On the way school, I suddenly remember something I should add on the previous entry. As I think the problem is about the inequality of the current world, it is additionally important not to neglect the background of the inequality. The reason for the importance is that we cannot simply accuse any parties of the responsibility. A global problem is usually complex.
I do not know how long the human history is - I am not a historian. Yet what I think about this is when most factors are interlocked, history contributes a vital part. We used to live near resources. We need food, water, land and so on. When I look at the world map, I do not know whether I am correct, yet I do think the wealthier regions are the first few areas where a more advanced culture was developed due to the accessible and previously abundant resources. The people were thereby able to live under a better environment, which they had more room to develop their intelligence. After a few centuries, their advance is hardly to be competed by the others.
When the Europeans went through the Renaissance, the history of Africa and America was almost blank (at least I have never learnt any). The later the people started, the later they moved forward - different paces of evolution.
It is true that the modern technology and improved education help pushing the general human culture. Nevertheless it does not mean we can demolish the inequality at once. Europe and China has gone through thousands of years to now. North America and Australia are able to grow so quickly because they were somehow "conquered" by the white people in Europe. As far as I know the Aboriginals are still considered as more backward and usually poorer than the white. Most people in the two continents are immigrants, even may it be a few generations earlier. Moreover, during the few millennia, there were countless wars and conflicts in these regions. The deaths and sufferings are never countable. It is not only about the two World Wars, but back to the Ancient Rome and Ancient China, the ancient civilizations. Our history is uneasy to go through.
In this way the current warfare is partly explained. It is a very subtle reason that is easily to be neglected. However we should always keep in mind that knowing the reason is to strengthen our determination to reach peace. Since some regions demonstrate successful examples of keeping peace (despite the comparatively backward and poorer China), there is always a hope and a possibility to stop wars.
*All above is just to speak out my own view. I am not writing for academy, or anything else other than my personal expression. Additionally as I did not read any essays, reports or websites related before writing this, I do not know if I have hurt any copyright. Despite being a trivial blog, it is important to respect the copyright of others, whether I acknowledge this. I would apologize if I have done wrongly.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Peace
As an anti-war supporter, I am surely upset by the war in Darfur. (Reuters) It is reported that the war has been going on for four years and lots of people fled to refugee camp from their home in the region. The annoying point is that the report pointed out the militants, who want to topple the government, were assumed to be supported by the outsiders.
Outsiders - logically I suppose it is coming from some wealthy countries, likely in the West. I do not understand what the outsiders are thinking. Is it that interesting to see others fighting against each other? After thousands years of civilization we still cannot get over from the desire of power and fighting. Evolution does not help much. As I said, war is the most destructive weapon, the question that why people are keen on fighting is always without answer.
It is somehow special to look at the point a senior U.N. official said - "For peacekeeping, there must be a peace to keep."
So, where's the peace?
After reading Bertrand Russell last year, I agree that man is combative. Nevertheless as he pointed out that some places can keep the peace, I also believe there is such a possibility that people will find a genuine peace. We like to compete, gain power, be prominent and such and such which is all about ambition, but we can settle the desires down in a more peaceful way. War is not necessary. Violence should be prohibited.
Perhaps it is nothing good to just complain, but we should consider the reasons behind. In recent decades after the Second World War, we seldom hear any conflicts which involve Europe (except Britain having cooperation with the U.S. in the Middle East). Very little or even no news somehow means a place to be peaceful. Consider the frequency of hearing anything from countries like Canada, Finland, Sweden or Switzerland, I can hardly remember anything very special happened there.
Wars are found mostly in the Middle East, Africa and some few backward places in the Pacific region. Compared these areas with the countries I mentioned above, they are apparently more backward and impoverished. People living there are usually less educated. It only reveals one point - people have to be well educated, in order to transform the mindset and get the ambition under control.
One may argue that the war can happen only because they have supports from the wealthier power, as I also doubt the motives of the supports in the very beginning. However, it is important to realize that it is not a one-way matter. People may choose not to accept any so-called "support" to continue the war; instead they can refuse and harmonize the situation. If one on any side changes its mind not to keep fighting, the situation will be completely different. In my opinion, education is one of the few ways out.
Education needs enormous resources, which most of those places lack. That is why there are a lot of aids, funding and sponsorships coming from outside. (I do consider this as somehow irony since it is all about the outsiders, regardless of fighting or peace-keeping.) However, the support seems unlikely to be enough and hardly to be managed properly. Some people help with a mind that they think they're superior. Helping others is just a way to show their superiority. If they think in this way, the problem will be hardly solved. We always have to keep in mind that everyone is equal, in terms of the rights of receiving education and being a human. Despite the fact that I think some people must be more talented, wealthier and more powerful, everyone should be deserved an opportunity to receive a basic, equal education.
Certainly there're many people holding the same thought as mine, and I am surely not the first one to invent all these words. However it is important to have gone through all of the thinking process, which leads us to really understand what is going on and how to cope with it. This is a sort of independent thinking.
Also, although I am pessimistic about curing the matter, which peace is unlikely to exist owing to our nature should not be an excuse. Particularly if we are truly aggressive and more intelligent than the other organisms, I do not see any cue that we cannot live in concord.
This is old-fashioned, but still we have to support keeping peace. Not only mental support, but actual support is needed.
Outsiders - logically I suppose it is coming from some wealthy countries, likely in the West. I do not understand what the outsiders are thinking. Is it that interesting to see others fighting against each other? After thousands years of civilization we still cannot get over from the desire of power and fighting. Evolution does not help much. As I said, war is the most destructive weapon, the question that why people are keen on fighting is always without answer.
It is somehow special to look at the point a senior U.N. official said - "For peacekeeping, there must be a peace to keep."
So, where's the peace?
After reading Bertrand Russell last year, I agree that man is combative. Nevertheless as he pointed out that some places can keep the peace, I also believe there is such a possibility that people will find a genuine peace. We like to compete, gain power, be prominent and such and such which is all about ambition, but we can settle the desires down in a more peaceful way. War is not necessary. Violence should be prohibited.
Perhaps it is nothing good to just complain, but we should consider the reasons behind. In recent decades after the Second World War, we seldom hear any conflicts which involve Europe (except Britain having cooperation with the U.S. in the Middle East). Very little or even no news somehow means a place to be peaceful. Consider the frequency of hearing anything from countries like Canada, Finland, Sweden or Switzerland, I can hardly remember anything very special happened there.
Wars are found mostly in the Middle East, Africa and some few backward places in the Pacific region. Compared these areas with the countries I mentioned above, they are apparently more backward and impoverished. People living there are usually less educated. It only reveals one point - people have to be well educated, in order to transform the mindset and get the ambition under control.
One may argue that the war can happen only because they have supports from the wealthier power, as I also doubt the motives of the supports in the very beginning. However, it is important to realize that it is not a one-way matter. People may choose not to accept any so-called "support" to continue the war; instead they can refuse and harmonize the situation. If one on any side changes its mind not to keep fighting, the situation will be completely different. In my opinion, education is one of the few ways out.
Education needs enormous resources, which most of those places lack. That is why there are a lot of aids, funding and sponsorships coming from outside. (I do consider this as somehow irony since it is all about the outsiders, regardless of fighting or peace-keeping.) However, the support seems unlikely to be enough and hardly to be managed properly. Some people help with a mind that they think they're superior. Helping others is just a way to show their superiority. If they think in this way, the problem will be hardly solved. We always have to keep in mind that everyone is equal, in terms of the rights of receiving education and being a human. Despite the fact that I think some people must be more talented, wealthier and more powerful, everyone should be deserved an opportunity to receive a basic, equal education.
Certainly there're many people holding the same thought as mine, and I am surely not the first one to invent all these words. However it is important to have gone through all of the thinking process, which leads us to really understand what is going on and how to cope with it. This is a sort of independent thinking.
Also, although I am pessimistic about curing the matter, which peace is unlikely to exist owing to our nature should not be an excuse. Particularly if we are truly aggressive and more intelligent than the other organisms, I do not see any cue that we cannot live in concord.
This is old-fashioned, but still we have to support keeping peace. Not only mental support, but actual support is needed.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
2007 predicted weather
Reading a piece of news from Reuters, the British predicted 2007 to be the world's warmest year in history. The combination of global warming and the El Nino effect will possibly reach a new high since 1998.
It is scary to acknowledge this. It becomes well-known that our carbon emissions accelerate the speed of global warming; news are reported everyday. Sitting in front of my computer and read the news online everyday, I am like an outsider watching a disaster film. This is just WRONG. I feel myself too inferior to help the situation. I can use less plastic bags; I can walk more instead of taking the public transport. However this is just useless for the current situation. Global warming involves everyone; it needs all of us to put effort to solve the problem.
However, only one protocol - the Kyoto Protocol was signed as an attempt to tackle the problem. This is an annoying fact that the biggest polluter - the United States refused to commit while some fast-developing nations, such as India and China, are not included. I seriously doubt the usefulness of the protocol, despite its necessity. The treaty, signed 10 years ago, assigned mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations.
It is going to expire in 2012, so it is time for the nations to discuss the renewal. We should urge our nations to actively participate in the discussion of the renewal. We have to support the envirnomental protection and protest against unnecessary toxic gas emissions. We have to speed up our pace to find alternatives of the exhaustible energy and save the energy. We have to promote sustainable development more strongly. There are many measures that we should consider.
This is our habitat. I do not claim the Earth is ours. I believe the Earth would stay alive even if we were all going to die. This is truly for the sake of ourselves. It is very silly to continue warfares and terrorism, which massively destroy our living environment and our lives. It is also not clever enough to keep talking about damaging corporations' interest - if human history ends, what is the meaning of making profit as no one could enjoy it?
It is a long-term fighting. It needs our foresight and wisdom to acknowledge the current danger. We might have talk about its coming in 50 years when it was 10 or 20 years ago, yet it is not the same now. The ice mass in the Poles are spliting from the core and the polar bear may be listed as endangered animal. Insufficient snowing is often found in many European countries. The ice in high-rise mountains are melting, threatening the source of rivers which could bring drought. The rising sea level threatens the coastal cities and their residents. I believe most of us have the intelligence to understand the emergency.
I know I cannot help much despite publishing my view, yet all this is because I would not like to be pessimistic about our future. We have to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, which is the definition of sustainable development. We have to learn how to live within the capacity.
2007 - let's see how warm it will be.
It is scary to acknowledge this. It becomes well-known that our carbon emissions accelerate the speed of global warming; news are reported everyday. Sitting in front of my computer and read the news online everyday, I am like an outsider watching a disaster film. This is just WRONG. I feel myself too inferior to help the situation. I can use less plastic bags; I can walk more instead of taking the public transport. However this is just useless for the current situation. Global warming involves everyone; it needs all of us to put effort to solve the problem.
However, only one protocol - the Kyoto Protocol was signed as an attempt to tackle the problem. This is an annoying fact that the biggest polluter - the United States refused to commit while some fast-developing nations, such as India and China, are not included. I seriously doubt the usefulness of the protocol, despite its necessity. The treaty, signed 10 years ago, assigned mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations.
It is going to expire in 2012, so it is time for the nations to discuss the renewal. We should urge our nations to actively participate in the discussion of the renewal. We have to support the envirnomental protection and protest against unnecessary toxic gas emissions. We have to speed up our pace to find alternatives of the exhaustible energy and save the energy. We have to promote sustainable development more strongly. There are many measures that we should consider.
This is our habitat. I do not claim the Earth is ours. I believe the Earth would stay alive even if we were all going to die. This is truly for the sake of ourselves. It is very silly to continue warfares and terrorism, which massively destroy our living environment and our lives. It is also not clever enough to keep talking about damaging corporations' interest - if human history ends, what is the meaning of making profit as no one could enjoy it?
It is a long-term fighting. It needs our foresight and wisdom to acknowledge the current danger. We might have talk about its coming in 50 years when it was 10 or 20 years ago, yet it is not the same now. The ice mass in the Poles are spliting from the core and the polar bear may be listed as endangered animal. Insufficient snowing is often found in many European countries. The ice in high-rise mountains are melting, threatening the source of rivers which could bring drought. The rising sea level threatens the coastal cities and their residents. I believe most of us have the intelligence to understand the emergency.
I know I cannot help much despite publishing my view, yet all this is because I would not like to be pessimistic about our future. We have to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, which is the definition of sustainable development. We have to learn how to live within the capacity.
2007 - let's see how warm it will be.
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