The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) tries to bridge the very rich and very poor by philanthropy. Philanthropy is beneficial, especially if it takes place within an international economic system that works for everyone.
That is presently not the case, because the international economic system enriches the few, impoverishes the many and endangers the planet. Like the CGI where intentions are good, but analyses are superficial, the Economist’s article “Virtuous in New York” does not touch on the underlying economic structures that make people very rich and very poor. Notwithstanding the good intentions behind the Millennium Development Goals that are reviewed by the UN General Assembly this week, also in New York, nation-states are willing to pony up (insufficient) funding, but unwilling and unable to tackle the international economic system that, to a great extent, has led to this unacceptable social and ecological predicament of both people and planet.
Perhaps, the US financial meltdown might become an occasion to review this international economic system of which the financial and monetary systems are such important subsystems. I, for one, foresee a major new approach to solving US and international problems with the election of Mr. Obama. His vision, unlike Mr. McCain’s, is based upon equity rather than growth as his guiding principle.
While both the CGI and the UN General Assembly are taking place in this great City, another Summit is being planned on Saturday October 11 where the integration of social and ecological values is applied to the climate crisis, using the values, vision and ethics of the Earth Charter. www.earcharterus.org Participants from government, business and civil society will listen to climatologist James Hansen of NASA/GISS who will relate the climate crisis to the US presidential elections, engage in workshops dealing with Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC2030, and come up with the NYC Earth Charter Declaration on the Climate Crisis. Cf. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nycecall.
While Mr. Clinton rightly speaks of the need of sharing opportunities and sharing responsibilities, this sharing should also include the willingness to revamp an international economic system, so that it starts working not for the interests of a privileged few, but for the interest of all people and planet. Let the US financial crisis with its enormous global implications become a blessing in disguise! I agree with the end of this Economist’s article: “In short, this is the moment when we will find out if all the talk of doing good in recent years by big business and the rich is more than mere talk.”
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Where is globalism in the US financial crisis?
Title of Post: Where is globalism in the US financial crisis?
I have been making notes on the financial meltdown during the last couple of days for a post on this most important economic issue of reestablishing a healthy financial system in the US and globally. I feel that a sustainability sociologist with training in international affairs and divinity I should be able to make some contribution.
Much of what I was going to write about the US bailout and the Paulson plan that is being debated today in Congress was presented in an email message of Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders. He wrote a letter to Paulson and urged citizens to co-sign his letter. He also presented his case by a video of a couple of minutes making his most important points. Here is this most important URL http://sanders.senate.gov/petitions/?petition=Financial_Crisis_1
There is one area that I feel his, Paulson’s and probably 95% of the US population’s opinions fall short on. It is the global dimension.
While on second thoughts Paulson included US operations of foreign banks in this bailout plan, his plan does not consider the international economic system that enriches the few, impoverishes the many and endangers the planet. Given that the US financial system is (still) so dominant in the global financial system or at least so interdependent with the other economies and not only of the OECD countries, the time has come for the US to take leadership in humility and boldness to start working towards a healthy, i.e. socially and ecologically sustainable financial and economic system.
I for one oppose rushing into this bailout before the November elections. I for one hope that Mr. Obama will be voted to the US president, because, in many ways, he has the skills, character and temperament to bring people together in the US and abroad.
I have been making notes on the financial meltdown during the last couple of days for a post on this most important economic issue of reestablishing a healthy financial system in the US and globally. I feel that a sustainability sociologist with training in international affairs and divinity I should be able to make some contribution.
Much of what I was going to write about the US bailout and the Paulson plan that is being debated today in Congress was presented in an email message of Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders. He wrote a letter to Paulson and urged citizens to co-sign his letter. He also presented his case by a video of a couple of minutes making his most important points. Here is this most important URL http://sanders.senate.gov/petitions/?petition=Financial_Crisis_1
There is one area that I feel his, Paulson’s and probably 95% of the US population’s opinions fall short on. It is the global dimension.
While on second thoughts Paulson included US operations of foreign banks in this bailout plan, his plan does not consider the international economic system that enriches the few, impoverishes the many and endangers the planet. Given that the US financial system is (still) so dominant in the global financial system or at least so interdependent with the other economies and not only of the OECD countries, the time has come for the US to take leadership in humility and boldness to start working towards a healthy, i.e. socially and ecologically sustainable financial and economic system.
I for one oppose rushing into this bailout before the November elections. I for one hope that Mr. Obama will be voted to the US president, because, in many ways, he has the skills, character and temperament to bring people together in the US and abroad.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sustainable Aviation
Unfortunately, in the recent Obama post on the need to integrate surface transportation and aviation, I referred to the website www.suscom.com which should be WWW.SUSAVIATION.COM. It is at that website that readers are invited to sign the ISATEA petition, so that grassroots engagement and pressure can lead to a first class US transportation system.
This website is a sequel for about 15 years of voluntary engagement with the issue of sustainable aviation, particularly in the metro NY area. www.metronyaviation.org gives a record of that activity. Since a couple of years that voluntary service has also extended to the national organization www.us-caw.org My engagement with sustainable aviation also led to the teaching of a course on sustainable aviation at the former College of Aeronautics near LaGuardia airport and now www.vaughn.edu.
One of my satisfying experiences in sustainable aviation was my invitation in November 07 by the publisher of the Seattle Port Observer. It was a great pleasure adding to the North West thinking and practice in sustainability by given my presentation. Part of the satisfaction was also its excellent coverage in http://www.washblog.com/story/2007/11/4/171922/833.
Presently I am still undecided whether I should start a separate blog on sustainable aviation entitled revamping aviation or have it continue a part of this blog on contextual sustainability. For those intrigued by this concept of sustainability, please google the term and you may find several places, including my chapter 2 in the Wenden anthology which is at www.globalepe.org/documents/contsuschp22fp_000.doc .
I am signing of with my sustainable aviation signature file:
Yours for sustaining futures and a sustainable, equitable and accountable aviation industry
Frans C. Verhagen, M.Div., M.I.A., Ph.D., sustainability sociologist,
Adjunct Associate Professor of Sustainable Aviation at the Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology (formerly the College of Aeronautics at La Guardia Airport), www.vaughn.edu
President, Citizens Aviation Watch USA, Inc, www.us-caw.org; President, SAFE, Inc., www.metronyaviation.org
Principal, SAVIA Associates International. www.susaviation.com
Sustainability Fellow at the Green Institute, Washington, D.C., www.greeninstitute.net
Director, Sustainability Research and EducationEarth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE)97-37 63rd Road, #15E, Rego Park, NY 11374, USAvoice: 1+(718)275-3932; cell: 917-617-6217; fax 1+(718)275-3932http://www.globalepe.org, gaia1@rcn.com, http://fcvnyc.blogspot.com /
“…..the verb sustaining holds open the actively normative questions that the idea of sustainability raises. We are required to probe: What truly sustains us? Why? And how do we know? Conversely, we must ask: What are we to sustain above all else? Why? And how may we do so?"
Aidan Davison, Technology and the Contested Meanings of Sustainability, 2001: p.64
This website is a sequel for about 15 years of voluntary engagement with the issue of sustainable aviation, particularly in the metro NY area. www.metronyaviation.org gives a record of that activity. Since a couple of years that voluntary service has also extended to the national organization www.us-caw.org My engagement with sustainable aviation also led to the teaching of a course on sustainable aviation at the former College of Aeronautics near LaGuardia airport and now www.vaughn.edu.
One of my satisfying experiences in sustainable aviation was my invitation in November 07 by the publisher of the Seattle Port Observer. It was a great pleasure adding to the North West thinking and practice in sustainability by given my presentation. Part of the satisfaction was also its excellent coverage in http://www.washblog.com/story/2007/11/4/171922/833.
Presently I am still undecided whether I should start a separate blog on sustainable aviation entitled revamping aviation or have it continue a part of this blog on contextual sustainability. For those intrigued by this concept of sustainability, please google the term and you may find several places, including my chapter 2 in the Wenden anthology which is at www.globalepe.org/documents/contsuschp22fp_000.doc .
I am signing of with my sustainable aviation signature file:
Yours for sustaining futures and a sustainable, equitable and accountable aviation industry
Frans C. Verhagen, M.Div., M.I.A., Ph.D., sustainability sociologist,
Adjunct Associate Professor of Sustainable Aviation at the Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology (formerly the College of Aeronautics at La Guardia Airport), www.vaughn.edu
President, Citizens Aviation Watch USA, Inc, www.us-caw.org; President, SAFE, Inc., www.metronyaviation.org
Principal, SAVIA Associates International. www.susaviation.com
Sustainability Fellow at the Green Institute, Washington, D.C., www.greeninstitute.net
Director, Sustainability Research and EducationEarth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE)97-37 63rd Road, #15E, Rego Park, NY 11374, USAvoice: 1+(718)275-3932; cell: 917-617-6217; fax 1+(718)275-3932http://www.globalepe.org, gaia1@rcn.com, http://fcvnyc.blogspot.com /
“…..the verb sustaining holds open the actively normative questions that the idea of sustainability raises. We are required to probe: What truly sustains us? Why? And how do we know? Conversely, we must ask: What are we to sustain above all else? Why? And how may we do so?"
Aidan Davison, Technology and the Contested Meanings of Sustainability, 2001: p.64
Friday, September 19, 2008
Suggestion to Obama campaign about the IITS Initiative
New York City, September 19, 2008
Dear Senator Obama and economic advisors:
I think your tax policies are correct, both fiscally and ethically. Only those making over $250k can bear substantial tax increases which would offset no tax increases for low- and middle-income citizens, the majority of 95% of the population. They are ethically correct, because, finally, equity is used as the guiding principle rather than growth at all costs.
One important ingredient to have the US (and global) economy working again is enormous investment in infrastructure which would bolster employment and increase purchasing power. It is the latter that makes an economy hum. Presently, as is pointed out by Henry Kaufman, a Wall Street economist, in today’s New York Times, there are not many alternatives that can replace consumer spending. He “ticks off the alternatives and discounts them. Exports could carry some of the load, but the surge in the first half of the year is fading as European and Asian economies weaken. Here at home, capital spending by business on new buildings and equipment could provide a lift, but that, too, is beginning to fade as corporate profits — and demand — weaken. Just Wednesday, FedEx announced that profits had shrunk in the latest quarter as freight traffic declined. Home construction is off the table, of course, as a means of lifting the economy. That leaves government, which could inject money into the economy through aid to the states or infrastructure spending or another round of tax rebates.”
It is to this infrastructure spending that I want to alert you to the IITS Initiative which stands for an Integrated Intermodal Transportation System. It consists of $300 billion 15 year program to fully integrate air and surface transportation. It would drastically reduce short-haul air traffic of passengers and cargo and make the remaining aviation services connect with upgraded surface modes of transportation. Freight would mostly use trains and passenger travel would mostly use a modern coach system for short and medium distances. For more information, see www.suscom.com
Yours for sustaining futures and a sustainable, equitable and accountable aviation industry
Frans C. Verhagen, M.Div., M.I.A., Ph.D., sustainability sociologist,
Adjunct Associate Professor of Sustainable Aviation at the Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology (formerly the College of Aeronautics at La Guardia Airport), www.vaughn.edu
President, Citizens Aviation Watch USA, Inc, www.us-caw.org; President, SAFE, Inc., www.metronyaviation.org
Principal, SAVIA Associates International. www.susaviation.com
Sustainability Fellow at the Green Institute, Washington, D.C., www.greeninstitute.net
Director, Sustainability Research and EducationEarth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE)97-37 63rd Road, #15E, Rego Park, NY 11374, USAvoice: 1+(718)275-3932; cell: 917-617-6217; fax 1+(718)275-3932http://www.globalepe.org, gaia1@rcn.com
“…..the verb sustaining holds open the actively normative questions that the idea of sustainability raises. We are required to probe: What truly sustains us? Why? And how do we know? Conversely, we must ask: What are we to sustain above all else? Why? And how may we do so?"
Aidan Davison, Technology and the Contested Meanings of Sustainability, 2001: p.64
Dear Senator Obama and economic advisors:
I think your tax policies are correct, both fiscally and ethically. Only those making over $250k can bear substantial tax increases which would offset no tax increases for low- and middle-income citizens, the majority of 95% of the population. They are ethically correct, because, finally, equity is used as the guiding principle rather than growth at all costs.
One important ingredient to have the US (and global) economy working again is enormous investment in infrastructure which would bolster employment and increase purchasing power. It is the latter that makes an economy hum. Presently, as is pointed out by Henry Kaufman, a Wall Street economist, in today’s New York Times, there are not many alternatives that can replace consumer spending. He “ticks off the alternatives and discounts them. Exports could carry some of the load, but the surge in the first half of the year is fading as European and Asian economies weaken. Here at home, capital spending by business on new buildings and equipment could provide a lift, but that, too, is beginning to fade as corporate profits — and demand — weaken. Just Wednesday, FedEx announced that profits had shrunk in the latest quarter as freight traffic declined. Home construction is off the table, of course, as a means of lifting the economy. That leaves government, which could inject money into the economy through aid to the states or infrastructure spending or another round of tax rebates.”
It is to this infrastructure spending that I want to alert you to the IITS Initiative which stands for an Integrated Intermodal Transportation System. It consists of $300 billion 15 year program to fully integrate air and surface transportation. It would drastically reduce short-haul air traffic of passengers and cargo and make the remaining aviation services connect with upgraded surface modes of transportation. Freight would mostly use trains and passenger travel would mostly use a modern coach system for short and medium distances. For more information, see www.suscom.com
Yours for sustaining futures and a sustainable, equitable and accountable aviation industry
Frans C. Verhagen, M.Div., M.I.A., Ph.D., sustainability sociologist,
Adjunct Associate Professor of Sustainable Aviation at the Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology (formerly the College of Aeronautics at La Guardia Airport), www.vaughn.edu
President, Citizens Aviation Watch USA, Inc, www.us-caw.org; President, SAFE, Inc., www.metronyaviation.org
Principal, SAVIA Associates International. www.susaviation.com
Sustainability Fellow at the Green Institute, Washington, D.C., www.greeninstitute.net
Director, Sustainability Research and EducationEarth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE)97-37 63rd Road, #15E, Rego Park, NY 11374, USAvoice: 1+(718)275-3932; cell: 917-617-6217; fax 1+(718)275-3932http://www.globalepe.org, gaia1@rcn.com
“…..the verb sustaining holds open the actively normative questions that the idea of sustainability raises. We are required to probe: What truly sustains us? Why? And how do we know? Conversely, we must ask: What are we to sustain above all else? Why? And how may we do so?"
Aidan Davison, Technology and the Contested Meanings of Sustainability, 2001: p.64
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Welcome to Contextual Sustainability Express
This blog invites you to join me onto the various roads that will lead to sustaining futures for people and planet in both the global North and South.
Those sustaining futures are viewed with a perspective of sustainability called contextual sustainability (CS): ecological sustainability in the context of social justice, active non-violence, futurity and participatory decision-making. What does perspective does will become clear in its application, particularly to education, aviation, peace, sustainable communities development in the global North and South.
You are invited on this CS express which is not a CS local. A sustainability revolution is emerging, but it has to be speeded up particularly in these troubling times of a teetering international economic system which enriches the few, impoverishes the many and endangers the planet. It is this urgent transition to sustainability based upon an explicit and integrated set of social and ecological values that is most needed now and in the next couple of decades.
Once, again, welcome on the CS Express where civilized language is matched with depth of insights and practical proposals.
Yours for sustaining futures in both industrialized and agrarian societies
Frans C. Verhagen, M.Div., M.I.A., Ph.D., sustainability sociologist,
Chair, UN and Global Affairs Committee at Community Church of NY Unitarian Universalist
UN Ecosoc representative for the International Peace Research Association (IPRA)
Adjunct Associate Professor Sustainable Communities at Pace University, NY
Sustainability Fellow at the Green Institute in Washington, D.C.
Developer of the Sustainability and Peace Institute (SPI) Model of Rural Development in West Africa, particularly Sierra Leone and Togo
Director, Sustainability Research and Education
Earth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE)
97-37 63rd Road, #15E, Rego Park, NY 11374, USAvoice: 1+(718)275-3932; fax 1+(718)275-3932; cell 1+(917 617 6217)http://www.globalepe.org, gaia1@rcn.com
“…..the verb sustaining holds open the actively normative questions that the idea of sustainability raises. We are required to probe: What truly sustains us? Why? And how do we know? Conversely, we must ask: What are we to sustain above all else? Why? And how may we do so?"
Aidan Davison, Technology and the Contested Meanings of Sustainability, 2001: p.64
Those sustaining futures are viewed with a perspective of sustainability called contextual sustainability (CS): ecological sustainability in the context of social justice, active non-violence, futurity and participatory decision-making. What does perspective does will become clear in its application, particularly to education, aviation, peace, sustainable communities development in the global North and South.
You are invited on this CS express which is not a CS local. A sustainability revolution is emerging, but it has to be speeded up particularly in these troubling times of a teetering international economic system which enriches the few, impoverishes the many and endangers the planet. It is this urgent transition to sustainability based upon an explicit and integrated set of social and ecological values that is most needed now and in the next couple of decades.
Once, again, welcome on the CS Express where civilized language is matched with depth of insights and practical proposals.
Yours for sustaining futures in both industrialized and agrarian societies
Frans C. Verhagen, M.Div., M.I.A., Ph.D., sustainability sociologist,
Chair, UN and Global Affairs Committee at Community Church of NY Unitarian Universalist
UN Ecosoc representative for the International Peace Research Association (IPRA)
Adjunct Associate Professor Sustainable Communities at Pace University, NY
Sustainability Fellow at the Green Institute in Washington, D.C.
Developer of the Sustainability and Peace Institute (SPI) Model of Rural Development in West Africa, particularly Sierra Leone and Togo
Director, Sustainability Research and Education
Earth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE)
97-37 63rd Road, #15E, Rego Park, NY 11374, USAvoice: 1+(718)275-3932; fax 1+(718)275-3932; cell 1+(917 617 6217)http://www.globalepe.org, gaia1@rcn.com
“…..the verb sustaining holds open the actively normative questions that the idea of sustainability raises. We are required to probe: What truly sustains us? Why? And how do we know? Conversely, we must ask: What are we to sustain above all else? Why? And how may we do so?"
Aidan Davison, Technology and the Contested Meanings of Sustainability, 2001: p.64
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