COMING TOGETHER FROM ALL DIRECTIONS
The global movement responding to crisis by seeking a sustainable and socially
rich way of living.
with
NINA PALUDAN-MÜLLER
Reflections and experiences looking at the challenges we face and
meeting many beautiful people from different backgrounds who are
creating a new bridge. One that hopefully will lead us from an era of
war and destruction towards a more peaceful and harmonic future.
And a writing complemented with many links to good information.
‘Not here to change the world - ready for the world to change me’
For more than two years I’ve had the privilege to visit and feel at home in a
handful of countries in Asia and Latin America. All of them warm, spicy and
colourful compared to my origin Denmark. On the journey I’ve seen some
incredible ancient monuments and slept in a few hostel beds, but for the
most part I’ve been involved in or visited courses and projects
focusing on sustainability. Often I’ve lived with lovely generous local
families and it always amazes me how quickly strangers can become new
friends.
There is so much to learn from the similarities and differences in
how we live around the planet.
The countries where I have stayed longest have societies composed by a small
group of rich people and a majority of poor (a colonial impact). As I am used to
the huge middle class in Scandinavia I always notice things like for example
houses with expensive cars, high walls and armed security next to
neighbourhoods of families having close to nothing. Seeing the contrast so
clearly in front of my eyes provokes me, but at the same time I am reminded
that in Europe our walls and guards are the frontiers and visa regulations - too
big and distant to really feel them.
Some other examples of inequality and destruction that I’ve seen are families
living in homes made of cardboard next to landfills, power stations and busy
roads; the rapid cut down of the Amazon rainforest for oil, beef, cocaine and
timber; big mining industries making financial capital for distant owners and
investors while indigenous people living near the mines are poor and fight
heavy contamination.
All of these experiences have deepen my understanding for how social,
environmental, cultural and belief issues are all woven together.
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