State Religion?
Religion tends to divide people more than unite them, therefore it has no place in affairs of states. Seth Mydans’ article in today’s International Herald Tribune, “Thailand Set To Make Buddhism The State Religion” warns us of further divisions among the Muslims and the Buddhists in the country, if Buddhism is included in the draft new constitution as state religion. We have enough problems with violence in the Southern four provinces. To create new intense situation in the country, on account of one religion, is unwise for the country as a whole, where people of whatever faiths they choose to live by, have a right to live in peace. This issue alone will get more people to vote “no” for the newly drafted constitution.
Filed under Thailand | Comment (0)Climate Change and Society
There is significant progress in the move towards a low-carbon economy. The Global roundtable on climate change, organized on Thursday, 17 May 2007 in Bonn, Germany by Columbia University as a side event at the 26th Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), shows how some business corporations have done a good job in setting up policies and action plans to reduce carbon dioxide emission from both direct and indirect sources. BASF targets to reduce GHG emission by 38%, relative to a 1990 baseline, and sets a goal to reduce specific GHG emissions per ton of sales products. Deutsche Telekom targets to reduce GHG emissions by 50%, relative to a 1995 baseline, by 2010, and aims to decouple energy consumption from carbon dioxide emission. DuPont achieves the target to reduce GHG emission by 40%, relative to a 1990 baseline, by 1990, ahead of time. The company sets a new target to reduce emissions by 65% by 2010 with sustainability goals to reduce DuPont ‘s footprint regarding water conservation, car fleet fuel efficiency and air carcinogens. Endesa, a global electricity and gas company, sets energy efficiency measures and plans to reduce emissions post 2012 and participate in variety of Carbon Funds. Columbia University’s global roundtable on climate change provides a forum for discussion, analysis and exchange of ideas among businesses from all economic sectors and all parts of the world, including international institutions, NGOs and leading academic experts. To meet the needs for professionals who understand the links between climate and society, the Columbia University contributes greatly by providing new knowledge and skills in this area. The university’s campus in New York City organizes courses for an M.A degree in the field of Climate Change, Climate Prediction, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences to international students from around the world to promote knowledge and encourage voluntary action by world community at all levels to deal with the problem that we all face on climate change. For people who are interested in organizing community action, look for the present state of knowledge that is made available to us by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Filed under Environment, Science, United Nations, World Affairs | Comment (1)Kissing In The Age of Globalization
What does Mickey Rooney and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have in common? Answer: they both did public kissing of a woman’s hand and got themselves into trouble. Mickey, a Hollywood movie star, was criticized by diplomatic circles for not knowing protocol, when he kissed the gloved-hand of Queen Elizabeth II in Washing ton D.C. two days ago and Mahmoud, present Iranian President, was criticized by Muslim clerics for indecency when he kissed the gloved-hand of his female school teacher in public in Teheran last week. Last month, the Hindu right-wing conservatives burnt Richard Gere’s effigy when he kissed Shilpa Shettty, an Indian movie star, publicly on the neck at the HIV/AIDS education campaign in Mumbai. So, in the age of globalization, a kiss is not just a kiss. When done in public, people react to it in political and other different ways according to their perceptions and viewpoints. An innocent kiss of respect and love of a person can take you to a funny place where you really don’t want to go – a confrontation with a bunch of religious/cultural conservatives who view a kiss as immoral — an insult to their culture and religion. Funny thing is, some behavioral scientists also get carried away and take this kind of crazy reaction too seriously. They went into researching the history of kissing . The result that they found out was that monkeys do not kiss, but Apes and humans do and that humans’kissing first appeared in Vedic Sanskrit texts in India from around 1500 B.C., Disappointing for the religious conservatives in Hindu and Muslim cultures who want to believe that social or sexual kissing are decadent inventions of Western Hollywood culture. In Russian and Arab cultures, men do social kissing with other men in public. Why those religious conservatives do not view such behavior as indecency? Why women have to be guardian of “morality” and not the men?
Filed under Funny, Gender Issues | Comment (0)