I don’t know the provenance of this quote attributed to Gus Speth, which affirms the role of the humanities in a STEM-obsessed world, but I did find this interview, conducted by Steve Curwood.
“You know, what’s an environmental issue?” And if the answer is air pollution, water pollution, climate change…then we’re really right where we’ve been. But what if an environmental issue is something that has a big effect on environmental outcomes, on our prospects of leaving a good environment to our children and grandchildren? Well, then an environmental issue includes things like the health of our political system and sustaining our failing democracy and not just sustaining our natural areas. The things that affect environment outcomes are politics and the ascendancy of money power over people power, and all the other flaws that are undermining our democracy.
Post was last modified on 28 Mar 2018 2:05 pm
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Gus Speth states that egoïsme, greed, apathy are the real causes of the environmental crisis… and scientists cannot bring about a spiritual & cultural transformation”.
Yes we can!
True, this type of transformation needs an colossal mind shift. Achieving a mind wired towards love & connectivity requires individual courage & training, and we humans tend to learn in babysteps and only with personal guidance, tribal encouragement & pressure.
However, science is at the rescue!
Ancient wisdom systems - the innate wisdom of people connected to nature & energies (aka healthy farmers knowledge as my grandma said), refined by yogis that transmitted & polished & perfected mind science over centuries - are increasingly backed up by modern scientific research (in 10-15years since the MRI-scan is available). Contemporary seekers & teachers share & adapt these methods to our modern world, where the outer environment & our inner experience are equally polluted, overstimulated and out of whack.
Let us stand side by side,
‘real’ male scientist biologist-mathematician-ITcrowd,
with researchers from the contemplative, psychology and neuroscience departments, caves and monasteries,
urban dwelling yoga practitioners, grassroot educators, school teachers, therapists, gardeners, bakers, journalists, …
to share and increase our knowledge, interdisciplinary & holistic understanding, to make people more healthy & resilient,
so we no longer rush through life desperately trying to fulfill other people’s expectations, pursue materialism & happiness
and rather reclaim time and energy to reconnect with nature, to question the attitudes & cultural values we take as unwavering, to value empathy & paradox and therefore become less anxious & influenceable, so we’ll inform themselves on scientific findings & choices we can make in our daily life,
to become parents, lovers and politicians acting from love & long term longing rather than neediness.
So we can climb out of the trenches of spiritual v. rational science so we reclaim our connection to ourselves, fellow beings and the ecosystem that surrounds and sustains us.
Remember: sociological research shows that it takes only 10-15% of the population to ignite a revolution, that true change only appears when the burden is too heavy to carry & temporarily increases pain & confusion… How grateful are we today for the French Revolution, the suffragettes, Martin Luther Kings March, The Beatles generations experiments & music, Mandelas anti-apartheids struggle, emperors forcing Budhism upon their subjects (for lack of better knowledge of Asian history, sorry)
…Imagine our greatgrandchildren looking back in amusement upon our generation that had to fight for bike lanes, almond milk lattes, solar & wind energy, car sharing and paid shitloads of money for fancy meditation apps & yoga clothes & retreats, … living in a world where mind training, healthy food, honest exchange of goods & culture, & a radiant natural environment are taken for granted.
Hope you and your family have a blessed Easter Dennis!