7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PEACE AND NONVIOLENT ACTION
7th ICPNA, Jaipur, November 10 to 14, 2008
4th Plenary Session
11.11.2008
Why is the word nonviolence so actively used in the seminars and conferences at all - local, national, and international platforms? I can very clearly see one reason, and that is that peace of mother Earth is at stake. The colour is changing from green to brown.
The term Nonviolence has been a significant concept in most of the world religions. But today this word has crossed all the boundaries and borders, has come out of the scriptures and has been simplified to be an essential part of our daily activities. At present, a large body of scientists and educationalists globally are doing research on various aspects of nonviolence. The root cause behind this alarming situation is a universal cause, and that is unending desires and a deteriorating lifestyle. Regarding this Mahatma Gandhi warned around a century ago that, “Earth provides us enough to satisfy our need, but not our greed.” But the scale and significance of this great visionary was underestimated then, and today we are facing the outcome. Thus in the context of nonviolence, terms like “Environmental Crisis,” “Ecological Imbalance” are heard more frequently at both national and international platforms.
Thepast decades have witnessed worried scientists, sociologists and environmental groups that have worked hard to control the disrupting ecological balance. The ecological evidence that points to this future is readily available in a wide variety of books and articles in the journals. In short, humankind has almost traveled down the dead end and it is now time for us to turn around and to carefully and intelligently make our way out of this impending disaster. Thus it cannot be viewed as a problem in isolation, which concerns the ecologists only. It is a matter of great concern for sociologists, religious groups, politics, industrialists, economists and scientists. As a result of this, new models of nonviolent lifestyle are been evolved for universal peace and sustainability.
Speech: "Global Vision of Sustainable Development: Ecological and Environmental Crisis vis-à-vis Human Behavior" www.herenow4u.net/index.php?id=67049The UN has defined Sustainable Development as the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. Accordingly there has to be a holistic approach to tackle this crisis where all individuals from around the planet come together and feel responsible to combat the situation. Once this responsibility is clearly defined and understood, can the desired change take place?
I strongly feel revolution can only take place with a change of heart. This only happens when there is a transformation of vision. This process finally occurs with a change in life style. As truly said by the Jain Aacharya Tulsi:
“Unless we change the life style deep rooted in consumerism any solution to environmental crisis is impossible.”
The main components of this short paper is focusing upon ‘what to do’ to bring about the change. Some of the suggestions could not be your style so you can ignore them and move forward with the rest.
• Maintain a balance between eating and non-eating through various ways.
- Reducing the variety of food items displayed during the meals.
- Skipping one meal in a week.
- Avoid making extra food and end up throwing in the garbage.
- Seasonal fruits and vegetables should be used and promoted.
• Maintain a balance in the use of water.
- Once a week skip taking a shower.
- Check the taps and possible sources of water before you leave home.
- Avoid washing clothes everyday.
• Maintain a balance in the usage of electricity.
- Reduce the use of electric appliances in the kitchen everyday.
- It is good to keep the refrigerators off once a week.
- Check that all the lights and fans are off before you leave home.
- Electricity should be used with mindfulness.
• Beauty products should be used moderately.
• Flowers are the beauty to be appreciated, not to be displayed to add beauty in our homes and offices.
• Maintain cleanliness so that unnecessary microorganisms are not gathered round the corners and reduce too much use of hard chemicals for killing.
The above mentioned points are some of the ways of commodity related self-restraint, but according to His Holiness Acharya Mahapragya, no development is complete unless we develop the aspects of positive emotions, like compassion, tolerance peace and amity for all.