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Thursday, November 07, 2002
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Timothy Wilken, MD writes: On tuesday, I said it was time to move beyond democracy, but how could we better make decisions in the future? ... Synergic consensus is unanimous consensus. Unanimous consensus is protected by the judicious use of the synergic veto. Synergic relationship requires that when any party within a group is losing, the action causing the loss must stop. But again all vetoes are immediately followed by renegotiation to modify the plan of action so that loss can be eliminated, and action can continue. Thus synergic consensus is a two step process. 1) consensus--to find mutual agreement, and 2) consent--to find specific disagreements and eliminate those through modification and re-negotiation of proposed plans. This second step is initiated by use of the synergic veto. After I designed Ortegrity, which uses the process of synergic consensus and synergic veto, I learned about Sociocracy. It is from Sociocracy that I have borrowed the term consent for the second phase of synergic consensus. (11/07/02) | |
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Jeff Kriger writes: Almost anyone can feel kindness toward someone who shows them kindness. It is the spirit of Buddhism to develop a sense of compassion toward all people--toward any person. ... What can we do about it? Well, to state the conclusion first, we can expose our hearts and minds to the very state of compassion manifested by the Buddha. ... Taking a lesson form the Daishonin’s writings, it is also useful to apply the model of a parent--or teacher--in developing compassion for others. Any successful parent or teacher knows the importance of seeing things from the child’s perspective. The exert themselves in caring for and educating their children, wanting to see them grow and develop their humanity. Such people transcend divisions of self and other to view the sufferings and joys of their children or students as their own. Constant is their concern for the children. Always thinking of them, they are eager to offer help. Protection, and an opportunity to learn. This sort of concern will certainly reach the hearts of others, be they children or adults. The Nobel-prize winning French author André Gide (1869-1951) put it clearly: “True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one’s own the suffering and joys of others.” (11/07/02) | |
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The Life Trust: Once prey to an industry that hunted them for their precious oil, whales today are exposed to a different threat – violent encounters with fast-moving vessels that ply areas of concentrated shipping. French biologist Michel André has devised a groundbreaking system to detect whales by their distinctive songs and warn ships of their presence. The Whale Anti-Collision System pairs his impressive knowledge of whale vocalisation with the latest “passive acoustic” technology to solve a global problem. Using the Canary Islands as a testing ground, André will implement and refine his pioneering method that will not only protect whales, but also benefit shipping and tourism. (11/07/02) | |
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The Life & Earth Trust: For more than two decades, José Márcio Ayres has been working to protect wildlife in his native Brazil, pioneering a novel approach to wilderness conservation that gives residents of protected areas a key role in the sustainable management of natural resources. A forest ecologist, Ayres today leads an effort to save the largest protected area of rainforest on the planet. Having already changed how Brazilians view conservation, Ayres is proving that the amazing biodiversity of the Amazon is best safeguarded when local people, rather than being part of the problem, become part of the solution. (11/07/02) | |
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BBC Science -- The seas and coast around England are "damaged and declining", according to a major report published on Wednesday. English Nature, the UK Government's wildlife advisor, warns that the marine environment is showing signs of "significant stress and low resilience to continuing pressure". It points, for example, to the loss of salt marshes, the continuing decline in fish stocks and a rise in the nutrient "pollution" of seawater as signals that all is not well. ... It says that in the county of Essex alone, one quarter of all salt marshes has been lost in the past 25 years, and adds that in some estuaries the rate of loss has actually accelerated over the past decade. ... It says the estimated total fish stock in the North Sea has declined by 35% in the past 25 years - and in terms of physical size, plaice are now just a quarter the size they were in 1902. (11/07/02) | |
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Yahoo! News -- Delegates from around China streamed into Beijing ahead of the Communist Party's key 16th Congress, as authorities intensified a round-up of political dissidents. All 2,120 party representatives, who are expected to approve the nation's first major leadership change in more than a decade, had arrived by Wednesday afternoon, the state Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday. Beijing has been blanketed in security in the lead-up to Friday morning's Congress opening ceremony, and authorities have shown clearly that dissent will not be tolerated in any form. On Wednesday it was revealed that leading dissident He Depu, a member of the banned China Democracy Party (CDP), was led away from his home in handcuffs after he put his name to a daring petition calling for sweeping political reforms. "His wife called me and told me police officers took him away this week without any explanation," said He Xintong, the wife of jailed CDP founder Xu Wenli. It was not known whether the arrest was linked to He Depu's presence alongside 193 dissidents' names on the petition, released Wednesday, calling for democracy and the release of prisoners of conscience among other demands. Other well-known dissidents, including democracy advocate Fang Jue, have also been arrested or placed under close police watch, supporters reported. (11/07/02) | |
http://www.SynEARTH.net/
7:50:10 AM 
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© TrustMark
2002
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
12/3/2002; 8:09:11 AM.
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