Global Ethics

The other inconvenient truth

March 5, 2014
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Johnathan Foley is director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. He recently received a Heinz Award, which is given annually to people who improve the human condition and environment through work in areas ranging from poverty alleviation to the arts and sciences. The award citation for Foley begins as follows: A scientist on the leading edge of understanding global ecosystems and the study of complex environmental systems, Jonathan Foley, Ph.D., has dedicated his career to examining and finding solutions for the challenge of feeding an ever-growing population while at the same time protecting our planet…

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The future of the human species

February 25, 2014
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Today’s headlines from the political left and right form a striking diptych that surely tells us something about the future of the human species. From Truthout comes this article, The March of Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, providing the sombre and sober truth about the state of the environment on planet Earth. While most of us do our best to ignore them, the signs of catastrophic climate change are all around us. This article does a good job of detailing several of the most recent signs and driving home the point that we are probably long past the point of no return…

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The religion of capitalist economics

February 24, 2014
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In earlier posts we mentioned the Oxfam report entitled “The cost of inequality: how wealth and income extremes hurt us all,” which outlined how the annual income of richest 100 people is enough to end global poverty four times over (i.e. while the annual net income of the world’s richest 100 billionaires is about $240 billion, the estimated cost of raising everyone worldwide above the $1.25 a day poverty line is about $66 billion). Recently Oxfam released another report, “Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality,” which maps the the general distribution of wealth on a global level.…

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Max Blumenthal

January 13, 2014
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One of the clearest and bravest voices on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today is that of Max Blumenthal. Whereas many other commentators on this never-ending conflict approach the topic from a moral, political, or historical point of view, Blumenthal’s refreshing perspective is that of a journalist, on assignment, providing an up-close-and-personal account of daily life in Israel and the occupied territories. And unlike other reportage on Israel, Blumenthal speaks frankly without any filters or fears of offending. His most recent book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel has attracted a good deal of attention and deservedly so. This is his…

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Zionist cabal tries to hijack Wikipedia

January 9, 2014
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CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) is the Orwellian name of a pro-Israel media watchdog group that monitors, influences, and seeks to control all mainstream media coverage of issues affecting public opinion on all matters related to Israel. It has some 1000 members and chapters in several major American cities. It’s staffers scour all media coverage of Israel and “engage and directly contact” (some would say “harass”) reporters, editors, producers and publishers concerning what they regard as “distorted or inaccurate coverage” (some would say “the truth”) about Israel. They also offer “factual information” (some would say “propaganda”) to…

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Does money make you mean? (TED lecture by Paul Piff)

December 23, 2013
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Paul Piff is a researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.​ He studies how wealth, the perception of being wealthy, and even the type of car one drives all affect people’s moral behaviour. His findings are both fascinating and disturbing. In general, the wealthier people are, the less compassionate they tend to be and they more they feel entitled to their wealth. These finding hold even with one’s “wealth” is clearly undeserved, as in a rigged game of monopoly. There already exists a large body of evidence indicating that the more economic inequality there is…

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Scientists begin to consider human extinction

December 23, 2013
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Within the climate science community there is now virtually no debate that human-induced climate change is real and that it poses a serious challenge to the future of human civilization and the existence of many other plant and animal species on this planet. However, there is still plenty of debate among climate scientists over other questions, including the questions of just how grave and how immediate the threat of climate change really is. This recent article by Dahr Jamail is a summary of the some of the latest findings from those scientists who are most alarmed about the current situation.…

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Climate change and capitalism

November 12, 2013
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Scientists have been ringing the alarm bells about climate change for decades now, but the message, which is barely filtering through into the public consciousness, has yet to do anything to reverse the destructive path that human civilization is on. There are perhaps many reasons for this, but the crux of the matter is corporate capitalism and it’s control of the political process. Corporations are driven by the logic of maximizing profits at all costs, including costs to society and to the environment, and politicians are driven by the logic of catering to these corporations, on whom their political careers…

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Fukushima and the mainstream media

October 12, 2013
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Fukushima and the mainstream media

On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant was severely damaged as a result of a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that wreaked havoc along parts of the eastern Japanese coastline. Numerous equipment failures at the power plant led to nuclear meltdowns, a rapid loss of coolant inside the facility, and the release of large quantities of radioactive material. It was the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl and is one of only two disasters (the other being Chernobyl) to be classified as a Level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. In the days and weeks following…

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Is the US in need of humanitarian intervention?

September 22, 2013
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That’s exactly what Henry Porter argues in an interesting article in the Guardian entitled “American gun use is out of control. Shouldn’t the world intervene?” In support of his argument Porter presents three interesting facts that deserve our attention: 1. The annual death toll in the US from firearms is running at 32,000 and rising. 2. There have been more casualties from firearms in the US in the last 45 years alone (total 1,384,171) than the number of US casualties in all wars involving the US (total 1,171,117), including the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II,…

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More guns = more gun violence

September 18, 2013
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While the US has the highest rate of gun ownership of any country in the world, gun ownership and gun control legislation are deeply divisive issues among Americans. Some take pride in their country’s permissive gun culture; others see it as a national disgrace. At the heart of the debate between gun enthusiasts and their opponents lie a few questions of fact, chief among which is the question of whether more guns make people more or rather less safe. Fortunately, there is now enough evidence now to provide a convincing answer to this question. Two recent, independent studies, both published…

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Do the Math (documentary)

July 20, 2013
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Bill McKibben is one of the greatest environmental writers and activists of our time. In 1989 he wrote The End of Nature, which is considered by many to be the first book on global warming written for a general audience. Since then he has written countless articles, given hundreds if not thousands of public lectures, and is the main organizer of the 350.org movement to solve the climate crisis. One year ago McKibben published an influential article in Rolling Stone magazine entitled “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math.” The thesis of the article is that there are three significant numbers that everyone needs…

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Islamophobia and gender equality

July 15, 2013
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A recent article reprinted in Truthout has the provocative title “The biggest lie you’ve told about the oppression of Muslim women.” And what is that biggest lie? According to Lauren Rankin, author of the article and  graduate student in Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, the biggest lie is that Islam is a “violent and misogynistic faith, one from which Muslim women need to be saved.” Rankin adds that those who perpetuate this lie–as Joyce Carol Oates allegedly did in this series of tweets–suffer from a form of racism known as “Islamophobia,” a term that has also recently been…

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Zombie education

June 27, 2013
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William Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel of the US Air Force who now writes for TomDispatch and other publications. In his latest piece for Truthout he explains the concept of “zombie education.”    True education, Astore writes, is transformative and soul-enriching. “It opens alternative paths to living that don’t begin and end at the workplace. It measures personal fulfillment in ways that aren’t restricted to take-home pay… It’s about becoming a savvier citizen whose appreciation of, and dedication to, democracy is keener and more heartfelt.” Zombie education, on the other hand, is narrowly focused on individual profit or vocational training.   “Students are…

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Another hero

June 10, 2013
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A recently created Wikipedia entry on Edward Snowden read as follows: Edward Joseph Snowden (born 1984) is an American technical contractor, a former CIA employee, and a traitor. Snowden released classified material on ­top-secret United States National Security Agency (NSA) programs including the PRISM surveillance program to The Guardian and The Washington Post in June 2013. PRISM is a top-secret government surveillance program, in operation since 2007, that enables the NSA to access the servers of nine major Internet companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo! and Facebook, to collect data on the emails, documents, audio and video chats, photographs, and connection logs of not only Americans but also billions of people around the world…

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Why Poverty? (a documentary series)

May 31, 2013
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Steps is a partnership of two non-profit organisation (one in Denmark, the other in South Africa) that commissions documentaries to raise awareness about important social issues. For it’s most recent project, called Why Poverty?, it commissioned eight documentaries and 30 short films on the topic of poverty. These are powerful and thought-provoking films that really help to shed light on the issue of poverty. One of the great documentaries in this series, Park Avenue: money, power, and the American dream, is a fascinating look into the lives of the people living at 740 Park Ave., the most exclusive address in New York City.…

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How to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (lecture by Norman Finkelstein)

May 25, 2013
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Norman Finkelstein is one of the clearest, most informed, and most courageous commentators on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has been speaking out and writing about the conflict for most of his adult life and has paid a heavy price for his candor and integrity on the issue. In the lecture below Finkelstein  lays out the reasons why a solution to this conflict is a distinct possibility, dissects some of the propaganda surrounding the issue, and defines the challenges that must be faced in order to achieve a solution. One of the great strengths of this lecture, like most others by…

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Should animals be off the menu? (a public debate)

May 18, 2013
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The official description of the debate: Do you eat meat? Did you know you are in the minority? Out of an audience of hundreds, 73.6% agreed meat should be off the menu – find out why, then ask yourself if you are making the right choice. Intelligence Squared‘s 2012 series of debates kicked off with a look at the ethics of eating meat. Six speakers are divided into two teams for lively and insightful arguments for and against the proposition, ‘Animals Should Be Off the Menu’. Speaking for the proposition are Peter Singer, Philip Wollen and Veronica Ridge; against it, Adrian Richardson,…

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HOME (documentary)

May 18, 2013
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HOME is a documentary that highlights how human activities are altering planet earth. It’s a direct, and at times emotional, appeal to viewers to wake up and pay attention to what is going on around them. It is filled with stunning  and disturbing footage from around the globe. But it’s not all doom and globe. The film ends with uplifting scenes and information on some of the positive changes that are taking place all around the world today and ways in which individuals can act, as citizens and consumers, to avert catastrophe.  Video embedding has been disabled by request, but…

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Wealth inequaltiy worldwide

May 18, 2013
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Following the recent wealth inequality in America video that has gone viral on youtube, /The Rules, an organization and movement to “bring power back to people, and change the rules that create inequality and poverty around the world,” has put together a very similar video that uses the same statistical graphics to describe wealth inequality on a global scale. The displayed statistics are all taken from credible sources (e.g. the UNDP Human Development Reports, OECD, World Bank etc.) In an accompanying article, Jason Hickel, one of the people behind /The Rules and a lecturer at the London School of Economics,…

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