Science, Culture and Integral Yoga

This seemed like an appropriate article to post in honor of Christmas Day. ~ ron

...if you've been following the evolutionary trajectory of What Is Enlightenment? over the past couple of years, you may have noticed that a new kind of thinking has indeed been finding its way onto more and more of our pages. Call it integral, second tier, holistic, or systemic, this new thinking is the hallmark of a growing wave of visionaries with the eyes to look beyond the surface turbulence and grapple with the multilayered complexities undergirding our global dilemmas. Challenging us to face the elaborate interwoven forces that are shaping our destiny for better or worse, these evangelists of higher-order thinking offer what many feel may be the best chance we have at meeting the demands of the years ahead.

So, in attempting to come to terms with our uncertain future, and particularly with the role that religion will play in it, for this issue we decided not just to speak with a number of these leading-edge thinkers but to bring them together and have them speak with each other. As firm believers in Plato's assertion that the highest form of knowledge is that which emerges in dialogue, we couldn't imagine what could give us a better chance of seeing the biggest possible picture than a roundtable discussion between some of today's brightest integral minds, who are each attempting, in their own way, to forge a more evolved course through our present and future world. ... more »

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Friday, December 15

Ex-VP Al Gore calls for scientific research to be used for policy change

by ronjon on December 15, 2006 02:45PM (PST)

Al Gore, who emerged from political defeat to attain celebrity status as a harbinger of the hazards of global warming, told thousands of scientists Thursday in San Francisco that they have a responsibility to translate their research into possible policy solutions.
Former Vice President Gore, presidential candidate turned climate crusader, spoke at the annual meeting of the world's largest scientific society, the American Geophysical Union.
He urged scientists to communicate the climate crisis "in ways that arouse appropriate alarm that can motivate changes in behavior.'' ... more »

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Tuesday, December 12

New Computer Model Says Arctic Summer Ice to Disappear by 2040

by ronjon on December 12, 2006 04:32PM (PST)

Summers in the Arctic Ocean may be ice-free by 2040—decades earlier than previously expected, according to a new study of the effects of global warming on sea ice. The scenario is predicted by computer models that assume greenhouse gas emissions will continue unabated. -- Gases such as carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants and automobiles are considered major drivers of global warming. According to [the new] computer models, if the gases continue to build up in the atmosphere at the current rate, sea ice will steadily decline for decades and then abruptly disappear.

"There are tipping points in the system," said Bruno Tremblay, an assistant professor of atmospheric and ocean sciences at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

"When we reach them, things accelerate in a nonlinear way." ... more »

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Monday, December 11

Nobel Winner Muhammad Yunus Warns of Dangers of Globalization

by ronjon on December 11, 2006 01:46PM (PST)

The Bangladeshi banker Muhammad Yunus, who invented the practice of making small, unsecured loans to the poor, warned today that the globalized economy was becoming a dangerous “free-for-all highway.
“Its lanes will be taken over by the giant trucks from powerful economies,” Dr. Yunus said during a lavish ceremony at which he was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. “Bangladeshi rickshaws will be thrown off the highway.”
While international companies motivated by profit may be crucial in addressing global poverty, he said, nations must also cultivate grassroots enterprises and the human impulse to do good. ... more »

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Thursday, December 7

Spectrolab raises solar PV efficiency to 40.7 percent

by ronjon on December 7, 2006 12:46PM (PST)

A team of engineers at solar cell manufacturer Spectrolab has produced a photovoltaic system with a record-breaking conversion efficiency of 40.7 per cent.
The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has verified the milestone, which should help III-V semiconductor technology to increase its penetration of the market for terrestrial solar power systems.
Spectrolab CEO David Lillington hailed the achievement, and said that once the high-efficiency cells were qualified, they could be manufactured in very high volumes with little impact on production flow. ... more »

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Ocean warming hurts marine food chain

by ronjon on December 7, 2006 12:30PM (PST)

When the climate warms, there is a drop in the abundance of the ocean's phytoplankton, the tiny plants that feed krill, fish and whales, according to scientists who say new research offers the first clues to the future of marine life under global warming.
Ocean temperatures have generally risen over the last 50 years as the atmosphere warms. And now nine years of NASA satellite data published today in the journal Nature show that the growth rate and abundance of phytoplankton around the world decreases in warm ocean years and increases in cooler ocean years.
The findings are crucial because they show a consequence of the changing global climate at the most fundamental level. Scientists estimate that phytoplankton is responsible for about half of Earth's photosynthesis, a process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts it into organic carbon and oxygen that feeds nearly every ocean ecosystem.
Fewer phytoplankton consume less carbon dioxide, aggravating a cycle that can lead to even more warming. ... more »

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Tuesday, December 5

"Two myths that keep the world poor," by Vandana Shiva

by ronjon on December 5, 2006 09:53AM (PST)

...Jeffrey Sachs...is not a simply a do-gooder but one of the world’s leading economists, head of the Earth Institute and in charge of a UN panel set up to promote rapid development. So when he launched his book The End of Poverty, people everywhere took notice. Time magazine even made it into a cover story.
But, there is a problem with Sachs’ how-to-end poverty prescriptions. He simply doesn’t understand where poverty comes from. He seems to view it as the original sin. “A few generations ago, almost everybody was poor,” he writes, then adding: “The Industrial Revolution led to new riches, but much of the world was left far behind.”
This is a totally false history of poverty. The poor are not those who have been “left behind”; they are the ones who have been robbed. The wealth accumulated by Europe and North America are largely based on riches taken from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Without the destruction of India’s rich textile industry, without the takeover of the spice trade, without the genocide of the native American tribes, without African slavery, the Industrial Revolution would not have resulted in new riches for Europe or North America. It was this violent takeover of Third World resources and markets that created wealth in the North and poverty in the South. ... more »

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