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--- research_report_sanjeev-shankar [2008-05-26 19:30] – sanjeev
+++ research_report_sanjeev-shankar [2008-05-26 19:36] – sanjeev
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 **To learn, to care, to share and to give**
-Simple solutions can originate from any source, independent of age, status, experience or academic background. The issue of education, literacy and awareness is crucial for the success of any venture. Current systems have failed in making a distinction between education and literacy. We are trained to earn money and get a job. We are not told about the purpose of our life and how we can be of genuine value for our communities. The Barefoot College in Rajasthan, India is an important example where villagers are involved in educating the young. Children are able to translate their knowledge into local situations making the communities much more sustainable. There is no need for them to migrate to cities. Poverty and illiteracy are the greatest challenges facing mankind and such initiatives can inspire us to make a meaningful difference. With special focus on preserving eco-systems, bio-literacy can generate an appropriate response from every stakeholder. It is important to bring out the connection between a fertile soil, and healthy crops, healthy animals and healthy humans. Costarica is a good example here.((http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3859366038516185622&q=longnow.org&pl=true)) Once we ''know'' what we are going to ''lose'', our perspective on things will change and we will take the right steps even if it amounts to changing our habits.
+Simple solutions can originate from any source, independent of age, status, experience or academic background. The issue of education, literacy and awareness is crucial for the success of any venture. Current systems have failed in making a distinction between education and literacy. We are trained to earn money and get a job. We are not told about the purpose of our life and how we can be of genuine value for our communities. The Barefoot College in Rajasthan, India is an important example where villagers are involved in educating the young. Children are able to translate their knowledge into local situations making the communities much more sustainable. There is no need for them to migrate to cities. Poverty and illiteracy are the greatest challenges facing mankind and such initiatives can inspire us to make a meaningful difference. With special focus on preserving eco-systems, bio-literacy can generate an appropriate response from every stakeholder. It is important to bring out the connection between a fertile soil, and healthy crops, healthy animals and healthy humans. Costarica is a good example here.((http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3859366038516185622&q=longnow.org&pl=true)) Once we 'know' what we are going to 'lose', our perspective on things will change and we will take the right steps even if it amounts to changing our habits.
-An important thread through this issue is the politics of information and communication; the question of, who can know what? Technology as an important participatory tool can be extremely effective even though prevailing tendencies have been to favour presentation over content; and replication over creation.  An important example here is its use through [[e-choupals]] in rural Indian villages to increase crop productivity ('choupal' is a hindi term for a village gathering place). Further, since ‘change’ can happen remarkably quickly in an electronically networked world; there must be sufficient and critical debate over the impact and need for such a change. We must constantly re-evaluate and revalidate our responses and ideas of 'growth' and 'progress'. Ethics are important in such a situation and should be openly discussed through value-based governance. In cultural contexts, links with tradition should involve the use of past processes of change rather than the maintenance of past structures and patterns. Having said that, if a pattern needs to disintegrate and be left behind, we must let new systems be born.
+An important thread through this issue is the politics of information and communication; the question of, who can know what? Technology as an important participatory tool can be extremely effective even though prevailing tendencies have been to favour presentation over content; and replication over creation.  An important example here is its use through [[e-choupals]] in rural Indian villages to increase crop productivity ('choupal' is a hindi term for a village gathering place). Further, since ‘change’ can happen remarkably quickly in an electronically networked world; there must be sufficient and critical debate over the impact and need for such a change. We must constantly re-evaluate and revalidate our responses and ideas of 'growth' and 'progress'. Ethics are important in such a situation and should be openly discussed through value-based governance. In cultural contexts, links with tradition should involve the use of past processes of change rather than the maintenance of past structures and patterns. Having said that, if a pattern needs to disintegrate and be left behind, we must let new systems be born.
 **Towards long term view: a cultural anchor**
-''Jain monks are like grazing cattle; they never take too much from one place or person. They take small amounts and then move onto the next spot.''((Transcript from a conversation with a Hindu priest in a Temple in Delhi, India))
+'Jain monks are like grazing cattle; they never take too much from one place or person. They take small amounts and then move onto the next spot.'((Transcript from a conversation with a Hindu priest in a Temple in Delhi, India))
 We need to nurture a moral force: an anchor in every culture, which challenges convention. It could come from spirituality, religion, an inspiring story, a community or a genuine leader. Here religion isn’t about believing things. It is ethical alchemy, a form of investigation. It’s about behaving in a way that changes us and gives us intimations of holiness and sacredness.
 How can we transform the idea of control, dominance and self-importance to that of mutual respect and interconnection with other life forms? Anchors create an effective self-regulatory pattern in a system. India, with its spiritual heritage is an example of this collective idea of balance and harmony with nature. It has, till recently, worked as a counterpoint to the ongoing movement of 'fast' by offering a 'slow and deep' mind set. Greening up our excessive consumption without changing our habits will not work. We must consume less and we must slow down. We must also look at authentic solutions for reversing population growth. Such initiatives underline our responsibility towards a long term sustainable view.
-((http://www.greenpeace.org/international/about/deep-green))((http://www.longnow.org/about/)) From rural farming perspective, the negative impact of intensive industrial agriculture has been established. A conscious effort to step back and look at traditional farming methods is required. Organic farming is an important basic appropriate technology for rural areas, especially in the developing world and as such is a sub set of permaculture, which offers the most holistic method of farming and will move on from its current status as “alternative response to environmental crisis” to the social and economic mainstream of the post-industrial era. Whether it will be called permaculture or not is a secondary matter. From an urban farming perspective, personal kitchen gardens are most effective. If every individual in a city decides to have a personal garden, the impact can be huge. The future of food would depend on how we interpret, recontextualise and fuse traditional methods with lessons learnt from permaculture.
+((http://www.greenpeace.org/international/about/deep-green))((http://www.longnow.org/about/)) From rural farming perspective, the negative impact of intensive industrial agriculture has been established. A conscious effort to step back and look at traditional farming methods is required. Organic farming is an important basic appropriate technology for rural areas, especially in the developing world and as such is a sub set of permaculture, which offers the most holistic method of farming and will move on from its current status as 'alternative response to environmental crisis' to the social and economic mainstream of the post-industrial era. Whether it will be called permaculture or not is a secondary matter. From an urban farming perspective, personal kitchen gardens are most effective. If every individual in a city decides to have a personal garden, the impact can be huge. The future of food would depend on how we interpret, recontextualise and fuse traditional methods with lessons learnt from permaculture.
-**The power and spirit of “we”**
+**The power and spirit of 'we'**
 A gradual shift towards a ‘we’ and ‘us’ based culture from a ‘me’ and ‘I’ based approach is required. This is a difficult test for humanity with the diversity of agendas amongst individual humans. Can nations indeed come together and treat certain issues as sacred? Ideas of 'social capitalism', 'social entrepreneurship' and ‘co-ownership’ are hopeful signs. How can we systemically integrate the knowledge which continues to remain fragmented in different intellectual disciplines? How can we create an overview? Technology can be a tool but the real answer to this is having a passionate will. There is a definite need for co-operation, dialogue and collaboration between different cultures and contexts to develop a 'greater' self reliant system. Urban communities should join hands with rural areas to create a prosperous countryside, which in turn would support our future. Collective communities like India, today face a reverse trend with a shift towards a capitalist, individual based, self serving attitude. There is a visible rush to embrace the global marketplace and the impact can be catastrophic. A collective change of mind and heart is needed. Whether this will happen or not depends on each single one of us.
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 **Towards purposeful action**
-We all have a construct, a conscious grammar about ourselves and the world around us. The idea of language is central to this. We need words, numbers, and definitions; but, they are not the end. They are tools for feedback, for self regulation, for differentiation and for efficient distribution of resources. In our competitive urge for 'growth' reflected by larger numbers and ever changing definitions, we could lose the purpose of collective, purposeful action. An example to illustrate this is the growing divide between ''urban'' and ''rural''. Migration from rural to urban areas has been a global phenomenon for centuries. People in most parts of the world crave to be in an urban setting. It gives them a sense of pride and achievement apart from other tangible benefits. This contributes to continued unsustainable migration from villages to cities. There is a need to redefine the mental and physical construct of an 'urban' space and a 'rural' place and treat them as a unified whole. During interviews with inhabitants in Delhi, it was felt that most dwellers still treat the city as their work place where they have ''located'' themselves. Their ''home'' is in the countryside! This social phenomena of ''locating'' oneself in a place rather than making it a home, is an important issue and needs to be addressed.
+We all have a construct, a conscious grammar about ourselves and the world around us. The idea of language is central to this. We need words, numbers, and definitions; but, they are not the end. They are tools for feedback, for self regulation, for differentiation and for efficient distribution of resources. In our competitive urge for 'growth' reflected by larger numbers and ever changing definitions, we could lose the purpose of collective, purposeful action. An example to illustrate this is the growing divide between 'urban' and 'rural'. Migration from rural to urban areas has been a global phenomenon for centuries. People in most parts of the world crave to be in an urban setting. It gives them a sense of pride and achievement apart from other tangible benefits. This contributes to continued unsustainable migration from villages to cities. There is a need to redefine the mental and physical construct of an 'urban' space and a 'rural' place and treat them as a unified whole. During interviews with inhabitants in Delhi, it was felt that most dwellers still treat the city as their work place where they have ''located'' themselves. Their ''home'' is in the countryside! This social phenomena of 'locating' oneself in a place rather than making it a home, is an important issue and needs to be addressed.
 **Towards diverse, self organised, self reliant homes**
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   * Creating an **International Platform for Growth and Resilience**, which tinkers towards a more inclusive, collaborative methodology through a system of integration. Informed by scientific research, practical experience and travel, the platform would act as an independent facilitator and arbiter of emerging knowledge domains. One of the initiatives could be to bring 'polar' groups together to find a common ground. These groups could include young and old; scientists and traditional farmers; environmentalists and corporate executives; capitalists and social entrepreneurs; secular groups with military regime heads; real estate developers with conservationists; politicians with middle class people and so on.
-  * Creating tangible manifestations of human plant interaction to nudge it out of the speculative zone. How would a new relevant design practice emerge through observation of and cooperation with natural systems? The researcher envisions the emergence of a new field of research which merges aspects of urban ecology, design ethnography, cultural anthropology and life science.
+  * Creating tangible manifestations of human plant interaction to nudge it out of the speculative zone. How would a new relevant design practice emerge through observation of and cooperation with natural systems? The researcher envisions the emergence of a new field of research which merges aspects of urban ecology, design ethnography and life science.
-  * Ultimately thinking of ways in which we can create conditions that make independent ingenious ideas inevitable and further trigger collective actions in imaginative, purposeful ways.
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