Ethical Ecology
April 21, 2015 Kosmos Community News


Nuclear Weapons and the Moral Compass

by Jonathan Granoff, President, Global Security Institute

The Global Security Institute is profoundly honored to have co-hosted with the Holy See a remarkably inspirational event at the United Nations on April 9, 2015. Titled “Nuclear Weapons and the Moral Compass,” the event included a riveting panel of leaders in the Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Muslim, diplomatic, and interfaith communities.

We believe that amplifying a morally-based call for nuclear weapons abolition is both politically efficacious as well as the right thing to do. We are inspired by the outstanding leadership demonstrated by Pope Francis, who issued his unequivocal, urgent call for nuclear disarmament in December, as part of the Holy See’s “Nuclear Disarmament: A Time for Abolition.”


Which is the Most Responsible Nuclear Nation?

by Kevin Martin

The U.S. and five other world powers – Russia, China, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, known collectively as the P5+1 for the permanent United Nations Security Council members plus Germany – hope to soon conclude an agreement with Iran in order to address concerns over its nuclear program. With this agreement near (assuming the U.S. Congress doesn’t torpedo the deal with unhelpful interventions), and the every five years Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (NPT RevCon in UN parlance) set to convene at the UN in New York City at the end of April, it seems a good time to ask questions about the nuclear weapons policies of many countries, but three stand out at this time – Iran, Israel and the United States.


EVENT International Peace & Planet Conference: April 24-26

The International Peace and Planet Conference for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, and Sustainable World will be held April 24-26 in New York City.

The Conference is to be held on the eve of the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Kosmos Project Director, Dot Maver, will co-facilitate a workshop: ‘Moral and Legal Call to Action’, with Jonathan Granoff and Monica Willard.


‘Double Enclosure’- the shut down of democratic accountability, participation and transparency

Kosmos was delighted to attend the recent EDGE Funders Alliance Conference in Baltimore. The following text is from a presentation by Heike Loeschmann of the Heinrich Boell Foundation on Transformational Change.

“What’s going on is a double-enclosure: a massive privatization and commodification of the physical world – the atmosphere, land, forests, genes, life forms, and more – and a massive privatization and commodification of economic decision making and democracy themselves.

The enclosure of nature is alarming in itself, but the enclosure of democracy may be even more troubling because it is the only means that we have to stop the first enclosure. We have to mobilize against a systematic shut down of democratic accountability, participation and transparency.” – Heike Loeschmann


Five Years after BP Oil Spill: Focus Should Be on Continued Need for Restoration

It is five years since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 men and spewing at least 3.19 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In advance of the memorial, leading national and local conservation organizations working on Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation – released the following statement:

“As we approach the fifth anniversary of one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, there is no question that the damage unleashed by the BP oil spill is serious, evident and ongoing. Five years have passed and BP is still sidestepping responsibility.


READER’S ESSAY Cultural Re-evolution

by Seth Phillips

“Doesn’t it feel wrong, viscerally, the way we treat each other, the environment, and ourselves? It should be so much better. It really seems like we’ve gone down the wrong road. Could some or all of our conflict, discord and madness be attributed to a culture we’ve created that isn’t consistent with what human beings really can be and achieve?

I believe we really can be and achieve something beautiful and mature, and so I’ve embraced true counter-culture. Not some hip, rebellious, marketed version of counter-culture, but a mental state where you objectively observe your surroundings and deliberately decide what really contributes to the harmony with yourself, mankind, and the natural world.”