María Angélica Pérez Corcho asked:


Global warming refers to “the warming of the earth’s surface around the world, based on documented information on the temperature that has been maintained by humans since 1880″ (Nodvin, S. 2008).

There has been an increase in the news referring to Global Warming, March 27, 2008 the world woke up with a shocking event: the detachment of an ice sheet measuring 41 km by 2.5 km in Antarctica. Scientists argue that climate change is responsible for the rapid collapse of the ice cap that was detaching since the month of February, but global warming affects not only the polar icecaps, but also the fauna of tropical ecosystems, as this type of species “live to the limit of their maximum temperature, a slight increase in temperature is lethal” (Tewksbury, quoted by J. Tristan, R. 2008). Facts like these remind us that global warming is no longer an unknown subject and has become a problem that is part of our everyday life.

Despite the constant bombardment of the media with news regarding this issue, we are not fully informed about the factors of global warming, in fact, it is believed that cars are the largest producers of the negative impact to the environment; however, there is an even more damaging one: Buildings. These static works of construction are part of our daily lives, most of our work is mainly done within them, we spend 90% of our life in confined spaces and the concentration of population is much greater in these spaces than out of them (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2003. Quoted by Kats, G. 2003). However, we are unaware that they “produce nearly half (48%) of all emission of greenhouse gases which is much higher than what emitted by vehicles (27%) and by the industrial sector (25%) “(The American Institute of Architects. 2006).

To explain how the greenhouse effect occurs inside the buildings, lets imagine them as giant glass cubes in which the sun’s rays penetrate throughout the day on the surface, which implies that the objects found within them will warm , an in so doing they “give back the heat in the form of radiation. As the temperature at which they heat up is relatively low, the radiation emitted has a long wavelength; this means they emit an infrared radiation, not visible. Over the years,  they will eventually give an equal amount of energy in the form of infrared absorbed in the form of sunlight, so their temperature  will tend to remain constant (although, of course, they will be warmer than if they were not exposed to direct action of the Sun) “. (Greenhouse effect, 2007). Thus the same thing happens in a greenhouse, where you can cultivate flowers and plants even though the outside temperature reaches lower degrees in temperature.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) the decade of 1998-2007 was the hottest of which has ever been documented. The global surface temperature for 2007 was estimated at 0.41 ° C/0.74 ° F over the annual average of 1961-1990: 14.00 ° C/57.20 ° F. (WMO. 2008. Quoted by Nodvin, S. 2008).

To counter this, a novel form of construction has been created, masterminded by a new generation of architects, designers and builders, who have expressed interest in creating a kind of architecture that is “friendly” with nature and sustainable over time, allowing the reduction of damage that conventional construction has done to the planet. This new form of construction is known as Green Building and is to “create healthier and more efficient, in terms of resource consumption, models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance and demolition. The elements of green construction are: the sources of energetic efficiency and renewable energy, water management, waste reduction, specifications and construction materials preferably organic”. (Taken from http://espanol.orangecountyfl.net/orangecty/enes/24/_www_orangecountyfl_net/cms/DEPT/growth/building/greenbldg.htm)

There is a perception that the construction of Green Buildings is much more expensive than conventional construction, and indeed this is true, however the long-term cost is significantly lower. Studies show that the amount of the construction of Green Buildings is substantially lower (2%) of what is expected and price increases are related to the costs of architectural and engineering that this type of construction requires. The sooner this type of practice of Green Building is included in construction; the increase of its costs will be less.  (The United States Green Building Council, 2002. Cited by Kats, G. 2003).

However, despite short term cost increases, Green Buildings provide long-term benefits that conventional ones do not offer, for example: lower utility costs in electricity and water, environmentally effective use of building materials, enhancing the health and productivity, long term economic return, reducing environmental impact, among others. (Environmental Services, 2008)

Colombia has within its Green Building the Chamber of Commerce’s green building in Bogota, built in Salitre City. This magnificent building has 28 thousand square meters distributed in two basements, three floors of public attention, five levels for staff and 500 parking spaces. It has electronic accessories that allow the entry of people arriving in wheelchairs or who have some type of disability that prevents them from entering by stairs. On the second floor is the convention hall, which has a capacity for a thousand people, and has the possibility of being sub-divided into eight rooms, each for one hundred users.

Another example of Green Building in Colombia is the Family Compensation Fund Compensate, located in northern Bogota: Stands out the use of glass on the facade and inside there is a mixture of aluminum and wood. The building has 16,579 square meters and one of its most important features is an “evaporative cooling system that allows natural air collection, and after an interior process the air reaches the top and leaves the building, so that the installation maintains a pleasant temperature that can range between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius (Metrocuadrado.com, 2006), and within the building the services offered are: “multiple stadium, gymnasium, aerobics room, spinning, gourmet salon, spa area, pool, Turkish bath, sauna, Jacuzzi, game rooms, library, computer room (Internet) , VIP lounge, cafeteria and auditorium of 150 square meters, designed as a space for Film Society, with projection equipment, and a retractable tier; and – Medical care: 50 doctors, vaccination, laboratory, dental, radiology, psychology, rehabilitation, nutrition, gynecology, diagnosis, prevention, surgery and medicine in general “(Metrocuadrado.com, 2006).

In Latin America Argentina presents a very interesting Green Building: the building Malecon Buenos Aires. This is an office building of 125,000 feet ² which was built on an abandoned industrial area (his garage was built on the foundations of a warehouse dating from the nineteenth century) in Puerto Madero, an area of redevelopment in Buenos Aires. The construction was made as a long strait block in order to minimize solar gain in the structure and terminations of east and west sides of whom are united. The broad north facade, the first to be exposed to the sun, is shaped to follow the path of the sun and has many deep screens with umbrellas that virtually eliminate sunlight during peak cooling months. The south facade, which reflects the geometry of the northern facade, is equipped with the same system of high-performance curtain of the other facades, minimizing the solar gain; open floor plants and high floors provide flexibility for multiple office tenants or future uses. (From http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek02/tw0419/0419tw1cote.htm, May 2008)

In the U.S. this type of buildings have great technical and financial support from the public administrations; in Europe there are funding programs such as PAE (Fed-IDE), SAVE 3, Thermi &, among others, which in addition to providing aid, certify buildings that meet the exact standards so they are differentiated as Green Buildings, giving them green or eco-labels (LEEDS-Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, ISO 14001, EEA, among others).

Finally what is intended with this type of construction, grants and certifications is to reduce energy consumption and exploit natural resources, so as to achieve the prolongation of the service life of the planet and the reversal of the ecological phenomena as the greenhouse effect, among others.



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Sam asked:


Mumbai: Leading management Guru Prof. C. K. Prahlad, visited the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) recently to lay out his vision for India@75.

The event was organized by NMIMS in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Yi.

Prof. Prahlad, while addressing faculty members and students of NMIMS and other distinguished academicians, corporate executives and members of CII and Yi, emphasized on acquiring Economic Strength, Technological Vitality and Moral Leadership of the country.

He said that, "India has a potential to lead the world in 2022 with its predicted largest pool of manpower consisting of 200 million college graduates and 500 million trained and skilled workforce. It could be home for at least 30 of the Fortune 100 companies of the world and generate over 10% of the world trade, by nurturing a vibrant renaissance of world-class contemporary art, science, research and education could have at least 10 Nobel Prize Winners. This is possible in next fifteen years provided leaders focus on this goal as a priority."

He emphasized that this position is possible only when India works on all three fronts- economic growth, technology development & moral leadership.

He said that, "As a country, India must have high and shared aspirations like it had in 1929 when the leaders of the then Congress party declared their ambition as Poorna Swaraj. Since then, India has never had a national aspiration which every Indian could share."

Prof. Prahlad, while speaking about his vision, also shared the key drivers of the developmental context for India to achieve the above goal in next 15 years.

"They relate not to abject poverty but income inequality, changing life styles, urbanization and emergence of universal aspirations, a dramatic change in price-performance relationships, economic development and ecological crisis and finally the role of governance and the rule of law."

Elaborating these key areas, he said that India has reduced abject poverty dramatically during last decade. However, a more difficult problem will emerge in its place.

"An important consequence of rapid economic development and globalization of the economy are the lags and asymmetries in the benefit results. Some sections of society will benefit and some will lag behind. These asymmetries will create multiple new divides in society – divides between educated and the uneducated, the urban and rural populations, between regions of the country as well as between ethnic groups. As a consequence, income inequality will emerge as a source of social tensions", he added.

"When people come to the cities, their aspirations change dramatically. They look at the rich as a benchmark. Their income may not change as a rapidly as their aspirations change. Therefore, it is the lag between increasing aspirations and incomes that can fulfill those aspirations can lead to a significant increase in social unrest", Prof. Prahlad highlighted.

"With the changing life styles of poor class and emergence as consumers has altered the Price-Performance envelop dramatically. This increasing capacity to create life style equality can provide antidote to increasing income inequality. This trend is likely to be further supported by the changing nature of high technology markets around the world."

"The rate of the cost/unit of functionality is changing in high technology implies that the poor can afford products and services incorporating the latest technology. The consequence of this rise in affordability is going to create explosive growth in consumption. This huge market opportunity will also have significant implications to the environment and the demands it will put on it."

"The current development models for energy, water, packaging, waste per capita are inappropriate and we have to develop fundamentally new ideas. We have to find better use of resources and support new innovations in this area for uninterrupted inclusive growth with ecological sensitivity."

Talking about Focus on Governance, Prof. Prahlad explained the relationship between country’s human development index and the quality of governance, he said that a nation does not get rich first and then become less corrupt.

"A nation becomes less corrupt before it gets rich. The explicit, quantifiable price we are paying for corruption and the neglect of human resources in the country is staggering and should be the focus of national debate."

Prof. C K Prahlad picked eight faculty members from NMIMS as his vision ambassadors, who will create a multiplier effect oh his vision, create excitement and a movement amongst people in the state.

The theme proposed especially for the youth is Play For the event, here they will be motivated to play matches against corruption, creating a greener city etc. The vision ambassadors will play an "aspirational role" and facilitate India’s transformation to a global leader by 2022.

While speaking to faculty members, he spoke about emerging issues in India and the need for research.



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Daniel Shalit asked:


by Daniel Shalit

adapted from a talk given at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Swiss Center for Conflict Research, Management and Resolution marking two years to the disengagement from Gaza Strip (translated from Hebrew by Yaakov Macales)

 

1. Rousseau and the Jews

In the year 1762, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote in his book “Emile, or On Education”: “It seems to me we will never come to understand what the Jews are saying until they have a free state, schools and universities in which they will be able to speak freely and discuss matters without danger. Only then will we be able to know what they have to say.”

Here we are standing today, in a free Jewish state, in the Hebrew University. If Rousseau were to come to the University today, would it be any clearer to him “what the Jews are saying”? Well, this is quite doubtful; the Jews themselves have undergone deep crises and no longer are certain about what they have to say, and moreover:  about who they are.

***

In the Middle Ages, the picture was simple: one was either Jewish or Christian or Moslem. Passing from one religion to another entailed conversion, metamorphosis, a complete change of identity. Only with the advent of European humanism, enlightenment and rationalism, did it become possible to be a Jew plus something else, apparently broader: a pure human being, a citizen, Ein Mensch. Jews used this new opening and penetrated the fabric of French, German or English societies as citizens or Menschen. Many discarded their Jewish identity altogether and became just “Menschen” of the local (German, French or English) variety. In fact they became so good at being whatever they chose, that they almost started teaching the Germans themselves how to be better and truer Germans; which the Germans didn’t particularly appreciate. The wave of European nationalism that followed, and later, Antisemitism (the word was invented at that time) and of course, Nazism – pushed the Jews back to their original Jewish identity, or should we say in this case: to their Jewish fate.     

Meanwhile Zionism proposed an alternative: not ignoring Jewish identity, but on the contrary, asserting and stressing it. Still, this was a new, revolutionary kind of Jewish identity, molded along then-accepted lines: secular, national, modern. No more wandering Jews, practicing their old religion and praying daily for divine redemption, but an active, political people, re-entering history, taking responsibility, gathering together from all corners of the world into their historical land as a normal people.

This revolutionary alternative met with severe objections from the traditional religious communities, but eventually it seemed to have won: the state of Israel was founded, fought for and defended along this vision. The state of Israel was meant to be the final seal to the normalization of the Jewish people: A normal state, a normal people, normal politics.

***

Where do we stand today? Israel is anything but normal. It is the only state in the world threatened with total extinction. Unlike normal countries, it is supersensitive to moral charges, which are fired at it at an astounding rate. It tries desperately to act according to the most saintly international moral standards, only to find that it is still accused of being the world Goliath, a monstrous Nazi, criminal state.

Could it be, then, that the modern, secular, so-normal state finds itself in a corner traditionally reserved for Jews since the time of the Biblical Prophet Isaiah – the corner kept for the “rejected and despised, acquainted with grief and sorrow, despised and unesteemed” – but this time on a global scale?  Could it be that the very thrust to normalcy was an impossibility? Could it be that the name of Israel, with all its historical and religious import, could not be used to designate a new, normal state?

And just where is that blessed normalcy to be found, anyway? Isn’t the family of nations today just as insane, just as abnormal as always, perhaps even more so, but just as tormented and desperate – perhaps desperate to find what it is that Israel taught the nations to seek: redemption, salvation, liberation? Could it be that Israel can actually be the answer to the problem of Man?

***

Meanwhile, it is not only Israel that became uncertain as to its identity; Man himself lost the sense and meaning of his existence.

Out of the glorious science that man developed, he emerges as a speck of dust in a barren infinite space; from the biological point of view – he is nothing but a meaningless carbohydrate complex; according to post-modern criticism, “Man” is an illusion, a “text” or “narrative” of the 19th century white male.

This is the post-modern “Zeitgeist”. One century ago, Zionism drew its support from then-current ideas of nationality, modernity and progress. But the same Western channels carry today doubt, uncertainty, and in fact – nihilism. The kind of identity these channels have to offer is in fact a non-identity, as the post-modern situation erodes all identities, the very identity of Man included. 

This is why Jean-Jacques Rousseau would stay quite uncertain as to what it is that the Jews have to say. In the Hebrew University, as well as in the Israeli government, press and even art – all of them so normal, western, post-modern – Jewish identity leads only a shadowy life, a repressed existence somewhere back in the subconscious.

May be Rousseau should hurry back to his 18th century France, for if he stayed any longer in the Hebrew post-modern University he would become uncertain even as to who he himself is.   

But before doing that, being already in the Middle East, perhaps he should pay a visit to some settlements in Judea/Samaria. Maybe they are Israel’s suppressed Jewish conscience. Maybe he would come to understand there something about Jewish identity, and perhaps about human identity too.

 

2. What the settlements say

The Israeli settlements in the “the West Bank” are perhaps the least understood spots upon this earth. To people influenced by the mass-media, they are associated with severe injustice (to Palestinians), with ruthless oppression (by Israel), with unchecked greed for land (by settlers) and are somehow close to racism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, hatred, and other such things from which decent people should keep their distance.

Rarely ever does one hear anything in defense of these places or the people inhabiting them. Who are they? Why have they gone there? What do they have to say in their defense? 

***

The areas where the settlers settled are referred to in the Wikipedia as “Palestinian Territories”, in all languages except Hebrew. In the Hebrew Wikipedia, however, they are called “Judea and Samaria”. This tells almost the whole story. The Arabs feel that a foreign body has invaded their territories, where they have been living for generations. However, the foreign invader himself denies his being foreign; he says he has only returned to his four-thousand-years-old homeland. To him, the “Palestinians” are the newcomers to the area, and in fact, invaders or infiltrators from their native Arabia. To him, the “Palestinian territories” are the heart of the Land of Israel; they includes places like Bethlehem, Beth-El, Jericho, Shekhem, the City of David in Jerusalem; they were the route of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they were the site of two Jewish kingdoms and two temples for a thousand years; and later, throughout the two-thousand-years forced Jewish exile, they were the subject of constant yearning and prayers – to return to Zion.

In short: these hills were and still are the backbone of Jewish identity. Without them, Tel-Aviv is devoid of all meaning or justification, and Israel is really just a colonizing power. With them, Israel is not colonization, but homecoming.

***

Three objections may be raised against this argument:

1. Are you coming to deny the rights people who live there here and now – in the name of mere history, in the name of things that happened thousands of years ago?

2. Who says, that over such a long period, your own identity has remained the same? Have you not undergone considerable change over these millennia?

3. Why insist on territories at all? have we not suffered enough from that animal “territorial imperative”? Have we not outgrown attachment to miserable stretches of ground?

These three objections gained power in our post-modern era. They question the validity of history; the reality of identity and the uniqueness of place. 

Therefore it is worthwhile to take a closer look into our own time.

 

3. Postmodernity and identity

Post-modernity is not just a fashion and not only a passing fad; first and foremost, it is the current state of our civilization: science, technology, economics and society; it is also the “Spirit of the Time” (zeitgeist), which dominates the intellectual world as well as art, literature and popular culture.

This central Zeitgeist dismantles all traditional structures such as nation and family, authority and hierarchy, all traditional values (goodness, truth and beauty) and orientation in general (center vs. periphery, importance vs. unimportance; seriousness vs. triviality, depth vs. shallowness).

Post-modernism thus has a corrosive effect not only on Jewish-Israeli outlook, but on Western civilization itself. If it is possible somehow to reconstruct the world of human values, it will be to the benefit of Man at large.

Time, place

Time and place are interconnected. Intuitively, we perceive time as  “What it takes to travel a particular distance”.

Now, in the global village, both time and space have all but disappeared.  In cyberspace virtually no space/time is involved, geographical distances are irrelevant; connections are instantaneous.

What is happening in the technological realm is supported by Post-modern thinking. Traditionally, place and time were not only abstract dimensions but had an actual structure: place used to have a center vs. periphery; surface vs. depth and height. These physical dimensions had their mental correlations: center meant importance, periphery meant irrelevance, unimportance. Surface meant superficiality; depth and height meant significance and import. Now, postmodernism rejects both physical and spiritual distinctions.

And there is some truth in this. Indeed, who can deny, that nowadays the universe is conceived as infinite; that in such a universe – center, height, depth etc. are only relative to the observer. Our mega-cities have the same non-structure: old towns had their ancient center with church, market and townhall – marking the center of mass as well – and around it, in ever-widening circles – suburbs, periphery, while post-modern mega-cities are a conglomerate of suburbs with no center, or at best multi-centered. Another example is the Web, with no editing or regulatory center. Post-modernism takes these examples to be good parables to the non-structure of reality and of consciousness: there is no central view or truth: there are only points of view.

This sounds to be heralding a new era of openness and tolerance (and indeed it is a step forward from narrow-mindedness and ego- or ethno-centrism). But this total openness means that there is no truth at all, nothing is important or trivial, high or low, deep or shallow. Everything is important and trivial, deep and shallow, and nothing really matters.

So maybe a new way should be found to reestablish our relation to truth, value and meaning. May be the parables of physical space, of megacities and of the web are inadequate to describe the dimensions – vital, mental, spiritual – within which man acts, of which he is a microcosm.

In the meantime, until such new ways are found, Western culture, the dominating culture of our era, acts without guidelines, without structure.

***

So much for the de-construction of space and its conceptual parallels.

 Time, too, loses its structure both in practice and in thought. In post-modern thinking, and contrary to former notions of progress, history does not go anywhere. also there is no historical “truth”. History is only a kaleidoscope of narratives.

Identity

From this follows the erosion of local identities. In any case, MacDonalds is the same everywhere; also, production and selling techniques are standardized. Local cultures are wiped out and at most offered as attractions in the Global Mall (exotic foods, ethnic music, authentic bistros, village inns). Malls are the same, manpower is the same, and all individuals dissolve into an indifferentiated mass. 

Again, theory confirms practice: when space and time lose their value, identity which used to define itself by time and history, is eroded also.

Here too, the loss of identities presents itself as an advancement, almost as a redemption: no more differences, no more boundaries: borderlines dissolve, and all cultures, all races, all genders come close to each other and embrace, “Sympathy and Understanding, Harmony and Trust Abounding” (“The Age of Aquarius” from “Hair”).

But this is a sweet illusion. Love occurs only between complementary opposites. Washed-out non-identities are not capable of fertility but of degenerating into an inert mass.

***

And as said before, it is not just personal or cultural identities that have been degraded. The very identity of Man, his self-conception, has been erased. In fact, Man is being denied.

 

4. The denial of man

The entire Western culture was built by and for the self-determining, autonomous subject. The free, autonomous man or woman is still the pivot and cornerstone of democracy. Now while these values are still highly lauded, in actual fact they are depreciated and devalued. Man is being denied, both in practice and in theory.

As employee, he is helplessly drawn into a global business machinery that he cannot grasp, and which erodes his humanity. As customer, he is tempted and coerced into consuming what he does not need, while the machinery of persuasion will use all means, over or under the navel, to trick him into it; in fact he and his needs are being re-shaped and re-engineered. As political subject he is treated by professional public relations men with utter contempt, as a particle of a mob, crowd or faceless mass, to be manipulated, coerced and tricked.

At the top of the pyramid we find the leaders – Entrepreneurs, Political leaders, media and art celebrities. These reap the full glory of leadership and decision-making. But in fact they too are pushed by the incomprehensible circumstances, slaves to the demands of career, competition and image. They never had the time or peace of mind to find their inner truth; busy with amassing renown, money, or power, they are devoid of humanity just as the least among the crowd.

So much for the denial of man in practice; now to theory.

From the scientific point of view, man does not deserve much dignity: not only his home Planet Earth, but the whole solar system hovers somewhere in an insignificant tail of the Milky Way, which in itself is just one of billions of galaxies making their way from an insignificant bang to an insignificant thermic death. On this insignificant planet, man is just some chance chemical compound, which somehow survived but is currently heading for suicide. Good riddance; insects and microorganisms will survive it, and won’t miss it much.

From the Postmodern point of view, “Man” with capital M, or the Subject, in  philosophical jargon, is nothing but an “invented entity”, a “narrative” of western culture, a “text” to be deconstructed and debunked. Anyway, it never served anything but the hubris of this curious species and its unjustifiable aim to dominate all animate and inanimate existence. 

So much for the Denial of Man, the stripping man of all dignity and identity, both in practice and in theory.

***

Somehow, in spite of everything, Identity survives as need, deep inside man, gnawing away at him.

 The post-modern condition recognizes this need and caters to it in its special way. It supplies illusory, hollow, outward-oriented identities: a winner, a celebrity, a success; “smaller” people are offered smaller roles: a label consumer, a fan club member.

***

Another way of identifying is through hate: We don’t know any more who we are, but we know whom we hate. I hate, therefore I am. (this is the grim reality contrary to the dreams of Universal Love).

Identity through hatred is not a new invention: hatred always helped to boost identities and mobilize masses. But nowadays as natural identities are dwindling, the role of hatred increases. Orwell’s “Two Minutes Hate” in his novel “1984″ epitomized the role of hatred in dictatorships. But today it seems that not only in dictatorships, but in democracies as well – free, tolerant, open and otherwise amiable people may need some demon to define themselves against. This time hatred is not invoked deliberately by some external tyrant: it is rather a need coming from the inside, from the individual or collective unconscious, projecting deep inner fears and guilt onto an external individual or group, making it “the totally other”. Since it is not forced from the outside but demanded by the inside, it is much more difficult to diagnose and cure. People practicing demonization will not readily admit it, because this has been their way of self-cleansing. Because by pointing it out to them, the caricature they have been drawing of “the totally other” may be mirrored and projected back upon themselves. They may feel that they themselves are being demonized, and vehemently reject the allegation. (Therefore we will not press the point, but merely lightly suggest that such deep processes may at the root of the international demonization of Israel and “the settlements”.)

***

The denial of the value of man, the erosion of values, and parallel increase in hatred and demonization create in the West a toxic culture. Its past achievements cannot be denied: the creativity of autonomous man in science, technology, social and political thought, and the arts. But somehow these achievements themselves turn back upon Western man to poison his life.

 

5.  Islam and the West

Islam strongly reacts to this toxicity of Western culture, to the loss of traditional values, to the decomposition of traditional family and the traditional system of authority.

The remedy it offers is religious discipline – a total submission to Allah. In the west Islam diagnoses too much freedom. Islamic thinkers (Maududi, Sayyid Qutb) see the centrality of Man in the west as the source of all evil; they call western culture  “the New Jahilia”‘ meaning the new paganism.

Still, the only remedy Islam knows for the situation is – war: surrender – or destruction.

In fact we witness a clash of two opposed civilizations based on two opposed principals: the autonomy of man, unreserved, absolute, and total – as against the absolute, total submission of man to Allah. Total openness, tolerance, containing – against absolute divine Truth and power.

Both principles are derived from Judaism, where, in spite of the creative tension that exists between them, they ultimately come to coexist in peace and fertility. Each culture took one side of Judaism, without acknowledging its original unifying and creative power. When they face crisis now, they have no more access to the living fountain that would enable renewal, but are both bound to return to some kind of conservatism – the outer shells of their one-time religious enthusiasm.

What Man needs now is not going back but a step forward; a new fount and foundation.

 

6. What on earth has all this to do with Settlements?

First, there is no specific “settler/settlement” message. “Settlers” are not a separate tribe. Each of them has many relatives and supporters all over Israel. Settlements are simply a concise expression of Jewish identity, true to its history and to its defining sites. (And Arab media know this: they call all Israeli cities “settlements”: for them, all Israel is just one big illegal settlement).

***

Jewish identity is not easy to maintain.

It is not a fact: it is a choice. It needs to be opted for, rediscovered and re-won under every new historical circumstance;

It may be lost for a while, missed, refused, minimized, suppressed or hid; It is always put to a test.

But in every generation there is central nucleus or group which upholds it to its maximum fullness possible at that time. 

Today I believe it is the settlements who hold it at its fullest: the Tora life as well as modern life, attachment to ideals as well as physical realization, Tradition and renewal.

***

What the settlements highlight today is the general Jewish message for our time:

There is hope for Man. It is possible to mediate between human freedom and autonomy on one hand, and service to God on the other.

Judaism does not reject human autonomy, dignity, freedom and creativity. All these are Man’s potential, parts of the Image of God. In fact it was Judaism, through Christianity, that laid the foundations of Humanism in the West (it is true that classical Greece, the other pillar of the west, did indeed establish the centrality of Man, but not his value or hope: Man there is essentially a tragic creature); And later it was the Jews that developed these qualities and used them to catalyze liberalism everywhere.

On the other hand, Judaism testifies for Man’s standing before God; this standing is not just obedience, submission and service, but comprises the full spectrum of love and awe, fascination and dread, intimacy and distance. 

***

The paradox of Judaism – the paradox of man – branched into two clashing civilizations.  How will both man’s autonomy and submission be reconciled?

Abstract formulae will not take us far. The freedom-submission balance has to be lived, fought and suffered for. This takes some specific living society, for a long time in history, centering around some specific geographical scene.

In Israel’s authentic tradition, the society where the drama of Man was and is enacted, is the people of Israel, the history is the history of Israel, the place is the Land of Israel..

 

7. Time, history, Identity – epilogue

The settlements say:

History is not just a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. History has import and meaning. It is a process of trial and judgment. Nothing is lost. You can’t just “narrate” it as you like: you may err, lie or seek the truth of history. 

Place is not just territory, an abstract location. Place breathes life. Sites are pregnant with meaning and with spiritual potential. Place, the most material substance, tests and brings out our innermost life. Man is responsible for places: he responds to their potential. He invests them with care and creativity, culture and sanctity – or degrades them by irresponsibility and evil.

Identity is not just a sum of outer signs or differences. It is an inner unifying power. It is a guiding insight. Through its apparent limits the Infinite may be perceived.

***

Again, the identity of Israel is not easy to achieve. It involves a synthesis of humanism and religion, novelty and tradition, technology and ecology, individuality and community, nationality and universality. For this work to be done, we need the proper laboratory, which is the Land of Israel – and time. If we are given time and credit, undisturbed by constant threats of war, destruction and extermination, although we can not guarantee anything, but at least we may resume our work which is only for the good of the family of man.



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Axel Meierhoefer asked:


it takes one event or trigger to change your life or the direction you are going. I have been very much in my element the last 12 months trying to develop more and more content and services for consulting and coaching clients. I have had clients on a regular basis, even though I always feel I should have more, based on all the time I spend finding them.

As any good coach and entrepreneur should, I keep up on the developments in the industry and believe in the concept of “paying it forward”. The developments in our economy didn’t really help my relatively new company.

Like a small, little seedling, it has been pelted by the storms of uncertainty, increasing prices, tightening of disposable income, and the possibility of a recession.

Digesting lots of training materials and marketing advice showed that a focused, niche approach is important to find the right clients. I thought focusing on top-performance for individuals and companies would be a narrow enough niche.

Have you ever lived through a period of time where you felt you are working hard, helping people, providing good content, being available for others needs, and generally follow what you believe the experts recommend – only to find out that you don’t generate nearly enough income?

A friend of mine send me a message stating: “While working with my hands this weekend, instead of using my head, as I normally do all day, I realized that I didn’t create a business but a job for myself that pays less than what I would make in a corporate environment and bears much more responsibility. I want to change that.”

I thought about this statement and came to the conclusion that she was right. Being in business and working long hours with no vacations is supposed to be a price to be paid for a limited time to get the business going, but not a decades-long state of affairs.

I realized that I had created a job but not the success I wanted to achieve for the company, it’s team members and myself. What I found I was missing was more focus for my passion of coaching.

I asked a few friends earlier in the year how I would know that I have discovered a new, deeper level of focus within my passion. All they said was: “You will know when you experience it”.

For me that moment came the day after I participated in a webinar about everybody’s Green Potential. I felt that I wanted to combine what I had done so far with issues of the environment. That’s how the term “Eco-Conscious Coaching” was born and I am excited to develop all kinds of services and products around it in the near future.

At the start of something new, I think it is helpful to have some definitions to achieve clarity for readers, interested participants, clients, and companies contemplating to adopt what we will have to offer.

The short form “Eco” stands for the word Ecology. Ecology (from Greek: ¿¯º¿, oikos, “household”; and »?¿, logos, “knowledge”) is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their natural environment.

In the context I am using “Eco”, it goes back to a more business and work oriented view developed by the German biologist Ernst Haekel. He came up with the term “Oekologie” and defined it as the relationship between an organism and the environment. For me, this organism is the human being.

The term environment is applicable both as the immediate space something occupies as well as the environment in the sense of nature as a whole.

Consciousness is a little harder to define and allows for more variety. I apply it in this way: Consciousness = self-awareness, and the ability to perceive a relationship between oneself and one’s environment”.

Put together I would define: “Eco-consciousness is the awareness of the relationship one has with environment (nature) as it relates to the impact of our actions and decisions.”

When looking at eco-conscious coaching and consulting, I want to bring this awareness of our actions into the field of life- and work- improvement. As an example, let’s take the attribute “Motivation”. When helping others become top performers this attribute plays an important role, both for the leader as well as the follower.

When the eco-conscious aspect is added, we can not only talk about the things it takes to motivate oneself or others to do certain things or be aware of certain circumstances, but now we can add the ecological aspect. I can motivate someone to be better organized, thereby achieving higher efficiency.

If, at the same time, I provide guidance for the use of environmentally friendly processes, procedures, policies, materials, and explanations to the why, I can achieve higher efficiency with a lesser impact on the ecology/nature/environment.

In addition, this consciousness in the form of increased awareness can be highlighted to the employees, the clients, and everybody in the market place.

Studies have shown that people want to be, live, and act in harmony with nature and their environment, if they have the choice.

In general, when people have the choice to pick between something natural, organic, environmentally friendly, and a similar item without these attributes, they overwhelmingly go for the environmentally superior product or service.

Studies have shown (I actually supported a very recent study directly) that more than 70% of people in the US want to work for eco-friendly businesses and like to act eco-friendly if the choice is of similar quality, price, or effort. The Unites States is just awakening to the Green revolution. There can be no doubt about the huge demand for information, solutions, services, everything involving eco-conscious approaches.

I believe individuals and businesses want to be more environmentally friendly but often don’t know how.

We will develop services and products to help fulfill this desire and offer new solutions to high performance at work and in private life. Most importantly, eco-conscious behaviors, adopted from coaching sessions , workshops, webinars, or home study courses will provide a more fulfilling and joyful life.

The combination of success and joy is what we all try to find, and a heightened level of eco-consciousness will lead us there. It will be mind-boggling and eye-opening to demonstrate that eco-consciousness means more fun, more success, mire joy, more comforts, and not less, as many officials have lead as to believe for way too long.

I am excited about the prospects and hope to receive a lot of feedback, suggestions and participation as we develop a range of services and products to help everybody lead a more eco-conscious life.



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Sarah McCrum asked:


Whilst everyone likes the idea of being relaxed at work it is difficult in most companies to find the necessary support to make real change. Three excuses may be heard repeatedly: no time, no space, or the managers wouldn’t accept it.

These answers indicate a lack of understanding of the true benefits of relaxation. Any manager who really knows the difference it can make will create space, time and support throughout the workplace.

An anecdote can only suggest the potential but such stories are becoming increasingly common.

The sales teams of a well-known London company had not made a single sale for two months. One morning they happened to have organised a one hour relaxation session for the whole team. The same afternoon they made £200,000 (around $560,000). Some of them thought it was pure coincidence. Others wondered whether there was some connection.

Apple Computers, Yahoo, and Google are three major international companies that actively encourage their employees to relax or meditate, at every level from executives down. After exercise, relaxation has been shown as the number 1 factor in improving performance. A little internet research will help develop the argument supporting relaxation in the workplace. Once that’s in place it’s time to find a way to implement it.

Some organisations, such as the Ministry of Transport in New Zealand, make special breakout rooms where people can relax during the day. The logic is simple. An agitated employee is good for nothing. It’s better to spend 30 minutes calming down and then work effectively thereafter, than to spend all day quietly fuming, unable to concentrate properly.

Ideally every company would make time for employees to relax daily, simply because of the results. Trelise Cooper, top Auckland fashion designer, brings all her staff together at 9.15 each morning for a short meditation, part of the holistic approach Trelise credits it for taking her business beyond her wildest dreams. But in a world that is less than ideal it is also quite acceptable to encourage people to do it at home. It’s not only good for work. It improves health, helps relationships, gives you more energy for family and social life and cuts down the need for stimulation by alcohol, smoking and coffee.

The real key is to prove that it works. HR staff are often more open to relaxation than other parts of senior management. A small pilot programme is the simplest way to spread the message more widely. Take some key performers in the organisation, preferably including those with clearly defined performance targets (for example sales staff) and invite them to take part in a relaxation programme for one month, say 20-30 minutes daily. Results speak more than a thousand arguments.

The really wise organisation will employ a specialist, someone who is expert in relaxation and whose sole role is to support staff to become happier and more relaxed. Smaller companies can band together to share a specialist, perhaps working online. The cost of a salary will more than outweigh the benefit to the company in increased revenue and reduced sick leave alone. Dr Sven Hansen, Director of Resilience Practice for PWC, with a special interest in developing leadership teams, says “We’re firing our brains to death with a gadget infested world. This is leading to adult attention deficit disorders, similar to the ADHD which is becoming so common in children. Leaders manage attention. If you can’t control your own attention, how on earth can you control the attention and strategy of a large organisation?” Or to put it more simply, “The relaxed mind works better.”

 



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Saddle Ridge asked:


Sebring,FL- March 17, 2008 – Saddle Ridge, an all-natural and eco-friendly equestrian home community near the quaint Florida town of Sebring, has added Mary Ann Simonds to its team of “green” experts. Simonds is a professional equine and equestrian consultant who has worked in the equestrian industry for the last 25 years.

Simonds’ experience ranges from sustainable development and strategic planning to eco-tourism and equine behavior. After earning her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wyoming, majoring in Wildlife Biology and Equine Ecology, she earned her Master’s Degree at John F. Kennedy University in Interdisciplinary Consciousness Studies, specializing in Organizational Development and Leadership.

“I have been waiting for this day,” commented Simonds, “when a visionary developer sees the amazing potential for integrating an equestrian community with a sustainable development. Congratulations! This truly will be a landmark project, attracting intelligent and ecologically aware equestrians. I am excited to be a part of this team and share my expertise as an ecological equestrian consultant.”

Simonds has worked from the West Coast to Florida with land use agencies and organizations integrating habitat conservation, sustainability and equestrian issues. She serves on a number of Advisory Boards for government agencies, as well as conservation and equestrian organizations, and has been instrumental in the development of protection ordinances, creative zoning, and inter-disciplinary networks for sustainable development and land use planning.

“We are thrilled to have Mary Ann on board at Saddle Ridge,” stated Janie Coffey, an agent for the development. “She has extensive experience with facility design, wildlife protection, and equine management. These are critical issues for Saddle Ridge to address while building a truly green and well-preserved equestrian environment.”

Saddle Ridge is exceedingly committed to constructing an environmentally conscious, deed-restricted development; therefore, additional consultants have collaborated with Saddle Ridge to ensure that the land conservation, building methods, and horse-keeping practices coincide with a green lifestyle. Gregory J. Sawka of the Southeast Soil & Environmental Service Inc. recently teamed with Saddle Ridge as a soil consultant and engineer. Through composite samples, he has performed tests to examine the suitability of the soil for horse grazing.

Construction at Saddle Ridge is currently underway, and this professionally planned facility is composed of 1,200 acres. Because the layout has been designed to preserve the natural state of the land and ensure privacy for its residents, only 96 parcels are available for purchase. At this time, Saddle Ridge is pleased to provide new customers with a limited time offer. The development is offering a select number of 10 acre parcels, a 3,000 square foot custom home and a three-stall barn for $690,000.

Residents will be able to custom build houses in the Florida-cracker bungalow style that incorporates elements to make them compliant with green standards.



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