Educating Global Citizens for the 21st Century

Mind and Life Institute Conference, October 2009 With comments by Nancy Roof and Stephanie Shorter How can our educational system evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century? How will we educate people to be compassionate, competent, ethical, and engaged citizens in an increasingly complex and interconnected world? The urgent challenges of a globalized and interdependent world demand…

Global Citizens | Part II

Five Levels of Global Citizens Mark Gerzon When basic freedoms take root, citizenship begins to evolve. To understand this process of evolution, let us use the analogy of computer software, which is continually being upgraded. Today, in almost every society around the world, five levels of ‘civic software’ are in operation. As global citizens, it is our responsibility to be familiar with all…

Launching the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment

John Räätz John Räätz is a pioneer in the growing genre of transformational media and entertainment and the founder of the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment. Over the past 21 years, he has been involved with the marketing, public relations, distribution and other business aspects of many groundbreaking films including Mindwalk, Baraka, Hearts of Darkness, What The Bleep Do We…

Global Citizens, Part I

Tong Shan University, Zhuhai, China, May 12, 2008 “Why do the people in France hate us?” a second year student, one of almost three hundred seated in the large lecture hall, asked me. “They tried to attack the Olympic torch when it was passing through Paris. Is that because they don’t like our country?” For a split second, I was speechless. I knew the answer to the Chinese student’s…

The Gift Economy | Generosity 2.0

My wife and I were on a walking pilgrimage in a sparsely populated region of Western India when we were approached by a radiant villager. “I would like to offer you a meal,” he said, “Will you accept my offering?” When we gladly agreed he added, “We don’t have any running water or electricity in our small hut. Our family is poor but we like to give from whatever we have.” Our consumer culture…

Spring-Summer 2009

In this IssueThe Many Dimensions of Change - by Don Edward BeckMaine Activists Protect the Commons - by Jamilla El-ShafeiYes: We: Can: - by Reader EssayBirthing Planetary Civilization - by Nancy B. RoofAwakening the Energies of Love - by Anne Hillman→ Read more about this issue

The Many Dimensions of Change

The population undergoing drastic change is a population of misfits, and misfits live and breathe in an atmosphere of passion and imbalance, explosive and hungry for action. ~ Eric Hoffer in The Ordeal of Change This quotation by Eric Hoffer, the insightful American philosopher, seems to have been written for our times. It introduces some reality into our understanding of change itself. We have…

Fall-Winter 2008

In this IssueA Conversation On Compassionate Capitalism - by Lawrence B. BrilliantBook Review: Integral City | Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive - by Marilyn HamiltonThe Commons as a New Sector of Value-Creation - by David BollierA Kosmos Seminar in Bolivia | Toward Global Citizenship - by Nila Tadic de OssioLiving at the Intersection of Travel and Citizen Diplomacy - by Reader…

The Hub | Creating an Ecology of Social Innovation

What's the Infrastructure for Realizing Ideas for a Radically Better World? Work isn't working. That much is clear. Freelancers, flexi-workers, nomad professionals and social entrepreneurs are more and more often characterizing the landscape of contributors to social and ecological responsibility. As we see a shift toward more flexible and entrepreneurial working patterns and an increased…