31 décembre au soir, mon ménage est fait, je suis pas mal prette pour démarrer l’année en beauté. Presque tout est à sa place, quelques trucs restent en désordre, en dedans comme au dehors, mais j’ai depuis longtemps abandonné l’idée d’essayer d’être parfaite, en fait ca devait faire parti de mes résolutions de 2004…
Un élan de nostalgie et je me retrouve à écrire ce qui sera la dernière entrée de l’année 2007. En pensée d’arrière-fond, la petite voix qui me dit que ca fait looser par à peu près d’être chez soi en train d’écrire sur son blogue le 31 décembre au soir… et l’autre voix qui l’emporte et s’assume totalement : ben quoi, pis oui, j’ai choisi de passer mon 31 décembre chez moi avec pour seule compagnie mes chats, parce que ca me fait du bien de passer ces derniers moments tranquillement au lieu de me rusher dans un parté pour faire comme tout le monde.
En fait bien honnêtement, je trouve que cette année particulièrement, on a très peu à célébrer, alors j’irai pas faire l’autruche nulle part et me saouler pour oublier combien j’en ai contre l’imbécillité humaine.
Bref, sur un air un peu plus réjouissant, j’ai décidé de vous faire un bestof de mes filles de l’année – parce que de les lire chaque semaine m’aide à avancer, par leur partage elles m’aident à continuer mes mille projets même si je suis seule dans mon coin et que l’assurance me manque. Lentement mais sûrement. Certaines sont d’ici, d’autres d’ailleurs.
À vous je souhaite une année 2008 remplie de clarté, parce que je crois que c’est bien de ça qu’on a tous besoin.
When I saw the title and link to this article (”Facing the Facts about Climate Change”), I thought, oh no! not again! I cannot hear about the subjects global warming and nature and pollution again. But I gave it a try and finally I found it very informative and it provoked some new thoughts within me. So I decided to share some text snippets with you.
Combating climate change, therefore, is not simply about applying green technologies, such as changing from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs. Robert Weissman, editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor and director of Essential Action, points out that what is needed is a broad public understanding of how the present system of making, transporting, selling, buying, using and disposing of things is trashing the planet.
I remember Bruce Sterling and his future vision of the “wrangler” in his book “Shaping Things”.
The problem of climate change is not simply a question of economics and social models, however. At the heart of the matter is the need for a change in social attitudes prevalent in the western, industrial world, one based on insularity and greed. An excellent reflection of this is “The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard” (StoryofStuff.com), a short film which can be viewed on the Internet (about 20 minutes) that explains the “materials economy” and how it works.
[...] western industrial civilisation is destroying itself because it’s determined to disregard all limits in all areas. It has broken all the aesthetic rules in art, given birth to absolute totalitarianisms, and declared that there are no longer any physical or ethical limits. Likewise, there are no longer any limits on consumption or the exploitation of nature. Our obsession is that we must always have more. Modern society is, as it were, set on holding the position of the “almighty creator”. This attitude goes hand in hand with the Judeo-Christian view of the world which puts human beings in a privileged position above all else in the world.
That’s what I always say (and will continue to say ), WE ARE ANIMALS (or just beings, since there are no “animals”). There is no reason to call ourselves “human beings”, to create an artificial border between “animals” and us. This border creates only problems on earth.
Ironically, the Judeo-Christian view of the world, which is prominent in all western, industrial nations, also contains a warning in the story pertaining to “the tree of knowledge”. Contrary to the view of many who use this as an excuse to rationalise that ignorance is bliss, the problem with taking a bite of the forbidden fruit is not the acquisition of knowledge itself but its application. In other words, we are too immature to handle certain types of information.This doesn’t mean we need to adopt a Luddite view of the world. Rather, it should be used as a guide for adopting the precautionary principle more often. Unfortunately, we seem to be relying too much on technological progress as a panacea for our ills.Technology is often regarded as cure with no side effects. Yet the 20th century is full of examples of how the double-sword of technology has led to more problems than solutions: radioactivity, CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), DDT, asbestos, hydrocarbons, nuclear power, and the list goes on.
It seems our consciousness is just not evolved enough to handle all the means of technology available to us.
The dilemma for many is that our reliance on technology is such that we have become increasingly isolated from reality and the outside world. This can be clearly seen through the advent of the so-called “information society”. Computer-mediated communications has become simply another technology in which the promises of a greener, brighter future have turned out to be superfluous. The Internet especially was supposed to deliver a “new economy”. Moreover, the “paperless” medium of the Internet would help save trees while the tele-working would cut down on traffic congestion and emissions. It has since turned out to be the opposite: the economy is the same as it ever was, more paper is being used than ever before, and with so many people online computers now cause more emissions than civil aviation worldwide. It’s not just about household computers: the Internet requires huge server and data storage facilities, and as the flow of data doubles every four months, electricity consumption grows with it.
In the end, regardless of the technology at our disposal, it’s quite clear that the only way to combat climate change is a thorough and radical change in the way we live and consume resources. However, given the close relationship between our lifestyles and our personal values, such a fundamental change is only possible if we make alterations to basic ethics. For instance, we rarely take into account future generations or distant populations when making important decisions. Moreover, western societies are structured so as to enable each person to maximise their own interests. As a result, it’s only to be expected that the ultimate objective of western, industrial society is to produce and consume more and more.
That’s why I don’t like “marketing” and the word “consumer”. WTF! I am not supposed to consume! And don’t tell me about your new shiny products! Not on the street and not on the internet (facebook, google etc.).And I don’t believe that perfectly targeted advertising is “pure” information. At the end of the day it is only about making more profit. Nobody thinks about the environmental impact of that product in 10, 20 or 30 years! But it is up to you, just go and buy and slurp that trash into your body. You will see what happens with your children, who drink from your breast milk and are prone to allergies. Maybe that’s the way to stop that circle. People will be forced to buy less since their body is not capable of taking more shit.I can decide by my own feelings what I need and what I don’t. My credo is REDUCTION. I reduce the amount of goods I buy and own.In the future it will be hopefully insulting to call someone “consumer”.
Environmental degradation and climate change has shown that this is clearly no longer sustainable. The free organisation of society is showing itself to be at odds with the management of shared environmental assets. There is now an urgent need to invent new methods of economic and political regulation. This includes branding certain aspects of our lifestyles as criminal.
Hard to give everyone nice wishes this year, i feel its easier for people to close their eyes – ignorance does not hurt as much as seeing reality and the facts as they are.
Please take time to think during the upcoming holidays – there is a lot to do.
Christmas should be a celebration of love and peace, yet it has become a mad consumption party at the cost of nature. We cut millions of trees to celebrate, then trow them off. We grow and kill chickens, cows, pigs, ducks, turkeys without any respect to feed ourselves ’till sickness. We buy and spend for goods which are toxic for nature and made by exploited labor. We are spending lots of money in a dumb way, this at the profit of brands. Unacceptable. Please think.
Apart from the huge amount of snow waiting for us at home, this plant bloomed better than ever while we were away. What a suprise to discover it on my desk the night we came back!
This one breaks my heart – i so miss the apfelstrudel – i think we almost ate one a day during our stay.
One of my favorite coffee in berlin, Einstein – will for sure be part of my next book which will be about my best of Berlin.
One of my favorite berlin’s find, the work of Juju’s delivery – absolutely touching.
In all, very happy to be back home after a wonderful time spent in Europe.
We are about to see the end of another year, and for us who still think, care and reflect, this is a time of questioning, and repositioning.
There are roughly only 2 things that matters to me and for which i really care – the nature which surrounds us and which we are fully part of, the same from which we exploited each kingdoms (animal, vegetal, mineral) over the last 100 years without giving any special kind of respect back, and in second the realization of humans as creative and spiritual beings.
As Luce posted, we now know that we destroyed nature to the point of no-return – it is now up to us to see if we will now also fail in our realization as human beings, in our relations with each others, in the way we live and do business, cooperate, and grow.
“To keep ourselves afloat, we need to change the economic and political structures that determine how we behave. In this case, we need to elevate the ethic of cooperation over the deeply ingrained reflex of competition. We need to elevate our biological similarities over our geographical differences. We need, in the face of this oncoming onslaught, to reorganize our social structures to reflect our most humane collective aspirations.
There is no body of expertise—no authoritative answers—for this one. We are crossing a threshold into uncharted territory. And since there is no precedent to guide us, we are left with only our own hearts to consult, whatever courage we can muster, our instinctive dedication to a human future—and the intellectual integrity to look reality in the eye.”
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), WE ARE ANIMALS (or just beings, since there are no “animals”). There is no reason to call ourselves “human beings”, to create an artificial border between “animals” and us. This border creates only problems on earth.
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