Løsnet #61-62 1. del

Program of NGO-meetings during COP15 included in this section "We have to reinvent ourselves at a species level".

"We are not at collection of objects, but a communion of subjects".

Thomas Berry

Creating Oneness Special international issue: Creating Oneness

LØSNET

International Climate Edition No. 61-62 Dec. 2009

•Lifestyle Changes as Climate Strategy •Ecological/technical Projects and Ideas

•Redefining Economics: Creating Sustainable Abundance •Inner Climate Change LØSNET International Climate Edition No. 61-62 Dec. 2009

No. 61-62 Dec. 2009 International Climate Edition

LØSNET

Creating Oneness

Creating Oneness

LØSNET is a quarterly membership magazine for members of the Danish Association for Ecovillages (LØS), an association for social, ecological and spiritual communities rural and urban, and for all who work for sustainability.

See list of community members at www.losnet.dk This special Climate issue is distributed for free during the Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP 15) This issue is financially gracefully supported by: Gaia Trust and The Climate Bottom Meeting Editors on this issue is shared between Hildur Jackson, Mette Petersen and Kaj Hansen

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Content Editorial, by Mette Petersen

Lifestyle Change as Climate Strategy 4 6

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The content does not nessecarily express the opinions of the association.

Layout and DTP: Troels Dilling-Hansen and Allan Elm Frontpageillustrations: Japanese art by Akira Takahashi expressing purification and oneness (please see opposite leave for explanation) The Snail house at Fri and Fro (Photo: Lars Levin Andersen, Fri og Fro) Contact: Articles (and pictures) please as word-documents (or compatible) to Troels DillingHansen Bjedstrupvej 31 DK8660 Skanderborg Mail: info@losnet.dk Web: www.losnet.dk

Reduction of CO2 from 3 different eco-villages in Denmark, by Kaj Hansen Lifestyle in the three ecovillages described by the members themselves: Hjortshøj Ecovillage, The Svanholm Collective and Munksøgård Conclusion: Lifestyle Change is the key "Friland" Recreating Inner and Outer Freedom, by Steen Møller to Hildur Jackson The Danish Ecovillage Fri and Fro and Sustainability, by Lars Levin Andersen Hertha - A Community Based on Inclusion, by Ole Uggerby Christiania - Current Situation Autum 2009, by Britta Lillesøe The Ecovillage of Sieben Linden - being the change we want to se in the World,

by Kosha Joubert and Martin Stengel Mallorca goes Green, by Kerstin Salén The Kovcheg Ecovillage, by Fedor Lazutin and Dmitriy Vatolin

Ecological/Technical Solutions 26

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Harvesting Coal with a Stirling Motor and Digging it Down, by Lisa Abend and Thomas Harttung Opportunity Earth Democracy, about Vandana Shiva´s work, collected from www.vandanashiva Organic Solutions to Climate Change and Food Security: Shumei Natural Agricul ture, by Kristine Mayo Support to IRENA, the new government agency for renewable energy, by Preben Maegaard 100% renewable energy in Thisted, Denmark, by Preben Maegaard Cradel to Cradel - Industrial Revolution, Take Two, by Martin Fluri Climate Friendly Transportation in the Future, by Christian Ege Copenhagen as Example on Climate Town, by Thomas Christensen Transition Towns Movement, by Niels Johan Juhl-Nielsen and Erik Lemcke

Economic Solutions 50 54

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The Carbon Board, by Ross Jackson ALBA - an Economic Cooperation Between 9 Economies in South America with Global Perspective, by Sven-Erik Simmonsen MERKUR - Cooperative Bank, by Lars Pehrson Cohousings, Ecovillages and "ollekoller" Create Local Abundance and Reduce CO2 Emis sion, by Hildur Jackson The Federation of Damanhur and the "Credito", by Esperide Ananas

Coverillustration: Akira Takahashi presents this image to the world in order to purify the Earth. He has presented it to various sacred places. He asked the Konohana Family, an ecovillage in Japan to send it to suitable places over the 5 continents and receiving one we feel this is an appropriate way to spread it to more people all over the world here at the Climate Meeting in Copenhagen using it as a frontpage.

In the picture, a Chinese phoenix that embraces the Earth also holds a similar Earth.

A Chinese phoenix is a sacred bird that symbolizes peace, Happiness and Longevity.

GEN’s new flyer with proposals for agreements, by Global Ecovillage Network Climate Forum’s proposal for declaration State of the World Forum takes on Global Leadership for 2020. Includes business and NGO´s, Jim Garrison by Daniel Wahl Dealing with Global Warming from a Higher Level of Thinking, by Ross Jackson Inner Climate Change, by Hildur Jackson Climate Change and Agriculture: Biodiverse Ecological Farming is the Answer, not Gene tic Engineering by Vandana Shiva A Call for True Leadership, by Rolf Jackson Activities during COP15 collected by Hildur Jackson and Troels Dilling-Hansen Climate Bottom Meeting – Windows of Hope, by Troels Dilling-Hansen

Chairman: Lone Samuelsson Munksøgård 80 4000 Roskilde E-mail: los@munksoegaard.dk Phone: 7741 0180, cellphone: 3167 0180

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Inner Climate Change - Change of Values and Worldview 64 69

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The Danish Spiritual Landscape, by Hildur Jackson and Rolf Jackson Save the World - a Message from Grace - Movement for a Free Earth, by Sabina Lichten fels, Dieter Duhm and Mara Vollmer Education: GEDS and the EDE - Gaia Education, the Cutting Edge ofSustainability Education, by May East Mind and Life Institute - Educating World Citizens for the 21th Century, collected from www.mindandlife.org by Kaj Hansen Changing Values: Gender Reconsiliation in South Africa, by William Keepin and Cynthia Brix, Satyana Institute and Judy Connors, Phaphama Initiatives

Giro: 596-6752 Bank: 8401-1007584

Road to Redemption or Ruin, by Maurice Strong A Time to Act, by Ross Jackson Planetary Boundaries of 9 areas from prestigeous institutes, by Jørgen Steen Nielsen Poem by Rashmi

Membersubscription annually: Individual: Dkr: 220 Individual living in comunity: Dkr. 110 Communities and organisations: Less than 20 participants: Dkr 550 Between 20 and 50 participants: Dkr. 880 Above 50 participants: Dkr. 1320 Compagnies in communities: Dkr. 275 Membership runs untill terminated.

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III. How do we co-operate globally on all levels and sectors?

Who are the agents of change?

What is the vision?

Declining Global Population is an Insurance Policy! Sven Burmester by Hildur Jackson The Threat Matrix, by Albert Bates Can We Curb Global Warming with Renewable Energy? By Søren Skibstrup Eriksen, Da- nish Engineers solution, IDA www.futureclimate.info The Human Dimension- a Sustainable Approach to City Planning, by Jan Gehl and Bir gitte Bondesen Svarre The Copenhagen Call - Global Business solutions. From webpages Copenhagen Climate Council (Connie Hedegård) Changing Direction: Restoring Mother Earth by Hanne Marstrand Strong Manifesto on climate change and the future of food security Produced by The International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture Ecovillages and the transformation of values, by Jonathan Dawson Faith Leaders Address Climate Change, by Dena Merriam, GPIW

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II. Attempts at Partial Solutions 4 8 10 13

I. Defining the situation/problems in a holistic context 3

Editorial, by Kaj Hansen, Hildur Jackson and Mette Petersen

ISSN: 1395-1270

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Content

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

Editorial Editors: Kaj Hansen, Hildur Jackson and Mette Petersen

W

elcome to Copenhagen and to the Climate Meeting.

Welcome to all readers!

This is a special, free issue of LØS’NET—the newsletter of the Association of Danish Ecovillages, which has been published since 1993. For the first time it is in English as a service to all our guests from abroad on the occasion of the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009. See the middle pages for the conference program.

The Earth needs a clear and strong climate agreement in Copenhagen. The Danish Presidency has a unique chance to show solidarity with the Small Island States, Africa and all of Nature by putting new items on the agenda. Please show courage and take the lead.

Humanity is facing so many serious global problems that it is difficult to grasp all of them at once. Many different sectors are now cooperating globally to create an overview and a larger picture.

This is promising. We have gathered many of their newest ideas and analyses here. The main topic of the official conference is reduction of CO2 emissions and how this can be done— by some combination of rationing, national commitments, investment in renewable energy and other new technologies and technology transfer. This is being addressed by scientists, governments NGO’s, and the business community at the official conference.

But there are also other serious global problems which needs addressing and which will be dealt with at the two major NGO Forums and by a group of spiritual leaders who are coming to Copenhagen to contribute to the dialogue.

of values and consciousness is a major theme of the Climate conference. Spiritual leaders are meeting with scientists and environmentalist in materializing the understanding that we live in a living universe and that we are all one.

The ecovillage movement has something to contribute that is quite unique, available for all to see on the ground, and not widely recognized, namely that a change in lifestyle can reduce CO2 emissions by more than half without any reduction in the quality of life, in fact, with an increase!.

Restructuring the economic and financial system is also a part of the solution, which should not be neglected.

A new “Carbon Board” proposal is put forward that is simple to implement, effective and fair, and with a guarantee to actually reduce emissions, thus securing global justice at the same time as making sure we reach the target of CO2 reductions in time.

The carrying capacity of Earth’s ecosystem has been exceeded by about 25%. There are simply too many of the human species. We need to deal intelligently with overpopulation and avoid the taboo of talking about it.

The ecovillage movement was started to create sustainable solutions to systemic problems. We feel that we may therefore in this crisis situation contribute with what we have learned over the past two decades. Not that we believe we have the total solution, but we see a pattern of how all these different sectors may begin to experience themselves as

part of a bigger picture and realize how all these different aspects are important and need to be recognized as such and included in our thinking. We need to move to another level of understanding and cooperation. Let us discuss in Copenhagen how we can get all these topics on to the future Climate agenda, and debate which measures and structures are needed to achieve the common goal.

We need a shift in consciousness if we are to find cooperative and efficient solutions to the many global problems facing us, and if humanity is to survive and thrive on this wonderful planet Earth with her billion of years of evolution that have brought us to this point. Let us not waste our heritage. We all need to demonstrate good will and cooperation from the top down and from the bottom up.

We need all points of views included.

And everybody must accept the solutions if they are to be successful. Let us create a new and hitherto unseen cooperation between governments, business, science, spirituality, NGOs and civil society. Let us create an atmosphere of love and cooperation in Copenhagen.

Photos: Left Top : Hildur Jackson, Gaia Trust Bottom: Kaj Hansen at Social Forum 2007

Our 400-year-old worldview is based on separation has become dysfunctional and is no longer working satisfactorily, while a new worldview of oneness and interconnectedness is emerging. Change

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

I. Defining the situation/

Copenhagen – Road to Rede

The unsustainable nature of our current economic system was dramatical a systemic, integrated basis and cannot be managed as separate and co nature and functioning of our economic system and resist the temptation hway that led to its crisis. Only through fundamental change can we tran its survival and sustainability.

By Maurice Strong, Maurice F. Strong, PC, CC, OM, FRSC (born April 29, 1929, in Oak Lake, Manitoba) i leading environmentalists. Secretary General of both the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Strong has played a critical role in globalizing the environm

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he unsustainable nature of our current economic system was dramatically revealed by both the climate change and the economic crises. They are inextricably linked on a systemic, integrated basis and cannot be managed as separate and competing issues. The climate change challenge requires us to make changes in the fundamental nature and functioning of our economic system and resist the temptation merely to patch up the existing system to enable to continue, however, temporally, on the pathway that led to its crisis. Only through fundamental change can we transcend these crises and rebuild the economic and social foundations of our civilization to ensure its survival and sustainability.

When climate change was first cited as an environmental risk at the Stockholm Conference in 1972, it was seen as a more distant prospect but requiring immediate attention and action to avoid. The world was not listening then. As one of my first initiatives as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program I convened leading experts on the subject.

Now the Inter Government Panel on Climate Change, a representative group of the world’s leading scientists which had its genesis in these earlier initiatives, has sounded the alarm that Greenhouse gas emissions have been growing more rapidly and the risks to which they give rise more imminent. We cannot afford, and must not allow, further delay as it is clear that some of the consequences of climate change are already irreversible.

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A recent study by Global Humanity Forum headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, estimates that the economic and human costs of climate change has already amounted to an estimated USD125 billion per year and loss of 300,000 lives.

This underscores the urgent necessity of agreement in Copenhagen on new measures beyond the terms the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. This must include binding commitment designed to ensure that global emissions do not go beyond the threshold of irreversibility. It is shaping up to be the most difficult and most important international agreement ever attempted.

All countries will suffer the consequences of climate change and all will need to cooperate in the measures required to reduce and mitigate its effects. Developing countries which have contributed the least to these crises are likely to suffer most.

Yet they have the least capacity to deal with it. Their responsibilities must clearly be recognized as common but differentiated from those of the principal industrial countries which have produced the accumulated emissions that gave rise to the crisis and enjoyed the economic benefits which accompanied this.

Greenhouse gases from every source contribute to their global accumulation and it is in the interest of all countries that developing countries be fully engaged in the global efforts to manage the crisis. This makes it imperative that in the fundamental transformation we must make in our eco-

nomy developing countries be accorded full and equitable participation in its benefits.

We cannot achieve security and sustainability of our civilization if the majority of the world’s people continue to be deprived of its benefits and opportunities. Indeed, it would be compounding the already tragic and dangerous situation we face if the current crises where to lead to deepening rather than bridging the rich-poor divide.

This is the broader context in which we must view the position of the developing countries. They cannot be expected to agree to curb their emissions unless it is accompanied by massively increased international support, not only for the actions they must take to reduce their emissions, but for their entire economies. This must go beyond the aid they have been so often promised but not delivered to enable them to share the benefits of the world economy much as the disadvantaged regions of most nations share the benefits of their national economy. While it would be too much to expect this kind of fundamental change to be fully agreed in Copenhagen it could be accepted as a priority objective and a process established to negotiate agreement on its achievement. In the meantime Copenhagen must produce specific commitments to provide developing countries with access to the technologies and financial support to enable them to achieve the levels of economic efficiency to accelerate their development while limiting their greenhouse gas emissions.

This does not have to come from new money requiring increases in already strained

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

ion/ problems in a holistic context

Redemption or to Ruin

ramatically revealed by both the climate change and the economic crises. They are inextricably linked on e and competing issues. The climate change challenge requires us to make changes in the fundamental mptation merely to patch up the existing system to enable to continue, however, temporally, on the patn we transcend these crises and rebuild the economic and social foundations of our civilization to ensure

Manitoba) is one of the world’s leading proponents of the United Nations' involvement in world affairs. Supporters consider him one of the world's n the Human Environment, which launched the world environment movement, and the 1992 Earth Summit and first Executive Director of the United he environmental movement. This article was finished October 14, 2009

budgets. It is primarily a matter of changing priorities in the allocation and use of existing resources to be capable of meeting the needs of reconstituted economies on a continuing basis.

We must treat climate change as a security issue – the greatest security risk that we have ever faced to the survival of life as we know it. Only thus will be able to agree to the specific level at which global

emissions must be capped and commitments by each country to the reduction of its emissions that will be necessary to achieve this. The positions of the principal emitters will be the main determinant

Maurice Strong, Earth Council, explains that the vast expansion of economic activities that transform the earth's natural wealth into monetary assets undermines our future, and stresses the need to promote "sophisticated modesty" as a way to improve the quality of life while minimizing individual contributions to environmental degradation.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

of success at Copenhagen and substantial differences continue to divide them.

To limit temperature increases to 1.5 degree centigrade below pre-industrial levels will require the more developed countries to reduce their collective emissions by more than 85% from 1990 levels by the year 2050. If a higher temperature range is accepted this will require much more radical measures by the principal emitters. Despite increased awareness and concern it would clearly be a daunting challenge for governments to accept firm and binding commitment to this in Copenhagen. But they must at the very least establish the framework for it and agree on certain key issues and a continuing process of negotiation. Reduction of emissions resulting from the meltdown of the world economy will buy some time but must not be a pretext for delay or complacency.

Together the United State and China account for some 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Their cooperation in meeting the climate change challenge is essential, indeed decisive. Although the Obama Administration accords high priority to climate change it may be difficult to obtain congressional approval for the kind of commitments that will enable it to take the lead in Copenhagen. China’s situation is different. Although it has now surpassed

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the United States in current emission levels, it is still well behind the United States in per capita terms, The average Chinese produces only 1/5 as much in carbon emissions as the average American. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, the United States has produced more than 1 trillion tons of carbon emissions from fossil fuels compared to China’s 300 million tons. Thus China can be expected to require actions on the part United States that take account of its role as the largest contributor to the current crisis.

Paradoxically, China will be able to demonstrate in Copenhagen that it is already taking more action than the United States to limit some of the main sources of its emissions, as for example, imposing stricter limits on emissions from vehicles and committing to a 20% improvement in its energy efficiency by 2010. China’s Energy and Resource Institute has suggested by that by 2020 the country could reduce its current emission growth rate by half and effect a reduction of 1/3 in its absolute emissions by 2050. This is certainly an ambitious goal but like many goals that China has set for itself throughout its history, it is one it could well achieve. China’s recent initiatives to undertake constructive cooperation with the U. S., and others in addressing climate change are certainly

encouraging. On the other hand, there are still many bridges that have to be crossed before the positions of China and the United States can be more fully reconciled.

The climate change and economic crises require a degree of international cooperation that has only been achieved on a limited basis in wartime and never on a global scale. Global government is neither necessary nor practical. What is necessary is a global system of governance through which the nations of the world cooperate to address issues which none can deal with alone. Highest priority must be given to those issues which affect the security, sustainability and survival of all humanity.

This is certainly true of both climate change and the related needs for fundamental changes in our current economic system. I believe in the principle of subsidiary that all actions should be dealt with at the levels closest to the people concerned. On this basis, the role of global government would be to provide the framework of principles and context required to facilitate actions which can be best taken at the local, national or regional levels.

Moving to the carbon-free economy requires that Copenhagen produces a commitment to a Climate Security Program and at least the main elements of it as well as

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" establishment of a “Climate Security-Fund” to finance its implementation. This would provide for firm and continuing commitments by the more developed countries based on their emissions and their Gross National Products (GDP). The initial scale of this Fund will need to on the order of USD 1 trillion over a ten year period. This will inevitably be viewed as unrealistic in light of the current financial crisis which will be used to justify such resistance. But it must go well beyond foreign aid as conventially defined and be integrated into the process of fundamental changes in our economy. It will ultimately exceed the initial target figure of USD1 trillion which is the estimated cost to the United States alone of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

fossil fuels and other sources of emissions and shifting subsidises from those substances and practices which contribute to climate change to those which contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions. Developing countries must also be accorded expanded opportunities to earn credits by their ability to reduce emissions at much lower cost than can be achieved in more developed countries which will pay them for this. This will involve an improved and extended version of the Certified Development Mechanism (CDM) established under the Kyoto Protocol Trading in these emissions credits has already become a rapidly growing business and developing countries must be supported in fully accessing and benefiting from these markets.

It will take a strong will and binding commitments by the more developed countries to undertake the changes of their economies that this will require and for the developing countries to be in the position to absorb the resources they receive to build sustainable and competitive economies.

Throughout human history, civilizations have risen and fallen, often due to mismanagement of their environment and the resources on which they depended. The consequences were clearly devastating for those affected, but there was always somewhere else for them to go. The climate change crisis is fundamentally different because it is global in scale and affects the survival and sustainability of all nations and people. It is also different in that we know its causes and probable consequences. We are the first generation ever to have responsibility for our own future.

Some of the measures which could contribute to this process would be fees on the use of the global commons – the ocean, the atmosphere and outer space that are not under national jurisdiction, a Tobintype tax on financial transactions, taxes on

What we do, or fail to do, will determine the future of life on Earth. This requires unprecedented levels of cooperation both within and amongst nations. But it does not require homogeneity in our life styles or cultures. After all, we can learn from nature that the healthiest and most sustainable natural ecological systems are those which maintain the highest degree of diversity and variety.

While the fundamental changes I believe must take the place at the level of individual people as well as nations it promises to produce improved conditions of life and a more secure and sustainable future for all people. It is instructive to reflect that the conditions required to support life as we know it have only existed on Earth for a small portion of its history and within relatively narrow parameters. The unprecedented growth of human numbers and the extent and nature of human activities are now impacting the conditions on which our survival and wellbeing depend. Our very existence is now at risk and its future is literally in our own hands. We have the knowledge and capacity to ensure our survival. The real question is do we have the will to make the fundamental changes that this requires? Copenhagen can put us on the road to redemption or move us further on the road to ruin.

Left: one way of solving the energy-problem is Windmills, here from Copenhagen, which is a big city-environnemetal pioneer.

Right: 2008 we crossed a line of ½ of humanity living in cities, here Tokio with 30-40 mio people. Fotos: Editor.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

A Time to Act

Today, crisis is all around us. We are living right on the edge of breakdown, our well-being—if not our v lution, social breakdown, growing inequalities in wealth and income, terrorism, increasing crime and a ra towards a deep abyss. We are so familiar with all of these things that it does not occur to us to ask ourse often the one that was the headline in yesterday’s news, or is the subject of next month’s global confere

By Ross Jackson, co-founder and chairman of Gaia Trust, Denmark, the primary funder of the Global Ecovillage Network and Gaia Education. He ho specialising in investment theory and international finance.

The Common Link There is a common thread linking all of the above phenomena. It has to do with our socalled worldview—the “taken for granted” way that we look at the world. A worldview is not a fixed mental concept, though it tends to be stable for long periods.

The problems we face in the world today are not just about global warming. They are rather symptoms of a common underlying disease. If our civilization is to survive, it is critical that we understand the causes and take appropriate action once we comprehend the interrelationships and what is driving them.

Action is required at all levels, but especially the way we deal with global issues.

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oday, crisis is all around us. We are living right on the edge of breakdown, our well-being—if not our very survival—threatened not only by climate change, but also by resource depletion, toxic pollution, social breakdown, growing inequalities in wealth and income, terrorism, increasing crime and a rate of species extinction not seen in 65 million years. Powerful forces are driving our civilization towards a deep abyss. We are so familiar with all of these things that it does not occur to us to ask ourselves if there is a common thread linking them.

Instead, we tend to focus on one issue at a time, often the one that was the headline in yesterday’s news, or is the subject of next month’s global conference.

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The Dominant Worldview The so-called Cartesian/Newtonian worldview came to dominate the way Western civilization looked at the world from Isaac Newton’s time to our own, and not without good reason. The reductionist, mechanical approach to problem solving combined with the concept of separation of humankind and Nature proved to be a powerful tool in the development of the industrial revolution and modern science. It is generally considered to have been a resounding success as one of the key factors in increasing the general standard of living, particularly in the industrialized countries.

However, its successes have not come without costs. Often these costs appear elsewhere in the global system than we might intuitively expect, for example in damage to the environment and human settlements far removed from and outside the field of vision of the centres

of the industrialized world of the West.

In this regard, it is important to realize that, until recently, the vast majority of people in the world outside of the West were far less influenced by this paradigm, e.g. in China, India, Africa, the Middle East and South America. Many of these peoples experienced only the negative effects of this paradigm through colonialism, environmental degradation and commercial exploitation. In all of these other regions of the planet, more Life-based worldviews have always dominated, at least until very recently.

Global Warming The burning of fossil fuels seemed like a reasonable thing for humans to do once oil and natural gas resources were discovered and the necessary technologies developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Few, if any, guessed that this seemingly innocent act was going to cause Nature to react in an unexpected and potentially disastrous way one hundred years later. Unintended responses are typical when we mess with complex ecosystems that we do not thoroughly understand. We are likely to experience many more such surprises in the future.

Today, the threat of global warming is the most visible of all the threats facing us at this time, but by no means the only one. For many years, the economic/political establishment ignored the warnings from many environmental organizations and scientists in what only can be called a failure of global politics.

They continue to ignore other just as critical problems, and have no other solution than more consumption and more economic growth, which is like throwing gasoline onto the fire.

Need for a New Worldview Western civilization has held the Car-

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

not our very survival—threatened not only by climate change, but also by resource depletion, toxic pole and a rate of species extinction not seen in 65 million years. Powerful forces are driving our civilization ask ourselves if there is a common thread linking them. Instead, we tend to focus on one issue at a time, al conference.

ation. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research (the theory and practice of problem solving) and, for many years, worked in the business world,

tesian/Newtonian worldview for too long. The strategies of this paradigm, which seemed to work so well in a “new frontier” society work no longer in a “spaceship Earth” society. We have today a world where man is considered to be separate from nature and where loyalty stops at national borders. It is no wonder that a civilization has evolved that is based on the exploitation of nature and the weaker parts of human society. This has to end.

Our society is in need of a new worldview that does not see Nature simply as external resources to be exploited, separate from us, but rather sees the whole planet as a living entity. It is time we traded our hubris for a little humility and realized that we are an integral part of Nature, and all 7 billion of us have equal rights. It is time to put nationalist thinking behind and begin to think in terms of a single global society that is in desperate need of solutions that will work for everyone, regardless of the economic costs.

Political Paralysis Politicians have somewhat reluctantly agreed to discuss a binding agreement at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 but without much enthusiasm or conviction. Unfortunately, the outlook for success is bleak. Politicians seem less and less able to keep up with the demands of the people, who want less talk and more action. The impression is that leading politicians are talking around the climate problem, playing poker with our future, manoeuvring to see who is going to benefit most, or pay most of the costs instead of taking this threat seriously. It is fine and good to talk about technology transfer, an increase in the percentage of renewable energy used,

and voluntary quotas for reducing CO2, as are campaigns to encourage individual citizens to be more energy conscious, but alone, these things are not sufficient. If we do not establish a mechanism to control and reduce the absolute amount of CO2 released, then temperatures will continue to rise and an irreversible positive feedback mechanism set in.

Ross's grandson Christoffer with dolphin in Jamaica Unless we see some sign of leadership very soon, further increases or insufficient decreases in CO2 emissions are the most likely scenarios for the coming years.

There are several global crises looming on the horizon that must be decisively dealt with at the planetary level besides global warming—unsustainable economic growth, over-consumption— which is threatening to collapse the whole ecosystem—population control,

peak oil, GMOs, pollution, water rights, an alarming decline in biodiversity and not least, rapid species extinction, all of which are consequences of an unsustainable life style and a lack of effective global governance. What, if anything, does the current political leadership intend to do, besides trying to put out fires?

COP 15 COP-15 is the first of these pressing issues to be dealt with by the reigning political/ economic establishment. It can be seen as a test of the viability of the current structure, which is more and more looking inadequate to the task.

Unfortunately, their approach to global warming is beginning to resemble the approach taken by these same people to debt reduction in the developing countries, the Doha round negotiations in the WTO, and reform of the global financial casino, namely a lot of talk, a lot of good intentions, and a lot of delay, followed by a declaration of success and a failure to follow up on commitments.

If COP-15 results in this same pattern, the world’s people—especially the young, will be very unhappy. They want to see action—NOW. If the international political system that we now rely on to deal with global problems fails to deliver at COP-15, then I think the time has come for civil society to debate seriously whether the world needs a level of global governance above the level of national politics and how this can come about. We are getting to the point where global politics is too important for national politicians, and radical new thinking is required if our civilisation is to survive, let alone thrive.

If there are any statesmen left on the international scene, please step forward.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Nine Planetary Boundaries Af Jørgen Steen Nielsen, Information

There are Limits to Growth - Now we have to find them.

In a major project, 28 outstanding researchers have attempted to define the limits of how far humans can go in affecting the natural planetary systems. For three of the nine critical systems, they think the limits have already been passed. The good news: humanity can still evolve and thrive in numerous generations, provided that we define and respect the ”planetary boundaries” within which development can take place sustainably.

I

n a major project, 28 outstanding researchers have attempted to define the limits of how far humans can go in affecting the natural planetary systems. For three of the nine critical systems, they think the limits have already been passed. The good news: humanity can still evolve and thrive in numerous generations, provided that we define and respect the ”planetary boundaries” within which development can take place sustainably.

As a first step, the research team has made the first estimates of how close

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we are to transgressing the limits to sustainability in a series of areas. »The pressure of humanity on the planetary system has reached a level where sudden and violent global changes of the environment cannot be excluded”, says Professor Johan Rockström, leader of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at the University of Stockholm.

According to the project, the thresholds of planetary systems have already been passed in three areas. The team of researchers has been drawn from NASA Goddard Institute, Potsdam Institute for

Climate Impact Research, University of Stockholm, Australian National University, Max Planck Institute, University of Oxford, University of Alaska (Fairbanks) and the University fo Copenhagen. Their report has recently been published in the prestigious magazine Nature, supplemented by a 36 page article on project’ website.

9 areas of reseach From Copenhagen University, Katherine Richardson, ( also chair/head of the Climate Commission of the Danish Govern-

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

Table of the nine planetary boundaries Earth System process Climate change

Ocean acidification

Stratospheric ozone depletion

Atmospheric aerosol loading

Control variable

Threshold avoided or influenced by slow variable Atmospheric CO2 Loss of polar ice concentration, ppm; sheets. Regional Energy imbalance at climate disrupEarth’s surface, W tions. Loss of glacial m-2. freshwater supplies.

Weakening of carbon sinks.

Carbonate ion concen- Conversion of coral tration, average global reefs to algaldominatsurface ocean satura- ed systems. Regional tion state with respect elimination of some to aragonite (Ωarag). aragonite- and highmagnesium calciteforming marine biota Slow variable affecting marine carbon sink.

Stratospheric O3 con- Severe and irreverscentration, DU. ible UV-B radiation effects on human health and ecosystems.

Overall particulate concentration in the atmosphere, on a regional basis.

Nitrogen and phosphorus inputs P: inflow of phosphoto the biosphere and oceans rus to ocean, increase compared to natural background weathering N: amount of N2 removed from atmosphere for human use, Mt N yr-1

Global freshwater use

Consumptive blue water use, km3 yr-1.

Land system change

Percentage of global land cover converted to cropland.

Planetary boundary (zone of uncertainty) Atmospheric CO2 concentration: 350 ppm (350-550 ppm) Energy imbalance:+1 W m-2 (+1.0 – +1.5 W m-2).

State of knowledge

Sustain ≥ 80 % of the preindustrial aragonite saturation state of mean surface ocean, including natural diel and seasonal variability (≥80 % - ≥70 %).

1. Geophysical processes well-known.

2. Threshold likely.

3. Boundary position uncertain due to unclear ecosystem response.

1. Ample scientific evidence. 2. Multiple sub-system thresholds. 3. Debate on position of boundary.

<5% reduction from 1. Ample scienpreindustrial level of tific evidence. 2. T 290 DU (5 - 10 %). hreshold well established. 3. Boundary position implicitly agreed and respected.

Disruption of monTo be determined 1. Ample scientific soon systems. evidence. 2. Global Human health effects. threshold behaviour Interacts with climate unknown. 3. Unable change and freshwato suggest boundary ter boundaries. yet.

P: avoid a major P: < 10× (10× P: (1) Limited oceanic anoxic event - 100×) N: Limit knowledge on eco(including regional), industrial and agrisystem responses; with impacts on cultural fixation of (2) High probability marine ecosystems. N2 to 35 Mt N yr-1, of threshold but timN: slow variable which is ~ 25% of ing is very unceraffecting overall resil- the total amount of tain; (3) Boundary ience of ecosystems N2 fixed per annum position highly via acidification of naturally by terres- uncertain. N: (1) terrestrial ecosystems trial ecosystems (25- Some ecosystem and eutrophication of 35%) responses known; coastal and freshwa(2) Acts as a slow ter systems. variable, existence of global thresholds unknown; (3) Boundary position highly uncertain.

Could affect regional < 4,000 km3 yr-1 1. Scientific eviclimate patterns (e.g., (4,000 - 6,000 km3 dence of ecosystem monsoon behavyr-1) response but incomiour). Primarily slow plete and fragmentvariable affecting ed. 2. Slow variable, moisture feedback, regional or subbiomass production, system thresholds carbon uptake by terexist. 3.. Proposed restrial systems and boundary value is reducing biodiversity a global aggregate, spatial distribution determines regional thresholds.

Trigger of irrevers≤ 15% of global 1. Ample scienible & widespread ice-free land surface tific evidence of conversion of biomes converted to cropland impacts of land to undesired states. (15 – 20%). cover change on Primarily acts as a ecosystems, largely slow variable affecting local and regional. carbon storage and 2. Slow variable, resilience via changes global threshold in biodiversity and unlikely but regional landscape heterogethresholds likely. 3. neity.

Boundary is a global aggregate with high uncertainty, regional distribution of land system change is critical.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness" Biodiversity loss

Chemical pollution

Extinction rate , extinc- Slow variable affect- < 10 E/MSY (10 – tions per million spe- ing ecosystem func- 100 E/MSY) cies per year (E/MSY). tioning at continental and ocean basin scales. Impact on many other boundaries – C storage, freshwater, N and P cycles, land systems.

Massive loss of biodiversity unacceptable for ethical reasons.

Thresholds leading to To be determined For example, emissions, concentrations, unacceptable impacts on human health and or effects on ecosystem and Earth system ecosystem functioning functioning of persis- possible but largely tent organic pollutants unknown. May act as (POPs), plastics, endo- a slow variable undercrine disruptors, heavy mining resilience and increase risk of crossmetals, and nuclear ing other threshold. wastet.

ment), says: “ Together we defined nine areas, which will be researched separate and together.

We regret to have to say that three of the boundaries have alreqdy been transgressed. This is true for the amount of nitrogen in biological circulation, the destruction of biodiversity and the more general climate changes.” Furthermore, the researchers’ analyses point to four additional areas where limits are close to being transgressed: global freshwater use, global land use, acidification of the oceans and phosphorus in the biosphere and oceans.

She adds: “But this does not mean that we cannot recover. In the same way that you can improve your health by stopping smoking, you may transgress the limits of Earth in shorter periods without doing irreparable damage.

But the longer that humanity is on the wrong side of this threshold, the greater is the danger of permanent damage.”

Anthropocene Professor Will Steffen, co-leader for Global Environnemental Changes at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute of Australian National University says: “We are now entering the Anthropocene, a new geological era in which our activities are threatening the Earth´s capacity to regulate itself. We are beginning to push the planet out of its current stable Holocene state, the warm period that began about 10,000 years ago and during which agriculture and complex societies, including our own, have developed and flourished. The expanding human enterprise could undermine the resilience of the Holocene

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state, which would otherwise continue for thousands of years into the future.”

Researchers worry especially about the risk that planetary systems suddenly”tip”, i.e. transgress critical thresholds and change very abruptly.

“If these thresholds are transgressed, important subsystems, like the monsoon rains, can tip into a new balance, often with devastating consequences,” the article in Nature explains. Researchers recommend that the world tries to stabilize CO2 concentration at not more than 350 ppm (CO2 molecules per million air molecules). “Today, concentration is already 387 ppm - almost 40% above preindustrial levels It is not enough, according to the research project, to just stop the ongoing increase in emissions and concentration. The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has to actively be brought down in order to minimize the risk of climate tipping. “The 350 ppm limit has the goal of preserving the enormous icecaps at the poles” (Greenland and Antarctica), the scientists write.

Declining Biodiversity The Nature article notes that extinction of living species to ay seems to be happening at a speed 100-1000 times faster than what is the normal speed for extinction of species because of human practices such as industrial agriculture, urbanism and burning biomass, as the most important causes. Up to 30 % of all mammals, birds and reptiles will be threatened by extinction in this century.”

When species disappear, the stability of local or regional ecosystems can transgress a critical “tipping point”, but according the team of researchers it is very difficult to set a tolerable boundary

1. Incomplete knowledge on the role of biodiversity for ecosystem functioning across scales. 2. Thresholds likely at local and regional scales 3.

Boundary position highly uncertain.

1. Ample scientific evidence on individual chemicals but lacks an aggregate, global-level analysis.

2. Slow variable, large-scale thresholds unknown. 3.

Unable to suggest boundary yet.

for the extinction of species. Researchers mention a rate of extinction of 10 times the natural speed as a possible limit.

The global nitrogen system is being severely disturbed by industrial agriculture. “Human processes - especially the production of fertilizer for food production as well as cultivation of legumes - every year transform 120 million tons of inert nitrogen from the atmosphere into very reactive forms - more than the combined effect of all natural processes on land. A lot of this reactive nitrogen ends in the environment where it pollutes waterways and coastal waters, is stored in land systems and adds greenhouse gasses, such as nitrous oxide, to the atmosphere.” The research team estimates that the tolerable level of reactive nitrogen should probably be no more than one fourth of the present day level.

Complex Issues The ambition of the project of defining the boundaries of sustainability is further complicated in that the separate systems and their boundaries affect each other.

“For instance, major changes in the utilization of the land systems of the Amazon basin can affect the water resources as far away as Tibet. The boundaries of climate change depend on staying at the right side of the boundaries of fresh water, soils, particles, nitrogen, phosphorus, as well as ocean and stratospheric boundaries. This is complex, interdisciplinary research work, which is still in its early days, the team emphasizes.

However, “The evidence so far suggests that, as long as the thresholds are not crossed, humanity has the freedom to pursue long-term social and economic development,” the report concludes.

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

Rashmi’s poems No tears for the last Man Sitting alone in New York getting the message of his fathers death and not being able to get home for the funeral Rashmi wrote this.

All things arise from the earth.

They are nourished by the Earth They live in the womb of the Earth.

And all things return to the Earth.

Nothing is more sacred than Nature Nothing is more pure than Nature.

Those who befoul Nature are its enemies.

They are criminal.

They prepare their own necropolis.

Because, when all human drama is over, Nature will speak the last word.

And there will be no one to shed tears for The last man 2 March 1996

Rashmi Mayur from the IISF (International Institute for Sustainable Future), collaborated with GEN 1995-2003.

He wrote the poen of immortality at the first session of the Gaia Education Meeting 1998 at Fjordvang, Thy

Of Learning and Immortality Then they asked: Master what is education?

The wise man spoke silently, “There is no master and no education, my people” People were bemused Master continued, “Life is an opportunity to realize ourselves.

We are creatures of learning.

To learn is to be creative.

To learn is to know the root of our existence.

To learn is to preserve Our sacred Earth.

To learn is to live in harmony with the whole.

To learn is to give birth to the future.

To learn is to reach enlightenment - Nirvana.

To learn is to be liberated from the finiteness of Space and Time To learn is to be immortal”.

Master was no more.

Sep 6 1998

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Declining Global Population is an Insurance Policy!

Interview with Sven Burmester by Hildur Jackson

Sven Burmester was vice president of the World Bank under Robert McNamara with a special interest in population control. On his card he calls himself author and explorer, as he has written several books and as he has lived in and speaks the languages of China, Egypt, the USA and Denmark, where he grew up. He has a deep understanding of the Chinese and Muslem cultures Q: Why is reduction of population not being discussed as part of the climate discussion?

“I do not know. Could have to do with the Catholic Church. And from a point of view that technology will suffice.

Q: China and Vietnam have had a policy? Are there other countries that have? What do you think about that?

The most important political measure ever taken on this planet is China’s population strategy. China could have

W

e meet in Vartov, in the center of Copenhagen where Grundtvig, famous Danish author and founder of the Danish Folkhighschool stands in marble in the courtyard. Sven will be speaking in an hour about Confucius and the Chinese miracle.

I start asking him what is the carrying capacity of Earth as far concerns Humans?

Sven: In my lifespan the global population went from 2,2 billion to 6,8 billion. In Denmark from 3,7 mill. to 5,4mill. Tell me one thing which has improved? Not to speak about the global situation. 3 billion live for under $2 a day. One billion is starving. FAO, (Food and Agriculture organisation of the UN) at one time estimated that one billion could reach the development level of the developed world (this was when we were 5 billion people). One billion would be the carrying capacity and the projections are 9 billion. Quite a difference!

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been 800 million more people now. In China a generation ago there were 4 persons to take care of the grandparents. Now there is one person. So we must ask: Is that person 4 times more productive now?

The answer is: yes. Is this person willing to pay? This is a political taxing problem. Chinese pay 20% in taxes. We pay 50% in Denmark- in the least. In the US it is 38 %. I used to say to the Chinese: the US is twice as socialistic as China. There

To

http://upload

Population Groth, Source: Worldmapper 10000 5000

World Asia

2000 1000 500

Europe Latin America

Africa

Northern America

200 100

Techni • Princ 200 • Birth • See w

50

Oceania

20 10 1950

“T

www

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

2030

2040

2050

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" is a huge potential in China to solve the problems of the elderly. The more we are, the worse it gets.

China, Vietnam and Korea have reached stability. In slightly different ways. China has had a one child policy. Vietnam has done better with a two children policy. This policy has then been modified by late marriage at 28 years and spacing between children with 5-6 years between.

Populations are declining in Japan and Europe. Politicians complain. Japan is worse off with an aging population. Politicians should instead celebrate and be happy. It is wonderful.

We will be fewer people!! Productivity will take care of the problems. Take the case of the metro in Copenhagen.

There are no people to run it. This is a fantastic example of productivity.

Today 3% of the population living in the countryside produces 19 times as

much as 50% of the population produced when I was young.

Russia and Italy are seeing a reduction of population for different reasons. Italy is fascinating as it is the home of the Catholic Church. I do not know about Russia.

Q; How do we create a global just reduction? What are the policies needed?

Populations start declining when people get rich. Women want educations and work. They want fewer children. In the rich countries we have no problems.

It will take care of itself. Hitler awarded prices for many children. We should award prices for few children. In the poor countries it is more difficult; before they get rich enough, they will be too many people and ruin the planet. They have to get up to something similar to our standard, so their population policy has to be different. So you cannot make a just

solution in the poor countries. If we are so concerned, we can import people.

Q: Fertility problems due to pollution, GMO, endocrine disrupters (phthalates) and reduced quality of semen may reduce population the hard way?

That may be, but we cannot manage with 50 billion. I am very interested in insurance policies. Your house may not burn down but it is smart to buy an insurance policy. The planet may not be ruined but it is prudent to have an insurance policy: declining population.

Total Births

Produced by the SASI group (Sheffield) and Mark Newman (Michigan)

133 million babies were born in the year 2000. In territories with the fewest births per person, more people are dying than are being born. As with all population statistics, even this vital one, figures are rough estimates.

More children are born each year in Africa than are born in the Americas, all of Europe and Japan put together.

Worldwide, more than a third of a million new people will be born on your birthday this year.

This map shows the proportion of the world’s total births for each territory.

births per 1000 people per year

“The birth of a baby is an occasion for weaving hopeful dreams about the future.” www.worldmapper.org

REGIONAL BIRTH RATES

50

10 5

Japan

15

North America

Western Europe

20

South America

25

Eastern Europe

30

Middle East

35

Asia Pacific

40

Eastern Asia

45

Northern Africa

Value 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 8

Central Africa

Territory Germany Italy Lithuania Belarus Russian Federation Czech Republic Ukraine Slovenia Latvia Bulgaria

Southeastern Africa

Technical notes • Principal data source: World Health Organisation, 2005,World Health Report • Birth data is from 2000.

• See website for further information.

Rank 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200

births per thousand people per year

Land area

Territory Value Niger 52 Angola 50 Guinea-Bissau 49 Somalia 49 Democratic Republic of Congo 48 Uganda 48 Mali 47 Sierra Leone 47 Burkina Faso 46 Chad 46

Southern Asia

HIGHEST AND LOWEST BIRTH RATES Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0

Aung San Suu Kyi, 1997 Map 003

© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan)

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

II. Attempts at Partial Solutions

By Hildur Jackson

O

ur political leaders are torn between the demands of the growth economy (supporting the survival of the “business as usual sector”) and serving the people who have chosen them.

They often end up listening too much to business and financial institutions.. So a strong pressure from civil society, NGO’s and the professional world is necessary for them to take relevant action. This pressure is building up as more and more groups come up with ideas and proposals of how things can be changed

In recent years, different sectors globally, regionally and locally have started cooperating in taking responsibility for the global situation. Prestigious Institutes meet to define a more holistic concept than climate change to define and make sure we keep inside Planetary Boundaries. Danish Engineers have worked with engineers from 11 countries to find ways to curb Global Warming. Scientists got the Nobel prize for their wake-up call in the IPPC, the UN Climate Panel.

A Manifesto on how ecological farming all over can contribute to reduce co2 emissios should be part of the agenda. Erik Rasmussen from Monday Morning together with Connie Hedegård, have summoned Global Business/Industry to see what they can come up with/what are their needs. Sustainable communities around the world demonstrate that they can cooperate and teach sustainability while they are actually living a lifestyle which less than half the CO2 emissions. The Climate Forum is working on an NGO WHITEPAPER, which all NGO's (civil society) will hopefully be able to sign at the Climate Meeting.The State of the World Forum is taking on leadership by continuing the process of finding a solution where every sector is listened to and reaching a higher level. 30 Faith leaders will meet during the conference and draft a declaration which will be presented to the Climate Meeting. All this will hopefully put maximum pressure on the official meeting so they get the courage to do what is needed.

All the Trainers of the EDE, Ecovillage Design Education, together at a meeting at Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand Photo:Hildur Jackson

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

The Threat Matrix

By Albert Bates, The Farm Ecovillage, Tennesy, USA

Albert Bates wrote “Climate in Crisis" in 1990 and was one of the founders of GEN, (The Global Ecovillage Network) building networks in the Americas in the 1990's. He has built the Ecovillage Training Center at the Farm Ecovillage in Tennessee, USA.

Pollination of rice falls from 100 percent at 34°C to near zero at 40°C. Corn and wheat lose ten percent of their yields for every degree of temperature above 35°C.

W

hen the delegates meet for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, they will set the course in our response to the climate crisis from now until mid-century. Given what we know is already the warming pipeline, irrespective of emissions changes, what will the temperature be like in mid-century?

In the Canadian Pacific, one out of five rivers will be too hot for salmon, steelhead, and trout. Annual wildfires will have doubled in Australia, Southern Europe, and Brazil.

Tree swallows will be nesting weeks earlier than they do today, and a northward shift of red fox habitat will have invaded the Arctic fox’s range. Two thirds of the polar bear population will be gone.

Over 600 million coastal dwellers will have been forced to move inland to escape rising tides and more violent storms. In Africa, India and Southeast Asia, monsoon changes will bring conditions similar to those of the American Dust Bowl era of the 1930s.

In the Himalayas and on the TibetQinghai Plateau, where the major rivers of India and China will no longer have the benefit of melting glaciers—because there will be no glaciers—there will be no water to sustain agriculture or the population of cities during the dry seasons. Eighty percent of South American glaciers will be gone by 2020, threatening the agricultural security of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

All of this, and much more, will occur from an average warming of about 2 degrees Reseach of tempeture rising A longitudinal study released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Woods Hole Marine Laboratory and others in 2009 examined all of the major current climate predictive models and concluded that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2007 report was already seriously out of date.

Newer, more advanced computer projections place median surface warming in the 2090 decade at 5.2°C compared to 2.4°C in the IPCC report. After 400 runs of the comprehensive model, there is a 90% probability range of 3.5 to 7.4 degrees of warming in this century.

Of course, if two degrees of warming has unacceptable consequences, the consequences of a 5.2° rise or a 7.4° rise in a single century is unimaginably

catastrophic. If a rise of 0.9 degrees in the past 100 years has led to widespread amphibian extinctions, poleward isotherm migration of hundreds of miles, super-hurricanes and historic droughts, what will a 50-million-year rise in 100 years mean? Worse, what temperatures will follow in later centuries?

Tipping points “Tipping points” are points in the functioning of a system (including the system of all life on Earth) where small change can result in large effects. Up to a tipping point, changes in the system have little or no effect until a critical mass is reached. At that point, a further small change can ‘tip’ the system into a significantly different way of functioning.

Examples 1. Melt enough ice and you are no longer sending meltwater into the ocean but whole glaciers; 2. Pump enough CO2 into the atmosphere and it can reach a “point” where the last part per million of gas has an effect similar to the last 100th degree Celsius that turns a pot of water into billowing steam, the result is frequent typhoons, tornadoes and violent storms; 3. Warm the ocean enough and toxic gas begins to “burp” at the surface from melting clathrates in the ocean sediments (and this is already being observed off the coast of Norway).

Ocean circulation Recently a panel of the US National Academy of Sciences employed ‘‘degenerate fingerprinting’’ to forecast the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation under a 4-fold linear increase of atmospheric CO2 over 50,000 years. A gradual decline in ocean circulation is observed for ne-

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness" diversity. Arctic sea-ice disappears. Droughts spread through the sub-tropics, accompanied by heatwaves and intense wildfires. Worst-hit are the Mediterranean, the southwest United States, southern Africa and Australia.

arly 40,000 years, but then, suddenly, a “tipping point” is reached and the circulation collapses without warning.

Cessation of circulation on this scale would cause greatly magnified warming close to the equator while freezing and re-glaciating the eastern coast of North America and much of Western Europe.

The “pile-up” effect as the conveyor slows would back up into the Indian and Pacific oceans. All oceans would diminish their capacity to gather and store heat, creating a much larger seasonal and decadal temperature variation at Earth’s surface.

"Six degrees" In his book, Six Degrees, Mark Lynas describes the path ahead in these terms:

Less than 2C Tropical coral reefs suffer severe and repeated bleaching episodes due to hotter ocean waters, killing off most coral and delivering a hammer blow to marine bio-

2C-3C Summer heatwaves such as that in Europe in 2003, which killed 30,000 people, become annual events. Extreme heat sees temperatures reaching the low 40s Celsius in southern England.

Amazon rainforest crosses a “tipping point” where extreme heat and lower rainfall makes the forest unviable – much of it burns and is replaced by desert and savannah. Dissolved CO2 turns the oceans increasingly acidic, destroying remaining coral reefs and wiping out many species of plankton which are the basis of the marine food chain.

3C-4C Global food production is under threat as key breadbaskets in Europe, Asia and the United States suffer from glacial melt, drought, and heatwaves that outstrip the tolerance of crops. Oceanic changes alter weather patterns and lead to higher than average sea level rise in the eastern US and UK. 4C-5C Much human habitation in southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and other sub-tropical areas is rendered unviable due to excessive heat and drought. The focus of civilization moves towards the poles, where temperatures remain cool enough for crops, and rainfall – albeit with severe floods – persists. All sea ice is gone from both poles; mountain glaciers are gone from the Andes, Alps and Rockies. Massive releases of methane – a potent greenhouse gas – come from melting Siberian permafrost, further boosting global warming.

5C-6C

All pictures from the homepage of the Farm, showing different aspects of communal life at the Farm

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" liability over the long time periods in which consistent and sustained effort will be needed.

“Age of Climatocracy” The report’s authors characterize the process now being witnessed as the “Age of Climatocracy,” in which early success in negotiations nonetheless fails to lead to a sustainable deal and a “Multilateral Zombie,” in which an early breakdown in international co-operation is followed by the eventual emergence of a new order based on a patchwork of bottom up solutions, such as voluntary carbon trading.

Global average temperatures are now hotter than for 50 million years. The Arctic region sees temperatures rise much higher than average – up to 20C – meaning the entire Arctic is now ice-free all year round. Most of the topics, subtropics and even lower mid-latitudes are too hot to be inhabitable. Sea level rise is now sufficiently rapid that coastal cities across the world are largely abandoned.

6C and above Danger of “runaway warming,” perhaps spurred by release of oceanic methane hydrates. Could the surface of the Earth become like Venus, entirely uninhabitable? Most sea life is dead. Human refuges now confined entirely to highland areas and the polar regions. Human population is drastically reduced. Perhaps 90% of species become extinct, rivaling the worst mass extinctions in the Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history.

measure, and whether it would work, is not known.

Social Architectural Failure At the launch of the Stern Review, Sir Nicholas Stern described climate change as “the greatest market failure the world has seen.” It is also the greatest leadership failure in the history of human civilization. A 2009 study by the United Nations University Center on International Cooperation of the institutions that have been tasked with confronting the dilemma we face has concluded that they are completely inadequate to the task. UN policymaking architecture is a wishful but unrealizable process of multilateral consensus, one that is all too often characterized by incoherent goals, fragmented implementation, and unre-

What is the power of 7 billion This is not to say that a patchwork of bottom up solutions might not be precisely what is required to bypass the impasse that governments, media, and academia have erected to prevent concerted action. Mohandas Gandhi rallied the greater population of India by walking to the sea and picking up a handful of salt, and by training his hands to spin cloth from cotton and silk. Permaculturist Geoff Lawton re-greened the desert in Jordan by building swales and planting trees.

We know the power of one. What is the power of 7 billion, driven by a cultural, ethical, and spiritual impulse?

If the will to survive is still there, there is yet hope. As this book demonstrates, even now, at the threshold of our 50-millon-year century, there is yet hope.

Extinction Threat With our own extinction threatened, policymakers have been grasping at monumentally expensive straws like solar radiation management (such as mirrors in space or sulfur injections to make clouds) and geoengineering (such as vacuuming carbon from the atmosphere or fertilizing the oceans for plankton).

The consensus of climate scientists, as expressed at recent international conferences, is that whether geoengineering can even be considered as an emergency

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Can we Curb Global Warming ?

By Søren Skibstrup Eriksen, The Danish Society of Engineers (IDA)

“Yes, we can - It is possible to bring about dramatic reductions in greenhouse emissions using technologies that already exist!” This was the outcome of the Future Climate Conference held in Copenhagen on the 3rd and 4th of September 2009 arranged by IDA. During the Conference, Engineers Associations from 10 countries presented the results of their work in the Future Climate Project. The participating associations have been developing national climate plans and technology forecasts. The plans and forecasts demonstrate how greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced substantially.

T

he findings from the project demonstrates that we are still able to take the pressure off global warming up to 2050 and thereby keep the rise in global temperature below two degrees centigrade. We know which technologies to use to achieve this goal, many of which are already on the market.

A Climate Plan for Denmark, IDA As part of the Future Climate project members of the Danish Society of Engineers have made a National Climate Plan for Denmark.

The IDA Climate Plan 2050 is a holistic message on the way in which the Danish climate gas emissions can be reduced by 90 % by 2050 while also improving Denmark’s self-sufficiency, economy and developing Danish trade and industry.

At IDA, we take it for granted that we, the inhabitants of the well-to-do OECD countries, cannot in the long-run sustain greater greenhouse gas emissions per inhabitant than inhabitants of other parts of the world. Since Denmark’s greenhouse gas emissions are approximately double those of the average world citizen, this means that we as a country must undertake a substantial reduction commitment. The IDA Climate Plan 2050 has therefore aimed to show that it is technologically and economically possible to reduce greenhouse gases emissions in Denmark by 90 %. This corresponds to each Dane contributing no more than around 1.3 tonnes CO2 equivalents by 2050.

A Danish Climate Plan based solely upon renewable energy Wind turbines and biomass constitute the backbone of The IDA Climate Plan

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2050 that is based solely upon renewable energy. In 2050, Danish greenhouse gas emissions will originate largely from agricultural production and the emissions that are linked with the Danish people’s food consumption. In The IDA Climate Plan 2050, 60-65 % of the electricity production is based on wind

About the Future Climate project,wwwfutureclimate: Future Climate – Engineering Solutions is an international project for now 13 Engineering Associations.

The objective of the Project is to demonstrate sustainable energy technologies and solutions that can contribute toward a scenario where the global temperature will not increase by more than two degrees centigrade.

More information on the project can be found at: www.futureclimate.info power. The majority of the combined heat and power production is based on biomass and waste and thus constitutes the stabilising element of an otherwise fluctuating energy production.

The remaining electricity and combi-

ned heat and power production are based on solar cells, wave power, geo-thermics and solar heat. Such a comprehensive development of renewable energy sources requires the initiation of a number of consecutive initiatives.

It will be necessary to increase research and development within the critical technologies. It is particularly important to also provide necessary opportunities to test and demonstrate the technologies and to establish innovation markets and feed-in tariffs that can support a market characteristic following the new technologies. In the windmill area, it is also important to draw up a longterm development plan for off-shore and on-shore wind turbines as soon as possible.

Energy consumption in buildings The IDA Climate Plan 2050 also looks at the energy consumption in buildings and homes being markedly reduced in the forthcoming years, and at making the mass housing CO2 neutral through a combination of energy savings, the integration of renewable energy and the development of district heating based on renewable energy. The energy consumption in buildings and homes currently constitutes more than 40 % of the total Danish energy consumption. Denmark currently has the world’s most stringent energy requirements for buildings, but it will still be necessary to sharpen those requirements.

Passive Housing The first houses that do not use energy have already been constructed, and it is recommended that requirements be introduced at this early stage into the building regulations stating that

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" houses erected after 2020 must be erected in accordance with the Zero Emission Housing standard. However, the greatest savings potential is in the existing housing, and even by 2050, the majority of the housing will consist of homes that were erected before 2009.

The Climate Plan looks at a substantial reduction in energy consumption through continuous renovation up to 2020 and at bringing 75 % of the poorest insulated structures up to the current building regulation requirements. In 2030 the energy consumption in buildings will be halved compared to the present level due to further reductions.

Many energy savings are privately financially profitable and in order to support renovation of private buildings it will be necessary to prepare a long-term plan for increasing energy efficiency and for state funds to be earmarked that will speed up energy savings in private residences and in non-profit residential buildings.

It is essential to discuss which financial initiatives will be implemented and to consider whether funds from the National Building Fund should be used within the non-profit sector. It is at the same time necessary to fortify research and development in new energy saving materials and to further improve directions and guidelines for workmen and private persons, and to establish overall better information in the field.

Energy savings are a major tool The IDA Climate Plan 2050 for Denmark emphasises cost-effective solutions, which mean that energy streamlining and more efficient utilisation of nature’s resources constitute a cornerstone of the plan. All in all, the plan looks at the Danish energy consumption being reduced by 50% in 2050.

This conclusion do the Danes have

in common with the participants in the international project. One of the main points in the report issued by the Future Climate Project is that a large proportion of the reductions could be reaped through energy savings. The majority of the organisations, therefore, expect to be able to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses at a national level by up to 50 percent - solely through energy efficiency improvements within areas such as manufacturing, industry, construction and transportation.

Future climate engineering solutions Overcoming climate change is a major challenge for the global society, and the foremost engineering challenge of the 21st century. There is crucial need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in order to keep the rise in temperature below two degrees Celsius.

The engineers agree that energy efficiency improvement is the area where we can get the most value for money.

Energy savings should therefore be in-

cluded as a central element of every effort to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses.

As the next step after energy saving technology is key. A number of construction, heating and power technologies are commercially available to make new buildings net-zero GHG emitters and significantly reduce the carbon emissions from existing building stock, in both cases with economic benefits. This includes inter alia heat pumps, solar power, district heating, efficient electrical appliances, pumps and lighting, and an improved building envelope. In the mid to long term buildings can become power generators and an integrated part of the electricity grid through the introduction of improved photovoltaics.

The Future Climate project has demonstrated that, with available and known technologies, it is possible to make substantial GHG reductions in the near and the long term to meet the project target of an average global temperature rise below 2˚C – the”<2˚C target”

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

The human dimension – a sustainable ap

By Jan Gehl and Birgitte Bundesen Svarre

For decades the human dimension has been an overlooked and haphazardly addressed urban planning topic. A common feature of almost all cities is that the people who use city space in great numbers have been increasingly poorly treated. Limited space, obstacles, noise, pollution, risk of accident and generally disgraceful conditions are typical for city dwellers in most of the world’s cities – regardless of global location, economic viability and stage of development. This turn of events has not only reduced the opportunities for pedestrianism as a form of transport, but also placed the social and cultural functions of city space under siege. Fortunately, several cities realize the value of putting humans first in order to create more lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities.

F

or decades the human dimension has been an overlooked and haphazardly addressed urban planning topic. A common feature of almost all cities is that the people who use city space in great numbers have been increasingly poorly treated. Limited space, obstacles, noise, pollution, risk of accident and generally disgraceful conditions are typical for city dwellers in most of the world’s cities – regardless of global location, economic viability and stage of development. This turn of events has not only reduced the opportunities for pedestrianism as a form of transport, but also placed the social and cultural functions of city space under siege. Fortunately, several cities realize the value of putting humans first in order to create more lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities.

The human dimension – a necessary new planning dimension After years of neglect of the human dimension, here at the beginning of the 21st century we have an urgent need and growing willingness to once again create cities for people. New global challenges underscore the importance of far more targeted concern for the human dimension. Planning with a human dimension demands focuses on the needs of the people who use cities.

The vision of ensuring lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities has become a general and urgent desire. All these four objectives can be strengthened immeasurably by increasing the concern for pedestrians, cyclists and city life in general. A unified citywide political intervention to ensure that the residents of the city are invited to walk and bike

as much as possible in connection with their daily activities is a strong reinforcement of the objectives: lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities.

Cities must urge urban planners and architects to reinforce pedestrianism as an integrated city policy to develop lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities. It is equally urgent to strengthen the social function of city space as a meeting place that fulfils the aims of social sustainability and an open and democratic society.

Wanted: lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities The desire for a lively city is strengthened when more people are invited to walk, bike and stay in city space. A lively city has a number of positive side effects as a city with life also can contribute to a more safe, sustainable and healthy city.

The desire for a safe city is strengthened generally when more people move about and stay in city space. A city that invites people to walk must by definition have a reasonably cohesive structure that offers short walking distances, attractive courses of space and a variation of urban functions. These elements increase activity and the feeling of security in and around city spaces. There are more eyes along the street and a greater incentive to follow the events going on in the city from surrounding housing and buildings.

Left: Business-cycling in Copenhagen Rigth:Herald sq_NYC, Both Photos: Jan Gehl.

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le approach to city planning The sustainable city is strengthened generally if a large part of the people transport system can take place as green mobility, that is, travel by foot or bike.

These forms of transport provide marked benefits to the economy, resource consumption, the environment, and the need for good city space.

Another important sustainable aspect is that the attractiveness of public transport systems is boosted if users feel safe and comfortable walking or cycling to and from buses, light rail and train. Good public space and a good public transport system thus become two sides of the same coins.

We are seeing a rapid growth in public health problems because large segments of the workforce in many parts of the world have become sedentary, with cars providing door-to-door transport.

A whole-hearted invitation to walk and bike as a natural and integrated element of daily routines must be a non-negotiable part of a unified health policy. The desire for a healthy city is strengthened dramatically if walking or biking can be a natural part of the pattern of daily activities.

The city of Copenhagen as well as New York City have realized visions of a more human dimension in city planning by prioritizing bicyclists and pedestrians.

Better conditions for cyclists – more cyclists – case: Copenhagen The City of Copenhagen has been restructuring its street network for several decades, removing driving lanes and parking places in a deliberate process to create better and safer conditions for bicycle traffic. Year by year the inhabitants of the city have been invited to bike more.

The entire city is now served by an effective and convenient system of bike paths, separated by curbs from sidewalks and driving lanes. City intersections have bicycle crossings painted in blue and special traffic lights for bicycles that turn green six seconds before cars are allowed to move forward. Such initiatives make it considerably safer to cycle around the city.

In short a whole-hearted invitation has been extended to cyclists, and the results are reflected clearly in patterns of use.

Bicycle traffic has doubled in the period from 1995 to 2005, and in 2008 statistics showed that 37% of personal

transport to and from work and educational institutions was by bicycle. The goal is to increase this percentage considerably in the years to come.

As conditions for bicyclists improve, a new bicycle culture is emerging. Children and seniors, business people and students, parents with young children, MPs and mayors ride bicycles. Bicycling in the city has become the way to get around. It is faster and cheaper than other transport options and also good for the environment and personal health.

Interplay between city life and the quality of city space - case New York City Although pedestrian traffic has traditionally dominated the streets of Manhattan in New York City, it has been difficult to find a spot for sitting, watching, enjoying city life.

In 2007 an extensive program was launched to encourage greater versatility in city life. The idea was to provide better options for recreation and leisure as a supplement to the extensive purposeful pedestrian traffic. For example, on Broadway expanded sidewalks have provided room for café chairs and places to stay, while a number of new car-free areas with many opportunities to stay have been established at Madison Square, Herald Square and Times Square.

In all these cases the new opportunities were adopted at once. Almost day-by-day the new invitations have enriched city life and made it far more multifaceted. Even in New York City there is obviously a need for city space and great interest in participating more in city life now that there are more opportunities and solid invitations.

Cities by people and for people What is remarkable about the development in Copenhagen as well as in New York City is that it reflects a growing understanding that cities must be designed to invite pedestrian traffic and city life. These cities want people to walk in city space, they recognize the importance of pedestrian traffic and bicyclists for sustainability and health in society, and they acknowledge the importance of city space and city life as an attractive, informal and democratic meeting place for their residents in the 21st century.

Planning with human beings as the point of departure – and not the number of cars, the number of square meters or technical specifications of different transport systems – can create more sustainable cities, environmentally as well as economically and socially.

Four goals – one policy Concern for the human dimension of city planning reflects a distinct and strong demand for better urban quality. There are direct connections between improvements for people in city space and the strong desire for lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities.

In developing countries, the plight of the human dimension is considerably more complex and serious. Most of the population is forced to use city space intensively for many daily activities. Traditionally city space has worked reasonably well for these uses, but when car traffic, for example, grows precipitously, the competition for city space intensifies.

The conditions for urban life and pedestrians have become less and less dignified year by year.

Compared with other social investments – particularly healthcare costs and the car traffic infrastructure – the cost of including the human dimension is so modest that investments in this area will be possible for cities in all parts of the world regardless of development status and financial capability.

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The Copenhagen Call From Homepage of Monday Morning, edited by Erik Rasmussen and put together by Troels Dilling-Hansen

The results of the World Business Summit on Climate Change, mai 24.-26.th 2009 will be presented to the Danish government, host of COP15, and to world leaders negotiating the terms of the next international climate treaty.

Global business leaders assembled in Copenhagen at the World Business Summit on Climate Change issued „The Copenhagen Call,” a powerful and concise statement that sets out the elements business believes are required to forge an effective new global climate treaty.

”We, the politicians of the world, have a responsibility to reach a truly global climate change agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009. But it is the business society that can deliver the tools to turn our vision into reality. Businesses can provide the clever solutions to make it possible to live in a both modern and sustainable society.”

Connie Hedegaard, Minister of Climate and Energy, Denmark

G

lobal business leaders assembled in Copenhagen today called for ambitious, global action on climate change.

As the World Business Summit on Climate Change drew to a close, business

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announced that a new global climate treaty must set bold targets for emissions reductions by 2020 and 2050, limiting the global average rise in temperature to a maximum of 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. This requires immediate and substantial action leading to an abatement of around 17Gt versus business-as-usual by 2020, they said.

Emissions reduction at this scale will profoundly affect business but the “Call” states that business leaders stand ready to make those changes and support ambitious political decisions that support economic recovery and safeguard the planet.

This and further recommendations form the basis of “The Copenhagen Call” – a concise statement, which sets out the elements business believes are required for an effective new global climate treaty to be forged.

“The ambition of the

Copenhagen Call shows that business need not be a conservative voice on climate change. Many of the businesses represented at this significant event in the lead up to COP15 want brave decisions that will tackle this most wicked of problems,” says Tim Flannery, Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council.

Presented to the Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, the Copenhagen Call will be taken forward by them in to the last six months of negotiations before the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in December.

“Economic recovery and urgent action to tackle climate change are complementary – boosting the economy and jobs through investment in the new infrastructure needed to reduce emissions,” the Call further states.

Erik Rasmussen, Founder of the Copenhagen Climate Council, explains: “Reducing the emissions that until now have been so linked to our economic growth and betterment will be an enormous, unprecedented global challenge but will also provide significant opportunities for sustainable growth, green

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

jobs, development and innovation.”

In order to set a firm foundation for a sustainable economic future it is imperative that the following six steps are implemented: 1. Agreement on a science-based greenhouse gas stabilization path with 2020 and 2050 emissions reduction targets that will achieve it; 2. Effective measurement, reporting and verification of emissions performance by business; 3. Incentives for a dramatic increase in financing low emissions technologies; 4. Deployment of existing lowemissions technologies and the development of new ones; 5. Funds to make communities more resilient and able to adapt to the effects of climate change, and 6. Means to finance forest protection.

Presented by the Copenhagen Climate Council, the Copenhagen Call was informed by discussion with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development; 3C; the World Economic Forum; the UN Global Compact and The Climate Group, and deliberations among partici-

"I believe in our resourcefulness and in our capacity to come up with workable solutions to the problems we have ourselves created.

Necessity is the mother of all invention."

- Sir Richard Branson, Member of the Copenhagen Climate Council

pants at the World Business Summit on Climate Change May 24-26 2009.

Comment at the web by Aladar Stilmar, July 18, 2009 A road map for a goal of reaching that the atmospheric carbon dioxide level dropped below 300 ppm (where historic record indicates to be for over 800 thousand years): • New electric power generating capacity can come online only nuclear after 2013 • The existing railroads to be converted to electricity before 2013 • The transportation of merchandize and goods to be done by train on the distances over 25 km from 2014 • Short distance transport of goods to be done by electricity driven trucks from 2014 • The coal burning power plant units to be replaced by nuclear starting from 2014 and phased out before 2030 • New coal burning power plant unit could be put in service in the future only after the atmospheric carbon dioxide level dropped below 300 ppm • The public transport is turned to electric before 2015 • The private transportation is sup-

plied with replaceable rechargeable electrical batteries and on the highways replacement batteries are available in new refueling station system for long distance travel from 2014 • Only electric cars are sold from 2015 That would work.

Comment at the web by Marcus Hoy, May 28, 2009 I have been trying to get more info on this "Copenhagen Call" from the organisers - so far without success. The final declaration states that "The views expressed here... do not necessarily reflect the views of all participants" but gives no more details.

So are we to surmise that consensus could not be reached on even what appears to be a very general text?

As far as I can tell, no businesses attending the conference made concrete commitments to reduce their individual energy consumption or carbon footprint.

Some of them but not all, have expressed support for certain political goals, as detailed in the final declaration.

Here the statement is delivered to Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and UNFCCC chief Yvo de Boer to take forward into the final six months of negotiations leading to COP15.

Photo credit: CopenhagenClimateCouncil/PeterSørensen ©

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

“Changing Direction: Restoring Moth

By Hanne Marstrand Strong, founder of the Manitou Foundation and Earth Restoration Corps

For thousands of years, humankind has been warned of impending disaster, one that threatens the very existence of life on earth. These warnings have come from prophets and people of various religious and indigenous traditions, many of which share similar scenarios on the fate of humankind. Human behavior, egoism and the focus on material gain have replaced moral and spiritual integrity and we are now witnessing the results.

Perhaps the gravest result is climate change. Why haven’t we listened to these warnings that have been given throughout history?

M

any years ago, I visited the Prophecy Rock of the Hopi Nation in Arizona. According to Hopi tradition, the symbols on this rock warn of the time when this life will either be destroyed or restored to a paradise, depending on our actions as caretakers.

In 1948 Hopi elders warned the world and later attended the Stockholm conference in 1972. In the early 1990’s,the Kogi people, who live in the mountains of Columbia, came out for the first time

Down: Earth Restoration Corps group.

Photo: Hanne Strong

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“We cannot look at the earth as a resource to be plundered, she is the source of all life”

Hanne Strong to communicate with the outside world.

They warned us all that we were killing the “great mother” earth.

Tibetan Prophecies In eighth century Tibet, the prophecies

of Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche as he is also known, warned that certain conditions will come to pass in our time because of man’s insatiable egoism and mans molesting the elements. He knew of climate changes to come. According to these prophecies, the celestial order is disrupted: • Plague, famine, and war begin to terrify terrestrial life; disorder turns to chaos, leading to panic which rages like a wildfire.

• No rain falls in season, and when it does, the valleys are flooded.

• Drought, frost, and hail govern many unproductive years.

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other Earth” • Earthquakes bring sudden floods while fire, storms, and tornadoes destroy cities in an instant.

• Impostors and frauds cheat the people; drunkards preach the path to salvation • The advice of sycophants is followed; loquacity and eloquence pass as wisdom; the butcher and murderer become leaders of men.

• Unscrupulous self-seekers rise to high position.

• Embodiments of malice and selfishness become revered teachers • Behavior that was previously anathema becomes tolerated • Ideals are established contrary to tradition; all good customs and habits are rejected and many disagreeable innovations corrupt the people; people will die of starvation even as there is food to eat • The food itself will become lifeless • And people will be bombarded with useless information that leads nowhere and distracted by meaningless pursuits.

• He also said that one of the few remedies for this time is to reforest the planet.

Jacques Cousteau In the early 1970’s, my husband and I often met with the late French oceanographer, Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau at that time was working on a study of the earth’s carrying capacity. He concluded that if everyone on the planet followed the wasteful lifestyles and consumption patterns developed in the West, the planet could support only 400 million people without ecological systems being damaged.

Our current population exceeds 6 billion. A particularly distressing fact is that many people around the world want to live like those in the West. This over-development is a recipe for selfdestruction. The western world must take the lead in setting a new example of simplicity and moderation.

Many later scholars and scientists such as Anne and Paul Ehrlich, Dennis Meadows Donella Meadows, Maurice Strong, Rene Dubois, Barbara Ward, Dr. James Hansen and Al Gore have also delivered alarming messages that we must change direction. Professor Schellen-

huber said that climate change could bring the population down to one billion people. The United Nations has reported that agricultural production could be cut in half.

“Global warming doesn’t ring our alarm bells” Why are we willing participants in our own demise? Nicholas Kristof, author and journalist, explains this very well in his 2009 New York Times Commentary Letters when he wrote about a recent study on peoples’ lack of capacity to deal with circumstances that they do not conceive as immediately threatening. He explains that the human brain has prepared us to deal with imminent danger but if it is a future threat it doesn’t activate our warning system. He writes that the most serious threats sneak under our brain’s radar and “global warming doesn’t ring our alarm bells”.

Stockholm 1972 The IPCC and IPY projections are way off, things are happening a lot faster than they are projecting. The global ecological and social crisis is real.

Thirty-seven years ago, the first global summit on the environment took place.

The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 brought environmental issues to the forefront with governments, intergovernmental agencies, NGO’s and the public participating.

Eighteen Western governments met secretly before every preparatory meeting to see how they could prevent any significant agreements from being made.

Although governments were well aware of the climate change issue it was purposely kept quiet. We all need to ask why we can spend trillions of dollars for wars and to bail out fat cats but we cannot afford to save the planet and its people?

Inaction equals mass murder.

Earth Summit Rio 1992 The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was attended, under the auspices of the United Nations, by the largest assemblage in history of presidents and heads of state as well as thousands of non-governmental, grassroots, and indigenous peoples’ organizations. The officially adopted 400-page document entitled “Agenda 21” did not mince words when it stated, in its Preamble, that: “Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. The world is confronted with worsening poverty, hunger, ill health,

illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well-being.”

Although the world’s leaders acknowledged that the pattern of unsustainable development was destroying the foundation of the natural world and threatening the future of cultures and civilizations, in the more than seventeen years since the summit, the promise of Agenda 21 is not being fulfilled. And the little that has been accomplished has not gone beyond so-called technological “quick fixes” and green wash, except for Fidel We are now witness to the environmental and cultural degradation around us. The most critical element or root cause of our current predicament is human behavior, the way we humans unconsciously think and act, consume and waste on this planet.

Castro who returned to Cuba from Rio and implemented most of it.

Personal and social transformation is a pre-condition for restoring our Earth After more than forty years of work in this field and witnessing the environmental and human consequences of unconscious behavior and development first-hand, I came to the conclusion that only through people across cultures and social backgrounds uniting and taking part in the daunting task of working to restore balance in ourselves can we begin to restore the planet. Personal and social transformation is a pre-condition for restoring our Earth. This involves a life-affirming choice of developing our moral and spiritual character.

Through this process of re-awakening, we are able to summon the gratitude, humility and compassion and in short, the peace of mind and heart necessary to re-connect with the timeless laws of nature. Only this can give us the strength and courage not only to do what is right but what is demanded of our generation.

Young people, women and indigenous peoples are key to this process Young people have the most to lose, namely, their futures. They can become the practical and moral agents for the enormous change of direction called for.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness" It is hopeful to know that many young people are engaged in this work already and the number of youth involved in changing our future is growing.

How will we facilitate this change and pay for this massive undertaking?

One way called for in Agenda 21 is reallocating resources now committed to the military. We need to re-orient our efforts toward the creation of new work opportunities in a new economy based on principles of sustainability, green livelihoods and restoration.

It is especially important to create meaningful employment for young Muslims in order to redirect their energy and give them hope. Visionary world leaders, including captains of the corporate world and international organizations who understand the problems we face need to come forward and help finance the restoration of the damaged ecosystems devastated by heedless behavior.

The training and hiring of young people is essential. Restoration is already a trillion dollar economy and growing fast.

There are already millions of jobs in the new restoration economy.

Humanity must re-establish harmony with the elements How can we from industrial and industrializing countries alike so unconsciously jeopardize what is so simple in terms of human survival - clean nutritious food, clean water, and clean air by actively participating in our own demise? We have alienated ourselves from the life-giving elements embodied in nature’s laws, which have sustained all life since the beginning of time.

Humanity must re-establish harmony with the elements of air, fire, water, earth, and space if we are to restore our planet.

We are molesting these essential life giving elements and diminishing their capacity that is in turn creating an imbalance causing changing weather patterns.

People at the grassroots level also have an obligation to take increasing responsibility for moving the process forward.

Right thinking, right action, and right livelihood on a global scale have to come together with great strength and commitment to turn the tide. This is what I call the ecological and spiritual revolution, upon which it is possible to instill the transformational and practical tools for the next generation to live more simply and create sustainable jobs/ livelihoods. Such a revolution will allow

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people to develop the qualities of personal humility, gratitude, respect, love, voluntary simplicity, and the compassion necessary to carry out the task at hand.

As part of this process, people need to participate in and support effective grassroots organizations and movements that will move us in a positive direction.

Governments, scholars and grass roots organizations alike have stated that the upcoming conference in Copenhagen on climate change, COP-15, is going to be a complete bust.

The US climate change bill is totally ineffective and there was complete inaction at the recent G8 Summit. There has been no substantial progress, only talk and more talk. Leaders and decision makers that could move the climate change agenda forward are not doing it. The issue of climate change needs grassroots people to take this on in full measure and demand change.

If humanity has a future, which is doubtful, these are some key points of the drastic changes we will have to embark on: 1. Every person must scale down on production, consumption and waste.

2. Emissions must be cut to below 350.

3. Every soldier from every army around the world needs to lay down their weapon and help to restore and reforest the planet utilizing C3 and C4 trees local to that environment.

4. An Immediate ban must be put in place to prevent the cutting of old growth trees around the globe.

5. A Ban must be placed on releasing the approximately 100,000 toxic chemicals into the atmosphere,

streams, rivers, soils and groundwater.

6. Human and animal waste needs to be captured and used as an energy source, replacing natural gas. Waste has to be kept away from our waters, soils and air.

7. All nuclear weapons must be destroyed.

8. People must turn to a mainly vegetarian diet.

9. Ocean dumping and over fishing must be banned.

10. Major soil restoration efforts must be made worldwide.

11. Sustainable technologies must be implemented worldwide.

12. Major support must be given to small-scale organic farmers.

These are just a few points, there are many more to mention. These points may seem unrealistic to some people but this is what it will take if we are to survive.

Unity We are living in increasingly critical and uncertain times. Yet we all share a common ground that can unite us if we so choose. It does not matter what philosophy or religion we embrace or what our social and cultural backgrounds are: no one is untouched by our environmental degradation, by human suffering, by global insecurity, and by the human behavior patterns responsible for the crisis.

Most Governments are not going to help.

It is up to each one of us to scale down our consumption and production patterns and develop the highest aspects of being human. Through our respective cultural and spiritual traditions, we can realize that we are part of a much greater whole.

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Manifesto on climate change and the future of food security

By The International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture

T

his manifesto is an agro-ecological response to challenge posed by climate change for ensuring the future of food security by mitigation, adaptation and equity, based on the following principles: 1. Industrial Globalised Agriculture Contributes to and is Vulnerable to Climate Change Industrial agriculture, based on chemicals, fossil fuels, and globalized food systems enabled by energy intensive and long distant transport, has a negative impact on climate. Industrial agriculture presently contributes at least one quarter of current greenhouse gas emissions. This dominant system, as promoted by the current economic paradigm, has accelerated climate instability and increased food insecurity. It also increases vulnerability because it is based on uniformity and monocultures, on centralized distribution systems, and dependance on intensive energy and water inputs.

2. Ecological and Organic Farming Contributes to Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change Agriculture is the only human activity based on photosyntesis and has a potential to be fully renewable. Ecological and organic farming mitigates climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon sequestration in plants and soil. Multifunctional, biodiverse farming systems and localised diversified food systems are essential for ensuring food security in an era of climate change. A rapid global transition to such systems is an imperative both for mitigating climate change and for ensuring food security.

3. Transition to Local, Sustainable food Systems Benefit the Environment and Public Health Economic globalization has led to a nutritional transition away from local, diverse, seasonal diets to industrially processed synthetic foods, which are leading to new food-related diseases and ill health.

Economic globalization policies increase the burden on the environment through resource and energy intensive consumption patterns. Localization, diversification, and seasonality are important for improving human well being, health, and nutrition.

A transition to local systems throughout the world will reduce food miles by shortening transport chains and reduce the “energy backpack” of

food in terms of packaging, refrigeration, storage, and processing.

4. Biodiversity Reduces Vulnerability and Increases Resilience Biodiversity is the basis of food security. Biodiversity is also the basis for ecological and organic farming because it provides alternatives to fossil fuel and chemical inputs. It also increases resilience to climate change by returning more carbon to the soil, improving the soil’s ability to withstand drought, floods, and erosion. Biodiversity is the only natural insurance for society’s future adaptation and evolution. Increasing genetic and cultural diversity in food systems, and maintaining this biodiversity in the commons are vital adaptation strategies responding to challenges of climate change.

5. Genetically Modified Seeds and Breeds: a False Solution and Dangerous Diversion Genetically modified crops are a false solution and a dangerous diversion from our task of mitigating climate change, running counter to providing sustainable food and energy and to conserving resources. GM food, fibre, and fuels aggravate all the shortcomings of industrial monoculture crops: more genetic uniformity and hence less resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses; and more demand for water and pesticides. They have been created on the basis of a discredited and obsolete genetic determinist paradigm and thus carry extra risks to health and the environment. They also lead to patent monopolies which not only undermine farmers’ rights but also impede the dedication of research on biodiversity for adaptation to climate change.

6. Industrial Agrofuels: A False Solution and New Threat to Food Security Food is the most basic of human needs and sustainable agriculture must be based on food first policies. Industrial agrofuels are non-sustainable and spread genetically modified organisms by stealth.

Agrofuel plantations are aggravating the problem of climate change by destroying and replacing rain forests with soy, palm oil, and sugar cane plantations. This has led to an unparalleled land grab of indigenous and rural communities.

Industrial agrofuels are responsible for perverse subsidies to non-sustainable agriculture which threaten the food rights of billions of people. To make matters worse, food prices are increasing due

to the rapid conversion from growing food crops to growing agrofuels.

Sustainable energy policies require decentralization combined with a general decrease in energy consumption, while maintaining food security as an overarching objective of food and agriculture systems.

7. Water Conservation is Central to Sustainable Agriculture Industrial agriculture has led to intensive water use and increased water pollution, reducing availability of fresh water. Drought and water scarcity in large parts of the world will increase due to changes in climate. Reducing intensive water use in agriculture is a vital adaptation strategy. Ecological and organic farming reduces demands for intensive irrigation while enhancing soil capacity for retention of water while improving water quality.

8. Knowledge Transition for Climate Adaptation Climate change is the ultimate test for our collective intelligence as humanity.

Industrial agriculture has destroyed vital aspects of knowledge of local ecosystems and agricultural technologies which are necessary for making a transition to a postindustrial, fossil fuel-free food system.

The diversity of cultures and of knowledge systems required for adapting to climate change need recognition and enhancing through public policy and investment. A new partnership between science and traditional knowledge will strengthen both knowledge systems and enhance our capacity to respond.

9. Economic Transition Toward a Sustainable and Equitable Food Future Current economic and trade regimes have played a major role in creating perverse incentives that increase carbon emissions, accelerating climate change.

The growth paradigm based on limitless consumption and false economic indicators such as gross national product (GNP) are pushing countries and communities toward increasing vulnerability and instability. Trade rules and economic systems should support the principle of subsidiarity - that is favouring local economies and local food systems which reduce our carbon footprint while increasing democratic participation and the quality of life.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Ecovillages and the Transformation of Values

By Jonathan Dawson, Ex-president of Global Ecovillage Network, GEN

Ecovillages are engaged in the transformation of values in three ways that may make the transition to sustainability easier and more graceful.

T

he most visible and tangible projects within ecovillages tend to be those related to technology; most first-time visitors to ecovillages come to find out about ecological housing, biological wastewater treatment systems, renewable energy technologies, community currencies, and the like. Less immediately obvious, but arguably even more significant however, is the contribution of ecovillages to a radical transformation of values and consciousness. Delinking Growth from Well-being The attempt to delink growth and the accumulation of material goods from wellbeing lies at the heart of the ecovillage concept. The low levels of consumption that typically prevail within ecovillages result partly from the design of their systems so as to reduce energy and materials intensity and partly because, by opting out of the global economy to varying degrees, they forgo opportunities to maximize income.

There is substantial anecdotal evidence that the quality of life within ecovillages is generally high—certainly much higher than would be expected

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for communities that operate on low levels of income.

This anecdotal evidence has been reinforced by a 2006 study comparing the contribution of built (economic), human, social, and natural capital to quality of life in 30 intentional communities with that in the town of Burlington, Vermont.

The study found that the quality of life was slightly higher in the intentional communities despite the fact that average incomes were significantly lower because of a greater cultivation and appreciation of other forms of capital, especially social capital. Of special importance in determining quality of life, the study identified the strong social bonds that develop within intentional communities, their “ownership provisions as well as…process for allocating work and rewarding contributions” and the “emphasis the community placed upon the preservation of natural areas.”

The authors concluded: “Results of this study represent an existence proof: it is possible to achieve a high (and probably more sustainable) quality of life while consuming at rates much less than the U.S. average.… We have much to learn from intentional communities around the world that have been actively experimenting with issues related to quality of life and sustainability.”

(Kenneth Mulder, Robert Costanza, and Jon Erickson, “The Contribution of Built, Human, Social and Natural Capital to Quality of Life in Intentional and Unin-

tentional Communities,” Ecological Economics, August 2006, pp.18-19) It is especially interesting that many of the activities and design features that are responsible for low energy and resource use within ecovillages are also among the most important in contributing to a better quality of life. The decision by many ecovillages to grow a significant amount of their own food, prepare and eat meals together, create car clubs, community-owned renewable energy facilities, community currencies and investment, and so on involves ecovillagers working cooperatively together in a way that strengthens relationships and builds a strong and nurturing sense of connection with place.

Reconnecting People with the Place Where They Live One of the more pernicious impacts of today’s globalized economy is the weaker connections that people feel to the place where they live. There has been a progressive homogenization across the world over the last 50 years or so of foodstuffs, clothing, farming technologies, building materials, styles, and so on. As a part of this trend, increasingly diets no longer reflect the changing seasons. This disconnect is enormously important in providing a seed bed for alienation and consumerism.

Reestablishing a keener appreciation of the qualities, patterns, and rhythms of home places and what they can sustainably yield is fundamental to refinding a balanced and respectful place within them. Nurturing just such an enhanced appreciation is of central importance to the ecovillage ethic. In part, this manifests in attempts to increase levels of self-sufficiency. Ecovillages typically seek to develop an enhanced understanding of ecological building

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" techniques using local materials, local medicinal herbs, wild food foraging, organic food production and processing, energy generation with locally available renewable resources, and so on. They are seeking to deepen their connections in their own bioregions, to increase resilience in a period of energy transition, and to reduce dependence on money and the global economy.

Similarly, many ecovillages are engaged in initiatives to restore the health of their surrounding ecosystems. Many have projects to plant trees and protect vulnerable areas from commercial development. Over the last 40 years, to cite but one example, the Auroville ecovillage in southern India has planted more than 3 million trees and engaged in widespread earth restoration projects that have simultaneously enriched the diversity of local natural systems and woven people more deeply into the web of life.

Affirmation of Indigenous Values and Practices The corporate marketing and advertising industries have played a central role in shaping the values underlying today’s consumerist culture. They have played an especially devastating role in undermining the cultural self-confidence of groups falling outside of the global consumer class. Consequently, an important dimension of the value shift required in the transition to a sustainable global society lies in celebration of the diversity of human cultures, encouraging each to value and take pride in their distinctiveness.

Ecovillage networks in developing countries tend to be very active on this front Activities with new groups generally focus on building cultural self-confidence and celebrating the communities’ strengths and achievements. The Sri Lankan nongovernmental group Sarvodaya, a founding member of GEN, works with over 15,000 communities islandwide. It has developed a methodology for community assistance that begins with an empowerment program. This includes a strong element of social and spiritual empowerment, including meditation, cultural validation, peacemaking, and conflict facilitation. Only when this foundation has been built does the more tangible work of economic empowerment and physical infrastructure development begin.

The Ladakh Project in India similarly places great weight on building cultural self-confidence. It has helped to establish the Women’s Alliance of Ladakh (WAL), a network of over 6,000 women from almost 100 different villages, with the twin goals of raising the status of rural women and strengthening local culture and agriculture. Some of the more creative programs initiated by WAL are No TV weeks, aimed at encouraging people to resist the consumerist ethic; annual festivals celebrating local knowledge and skills, including traditional spinning, weaving, and dyeing and the preparation of indigenous food;.

Conclusion Together, these three living experiments – delinking growth from wellbeing, reconnecting people with their home places and the affirmation of indigenous values and wisdom – form an essential part of our journey towards sustainability. It may well be here, rather than in the development of the hardware of community, that history may judge ecovillages to have had their most lasting and transformational impact.

Left: Vandana Shiva and Jonathan Dawson during IFOAM in Copenhagen, Photo: Hildur Jackson Right up: Leh village in Ladakh. Photo: www.isec. org.uk/pages/ladakh.html Right down: EDE in Brazil, Photo: Mai East

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Faith Leaders Address Climate Change

By Dena Merriam, Founder & Convener, the Global Peace Initiative of Women

The Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) – an international non-governmental women’s organization based in New York – is gathering 40 spiritual and religious leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 7-13, 2009 for the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP-15). Organized by GPIW, the international faith leaders will participate in public panels and workshops that address the spiritual dimensions and ethical implications of climate change. With provisional United Nations Observer Organization status to the COP-15, GPIW is also sending members of its delegation to the global assembly. The group’s leader and GPIW founder, Dena Merriam, says “The deeper understanding of interconnection is to know that all that is comes from a single source. To harm one part is to harm the whole. By knowing this we will naturally create a more conscious and caring way of living on the earth.”

Left Down: “Making Way for the Feminine” – Jaipur Summit, March 2008 – African Delegation This gathering organized by GPIW brought together more than 400 women and men from over 45 countries for four days of dialogue on the feminine principles that can help cultivate deeper understanding of interconnection and Oneness .

Left Up: In February 2009 the Global Peace Initiative of Women in partnership with ITRI of Japan, brought together delegations of senior Hindu and Buddhist leaders from around the world to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for “GIVING GLOBAL VOICE TO EASTERN WISDOM” A Hindu-Buddhist Partnership for a More Compassionate World.

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he faith leaders brought together

by GPIW believe the environmental crisis is a call for all nations and all sectors of society to come together and find ways to reduce the impact of human activity on earth’s climate. Human society has undergone rapid economic and technological development that has outpaced our wisdom without due consideration of the toll this is exacting on our ecosystems and climate and the wellbeing of all life. Spiritual and religious communities globally believe the moral, ethical and spiritual underpinnings to this call are too great to ignore.

Balance and moral Increasingly, faith leaders around the world are acknowledging the moral importance to factor into economic activity consideration for the earth and her resources. For the human community to deal effectively with climate change, we

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must recognize that the environmental crisis is a moral and spiritual crisis. Religious and spiritual leaders have a central role to play in helping the human community shift course and evolve more life-sustaining societies, where development is guided not only by immediate needs but by the wisdom of longer-term vision. We must now balance our material progress with the spiritual knowledge of how to use wisely the resources given to us.

“Awakening to Oneness” is the theme of the GPIW gathering in support of the COP-15. The environmental crisis had made many more people awareness of the principles of interconnection and interdependence. We know that the actions and behavior of one nation affects all

others. As never before, we are bound to work through this crisis as one global community. But there are many ways to understand interconnection and the deeper spiritual significance of Oneness.

This awareness can guide us through the many changes that must take place and help us develop a more sustainable and life supporting future. Working through carbon trade agreements is important but it is not enough. For the human community to set itself on a truly sustainable course, a shift in mind set, in understanding, is needed. And thus the spiritual and political forces must work together.

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" Right Up: Women Faith Leaders Retreat on Compassion – Taipei 2006 Hosted by Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Center L to R Dena Merriam, Founder GPIW, the late Master Sheng Yen, Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister Right Down: he Summit Co-Chairs, Swami Dayananada Saraswati, head of the Acharya Sabha of India along with Sangha Raja Bour Kry, the Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia. The environment and climate change was a major theme at the gathering.

Spiritual leaders at COP15 During the last several years, religious leaders have begun to issue statements on climate change, but these initiatives have centered on the Abrahamic traditions. The GPIW delegation to COP-15 will be the first truly inclusive global gathering of spiritual leaders to show a commitment to collaborative action on climate change. With the rising global prominence of Asia, it is essential that the Hindu, Buddhist and other Asian faith communities share in shaping the dialogue and action that is to emerge.

The delegation will include highly respected spiritual and religious leaders from all the major faith traditions, balancing East and West, North and South.

The wisdom of each of these faith communities teaches care for the earth and all life forms, and the key spiritual principles of gratitude and sharing. As we seek to evolve a way of living that is more sustainable and thus more conscious, we will need to find ways to share earth’s resources and the responsibility for curtailing pollution and waste.

not exist merely for our consumption and use, but like us are part of the great web of life, very much needed for the wellbeing of the whole. This understanding will change the way humanity relates to the rivers and oceans, forest and mountains. It will help awaken a sense of integration and an understanding of the Oneness that underlies all life.

Bottom up approach Since 2002, the Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) has been leading faith groups in collaboration with global NGO’s, local stakeholders, and likeminded individuals to create a bottom up approach to social change. GPIW has answered a crucial need to represent, support and facilitate faith leaders at the global level in their efforts at leadership in social and community advocacy.

Spiritual thinktank In November of 2008 the Global Peace Initiative of Women organized a think tank at the Aspen Institute in Colorado entitled “Gathering Spiritual Voices of America”.

This meeting of 80 spiritual leaders from across the United States came together to explore the ways that religious leaders can join in a collective voice in times of crisis and be an inspiration for a new type of activism, based on love and compassion, rather than fear and anger.

The Parlament of World Religion This parlament was established in 1988, and has gathered many tousend people every 5 years from 1993, where it was held in Chicago. 1999 in Cape Town, 2004 in Barcelona and now dec. 3.-9.Dec. 2009 in Melbourne, Australia. The Theme is "Hearing each other and healing the Earth."

650 programs have been offered. See more at www.parliamentofreligions.org

A new global partnership In a demonstration of religious unity, the GPIW delegation will craft a joint statement of principles and action steps that they will promote in their communities. They will call for a new global partnership between political, economic and spiritual leaders to strengthen efforts to implement the framework put in place during the COP-15 meeting.

Their primary goal is for the world to understand that one of the key transformations needed is to awaken again the understanding that the elements, the essential building blocks of life, do

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

III. How do we co-operate globally

on all levels and sectors?

Who are the agents of change?

What is the vision?

By Hildur Jackson

W

ill governments take leadership or will change have to come from below?

The ecovillage concept is one such holistic vision created on the ground in different places all over the world at roughly the same time - and it has manifested in a remarkably similar manner and with the same value system everywhere. Since the early 1990s, ecovillages have been cooperating in a global network (GEN) and getting their experiences documented in a new sustainability design education, books and films.

The World Social Forum has held meetings since the famous Seattle meeting in 1999 where NGOs and labour unions cooperated for the first time, but have so far failed to create a single cohesive vision.

The State of the World Forum is taking a global leadership role in their 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign. The 350 campaign is another global initiative culminating at the COP-15 Climate Summit.

People’s KlimaForum09 is working on a declaration for Cop15 to unite NGOs and put pressure on governments. It can be seen on their website.

Spiral dynamics - a body of learning that is developing tools and language to embrace the need for accepting all that is while moving to a higher level of consciousness as problems cannot be solved at the level where they arose. What we need may be the NGO thinking and initiatives to merge with a transformation of consciousness.

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At a recent meeting, Andrew Harvey—a mystic and teacher, who just published a book on sacred activism and is coming to Copenhagen with the Spiritual Leaders group—recounted his vision of such a merger: “I had a dream in which my teacher, Bede Griffith, showed me two rivers. One was a river of fire which was going towards the sea and the other was an even bigger river of even more intense fire, which was also going towards the sea. At the sea, they met and erupted in a glowing and glorious radiant divine Hiroshima of energy. And then I heard this voice saying, ‘These two rivers are the two noblest forces of the human psyche. These two rivers are the river of the mystic’s passion for God and the river of the activist’s passion for justice.

When these two rivers meet, what happens is that a third fire is born and that is the fire that is ordained to transform everything; that fire is the fire of divine compassion and love in action.’

“It was that dream that inspired the term ‘sacred activism’. It was in honour of that vision that I wrote my book.” He continued: “I am going everywhere talking about this vision of sacred activism but I am also bringing out a way of grounding it in the world. On Thanksgiving Day, I am releasing a global website called Networks of Grace, and these networks are going to be cells of between six

to twelve people gathered around a broken heart, or a profession, or a passion, who will dedicate their lives to getting this grassroots radical revolution of the third power— Love in Action—going in their local communities. It is the only way in which we will have a chance of making it work.

“If you are waiting for the multinational corporations to solve your life situation, you will wait until the last tree is burnt down. If you are waiting for the politicians to undergo spiritual transformation and suddenly spend millions to save the environment and feed the poor, you can as well wait for the last animal to disappear. This revolution of the soul in action depends upon you and me getting real about three things: about the tragedy of where we are, about the opportunity of where we can go, and about the heartbreak that we all feel.

And when we get real about all of those three things, then we are impelled to work together in the networks of grace to do something about them.”

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

The4 Keys

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GEN's new flyer made for COP15 The movement to create ecovillages is perhaps the most comprehensive antidote to dependence on the global economy. Around the world, people are building communities that attempt to get away from the waste, pollution, competition and violence of contemporary life.

Helena Norberg-Hodge, Director of the International Society for Ecology & Culture

E

covillages are living experiments in sustainability, demonstrating that it is possible to live well within our means.

Some of our members have among the lowest per capita carbon footprints in the industrialized world. Yet they do so while maintaining a high quality of life based on democratic self-governance within socially inclusive communities.

The message emerging from ecovillages at this key moment in our history is that a low-carbon lifestyle is possible within vibrant and well-designed communities – and indeed that this is the path that is most likely to deliver both human wellbeing and planetary sustainability.

We strongly endorse the call of the 350 campaign for a agreement at Copenhagen that guarantees greenhouse gases stabilise at no more than 350ppm.

As an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations, GEN has been an active contributor in the UN’s COP process since 2002. GEN’s principal representative to the

UN, Albert Bates, is the author of Climate in Crisis: The Greenhouse Effect and What We Can Do (1990, foreword by Al Gore) and coauthor of the chapter on Tipping Points for the Civil Society’s Report to the Secretary General on Actions to Eliminate Climate Change, in preparation for UNFCCC COP-15.

social and ecological contexts. They represent a citizens’ response to the brutality, ugliness and injustice of today’s dominant consumerist culture.

Ecovillages Ecovillages are urban or rural communities that strive to integrate a supportive and inclusive social environment with a low-impact way of life. They integrate principles of ecological design, renewable energy systems, community-owned social economies and democratic selfgovernance.

Ecovillages exist on every continent and in a myriad of different

What you can do: Support the 350 campaign Create an ecovillage or visit one near you Become a member of GEN www.ecovillage.org

Another world is possible – we are creating it!

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Proposal for structure of the KlimaForum09 (NGO)declaration From homepage www.klimaforum09.org

Klimaforum09 is the Peoples Climate Summit, and behind this is 28 danish NGO's and supported by 61 international organisation.

The actual declaration will be finalized during the first four days of Klimaforum09 Preliminary title: System change – not climate change 1: People are rising to the threat of climate change In this introductory paragraph examples will be given of environmental- and climate struggles that are unfolding worldwide.

2: The problems of climate change A short status on the climate change problems and its connection to various other environmental problems (depletion of water resources and other resources; pollution; rise in sea level; deforestation; loss of habitats; decrease in bio diversity etc.)

3: The causes of climate change In this chapter a nuanced criticism of the systemic causes behind the cli-

mate crisis and the broader ecological crisis will be presented. This includes the mastery of nature paradigm and its connection with the growth paradigm; globalization; the motive of profit and the accumulation of capital. This also includes the North-South problematic, the ecological debt and climate Justice issue. Furthermore this chapter will criticize false solutions, including the quota-trading regime. Finally the COP15 agenda will be addressed.

4: Sustainable transition An argumentation of the necessity of a fundamental paradigm shift should be presented through a description of sustainable transition. A characterization of production and consumption within the ecological scope; focusing on local life circles, decentralization, de-growth,

reorganization of agriculture, fishery, transport and industry to sustainable systems based on renewable energy, fewer working hours, changed habits of consumption and real democracy.

5: The roads to transition Examples of how to accomplish this transition immediately should be given.

This includes characterization of reform processes of the political system.

6: Building a global movement of movements Concluding the declaration with a call for mobilization describing how different movements, networks and organizations together can create a global movement of movements that is able to trigger the necessary changes of agendas and enforce real changes.

When finished, the declaration will be handed over to the political leaders at the COP15 supplying them with inspiration as to how a fair and just climate deal can be put together.

Contacts Officiel contact is klimaforum09@klimaforum09. org and contact about the declaration is Matilde Kaalund-Jørgensen at mathilde@klimaforum09. org

Demonstration in Copenhagen 2009.

Photo: Klimabevægelsen

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

Vælg økologisk maling – godt for mennesker og natur

Best og få il på ne frag ttet N ten g U (Kbh ratis og o meg ! n) Vægmaling nr. 321 Giver perfekt maleresultat. Åbenporet mathvid vægmaling med naturlig citrusduft. Vaskebestandig kvalitet med større dækkeevne end AURO rumhvid nr. 320.

Drypper og sprøjter meget lidt.

Kan tones med 330-serien.

Kan fortyndes med vand.

Indtil 9 m2/l. Også til lerpuds.

Højt dækkende indendørsmaling.

N FRA KU

, 5 7 3

Topkvalitet fra frontløberen AURO. Prøv naturharpiksmalingen til væg og loft. Eller økologisk lak, lasur, olie, voks, lud, sæbe eller rengøring til dine gulve, møbler og træflader. Indtørrede rester og behandlet træ kan uden betænkelighed komposteres.

Varer i 3 serier: Classic (citrusduftende med biologisk nedbrydelige opløsningsmidler). Aqua (vandbaseret og biologisk nedbrydelig uden opløsningsmidler). Pur Solid (langtrækkende og forbrugsbesparende, biologisk nedbrydelig, uden vand og

N FRA KU

, 5 2 4

opløsningsmidler). Økomaling.dk er importør af

Prof. Vægmaling nr. 322 Åbenporet skurebestandig og meget slidstærk kvalitet med bedste dækkeevne blandt AUROs emulsions-vægmalinger til professionel brug f.eks. til institutioner og hospitaler m.v.

Drypper og sprøjter meget lidt. Kan tones med 330-serien. Til indvendig brug. Diffusionsåben. Kan fortyndes med vand. Indtil 10 m2/l. Meget god dækkeevne.

37

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

The 80% by 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign Interview with Jim Garrison (JG) by Daniel Wahl (DW)

Jim Garrison and the State of the World Forum mobilize a global urgency coalition calling for 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020.

State of the World Forum was founded in 1995 by Jim Garrison with Mikhail Gorbachev, who served as the Convening Chairman.

The Forum was established to create a global leadership network comprised of eminent individuals -- ranging from Heads of State to grass roots organizers, Nobel Laureates to business leaders, policy makers to social activists -- drawn from the governmental, business and civil society sectors, committed to discerning and implementing those principles, values and actions necessary to guide humanity wisely as it gives shape to an increasingly global and interdependent world.

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his interview was held at the Bioneers conference in California in October 2009.

During the conference the State of the World Forum (www.worldforum.org) and the Bioneers (www.bioneers.org) announced their collaboration in the preparation for the State of the World Forum in Washington DC (February 28th to March 3rd, 2010) and in formation of ‘rapid regional response teams’ to help with the process of turning this urgent call for action into reality.

DW: Jim, what is your principle concern about the Copenhagen negotiations?

JG: The central contradiction in the global warming crisis is that while the urgency is getting increasingly acute, our governments are negotiating as if we have another forty years to solve the problem. This timeframe is at the heart of the Copenhagen negotiations – reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. But we do not have another 40 years to solve this crisis. We have only a few at the most to take the action required and at some level virtually everyone paying any attention knows that. We must be guided by science not political expediency, and our scientists are saying that global warming is about ready to spin out of control with devastating consequences to civilization as we know it. We must therefore take decisive action. We must accomplish by 2020 what our governments are negotiating for 2050. Only taking action within the 2020 timeframe will suffice to solve the escalating crisis we are in. This is the stark reality we must face and the reason for the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign.

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DW: Why is 2020 the right timeline?

JG: Lester Brown points out that reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 will allow us to stabilize the global temperature rise at just over 1C and will level off concentrations of CO2 at around 400 ppm.

This will allow for an essentially gracious “emergency landing” so that we can then begin the process of actually reversing CO2 concentrations back down to 350 ppm, which Jim Hansen and a growing consensus of scientists and policy analysts agree is the tipping point above which devastating climate change is inevitable. The world is currently at a 0.8 global temperature rise above pre industrial levels and at 385 ppm.

Human activity is putting 70 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every 24 hours and escalating tons of methane.

DW: What does the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign seek to accomplish?

JG: We are mobilizing a global campaign to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 by networking any cities, states and regions anywhere worldwide that are making the 2020 commitment. Our commitment is to deploy Rapid Regional Response Teams to assist, comprised of professionals and specialists drawn mostly from the local area as well as internationally. These teams will be deployed to any city, state or institution making the commitment to reduce its carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 and develop sustainable lifestyles and economies.

DW: How does the 2020 Campaign relate to the Copenhagen negotiations?

JG: The 2020 Campaign turns Copenhagen on its head. COP15 is an intricate series of negotiations by which all the nations are trying to reach agreement before any of them actually do much and then at a pace that is essentially catastrophic in its consequences. The 2020 Campaign sets forth a single strategic goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 and encourages any and all pathways to achieve that goal at a pace that will largely remedy the problem if it succeeds. Within the context of a single common goal, as much diversity and innovation as possible is encouraged at local and regional levels. This allows for a completely flat organizational structure in the 2020 campaign. Everyone is responsible for global warming. Everyone must come together to solve it. Our convenings are to share information and build collaborations.

Ironically, time is on our side. The world situation is only going to get more climatically turbulent and as it does, more and more people, cities, states and institutions will realize that 2020 is the only realistic timeframe for decisive action. Our job right now is simply to begin, to identify the climate leaders, bring them together, share information, profile innovations, and demonstrate that the 2020 goal can be achieved using existing technology and in a way that generates savings, jobs, and opportunities, leading to climate prosperity.

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" Jim Garrison at meeting in Brazil.

Photo: Web - State of the World Forum

DW: The launch in Brazil was a great success. What is happening in Brazil as a result of the 2020 Climate Leadership campaign and the State of the World Forum in Belo Horizonte?

JG: Yes, we launched the 2020 Campaign in Brazil in August, 2009. Our principle success has involved the support of Globo TV which controls 80% of the Brazilian media market and is the fourth largest media company in the world with affiliates in 114 countries. It has initiated a prime time nationwide ad campaign about global warming to support the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign. It has also rewritten several of its popular soap operas with sustainable lifestyle themes and begun to develop public education on global warming in over 7,000 schools nationwide.

This action is unprecedented. It marks the first time anywhere in the world when a major media company has decided to begin educating an entire nation about global warming with an emphasis on climate leadership. The fact that this includes the 2020 goals is an extraordinary development in a nation emerging as an important player in the world community.

In part because of Globo, President Lula and the governors of the Brazilian Amazonian states have publicly committed to reducing deforestation in the Amazon by 80% by 2020, thus demonstrating that the 80/2020 goal is now gaining currency and providing the 2020 Campaign a critical platform upon which to build. Essentially eliminating deforestation in that region would both address the most crucial challenge in the fight against climate change – stopping the deforestation of our rainforests -- and would provide a compelling model for other regions to follow. The 2020 Campaign was involved in the process leading to this commitment and has developed an agreement with Governor Anobio Marques of the Amazonian state of Acre to convene an Amazonian Summit in May 2010 in partnership with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent Global Climate Summit, at which the Amazonian governors made their 2020 announcement and at which we made the proposal for the Amazonian Summit.

DW: How far along are the plans for the forums in Washington DC and the Amazon in 2010?

JG: In partnership with a growing “urgency coalition,” the 2020 Campaign is convening a Climate Summit in Washington, D.C. February 28 – March 3, 2010 as a “post Copenhagen” opportunity for analysis and redirection. This will be around the time when the Senate Climate Bill will be up for a vote and therefore an optimal opportunity for positioning the importance of sub national initiatives. There will be a strong Brazilian presence. In the aftermath of Copenhagen, we want to use the Washington event as a staging opportunity to organize Rapid Response Teams to support the Amazonian commitment. We also want to profile any initiatives, especially in the United States, that would indicate similar 2020 commitments. Ideally, we would want an organization like RMI or Apollo Alliance to present what a 2020 strategy would look like for the U.S. The key political point we would make is that the 80/20 strategy is not merely the only viable strategy but that an entire region – the Amazon – has stepped up and made the 2020 commitment. It is a crucial opportunity to show that civil society is taking the requisite leadership to actually solve the problem and is building a robust and credible coalition with sub national governments and the private sector to do so.

DW: What about your Amazon Summit?

JG: The Amazonian Climate Summit in May in Rio Branco will focus on this region’s 2020 commitment and do so in a way that seeks to build a relationship with Governor Schwarzenegger and his Global Climate Summits. Governor Marquez has agreed to invite representatives from all nine Amazonian nations with the strategic intent of having them join the Brazilian Amazon which opens up the possibility to think through the strategy of creating a pan Amazonian commitment to reduce deforestation by 80% by 2020.

Pachamama Alliance is taking leadership in this strategic intention. Representatives

from other rainforest nations, particularly Indonesia with the second largest forest, would also be invited. Although it might not be accomplished immediately, we can build on the Brazilian Amazonian commitment and seek to galvanize a global commitment among rainforest nations for a 2020 goal. Only ambitions of this magnitude are commensurate with the danger we are in.

The Summit would also be an attractor to financial planners, interested companies, and specialists in the various areas implied by the commitment to stop deforestation and develop sustainable economies. There will be immense opportunities for investment as the commitment to stop deforestation and develop sustainable economies proceeds.

DW: The campaign committed to an integral approach from the very start. Why do you think this is important?

JG: We will not achieve the 2020 goals without a transformation of human consciousness commensurate with the transformation of our economies from fossil fuels to clean technology and renewable energy. We must change our attitudes, lifestyles and cultural assumptions as radically as we have to transform our transportation systems, how we provide energy to heat our houses, and how we build and maintain our buildings.

We have to change our interiors as much as our exteriors. In this sense, global warming is a gateway, an invitation to realign everything humanity believes and does with the natural rhythms of the earth.

DW: Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions. Good luck in Copenhagen. I am looking forward to seeing the campaign develop until we meet again in Washington DC in February 2010.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Dealing with Global Warming from a Higher Level of Thinking

By Ross Jackson, PhD

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them" Albert Einstein

I

f we are to deal efficiently with the problem of global warming, we would do well to pay serious attention to the wise words of Albert Einstein. The climate problem facing humanity at this time was created from a mindset based on competition, exploitation and mutual suspicion.

If we look at the way sovereign nations are currently tackling the problem, it is clear that the Kyoto approach of negotiating national CO2 emission reductions is an attempt to solve the problem at the same level where it was created. Each nation considers indepen-

dently what is in its interest, what costs it will incur without impinging on its economic growth, or what finances and/ or technology will be made available to it and on what terms, what competitive advantages other nations might achieve, etc. etc.

This approach will never lead to a satisfactory solution, but only to constant haggling and non-enforceable commitments. The approach is so bureaucratic and full of possibilities for breakdown that it is highly likely that the very complexity of the negotiations will be used by some, who are not seriously interested in taking on the painful commitments that are required, to sabotage the process while putting the blame for failure elsewhere.

Higher level of institution If we are to find durable solutions to this problem, we should not expect to find a solution within the mindset of competition, which has created it. To find a usable solution we must move to a higher level, to the mindset of cooperation, where qualities like moderation, efficiency, sustainability, equality, fairness and social balance trump the interests of individual nation states. What does this mean in practice? It means an acceptance of a higher level institution – above the level of the nation state that is given the responsibility of implementing a fair and equitable solution which is in the interest of all world citizens and the environment.

Left: Something new is being born. It's holistic, holografic and manifest oneness.

Photo: Suste Bonnen. Idea: Hildur Jackson. Painting: Karen Svensson Right: Girls from Crystal Waters. Photo: Crystal Waters

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" Nations contra the Earth Three such climate solutions with the necessary characteristics have been put forward during the last two years, but have been hitherto ignored in a political process that is focussed exclusively on the competitive aspects of any treaty and on a continuation of the clumsy, bureaucratic and ineffective “Kyoto” approach.

All three are of the “cap and trade” variety, all are designed for global, as opposed to national implementation, and any of them could do the job with guarantee, based on the principle: keep it simple. All are not only simple but also effective – no need for horse trading among 170 sovereign states, in fact no special treatment is given to any single state. While they differ in some respects, a common characteristic of the three is the concept of rationing, i.e. putting a physical limit on the amount of fossil fuels allowed into the global economy each year rather than relying on nebulous national emission reduction targets.

Thus, nation states have to agree on just one major thing – the total emissions limit for each year, a relatively straightforward decision based on science.

Another common trait is the establishing of a supranational agency with the interests of the entire planet as its mandate. This agency, beyond the influence of individual governments, shall have the exclusive right to auction off each year a

limited and declining number of permissions to emit CO2 - permissions that must be purchased in a competitive auction - not granted for free!

CO2-price Once a high price is put on the cost of emitting CO2 in this way, there is no need for horse trading. The rest will be taken care of automatically by the global private sector with the blessings of 7 billion citizens, provided only that (1) the agency’s revenue is distributed fairly, for example equally to the 7 billion world citizens who are the ultimate owners of the atmosphere (my preference), or possibly in part to environmental restoration projects and technology research, and (2) the private sector can trade permissions amongst themselves globally, thus assuring that the most efficient technologies will get the greatest market share and be most profitable. The three are: 1. The Earth Atmospheric Trust 1 2. Kyoto2 2 3. The Carbon Board 3 4 Carbon Board The Carbon Board is my own proposal that I put forward in November 2008 after studying all the major proposals on the table and comparing them based on a number of criteria. 5

I have a natural preference for The Carbon Board scheme, but in any case, I firmly believe that one of these three, or something very similar, will have to be adopted eventually if we are to avoid runaway global warming. The current approach of negotiations among the same sovereign states that caused the problem in the first place on national emission reduction targets, technology transfer and who pays whom what, is highly unlikely to solve the problem satisfactorily or quickly enough to do the job.

The Carbon Board proposal, including a discussion of the differences among the three viable candidates, is included elsewhere in this publication.

References • See www.earthinc.org/earth atmospheric trust.php and www.kyoto2. org/page5.html • Ross Jackson, “An Ideal Climate Agreement?” (Permaculture Magazine, UK, no.58 Winter 2008).

• Ross Jackson, “Climate Solutions: Part 2, The Carbon Board”, in Gaian Economics, Living Well within Planetary Limits, editors: Jonathan Dawson, Helena Norberg-Hodge and Ross Jackson (UK, Permanent Publications, 2009).

• Ross Jackson, “Climate Solutions: Part 1, Comparing Alternatives”, ibid; • See also www.ross-jackson.com (articles English) for references 3, 4 and 5 on-line

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Inner Climate Change

By Hildur Jackson

Is it possible to prevent a runaway climate? Are we not doomed as it is human nature always to want more—more consumption, more wealth, more outer experiences? This is the fatalistic worldview of a great many people. Instead we need a worldview of interconnectedness, oneness and inner climate change

D

uring the recent financial crisis, many analysts mentioned greed of the financial sector as a major culprit. My mother always said with a quote from Swedish writer Hjalmar Søderberg: “The human condition is the lust of the flesh and the irreparable loneliness of the soul”. Like the rest of the Western world, she lived a worldview of separation, of soul disconnected from the flesh; of the two sexes never being able to meet.

Too Limited a worldview The world is beginning to realize that this worldview of separation is too li-

miting. 100 years ago, Einstein, Bohr and Heisenberg were able to present us with a more uplifting worldview of interconnectedness and oneness, something Eastern spiritual traditions through meditation had realized long before.

It has taken 100 years for it to manifest as a different concept of human possibilities. Now what we need most is an inner climate change. We need to melt away all our fear, anger and jealousy and to come out as wise elders ready to take responsibly, and to realize our fundamental oneness.

What is the new concept of humans?

The new concept of the human being is that we all have a divine nucleus and access to divinity. We need to remove all the impressions, the blockages, all the layers of society from this and former lifetimes in order to get back to who we really are. Different spiritual systems have set up slightly different systems for doing that. But when you “peal the onion”, you find that they are remarkably similar.

Left Down - LØS had a gathering at Ecovillage Fjordvang in 2000, where we danced in the mornings.

Photo: Troels Dilling-Hansen Right: EDE at Findhorn 2002 - in the highlands, where they are restorating the nature. Photo : Akane

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" Different teachers, same teaching Thomas Keating (a US Catholic priest), in a video: “Invitation from God”, tells us how we need to let go of all that is preventing us from reaching the centre.

Eckert Tolle, in his “Awakening the Earth”, formulates how the pain-body (negative emotions like greed, fear, anger) is not really us; and how we must avoid giving energy to it. Then the true person will emerge.

This is very similar to what Dalai Lama explains in “The Art of Happiness”: "Happiness is not something readymade.

It comes from your own action." We just need to constantly give energy to the positive aspects and withdraw it from the negative. It is a long process but you can be sure of success eventually.

In Sahaj Marg, a raja yoga system now practiced in 90 countries, you clean impressions away and get help from a “preceptor” trained to do this on a daily basis.

It can also be done by constantly listening to one’s heart or reading good literature. My old dad read Goethe every evening and I think Goethe was his spiritual guide through difficult situations all his life.

Does it work?

Many indigenous peoples will be in Copenhagen for the Climate Meeting to show us what is possible. And many people from the ecovillage movement will confirm that changing lifestyle is a highway to spiritual transformation.

The alternative health movement is another gateway for many people.

But we can also teach this: For example, “meditation for human integration” is the motto of Sahaj Marg.

We need to teach it on a massive scale— in schools and everywhere else. When Oprah Winfrey and Eckert Tolle put on

their talk show on US television, they had 2 million viewers on the first night, and the system broke down. The program was available for all to see on the Internet for free.

How does it work?

People who develop their spiritual dimension are difficult to spot. They do not look any different. But they have different priorities. For them less can be better. They want to be in nature. They want to help Mother Earth. You can build another world with them. They are ready for the transformation.

What comes first?

Will it be possible to transform societies before people are transformed?

This is a question that occupies many people. What comes first, the chicken or the egg? Time is so short we have to do everything as soon as possible. We need the global commons to realize that a change of consciousness is every bit as important, and as worthy of major new programs and support, as technical solutions to climate change.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Climate Change and Agriculture: Biodi not Genetic

By Dr. Vandana Shiva. She is a trained-Physicist, philosopher, environmental activist, eco feminist and author of many books. Vandana is curre participants were women, adopted the approach of forming human circles around trees to prevent their felling. She is one of the leaders of the lectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, genetic engineering are key areas of her concern. In 1982, she founded the Re redefine perceptions of third world women. Shiva has also served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as non governmen the Third World Network. And to GEN. She is a councillor of the World Future Council .

Navdanya is a network of seed keepers (http://www.navdanya.org/earth-democracy/seed-sovereignty)and organic producers spread across 16 s vereignty, food sovereignty (http://www.navdanya.org/earth-democracy/food-sovereignty)and sustainable agriculture over the past two decad center, Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed) on its biodiversity conservation and organic farm in Doon Valley, Uttranchal, north India. www.va

Industrial globalised agriculture is heavily implicated in climate change. Industrial agriculture is also m engineering is embedded in an industrial model of agriculture based on fossil fuels. It is falsely being offe lives and the biodiversity of nature.

I

ndustrial globalised agriculture contributes to the three major greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide from the use of fossil fuels, nitrogen oxide from the use of chemical fertilizers and methane from factory farming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC), atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased from a pre-industrial concentration of about 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in 2005. The global atmospheric concentration of CH4 has increased from pre-industrial concentration of 715 parts per billion to 1774 parts per billion in 2005. The global atmospheric concentration of N2O, largely due to use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture, increased from about 270 parts per billion to 319 parts per billion in 2005.

Industrial agriculture Industrial agriculture is also more vulnerable to climate change which is intensifying droughts and floods. Monocultures lead to more frequent crop failure when rainfall does not come in time, or is too much or too little. Chemically fertilized soils have no capacity to withstand a drought. And cyclones and hurricanes make a food system dependent on long distance transport highly vulnerable to disruption.

GMO Genetic engineering is embedded in an industrial model of agriculture based on fossil fuels. It is falsely being offered as a magic bullet for dealing with climate change.

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Monsanto claims that Genetically Modified Organisms are a cure for both food insecurity and climate change and has been putting the following advertisement across the world in recent months.

“9 billion people to feed.

A changing climate Now what?

Producing more Conserving more Improving farmers lives That’s sustainable agriculture And that’s what Monsanto is all about.”

All the claims this advertisement makes are false GM crops do not produce more. While Monsanto claims its GMO Bt cotton gives 1500 kg/acre, the average is 300 – 400 Kg/acre.

The claim to increased yield is false because yield, like climate resilience is a multi-genetic trait. Introducing toxins into a plant through herbicide resistance or Bt. Toxin increases the “yield” of toxins, not of food or nutrition.

Even the nutrition argument is manipulated. Golden rice genetically engineered to increase Vitamin A produces 70 times less Vitamin A than available alternatives such as coriander leaves and curry leaves.

The false claim of higher food production has been dislodged by a recent

study by Dr. Doug Gurian Sherman who was former biotech specialist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and former adviser on GM to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, of the union of concerned scientists titled “Failure to Yield”. As Sherman States – “Let us be clear. There are no commercialized GM crops that inherently increase yield. Similarly there are no GM crops on the market that were engineered to resist drought, reduce fertilizer pollution or save soil. Not one”.

Herbicide resistance and Bt Toxin There are currently two predominant applications of genetic engineering – one is herbicide resistance, the other is crops with Bt. toxin. Herbicides kill plants. Therefore they reduce return of organic matter to the soil. Herbicide resistant crops, like Round Up Ready Soya and Corn reduce soil carbon, they do not conserve it. They is why Monsanto’s attempt to use the climate negotiations to introduce Round-up and Round-up resistant crops as a climate solution is scientifically and ecologically wrong.

Monsanto’s GMOs, which are either Round Up Ready crops or Bt toxin crops do not conserve resources. They demand more water, they destroy biodiversity and they increase toxics in farming. Pesticide use has increased 13 times as a result of the use Bt cotton seeds in the region of Vidharbha, India.

Monsanto’s GMOs do not improve farmers’ lives. They have pushed farmers to suicide. 200,000 Indian farmers have

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

Biodiverse Ecological Farming is the Answer, netic Engineering

dana is currently based in Delhi. Vandana Shiva participated in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main eaders of the International Forum on Globalization . Shiva has fought for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food. Intelnded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which led to the creation of Navdanya. Her book, “Staying Alive” helped n governmental organisations, including the International Forum on Globalisation, the Women’s Environment & Development Organization and

d across 16 states in India. Navdanya has helped set up 54 community seed banks across the country, trained over 500,000 farmers in seed sost two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country. Navdanya has also set up a learning dia. www.vandanashiva

is also more vulnerable to climate change which is intensifying droughts and floods, and in top genetic being offered as a magic bullet for dealing with climate change, but it has the opposite impact on peoples

committed suicide in the last decade.

84% of the suicides in Vidharbha, the region with highest suicides are linked to debt created by Bt-cotton. GMOs are non-renewable, while the open pollinated varieties that farmers have bred are renewable and can be saved year to year. The price of cotton seed was Rs 7/ kg. Bt cotton seed price jumped to Rs 1,700/kg.

This is neither ecological nor economic or social sustainability. It is ecocide and genocide.

Genetic engineering does not “create” climate resilience. In a recent article “GM : Food for Thought” (Deccan Chronicle, August 26, 2009), Dr. M.S. Swaminathan wrote “we can isolate a gene responsible for conferring drought tolerance, introduce that gene into a plant, and make it

drought tolerant”.

Drought tolerance is a polygenetic trait. It is therefore scientifically flawed to talk of “isolating a gene for drought tolerance”. Genetic engineering tools are so far only able to transfer single gene traits. That is why in twenty years only two single gene traits for herbicide resistance and Bt. toxin have been commercialized through genetic engineering.

Recent reports Navdanya’s recent report “Biopiracy of Climate Resilient Crops : Gene Giants are Stealing farmers innovation of drought resistant, flood resistant and salt resistant varieties” shows that farmers have bred crops that are resistant to climate extremes. And it is these traits which are the result of millennia of farmers

breeding which are now being patented and pirated by the genetic engineering industry. Using farmers varieties as “genetic material”, the biotechnology industry is playing genetic roulette to gamble on which gene complexes are responsible for which trait. This is not done through genetic engineering; it is done through software programs like athlete. As the ETC report states, “Athlete uses vast amounts of available genomic data (mostly public) to rapidly reach a reliable limited list of candidate key genes with high relevance to a target trait of choice. Allegorically, the Athlete platform could be viewed as a ‘machine’ that is able to choose 50 – 100 lottery tickets from amongst hundreds of thousands of tickets, with the high likelihood that the winning ticket will be included among them”.

Breeding is being replaced by gambling, innovation is giving way to biopiracy, and science is being substituted by propaganda. This cannot be the basis of food security in times of climate vulnerability.

Earth democracy While genetic engineering is a false solution, over the past 20 years, we have built Navdanya, India’s biodiversity and organic farming movement.

We are increasingly realizing there is a convergence between objectives of conservation of biodiversity, reduction of climate change impact and alleviation of poverty. Biodiverse, local, organic systems produce more food and higher

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

All Photos from Navdanya’s homepage, left photos at the site, the last their logo.

 Use of the Biodynamic preparations to manure and

farm incomes while they also reduce water use and risks of crop failure due to climate change.

Biodiversity offers resilience to recover from climate disasters. After the Orissa Super Cyclone of 1998, and the Tsunami of 2004, Navdanya distributed seeds of saline resistant rice varieties as “Seeds of Hope” to rejuvenate agriculture in lands reentered saline by the sea. We are now creating seed banks of drought resistant, flood resistant and saline resistant seed varieties to respond to climate extremities.

Navdanya’s work over the past twenty years has shown that we can grow more food and provide higher incomes to farmers without destroying the environment

46

crops Our study on and killing our peasants.

“Biodiversity based organic farming: A new paradigm for Food Security and Food Safety” has established that small biodiverse organic farms produce more food and provide higher incomes to farmers.

Biodiverse organic and local food systems contribute both to mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. Small, biodiverse, organic farms especially in Third World countries are totally fossil fuel free. Energy for farming operations comes from animal energy. Soil fertility is built by feeding Købsoil organisms by recycling organic matter. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Biodiverse systems are also more resilient to draughts and floods because they have

higher water holding capacity and hence contribute to adaption to climate change.

Navdanya’s study on climate change and organic farming has indicated that organic farming increases carbon absorption by up to 55% and water holding capacity by 10% thus contributing to both mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Biodiverse organic farms produce more food and higher incomes than industrial monocultures. Mitigating climate change, conserving biodiversity and increasing food security can thus go hand in hand.

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

K øb a n n o n c er i L Ø S N E T Du gik lige glip af denne mulighed til 4000 kr for en hel sides annonce 1/8 side 250 kr. (temanr. 500 kr.)

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Rabat ved ét års annoncer: 25% 1 side måler 17,5 x 26,5 cm (eller til kant) Henvendelse losnet@losnet.dk

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Fredag 23. april til søndag 25. april i Vrads, www.vrads.dk

www.byoko.dk www.songtotheearth.dk

Fredag: Nyt fra fællesskaberne

Årsmødets tema: Fællesskab og Spiritualitet Lørdag: Rundtur i Vrads Bustur til andre spirituelle fællesskaber i området Søndag: Generalforsamling

Farming and eating the Biodynamic way – for better humus, health and climate The Biodynamic farming method is good for the climate and for the soil quality.

More scientific long-term trails* with conventional, organic and Biodynamic methods show it is the best farming system in building up carbon from CO2 into the soil.

They also show that Biodynamic fields have better humus quality, soil structure, biodiversity and biological activity.

Biodynamic agriculture is organic and more: it is based on a holistic approach on life, nature, soil and on food quality. We see the farm as a living organism that produces healthy food with nutrition for human’s body and soul. * ‘Biodynamic agriculture research progress and priorities’.

M. Turinak et al. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 24 (2), 146-5.

Cambridge University Press 2009. Read it at www.biodynamisk.dk

The international Demeter Standards are stricter than the EU organic standards in order to ensure health and environment.

F. ex.: • Use of the Biodynamic preparations to manure and crops • Husbandry obligatory - for the health of the farm • No use of slurry from conventional farming • No dehorning of cattle • No use of conventional grown fodder • No use of GM-like seeds (CMS-hybrids) • Only 10 additives allowed (49 in organic, 370 in conventional products) • No homogenizing or UHT-treatment of milk • No use of nano-tech chemicals Biodynamic Quality

Read more about Biodynamic farming and food at www.biodynamisk.dk and www.demeter.net 47

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

A Call for True Leadership

By Rolf Jackson

‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions,’ says an old adage. This piece of folksy wisdom is particularly pertinent as world leaders meet in Copenhagen to address the threat of climate change. It is pertinent because the pervasive lack of insight into the subjective causes behind the crisis means that the effects of the initiatives taken could end up being as disastrous as the climatic effects themselves.

T

he causes behind the crisis are legio. They are rooted in historical, socio-cultural, economical and technological issues. But more subtly there are powerful subjective causes related to the intrinsic dynamics of power and the cosmic purpose of mankind.

One of the intrinsic tendencies of power is to accumulate and centralize. This tendency has contributed greatly to the crisis itself. But it also means that, unless great wisdom is employed, the structure created to deal with the climate issues can become a global monster spawning a host of insidious side-effects.

Attempting to address the economical, ecological and social issues contributing to climate change, without addressing the underlying emotional issues is sure to fail. It is like ordering a child, who has just been subjected to a severe trauma, like the loss of a parent, to sit still and be attentive in the classroom. The blatant disregard of the child’s need to heal the deep hurts will cause the child to react emotionally until its emotional needs are met. This is a healthy reaction to an unhealthy demand.

A healthy reaction to an unhealthy suppression Mankind will likewise continue to recreate the recurrent patterns of self-destructive behaviors until the emotional and spiritual pains underlying these behaviors are recognized and healed. This is natural and unavoidable and ultimately healthy reaction to an unhealthy suppression of spiritual truth. It is the fear of addressing these issues squarely that is the true culprit.

To begin addressing these issues, the following actions should be taken: • The Medias need to give room to voices

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of spiritual wisdom currently being ignored.

• A preamble should be added to the climate treaty unequivocally stating the spiritual principles on which it rests.

• Finally a “Universal Truth and Reconciliation committee”, modeled over the South African example, should be instituted as a means of healing painful historical abuses and the attendant past-life traumas that is a powerful subjective cause behind mankind’s present difficulties.

med itself ‘Grail Wars’ and impelled me to write it. It is the story of mankind’s struggle for truth and freedom since the dawn of time right up to the present day.

In the story, the NGO's of the world unite in demanding that the world leaders acknowledge the need for a spiritual awakening by including a preamble to this effect in the treaty. If they do not include the preamble presented to them, the NGO’s will denounce the treaty as flawed and useless. The preamble is: Fictional Preamble (from ‘Grail Wars’) We the nations of the world, upon entering into a treaty to protect the global environment, hold it to be self evident that the basis of international cooperation must be a spirit of spiritual truth, universal love and willing sacrifice, if global peace and justice are to be ensured.

The Need for a New Collective Myth ‘A Myth is a great lie veiling an even greater truth’ says another ancient adage.

As part of my work to reveal the hidden causes governing the crisis of mankind, a new myth arose from the bottom of the sea of consciousness. The story na-

• Spiritual truth entails the intelligent recognition and application of the laws of manifestation, by which the human being, through its spirit, mind and desire influences its environment.

• Universal love entails the recognition of the unity of all life and the intrinsic bond that ties man to his fellow beings and the greater planetary sphere of consciousness.

• Willing sacrifice entails the recognition of the responsibility of the part towards the need of the whole, in order to secure a vibrant, healthy and just world.

We the nations of the world, hold it to be self-evident that to violate; • the laws of spiritual manifestation,

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" expressed as truthful living, • the law of universal unity, expressed as love in action, or • the law of sacrifice, expressed as service to mankind is certain to result in pain, suffering and death. Therefore the principles of Truth, Love and Service, intelligently interpreted and justly applied, must henceforth be the cornerstone of the ongoing efforts towards healing the planet of mankind’s historical indisgressions and abuses.

The battle begins As a consequence of the NGO’s firm stance on spiritual principles, the fictional summit breaks down and the battle for a new world order founded on spiritual principles begins. In the end the Gaian League is born and a new dawn of mankind arises.

The story is a dramatic rendering of mankind’s present predicament, naming the difficult truths of the past and offering a path to global healing. But it is not an easy path and many will react violently to it because they are unable to stomach the ignominy of mankind’s sordid past. (Read more at www.grailwars.com).

Mixing Religion and Politics To begin with any attempt at addressing the emotional and spiritual issues underlying political conflicts is sure to evoke an instinctive cry of ‘mixing religion and politics.’ However, those arguing thus, overlook that they themselves are guilty of what they so desperately fear – subjecting the political process to the whimsical propensities of the irrational mind.

Contemplating issues of cosmic purpose in the context of political discourse is neither whimsical nor irrational. The existence of cosmic intelligence is a logical consequence of the mother of all sciences; quantum mechanics. Any interpretation of quantum mechanics that deny the existence of such a cosmic agency, results in notions of reality that are incoherent and meaningless. The lack of scientific consensus concerning the interpretation of quantum mechanics aptly illustrates this.

Some might feel that this discussion is far removed from the urgent issues facing us, but this is not so. The beliefs we hold about reality IS the key issue facing us. Making mankind recognize the illusions it has chosen to believe in is therefore THE key issue. Dealing squarely

with this issue will determine the success or failure of future efforts.

The True Political Struggle True political struggles concern not policies but the stories we tell ourselves about who we are – our defining narratives.

The present mainstream narrative is techno-material in nature and considers itself the epitome of sophistication. It argues that rationality, capitalism, individuality and market-democracy represent a natural destination for mankind.

The superiority of this narrative is considered so self-evident that ‘the end of history’ has been proclaimed.

and the planets of our solar system, cosmic influences impinge on mankind and birth certain tendencies. Due to mankind’s lack of true understanding of these influences they tend to become distorted.

• Impulses towards world unity birth standardization and regimentation.

• Impulses towards expressing beauty birth a pathological preoccupation with looks and status symbols.

• Impulses towards spiritual aspiration birth rigid self-denial and arid intellectualization.

• Impulses towards creative freedom birth reckless capitalism and ruthless exploitation.

• Impulses towards spiritual greatness birth the desire to rule and control.

The lack of appropriate responses birth insidious and injurious conditions in mankind. To make matters worse, mankind’s responses to the problems, caused by the wrongful responses, often add to the difficulties as man wage war on the children of his own desires.

A New Political Project The only genuine solution to this predicament is to address the underlying causes. The great political project for the protagonists of the eco-spiritual movement is therefore:

However, a growing minority rejects this narrative because its shortcomings are obvious to those willing to question its premises. To replace it an eco-spiritual narrative is growing stronger and becoming more well-defined through efforts of grass-roots all over the world.

The fundamental premise for the emerging narrative is that all life is one.

All life springs from a subjective well of being. We are therefore intrinsically connected not only to our fellow human beings, but to all the kingdoms of nature as well as to cosmic powers radiating from the heavens. From this perspective the universe is a great unfolding wheel of consciousness and we are here to participate in birthing the jewel of selfrealization and co-creative evolution.

From this perspective, it is clear that the main problem haunting mankind consists of wrongful responses to cosmic influences. From the signs of the zodiac,

To foster in mankind the ability to respond correctly to cosmic influences.

This project is profoundly different than present day politics and is not easily achieved. If at the end of the Aquarian age (two thousand years hence) this has been achieved, it will be a marvelous achievement indeed. Realistically the short term goal should therefore simply be to foster a political environment conducive to this way of thinking and pointing the arrow of human ambition in this direction.

Some may argue that it is a vague and ill-defined vision. But its vast scope and somewhat elusive nature is a strength and not a weakness. Two hundred years ago, the visions of individual freedom, democracy and civil rights, birthed during the age of enlightenment, were similarly vague. They were embodiments of certain principles that were recognized as intrinsically meaningful.

In a similar vein, the vision of a cosmic dimension in politics opens new vistas of thinking and invokes a different notion of reality that may hold solutions not even dreamt of today.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness" Techno-materialism Revisited From this perspective individualism, capitalism, rationality and market democracy look very differently.

Individualism is not considered a destination, but a step towards genuine group-consciousness and cosmic selfrealization.

Capitalism is recognized as a particular flavor of financial ecology. It is seen as a power that should not rule society but which properly harnessed can be brought to serve the purposes of mankind.

Rationality is not seen as the epitome of human achievement, but as a tool whereby the intuitive reaches of cosmic awareness can be correctly recognized, interpreted and harnessed.

The market democracy, where money buys influence and sound-bites supplant reflection is seen for what it truly is – an abomination that must be discarded. In its place must be instituted a holistic democracy – or Holocracy – where modern media and technology does not dull the mind with senseless trivia, but stimulate reflection and empower people to make wise decisions.

Are we essentially immortal souls participating in cosmic evolution, or are we biological machines, doomed to oblivion as our time on Earth expires?

This is the key question facing us and on the answer we pick depends the direction we chose.

Pursuing True Leadership Many will recognize the nobility intrinsic to True Leadership. Some will want to pursue it. Only a few will be able to practice it…

The Need for True Leadership To successfully navigate the difficulties ahead, True Leadership is called for.

This kind of leadership is somewhat of a rarity but Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela offered shining examples of what it takes.

To deal with the challenges ahead, we need to understand what they did Painting by Amnart Klanprachar, Thailand and how to imitate them on a far grander scale. We need to educate our youth in this discipline and support our preBecause practicing true leadership sent leaders, in invoking the power of ultimately requires trusting your intuitrue leadership. To begin with we must tion even in the face of death. understand what True Leadership is all The difficulty arises when holding about. on to a perceived and intuited truth requires significant personal sacrifice. In What is True Leadership? practice it may mean losing a job or a True leadership is ultimately a mystery. significant relationship. Perhaps it inIt is an awakening to a greater self-rea- volves being demonized and ostracized lization, which is translated into a blos- by your friends and co-workers, because soming of that which is true and beau- you force them to face ugly truths they tiful. True Leadership is an expression of wish to ignore. It may even involve the soul consciousness. Without acknowled- ultimate sacrifices of torture and deging the reality of the soul, and hence ath. the reality of the brighter worlds, from When faced with the prospect of sigwhence cosmic power emanate, true nificant personal sacrifice, most people leadership become meaningless and is will recoil because they view the situareduced to a pointless struggle to attain tion with the eyes of the limited perthe unattainable. sonality rather than the eye of the imThe issues of leadership facing man- mortal soul. kind can therefore be reduced to: To the soul, the personal sacrifices may be painful, but because the greater

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purpose is clear, the pain is bearable.

From the perspective of the soul, the gain is greater than the pain. Unless the difficult choices facing mankind are viewed from this perspective, evoking the required will to sacrifice will be impossible.

Therefore fostering a healthier society requires a change in mentality as well as a new political awareness.

The Candid Truth I have tried to put the truth as plainly and candidly as possible. In the end there is only one true solution: Acknowledging that the human soul is but an extension of a greater sphere of cosmic being.

The key difficulties in current leadership practices are all generated by the failure to acknowledge this simple truth.

Power abuse, suppression of civil rights, economical inequalities, environmental degradation, drug abuse, crime, issues of race, gender and religion, climate change, cynicism, public apathy, depression and a host of other difficulties are all consequences of the inability to acknowledge this simple truth.

Our personal and professional relations are generally so inundated with issues related to the lies we have been telling ourselves that acknowledging the simple truth feels like personal disaster.

It feels like the end of the world and the consequences seem devastating and incalculable.

Such is the layout of the land and hence the difficulties facing mankind at this significant junction in history, where mankind as a whole is slowly awakening to the painful realization of its sordid past and the awesome truth of its cosmic destiny.

There is no easy path to True Leadership. However, there is no path to genuine world peace without it.

Read more at www.grailwars.com and www.gaia.dk Rolf Jackson is an author, educator and spiritual activist working in numerous fields, including leadership development, community building and spiritual politics. At present his work revolves around the intentional community project “Bjergager Solby” in Denmark where he actively seeks to translate visions of a brighter future into a living reality.

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

Activities during COP15

By Hildur Jackson, Mette Petersen and Troels Dilling-Hansen

This is a description of the two major collaborating NGO-Forums, other exhibitions and other activities during COP15 Official Meeting at the Bella CenterDEC 7-18, 2009 Governments meet in Copenhagen in December to reach an agreement to solve the problems of the global climate at the Bella Center near the airport (metro station Bella Center). Civil servants and governments from all over the world will meet here form Dec 7- 18. For the first time NGO’s have been invited to join the official conference. They have to be accredited before the meeting. Several people from GEN are participating: May East, Jonathan, Dawson, Albert Bates, Esperide Anannas, Marti Mueller, Jim Garrison, Ross Jackson. NGO-s have a stand at the exhibition area.

A group of Danish NGO,s have been following all the preparatoty meetings and written a report for all in English see www.worldclimatecommunity.dk/ en/Public/ The official homepage of the UN Climate Conference. http:// en.cop15.dk The Copenhagen Climate Council Danish Buisness together with Climate minister Connie Hedegård created „The Copenhagen Climate Council”, which has arranged several global meetings see their results www.copenhagenclimatecouncil.com Dec 12-13, 2009 Exhibition at Forum Copenhagen Bright Green ExhibitionNot Just Another Trade Expo Bright Green takes place from December 12-13 and is an exclusive and ambitious event organized by the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI).

Dec 15-17, 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit for Mayors We will gather the mayors from all the large cities that are willing and able to take action to improve the global climate and that can also support an ambitious climate agreement in connection with the UN Climate Change Conference in 2009. See www.copenhagenclimatecouncil.com

NGO Forum I: People’s Climate Forum 09 Place: DGI town 5 minutes walk from the main station.

Time: Monday the 7th- Friday the 18th Facilities: Facilities: 4 halls, one for 1000, one for 272 and two for 100 people Program: daily activities of plenary sessions, seminars & Debates, Klimaforum Guest Speakers, meditation and Film, theatre & music programme.

Web address: www.klimaforum09.org; Contact: info@globalclimatecampaign. org.

They have been calling for participation from all over the world.

Global Just Leadership from Civil Society NOW Dec 8.th 16:00-18:00 (Big hall for 1000 people) We have come to Copenhagen knowing that the political negotiations among the governments will be difficult and that a climate change agreement may not be reached during this conference. The final treaty that emerges is likely to fall far short of the actions needed to halt or slow the effects of climate change.

Thus the responsibility for shaping our response to climate change, for creating a more sustainable world in community, will fall back to civil society: • Road to Redemption or Ruin. Video message from Maurice Strong- who arranged the Stockholm meeting in 1872, The Rio conference in 1992, The Johannesburg conference in 2002 • Changing Direction: Restoring Mother Earth. Hanne Marstrand Strong • The Carbon Board, A global and just CO2 Scheme Guarantied to Work.

Ross Jackson, Gaia Trust, GEN and Gaia Education.

• China Leads the Way, Hui Ng, Beijing • 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign.

State of the World Forum taking on Global Leadership. Jim Garrison,

President.

• Climate Change seen from the South. Vandana Shiva • NGO Whitepaper. Tony Andersen/ Maltilde Kaalund-Jørgensen, initiator and contactperson of People’s Climate Forum • Panel debate and dialogue of where to go.

A big demonstration with the support of many groups to go to the Bella Center on Dec 12th We hope this to become a Singing Revolution. See http://12dec09.dk/content/english The central outcomes of Klimaforum09 will be a global climate declaration expressing the hopes, ideas, and visions of citizens groups and social movements from all corners of the planet.

NGO Forum II: Climate Bottom Meeting - Windows of Hope Time: December 5th -18th, 2009 Web address: www.climatebottom.dk.

Contact: troelsdh@gmail.com Location: Christiania (get off the metro at Christianshavns Torv on the isle of Amager), The Meadow of Peace (Fredens Eng in a big heated tent for 500 persons with isolated floor) and The Factory (Fabrikken) with the cinema The City of Lights (Byens lys).

Additionally we will have smaller workshops and exhibitions at the Main City Square by City Hall (Rådhuspladsen), and at the Climateforum (the largest NGO-meeting).

Arranged by: The Network for the Conservation of Christiania as a Green Urban-biotope, two Agenda 21 centers in Copenhagen (Sundby and Inner City), LØS, The Danish Ecovillage Network, LØS and GEN, Global Ecovillage Network Period: From the 5th to the 18th of December, 2009.

Climate Bottom Meeting - Windows of Hope - headlines It is our aim to deliver hope from the bot-

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness" the Climate Bottom Meeting at Christiania.

They have also several program at the DGI-Forum

tom of the hierarchy of the society, from the living roots – to show that another sustainable life is possible – and sustainable in a very broad sense, in social life, in economics, in our spiritual life and in our relation to climate and nature. We hope to create an atmosphere of community with a mixture of lectures, discussions, music, dance and singing.

We will have speeches and workshops from many prominent scientists, NGO's, ecovillages and indigenous communities, politicians and artist, religious leaders and YOU, if you have something to offer.

We will create an Experimentarium, a big playground where adults and children can experience a living and ever-changing exhibition and community. There will be an exhibition of sustainable building techniques from several countries and cultures, both modern ecological construction methods and examples of indigenous architecture.

Christiania’s popular Christmas Market will be held simultaneously with the Climate Bottom Meeting and we hope to integrate these two events.

We will also have an outpost at Vartorv near The Main Square with yurts where we will deliver a small taste of “Windows of Hope”, but also have exiting exhibitions.

Troels Dilling-Hansen. Phone: +4586577403 / +45-27572187 Britta Lillesøe. Phone: +45-32 57 08 34 / +45-20 64 08 34; E-mail: mail@cakultur.dk Peoples Climate Action A secretariat has been established to coordinate the NGO activities: People's Climate Action up to the Climate Meeting. Their secretariat is on Fælledvej 12, where also MS (Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke) resides. The leader has worked since March: Lene Vennits (+45 20 57 89 32) and +45 21 24 42 57).

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They have a website which will help people to be housed privately and very cheaply.

You contact the host family directly yourself. www.peoplesclimateaction.dk.

They have a calender on their website where the total program of activities outside the Bella Center (official conference) will be listed before and during Cop 15 Global Observatory A group of scientists have set up a tent so that the conference at any time may get any information needed for the negotiations. www.globalobservatory.net.

ALBA Meeting Dec 17. 16.00-20.00 A huge economic meeting with the leaders of the 9 ALBA countries in Valbyhallen.

(Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Raul Castro, Daniel Ortega and 5 more presidents. 18 organisations, parties and labor unions behind it. Room for 5000 persons.

Sven-Erik Simonsen. c/o DanskCubansk Forening, Nygårdsvej 52, st.

2100 København Ø, Telefon: 3630 2252/50777906. Mail: post@cubavenner.dk & simonsenbruun@image.dk www.alba-alternativ.com & www.cubavenner.dk World Spiritual leaders Dena Merriam of the Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) and Marianne Marstrand (director) have invited 30 spiritual leaders to the meeting Dec 7- Dec 13 The purpose of this is for the group to meditate together and create a loving atmosphere conducive to reaching a necessary agreement. And come up with a declaration to be presented to the conference. They will stay at the Admiral Hotel.

Contact Marianne Marstrand Dec 10th they will have a dialog at The National Museum.

And the 12th. they will start the day at

Green Ecumenical Service in the Cathedral of Copenhagen Our Ladies’ Church, Dec 13th. The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, will focus on our hopes, prayers and responsibility for All of Creation. Danish Queen Margrethe has accepted the invitation to join, as has also Desmond Tutu, SA. Part of this service will be this event: Let the bells ring, the conch shells, drums and gongs sound 350 times for climate justice!

Churchbells all over Denmark and the World will start ringing at 15:00, 350 times, which signifies that Creation is suffering and that 350ppm is the alarm number for CO2 concentration which we must keep below. See www.oikoumene.org/en/ events-sections/countdown-to-climatejustice/bellringing.html Indigenous People A group of Indigenous spiritual leaders (Fire and Ice : http://www.fireandice2009. com/) are coming to Copenhagen. They will be participating in the NGO Forums negatiations.

Things to visit in Copenhagen during the Climate Meeting Exibitions Red Alert - The Ice is Melting SevenMeters.net is a manifestation that, using red blinking LED-light, is to symbolize that we are moving towards a climate catastrophe. And that our politicians (and thus their voters) are not doing enough to meet the threats of Global Warming.

7 Meters is the hight with which the water will rise if all the ice in Greenland melts.

24 kilometres of 15,000 red blinking LED-lights will appear in 7 meters height during UN’s climate summit in December 2009 in Copenhagen, we will send a visual statement about the enormous consequenses our actions will have in the long run.

100 Places to Remember Before they Disappear Photos By famous photographers and places- from reports from IPCC. The exhibition will be open 24 hours a day until 27 December 2009. It is situated on the square of Kgs. Nytorv in the centre of Copenhagen – at the end of the walking

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" street, Strøget and near Nyhavn harbour. www.100places.com/en Exhibition at Christiansborg Slotsplads under COP15 Ålborg Zoo will create a naturalistic polarbear cut out from 2 tons of iceblocs, produced with CO2 neutral electricity. The polarbear will melt, while politicians sit and talk, as a metaphor for the problems of the real polarbears, where the ice is melting under them as we speak.

International Exhibition on Climate Change in the Botanic Garden The exhibition demonstrates the scientific view on climate and climate change. By means of objects, film, photos, animations and texts, this complicated subject is illustrated in a lively and accessible way.

Open all week except Monday.

Address: Øster Farimagsgade 2 B, walking distance from Nørreport. http://snm. ku.dk/english/udstillinger/climateexhibit “Green Architecture for the Future” at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The museum is located in Humlebæk in northern Zealand with a panoramic view across the Baltic Sea. The museum includes a sculpture park facing the sea and illustrates the interaction between nature and its own collection of art. The exhibition focuses on new departures in architecture that meet the need for sustainable development.

Themes: The City, Climate & Comfort and Metabolism. Till Dec. 18th, 2009.

Train to Humlebæk. Special discount tickets

can be bought at all major DSB stations in the metropolitan area. www.louisiana.dk/ dk/Service+Menu+Right/English.

Nature Strikes Back This comprehensive exhibition on the occasion of the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference portrays the relationship between man and nature in all the art forms (sculpture, painting, graphic art, etc.) from antiquity to the present day.

The wide-ranging but carefully staged selection of works presents a very topical interpretation of man’s view of nature over the ages. This stretches from the poetical and symbolic concept of the relationship which was established both artistically and intellectually long ago in antiquity to the attempts of the present day to drive nature out and marginalize it.

The National Gallery of Denmark is the only place in Denmark which features 700 years of Western art and cultural history under one roof. The museum houses a large collection of Danish and international paintings, sculptures, drawings, and installations. The oldest works in the collection originally belonged to Danish royalty. The address is Sølvgade 48-50. www. smk.dk. Transport via Train and Metro to Nørreport and 10 minutes walk.

“Indians of the Rain Forest” and “Denmark from Glaciers to Global Warming” At the National Museum in Copenhagen.

Two special climate related exhibitions.

Just behind the Town hall square. www. nationalmuseet.dk/sw20385.asp. The address is Ny Vestergade 10.

Christiania

X Main

X

Entrance X Meadow

Factory and City of Light

The Tycho Brahe Planetarium shows whether-films on nature’s magnificence, below the surface of the sea, out in space or in the jungle.

Special: Age of Stupid.

Address: Gl. Kongevej 10 just a few minutes walk from the Town Hall Square and the Central Train Station.

The new Opera House on Holmen

By Danish ark. Henning Larsen is worth a visit. www.operaen.dk. Getting there: Pedestrians/bicycle/bus nr 66 Metro (Christianshavn Torv) /boat from Nyhavn 71 in the evening hours. Copenhagen Water Taxi sails to and from the opera house. Prior to and after performances there are continuous services from Admiral Hotel. Read more at www.flyvefisk.dk Interesting websites on climate issues tcktcktck.org is an unprecedented global alliance, representing hundreds of millions of people from all walks of life. It is made up of leading international, national and local organizations addressing environment, development, poverty, human rights, health and humanitarian issues. peoplesclimateaction.dk/uk/ Check out the overview of climate activities. If you have a climate activity for the civil society in which everyone can participate, please log in and create a new event on the link. globalcitizen.net Global Citizen is a fact-based platform for solutions without borders. Modern media and traditional dissemination of scientific insights fall short in providing operational knowledge, broad networks and practical solutions. Thus, Global Citizen tries to find new ways of sharing knowledge, building networks and generating solutions. www.goldendays.dk/composite-64.htm Golden Days: A networking organisation focusing on history and culture in Copenhagen.

of Peace

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness"

Climate Bottom Meeting

By Troels Dilling-Hansen

We have now concluded all our efforts to create a bottom conference at the site of the biggest city-tribe-e to tell the world of our deepest worries for the Earth and our deepest hopes grounded in down-to-earth liv people are coming to join our effort of creating an atmosphere of community - One earth, one humanity, on a few of the prominent people coming. But see the updates at WWW.CLIMATEBOTTOM.DK! Dec. 5.th Climate, Community, and Sustainability The Climate Bottom Meeting will open its first window with a grand opening ceremony, led by indigenous representatives.

This will be followed by workshops and lectures, storytelling and relevant entertainment between talks and discussions. Our goal is to illustrate the connection between sustainability and community, where sustainability is broadly understood and created at all levels, socially, economically, eco-

logically, and culturally. One Earth, one humanity, one climate!

Dec. 6.th Worldview, Culture, and Consciousness Ingvar Villido, Valley of Flowers, Estonia: The new Beginning.

Esperide Ananas, Damanhur, Italy, Marti Muller, Auroville, India:“Spirit in Community”, John Croft, Sieben Linden,Germany/Australia, Rolf Jackson, Bjergager Solby,DK, spiritual scientist, Brian Fyhn, Quaker Movement,DK. Tor Nørretranders, Writer, DK, Carsten Jensen, Writer,DK. Vinya Ariyaratne, Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka, Hosszu Zoltan Krishna Valley, Hungary, Sister Jayanti Brama Kumaris, India/GB, Satish Kumar, India/GB: “Loving Nature, Aurelio

Left top. Love over all to all - a declaration of love from Christiania to everybody and everything.

Left up. Climate Bottom Logo next to our outdoor preperation meeting.

Left. We had a wonderfull annual European Global Ecovillage Metting in Keuruu, Finland, July 2009. Thank you so much for your hospitallity. See you next year in Damanhur.

Left Down. First preperatory-Bottom-meeting in the Factory, Christiania, Joerg, Heiki, Julia and Troels Left Down Mid. Normalia was a huge youth-project in April 2009, with lots of music and happenings - protesting against the attemps from the government to normalize Christiania Right Down Mid. Breatney Spears was involuntarily part of the party!!!

Right Down. Springtime at the shore of Christiania - all Photos Troels DillingHansen Right mid. Medicine Story will be part of the big group of indigenous peoples at the Climate Bottom Meeting, expressing a last warning. Photo: Ditlev Nissen Rigth top. Singing at the fire in Keuruu. Photo: Troels

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness"

Windows of hope 5.-18. december 2009

ity-tribe-ecovillage Christiania. We want o-earth lived life. From all over the world manity, one climate. This page shows just

Tepankali, Mexico, Carlos Prado, Bolivian indian.

Dec 7.th - The Local, The Regional and The Global - North-South Dialogue Dialogue1 New visions Are ecovillages capable of transferring themselfs to the larger society?

Participants: local ecovillages, indian communities, climate experts Dialogue 2 North-South Content: Climate debate, and discussion of relation between climate change, poverty and north south balance. How to collaborate.

Dec 8.th. Man and Money – From Global Economy to Local Exchange Economics of responsabilities Worldcafe dialogue Ove Jakobsen, Professor at Centre for Ecological Economics and Ethics, Norway, Ross Jackson, PhD, Gaia Trust, Denmark, Ludwig Schuster, architect, researcher and project manager for sustainability, Berlin (Germany) Economics of Solidarity - The Local Perspective Worldcafe dialogue Jonathan Dawson, Sustainability Educator, Board member of GEN and of the Findhorn Ecovillage, Esperide Ananas and Macaco Tamerice, Damanhur Federation, Niels Johan Juhl-Nielsen and Erik Lemcke, Roskilde University, Denmark

Dec. 9.th. Democracy and Conflict Resolution Medicine Story, indian, Prachar Hutanuwatr, Director of Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand, Jacqueline Mukangira, Ambassador, Rwanda

Victor Leon Ades, Conpaz, Parliamentary Council for the Culture of Peace of State Assembly of Sao Paulo, Brasilien.

Marina Silva (ex.senator in Brazil, Elvira Mendes (Chiko Mendes daughter) 'I love Amazonas', music

‘Spiritual Approaches to Resolving Conflict’ Zarko Andrecevic, Chan Buddhist Teacher, Croatia, Sraddhalu Ranade, Scientist, Educator and Teacher at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India, Sufi Rehman Muhaiyaddeen, Sufi Leader, Pakistan Renaud Russeil, Brahma Kumaris, Else Hammerich, Peace-Guard, Bo Reichardt, Kirkeasyl, Climate Justice Action, Natasha Verco,Theatergroup Solvognen, Jacob Holdt, Lahka Lama, Budhist teacher, Mariama Guldagger, singing

Workshops: John Andersen, The Growth Center– ‘The relation between the inner and outer climate’, ZEGG - "ZEGG Forum life"; sharing and deep listening: Come Together Songs with Hagara Feinbier and Barbara Stützl, ZEGG; Ditlev Nissen, Involvering Nu. A dialogue-zone about the climate.

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LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue,"Creating Oneness" Dec. 11.th, EDE, Community Education, Research and Social experiment Teaching change of values Teaching intuition, Ingvar Villido, Estonia Rupert Encinas, American medicine man.

Spiral Dynamics, May East, Hanne Strong, ERC, Childrens Wisdom, Michael Stubberup, Kaj Hansen Ecology in Schools, Lars Myrthy

Dec 10.th. Care and Social Responsibility Singing with Mariama Power of Community Barbara Stützel, ZEGG, Germany, Macaco/ Capra, Damanhur, Albert BatesThe Farm, USA The Divine Feminine: An East-West dialogue between: Sr. Joan Chittister, Benedictine Nun, Swamini Pramananda Saraswati, Educator & Leader in pollution reduction of the Ganga River, India Buddhist Voices Respond to Climate Change Prof. Dr. Phra Dharmakosajarn, Rector, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU), Thailand Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Buddhist Monk & Scholar, USA , Zarko Andrecevic, Chan Buddhist Teacher, Croatia, Bikkhu Buddharakkhita, Uganda Buddhist Centre in Kampala, Venerable Dharmeswar Sraman, Supreme Patriarch of Bangladesh, Venerable Chang Wen, DDMBA The Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change ”Moderator Andrew Harvey, Joan Brown Campbell, The National Council of Churches, USA, Swami Veda Bharati, Vedic Scholar & Hindu Meditation Master, India, Richard Cizik, Founder, New Evangelicals, USA, Michael Kagan, Co-founder of the Jewish Climate Initiative, Sheikh Saliou Mbecke, Sufi Leader, Senegal

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Social healing Karen Abrahamsson, Kim W. Rasmussen, Søren Hansen, Hertha Communty (antroposofic), Erling Deigaard, Ecovillage Andelssamfundet Hjortshøj, Hosszu Zoltan, Krihna EcoValley, Hungary (200 inhabitants, President of Senegal network: Ismaël Diallo, Carlos Prado, -Indian healer, Bolivia.

May East and Victor Ades with circle gender dance.

Teaching sustainability Gaia Education,EDE; GEDS, Ecouniversity, May East Deniz Dincel, EDE in Turkie TDH Marti Müller Auroville, India, visionkeeper for GEN Kosha, EDE and learning partnerships, Sieben Linden Ismaël Diallo President of Senegal network :, EDE in Africa John from Orissa, India ERC,Creating jobs worldwide Hanne Strong Bija Vidyapeeth, India SEM, Spirit in Education, Thailand, Pracha Folkecenters in DK and Mali Social Experiments Freeland, Transformation Towns, Damanhur, China, Hiu NG, Christiania Films in The Light of Town

LØSNET nr. 61-62, December 2009, speciel international issue, Creating Oneness" Left Up: Japanesse businessmen in Christiania-bikes. Photo: Christiania Left, Bottom: Christiania is known for its loving and untrtaditionel demonstrations, Photo: Editor Right: Meddow of Peace at Last Bottom meeting 2002 at the Social Summit, Photo: Niels Vest

Dec. 12.th. Awareness / Transparency Prayer and Song for the Earth Danish Priests, Medicine Story, 25 Spiritual leaders and healers from all the world. See program, Vandana Shiva Biggest Demonstration Ingvar Villido (Valley of Flowers, Estonia), Chief Sonne Reyna, Grævlingehæren fra Djursland, Marianne Rydvald, Mariama sings with drums from Ghana, Suffi music with drums and heartbeat Lakha Lama – healing Songs to Mother Earth - Eagle Flying, USA Estonian concert in finish tradition. Also samish songs and a sibirian shaman drummer.

Dec. 13th Ecological Construction and Urban Regeneration Villages and larger cities are moving towards transformation. In 2007 a new movement called ’Transition Town Movement’, now called ’Transition Culture’, was founded in England.

We will experiment with many different building techniques, and exhibit sustainable products and architecture. Come and learn more about sustainable building and see for yourself, firsthand, what green building is like.

Dec. 14th Renewable Energy – Ecological Footprint Kaj Hansen, report from 3 Danish ecovillages and their energy-consumption, Martin Stengel, Sieben Linden: What is your personal footprint?, Jonathan Dawson, Findhorn Ecovillage footprint analysis.

Martin Lidegaard CONCITO: The Ecological think-tank., Jan Mallan, DANTAN: "Biogas

in Tanzania", Esben Larsen & Chresten Træholt, Lectorer DT, Bill McKibben, The organisation 350ppm, Preben Maegaard, Nordic Folkecenter, Søren Hermansen, Samsø Energy Academy, Gordon Mackenzie, Risø, Lars Barfoed (Transportation minister), Lars Engstrøm, a little history about Christiania bikes".

Dec. 15th From Waste to Design, Cradle to Cradle We invite you to understand waste as a resource, on the same lines as all biological material, which can be composted or reused. Everything Is – only the form changes!

Toomas Trapido, About cleaning Estonia in one day Zdenek Lycka, ambassador from Czech Republic.

Anders Hansen, Waste-art in Christiania.

Tor Nørretranders, Author: What do we want with the world Aili Pyhala, Dr. of antropology.

Cradel to cradle representation.

Dec. 16th Organic Farming and Agriculture, Forest Garden and Biodiversity The green agriculture movement Peder Agger. ”biodiversity”, Knud Andersen. ”Levende hav”, Mira Illeris & Esben Schulz. „Permaculture“ Michael Tersbøl. „Ecological agriculture”, Klaus Løhr-Petersen. „Biodynamics, Silke Hagmeier, Sieben Linden. ”The Oilfree Horsedriven Agriculture”, Indigenous people: ”Forgotton hidden wisdom”

Growth and heath Hanne Leni. ”From Rio to Christiania Citybiotop”, Christiania gardeners: ”The green lung in the city”, Bodil Søgård, Roberto Perez Rivero:”Tropic sustainable city agriculture” A theater play about the farmer and the city wife, and world music from Camino of Ecovillage Hjortshøj Dec. 17th Health, Healing, and Culture Britta Lillesøe, Christianias Unique Culture, Carlos Prado, (healer in traditional indian medicine), Mariama Guldagger, Third wife experiences from Senegal, Elisabeth Felix, Theater instructor and choir-leader in Hertha Community.

Charlott Bamford: "feel life”, Edwin Zeruta Zebullas, Rolf Dorset, Author: "Live of light", Anne Christine Hagedorn: "Inner climate, Knud Overø, Author Dec. 18th Conclusion and Party: Bottom Hope Manifesto Albert Bates, GEN and Ross Jackson, Gaia Trust, “Closing circle about COP15 seen from Bottom up”, Closing ceremonies and lots of music and dance.

Dec. 19th, Cleaning up and party Music with The Copenhagen new rockband: ROD (Root).

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