Vineri voi sosi in tara pentru 2 luni de studiu de teren si tare ma bucur ca voi fi acasa pentru a-l vota pe Nicusor Dan.

articol original aici: http://ideas4sustainability.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/bionics-in-politics/

Seeing that one of the most popular posts of this blog are about Political decisions and Governance I would like to share my thoughts on some ways forward for the present global challenges. I would like to suggest that the organization of ecological systems can serve as a model for the global governance in the same way that bionics applies nature inspired solutions in the sphere of engineering, architecture and technology.

During my education in Romania I repeatedly (i.e. middle school, high school and university) learned about the “laws of function and mechanisms operating at all levels of scale and size” of the ecological systems most of them coming from Odum brothers’ books. I am not sure of the right translation of the terms but some of them strike me today as relevant to the governing of the commons in the 21^st century. I believe that the principles of systems ecology are directly or indirectly applicable to national and international politics, for example: the functioning of ecological systems based on a hierarchy and the emergent properties of an ecological level or unit.

http://www.angalossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/global.jpg

When integrating different levels of organization, following the hierarchy of ecological systems, the superior levels have new, emergent properties that are different from the ones owned by the integrated systems. Consequently, emergence helps us understand that at global level we have different things to fight for than the ones at national level. Another way to express the same concept is the “nonreducible property” (Odum and Barrett, 2005:7) which means in a simplistic way that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Furthermore, interconnectivity (or sometimes connectedness) of systems helps us to understand better global problems like climate change, land-use change and even globalisation. It is acknowledged that with increasing interdependence comes increasing vulnerability. In systems in dynamic equilibrium, such as ecosystems, economies and societies when one component is down it can cause the entire system to fail depending on the complexity and carrying capacity of the system. Given its advantages, economic globalisation is easy to accept and benefits from loads of workforce and willpower targeting the reduction and removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labor. Paradoxically, when it comes to our global environment, borders suddenly pop up and countries are not willing to be bound by international agreements, acting as if all environmental problems can be confined to national territories. In this way the <<world economy>> becomes more acknowledged that the <<world environment>>. On the contrary, “when the planet is understood as a worldwide society characterized by cross border networks, as opposed to a collection of nation states colliding with one another like billiard balls, then the distinction between internal and external affairs becomes obsolete. An effective foreign policy can no longer be satisfied with the defense of narrow <<national interests>>. In essence, the national interest now encompasses the well-being of all people on this planet. This means that national welfare is no longer an effective frame of reference for enlightened foreign policy; it must be extended to encompass the common welfare of a world society.” (Sachs & Ott, 2007:21)

http://www.globalsherpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/globalization-hands-pic.jpg

Economic globalisation together with the questioning of the physical limits of our planet by reports such as “The Limits to Growth” and by international discussion platforms such as this one, are strong arguments in favour of a “biosphere politics”. There are already some organizations, initiatives and think-tanks that try to move things in this direction. Adopting an ecologically orientated thinking could be beneficial both to lay people as to decision-makers by enhancing the grounds and legitimacy of their actions. If they are still not convinced by their obligation to act locally while thinking globally, biosphere politics can at least serve as an additional conceptual incentive (if not as a tested way forward). Learning from nature was always a good option for the mankind. So why not do it at a larger scale than the individual one?

Refrences

Bourg, D., Whiteside K. 2010. Vers une democratie ecologique. Le citoyen, le savant et le politique. Seuil.

Odum, H.T. 1983. Systems Ecology: An Introduction. John Wiley and Sons.

Odum, E.P., Barrett, G.W. 2005. Fundamentals of Ecology. Thomson, Brooks/Cole (fith edition).

Sachs, W., Ott, H.E. 2007. A New Foreign Policy Agenda. Environmental Politics is Resource Politics is Peace Politics. Internationale Politik, Journal of the German Council on Foreign Relations (IP-Global Edition), Vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 16-22.

original article: http://ideas4sustainability.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/a-transylvanian-confrontation-the-tractor-versus-the-shepherd/

Almost one week ago I came back from my pilot study in Transylvania.  Leaving aside the technical lessons on interviews and the methodological aspects I trialled, I would like to share here a few aspects that probably fit better in a blog like this one than in a scientific publication.

The initial scope of the pilot was to continue the getting familiar with the region and trialling various qualitative methods with local people. I had planned to take the pulse of the villages in our case study area and become better acquainted with the method I am going to apply in my summer study, that is, the Q method. But to my surprise, I was wrapped up in the stories of the people I met and so I sometimes forgot the essential reason of my talking to them: obtaining a Q sort. It is not the stories that I would like to include in this post but rather my thoughts while listening to them.

photo credits: http://masiniagricole.blogspot.com/2010/10/tocatoarele-de-resturi-vegetale-de-la.html

I heard many times about the “poverty” of Romania’s countryside but I was never given the opportunity to explore it myself in any depth. The fact that the pilot was in March, after a long winter, only emphasized the sombre colours. I found out that indeed most local villagers lead their lives with a wonderful humility and modesty. Some of them radiate an endemic wisdom that makes you shut up and listen. And their story is more valuable than any “how-to” or “help-yourself” book. Only in big villages, that were getting closer to the urban atmosphere, the “magic” was slowly disappearing, probably due to large roads crossing the village. There, people were too busy to talk to me and were already infected with the stress syndrome.

This trip also served as an opportunity to clear up some of my own misconceptions regarding our rural landscape which were probably built on my living in a large city all my life: the Rroma. In these areas, they are seen as a problem more in terms of their integration than in terms of violence and thefts. The niches within the population are better defined than I could imagine before. Everybody greets everyone without exception regardless of age, ethnicity or religion. I myself was greeted countless times.

beautiful people

un fost cioban…

si un cioban actual