Two protagonists, two public figures, face a new challenge together: to start the expression of a “collective thought”. To create an important book that will be a collection of the contributions and the reflections of many great people, icons that constitute the gotha of the world of values in order to promote, inform and delineate a new style of life for everyone, together. Because at the root of the bad things that happen throughout the world (global warming, desertification, over-population etc) there is a lack of awareness, although there is also a great possibility of change. It is important to heal the effects but, more than anything, it is important to cure the causes.

The Co-Authors have written

Michael Gorbachev - Getting Down to the Basics The book in our hand, dedicated to global, world-encompassing problems, addresses us in plain and logical language and marshals persuasive evidence. This makes our task easier. The task is simple. Get down to the basics, understand that global problems are not foreign to us. They are our problems. We are all touched by them, and touched by them not any less than we are by ordinary, everyday things. And it is we, each one of us, who not only can understand these problems, but can also do something significant to overcome them.     The fact is that with the passing of time a whole pyramid of diverse problems has been accumulating in every part of the world: social, political, economic, and cultural problems. Contradictions have appeared in society—in a different way in each country, but present all the same—and they have created conflicts and crises. Even wars. The relationship between humans and nature has become more and more complex and strained. The air has become poisoned, rivers polluted, forests decimated. The numbers of contradictions keep growing, and they are becoming deeper. Symptoms of illness in society became obvious. People everywhere began to show discontent with this state of affairs and demand changes. Violent movements have arisen, such as strikes, disturbances. Society has entered a period of crisis. How will this crisis be resolved? It is difficult to predict. Society’s sickness affects every single citizen, and threatens everyone with suffering. The end result may be an explosion, a bloodbath that nobody wants, yet which may come about spontaneously. Is there another way out, a path beyond the crisis? The book in our hand gives an answer: yes, there is another way. We must not wait until society’s crisis reaches the danger point. We must act! Every person can act. If everyone does his or her bit, together we can accomplish what is necessary. We can make an impact on those who decide the politics and the destiny of society, and motivate them to begin making the necessary changes. Changes that will not only resolve the crisis, but also show us a path of survival, of healthy development for people and nature, and a better quality of life for all. The human community has reached the point where it is obvious that events cannot be allowed to take their own course. It is necessary to make a turn that would change the character and the content of development for the benefit of humankind. We have already become conscious that change is truly necessary. Now we must understand what exactly we must do to avoid the worst, and how we must do it. This book will help us to evaluate the current situation of our planet and to find the path we must take.     Brief biography Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, Stavropol Terrritory, in the south of the Russian republic into a peasant family. Stavropol, the “little homeland” for which he has always retained great love, greatly influenced the molding of his character. In his Memoirs he wrote: “I believe that the perception of your ‘bigger homeland,’ seen through your own and your ancestors’ eyes and emanating from the destiny of your own native land, represents patriotism in its true meaning, its roots entrenched in your native soil - rather than being an abstract concept.” In 1950 was graduated from high school with a silver medal and was admitted to Moscow State University. He studied at the law faculty, graduating in 1955. Later, he took correspondence courses from Stavropol Agricultural Institute, and in 1967 added a degree in agricultural economics to his Moscow law degree. The “thaw” after the death of Stalin and the XX Congress of the Communist Party, which denounced Stalinism, profoundly affected the life and thoughts of university students. Zdenek Mlynar, one the leaders of the Prague Spring of the late 1960s, was in the same year as Gorbachev, and by no mere chance his friend. Also at that time, Mikhail Gorbachev met Raisa Titarenko. A modest wedding party was soon to follow. Since then and till the end of her days, Raisa Gorbachev was the person most close and dear to Mikhail Gorbachev wherever he worked, no matter in what capacity. She passed away in September 1999. Having received his degree, Gorbachev was ready to work as a lawyer. Soon upon his return to the home city of Stavropol, however, he was offered a position in the local Komsomol youth league. Thus his political career started. From 1955 to 1962 he rose fast through a variety of Komsomol jobs, winding up as the First Secretary, Stavropol Territory Komsomol Committee, and then was given a party job. In 1966 he was elected First Secretary, Stavropol City Party Committee. In August 1968 he became Secretary, Stavropol Territory Party Committee, and in April 1970 First Secretary, the highest post in Stavropol Territory, part of northern Caucasus - one of the largest and economically significant regions of Russia. In 1970 he was elected member of the CPSU Central Committee. In November 1978 he became a Central Committee Secretary and moved to Moscow. His first assignment was overseeing the country’s agriculture but he soon outgrew it and started to influence other areas of the Central Committee’s activities. His vigor, initiative, democratic and critical mind in assessing the situation in the economic, social and ideological spheres became known not only within the Party but to the public at large. Two years later he joined the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, the highest authority in the Party and in the country. At a time of stagnation, many people perceived his fast rise as a sign of imminent changes in Soviet society. And changes did come: in March 1985, after three General Secretaries in a row passed away, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Party Central Committee - the highest post in the nation and party hierarchy. Gorbachev initiated the process of change in the Soviet Union - what was later called perestroika, the fundamental transformation of the nation and society. Glasnost became perestroika’s driving force. A sweeping process of the nation’s democratization was launched and reforms were planned to put the nation’s ineffective economy back on track to market economics. A big shift in international affairs was effected. The new thinking associated with the name of Gorbachev contributed to a fundamental change in the international environment and played a prominent role in ending the Cold War, stopping the arms race and eradicating the threat of a nuclear war. The Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR - the first parliament in Soviet history, made on the basis of free and contested election - elected Gorbachev President of the USSR on March 15, 1990. Prior to this, following Andrei Gromyko’s resignation in 1988, Gorbachev became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and in summer 1989, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Accordingly, he headed the nation’s Defense Council and was Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR. In recognition of his outstanding services as a great reformer and world political leader, who greatly contributed in changing for the better the very nature of world development, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 15, 1990. Destructive social and ethnic developments, which the emerging Soviet democracy was unable to curb, eventually led to the disintegration of the multinational Union of republics that Gorbachev led. In his attempts to prevent such an outcome Mikhail Gorbachev made maximum efforts, save the use of force, which would have been against his inner principles of political vision and morality. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev stepped down as Head of State. Since January 1992, he has been President of the International Nongovernmental Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (The Gorbachev Foundation). Since March 1993, he has also been President of Green Cross International - an international independent environmental organization with branches in more than twenty countries. Mikhail Gorbachev also chairs the United Russian Social Democratic Party, established in March 2000. Academy of Achievement: "A new leader, the youngest man to lead the Soviet Union since the 1920s, promised change. The stated principles of Mikhail Gorbachev's administration were "glasnost" and "perestroika," or openness and restructuring, words which became known throughout the world. Gorbachev allowed a freedom of expression Russia and many other states of the Soviet Union had not known in their long history. The rise of democracy in Russia and the end of the Cold War division of Europe are the direct result of Mikhail Gorbachev's extraordinary term of office as leader of the Soviet Union". Nobel Committee: "During the last few years, dramatic changes have taken place in the relationship between East and West. Confrontation has been replaced by negotiations. Old European nation states have regained their freedom. The arms race is slowing down and we see a definite and active process in the direction of arms control and disarmament. Several regional conflicts have been solved or have at least come closer to a solution. The UN is beginning to play the role which was originally planned for it in an international community governed by law. These historic changes spring from several factors, but in 1990 the Nobel Committee wants to honor Mikhail Gorbachev for his many and decisive contributions. The greater openness he has brought about in Soviet society has also helped promote international trust. In the opinion of the Committee, this peace process, which Gorbachev has contributed so significantly to, opens up new possibilities for the world community to solve its pressing problems across ideological, religious, historical and cultural dividing lines". Mikhail Gorbachev received 24 Degrees of Honor and Academic and Honorary Degrees, 8 Honorary Citizenship, several International Award. Selected Bibliography Memoirs. Translated from the Russian by Georges Peronansky and Tatjana. New York: Doubleday, 1996. The August Coup: The Truth and the Lessons. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. Perestroika. New Thinking for Our Country and the World. New York: Harper, 1988. (New updated edition. An explanation and a manifesto, with five chapters on foreign policy. Published in many languages.) Other Sources Billington, James H. Russia Transformed: Breakthrough to Hope. Moscow, August 1991. (An important interpretation, based on personal observation of the August coup and a lifetime of study of Russia.) Brown, Archie. The Gorbachev Factor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. (An important scholarly study by a major authority on Gorbachev.) Doder, Dusko and Louise Branson. Gorbachev: Heretic in the Kremlin. (By wellinformed American journalists.) Medvedev, Zhores A. Gorbachev. Oxford: Blackwell, 1986. (By a Soviet scientist, living in London.) Gorbachev, Raisa. I Hope: Reminiscences and Reflections. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. Kaiser, Robert G. Why Gorbachev Happened: His Triumphs and his Failures. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Miller, John. Mikhail Gorbachev and the End of Soviet Power London: Macmillan, 1993. (Scholarly.) Remnick, David. Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire. New York, 1993. (Perceptive journalistic account.) Smith, Hedrick. The New Russians. New York: Random House, 1990. (A leading interpreter of the Russian people returns to describe them in the time of great change.) The Gorbachev Foundation www.gorby.ru

Wangari Maathai - The power of a green web There is a connection, a common vision behind my works and the recreation of Green Belt Movement. Definitely, yes, the charity of Africa in my reflection on the experiences I had during the implementation of the Green Belt Movement, the charities that I’ve built and the charities that I’ve felt were not only charities in Kenya but charities in Africa.     What is changing according to me, and what are these kinds of changes spring from? The only thing that I can see is that there is a great cooperation between players. We have the recent G20 in Johannesburg that, for example, is almost now becoming institutionalised so that there is greater cooperation in the world with how we manage our finances and that there will be greater control of how our finances are managed. I think that people can the fact that we are very interconnected as far as our economy is concerned and we should be concerned as citizens wherever we are. I guess that what is happening in one part of the world affects the other part of the world and that we are not so secure no matter where we are. We know that the problem started in The United States of America and before we knew they were affecting people all over the world and especially very ordinary people so I think as citizens we are more conscious and we ought to, I guess, encourage our government to be more vigilant so that we the ordinary citizens are not adversely affected by the decisions that are being made by our financial leaders. Yes, there is a lot of connection. We may be living very far from each other as countries, for example the countries in America, in Europe, in the East, in Africa but so much takes over our lives like the financial management are very interconnected it is being carried out in the world. I personally think that the road to happiness is service and commitment. I think for us to be happy we have to be committed to something and we have to provide service and especially provide a service to our fellow human beings and our fellow, leaving tackiness, I want to say that we are not the only humans on this planet, we are also with the others, like animals, like plants, like birds and all of these. If we can solve their problems, respect their habitat and make sure they survive and if we can also be concerned about our fellow human beings to me I think this is one of the aspects of achieving happiness. Connection, commitment and service.     Brief biography Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya in 1940. She was the first woman from central-east Africa to obtain a Degree. She graduated in Biological Sciences at Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), and then attained a Masters in Science at the University of Pittsburgh (1966), and doctorates in Germany and Nairobi, in veterinary medicine. She became head of the Veterinary Medicine Department at Nairobi University in 1976, and once again she was the first woman to get this post. She was at first an activist then head of the National Council of Women of Kenya from 1976 to 1987, and for this she was labelled a subversive, arrested and tortured. As part of this experience in politics came the idea of planting trees as a domestic economical measure (to make firewood), for environmental purposes (to curb desertification) and for the emancipation of women: giving women a useful and profitable role, and enhancing their knowledge, promotes them in social terms. In1976 she founded the Green Belt Movement , which since then has assisted women firstly in Kenya and then across Africa in a unique initiative at global level: more than 30 million trees were planted around cities, schools, and churches. She received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2004 for this campaign. She was the first African woman to receive this honour. "Time" magazine asked her what the relationship between peace and the environment was: "Many wars are fought for resources: in the Middle East they are fought for oil and water. Here in Africa, we have minerals, diamonds, land, and timber. What the Nobel Committee is doing is looking 'beyond' wars to understand what humanity can do to prevent it. The sustainable management of our natural resources will promote peace".

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel - Nobody can be happy alone I chaired the World Venice Forum 2009 which included the presentation of a project for an international criminal court for the environment. The International Academy of the Environmental Sciences (IAES) has been working on this on many different levels: firstly, regarding scientific issues, consisting in the analysis of the environmental situation at global level and the causes of environmental problems. The second, regarding economic issues, investigating the economy, because there are still companies that favour profit at all costs rather than the protection of human life. The third level – which is vital for our purposes - is to create awareness in people regarding taking care of the environment.     In legal terms we are facing a challenge that is even more important: we want to apply pressure to create supranational laws that penalise those who cause environmental disasters, and to do this it is necessary to create an international court with the power to punish whoever violates environmental and human rights anywhere in the world. However, the protection of nature passes firstly through education, which is fundamental: we must raise awareness of the environment with public, government, and legal policies... with new educational policies. As for the recession, we in Latin America live in a permanent recession, the recession is like ... a sister. The global recession in the autumn of 2008 has created an immoral and unjust situation; the governments of European countries and American are saving banks and multinational companies but are worrying less about their citizens. What recession are we talking about then? What are we really dealing with? Is it about a recession relating to banks and businesses, or people? I don’t see any kind of change in the upper echelons of the institutions of governments. The only changes that can be made start from the bottom. Through the reaction of peoples, organizations, protests by people, we can achieve real social, cultural, and political change. Cultural change! With a new sense of participation by the people we will achieve social, political, and economic change. A French poet, Raoul Follereau said "nobody can be happy alone". Happiness means sharing, with others, as well as with the community, and with our people. One recipe is to restore balance. Balance within ourselves , balance with the community, balanced with mother nature, balance with the universe, and with God. Since it’s not possible to give what you don’t have, if we don’t have inner peace we cannot give peace to others, nor share it. It is sharing that is important.     Brief biography Adolfo Maria Pérez Esquivel (Buenos Aires, 26 November 1931) is a pacifist from Argentina. An architect and sculptor, he attended the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Fine Art School) and the Universidad Nacional de la Plata (National de la Plata University). He taught architecture for twenty-five years at both secondary schools at academic level. In the sixties, Perez Esquivel began working with Latin American Christian peace groups. In 1974 he left teaching and devoted himself entirely to helping the poor and the fight against social and political injustice, embracing non-violence. After the coup by Jorge Rafael Videla he contributed to the formation of "El Ejercito de Paz y Justicia", a human rights association that also acted to help the families of victims of the regime and the Falklands War. He was arrested by the Brazilian police in 1975 and imprisoned in Ecuador. In 1977 he was arrested by the police in Argentina, who tortured him and keep him in custody for 14 months without trial. While in prison he received the Peace Memorial from Pope John XXIII. In 1980 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. In 1999 he also received the Pacem in Terris Award. In 1995 he published Caminando junto al Pueblo, which told the story of his experiences. Since 2003 he has been chairman of the International League for Human Rights and the liberation of peoples. He is also a member of the Permanent People's Tribunal. He is now an animator of the International Academy of Environmental Sciences (IAES), based in Venice, which on 2 and 3 October 2009 hosted the World Venice Forum on “The health of planet Earth. Environmental disasters: irresponsibility and protection" in support of the establishment of an International Criminal Court for the Environment. Books: Lucha no violenta por la paz (Le Christ au Poncho), Editions du Centurion - París. Una Gota de Tiempo. Crónica entre la angustia y la esperanza. Ediciones Op Oloop. Caminar Junto a los Pueblos. Experiencias no violentas en America Latina. Publicado por Ideas Instituto de Estudios y de Acción Social. Lugar Editorial. Titel, Jezus in poncho. Impressum, Amersfoort, De Horstink, 1983. Una Gota de Temps. Crònica entre l´angoixa i l´esperança, Pròleg d´Arcadi Oliveres. Presentación del Premio nobel de la Paz. Serpaj Panamá. Acto realizado en el Paraninfo Universitario de la Universidad de Panamá. 13 de febrero de 2004. Conferencia Magistral sobre desafíos en la construcción de una cultura de paz. Conferencia con motivo de la entrega del Título Doctor Honoris Causa otorgado por la Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, 2001 Artistic Work: Via Crucis | Monumento a la memoria combarro | Catedral de Riobamba, Ecuador… Justice For Planet Earth JusticeForPlanetEarth.org

Shirin Ebadi - Democracy as the milestone for peace I have sworn to fight for human rights, particularly those of women, and I live in Iran, where human rights are violated constantly, especially after the last elections. Many of our students are now in prison. Only this morning, while making these statements, I heard the news that fifteen students had been arrested.     The Iranian people are not happy with the outcome of the elections in June 2009. At the reopening of universities, in late September, protests took place, and a large number of students were arrested. The situation in Iran mirrors that of many nations in the world. Is change happening? Is something changing? I know one thing: that people get what they want, and they will get it. I do not know when. Because of the complexity of the social situation, it is not possible to say when. There are many forces involved. However, I know that everything can change: any change must start from the people. There is only one road to happiness, and it comes from democracy. Democracy means majority rule, but also that the majority that wins cannot then do anything it wants. It has to respect the limits of democracy. We must not forget that many dictators came to power democratically. The foundation stone for democracy is respect for human rights. Governments do not become legitimate just because they are voted for by a majority. They must respect the limits imposed by democracy. Democracy is the first condition for peace.     Brief biography An Iranian judge, lawyer and peace activist (born on 21 June 1947). In 2003 she was the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Starting in 1965 she studied law at Tehran University and took the exams to become a magistrate. She started her career in the spring of 1969 and from 1975 to 1979 she was the chairman of a section of the court of Tehran. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979 she was forced, like all female judges, to abandon her role, and only after extensive protests did she recover the possibility of working with a court of law in the role of "legal expert." Shirin Ebadi considered this demotion intolerable, and for a few years her work activities were limited to publishing books and articles. Only in 1992 did she attain authorisation to work as a lawyer, opening her own professional practice. In 1994 she founded a non-governmental organisation, the Society for the Protection of Children’s Rights, of which she is still a manager. As a lawyer, she often deals with cases of dissidents in conflict with the Iranian judicial system, which remains one of the bastions of the most conservative wing of the government, or in civil cases against members of the Iranian secret services. She is currently a lecturer at Tehran University and an active supporter of movements for women's and children’s rights. She lives in Tehran with her husband and two daughters. Recently the threats to her life have, in her own words, "intensified." Publications (only translated in English): History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran, 2000 The Rights of the Child. A Study of Legal Aspects of Children's Rights in Iran, Teheran, 1994 Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, New York 2006 Democracy, human rights, and Islam in modern Iran: Psychological, social and cultural perspectives, Bergen, 2003 Refugee Rights in Iran, Saqi Books, 2008

Lester R. Brown - Needed: A Copernican Shift In 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres,” in which he challenged the view that the sun revolved around the earth, arguing instead that the earth revolved around the sun. With his new model of the solar system, he began a wide-ranging debate among scientists, theologians, and others. His alternative to the earlier Ptolemaic model, which had the earth at the center of the universe, led to a revolution in thinking, to a new worldview.     Today we need a similar shift in our worldview, in how we think about the relationship between the earth and the economy. The issue now is not which celestial sphere revolves around the other but whether the environment is part of the economy or the economy is part of the environment. Economists see the environment as a subset of the economy. Ecologists, on the other hand, see the economy as a subset of the environment. Like Ptolemy’s view of the solar system, the economists’ view is confusing efforts to understand our modern world. It has created an economy that is out of sync with the ecosystem on which it depends. Economic theory and economic indicators do not explain how the economy is disrupting and destroying the earth’s natural systems. Economic theory does not explain why Arctic sea ice is melting. It does not explain why grasslands are turning into desert in northwestern China, why coral reefs are dying in the South Pacific, or why the Newfoundland cod fishery collapsed. Nor does it explain why we are in the early stages of the greatest extinction of plants and animals since the dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago. Yet economics is essential to measuring the cost to society of these excesses. Evidence that the economy is in conflict with the earth’s natural systems can be seen in the daily news reports of collapsing fisheries, shrinking forests, eroding soils, deteriorating rangelands, expanding deserts, rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, falling water tables, rising temperatures, more destructive storms, melting glaciers, rising sea level, dying coral reefs, and disappearing species. These trends, which mark an increasingly stressed relationship between the economy and the earth’s ecosystem, are taking a growing economic toll. At some point, this could overwhelm the worldwide forces of progress, leading to economic decline. These increasingly visible trends indicate that if the operation of the subsystem, the economy, is not compatible with the behavior of the larger system--the earth’s ecosystem--both will eventually suffer. Recent events in the economic and financial systems cause one to wonder if we’re beginning to see the effects of an economy outgrowing its natural base. The larger the economy becomes relative to the ecosystem, and the more it presses against the earth’s natural limits, the more destructive this incompatibility will be. The challenge for our generation is to reverse these trends before environmental deterioration leads to long-term economic decline, as it did for so many earlier civilizations. An environmentally sustainable economy--an eco-economy--requires that the principles of ecology establish the framework for the formulation of economic policy and that economists and ecologists work together to fashion the new economy. Ecologists understand that all economic activity, indeed all life, depends on the earth’s ecosystem--the complex of individual species living together, interacting with each other and their physical habitat. These millions of species exist in an intricate balance, woven together by food chains, nutrient cycles, the hydrological cycle, and the climate system. Economists know how to translate goals into policy. Economists and ecologists working together can design and build an eco-economy, one that can sustain progress. Just as recognition that the earth was not the center of the solar system set the stage for advances in astronomy, physics, and related sciences, so will recognition that the economy is not the center of our world create the conditions to sustain economic progress and improve the human condition. After Copernicus outlined his revolutionary theory, there were two very different worldviews. Those who retained the Ptolemaic view of the world saw one world, and those who accepted the Copernican view saw a quite different one. The same is true today of the disparate worldviews of economists and ecologists. These differences between ecology and economics are fundamental. For example, ecologists worry about limits, while economists tend not to recognize any such constraints. Ecologists, taking their cue from nature, think in terms of cycles, while economists are more likely to think linearly, or curvilinearly. Economists have a great faith in the market, while ecologists often fail to appreciate the market adequately. The gap between economists and ecologists in their perception of the world as the 21st century began could not have been wider. Economists looked at the unprecedented growth of the global economy and of international trade and investment and forecast a promising future with more of the same. They noted with justifiable pride the sevenfold expansion of the economy since 1950, which raised output from $6 trillion of goods and services to $43 trillion in 2000 and boosted living standards to levels not dreamed of before. Ecologists looked at this same growth and realized that it was the product of burning vast quantities of artificially cheap fossil fuels, a process that destabilizes the climate. They looked ahead to see more intense heat waves, more destructive storms, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels that would shrink the land area even as population continued to grow. While economists saw booming economic indicators, ecologists saw an economy that is altering the climate with unthinkable consequences. Economists rely on the market to guide their decisionmaking. They respect the market because it can allocate resources with an efficiency that a central planner can never match (as the Soviets learned at great expense). Ecologists view the market with less reverence because they see a market that is not telling the truth. For example, when buying a gallon of gasoline, customers in effect pay to get the oil out of the ground, refine it into gasoline, and deliver it to the local service station. But they do not pay the health care costs of treating respiratory illness from air pollution or the costs of climate disruption. We have created an economy that is in conflict with its support systems, one that is fast depleting the earth’s natural capital, moving the global economy onto an environmental path that will inevitably lead to economic decline. This economy cannot sustain economic progress; it cannot take us where we want to go. Just as Copernicus had to formulate a new astronomical worldview after several decades of celestial observations and mathematical calculations, we too must formulate a new economic worldview based on several decades of environmental observations and analyses. A stable relationship between the economy and the earth’s ecosystem is essential if economic progress is to be sustained. Although the idea that economics must be integrated into ecology may seem radical to many, evidence is mounting that it is the only approach that reflects reality. When observations no longer support theory, it is time to change the theory--what science historian Thomas Kuhn calls a paradigm shift. If the economy is a subset of the earth’s ecosystem, the only formulation of economic policy that will succeed is one that respects the principles of ecology. The good news is that economists are becoming more ecologically aware, recognizing the inherent dependence of the economy on the earth’s ecosystem. For example, some 2,500 economists--including eight Nobel laureates--have endorsed the introduction of a carbon tax to stabilize climate. More and more economists are looking for ways to get the market to tell the ecological truth. The existing industrial economic model cannot sustain economic progress. In our shortsighted efforts to sustain the global economy, as currently structured, we are depleting the earth’s natural capital. We spend a lot of time worrying about our economic deficits, but it is the ecological deficits that threaten our long-term economic future. Economic deficits are what we borrow from each other; ecological deficits are what we take from future generations.     Brief biography The Washington Post called Lester Brown "one of the world's most influential thinkers." The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as “the guru of the environmental movement.” In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.” Brown started his career as a farmer in southern New Jersey during high school and college. After earning a degree in agricultural science from Rutgers University in 1955, he spent six months living in rural India where he became intimately familiar with the food/population issue. In 1959 Brown joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service as an international agricultural analyst. Brown earned masters degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland and in public administration from Harvard. In 1964, he became an adviser to Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman on foreign agricultural policy. In early 1969, he left government to help establish the Overseas Development Council. In 1974, with support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Lester Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. While there he launched the Worldwatch Papers, the annual State of the World reports, World Watch magazine, a second annual entitled Vital Signs: The Trends That are Shaping Our Future, and the Environmental Alert book series. He is the recipient of many prizes and awards, including 23 honorary degrees, a MacArthur Fellowship, the 1987 United Nations' Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for his "exceptional contributions to solving global environmental problems." More recently, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Italy, the Borgström Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and appointed an honorary professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. One of the world's most widely published authors, has authored or coauthored 50 books and his books have appeared in some 40 languages. In May 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide a vision and a road map for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy. In November 2001, he published Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth, which was hailed by E.O. Wilson as “an instant classic”, now available for downloading and purchase at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Eco/index.htm . His most recent book is Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Earth Policy Institute Earthpolicy.org

Deepak Chopra - Shifting to the New World We are already living in two worlds. One world moves ahead by inertia from the past—like a massive luxury liner drifting at sea—while the other steps into the unknown—like a child entering the woods for the first time. On the front pages of newspapers and on the evening news, the first world gains the lion’s share of attention. A new crisis deepens yesterday’s crisis in Africa or the Middle East. A fresh humanitarian outrage taints a faraway society. One war replaces another.     Despite the sameness of these events, they constitute the news of the world as far as the mass media shows it. Yet this world of inertia and non-change is deceptive. Beyond crisis-driven news, another world is rising. The first world is a solid wall that looks impregnable, yet behind it people no longer feel protected. They dream of a shift in consciousness, the revolution that needs only to be asked for and it will begin. Material events are but the outward display of consciousness. Paying attention only to the world of inertia and non-change is like dwelling in illusions. In the 1980s the annual May Day marches of massive Soviet armaments through Red Square didn’t reveal that the Communist system was about to collapse. Armies, wars, ecological disaster, unbridled greed and corruption, skyscraper cities springing up like weeds, a deluge of pesticides and pollutants, streams of refugees without a homeland, tyranny spreading violence without check, pandemic disease: these are the fruits of consciousness, too, but a kind of consciousness that is stuck and unable to raise itself above its self-created problems. Fortunately, the second world—the world of timely change—is poised to save the first. The dispossessed of the earth are rising and won’t be suppressed in their quest for prosperity. Materialism has reached its historical apogee and will decline or self-destruct through accelerating degradation of the ecology. As viewed from the first world, these are such overwhelming threats that the response of governments has been to look the other way or to make little more than symbolic gestures at reform. From the perspective of the second world, it’s no surprise that governments are stymied, because the policies that despoiled the earth can’t be expected to renew it, either by doing less or doing more. Among their many utterly cogent points, Ervin Laszlo and Marco Roveda declare that we need a new way to be happy. For me, this is the deepest and most salient point. When an American housewife drives her car to the supermarket, purchases brightly packaged processed food, leaves a full garbage can out on the curb, and sprays a can of insecticide to kill the aphids in her rose garden, none of these actions seem destructive—she’s simply doing the ordinary things we all do in our pursuit of happiness. But happiness based on waste, toxins, depletion of fossil fuels, and endless consumer goods—the paradise we have all chased since the end of World War II—can’t be sustained. Still less can we sustain the massive military forces that serve to shut out 90 percent of humankind so that the privileged 10 percent can promote a worldview that over time will spell the end of their existence along with everyone else’s. When stated like that, the future seems dire. So it comes as a relief that this e-book for conscious change goes beyond superficial pessimism or optimism, offering instead a new way to be happy. Without a doubt the outmoded world of materialism is leading to greater unhappiness, through pollution, overpopulation, lack of nourishing food and water, and the loss of natural habitats: a sizable percentage of the world’s population already experiences these deficits. Timely change through a shift in consciousness can bring about a new model of happiness based on the principles of higher consciousness. WorldShift is about an outer world built on inner realization. Such a world is possible, as this book shows, and indeed is already being born in the hearts of millions of people. Deepak Chopra     Brief biography Since the early 1980's Deepak Chopra, M.D., has successfully combined his credentials as endocrinologist with his exploration of mind/body medicine. He created a paradigm for exploring the healing process - a model he calls Quantum Healing. In 1984 helped to introduce Ayurvedic medicine to the United States and was also the founding President of the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine. Deepak Chopra is also known as prolific author of over 50 books and more than 100 audio, video, and CD-ROM titles, which have been translated into 35 languages. His book Peace Is the Way (Harmony Books) won the Quill Award, and The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of your Life was awarded the Nautilus Award. His best-sellers include The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence; Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment; The Chopra Center Herbal Handbook: Forty Natural Prescriptions for Perfect Health. Many know Deepak Chopra from his regular television presentations for PBS. Chopra lectures around the world making presentations to major corporations and organizations such as the World Health Organization in Geneva, the United Nations, London's Royal Society of Medicine, a number of major U.S. medical institutions. As the keynote speaker he appeared at the inauguration of the State of the World Forum, hosted by Mikhail Gorbachev and the Peace and Human Progress Foundation founded by the former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace prizewinner, Oscar Arias. “Esquire” magazine designated him as one of the top ten motivational speakers in the country; and in 1995, he joined the company of President Nelson Mandela as a recipient of the Toastmasters International Top Five Outstanding Speakers award. Chopra is also the recipient of the Einstein Award through Albert Einstein College of Medicine in collaboration with the American Journal of Psychotherapy. Chopra joined The Gallup Organization as a Senior Scientist in 2005. Now he’s Chairman and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California. Through the creation of this Center he established a formal vehicle for the expansion of his healing approach using the integration of the best of Western medicine with natural healing traditions. Along with Nobel Peace Laureates Oscar Arias, Betty Williams and others, Chopra is founding director and president of the Alliance for a New Humanity, committed to creating a critical mass of consciousness in the world for social justice, economical freedom, ecological balance, and conflict resolution.

Fritjof Capra - The Tao of sustainability I have just published a new book on Leonardo Da Vinci, a thinker who developed a science of organic forms, schemes of relationships, processes, and a quality science. In the previous book I presented a summary of his method, life, and his scientific achievements; in this book I delve deeper into a certain subject, Botany, in order to exactly describe the main ideas of this quality science.     For Leonardo, life is central to science. There are many books on Leonardo’s science, but I have to say that this one, and nobody has said it before me, is truly a discovery I made. Basically, Leonardo always asked himself “what is life?”. The mystery of life, the nature of life; when he talks about water he talks about it as a matrix of life, of nutrition (and we know that this is right, because of the cells). When he talks about rocks, modelled from water, he talks about them as the earth’s bones, of a living system. When he talks about plants he studies their morphology, shape, the underlying metabolic processes etc. Leonardo’s science is relevant for the times in which we live, for many reasons. One is that Leonardo was a systematic thinker. He thought in terms of relationships, contexts, processes. “To understand” something, for him, always meant “linking” it to other phenomena, to other subject matters. This is exactly what we need today, because our sciences are fragmented, incapable of facing the problems we have. In this historical moment, in this context, we need change. We are living it. Enormous change. Because we are facing an enormous challenge: perhaps we won’t make it. There are good reasons for to think that the human race may not make it in the next fifty years. I became very interested in the theme of change, and I’ve written books on this subject. In a time of financial and economic recession, it’s very important to understand that the banks are not central to the economy. It’s the well-being of the human race that must be central to the economy, and the base must be the earth, ecology. Instead we have a “bank-centric” economy. An American journalist, Arianna Huffington, who manages a very popular on-line newspaper, sustains that nowadays it is as if we were back in the old Ptolemaic system in which everything revolves around a wrong concept, and complicated hyperbolas are used to justify this system. However, it’s cosmology that is false. Now they want to save the economy and they concentrate on the banks, but it’s not the economy that revolves around the banks, it’s the banks that need to serve the economy, to serve the people. I think that starting from the seventies we got fed up with exaggerated materialism, of consumerism, of a life without values other than consumption, without spirituality. In fact, it was in the sixties that a wave of interest in yoga, meditation and oriental philosophy started. In the seventies feminism and the ecology came in, which are themes of an alternative lifestyle. We have discovered an alternative community which in America was called “counterculture”, at the beginning. This alternative community then developed into what we now see in global civil society, with all the websites and electronic links, which ideally derives from those communities in the sixties. Here we have discovered that a life of relationships is the life that can give us the greatest amount of satisfaction. Firstly, the awareness that we are not alone in this world, that we are all bound together, all linked together, is changing. The central metaphor of global society is the internet. When I teach children that networks are the main organisational scheme of living systems, I find it easy. They are growing up with internet, mobile phones, Facebook... which are networks: they know that we are in social networks. With ecosystems it’s the same thing. They are communities of plants, animals, and micro-organisms organised in networks. When I teach in my ecological training organisation, the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, in California, I outline the link between the ecological community and the human community. In fact, it’s much the same concept as a “network”: the social network is a scientific name for what we call a community in everyday life. Therefore, what can we do to be truly satisfied, to be happy? Be with friends. Walk in the middle of nature. Eat good food in good company...All these things cost little or nothing. Because they are the pleasures of living in relationships. In a community. We already belong to a community. When I was at a symposium by Nobel prize winners on the climate, in London, I met Wangari Maathai, an African Nobel prize winner, who founded the very famous Green Belt Movement. I didn’t know her personally. We sat next to each other at dinner, and we already knew what the other person was thinking. We are part of the sustainability community, which we need to widen. We have to communicate to others that we live well, that we’re happy. It’s true, we work a lot, because things have to be done, but we feel very satisfied, we feel gratified. We have to make people understand that when you live in a sustainable way you live well. Objects don’t symbolise power, or wealth, relationships do. I have a car, a Prius ibrida, but I also ride a bicycle, I walk, I organise myself to work from home. I live very well, with my friends, in a community, without disproportionate consumption. If I was now asked to point out an expert in any field, I could reply in an hour after two or three e-mails: because I’m part of a global network. This is our power.     Brief biography A graduate in physics from the University of Vienna, a researcher in the field of high Energy physics, Fritjof Capra was the first person to explore the bond between science, philosophical implications and matrixes of ancient knowledge. He was the author of The Tao of physics (1975). The book sold one and a half million copies all over the world, and was translated into twenty four languages. He is the man who read a Chinese text dating back to 1200 a.d., perceiving a quantum bootstrap explanation in it. He is the man who compared the writings of Oppenheimer with those of Upanisad (the most ancient Indian books in the world). He is the thinker that thirty years ago (the turning point, 1982) he predicted the arrival of the current energy crisis, the hyperbole of the age of fossil fuels. Also, he deduced the clue to the emergence of “new models of cultural evolution” from the hardening of social structures and values. The Tao of physics. The turning point. The network of life and the science of life: after having published a book every eight years, each of them fundamental, constitutive, historical, in recent years he has dedicated his time to new cultural reveries. He founded the Center for Eco-literacy in Berkeley, California, and dedicated himself to explaining the cycles of nature to children through the cultivation of scholastic gardens (Ecoalfabeto, 2006), and has revisited the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci of holism (in the La Scienza di Leonardo (The science of Leonardo), 2007, and in his new book La Botanica di Leonardo (The botany of Leonardo), for Aboca) Bibliography: The Tao of physics, 1975 The turning point, 1982 The network of life, Rizzoli, 2001 The science of life, Rizzoli, 2002 Universal science. Art and nature in the genius of Leonardo, Rizzoli, 2007 Ecoalphabet, Stampa alternativa, 2007 at Impatto Zero® The botany of Leonardo, Aboca, 2009 Center for Ecoliteracy Ecoliteracy.org

Steve Killelea - The global shift to peace Humanity is currently facing some of the greatest challenges in its history: economic, environmental, social and financial. Yet such tumultuous change provides a unique opportunity for us to reconsider and redefine the issues that are essential to our survival, such as peace.     During the last twenty years humanity has entered into a new epoch in its history. This has been brought about by a convergence of many factors. Finite environmental barriers are now being reached, and on multiple fronts. World population is expected to reach 7 billion within a couple of years and in many places in the world it is already at straining capacity. Technology is fuelling change at an ever increasing pace which in many ways underpins the growth of globalization. The world is connected in ways that were unimaginable even fifty years ago. Wars are no longer economically viable and change is occurring so fast that nations are struggling to keep up with both the legal and social ramifications. Even our language is changing, daily incorporating new words to describe our changing reality. Our notions and concepts of peace are changing with it. Global challenges call for global solutions and these solutions require cooperation on a scale unprecedented in human history. Peace is an essential prerequisite because without peace we will be unable to achieve the levels of cooperation, inclusiveness and social equity necessary to solve these challenges, let alone empower the international institutions necessary to address them. Peace lies at the centre of being able to manage these many and varied challenges, simply because peace creates the optimum environment in which the other activities that contribute to human growth can take place. In this sense, peace is a facilitator making it easier for workers to produce, businesses to sell, entrepreneurs and scientists to innovate and governments to regulate. But if peace is an essential prerequisite for solving our sustainability challenges and improving our economic and social well-being then having a good understanding of peace is essential. This poses the question “how well do we understand peace?”. Fifty years ago peace studies were non- existent. Today there are peace and conflict centres in numerous major universities around the world. Over the last century we have moved from having departments of war to departments of defence and we are now seeing the emergence of organizations that are lobbing for the creation of departments of peace. While these changes are beneficial in improving our understanding of peace, peace has not yet become germane to the major academic disciplines, nor is there a concerted approach to the cross disciplinary study of peace. There are no courses on the literature of peace in any of the Literature departments of the major universities yet there are profound works on peace. Similarly there is no chair on Peace Economists in any major economics faculties yet most business people believe that their markets grow in peace and that their costs decrease with increasing peacefulness. War and violence are not inevitable. All human societies have developed mechanisms for settling unproductive conflicts and providing a conducive environment for human development. This is an essential part of our human nature. As globalization embraces humanity we now need to extend these natural impulses to be globally inclusive and create a peaceful world so that we can move forward with the things that really matter. Global governance becomes key, but today there are no adequate global institutions that will act in the best interests of all of humanity. The global institutions that do exist today generally consist of members representing a specific self interest such as the nation state. In 2009, with the economic crisis impacting most societies, global peacefulness has actually slipped. However contrary to popular belief the world in the last twenty years has become more peaceful. The frequency and lethality of wars has been declining since the end of the Cold War in 19891. Since 1990 more wars have ceased than have started and the number of negotiated settlements has steadily increased. Through history peace has been one of the most valued concepts yet the formal study of peace is new, its value to society is not well understood and is also poorly funded. These issues are inter-related but the importance of peace in a global society where the major challenges of this century require international co-operation on scale unparalleled in our history means peace is central to being able to manage a better future. Therefore peace is the pre-requisite for the survival of society as we know it in the 21st century. This is worldshift that must occur before we can hope to tackle our many global challenges. Steve Killelea 1 While in 1990 the world was engaged in 56 wars, in 2007 the total number of wars had declined to 34 and in 2005 there were 21,765 battle deaths, 5 times less the number of deaths in 2000. Source: The State of the World Atlas, eight edition, Dan Smith.     Brief biography Steve Killelea is an accomplished entrepreneur in high technology business development and at the forefront of philanthropic activities focused on sustainable development and peace. After successfully building two international software companies: Software Products which ended up listed on NASDAQ and Integrated Research Ltd, an Australian publicly-listed company (ASX:IRI), Steve decided to dedicate most of his time and fortune to sustainable development and peace. In 2000 Steve established his own private foundation, The Charitable Foundation (TCF), which specialises in working with the poorest communities of the world. TCF is one of the largest private overseas aid organizations in Australia. It aims to provide life changing interventions reaching as many people as possible with special emphasis on targeting the poorest of the poor. TCF is active in East and Central Africa and parts of Asia. Steve regularly visits and is actively involved in the projects he is funding. TCF supports projects that provide sustainable futures for the community such as clean water, housing, agricultural development and famine relief. Steve is also the Founder of the Global Peace Index the first ever tool for measuring the peacefulness of countries and identifying the correlations of peace. With data collected and collated by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the GPI has sparked a debate in government, the media and academia all over the world. The Global Peace Index is now considered the benchmark for measuring the peacefulness of nations. Steve’s latest initiative, the Institute for Economics and Peace, specializes on the linkages between business, peace and economics. The Institute is an independent not for profit research institute dedicated to empower the academic community, civil society, private sector, international institutions and governments with the knowledge to proactively use peace to achieve their desired goals. Together with Australian filmmaker Tim Wise Steve established One Tree Films, whose mission is to produce world-class documentaries and other forms of media (including online videos) that have a strong focus on social issues. The first production “Soldiers of Peace” is a documentary film narrated by Michael Douglas illustrating the connections between individual acts of heroism and the systematic changes needed, if we are to achieve a peaceful world. The film received international acclaim and won a number of awards including the Angel Film Award at the Monaco International Film Festival 2008 the Golden Ace Award for Superior and Outstanding Film Making at the Las Vegas International Film Festival 2009 and the Club of Budapest Worldshift Ethic Film Award. Steve currently serves on a number of Advisory Boards including the Alliance for Peacebuilding and the OECD’s Global Project on Measuring Progress of Societies, and is an International Trustee of the World Council of Religions for Peace. During his career Steve has been recognized with a number of awards including: - AIIA Australian Exporter of the Year - 1998, 2003 - Consensus Awards - 2001, 2003, 2006 - AIIA - Minister’s Award for Excellence - 2003 - ASOCIO Asian ICT Association Award - 2003 Last year Steve was awarded the prestigious Priyadarshini Global Award for his valuable contributions towards society as well as the Phelophepa Award for Excellence from Archbishop Desmond Tutu for his commitment and contributions to African development. Global Peace Index www.visionofhumanity.org Institute for Economics and peace www.economicsandpeace.org Soldiers of Peace www.soldierofpeacemovie.com

Giampaolo Fabris - Repainting the house Over the last couple of days Barack Obama has declared these to be “very hard times”. But he also added that “above all we need to be honest with ourselves because there are times when it is enough to repaint the house and times in which it is necessary to reconstruct the foundations.” This has been an unpopular affirmation largely disregarded on this side of the Atlantic [in Europe] in particular in my Country, Italy, where all the attention and the stress is laid on “repainting the house”, promoting consumption so that the economy recovers enough to build up the previous status quo again, to avoid the total collapse of the economy and save the levels of employment     This logic is flawless, a sort of unquestionable tautology, together with the appeals for trust when the Italians have still failed to understood what and who is to blame for such a dramatic crisis situation. It is said that there will be better days ahead: perhaps then attention will be dedicated to the structural aspects. The logic of primum vivere now seems to be the only one viable and there is palpable intolerance towards those who maintain that we will only exit structurally from the crisis by adopting new strategic thoughts. Obama followed up his declarations with an exemplary manoeuvre which was, moreover, strongly at odds with powerful lobbies: 120 billion dollars for renewable energy (whilst in Italy the return to nuclear energy has assumed triumphant tones); a 14% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020; rigid containment of arms expenses and the deficit re-entry with a reduction in the expenses for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan; tax increase on the richest, capital gain and dividends; accessible health care for all. The last point is probably the most radical for a society that has always proudly chosen recourse to the market even in those areas in which, in Europe, it is the Welfare State which takes responsibility. The necessary reconstruction of the foundations of the system and the need to look at the future does not seem to play a part in either the government’s plans or sensibility and, truth be told, the opposition is no better. The perception that this crisis attests to the end of a historic era and that we need to leave the past behind and change appears to be totally absent. That economic growth and social well-being are no longer intrinsically bound together but moving wider apart. That “living well” and “being well” [play on words with the Italian to be/well-being] are not synonymous. We cannot emerge from such a serious crisis only by replacing old rules with new rules. I recently participated in a round table discussion promoted by the Minister Giulio Tremonti, and listened with growing dismay to the most authoritative exponents of the financial community talking only about rules and new systems of governance. There is no conscious awareness of the fact that we are really entering into an age where new ways of production, the flood of new technologies will create hitherto unimagined scenarios. But, above all, one in which the threats to the ecosystem assume a sacred priority and where well-being can no longer be pursued by accumulating material riches without end. There is no pauperism in these affirmations. Only taking cognizance of the religion of limitless development, of pursuing the multiplication of consumption-which at this point becomes compulsion- means only, paraphrasing the American President, repainting the front of the building without noticing that it is, in fact, collapsing. That the damages inflicted on the environment, the heating of the planet, the dangers of intensive agriculture and the attack on the biodiversity are producing, to use a term beloved of economists, ever more serious externalisations for which there is no longer a remedy. That there are ever larger areas of need to which the market, as it is currently configured, cannot respond and which could constitute excellent productive opportunities for a languishing industry, instead of choking homes with products whose necessity is perceived less and less, accelerating with a planned obsolescence or with innovations that do not supply any benefits, a process of substitution which is by now only parasitic. The dramatic employment implications of this crisis are well known as are the real problems faced by low income families where access to goods is still a conquest. But taking responsibility for this does not and cannot be an excuse for not observing that the current interpretation of the economy and way of life are now a thing of the past. Giampaolo Fabris     Brief biography Fabris is the President of Episteme Srl. He is also full professor of Consumer Sociology, the first Professorship of this kind in Italy and President of the degree course in Communication Sciences at the Vita-Salute (Life-health) San Raffaele University. Fabris has taught at the University of Turin, at Ca' Foscari in Venice, IULM in Milan and in the Sociology faculty of the University of Trento. He was President of the Milan Triennalle for a period of five years. He collaborates with a number of both foreign and Italian newspapers and magazines. Fabbri is a lead writer of the La Repubblica newspaper Affari&Finanza (business and finance) for the “Consumerism” column. He is considered one of the most important international exponents on consumerism and brands. His most important works include: -Le ricerche motivazionali (Etas Kompass); -Il comportamento del consumatore (Franco Angeli); -Il comportamento politico degli italiani (Franco Angeli); -La comunicazione pubblicitaria (Etas Kompass); -Sociologia dei consumi (Hoepli) -Le otto Italie (con V. Mortara, Mondatori); -Il mito del sesso (Mondatori); -Sociologia delle comunicazioni di massa (Franco Angeli); -La pubblicità: teorie e prassi (Franco Angeli); -Amore e sesso al tempo di internet (Franco Angeli); -Consumatore&Mercato: le nuove regole (Sperling & Kupfer); -Il nuovo consumatore: verso il postmoderno (Franco Angeli); -La comunicazione d’impresa (Sperling & Kupfer); -Valore e Valori della marca (Franco Angeli); -Nuove identità nuovi consumi (Il Sole 24 Ore); -Societing (Egea)

Paul Hawken - You are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, we are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.     This planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food—but all that is changing. The Earth is Hiring. The earth couldn’t afford to send us recruiters or limos. It sent rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here’s the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done. When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, “So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.” There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums. There is a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way. There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice,” is Mary Oliver’s description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world. Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown — Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood — and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, non-governmental organizations, and companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history. The living world is not “out there” somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. We are the only species on the planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time rather than renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich. The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. And dreams come true. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe, which is exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a “little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven.” So I have two questions: First, can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it. You can feel it. It is called life. This is who you are. Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. Our innate nature is to create the conditions that are conducive to life. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past. Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television. This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. This is the most amazing, stupefying challenge ever bequeathed to any generation. The generations before the new one failed. They didn’t stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn’t ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is the century of the new generation. They have to Take it and run as if their life depends on it. Paul Hawken     Brief biography He is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and best-selling author. From the age of 20 he has dedicated his life to sustainability and to changing the relationship between business and the environment. His works analyse how to start and run ecological businesses, his most important work coauthored with Amory Lovings is Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, , which aims is to try and produce more with less. His latest book Blessed Unrest, How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming was published in 2007. In it Hawken describes this movement which is composed of millions of organisations as the largest social movement in history. This movement fights all over the word for social justice and for the defence of environmental and local cultures. This kind of Movement is unique and is based solely on the power of the ideas. It has no leaders, nor chiefs. It is divided into groups, but it is one. Although his biography lists no formal education, he has been awarded six honorary doctorates including his most recent award from Portland University in May 2009.

Rajendra Pachauri - We know now enough to take action because the 4th assessment report of the IPCC clearly brought out not only the current state of climate change, which is very serious, but also came up with projections of the future which, if we don’t address by mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases, in other words reducing, drastically reducing, greenhouse gas emissions, we will see some impacts that are going to be much worse in the future. So I think the knowledge on climate change is now very clear and I think most people in the world now realise that we have to do something about this problem.     I hope in Copenhagen we will come up with a very firm agreement on actions that the global community will take on climate change, and I hope this will include very clear commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, also some funding of actions in the developing countries, particularly to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change, and some means by which we can facilitate the technology transfer to the developing countries. The thing is we have to be concerned about a problem like climate change because even if we feel that we are safe from climate change, that would be a terribly wrong conclusion to arrive at, because whatever happens in any part of the world is going to affect us in some way or the other. And we need peace in this world, we need a stable social order and if we allow climate change to create a crisis for us in the future it will affect all of us, so we are one universe, we are one family. Rajendra Pachauri     Brief biography Dr Rajendra K Pachauri was born in Nainital, India, on 20 August 1940. He assumed his current responsibilities as the head of TERI (Tata Energy Research Institute) in 1981, first as Director and, since April 2001, as Director-General. TERI does original work and provides professional support in the areas of energy, environment, forestry, biotechnology, and the conservation of natural resources to government departments, institutions, and corporate organizations worldwide. Dr Pachauri has been elected as Chairman of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), established by World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Programme in 1988. He has taken charge as Chairman, IPCC from 20th April 2002 onwards. He has been active in several international forums dealing with the subject of climate change and its policy dimensions. The name of Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri, Director General of TERI and Chairman of the IPCC has become synonymous with climate change and the environment. Internationally recognised as a leading global thinker and leader of research, the more so since sharing the podium with Al Gore to receive the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC, he has effortlessly worn these two hats. Now, however, he finds himself catapulted into a third unnamed role as international statesman promoting climate change awareness. As the world wakes up to the reality of imminent climate change, environmental issues have suddenly taken on an extra urgency and Dr Pachauri's work schedule has expanded enormously. These days he is constantly on the move, criss -crossing the globe to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counter such change. When not speaking on climate change, chairing meetings, making decisions for TERI, travelling and assessing for the IPCC, Dr Pachauri has managed to write over a hundred articles for academic journals, more than 23 books and for light relief composes poetry. His other recreational diversion is cricket and for this he will always make time.

Karan Singh - The Imperative Shift With all its astounding scientific and technological breakthroughs in the last few decades, ranging from a study of the minutest of particles to the farthest reaches of outer space, from instant communications to unraveling of the human genome, humanity still finds itself in the midst of a series of major crises which, cumulatively, represent a serious threat not only to individuals and States but indeed to the entire human race.     Among the gravest problems that we face today are global warming and climate change, with its concomitant threat of a substantial rise in the ocean levels, massive flooding, millions of ecological refugees, drying up of rivers due to the melting of the glaciers and serious disruptions of cropping patterns. Another threat is in the form of religion based terrorism which has now extended its tentacles to the far corners of the Earth, creating havoc and insecurity around the world. Added to this is another terrorist-anarchic axis by groups and organizations determined to disrupt established State structures and set up what they call 'Liberated Zones', a process that will inevitably lead to anarchy and violence. The third crisis has arisen as a result of global meltdown of capitalist economies because finally, the unbridled greed and avarice of corporate culture, unrestrained by any moral or ethical considerations, has resulted in the whole system coming to the verge of collapse, thus raising the specter of massive recession, unemployment, social tensions and violence in many parts of the world including the affluent and developed societies. The fundamental question that faces us now is whether any of these and other related problems can be solved without a major shift in consciousness. Our present mindset is based upon the Newtonian-Cartesian-Marxist premise of rejection of spiritual values and exaltation of material and dualistic thinking. This has alienated us from our spiritual roots, as a result of which the spiritual grounding that is necessary for any civilization to flourish has been seriously undermined. Quite clearly, this philosophy, as well as the current lifestyle of affluent nations and societies, has become unsustainable. If we continue on this path, we will surely face disaster in the not too distant future, and will leave for generations yet unborn a devastated and chaotic world. In this whole context one can discern a number of new holistic movements springing up around the world that seek to restore the balance between human beings and nature, and to develop new patterns of conflict resolutions and social integration. As against the grim, self-fulfilling concept of the Clash of Civilization, so brilliantly articulated by the late Samuel Huntington, there are formulations of Convergence of Civilization, and several initiatives on the ground for achieving this. The whole Interfaith movement is based on the ancient Vedic dictum "The Truth is one, the Wise call it by many names". One such example is the multi-religious, multi-national, multi-linguistic and multi-cultural township of Auroville in South India, based upon the teachings of the great evolutionary philosopher Sri Aurobindo and his collaborator the Mother. Numerous other experiments are also underway around the world, but these are still few and far between, and lack effective networking. What we need to do is to inject a sense of urgency into what may be called the "Holistic World Project", so that all the various strands of the alternative philosophy can be brought together in a benign and effective symbiosis. It is also important to remember that the shift has two axes, the vertical and the horizontal. The horizontal axis involves close coordination and cooperation between individuals, organizations and institutions around the world committed to a holistic philosophy as an alternative to the prevalent failed zeitgeist. The vertical axis involves each one of us in the crucible of our individual consciousness shifting to a deeper and more profound level. The latter is essentially an individual quest, and can be pursued through a variety of techniques and philosophies including yoga, Zen, meditation and prayer. It is only if there is an effective movement on both the horizontal and vertical planes that we will be able to survive our own collective avarice and technological ingenuity. Let us not forget that despite the end of the Cold War we have had almost a hundred wars raging in different parts of the world causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees, and also that the nuclear stockpiles on the planet are capable of destroying the entire human race many times over. We have, therefore, to infuse a sense of urgency to bring about the crucial shift in our consciousness as well as our outer activities. As the Chinese proverb says "It is later than you think". We are being rapidly overtaken by events and it almost appears as if the forces of violence and negativity have assumed unstoppable momentum. However, we must under no circumstances give in to a defeatist mindset. Rather we must mobilize our material, intellectual, moral and spiritual resources so as to shift into a higher level of consciousness. In this alone lies our individual and collective salvation. Karan Singh     Brief biography Visionary Indian Statesman, Cultural Ambassador, Karan Singh was born on March 9, 1931, in Cannes, France, to the last ruler of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu (also known as The Royal House of Jammu and Kashmir), Maharaja Hari Singh and his wife Maharani Tara Devi. He was educated at Doon School, Dehra Dun, and received a B.A. from Sri Pratap Singh (S. P.) College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir University, and an M.A. in Political Science from Delhi University. He went on to receive a Ph.D. from Delhi University. In 1949, at age of eighteen, he was appointed as the regent of Jammu and Kashmir state after his father stepped down as the king, following the state's accession to India. He served successively as regent, Sadr-i-Riyasat and governor of the state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1965-1967. He was then, successively, Union Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation from 1967-1973, Minister of Health and Family Planning from 1973-1977 and Minister of Education and Culture in 1979-1980. In 1990-1991, he served as Indian Ambassador to the US. From 1967-1980, and in 1990, Karan Singh served as an MP in the Lok Sabha; since 1996, he has been an MP in the Rajya Sabha. He served as Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University, Jammu and Kashmir University, and Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is an active member of several boards, organizations, and foundations, including the Author's Guild of India, the ICCR, the Auroville Foundation, the Indian Board of Wildlife, and several others. Presently, Karan Singh is Chairman of the AICC Foreign Department. In 1956, he married Princess Yasho Rajya Lakshmi (1937-2009), the granddaughter of Maharaja Sir Mohan Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, the last Rana Prime Minister of Nepal from the Rana dynasty of Nepal.

Edgar Mitchell - A View from Space Those of us privileged to have viewed our Home Planet from afar returned to Earth with an unexpected bonus. It is an overwhelming and joyous appreciation of our Home, this small planet orbiting a mainstream star, one of millions of stars in our galaxy alone. The appreciation is derived from personally observing the “big picture” of the cosmos and our place in it.     Seeing the heavens in this way engenders a natural desire to nurture and protect this small haven of life from the excesses that modern civilization is suddenly imposing upon it. With all the wonderful discoveries of the past century that enhance health, life and well being, consider for a moment a few of the other amazing changes the past 150 years have brought about on Earth: a) transportation has evolved from animal drawn wagons to railroads, automobiles, aircraft and finally spacecraft to take us off the Earth altogether and then to the moon; b) increases in average individual life expectancy by at least 50% due to advances in medical science. The latter has resulted in a global threefold increase in population from under two billion persons in 1900 to over six and a half billion today. The most informed estimates reveal, unfortunately, that nonrenewable natural resources available on this planet to meet the increased consumption imposed by industrial life styles can sustainably support only two billion persons. Obviously, something must change! The very survival of our species depends upon it. We humans have evolved cultural behavior patterns and social structures across hundreds of years around the ubiquitous idea that the key to personal happiness and acclaim is the unfettered accumulation of material goods which bring with it social and political power. Certainly, during all periods a few ascetic groups have dissented from the materialist views. Although such ascetics represent only a small minority of total humanity, perhaps there is something to be learned from their view points about simple life styles and personal happiness. In this modern period, where Earth’s resources of the planet now seem inadequate to support the lavish abundance desired by the most affluent, and where greed and self service are the major cause of the recent near collapse of the global economy, we must ask anew what alternative paradigms are available, and how they can be effectively activated. There is a rich history in cultures around the world of personal transformation and transcendence which result in one seeking to serve the greater good, and where the attendant mind states result also in joy and happiness beyond the ordinary. The words metanoia, samadhi, satori come to mind as descriptive of such states. It would seem that in this modern period where civilization is nearing collapse of its resource base from excessive consumption, that a paradigm based upon unity and service to others is worthy of a strong new look and effort devoted to creating such transformations. It is my opinion that the necessary next step in evolution of our species on this planet is one that requires us to choose, honor and discover the personal rewards such altruistic behaviors provide for those life styles. The unity of all life is now being recognized at the deepest levels of cosmology. And unity requires we recognize that all of us on this planet must resolve these issues together, or together we will perish. This change is not a shift that will occur easily from the top down, but must begin with each of us to discover for ourselves the richness of transformed thinking. Edgar Mitchell     Brief biography American pilot and astronaut, Edgar Mitchell was born in Hereford, Texas, on September 17, 1930. Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial management from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1952. The following year he joined the US Navy. He later qualified as a research pilot and taught at the Navy's research pilot school. While on active duty in the Navy, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mitchell was selected to be an astronaut in 1966 and was seconded to NASA. He was backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 10 and flew again as lunar module pilot on Apollo 14. As pilot of Apollo 14, he spent nine hours working on the lunar surface in the Fra Mauro Highlands region, making him the sixth person to walk on the Moon. Together with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard he holds the record for the longest ever moonwalking session (9 hours and 17 minutes). Mitchell remained with NASA until he retired from the Navy in 1972. Footage of Apollo 14 moon flight were featured in the opening credits for tv series “Star Trek: Enterprise”. Mitchell was also portrayed by Gary Cole in the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon and is one of the astronauts featured in the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon. Later, Edgar Mitchell was awarded honorary doctorates from the New Mexico State University, the University of Akron, Carnegie Mellon University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He has written several articles and essays, as well as two books: Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science (1974), G. Putnam & Sons; and The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut's Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds (1996-2008), G. Putnam & Sons. He’s currently Advisory Board Chairman of the Institute for Cooperation in Space and is a member of INREES. Now, he is one of the initial supporters of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly - which would be a first step towards a "world parliament".

Vandana Shiva- From oil to soil I think environmental crisis is far deeper than it’s being understood. Millions of people are already losing their lives and homes and becoming environmental refugees because of the climate change. The destruction of biodiversity of water systems especially in my country is so serious that the book that I wrote Water Wars is now a daily reality in many communities.     So the first thing we can do is to recognize the crisis. The second thing we need to do is recognize that the crisis is too deep to be left to a few NGOs or centrralized government to act. Over the last three decades, the environment was something green NGOs looked after, the rest of us could continue to be consumerists. I believe that for every citizen the ecological imperative has become to go beyond consumerism, go beyond thoughtless consumerism. And that is because consumerism is very very costly for the Planet. And each of us in the conditions in which we are, needs to move into living with a lower ecological footprint and a higher meaning in life. And that is possible. And as the economic crisis aggravates the overall crisis, the combination of economic crisis and ecological crisis is an opportunity for us each to be engaged in shaping other systems of production and consumption. I do see signs of a shift! I see signs of a shift for example in North America which was were consumerism was the only way of life and President Bush has said “Our lifesstyle”, which was consumerism, “is not up for negotiation” in a 1992 summit. I have seen the growth of something that people were part of in primitive societies, but it is the only way you can survive if you don’t have a job - and that is bartering, giving your skills in exchange for someone else’s products. But that doesn’t mean that everyone is shifting towards tha sustainable, the equitable, the just. This is also the period for example the global agribusiness or corperations like Monsanto are trying to use the crisis to expand their power and control over the world food system. This is as much as I can say that if we don’t change, it will bring us to species extintion. But, as I said, if we change towards lower resource consumption, increased human expression of creativity, whether it is agricultural production or craft production and any other forms of work that can bind with creativity, there is a chance that the catastrophe we face can become a virtue. I see the biggest crisis of our times as the false assumption among people that they cannot do anything, that they are totally unskilled, that they have no knowledge and that awareness of human capacity is the biggest change that needs to be created.     Brief biography A physicist, economist, political and environmental activist, who won the alternative Nobel prize for peace in 1993 and is now a director of the Dehra Dun’s Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy in India. The most significant social ecology problems of our time are dealt with in his research institute, in close cooperation with the local communities and social movements. Vandana Shiva is part of an extended movement that criticises the assistance and development policies implemented in Asia, Africa and Latin American by international entities, and indicates new avenues to economic growth that respect the culture of local communities, which have the values of models that are different to those of a market economy. This scientist denounces the disastrous consequences that so-called “development” has brought to third world countries. Development, or rather “bad development” as she calls it, instead of responding to essential needs, threatens the very survival of the planet on which we live. Vandana Shiva is the author of numerous books: -Le guerre dell’acqua (Feltrinelli, 2004) (the water war); -Monocolture della mente. Biodiversità, biotecnologia e agricoltura scientifica (Bollati Boringhieri 1995) (mono-culture of the mind. Bio-diversity, bio-technology and scientific agriculture); -Sopravvivere allo sviluppo (Isedi 1990) (Surviving development); -Vacche sacre e mucche pazze. Il furto delle riserve alimentari globali (DeriveApprodi 2001) (Sacred cows and mad cows. The theft of global food reserves); -Biopirateria. Il saccheggio della natura e dei saperi indigeni (Cuen 1999). Bio-piracy. The ravage of nature and indigenous knowledge); -India spezzata (Il Saggiatore, 2008) (Broken India); -Ritorno alla terra. La fine dell'ecoimperialismo (Fazi Editore, Rome 2009) (A return to agriculture. The end of eco-imperialism). Bija Vidyapeeth International College for Sustainable Living Navdanya.org

Peter Russell - The Wake-Up Call The ancient Chinese symbol for crisis, wei-chi, combines two elements: danger and opportunity. The danger is that if one continues to pursue approaches that are no longer working, then disaster is imminent. The opportunity is to let go of the old patterns and find new ways of being that unleash new, and possibly unforeseen, potentials.     The many global crises we are now facing are symptomatic of set of values and mode of thinking that is no longer working. Our tools and technologies have given us unprecedented control of the world around us. We have thus fallen into the trap of believing that the path to human fulfillment lies in manipulating the world us, manufacturing ever more things, and so creating ever more waste. This is clearly no longer working. Over consumption of resources and unbridled pollution of the oceans, atmosphere and soil are now threatening human civilization, if not humanity itself. This approach also no longer works on an individual level. Despite all our burgeoning material comforts people as a whole are no happier than they were fifty years ago. The need to feel in control of events leads to greed, anxiety and fear, states of mind which, by their very nature, take us away from the peace and fulfillment we truly seek. Many in the past have seen through the illusion that fulfillment would come from what we have and what we consume. We call them the wise ones, the liberated, the enlightened. These are people who have discovered a deeper meaning to life, an inner joy that is not dependent on circumstances, and a compassion that leads to care for other beings. Such people are often revered as saints, yet there is nothing special about them -- apart from the fact that they have woken up from the dream in which the most of us live. They hold the key to our future. A world in which we can live together, free from unnecessary fear, and in harmony with our surroundings. Our various crises are pushing us towards this shift in consciousness, calling us to a collective awakening, and to a world governed by wisdom and compassion rather than greed and fear. The time to make wake up is now. The danger is too immense to risk. The opportunity is too good to miss. Peter Russelll     Brief biography Peter Russelll is a fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, of The World Business Academy and of The Findhorn Foundation, and an Honorary Member of The Club of Budapest. At Cambridge University (UK), he studied mathematics and theoretical physics. Then, as he became increasingly fascinated by the mysteries of the human mind he changed to experimental psychology. Pursuing this interest, he traveled to India to study meditation and eastern philosophy, and on his return took up the first research post ever offered in Britain on the psychology of meditation. He also has a post-graduate degree in computer science, and conducted there some of the early work on 3-dimensional displays, presaging by some twenty years the advent of virtual reality. In the mid-seventies Peter Russelll joined forces with Tony Buzan and helped teach "Mind Maps" and learning methods to a variety of international organizations and educational institutions. Since then his corporate programs have focused increasingly on self-development, creativity, stress management, and sustainable environmental practices. Clients have included IBM, Apple, Digital, American Express, Barclays Bank, Swedish Telecom, ICI, Shell Oil and British Petroleum. His principal interest is the deeper, spiritual significance of the times we are passing through. He has written several books in this area -- The TM Technique, The Upanishads, The Brain Book, The Global Brain Awakens, The Creative Manager, The Consciousness Revolution, Waking Up in Time, and From Science to God. As one of the more revolutionary futurists Peter Russelll has been a keynote speaker at many international conferences, in Europe, Japan and the USA. His multi-image shows and videos, The Global Brain and The White Hole in Time have won praise and prizes from around the world. In 1993 the environmental magazine Buzzworm voted Peter Russelll "Eco-Philosopher Extraordinaire" of the year.

Tomoyo Nonaka - The Need for Global “Lunacy” In my small garden there are many ants running here and there at a fast pace—they believe that this garden is their own planet. If I would tell them that the land beyond the garden continues and is round, shaped like a ball, I am sure that they would respond with something like ‘Give me a break! We are too busy looking for food to take time for lunacy!‘     I wonder how different we are from the ants in my garden from a cosmic point of view. Is there anyone who can really believe that the ground under our feet rotates at 1600 km per hour? Is there anyone who can really believe that within just a few years we will reach a ‘point of no return’? Unfortunately it is extremely difficult for most humans to believe something that cannot be seen, even if it is true, and it is even more difficult to for them to take actions without being firmly convinced of the necessity for them. There is no difference in this regard in the world of business. Most business leaders think that success depends on short term results with immediate monetary returns. Four years ago, when there was no serious interest and concern by global business leaders in climate change and its consequences, I became the chairperson of one of the largest consumer electric companies in the world. I created a new corporate vision ‘Think Gaia’ and oriented the corporation’s mission to develop and manufacture products designed to solve our environmental problems and leave our beautiful planet in a good condition to or children. I witnessed dramatic change and evolution in the company, beginning with a new awareness among the staff , spearheaded by engineers and designers and spreading to many business groups and divisions. However, I had to constantly battle with management and with financial advisors and investors who insisted that cash and short-term return are the only measure of success and are more important than vision and the mission to improve society and our chances for the future. In the two short years of my tenure as chairperson, we were able to introduce more than 10 industry-first and/or world-first products. No additional big investments for R&D were needed. What was needed above all was for employees to have and to share a new awareness and sense of mission, and have the will and the pleasure to do work that is for the good of society. These developments empowered the strategy to develop and produce new products based on existing and available technologies, as well as to develop new technologies. At the end of 2008 the global financial meltdown crushed everyone’s condition of life in the world, including those of people in developing countries who had nothing to do with the crisis. Business decisions and behaviors based on the principle ‘money is everything’ and ‘success is only measured in monetary terms’ have been proven not merely mistaken, but seriously damaging to our society and our planet. Monetary capitalism is the devil, so are we going back to working the soils and basic agriculture? Or are we moving from Wall Street to Woodstock? What is the truly important element in shifting our world? The shift, I believe, has to start with each individual, with each person reflecting how his and her own life and raison d’être can be changed, and what the necessary actions in his or her own life and given situation are—and then to share his or her knowledge and wisdom so we could work together toward shared goals. It’s high time to take action to start a WORLDSHIFT. I should note that ‘lunatic’ in Japanese means ‘cosmic literacy’. Perhaps we need to be lunatic to be able to solve the problems of the world. As Einstein said, ‘No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.’     Brief biography Beginning in 1979, Ms. Nonaka was a newcaster and anchorwoman for NHK, the national TV station in Japan. Her main programs at NHK included 'Weekly Abroad', 'Sports and News', 'Sunday Sports Special' and others. From 1993 to 1997, She was the anchorwoman for the popular business program 'World Business Satellite' at TV Tokyo. In addition to activities as a journalist, she has been member for many Japanese government committees for Cabinet Office, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. She graduated from Sophia University with a major in Journalism, and went on to study photo journalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia in the USA. Furthermore, she has been adviser and a member of the board of directors for many large Japanese corporations such as Asahi Breweries, Sumitomo Corporation, NTT Docomo, Nikko Citigroup, and Unisys, Japan. In 2002, She became and outside director of the board for Sanyo Electric. In 2005, She became CEO for Sanyo Electric. In her position, she created the new corporation vision 'Think Gaia' and started to restructure many business divisions under the new vision for Sanyo to become a leading company to solve environmental problems with its technology. She created a three-year Evolution Plan aimed at reorganizing the business portfolio and improving the corporate financial structure and conditions. In a short time, Sanyo introduced more than ten new Think Gaia (TG) products, and the following four "world-first" products: 1) Eneloop batteries: rechargeable batteries that can be recharged up to a thousand times. 2) Aqua: a washing machine and dryer that reduces water usage in a wash-cycle from 200 liters to 8 liters by purifying the used water and making air-washing possible through ozone technology. 3) Enegreen: an innovative way to reduce electricity consumption in air-conditioners, refrigerators, and food show-cases in stores and supermarkets. Enegreen absorbs as much CO2 as a forest with an area 130-times larger than the store. 4) Virus-Washer: an air-cleaner that eliminates up to 99 percent of airborne viruses, including avian influenza (bird flu) virus, using a technology that electrolyzes simple tap water. 'The Gaia Initiative', a not-for-profit organization was established in 2007 to call not only one corporation, Sanyo, but also wider stakeholders (corporations, citizen, government and NGO/NPO) for solving environmental problems in the world, Gaia. In may of 2008, NPO Gaia initiative of Nonaka agreed to collaborate with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India with Dr.Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of IPCC and the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Gaia Initiative www.gaiainiatiative.org

José Argüelles - Noosphere and Mass Awakening – Preparing for the WorldShift “Enlightenment is realized by knowing mind confusion happens because of losing touch with nature … Just trust in the truth and preserve your basic inherent mind.” Chan Master Hongren, Treatise on the Supreme Vehicle. The current global crisis in all of its multiple aspects is ultimately a crisis of the human mind and spirit. Of all of Earth´s creatures, only the human species has lost touch with nature and lives apart from the natural order, causing it to be profoundly and self-destructively out of touch with itself as well. Why is this so?     While one can point to many factors contributing to the human malaise and alienation from nature, one comprehensive and observable factor unconsciously keeps humanity not only alienated but deviating farther and farther, faster and faster everyday: A self programming system called artificial, mechanistic time. The fact is that all the rest of life on Earth – comprehensively understood as the biosphere – lives according to the rhythms of natural time; the human species alone lives according to its own self-created standards of time. This key perceptual disorder owes to the mechanization of time which occurred some 400 years ago, thoroughly dominating every aspect of modern civilization, and contributing completely to the final crises of globalization and global warming. However, no matter how insulated modern humanity has made itself in its artificial bubble of globalization, it is still an integral member of the biosphere. This deviation of mechanized time within the biosphere resulted in the creation of an industrialized, machine driven social order furthered by what Lewis Mumford described as man´s most powerful hallucinogen, money. Fueling this abdication to the machine was the dominant philosophy of the modern world, time is money. Within a matter of several hundred years the biosphere was turned upside down by this species running amok. In pursuit of profits in exchange for Earth´s resources, it created, as a by-product, a fantastic artificial planetary superstructure called the technosphere. Today, despite our efforts at observing Earth Day and developing ¨green¨ technologies, we all live within a technosphere that holds the biosphere captive and devours it without heed. Within the technosphere, there is a final stage called the cybersphere – a virtual noosphere by which both our unification as a planetary organism is demonstrated and which, at the same time, contributes to an electronic Tower of Babel, the mass confusion of the mind in its ultimate alienation from nature. From the whole systems perspective of the law of time, the human/environmental disorder caused by the self-hypnotizing effects of artificial time is referred to as the biosphere-noosphere transition. This transition is characterized by an exponential increase in: Mechanization, industrial consumption, population, toxic waste and pollution, species extinction, social disorder and the generalized phenomenon known as global warming. We are now at the peak of this complex climactic transition whose transformative deadline date is 21/12/2012. Understood from the perspective of the law of time, this unprecedented transformation is preparing us to enter a new geological era altogether, the noosphere. What we are undergoing is an evolutionary shift that is absolutely inevitable. Cosmic evolution is an unstoppable force – it is moving us, the entire heliosphere, and the galaxy into another order of reality, which ultimately can only be for the good, for true evolution is mental and spiritual in nature. The question really facing us is: How do we wish to negotiate this inevitable change? Even though it appears that more and more humans are becoming aware of the evolutionary deadline of 21/12/2012, the greater mass of humanity are still embroiled in karmic patterns that seem to be in a deadlock of mortal combat. If the noosphere is the mental sphere of the entire planet, then are we all not going to be included in this new planetary mind? How can this come about given the present thickness of the veil of ignorance? Can there be a mass awakening in advance of the noosphere? The key is education and information regarding the root cause of the ever-accelerating artificial timing program and the nature of the human mind. As has been reasoned, the human mind through its machines has already profoundly impacted the geology of the Earth. Thus far this impact has been of an unconscious nature. In this regard, the noosphere represents the emergence from the cosmic unconscious to the cosmic conscious. In the conscious phase of the noosphere, our impact will be positive and constructive transforming ourselves and the environment to reflect a super conscious, supermental phase of cosmic evolution. From a planetary point of view, we could say that if it was unenelightened mind that created and remains immersed in the crisis, enlightened mind is the solution. Enlightened mind is the noosphere. If the confused state is perpetrated by the artificial timing programs, the enlightened state represents a return to living harmonically in synchronization with the natural cycles of the universal order. If enlightenment is brought about by re-establishing the connection with the natural order, then there should be great enlightenment in knowing that the mass mind lost touch with nature due to following the artificial timing frequency (12:60) which caused it to disconnect altogether from the natural order. The natural order of reality is no different than true mind. This perception broadcast and experienced as a mass event, would bring about a mass awakening. To think about the noosphere in this way, one thing is certain. Civilization as we know it must cease to be. The cause contributing to the demise of the present world order would most likely be a CME (coronal mass ejection) knocking out the entire electronic grid. According to NASA this is set to occur in 2012, when it is predicted that a massive solar flare is likely to occur disabling the entire grid, an event that would take months to repair. Such a blow would terminate the system of artificial time and its technological support structure, providing the natural, albeit catastrophic preparation for the noosphere. However, only in this way could the human mind have the opportunity to connect and interact telepathically with the Earth´s electromagnetic field as well as with the sun. In this lies the crux of the global shift – a massive alteration of human consciousness. Consequently, the noosphere would be realized as a field of cosmic harmony, turning human potential toward realizing Earth as a work of art. In light of the highly probable “Day the Earth Stood Still” scenario, advanced education about the nature and advent of the noosphere is ethically mandatory. This educational process should obviously offer survival cues as part of the preparation – mass awakening being the goal. The noosphere is the inevitable goal that can unite the forces now tending in different directions. The task of attaining this goal by leading the world out of confusion back to order defines the purpose of the First Noosphere World Forum: Envisioning Earth as Work of Art. Such a Forum, together with the Club of Budapest’s WorldShift 2012 events and projects, intends to function as a nexus of exchange and unification for the numerous networks and web sites now converging on behalf of the noosphere. Keeping in mind the purpose of the law of time is to make conscious what was unconscious, by participating in these events, the very consciousness of the noosphere will be evolving. The luminous global network foreseen by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin as the genesis of the noosphere would be fulfilled. With super human effort, the success of the Noosphere Forum and the WorldShift 2012 initiatives could ensure that humanity might then pass en masse through the omega point of 21/12/2012 – the Harmonic Convergence of 2012 - and enter a New Time, where time is no longer money, but time is art. As the ancient Maya foresaw, while 2012 is the ending of one cycle, it is also the beginning of a new one – Earth´s new geological era, the noosphere.     Brief biography José Argüelles was born of Mexican-American heritage on January 24, 1939. As a world renowned artist and educator, Argüelles is the author of more than 20 books translated into several languages, including international best-seller The Mayan Factor (1987) and Time and The Technosphere (2002). He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Art History and Aesthetics in 1969, and taught at numerous universities including Princeton University, University of California, Davis, and Naropa Institute. As one of the originators of the Earth Day concept, Argüelles founded the First Whole Earth Festival, Davis, California, 1970, now in its 40th consecutive year. In 1974, he was honored by the State of California for his contribution to the art and culture of that state. As a noted painter and visual artist, he has provided illustrations for numerous books, as well as mural paintings at different universities. He is co- founder of the Planet Art Network (1983), promoting art as the foundation for global peace, while reviving the Nicholas Roerich Peace Pact and Banner of Peace (1935). In 2009, he was nominated to receive the Roerich Peace Medal by the International Banner of Peace Society. In 1987 Argüelles organized the world´s largest global peace meditation, the Harmonic Convergence, August 16-17, 1987. Through his lifelong investigation of the mathematics underlying the Mayan calendar, he made the ground-breaking discovery of the Law of Time (1989). Since 1992, Argüelles has promoted the Day Out of Time Peace Through Culture Festivals every July 25, which is celebrated around the world. In 1994, he co-founded the World Thirteen Moon Calendar Change Peace Movement and developed various tools for exploring time-science, mind and consciousness. In 2002, he was honored by a council of nine indigenous elders at Teotihuacan, Mexico for being the renewer of the ancient system of knowledge. In promoting the 13-Moon calendar, Argüelles convened numerous congresses, seminars and workshops around the world to promote universal planetary peace and a sustainable future, including the World Summit on Peace and Time (Costa Rica, 1999);the First and Second Planetary Congress of Biospheric Rights (Brasilia, Brazil, 1996 and 2006). In 2000, he established the Foundation for the Law of Time, a non-profit educational organization to promote the understanding of the Law of Time in relation to the biosphere-noosphere transition. He is currently director of the Noosphere II project of the Foundation´s Galactic Research Institute, inclusive of the First Noosphere World Forum. Most recently, with his research associate, he is working on the seven volume series, Cosmic History Chronicles. Foundation for the Law of Time lawoftime.org

Ennio Morricone - The value of talent Is there a possible relation between the recession in the autumn of 2008 and a latent crisis of values? Yes. It seems obvious that people are increasingly less attentive to important values, while on the other hand, they pay too much attention to money. I think the consequence of this belief is that more and more people try to become rich easily to find happiness. In this way a kind of imbalance has been created: on one side there are those who earn, on the other those who do not earn. In the end I believe that all this can be translated into a simple phrase: a lack of morality.     Personally I cannot say with certainty whether or not change may or may not be a way to happiness. I think without doubt that the most important issue is to be at peace with your own conscience and do your duty. These are principles that are more than ever up to date and necessary, and only superficially antithetical to the prevailing moral trend. At the end of any reasoning I believe that happiness consists in one thing: to find your own stability and reflect on it. Many say that passion for what you do is a steering wheel, a propulsive thrust to achieve objectives. I think there are many other elements that contribute to the achievement of results. I am convinced that passion is not enough but that a lot of effort, study, work, and perseverance are necessary, as well as and above all, without doubt, talent. People often ask me if music is a force that can change the world, which can therefore be used for humanitarian purposes as well. It is certainly a tool, a means of expression, an opportunity that should be considered with confidence, but music does not change things. It can do good to a person, to an individual, but no more than that: I used to think that if everyone played an instrument all wars would end, but now I'm not so convinced.     Brief biography Ennio Morricone was born in Rome on 10 November 1928. In 1946 he obtained a trumpet diploma at a Conservatory, and in 1954 he graduated in Composition there. In 1958 he was hired as a musical assistant by Rai (the Italian state broadcasting company), but he resigned on his very first day. His career as a composer of film music began in 1961 with Luciano Salce’s Federal. However, he became famous throughout the world with Sergio Leone’s Western. Since 1960 Morricone has composed music for more than 400 films, working with many Italian and international directors, including Sergio Leone, Gillo Pontecorvo, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuliano Montaldo, Lina Wertmuller, Giuseppe Tornatore, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski, Warren Beatty, Adrian Lyne, Oliver Stone, Margarethe Von Trotta, Henry Verneuil, Pedro Almodovar, and Roland Joffe). The following are among his most famous films: La Battaglia di Algeri (The Battle of Algiers), Sacco e Vanzetti, Cinema Paradiso, La leggenda del Pianista sull’Oceano (The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean), Malena, The Untouchables, Once Upon a Time in America, Mission; and U-Turn. His production of 'absolute music' includes more than 100 compositions since 1946 to the present day. Ennio Morricone has conducted various orchestras around the world. On 2 February 2007, Maestro Morricone conducted a major concert with the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra (Rome Symphony Orchestra) at the UN General Assembly to celebrate the inauguration of the new UN Secretary General Banki Moon. The following are some of the awards: 8 Silver Ribbons, 5 Baftas, 5 Oscar nominations, 7 David Di Donatellos, 3 Golden Globes, 1 Grammy Award, 1 European Film Award, as well as a Golden Lion and an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. In 2009 the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, signed a decree appointing the Maestro Ennio Morricone to the rank of Knight in the order of the Legion of Honour. In the record business he has had 27 gold records, 7 platinum records, 3 gold plates and in 1981 the "Records critic" prize for the music of the film "Il Prato" (the grassland). The soundtrack of the film The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is one of the new entries into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.

Ermanno Olmi - Happiness is in choosing essential things After the world economic recession, which is still ongoing, no significant change is forthcoming from the ruling class that could lead us to believe that there is a real will to lay the foundations of a new society, one that is aware that it has to respect the weakest strata of society according to a concept that elects social justice as the highest value of a true democracy.     Instead, what is changing in consideration of the recent scam in the finance world’s schemes? Nothing. Through the new strategies being developed an attempt is being made to restore the same system that acts on the movement of the real money of savers, creating a false wealth that at the moment of truth reveals its criminal intent. A crime it certainly is, since savers do not have the possibility of defending their savings. I repeat, no change has been forthcoming but only a cover up of the same old scam. People can positively contribute to change, but how? By re-ordering their priorities in accordance with values that give significance to all our lives, just like the statement contained in the e-book by Ervin Laszlo and Marco Roveda: (“the way to happiness is in change”). Yes, this is a request that concerns everyone and everything. However, in order to “attain” happiness we must first of all free ourselves of anything that is superfluous, which is false happiness. Happiness is not an objective that stands still and waits for us. Happiness is like a lightning bolt that shoots this way and that, faster than any attempt by our thoughts to try and grasp it forever; so it is necessary to be very aware to be able to at least be touched by a flicker of happiness. One of the ways that is possible in today’s world is to covert our lifestyles to a reasoned poverty. NOT a miserable poverty, but a poverty that is a free choice of essential things, a poverty that reduces our desire for the most precious items to the minimum amount necessary. Love has still not been defeated by the practice of hate. Even if all comparisons of ideas, races, and religions become a reason for cruel conflict, and rites of violence and death are celebrated in the street. I am certain that the cause of all this is hidden in the many solitudes lost in a vacuum of trust. However, let’s ask ourselves where these elements of trust have disappeared to! Elements such as social justice, looking after the weakest levels in society, schooling, the aspects that come from a good example set by adults, have disappeared from the important institutions of states. Even the big private institutions that manoeuvre finance and the economy could propose a new concept of wealth that is also civil. However, the day will come when history will force us to face decisions that will have no margin for error. Therefore, we will be faced with decisions which cannot be reversed. However, I haven’t lost hope, which is the mother of faith. I think that very often the cause of our disappointment and discouragement is due to the fact that we are looking in the wrong direction. In other words, we see “reproduced and fabricated” realities, which others bring to our attention for their own convenience, instead of seeing life flowing past us directly through our own eyes.     Brief biography He moved from Bergamo to Milan when he was still very young to enrol in the Academy of Dramatic Arts. He worked at Edison Volta where he organised the cinematographic department, and from 53 to 61 he directed over 30 documentaries. His debut on the big screen was in “Il tempo si è fermato” (Time has come to a standstill) (1959). He won over the critics with “Il posto” ( The position) (1961), and he then stared in her masterpiece “L'albero degli zoccoli” (the clog tree), which won a Golden Palm award at the Cannes festival. In 1982 he returned to the big screen in “Cammina cammina” (Walk, walk), and in the same year he founded the “Ipotesi Cinema” (Hypothesis Cinema) school in Bassano del Grappa. He then returned to full length films in “Lunga vita alla signora” (Long life to the lady) (1987). In 1998 he returned to win a “Leone D'Oro” (Golden Lion) award with “La leggenda del santo bevitore” (The legend of the saintly drinker). In the mid nineties he directed the “Genesi” (Genesis) episode “of the Rai (Italian state television broadcasting company) project “Le storie della Bibbia” (The story of the Bible). In 2007 he was involved in “Centochiodi” (one hundred nails), and in 2008 he won a “Leone d'Oro” (Golden Lion) award at the Venice Cinema Festival for his career. Ipotesi Cinema Ipotesicinema.it «

Leonardo Di Caprio - The star system towards consciousness We have to change mentality, to understand that ecological business, its ideas, and its revolutionary technology will contribute to the development of new economic relationships, and above all, it will save the world.     In an interview granted to the monthly magazine ‘Style’ of the Italian ‘Corriere della Sera’ newspaper, I stated that each time we pay for something we sustain business: we have to ask ourselves whether or not it’s helping the environment. It would be great not to have to worry about these things, but we live in a market oriented society. One thing is certain; the future must move towards ecological business practices, which as well as creating jobs offer an identity and commitment to young people. Money must be placed alongside ethics, the future and civilisation, and this applies to the cinema as well. Of course, if a star promotes environmental issues, he or she has a certain influence and can make the public more conscious, more aware. Is this stupid? I welcome a star system that influences people in this way! Personally, to be a supporter of the environment has made me more decisive over everything, capable of moving forwards, stopping relationships and friendships that were going nowhere. Just causes help us get out of a spiral of misunderstandings and remove insecurity. My life is not just my career: being part of the ecological cause has given me energy, also making me more optimistic. You can’t be cynical if you understand that the struggle for the environment is a struggle for all mankind. On the occasion of the presentation of the movie ‘Shutter Island’ in Rome I reiterated that I have been involved in the environmental issue for more than 13 years, but what I understood was that only after the film-documentary ‘An inconvenient truth’ by Al Gore did an environmental culture begin to have visibility and the strength necessary to stimulate change in society. Many people in the no-profit organisations sector had already exposed the disaster caused by global warming many years ago, but public opinion perceived it as a “serious” problem only after ‘An inconvenient truth’. Al Gore has to be given credit for having explained certain urgent issues in a simple and brief manner, using the effectiveness of cinematographic language, thereby opening people’s eyes. Well, now we have become aware that there are a lot of things we must do, and that they have to be done quickly. I have committed myself to this cause and I will continue to commit myself more and more. Money cannot buy happiness: it can allow you to buy a lot of things you want, but not everything. We must not fall into the trap of excess, and I have to say that I have more than enough money. Money is useful for the environment as well nowadays, because if there was no economic development then progress in technological areas that relate to ecology would not be possible, and this allows us to do something solid to help the environment.     Brief biography He was born in Los Angeles in 1974 and began his career as an actor at a very young age, starting in advertising to then moving on to television and movies. He has acted in many films, but the one that brought him to the peak of success with the general public was undoubtedly “Titanic” in 1997. His last film is called ‘Shutter Island’, directed by Martin Scorsese. He has been involved in environmental causes for many years, and he is a strong supporter of ecological business practices. His commitment goes back to the films ‘The Beach’ in 2000 and ‘Blood Diamond’ in 2006. The following year he wrote and produced the ecological and environmental documentary ‘the eleventh hour’. He now drives a Prius, he has bought his New York apartment in an ecologically sustainable skyscraper, and he has bought a small island off Belize on which he is building an eco-resort.

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