Abstract
This chapter makes a case for a paradigm shift away from business as usual and the pursuit of profit at the expense of the social and environmental fabric of life.
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“Indonesia’s previous foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, was blunt in his criticism of Australia’s policy of turning back asylum seekers attempting to leave Indonesia for Australian waters . He was especially forthright about the issue when it included Australian ships entering Indonesian territorial waters…” Kingsbury, D, 2014 ‘Don’t expect Indonesian support for towbacks ‘The drum’ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-27/kingsbury-turning-back-the-boats/5844926 Professor Damien Kingsbury holds a Personal Chair in the School of International and Political Studies at Deakin University.
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Is bigger really better? Count, Summer 2014 Issue no 118.
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The terrifying notion of having to work to pay for air was explored in a recent Hollywood film.
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The past election in Australia which resulted in the Abbott government was run along the lines of ‘whatever it takes’. Both parties seemed to try to outdo the other on border protection. But the focus on climate change was almost non-existent. The current election has narrowly returned the incumbent Malcolm Turnbull who replaced Abbott. The regional tensions around food and energy resources play out in the competition in the South China seas which has received a ruling by the UN, namely that China should respect the rights of access to the waters in the South China Seas of all nations and that the rights of the Philippines and their territorial waters ought to be upheld.
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What is worrying is that students asked to rank candidates according to whether they appeared attractive or not actually did so when requested without refusing to do so. This is most likely the result of pressure to comply by a person in authority and is thus an artefact of research design. I hope that the rational students were careful not to annoy their teachers, but not so irrational that they would actually select candidates on the basis of their attractive appearance.
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‘Systemic racism’: discriminatory patterns and practices which involve more than the action of a few individual attitudes, but rather the systemic practices of racism built into society’s major institutions (Feagin 2006).The pain of rejection based on categories such as age, gender, culture including religion, ideology or physical or mental dis-ability also trigger anger. So this appears to be a long leap from neural research. But it isn’t.
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The GFC and the environmental melt down seem to be seen as two problems—not one. Human beings cannot achieve new growth through increased extraction of profit. Instead living elegantly and well through re-distribution and simpler life styles supported by green economies, reciprocal sharing of resources and skills in green communities, supported by energy -efficient systems.
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The challenge to move beyond the rhetoric of cosmopolitan citizenship and to address both justice and sovereignty. The nation state needs to be held to account by an Earth Charter that is supported by overlapping regional institutions (supported by inclusive regional research institutions, policies, the rule of law including parliaments and courts). This book also builds on this research and reflects on how public education could be enhanced through ‘if then policy scenarios to help engage people in thinking about the ethical implications of their choices. Ideally, a universal respect for social and environmental justice could enable subsidiarity as a means to support freedom to the extent that it does not undermine the quality of life of this generation or the next.
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In many ways, this book is a reflection of lifelong learning. But recently, I also had some time during a short sabbatical to reflect on what it means to know our place and to understand our hybridity and our interconnectedness. The book begins with a critical consideration of the capabilities approach of Martha Nussbaum who is a social democrat whose understanding of property in some ways undermines the capabilities approach that she so carefully proposes, because she does not explore the implications for ‘a fairness’ underpinning current frames of what property entails. In this regard, the work of Butler comes closer to engaging with the economic system that is the root of the problem (along with the notion of the nation state and the limited social contract). The work of Judith Butler who holds the Hannah Arendt chair, stresses the right to voice our needs and to be listened to and heard. Her starting point is a focus on the other, vulnerability and a recognition that we are vulnerable and should demand the right to be heard and cared for. She starts from the position of vulnerability, not from strength or resilience, because her focus is on interdependency. A rights focus can be very individualistic and this can lead to dualism and this is the problem with the capabilities approach of Martha Nussbaum. However, it does provide the liberative potential as a guideline for human rights. But it does not go far enough.
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In advocating for Indigenizing approaches to the environment a critical mindset is needed to ensure that a single paradigm is not considered to have all the answers. The case of the fur seals in South Australia is just one example of this clash of views. Whereas Darrel Sumner advocates for the river Murray, some of his advocacy for the clan totem, the pelican has resulted in his requesting a planned cull of fur seals. Elder-says-he-will-cull-seals-if-sa-government-doesn’t/6674590. This has been rejected by the Greens who advocate for humane approaches. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-05/aboriginal—Aboriginal elder says he will cull more problem seals if SA’s Department of Environment won’t—ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-02/plan-to-cull-mongrel-fur-seals-in-south-australia-criticised/6590166 Proposal to cull fur seals in South Australia slammed by Greens, Humane Society—ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
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The desire of the rich to consume and the desire of the majority of the poor to leave the ghetto are expressed through emulating the rich. Socio-demographic research shows that debt and bankruptcy in developed nations—such as the USA and nations within the EU—are driven by advertising, easy credit and the desire to ‘keep up appearances’ by emulating the standards of the very rich (Frank 2007; Wilkinson and Pickett 2009). Making and invoking treaties and conventions that control commodification needs to be a priority and needs to be ongoing if justice is to be maintained. The approach could be buttressed through federations supported by, for example the Lisbon Treaty (Horvath and Odor 2010) which requires that social, economic and environmental legal considerations be met. Unfortunately the structural and process mechanisms of the EU are not able to manage the distribution of power or funding (Rhodes 1997). Clearly if the EU is to survive it needs to be supported by a means to balance individual and national interests with the collective good of the union. More and more members of the union are disenchanted for a number of reasons.
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The relationships between people and places are changed when living with dogs and cats, for example. We feel safer with a dog at our side and we have a responsibility to ensure that the dog does not act as a predator see Philo and Wolch (1998). Cats have protected human beings from plague and disease and they are also beloved members of families. But they can also destroy the vulnerable liminal creatures such as marsupial mice and they make short work of lizards. The management of pets is our responsibility. Dogs and cats are less likely to act as predators if they are given collars and attention and safe environments where they can engage in recreation without wreaking havoc on the local creatures. It has been found that cats do not wander and stray away from home environments if they are well integrated into family life.
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He rang me today to say that he found a dead pelican under the car port at the Cosmo Hut in the Channel Country . It is a known spot for water when the lakes are dry. Unfortunately there was no one there to give it water . It died of thirst and exhaustion during the extreme heat in early December. The crows Heckle and Jekyll wait for his vehicle so that they can share his lunch. In this dry part of the Cooper basin, water is at a premium at certain times of the year and their favourite treats are the whole tomatoes that they spear with their beaks. Today he rang to tell me that he gave them mini pizzas which they had not eaten before. They first observed these new offerings from a nearby tree, Then Heckle flew down and folded the pizza in half and then in quarters and flew away. He was followed by Jeckyl who only folded the pizza in half before hurriedly departing. The previous day they had demonstrated their agility with bananas, quickly peeling the banana before flying away with the banana speared on their beaks!
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The Guardian, Sunday 10 April 2011 18.17 BST http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights “Bolivia enshrines natural world’s rights with equal status for Mother Earth : Law of Mother Earth expected to prompt radical new conservation and social measures in South American nation … The country, which has been pilloried by the US and Britain in the UN climate talks for demanding steep carbon emission cuts, will establish 11 new rights for nature. They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered. …The law, which is part of a complete restructuring of the Bolivian legal system following a change of constitution in 2009, has been heavily influenced by a resurgent indigenous Andean spiritual world view which places the environment and the earth deity known as the Pachamama at the centre of all life. Humans are considered equal to all other entities”.
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Stiglitz (2010) the ex-head of the World Bank along with his colleagues has adopted similar ideas based on his experiences in response to an invitation from Sarkozy to address the poverty , and global financial issues facing Europe. It recognises the systemic social, economic and environmental challenges. Stiglitz et al. (2011: 15) use a multidimensional measure of well-being . According to Stiglitz et al., the essence of the commission’s findings is that wealth needs to include ‘stocks for the future’. Arguments for and against the national, transnational and supra national organisations have been raised by idealists, pragmatists and realists. A way to bridge the divides is through expanding pragmatism to consider the consequences for current and future generations through addressing well-being and developing governance systems to ensure that stocks for the future are developed through limiting the way in which production processes and distribution practices benefit the minority at the expense of the majority.
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Where to form here? How do we work with complexity? Or perhaps we merely need a simpler approach, namely a recognition that what we do to others and to the environment, we do to ourselves. The strong cosmopolitan stresses the importance of recognising the value of the environment on which we depend and thus recognises that we are either part of the change—or complicit in contributing to the problem of ‘consuming the planet’. Thus Elliot and Urry stress the implications of developing a non-carbon economy for cultural transformation. Transformation will require changing the way in which we care for others (Mukta 2010, 2005). This will imply re-conceptualising how we engage with one another and our attitude towards commodifying people, animals and the environment. The neo-conservative market uses people and the planet without care of the consequences. It extends the argument by Kant on hospitality to strangers by stressing the importance of the recognition of transnational agreements and law on environmental concerns and Human rights (Nussbaum 2006). The strong cosmopolitan will define human security (Kaldor 2003, 2004) in terms of meeting human rights for all and avoiding a Eurocentric approach when addressing human rights. Cosmopolitanism as a concept has developed through responding to the critics such as Babar and Derrida who emphasised the difficulties associated with universalism and the colonial and imperialist overtones. The market failures Held (2005: 15) anticipates fall short of what has actually occurred. The problem is not only concerning externalities that are not factored into calculations of the degradation to the environment, it is a way of thinking and ‘being in the world’ that shifts the extraction of profit to where labour is cheaper and where governments and citizens are less likely to complain about degradation of environment. Short-term profits are made at the expense of future generations. This undermines the conditions of employment so that full time employment becomes less available. The globalised market needs post-national controls to ensure control of the movement funds (see McIntyre-Mills 2011). Enabling a transformation of identity through consciousness raising, humility, and governance is the challenge for ethical systemic governance which has become increasingly difficult in the wake of the systemic crises. Morality becomes politically disposable, because of a lack of understanding of our interconnected existence. Strong cosmopolitans recognise that the containerist vision of the world is over. Our so-called containment anxiety, linked with our identity and need to define ourselves, cannot be addressed by living a schizophrenic existence in which we see ourselves as benefitting at the expense of other nation states. We already have regional conflicts fueled by energy shortages and competition for the last of the nonrenewables. Satellite monitoring from the above seems to be more of a priority at the moment by the USA than space travel. Digital communications are already widely used, but their potential is under tapped as stressed in this chapter and other research on well-being , representation , accountability and sustainability (McIntyre-Mills and de Vries 2011). The greatest challenges are the consequences of inaction that will potentially pose an existential risk to humanity. These challenges include representation of the increasingly diverse populations within nation states along with accountability to ensure that resources (e.g. water , food, and energy ) are used fairly, equitably and sustainably in local and regional biospheres. Better forms of engagement are needed to enhance the capability of people to understand that attitudes towards consumption have profound implications for social and environmental justice.
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This re-establishes a traditional ceremony that hadn’t been performed since white settlement. It means the coming together of the tribes. http://www.mdba.gov.au/what-we-do/working-with-others/aboriginal-communities/ringbalin.
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ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-02/plan-to-cull-mongrel-fur-seals-in-south-australia-criticised/6590166 Proposal to cull fur seals in South Australia slammed by Greens, Humane Society—ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
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These include deontological approaches, idealism/Kantian/social justice approaches. Martha Nussbaum, for example draws on Aristotle in order to develop the capabilities approach.
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These include pragmatic approaches. For example Peter Singer discusses the consequences of our choices in his book ‘One World’.
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The body of work inspired by this approach and aspects of social cybernetics (Bausch, Christakis, Flood, Haraway, Jackson, Romm, Stafford Beer, Van Gigch, Ulrich, Midgley are also helpful in formulating more systemic research on living systems and our place in the bundle of life Most importantly the organic praxis of Shiva, Deborah Bird Rose, Max Neef and Wadsworth on Living systems is increasingly relevant to my current work on ecological footprints and social justice. Ulrich, who distills the work of West Churchman’s DIS approach into 12 is/ought questions that help to shape boundary judgments when working with stakeholders and different kinds of knowledge (logic, empiricism, idealism, dialectic and pragmatism) but it does not go far enough.
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To date, I have supervised 26 Ph.D. students to completion and several MA theses. Current Ph.D. supervision continues to address the common theme of complex wicked problems. So addressing health, housing and social inclusion in Australia was a logical continuation. Clearly well-being requires thinking about the environment and when the project for ARC linkage grant was completed we decided to extend our inquiry into well-being and the need for protecting the environment on which we depend. Emphasis on principle of subsidiarity ; Emphasis on testing out ideas with those with lived experience.
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People with whom I have worked: Staff and students at University of Indonesia, National State Islamic University, Padadjaran, Ministries of Social Affairs, Religion and Finances, for example. Emeritus Professor Alexander Christakis, Dr. Ken Bausch, Dr. Tom Flanagan and members of Global Agora team, Professor John Roddick (Informatics, Flinders University).
Professor Ann Roche (NCETA, Public Health, Flinders), Dr. Doug Morgan (previously at Flinders), Kim O’Donnell, mentor at CRCAH, Flinders University and Bevin Wilson, mentor at Yunggorendi, Dr Denise de Vries (Informatics, Flinders University).
Dr Jon Deakin elected Local Government member and APAI for ARC Linkage, Sun Binchai (Hons graduate, Informatics, Flinders University), Ivantia Mokoginta (Ph.D. student, Economics and Public Policy ), David Hope (Accountant and risk management consultant for local government), Adib Mohammed Abdu Shomad (Ph.D. student, Public policy and management), Barbara Dickson ( MA student, Public Policy and engagement specialist for an urban renewal department, public sector, Adelaide)
Dr. John Mugabushaka (Ph.D. graduate, public policy and youth justice officer, public sector, Adelaide).
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According to Turok, quantum technology could bring us closer to nature as it operates in terms of continuums, electrons in motion.
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Mary Shelly—father was a radical political philosopher wrote Frankenstein, the modern Prometheus as an early warning.
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Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche
www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no … http://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/articles/nietzsche-a.pdf.
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Unfolding values and sweeping in social, cultural, economic and environmental factors is a first step.
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In line with the Paris Declaration, the research will be framed together with key stakeholders in public and private secular and non-secular secondary and tertiary institutions. The Paris Agenda of 1997 stresses the importance of involving all those party to research and development to be part of the design process and evaluation of the initiative. The approach will be to engage with students and staff over a three month period through on site observation, participation , focus groups and interviews.
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As Major Sumner, an Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal elder from the periodically drought-ravaged lower Murray River in South Australia and custodian of the river stresses, we are the land and the land is us. Re-establishing relationships with the land is at the heart of effective cultural ecosystem management (see http://www.mdba.gov.au/what-we-do/working-with-others/aboriginal-communities/ringbalin).
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/students-attack-cecil-john-rhodes-statue-south-africa-university-cape-down-questions-race accessed 1/4/2015
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/students-attack-cecil-john-rhodes-statue-south-africa-university-cape-down-questions-race http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/13/cape-town-remove-cecil-rhodes-statue.
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Farai Sevenzo 2015, letter from Africa http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34656160.
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Reciprocity and empathy can be extended through encompassing more ways of knowing to achieve global enlightenment—that respects diversity to the extent that freedom and diversity does not undermine the rights of others.
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The research design was discussed with Dr. Adib Mohammad Shomad and Professor Dede, (Director of Higher Education) at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
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It addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals and targets and in particular it addresses social inclusion through building the strategic capacity of people to participate to address food, energy and water security . The emphasis (in line with the UN) is to a) address healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages through inclusive and equitable public education through promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all to address gender equality and to empower all women and girls. It strives to address ways to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all in environments that are inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The emphasis is on the most marginalised and focusing on ways to protect the poor and the affected communities, focusing on women, youth, local and marginalised communities to understand mitigation and adaptation processes.
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A participatory engagement process was applied more widely with funding from the South Australian Local Government Association to enable people to think about decision making to address well-being at the local government level through addressing complex social, economic and environmental decisions to mitigate the causes and respond to the effects of climate change. This was also extended to the making policy suggestions to address performance audits and performance accounting in Indonesia with Agus Bambang, funded by Ministry of Finance in Indonesia.
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Applied to support the design and approach adopted by Eshanta Loku Ariyadasa in Sri Lanka who holds an Australian Government Endeavour award for setting up the best children’s home to respond to the needs of orphans. His PhD research is on ways to improve the governance of these homes so that they improve their capacity to govern and so that they enable children to achieve their capabilities as well rounded human beings who are aware of their rights and responsibilities and capable of striving to achieve their goals.
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This led to his shaping the agenda of a conference hosted by Ministry of Religion in December 2014 at which more than 600 people gathered in East Kalimantan to discuss multicultural education and how Islamic studies can be supportive of Pancasila (a diverse Indonesia). This is important as it us an annual event at which Islamic scholars from leading universities such as Al-Azhar University attend and share policy concerns. As mentioned earlier, I talked about the work of Major Sumner, Aboriginal leader and his focus on allowing the river Murray to flow and stressing the dangers of damming the river through building weirs or walls to enable some communities and private sector companies and farms to profit at the expense of others. This is a metaphor for containerism and greed. The other natural metaphor is the need to protect river grasses that grow in the river Murray and that helps to control levels of salinity as the water levels ebb and flow. Unsustainable development practices have led to removing the grasses. As we talked about the issues at Neporendi, many of the senior woman who are also stewards did weaving. Their telling and sharing stories of their life, their losses and how they had coped with being Aboriginal in a society that did not value their values provided a basis for enabling people to reflect on their lives and a way to address grief and to strive towards well-being . The weaving together of stories and also services to address needs became the core metaphor for user-centric policy design.
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McIntyre-Mills, J. (2017). Beyond Anthropocentricism—Why ‘Taming’ or ‘Tackling’ Wicked Problems’ is Problematic. In: Planetary Passport. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58011-1_1
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