Children See, Children Do

Children See, Children Do

Education, Featured

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d4gmdl3zNQ This video illustrates what our future may look like, depending on the examples we give to others. Children learn by example, and so do adults. This knowledge is true power, but have we been using it for good or bad? “Children learn by trying to do something, by failing, and by being told about or by copying some new behavior that has better results. This perspective is founded on the simple but central insight that children are trying to do something rather than to know something. In other words, they are learning by doing.” – Dr. Roger Schank, from Engines for Education “The idea of public education depends absolutely on the existence of shared narratives and the exclusion of narratives that lead to alienation and divisiveness. What makes public schools public is not so much that the schools have common goals but that the students have common gods. The reason for this is that public education does not serve a public. It creates a public.” – Dr. Neil Postman, from The End Of Education “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” – H.G...
Social Networks And The Need To Recognize Human Connection

Social Networks And The Need To Recognize Human Connection

Featured, Science

The great project of the twenty first century – understanding how the whole of humanity comes to be greater than the sum of its parts – is just beginning. Like an awakening child, the human super organism is becoming self-aware, and this will surely help us to achieve our goals. But the greatest gift of this awareness will be the sheer joy of self discovery and the realization that to truly know ourselves we must first understand how and why we are all connected.” In their widely acclaimed book, Connected: The Amazing Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, Nicholas Christakis MD, PhD & James Fowler, PhD examine human connection through social networks. The book reveals some startling insights about human interrelation. Understanding the degree of human connectivity is of primary importance if we are going to change our world. Working Together Generates A Higher Form Of Life Working together, cells, generate a higher form of life that is entirely different from the internal workings of a single cell. For example, our digestion is not a function of any one cell or even one type of cells. Likewise, our thoughts are not located in a given neuron; they arise from the pattern of connections between neurons. Whether cells, ants, or humans, new properties of a group can emerge from the interactions of individuals. And co-operative interactions are hallmarks of most most major evolutionary leaps that have occurred since the origin of life – consider the agglomeration of single cell organisms into multi-cellular organisms, and the assembly of individuals into super organisms.” Social Networks Reflect Our Inter-Connectivity...
Uprising 2012: The Message Of The Freedom Informant Network

Uprising 2012: The Message Of The Freedom Informant Network

Culture, Featured

Is this what it’s come to, a price tag on life, a world coursing with greed, intoxicated on monetary gain, and material conquest? Why have we allowed this? Ladies and gentlemen these are the questions you should be asking yourselves. The world around us has been manipulated, coerced in a direction where human life is outweighed by profit.” The quotes in this post are taken from the video at the bottom of this post: Uprising 2012: The Freedom Informant Network Wake From The Dream All the while you chase the dream life they’ve created for you, waving it in front of your face like a carrot on a stick. Stop it, stop being guided through life. We need to quit letting the decisions of a few control the lives of the many. We need to take our future, our children’s future, back into our hands.” Reestablish Connection When did we lose our connection with others, with community, and family? Stop focusing on the differences and start acknowledging and building upon our common grounds. Start sharing, connecting, teaching one another, and learning from each other as well. Build our bond as human beings. Find your strength in unity. Find your voice, and then let it be heard.” Be The Change You Want To See What you have to say does matter. We just need to get off our knees, stand on our own two feet, and remind them just how much we do matter. Become the change you want to see. Build the future together, a decent future, a future where life is cherished, rather than spent worshiping money.” Value...
The World We’ve Made: Every 5 Seconds A Child Dies From Malnutrition And Hunger

The World We’ve Made: Every 5 Seconds A Child Dies From Malnutrition And Hunger

Featured, Science

Man can and must prevent the tragedy of famine in the future instead of merely trying with pious regret to salvage the human wreckage of the famine, as he has so often done in the past.” – Norman Borlaug, agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate. In a previous post, Agriculture In The 21st Century, the amount of food produced in the world that is wasted (1/3 of food produced) was brought up. In that post, a number of experts were quoted, stating that malnutrition and hunger could be ended if unused food were properly distributed. Malnutrition and Hunger The following statistics from the World Food Programme show the severity of the lack of food distribution in the world, chiefly highlighting its affect on the children of the world: Every five seconds a child dies because of hunger. 854 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat, more than the combined populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union. Hunger is the world’s no.1 health risk. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. One in seven people in the world will go to bed hungry tonight. Asia and the Pacific region is home to over half the world’s population and nearly two thirds of the world’s hungry people. 65 percent  of the world’s hungry live in only seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia. Undernutrition contributes to five million deaths of children under five each year in developing countries. One out of four children – roughly 146 million – in developing countries is underweight. More than...
Redefining Prosperity

Redefining Prosperity

Economy, Featured

Prosperity – at least in economic terms – has always been defined within the remit of very narrow boundaries.> Typically it has always meant growth, a six letter word that obsesses politicians and economists. But when attempts to create growth prove counter-productive then it’s time for a rethink. The ultimate aim of growth is prosperity, yet – for the vast majority at least – it remains an elusive dream. The question that needs to be asked is: What is prosperity? And if our previous attempts to attain it have proved unsuccessful then how can it be achieved? The following excerpts are from the book Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a finite planet, by Tim Jackson. The excerpts are quotes from Zia Sardar, a London-based scholar, writer and cultural-critic who specialises in Muslim thought, the future of Islam, futures studies and science and cultural relations. Prosperity Depends On The Society You’re In & Your Responsibility To It The good life of the good person can only be fully realised in the good society. Prosperity can only be conceived as a condition that includes obligations and responsibilities to others.” The prevailing vision of prosperity as a continually expanding economic paradise has come unravelled. Perhaps it worked better when economies were smaller and the world was less populated. But if it ever was fully fit for the purpose, it certainly isn’t now. Climate change, ecological degradation and the spectre of resource scarcity compound the problems of failing financial markets and economic recession. Short term fixes to prop up a bankrupt system aren’t good enough. Something more is needed. An essential starting point...