The Gaia Community College » meaning

A Passionate Plea

Biophile — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:32:58 +0000

Will there even be a seventh generation from now? We apparently don’t have the capability anymore to be mindful of the seventh generation, but how about starting with the next generation? This most passionate and inspirational plea from a 13 year old girl from Vancouver has apparently been circulating for a while now, but like all great speeches, it has a timeless quality to it, and continues to be relevant. What effect would this video have if it became part of the curriculum at political science universities?

She raises so many good points, but mostly I feel that the depth of her meaning is to remind us to see the forest for the trees. I think that the major shortcoming of the vast majority of environmental discussions, and scientific discussions for that matter, is that they get so lost in the minutiae that they easily forget to place the thoughts in the greater holistic context, and to take the time to find the greater meaning beyond the argument.

My favorite quote of hers ~ “If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it.”

Peace,
Eric

Spreading Science through the Heart

Biophile — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:53:58 +0000

Finding our meaningful place in the universe can make such a profound difference in our lives, and doing so playfully makes it even more magnificent. I have been wanting to post this Neil DeGrasse video for a while now as his passion and enthusiasm for sharing his discoveries are infectious, and he makes a great case for the value of understanding the significance of The Universe Story. But to make things even better, a fellow named John Boswell has created a project called The Symphony of Science where he takes clips from interviews such as the DeGrasse one and then skillfully puts them to music. In my mind, when pertinent information can be shared in such an entertaining and uplifting manner is when we start to experience grace.

I hope you enjoy these clips as much as I have.
Peace.
Eric

Go Glocal!

Aether — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:05:31 +0000

Apparently the blending of the words global and local has been around for a couple of decades thanks to some visionary Japanese business models. I see “Think Globally, Act Locally” bumper stickers all the time, but there are certain points for style with the word Glocal.

There’s a great article making the rounds regarding the need to present global issues and perspectives, especially within the sciences, as relevant locally. But what really got me going was talking about making global issues meaningful locally. It’s only when we are able to relate to an issue at home that they really become real for most of us, so the ability to relate to global issues becomes the challenge of glocalisation. It’s the meaning of something that so often gets lost these days, and especially so within the sciences. After all, it is meaning that ties everything together, and once again illustrates the need for story.

The article through the Environmental News Network can be found here:

Glocal approach makes global knowledge local

And there’s a good overview (surprise surprise) of glocalisation in Wikipedia.

So Go Glocal, and lets find ways to understand our local bioregions through addressing the global issues that face us all, and discover ways to understand our global issues by being able to relate to them locally.

Peace.
Eric

p.s. ~ while we’re in the process of going glocal, we might as well consider becoming locavores as well, a person who tries to eat as much as they can from within their bioregion. It’s a macrobiotic diet principle that’s been around for a while, but the word itself is fairly recent, and was even chosen as the 2007 word of the year in the Oxford American Dictionary. Pretty cool any way you look at it.