one short, to balance out the last monster post.
I'm feeling very "happy" these days. Last week I had to come up with a Leadership essay for class, so I meditated on the questions "Who am I? What do I belive in? What are my CORE values?"
The results have been enlightening. Here are the 5 things I came up with. They are in no particular order, and I want to constantly refine the language:
-This Earth is my Mother and I will treat her with dur respect.
-I am grateful for the support received from past generation, and I pledge my full support to future ones.
-I will pursue money & power only as a means to my goals (sustainable life/society), never as ends in of themselves.
-When my actions impact others, I will be aware of the consequences.
-I will listen to others and feel compassion for their suffering.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Going on a Trip!
I've had quite a few amazing experiences in the past week and a half! Last Wednesday, my class and I departed on an epic adventure to visit the European Parliament in Brussels, an exhibit on Human Needs in Luxembourg, and a couple of days to let it soak in Amsterdam. I'd like to share some stories from each place:
Bruxelles, Belgium
It was love at first sight. Even from my bus seat, I could feel the energy radiating from the city. I'm not sure if it was the architecture, the French writing, the faces of the people walking by, the spraying of liquid fertilizer by dogs on the sidewalk, the stench of political lobbying, or the scads of waffle stands and chocolate shops. Likely it was a mix of them all! Regardless, I was smitten. I walked around with some of our crew that night and become mesmerized by the town square. I've been to many large European city squares, but none of them has ever struck me like this one did.
The next morning we had a meeting with Anders Wijkman, a Swedish MEP (Member of European Parliament). He is a right-of-centre politician with an economics background, but is a champion of environmental policy! He started by spewing out some of the common rhetoric (3BL, carbon footprint, etc.) but with some carefully crafted questions, we were able to open him up a bit and get him to speak more from the heart about how hard it is to change people's opinions away from the status quo. I asked him something along the lines of "If the goal of almost every country is to systematically grow the economy infinitely, and if GDP growth is closely tied to finite resource use, how come more people haven't embraced Sustainability as a means to see endless economic growth within a finite world??" He replied, "If I knew the answer, I would be sitting in the highest chair". It was clear that HE got it, and that WE got it, but how come more politicians and economists don't see this blindingly obvious problem??
We spent the night at a hostel in Germany out in the middle of nowhere near the border with Luxembourg. Thankfully, the bus stopped at a gas station that sold booze and I grabbed a 7 Euro bottle of sweet sweet Amaretto. We proceeded to get drunk in the middle of a field with some cows. It was a bonding experience and I felt that night that everyone in the programme is now family.
Luxembourg
After a rock-like sleep and a welcome breakfast, we got back on the bus and rolled up to the Human Needs exhibit well outside from civilization in an abandoned steel factory. The setting was perfect for the intentions of the display, for they both showed the extremity of humanity's ability to alter our environment and create new realities. The exhibit was organized such that every room represented a different human need.
1. Idleness (relax): A giant beach with a water-bottle ocean displayed the dangerous effects of mass tourism on a traditional culture. Nowhere is the gap between rich and poor in the world so evident. Suggestions for eco-safe and socially responsible tourism were provided.
2. Subsistence (survive): Basic necessities such as food and water are real needs for all of humanity. Is international aid really beneficial to developing (sic) countries?? When we create dependencies, are we undermining people's ability to meet their own needs?? Lots of questions coming out of this section, but also the funniest bit of the day! A video called "the Hunt" by Christian Jankowski that was about a guy going into the supermarket with a toy bow & arrow actually 'hunting' his food. Popping the margarine container a new one!! The best was the woman scanning all his food riddled with arrows at the checkout.
3. Freedom (choose): There was a passing reference to democratic choice, but this section dealt primarily with the economic choices we make everyday. A wide variety of shampoos were lined up to display the ridiculous choices we have (for essentially the same product) and a tv was set up in the shower showing "Island of Flowers" a 12-minute film that brought me to tears. You can watch it at http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2855736949121066289&q=Island%20of%20Flowers&total=288&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
4. Affection (love): With my heart heavy from the video, I turned the corner and was taken aback by a wall covered in soft porn. I guess this IS Europe, but I'm definitely not yet used to having nudity so gratuitously portrayed. The exhibit then went into an auditory experience of famous quotes from movies played over loud speakers as you walk down the aisle. There was an interesting look at how we market love as diamonds and flowers, two of the most socially and environmentally destructive products we sell. We all know about blood diamonds, but the export of flowers to rich countries has destroyed natural areas, exploited thousands of workers, and let to the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides to protect the monocultured plants.
5. Identity (belong): This section focused on the clothes that we wear to display our individual style and create an identity for ourselves. It's unimaginable how much traveling a pair of jeans will do from raw material to labeled good ready for sale. Does anyone else find it strange that our products see more of the world than most humans do?? The punctuation mark was a row of mirrors that let you look at yourself, your identity, and your garments. Fully clothed, I've never felt so naked in my life. I also remember being dumbfounded by the juxtaposition of two tvs right next to each other. The first was a stream of labourers entering a factory in Asia for a full day of work making clothes for H&M (Swedish clothing company). The second was from a camera placed outside the entrance to one of their stores, likely in Europe somewhere, with a steady in and out of happy consumers. It made me realize just how disconnected we are.
6. Protection: The artists didn't often try to describe the Need itself, but would portray the negation of that Need instead. Protection, or the lack of it really, is evident in our global medical systems. The fact that there is an abhorrent number of AIDS victims in Africa every year when there IS medicine that will slow the effects (re: Magic Johnson) but is kept excessively expensive due to drug patents and exorbitant expected profits. I then got grossed out by a taped discussion on the organ trade situation, whereby poorer humans can sell organs (US$300 for a kidney, apparently) to needing rich customers. We all need some protection in our life, and to feel useless and destitute because you are physically ill will literally take the life right out of you.
7. Understanding: This was a really difficult section for me. It was a display put on by Stan's Cafe (http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/) called Of All The People in All The World where they use grains of rice to represent human beings and convey all kinds of telling statistics in this way. We often get wrapped up in statistics without really understanding what they mean. It's very difficult for us to visualize 200 of something, imagine seeing the number of forced labour employees all in one pile! I think this section had the biggest impact on me, as it really drove home some of the statistics that I had started taking for granted.
8. Creation: I had really high hopes coming into this section. I thought it was the most original of the Needs, for people (myself included) often underestimate the impact of creativity and playfulness for living a healthy, happy life. Unfortunately, I inevitably felt the disappointment of high expectations for it proved to be a series of noise machines made from recycled materials. ok, still kinda cool but I wanted to CREATE dammit!
9. Transcendence (dream): This wasn't one of Max-Neef's original Needs, but has subsequently been added. I really like this idea, because it explains the draw of religion (besides belonging) and the rise of spirituality in the current void left by mainstream religious orgnizations in North America. The content was basically left up to the participant, as the display consisted simply of white beds and soft hanging speakers quoting everything from Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" to Voltaire's "Candid". I really enjoyed this section, although I didn't like being watched by others and feeling like I was part of the display.
From Need to Need we were moving upward through the old factory, and after the dreaming came a big, metal twisty slide!!! It was really cool, because all of the heavy information and emotional extremes left you feeling a little dead inside and the small shot of adrenaline you get from a big slide was much obliged. The slide was really dark inside, and it felt like I was being reborn as I headed for the light.
10. Participation (stand up): The final Need was a series of laptops where you could access information to stay connected to the exhibit and some of the organizations that are involved. It also contained the only really analytic information of the exhibit with a 3-d graph mapping countries' GDP, environmental footprint, and resource consumption. I was completely overwhelmed at this point, and probably wouldn't have responded to blatant appeals for my action, but I think it could have answered the 'What Now?' question a little bit better.
After the exhibit, I was very humbled and withdrawn. My heart felt tremendously heavy. We were asked to form small groups and talk about our impressions, but it felt like such a chore. It wasn't until we got back outside that I could raise my head. I talked a few people into playing an impromptu game of footy outside, and the playful competition really made me feel better.
Back on the bus, going to...
Amsterdam
Everyone was feeling kinda strange coming out of that exhibit. It hasn't completely sunk in for me, and I doubt that it ever will. I've really noticed a shift in my perception to take these Needs into consideration. Our time in Amsterdam, the group dynamics kind of disintegrated and we all went in our separate directions. I was really happy to meet up with Jacob Binder, my roommate from FYP at King's. Getting away from the crowd for a bit really helped me to consolidate my thoughts and I developed a couple of ideas. I began to see each of the Human Needs as a glass needing to be filled. Society can fill some of the glasses for us (subsistence, protection, and maybe understanding) if properly administered, but we really depend on ourselves and on our family and friends for the rest. Some people try to compensate for the lack of a need (affection, say) by pouring extra energy and resources into a glass that is already full (overkill on the subsistence). This action doesn't benefit anyone, as the water just flows away and is wasted. This theory also provides a striking new view on the subject of poverty. If we are to really create a sustainable society, we need every human being working at their full capacity to meet this challenge. In my mind, the only way for people to be completely productive is to ensure that every one of these needs is being met!
Finally, a couple thoughts on the city of Amsterdam itself. The speed of life there is at once impossibly slow, yet insanely quick. It runs at an unsustainable pace, but is able to keep it up because it's a dynamic equilibrium with people constantly coming and leaving. People arrive with high energy, and by the time it's spent and they're ready to leave, new people show up to replace them. I'm not totally sure I'm using the word right, but the city has a very high entropy, with random encounters almost ensured by the chaotic movement of its particular people.
15 hours on the bus back to Karlskrona and here I find myself the following weekend still trying to sort it all out! Luckily, I'm forcing a Reiki treatment tomorrow morning with my friend Tracy, and hopefully she can get me good and balanced.
If you made it all the way through this, thanks for reading, sorry it was such a doozy!
Bruxelles, Belgium
It was love at first sight. Even from my bus seat, I could feel the energy radiating from the city. I'm not sure if it was the architecture, the French writing, the faces of the people walking by, the spraying of liquid fertilizer by dogs on the sidewalk, the stench of political lobbying, or the scads of waffle stands and chocolate shops. Likely it was a mix of them all! Regardless, I was smitten. I walked around with some of our crew that night and become mesmerized by the town square. I've been to many large European city squares, but none of them has ever struck me like this one did.
The next morning we had a meeting with Anders Wijkman, a Swedish MEP (Member of European Parliament). He is a right-of-centre politician with an economics background, but is a champion of environmental policy! He started by spewing out some of the common rhetoric (3BL, carbon footprint, etc.) but with some carefully crafted questions, we were able to open him up a bit and get him to speak more from the heart about how hard it is to change people's opinions away from the status quo. I asked him something along the lines of "If the goal of almost every country is to systematically grow the economy infinitely, and if GDP growth is closely tied to finite resource use, how come more people haven't embraced Sustainability as a means to see endless economic growth within a finite world??" He replied, "If I knew the answer, I would be sitting in the highest chair". It was clear that HE got it, and that WE got it, but how come more politicians and economists don't see this blindingly obvious problem??
We spent the night at a hostel in Germany out in the middle of nowhere near the border with Luxembourg. Thankfully, the bus stopped at a gas station that sold booze and I grabbed a 7 Euro bottle of sweet sweet Amaretto. We proceeded to get drunk in the middle of a field with some cows. It was a bonding experience and I felt that night that everyone in the programme is now family.
Luxembourg
After a rock-like sleep and a welcome breakfast, we got back on the bus and rolled up to the Human Needs exhibit well outside from civilization in an abandoned steel factory. The setting was perfect for the intentions of the display, for they both showed the extremity of humanity's ability to alter our environment and create new realities. The exhibit was organized such that every room represented a different human need.
1. Idleness (relax): A giant beach with a water-bottle ocean displayed the dangerous effects of mass tourism on a traditional culture. Nowhere is the gap between rich and poor in the world so evident. Suggestions for eco-safe and socially responsible tourism were provided.
2. Subsistence (survive): Basic necessities such as food and water are real needs for all of humanity. Is international aid really beneficial to developing (sic) countries?? When we create dependencies, are we undermining people's ability to meet their own needs?? Lots of questions coming out of this section, but also the funniest bit of the day! A video called "the Hunt" by Christian Jankowski that was about a guy going into the supermarket with a toy bow & arrow actually 'hunting' his food. Popping the margarine container a new one!! The best was the woman scanning all his food riddled with arrows at the checkout.
3. Freedom (choose): There was a passing reference to democratic choice, but this section dealt primarily with the economic choices we make everyday. A wide variety of shampoos were lined up to display the ridiculous choices we have (for essentially the same product) and a tv was set up in the shower showing "Island of Flowers" a 12-minute film that brought me to tears. You can watch it at http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2855736949121066289&q=Island%20of%20Flowers&total=288&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
4. Affection (love): With my heart heavy from the video, I turned the corner and was taken aback by a wall covered in soft porn. I guess this IS Europe, but I'm definitely not yet used to having nudity so gratuitously portrayed. The exhibit then went into an auditory experience of famous quotes from movies played over loud speakers as you walk down the aisle. There was an interesting look at how we market love as diamonds and flowers, two of the most socially and environmentally destructive products we sell. We all know about blood diamonds, but the export of flowers to rich countries has destroyed natural areas, exploited thousands of workers, and let to the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides to protect the monocultured plants.
5. Identity (belong): This section focused on the clothes that we wear to display our individual style and create an identity for ourselves. It's unimaginable how much traveling a pair of jeans will do from raw material to labeled good ready for sale. Does anyone else find it strange that our products see more of the world than most humans do?? The punctuation mark was a row of mirrors that let you look at yourself, your identity, and your garments. Fully clothed, I've never felt so naked in my life. I also remember being dumbfounded by the juxtaposition of two tvs right next to each other. The first was a stream of labourers entering a factory in Asia for a full day of work making clothes for H&M (Swedish clothing company). The second was from a camera placed outside the entrance to one of their stores, likely in Europe somewhere, with a steady in and out of happy consumers. It made me realize just how disconnected we are.
6. Protection: The artists didn't often try to describe the Need itself, but would portray the negation of that Need instead. Protection, or the lack of it really, is evident in our global medical systems. The fact that there is an abhorrent number of AIDS victims in Africa every year when there IS medicine that will slow the effects (re: Magic Johnson) but is kept excessively expensive due to drug patents and exorbitant expected profits. I then got grossed out by a taped discussion on the organ trade situation, whereby poorer humans can sell organs (US$300 for a kidney, apparently) to needing rich customers. We all need some protection in our life, and to feel useless and destitute because you are physically ill will literally take the life right out of you.
7. Understanding: This was a really difficult section for me. It was a display put on by Stan's Cafe (http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/) called Of All The People in All The World where they use grains of rice to represent human beings and convey all kinds of telling statistics in this way. We often get wrapped up in statistics without really understanding what they mean. It's very difficult for us to visualize 200 of something, imagine seeing the number of forced labour employees all in one pile! I think this section had the biggest impact on me, as it really drove home some of the statistics that I had started taking for granted.
8. Creation: I had really high hopes coming into this section. I thought it was the most original of the Needs, for people (myself included) often underestimate the impact of creativity and playfulness for living a healthy, happy life. Unfortunately, I inevitably felt the disappointment of high expectations for it proved to be a series of noise machines made from recycled materials. ok, still kinda cool but I wanted to CREATE dammit!
9. Transcendence (dream): This wasn't one of Max-Neef's original Needs, but has subsequently been added. I really like this idea, because it explains the draw of religion (besides belonging) and the rise of spirituality in the current void left by mainstream religious orgnizations in North America. The content was basically left up to the participant, as the display consisted simply of white beds and soft hanging speakers quoting everything from Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" to Voltaire's "Candid". I really enjoyed this section, although I didn't like being watched by others and feeling like I was part of the display.
From Need to Need we were moving upward through the old factory, and after the dreaming came a big, metal twisty slide!!! It was really cool, because all of the heavy information and emotional extremes left you feeling a little dead inside and the small shot of adrenaline you get from a big slide was much obliged. The slide was really dark inside, and it felt like I was being reborn as I headed for the light.
10. Participation (stand up): The final Need was a series of laptops where you could access information to stay connected to the exhibit and some of the organizations that are involved. It also contained the only really analytic information of the exhibit with a 3-d graph mapping countries' GDP, environmental footprint, and resource consumption. I was completely overwhelmed at this point, and probably wouldn't have responded to blatant appeals for my action, but I think it could have answered the 'What Now?' question a little bit better.
After the exhibit, I was very humbled and withdrawn. My heart felt tremendously heavy. We were asked to form small groups and talk about our impressions, but it felt like such a chore. It wasn't until we got back outside that I could raise my head. I talked a few people into playing an impromptu game of footy outside, and the playful competition really made me feel better.
Back on the bus, going to...
Amsterdam
Everyone was feeling kinda strange coming out of that exhibit. It hasn't completely sunk in for me, and I doubt that it ever will. I've really noticed a shift in my perception to take these Needs into consideration. Our time in Amsterdam, the group dynamics kind of disintegrated and we all went in our separate directions. I was really happy to meet up with Jacob Binder, my roommate from FYP at King's. Getting away from the crowd for a bit really helped me to consolidate my thoughts and I developed a couple of ideas. I began to see each of the Human Needs as a glass needing to be filled. Society can fill some of the glasses for us (subsistence, protection, and maybe understanding) if properly administered, but we really depend on ourselves and on our family and friends for the rest. Some people try to compensate for the lack of a need (affection, say) by pouring extra energy and resources into a glass that is already full (overkill on the subsistence). This action doesn't benefit anyone, as the water just flows away and is wasted. This theory also provides a striking new view on the subject of poverty. If we are to really create a sustainable society, we need every human being working at their full capacity to meet this challenge. In my mind, the only way for people to be completely productive is to ensure that every one of these needs is being met!
Finally, a couple thoughts on the city of Amsterdam itself. The speed of life there is at once impossibly slow, yet insanely quick. It runs at an unsustainable pace, but is able to keep it up because it's a dynamic equilibrium with people constantly coming and leaving. People arrive with high energy, and by the time it's spent and they're ready to leave, new people show up to replace them. I'm not totally sure I'm using the word right, but the city has a very high entropy, with random encounters almost ensured by the chaotic movement of its particular people.
15 hours on the bus back to Karlskrona and here I find myself the following weekend still trying to sort it all out! Luckily, I'm forcing a Reiki treatment tomorrow morning with my friend Tracy, and hopefully she can get me good and balanced.
If you made it all the way through this, thanks for reading, sorry it was such a doozy!
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