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Details: Written by: Kamran Mofid; Published: 28 October 2021; Hits: 981

Nearly 60 years ago, Rachel Carson fought the chemical industry barons. She won and saved the world from the scourge of DDT. The COP26 leadership would do well to study her example, and be inspired by her commitment, courage and reselience.

Silent Spring: A Watershed moment

Rachel Carson’s Groundbreaking Book Still Speaks to Us Today

Silent Spring exposed the hazards of the pesticide DDT and helped set the stage for the environmental movement.

Photo: ResearchGate

‘Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.’

Rachel Carson: Voice of Nature

Photo: rachelcarson.org

As Robert McCrum writing in the Guardian in 2016 has remarked: ‘Silent Spring is a classic of American advocacy, a book that sparked a nationwide outcry against the use of pesticides, inspired legislation that would endeavour to control pollution, and thereby launched the modern environmental movement in the US. The great nature writer Peter Matthiessen identified its “fearless and succinct” prose as “the cornerstone of the new environmentalism”. In a few limpid chapters, and fewer than 300 pages, Rachel Carson described the death of rivers and seas, the scorching of the soil, the annihilation of plant life and forests, the silencing of the nation’s birds, the perils of crop spraying, the poisoning of humanity (“beyond the dreams of the Borgias”) and the genetic threats posed by all of the above, especially in its carcinogenic manifestations…

‘The unrestricted use of pesticides in North America had boomed after the second world war. Carson, whose early work for the US Bureau of Fisheries had given her a special understanding of marine pollution, was one of the first to realise that DDT, a radical new pesticide, had severe ecological consequences. As the great ethnobiologist Edward O Wilson has written: “The effects of pesticides on the environment and public health had been well-documented before Silent Spring, but in bits and pieces scattered through the technical literature. Environmental scientists were aware of the problem but they focused only on the narrow sector of their personal expertise.” Carson’s achievement was to synthesise this information into a single message (her unforgettable image of a “silent spring”) that scientists and the general public could relate to and understand...

‘The chemical industry, which had championed DDT as central to the nation’s domestic agriculture, was an unofficial part of the war effort. Carson was seen as triply dangerous. First, she was an outsider; second, she was a humble biologist with no academic background; and third, she was a woman who addressed herself to the general public (writing radio scripts and bestselling books like The Sea Around Us, 1951). In a word, she was unqualified and unpatriotic…’

However, she persisted and she won. She changed the US and Changed the world too: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)

See also: Fifty Years After Silent Spring

What the world can learn from Rachel Carson as we fight for our planet

Rachel Carson and the legacy of Silent Spring

Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson

The GCGI Call to COP26: Make COP26 The Dawn of a New Beginning

The World is in a Bad Way- Fix Education, Fix the World

Details: Written by: Kamran Mofid; Published: 28 October 2021; Hits: 720

Photo: Angela Hsieh/NPR

The world has lost trust in crony capitalism, belha belha, belah Politicians, here today and gone tomorrow into the pockets of lobbyists!!

The Revolution to heal the world has already started and is led by the youth, students, our children and grandchildren. This is why I am hopeful.

We must never forget that nearly three decades ago at Rio 'Earth Summit' (June 1992)– where Cops were born – nearly 200 governments agreed to implement “educational and public awareness programmes on climate change and its effects”. However, not surprising, precious little has happened since.

But, we should not despair, today's youth, students and activists are changing all that. The era of belha belha and more belha is coming to an end and only fools cannot notice this tsunami of change.

For the sake of humanity, I do hope that the governments gathered in Glasgow, will show signs of wisdom and for once project honesty and truthfulness, although, given their disastrous and dishonest record, I do not hold my breath.

This will bring me back to my earlier point again: The Youth, Students and Pupils will Save the World and will Heal Mother Nature.

This is Why We Need a New Golden Age of Wisdom, Honesty and Hope

Our Children and Grandchildren are Showing us the Path

They are our Hope. They are the Light at the end of the tunnel

Light at the end of the tunnel.- Ryan Engstrom

Rethinking Our Approach to Economic, Social and Environmental Justice

The Time is Now for a Visionary Leadership

World Transformation and the Youth: Youth to Make the World Great Again

Photo:theatlantic.com

This is why I am hopeful for our world. This is why I am hopeful that we will build a better world.

Because, the agenda, policies, dreams and ideas are more and more formulated and suggested by the youth and not my generation that by and large have been found guilty as hell.

Furthermore, everyone, everywhere, especially the youth, are discovering that the current education on offer, divorced and separated from nature, needs to be overhauled. They are now demanding that the time has arrived to rethink education and to explore the benefits of nature-based education in our teaching methods and models.

All in all, they have realised that the neoliberal education has destroyed the heart and soul of teaching and learning, and wish nature to be our wisest teacher.

This understanding, in due course will lead to a better environment in which mother earth and environment will be respected, valued, protected and nurtured.

The IPCC Report- I Refuse to give up Hope: Earth Is A Mother that Never Dies

Greta Thunberg attends a demonstration calling for action on climate change, during the

"Fridays for Future" school strike in Vienna, Austria. (Reuters File Photo)

Greta Thunberg and Fridays for Future receive Amnesty International’s top honour

…’Over 50% of the global population is under 30, and with the global population at over 7 billion - that’s a lot of young people. Young people are incredibly important in bringing about change, they are generally less afraid to speak out about what they believe in than older people, and they are the ones who are going to be affected the most by the decisions made today. If we effectively harness the leadership and potential of young people around the world then together we can empower youth for the common good.

We must realise that what the young lack in experience they make up for in courage and vision, dreams and hope for a better, more sustainable future…’- Continue to read

In Praise of Youth on International Youth Day- Monday 12 August 2019

‘What is the unfolding story of the next decades?

‘The rise of today’s youth, leading the world, with hope, inspiration, commitment, imagination and wisdom in the interest of the common good, to change our troubled world for the better’- Kamran Mofid, Founder, the GCGI

This is the Path to Make the World Great Again: A Path Envisioned by the Youth of the World with Hope and Imagination

Illustration: Nathalie Lees/The Guardian

World Transformation and the Youth: Youth to Make the World Great Again

The Youth of the World: Their voices will be heard

The Youth for the Common Good to Build a Better World

Nature the Best Teacher: Re-Connecting the World’s Children with Nature

In Praise of Youth on International Youth Day- Monday 12 August 2019

In Praise of the Economic Students at the Sorbonne: The Class of 2000

In praise of the students of Economics at Manchester University for rising against neo-classical fundamentalism

The Youth of Wales Message of Hope to the World at the Time of the Coronavirus Crisis

The GCGI Call to COP26: Make COP26 The Dawn of a New Beginning

Towards COP26: Education to Heal the World

COP26 Glasgow: Hope and Humanity to Save Our Mother Earth and Nature, History Will Judge the Complicit

A Call to Parents and Grandparents to Protect and Save Mother Nature in the Interest of Their Children and Grandchildren

Anthea Lawson, We Owe it to Our Humanity to hear you, to emulate you

Dr. Larch Maxey, We Owe it to Our Humanity to hear you, to emulate you

Brexit, Trump and the failure of our universities to pursue wisdom

What is the Value of MBA and Business Education?

Britain today and the Bankruptcy of Ideas, Vision and Values-less Education

Neoliberalism destroys human potential and devastates values-led education

The rise in global fascism: A failure of education?

A timeless reflection on two types of teaching and learning

A Sure Path to build a Better World: How nature helps us feel good and do good

Economic Growth: The Index of Misery

Happy Teachers, Happy Pupils, Happy Schools, Better Education, Better Lives, Better World

Details: Written by: Kamran Mofid; Published: 26 October 2021; Hits: 866

Education and the Secret of Wisdom in an Economically-driven System that prepares Students Solely for the Workplace

Wisdom is the Precious Good

We are drowned in information but starved of wisdom

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK / MIKE VER SPRILL

‘Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.’- 3: 13 -15

Nota bene

‘Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.’- Buddha

‘Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organised life.’- Immanuel Kant

‘Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand.’- African Proverb

‘Wisdom is neither taught in schools nor, in general, is it even discussed ... Many people will not see the value of teaching something that shows no promise of raising conventional test scores. These scores, which formerly were predictors of more interesting criteria, have now become criteria, or ends, in themselves. Society has lost track of why they ever mattered in the first place and they have engendered the same kind of mindless competition we see in people who relentlessly compare their economic achievements with those of others....’- Robert J. Sternberg in ‘Teaching for Wisdom’

‘In schools a premium is placed upon absorbing as much information as possible rather than raising questions about and critically evaluating what is already known. How often does a teacher enter the classroom intending to challenge the students' beliefs, not merely so that false information might be replaced with presumably more valid information but so that the students might leave the class feeling less confident about their knowledge (and so more wise)? Instead, the emphasis is upon knowing rather than doubting, and so the easy course of movement is away from wisdom toward the extreme of believing that one knows all, or at least enough.’- John A. Meacham in ‘The Loss of Wisdom.’

…’that the love of wisdom and truth must be kept alive in universities, particularly in this moment of world history.’-Allan Bloom in ‘ The Closing of the American Mind.’

‘Wisdom lies in human action which possesses both intellectual and ethical orientation; and the promotion of such wisdom is the task of education.’- Douglas E. Lawson in ‘Wisdom and Education’

Education and the Secret of Wisdom in an Economically-driven System that prepares Students Solely for the Workplace

Photo:Joshua Woroniecki

We are drowned in information but starved of wisdom

‘Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?’- T. S. Eliot

Teaching as my Vocation

I can recall all those years ago, before I retired from full-time university teaching, when at various times, especially before the start of the new academic terms, I used to ask myself some pertinent questions, questions such as:

What is my hope and goal in creating this community and teaching these classes? What is the purpose and meaning of my teaching, assigning reading and making students write essays, attending seminars, workshops and group discussions? I used to tell myself that there are lots of places that these young people can go for information and knowledge, but what about Wisdom? Is it my job to give them info, or is my vocation to be a torch and to shed light on their path to wisdom? Should I be more interested that via my teaching they find a job, or they find more about who they become , who they are and what is the purpose of their lives?

Looking back, I do hope that, with all the constraints that I was facing in this so-called monetised modern education system, I did, at least, try hard and was able to show my students how to seek wisdom and how to become a wise, generous, and truly loving person, enjoying all that life has on offer.

Some say that my teaching is nonsense

“Some say that my teaching is nonsense.

Others call it lofty but impractical.

But to those who have looked inside themselves,

this nonsense makes perfect sense.

And to those who put it into practice,

this loftiness has roots that go deep.

I have just three things to teach:

simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and in thoughts,

you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world.” -My wise and inspiring teacher: Lao Tzu

What is this life all about? Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? What’s my Life’s purpose? How can I make the most of my Life?...

The Persian poet, sage and philosopher of love, Rumi, had this to say about wisdom: “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” He also has reminded us that “What You Seek Is Seeking You” and “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do”. These beautiful sayings are, to my mind, Rumi’s way of saying that our lives have purpose and meaning, and moreover, we should not despair and walk on with hope and commitment, seeking wisdom.

It is the wise who understand that true knowledge is self-knowledge; that the meaning of life lies in understanding one’s own mind.

One of the main goals of the GCGI has always been to seek wisdom, both ancient philosophy and modern thought, and to share these gems of hope by making them both accessible to all and relevant to the way we live today.

To fulfill our mission, we have always done our utmost to bring the light of wisdom to everyday life. Read on to find out more.

Continuing Our Journey, Seeking Wisdom: A Must- Read Book

Photo: amazon

‘How Universities Have Betrayed Reason and Humanity—And What's to Be Done About It’

By Nicholas Maxwell, Science and Technology Studies, University College London(UCL)

‘In 1984 the author published From Knowledge to Wisdom, a book that argues that a revolution in academia is urgently needed, so that problems of living, including global problems, are put at the heart of the enterprise, and the basic aim becomes to seek and promote wisdom, and not just acquire knowledge. Every discipline and aspect of academia needs to change, and the whole way in which academia is related to the rest of the social world. Universities devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and technological know-how betray reason and, as a result, betray humanity. As a result of becoming more intellectually rigorous, academic inquiry becomes of far greater benefit to humanity. If the revolution argued for all those years ago had been taken up and put into academic practice, we might now live in a much more hopeful world than the one that confronts us. Humanity might have begun to learn how to solve global problems; the Amazon rain forests might not face destruction; we might not be faced with mass extinction of species; Brexit might not have been voted for in the UK in 2016, and Trump might not have been elected President in the USA. An account is given of work published by the author during the years 1972–2021 that expounds and develops the argument. The conclusion is that we urgently need to create a high-profile campaign devoted to transforming universities in the way required so that humanity may learn how to make social progress toward a better, wiser, more civilized, enlightened world…’- Continue to read and learn more on how to move forward: From Knowledge to Wisdom

Wisdom is the torch that shines light on the plague of darkness

A pick from our GCGI archive: Connecting with the voices of Wisdom

‘Wisdom and the Well-Rounded Life…’