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| Sustainability and Mankind |
| The Ten Commandments
Article by Tolga ATES M�lardalens H�gskola, Sweden, Masters Program in Ecological Economics V�ster�s, 2005-03-23 I had been thinking about what to write till i heard a school slaughter in the USA, on March 21, 2005. A schoolboy killed 10 people including himself. The point that made me write about is that this happened in a Native American Reservation in Minnesota. In the first flush, it doesn�t seem to be something relevant to sustainable development or ecology or the like. But connotations of this incident proded me into writing. As the world globalizes and tries to solve the problems of global environment, so many times the question of �where did we make wrong?� comes to our mind. In this world where technological developments prevail and where mankind plans to go to Mars and where we try to establish sustainability, something is lacking in the improvements. Even though developments serve to a goal so-called globalism and peace, there are bunch of examples of conflicts that people fight, kill theirselves, contaminate the earth and the like. When considering the philosophy of technological developments, the feature of making life easier and contributing sustainable development stands out. But the philosophy of people contradicts this. To define sustainability does not mean to implement it correctly. The point behind this issue underlies the history. Most of the societies existed before the �modernity� incredibly had the idea of sustainability. I want to focus on American Indians who had established a culture, alas, were destroyed by the modern! europeans. If life styles of the Indians are surveyed, it will not be hard to grasp their perception of the environment and the whole world. Indians have conscious point of view of nature. They lived within nature; gathered, hunted, cultivated to sustain their life. In doing so, they made use of a very vital thing that we still have troubles with: respect. The fundamental point of the life style is totally formed of respect for them. Respect to nature, to people, to other living things. They saw this as a basic law of life. If harmony with nature were disturbed, illness, pain, death or other misfortunes would result. Until now, almost all of us have thought that this is some kind of philosophy of the society like other societies. But if it is handled deeply, this is a simple model of sustainability. To exemplify, an Indian, when hunting a buffalo, tried to hunt the weakest member of the family so that new generations became stronger than before. If they killed the stronger, they would prevent them to give fertile offsprings. Otherwise, they would have prevented both the animals� and their own people�s sustainability. �Let the strong live to make you live in the future.� The education system of Indians is also worth analysing for. They educated their children under the knowledge of this simple sustainability. They had principles and values as we have today. They summarized their philosophies in poems and idioms. They have commandments that they taught their successive generations: The Ten Commandments: � Remain close to the Great Spirit. � Show great respect for your fellow beings. � Give assistance and kindness wherever needed. � Be truthful and honest at all times. � Do what you know to be right. � Look after the well being of mind and body. � Treat the earth and all that dwell thereon with respect. � Take full responsibility for your action. � Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good. � Work together for the benefit of all mankind. But unfortunately, instead of taking something from them, American settlers, between 18th and 19th centuries, fight them and murdered thousands of Indians including women and children, destroyed their cultures and assimilated them. They reflected Indians as wild animals in Hollywood movies. These things were done on behalf of setting a new American life to dominate the world. Like Indians, ancient societies� interests in mathematics, geometrics, medicine and mummifying, like Egyptians, are in fact endeavors of sustaining their societies. Egyptians thought that even dead bodies had to be preserved and conveyed to the infinity. Their works have been worth to consider to many scientists. We, the people of the solar system, have been striving for a better world, a clean environment, a peace planet. Using our power to solve problems may be causing some new ones. Our approach is getting more pluralistic and humanitarian rather than neoclassical using science and technology even in economics, forming new insights to get a better understanding of ecological, economic and social sustainability. So, inasmuch as we think pluralistic, let us make use of history in shaping our lives. While looking for remedies, the thing we want to find is what Indians found hundreds years ago. Indians� perception can be a very good example of what we are looking for. It can summarize the roots of sustainability: treat the earth and all that dwell thereon with respect. So, what happened in Minnesota? This is in fact a consequence of losing our values. Maybe this was a break-out of the assimilation effect hiding at a corner of the subconscious. Or maybe forgetting who we are gave rise to this unpleasant situation. If we saw the truth before, we would start to establish a sustainable world long time ago. We should do more before we come to the point of no return. And we also should take �the ten commandments� as the root of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. �with my deepest respects to the most respectable people of the mother nature� |
| Sustainability... The thing which we have been searching for. But somehow there is still problem to reach a global sustainability. Mankind is searching for new and clean technologies. But these efforts always remain in a limited area. The big gap between the developed and underdeveloped world is still a problem. |
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| Erwin Lazlo explains the inner limits of mankind. Read the article. |
| Environmental discourse of Sweden. Read the article. |
| Ecological economics: An innovatve concept. Goals and policy recommendations. Read the article. |
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