A world flag -- wow! Isn't it gorgeous?

Aside from the brilliant colors -- something that always catches my eye -- this flag is a clickable fount of information. The flags represent all the members of the United Nations. On their website, you can click on each flag and learn a little something about the country it represents.

"The world flag was created in 1988 to raise global awareness, inspire innovative solutions and promote action toward challenges facing our world today. It serves as a powerful symbol to inspire action and celebrate the pursuit of positive change. The flag has flown from New York to Nepal and continues to make its way around the planet spreading its message of unity," says the website.   Read more...

I believe in a beautiful and useful policy. Meaning, a thing has to be either beautiful or useful, if it is none of these then I just throw it away. Ten times out of ten I have discovered that I never regret trashing them.

The trash in our life includes old clothes, old utensils, old cosmetics, old electronics which do not work, old shoes that hurt and bite, old towels that scratch more than absorb the dampness of our body, tennis balls that have lost their bounce, golf balls with dings, rusty tools, rusty relationships, rusty emotions, old angers, old hostilities, old newspapers, old lovers who still hurt, negative emotions and ghosts of boyfriends/girlfriends past. Yep, all in the same breath.   Read more...

With the economy in disarray, it's a little counterintuitive that a conference on funding social causes would be booming. But over the last three days the Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco drew close to 1,000 investors, fund managers, foundations, social entrepreneurs and corporate executives in just it's second year in existence. Attendees came from 32 different countries to connect with other leaders and innovators and find new ways to "accelerate the flow of capital to good," as conference co-founder Gary Bolles put it.   Read more...

It was almost a decade since I had been involved with climate change activities, so I was happy when I was invited to a capacity building session held in Kathmandu in July by the Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA). CANSA is part of a global network of NGOs addressing climate change issues in the region.

I was eager to learn about the current science of climate change and how well nations around the world are responding to it. To my dismay, I found that global carbon dioxide emissions have increased by 70% in the last 20 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that the evidence is even stronger that human factors have exacerbated the climate change process. In fact, we are knocking on the doors of a Climate Catastrophe, if our planet's temperature rises more than 2 degrees Celsius and the atmospheric carbon levels move towards 400 parts per million (ppm), when it should remain below 350.   Read more...

Ode's mission is very inspiring for me. I love the idea of news that uplifts. And I am equally taken by the vast beauty of ordinary people living extraordinary lives. Ever since my first brush with Ode, I have felt my world expanding, precisely because my eyes and heart are opening wider and more deeply to recognize the awesome task of being human.

And of course, as my self opens inwardly, people and events come to me outwardly. So, I am living the privilege of discovery, one human being at a time.   Read more...

It's rare to see peace mentioned in Newsweek except insofar as peace is lacking so I was pleased to see a one-pager in Travel a few weeks ago about the 600-mile Israel National Trail. The Trail is a hiking path that crisscrosses the entire nation of Israel. It was modeled on the Appalachian Trail. It bears the markings of three stripes as guides, painted on the rocks in white, blue and orange. (It intrigues me that the mystical meanings of those colors are, in order, all light, creative expression and joy.)   Read more...

As I witness children getting ready to go back to school this week, my mind heads down the path of questioning why we do things the way we do. The questions flood my brain. I see signs like the one below. Why is the school system in such a state that they need this "kickoff". I see children that are very sad and sometimes really angry about having to end the summer before summer is officially over. I see them angry that they have to go to school at all. They tell my kids that they are lucky they do no have to go to school. My sons are sad for the kids that don't have a choice, and wish that all kids could have a choice to do what feels right to them.

My son and I went for a walk tonight and we talked about how one of his schooled friends asked him if he had ever done a math worksheet. My son told him no, why would I need to do that? I do math in my life all the time, but I don't need to prove that, by doing a worksheet. We talked about all of the ways that he learns math concepts even though they are not called "math". We talked about how if he needs to learn something, he can find the answer when he needs it. We questioned who gets to decide exactly what a human being "needs" to learn by the time they are 18? We wondered how people can get together in a meeting to decide what is best for every student that comes to their school. How is it possible to do this if we are all individuals having different interests and different learning styles? I know that teachers and administrators do their best, but how can they really do what is best for each student? It isn't possible. Teachers have their hands tied as well, because the students must test high so that the schools get their funding. Teachers have a difficult job.   Read more...

Signature On A Small Town from B-Rilla on Vimeo.

Follow our journey: therecessends.com Twitter: twitter.com/austinchu   Read more...

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all. ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

I thoroughly enjoy the daily quotes I receive on my iGoogle customized homepage. This appeared there some time ago, and I’ve spent a lot of time since then visiting it, and thinking about it.

Wikipedia informs us that “Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799) was a German scientist, satirist and Anglophile. As a scientist, he was the first to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics in Germany. Lichtenberg was the youngest of 17 children of pastor Johann Conrad Lichtenberg.

“As a physicist, today he is remembered for his investigations in electricity, for discovering branching discharge patterns on dielectrics now called Lichtenberg figures which are considered today to be examples of fractals. He also discovered the basic principle of modern copy machine technology.

“His ‘waste books’ (Sudelbücher in German) are the notebooks he kept from his student days until the end of his life. The notebooks contain quotations that struck Lichtenberg, titles of books to read, autobiographical sketches, and short or long reflections. It is those reflections that helped Lichtenberg earn his posthumous fame. Today he is regarded as one of the best aphorists in Western intellectual history.”

And so, to return to Herr Doktor Lichtenberg’s aphorism …

“Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all.”

This is excellent advice. It represents the true spirit of intellectual curiosity, and even in Lichtenberg’s day and age, was almost impossible. Our educational system is predicated on the notion that we must form an opinion of our own.

However, dear Georg, was the last of a family of 17 progeny. I’d hazard a guess that his opinion was not only not much solicited, but even if it had been, couldn’t have been heard in the cacophony that that many children would generate. Besides, the idea is full of wisdom.

To form an opinion, one must learn about one’s subject. Most of us think we already know what peace is, what it means, and can even make a suggestion about how to get there. But what if we, like Lichtenberg, take the stance that we do not know what peace is? Wouldn’t we have to inquire about it? Learn about it? Learn from it?

This is what it would be to begin to address peace WITHOUT opinion.

We also would have to admit to ourselves that we don’t know what peace means. We really don’t. And, that we haven’t a genuine clue as to how to get there.

A.J. Muste was quoted in the New York Times many years ago as saying, “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.”

Let’s follow Lichtenberg’s advice and let go of our opinions in the hope that we might meet and befriend true peace of mind.

11 november aanstaande vindt alweer het 10e Nationale Sustainability Congres plaats. Tijdens Nederlands’ grootste duurzaamheidsevenement worden vele kanten van maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen (MVO) belicht.

In de praktijk worden inmiddels diverse benamingen gebruikt die reiken aan de term MVO. Zo bestaan de termen ‘maatschappelijk betrokken ondernemen’, ‘duurzaam ondernemen’en een ‘duurzame bedrijfsvoering’. In de wetenschappelijke literatuur bestaan de Engelse termen ‘corporate social responsibility’, ‘corporate citizenship’ en ‘sustainability’. Voorgaande benamingen zijn niet altijd even duidelijk gedefinieerd. Soms ligt de nadruk wat meer op het ecologische aspect van MVO zoals bij de term ‘duurzaam ondernemen’, en soms wat meer op het sociale aspect zoals bij ‘maatschappelijk betrokken ondernemen’. Ook kan de nadruk meer liggen op wat een organisatie al daadwerkelijk heeft ondernomen (corporate citizenship) in plaats van waar een organisatie vindt dat het ‘beleidsmatig’ voor staat (corporate social responsibilty).   Read more...