What is the good life ?
Valeurs et spiritualités pour relever le défi de la justice sociale et du changement climatique
Fireflies Inter-religious Ashram, Bangalore, India
Aujourd’hui, notre société fait face à une crise écologique d’une grande ampleur : les changements climatiques actuels commencent à avoir d’énormes répercussions sur la vie de million de gens dans le monde. C’est effectivement le cas en Inde par exemple où le réchauffement climatique risque de faire fondre les glaciers himalayens au bout des trente ans à venir et qu’une grande partie du Bangladesh se retrouvera dès lors enseveli sous l’eau ; ou encore que les grands fleuves, notamment le Gange et le Brahmapoutre, soient asséchés progressivement. En conséquence, plusieurs millions d’agriculteurs et de paysans sans terre, peuvent se retrouver réfugiés pour des raisons de survie. Où vont aller tous ces gens ? De nombreuses régions dans le monde vont se retrouver dans une situation similaire, que faire ?
Le temps d’agir :
Il est temps d’agir ensemble pour sauver l’humanité, car nous sommes encore en mesure d’éviter une telle catastrophe majeure. Si nous commençons à mettre en pratique les stratégies d'atténuation et d'adaptation nécessaires, nous pouvons parvenir au bout des famines et sauver la vie de centaines de millions de personnes.
C’est en réactions à tous ces problèmes que Fireflies interreligieux Ashram et les Dialogues en humanité ont été organisé en Février 2010 sous le thème « What is’s the good life ? ». Ces dialogues se sont déroulés dans un beau village en dehors de Bangalore, dans le sud de l’Inde, et se sont tenue du 17 février à 16H, jusqu’au 20 février à 15H ; avec un festival musical en clôture de l’événement. 3 000 participants se sont joints à l’événement.
A l'initiative de Siddhartha, directeur du centre interculturel Fire Flies (lucioles), 3 000 participants se sont joints à l’événement dont Vandana Shiva, Bablu CK Ganguly.
What is the good life ?
Values and spiritualities to face the challenges of social justice and climate change
Fireflies Inter-religious Ashram, Bangalore, India
Never before has human civilization been faced with a challenge of such enormous magnitude. Climate change is already beginning to have devastating effects on the lives of millions. In India, the Himalayan glaciers are predicted to melt in the next 30 years or so. The great rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, are predicted to either run dry or have little water.
There will be millions of farmers and landless labourers who will become climate change refugees. Much of Bangladesh will go under water in the few decades. Where will the over 100 million people go ? Many parts of the world will be in a similar situation.
It is time to act :
It is time to find the psychological and spiritual motivation that can galvanise us into action.
If we begin to act today we will still be able to avert a major catastrophe. If we begin to put into practice the mitigation and adaptation strategies needed we can prevent famines and save the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
It is with these objectives in mind that Fireflies Inter-religious Ashram and Dialogues en humanité are launching its February Dialogues: ‘What is the good life?’ The February Dialogues will begin at 4pm on 17th February and end by 3pm on 20th afternoon.
The all-night music festival will begin at 7pm on 20th February. The venue will be Fireflies Interreligious Ashram, in a beautiful village, outside Bangalore, in the south of India.
Programme :
17 February 2010, Wednesday
04:00 – 05:00 pm : Registration
05:00 – 05:15 pm : Welcome and introduction to the February Dialogues 2010
Siddhartha (Founder, Fireflies Inter-religious Ashram and Pipal Tree,
(Bangalore) & Genevieve Ancel (Dialogues en humanité, Lyon)
05:15 – 05:45 pm : Self-introductions by the participants
Lighting the lamp and Flower Mandala
05:45 – 06:15 pm : Why we think “What is the good life?” is important for peace
and social justice
Henryane de Chaponay (Internationally known expert on
sustainable futures, social justice and human rights.
Founder: Cedal, Paris.)
Chairperson: Jean Fischer (Foundation for the Progress of
Humankind, Lausanne, Switzerland)
6:15 – 07:15 pm : Climate justice after Copenhagen: implications for the poor
and excluded populations
Walter Mendoza (Director, CED-Bangalore, and member of INECC,
Vishakapatanam)
Chairperson: Joseph Tharamangalam (Emeritus Professor,
Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada)
08:00 pm : Dinner
18 February 2010, Thursday
08:00 – 09:00 am : Breakfast
09:00 – 11:00 am : Ecosystems and climate change: Testimonies and reflections
Panelists:
Arid regions: Bablu Ganguly (Timbaktu Collective, Andhra Pradesh)
Urban regions: Genevieve Ancel (Dialogues en humanité, Lyon)
Forest regions: Roy David (CORD, Kushal Nagar, Karnataka)
Coastal regions: T. Peter (Fisherfolk Movement, Kerala)
Chairperson: Anne Marie le Moing (contribution from Mexican
experience)
11:00 – 11:30 am : Tea break
11:30 – 12:00 pm : Ecosystems and climate change: Session continues
12:00 – 01:00 pm : Primal cultures and climate justice
Jyoti Sahi (Founder, Art Ashram, Bangalore) &
Meghnath (Film maker and adivasi action concerns, Ranchi)
Chairperson: Vyasaprasad (Narayana Gurukula, Ooty)
01:00 – 02:00 pm : Lunch
02:00 – 03:00 pm : Sustainable lifestyles: A personal perspective
Jane Sahi (Founder, Sita School, Bangalore)
Chairperson: Tapas Bhatt (Social researcher, Paris)
03:00 – 04:00 pm : Christianity and climate justice
Fr. Allwyn D’Silva & Judy Siqueira
Chairperson: James Morley (Ramapo College, New Jersey)
04:00 – 04:30 pm : Tea break
04:30 – 05:30 pm : Walk around Fireflies (presentation by Siddhartha)
07:30 – 08:00 pm : Media involvement to combat climate change
Francoise Scholler (European desk, French television)
Chairperson: Ananda Siddhartha (Fireflies, Bangalore)
08:00 pm : Dinner
19 February 2010, Friday
08:00 – 09:00 am : Breakfast
09:00 – 09:15 am : Summary of the main insights and experiences from the
previous day
09:15 – 10:15 am : Islam, climate change and social justice
Asghar Ali Engineer (Centre for Study of Society and Secularism,
Mumbai)
Chairperson: Walter Mendoza (CED, Bangalore)
10:15 – 11:15 am : Women subsistence farmers and climate change in North-
East Ghana
Trish Glazebook, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Chairperson: G.N.S. Reddy (BAIF Institute for Rural Development,
Karnataka)
11:15 – 11:45 am : Tea break
11:45 – 01:00 pm : The significance of Gandhi in the context of climate change
D. Jeevan Kumar (Director, Institute of Gandhian Studies, Bangalore
University)
Chairperson: Radha Kunke (Director, Architecture and Development)
01:00 – 02:00 pm : Lunch
02:00 – 03:00 pm : Culture and climate justice
Ananta Kumar Giri (author and faculty member of Madras Institute
of Development Studies, Chennai) &
John Clammer (United Nations University, Tokyo)
Chairperson: Ruma Sen (Ramapo College, New Jersey)
03:00 – 04:00 pm : Hinduism and climate justice
Makarand Paranjape (Author and Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi) & Siddhartha (Fireflies Inter-religious Ashram)
Chairperson: Raghu Anantanarayan (Sumedas, Chennai)
04:00 – 04:30 pm : Tea break
06:30 – 08:00 pm : The dominant model of development, exclusion and climate
change and sustainable communities
Vandana Shiva (Author, Internationally renowned environmental
campaigner and Founder Director of Navdanya and Foundation for
Research in Science, Technology and Ecology)
Chairperson: Bablu Ganguly (Timbaktu Collective, Andhra Pradesh)
08:00 pm : Dinner
20 February 2010, Saturday
09:00 – 10:00 am : After Copenhagen: An action oriented people’s approach
Praful Bidwai (Journalist, New Delhi)
Chairperson: Siddhartha (Fireflies, Bangalore)
10:00 – 11:00 am : Group work: Revisiting the good life in terms of practical
alternatives/What is to be done
11:00 – 11:30 am : Tea break
11:30 – 01:00 pm : Concluding plenary
Ashwani Vasishth (Director, Masters Programme in Sustainable
Studies, Ramapo College, New Jersey), Genevieve Ancel, Siddhartha,
Radha Kunke, Jeevan Kumar
01:00 – 02:00 pm : Lunch
07:00 pm : The Fireflies Music Festival (20th 7:00 pm to 21st 7:00 am)
(We will be presenting the Fireflies International Award for
advancing Human and Earth Freedoms, 2010, to Henryane de
Chaponay during the festival.
Vandana Shiva will briefly address the people present at the
Fireflies Music Festival.)
Pipal Tree
Home is an international training and cultural centre which come under the Pipal Tree trust. VISION. In a world that is globalising at a rapid pace Pipal Tree is acutely conscious of the ...