changing the world

I take the bike to work. It makes me feel that I’m making a statement about the kind of future I want for my children. However, we can’t expect to change the world with such small steps. The task requires a more important sense of urgency. With Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century (see sidebar), we get a book full of ideas on how to achieve a greener future:

Stuff (which covers topics like green design, reducing one’s ecological footprint, biomimicry, sustainable agriculture, clothing, cars and emerging technologies);

Shelter (covering topics like green building and landscaping, bright green home decor, clean energy, sustainable water systems, disaster relief and humanitarian design);

Cities (topics like smart growth, sustainable communities, transportation, greening infrastructure, product-service systems, leapfrogging and megacity challenges);

Communities (topics like education, women’s rights, public health, holistic approaches to community development, copyleft, South-South science, social entrepreneurship and micro-lending, and philanthropy);

Business (topics like socially responsible investment, worldchanging start-ups, ecological economics, corporate social responsibility and green business);

Politics (topics like networked politics, new media, transparency, human rights, non-violent revolution and peacemaking);

Planet (the big picture — everything from placing oneself in a bioregion to climate foresight to environmental history to green space exploration).

In the [...]

October 10th, 2006 | Category: Uncategorized | One comment

earth inc.

Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh of the Institute for Policy Studies released their report Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power. The one fact that got my attention was that as of 2000, of the world’s 100 largest economic entities, 51 are corporations and 49 are countries. With General Motors, Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor & DaimlerChrysler leading the charge with economies more powerful than most countries. According to their report, these are the key findings:

The Top 200 corporations’ sales are growing at a faster rate than overall global economic activity.

The Top 200 corporations’ combined sales are bigger than the combined economies of all countries minus the biggest 10.

The Top 200s’ combined sales are 18 times the size of the combined annual income of the 1.2 billion people (24 percent of the total world population) living in “severe” poverty.

While the sales of the Top 200 are the equivalent of 27.5 percent of world economic activity, they employ only 0.78 percent of the world’s workforce.

Between 1983 and 1999, the profits of the Top 200 firms grew 362.4 percent, while the number of people they employ grew by only 14.4 percent.

A full 5 percent of the [...]

October 9th, 2006 | Category: Corporations, Globalization | One comment

european citizens speak

Via oD Today I’m learning about the European Citizens Consultations, which:
provide the first-ever opportunity for members of the public from all 25 Member States to debate the future of the European Union across the boundaries of geography and language. Citizens reflecting the diversity of the population are randomly chosen to take part in the deliberations. They are assisted by experts to identify common ground and make recommendations to policy-makers as these prepare to take decisions on the next phase of Europe’s development.

Jessica Reed from oD Today is blogging live from the event. In her account of the speech given by Daniel Debomy, director of the agency in charge of selecting the participants, very interesting answers to the question of what Europeans think of Europe?:
- Is there such a thing as a European identity? Debomy says that whenever Europeans are asked this qustion they often look startled and disconcerted, thinking about the differences between our countries and cultures first and foremost. But then a few common traits come to mind: a common history, a common love for heritage and culture, a dep seated respect for the environment and diversity, and (you saw it coming) a growing gap between the “North [...]

October 9th, 2006 | Category: Culture, Global Culture, Globalization, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

dreaming in swahili

Most migrant stories tell tales of people flooding the big cities of “the North”. So when I got an email from Jenny sent from Zanzibar, Tanzania I knew how precious this unique window into life abroad would be. She is an awesome photographer too, so don’t forget to check her pictures in flickr.

We haven’t had running water for a while now. The rainy season ended shortly after we arrived, and with it came an empty well. Our ‘well’ is actually a large concrete box that sits above ground in our backyard. When it gets below a certain point, the pump won’t run and we can’t even get water out of the tap on the side of the box. We’ve gotten used to having to climb on top of the box and lower buckets down, and then pull them back up using our laundry line. It’s hard work, and the buckets come up full of bugs and floating debris. I try not to look too closely at it when I make myself a cup of Tanzanian coffee or during the ‘bird baths’ that I take with the bucket several times a day.

We were invited to a traditional Muslim [...]

October 3rd, 2006 | Category: Global Citizen | Leave a comment

exile bloggers

Trying to convince a friend of mine to become a bridge blogger seems to be a little bit more difficult than I suspected. Besides the usual fear of “who will read my posts?”, there is the “I don’t want everyone to read about my life!”. So in an attempt to create some peace of mind, I figured the best thing to do would be to collect a larger sample of what some people are writing in this area, hoping to assemble a set of best practices for newbies. Something that would look like this:

You are priviledge for knowing a place in the world that most people don’t. Blog with a genuine sense of awe.
You have plenty to offer to your new home, a cultural context that makes you unique. Use that filter when you write.
As a migrant, you must recognize that others will come after you. Leave a trail.
You are helping awaken a sense of global unity. Promote our Global Culture

Certainly is not big, but it is a beginning. While reading around for inspiration, I came across an article posted in GlobalVoices entitled Blogging in Exile, originally written by Sebastian Delmont. [...]

October 2nd, 2006 | Category: Blogs, Immigration | One comment
 
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