Korean Environment Seminar Series

The Korean Federation of Environmental Movements

&

The Asia Institute

 

June 26 (Sunday)

5-7 PM

“The nuclear question in Korea and in Northeast Asia”

Discussion led by Hyejeong Kim

 Commissioner

Nuclear Safety and Security Commission

 

 

 

This series of seminars introduces critical issues for the environment in Korea and in East Asia for all concerned citizens. Korea is increasingly benchmarked by developing nations so that its policies and standards for environmental protection have far broader impact throughout the region. Moreover, environmental regulations have been much relaxed over the last decade with grave impact on air quality and water quality.

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伯尼·桑德斯 Bernie Sanders 美国总统选举的候补者的演讲的一部分

伯尼·桑德斯 Bernie Sanders

美国总统选举的候补者的

演讲的一部分

 

 

“我们需要了解这一点: 极少的人有这么多, 极多的人有这么少的这种社会里面, 算是一个没有正义的国家.

我们的国家, 富裕人民的美国人口的0.1%所有的财产几乎等于其下的90%人民的财产. 这种国家是没有正义的国家. 在我们国家美国, 有几百万人工作时间 非常长而收的工资可恶的低.

美国的儿童贫困率是比其他主要国家高. 像美国的国家是一个没有正义的国家.

如果我们是这样背心我们国家的小孩子,我们这么可以讲什么”道德” 什么“正义”?

好像我们国家有够的钱把比其他的国家更多人民管起来在刑务所,但是难怪我们国家没有钱给我们的年轻人好的工作,给他们好的教育。

上帝的小孩子, 贫穷的,可怜的, 所有的上帝的小孩子, 生病时都有权利看医生。“

 

“We have to understand that there is no justice when so few have so much and so many have so little. There is no justice when the top 0.1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. Millions of people are working long hours for abysmally low wages.

 

There is no justice when the United States has the highest level of childhood poverty of any major country on Earth.

 

How can we talk about morality, about justice, when we turn our backs on the children of our country. We have in this country sufficient amounts money to put more people in jail than any other country on Earth, but apparently we do not have enough money to provide jobs and education to our young people.

 

 

All of God’s children, the poor, the wretched, they have a right to see a doctor when they are sick.”

Obama’s visit to Hiroshima

United States President Barack Obama plans to visit Hiroshima next week, the first United States President to do so in the formal capacity of his office.

 

The New York Times published an editorial on April 12, 2016 entitled

 

From Hiroshima to a Nuke-Free World

 

Which seemed to imply that this symbolic act suggests the United States is moving towards the elimination of nuclear weapons.

 

The facts suggest the complete opposite and therefore the visit seems extremely dubious in its intention.

President Obama has overseen the beginning of a one trillion dollar program to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons in blatant violation of the Non Proliferation Treaty, a policy decision which can only encourage other nations to develop nuclear weapons as the United States is not adhering to the very rules under which it claims it can stop others from developing weapons.

These new nuclear weapons include compact nuclear devices that are tempting to use (intentionally) at the tactical level. Therefore they not only violate the Non Proliferation Treaty, they introduce the potential for the first time in history that the move from a gun to a howitzer to a conventional missile to a compact nuclear weapon to a multi-megaton warhead will be but a natural progression. There will no longer be a clear   “line in the sand” between conventional and nuclear war. That makes nuclear war much easier. And in light of the the planned post-election squeeze on Russia, we are looking at the potential of nuclear war reaching the probability we saw in the 1950s and 1960s, and most likely the highest risk that mankind has ever seen.

For someone who is allowing this to happen to go to Hiroshima is so ridiculous as to be funny if it were not so very very sad.

Two Invitations to parties held at Jeff and Emanuel’s suite in Davenport College in 1987

My roommate at Davenport College, Yale, for three out of four years, was Jefferson Mays. Jeff has become a famous actor and I have not seen him since I went to see him in “I am my own Wife” in 2006 in Washington D.C.

Jeff and I engaged in any number of pranks and performance acts. I remember our salon gatherings of our classmates most vividly. Here are two invitations to those gatherings that I have preserved. I drew the lizard and Jeff did the rest for “The Lizard is Your Friend.”

 

IMG_1460“Save me from my paranoid room” is entirely my own work. I had drawn horrible ghosts on the walls of my room with glow-in-the-dark paint. The ghosts were so horrible they kept me up at night. So I painted over them. That did not make any difference, however. The ghosts shown through the paint, looking only the more eerie for the cover.

 

IMG_1459

 

 

S28BW-415060312501 - 복사본
Jeff Mays and Emanuel Pastreich on graduation day, May, 1987.
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Jeff Mays in “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder”

“鼓励大家拯救我们小小的地球” (今日亚洲: 百度百家 2016年 5月 16日)

今日亚洲: 百度百家

“鼓励大家拯救我们小小的地球”

2016年 5月 16日 

贝一明

 

人的不自由,根本上是受制于自身的欲望。孔子说“君子有三戒:少之时,血气未定,戒之在色”我的这篇文章主要是想对年轻人讲,年轻人要控制自己的欲望,最难也最要紧是的控制好色之心。孔子还说“吾未见好德如好色者” ,这是大实话。《古今贤文》说“万恶淫为首”,为什么呢,因为淫欲是人基本的自然欲望,如果不加约束,人就会受其支配,以此为起点干出诸多恶事。佛教基本的戒律包含不淫欲,道家也有类似的主张,如《太上感应篇》。儒释道在这个问题上表现得如此一致,绝不是因为它们来自同一个空洞的说教,而是来自经验,来自实证,来自应验。决心对性行为加以克制,不花费心思去向周围的人展现姿色与身体的魅力,是通向个人解放的第一步。一旦一个人能做到不让关注外表的压力对其想法施加大的影响,他就能找到真爱,并且不被这个消费社会所操纵。年轻人拒绝沦陷于错误的消费文化——通过影响他们肉体达到影响他们观念与行为方式的消费文化,这是他们实现解放的第一步。年轻人需要明白这一点,当我们在欲望面前获得起码的自由,我们才有希望拯救自己,从而拯救我们小小的地球。

我们面对着一个阶层分化愈演愈烈的社会。这一深远、巨大的变化是无法依靠个人力挽狂澜的。不过,我们仍然可以有所作为。与其为惊天动地的大事冥思苦想,倒不如专注于我们日常力所能及的事情,去解决好问题。

首先,每天都要尊敬劳动人民,每当你遇上清洁工、食堂师傅、保安、售货员或地铁员工时,一定要对他们的工作说声谢谢。用真挚的目光看着他们,并且态度要诚恳。对清洁我们居室的大妈、清扫我们房前街道的工人,以及那些日夜工作让我们的生活变得轻松的人们也应该这样,同他们交谈,关心他们的疾苦。

告诉你的孩子有很多人都参与到我们日常消费品的生产过程中。让他们认识到我们每天所享受的这些东西不是从天而降的,而是他人辛勤劳动的成果。让他们意识到,有很多人从事着非常繁重的工作,维护房屋与城市的清洁、保障我们的水电与能源供应。告诉孩子们,有很多人保障着我们的粮食供应,鼓励他们总是对服务人员说谢谢。

让我举出一些例子来具体说明,为保护环境,我们可以亲力亲为以及鼓励他人做些什么。

 

1.对公共卫生的现实主义态度

在餐厅、医院和其他公共场所,我们需要一套经济、环保的新公共卫生系统。我们包装、储藏了太多不必要的食物、医疗器材和其他物品,而且在人们心中催生了一种不可动摇的观念——为了卫生,浪费是必要的。这个结论其实非常可疑,但在这个问题上,我却从未见过任何深刻的讨论。花费数十亿美元去研究一下如何在不浪费资源的情况下打造一个无菌环境或许不是一个坏主意。一定有策略确保浪费在一开始就不发生。如果我们下定决心,一定可以想出办法避免商店中塑料袋或是医院里一次性医疗用品的浪费。

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Rest in Peace

May 15, 2016

 

Here is a rather political cartoon that I drew today. I have to admit I am not much of an artist. As for the humor…well it also is a bit of an acquired taste.

 

 

Rest in Peace
Rest in Peace

 

Emanuel’s apartment in Tokyo (August 1988 to July 1992)

My apartment near Senkawa Station (Yurakucho Line) in Tokyo was an incredibly important space for me where I did much of my reading and thinking during my five years in Japan. I came across a few photographs that I would like to share.

 

The exterior of the apartment building "Hikari Abitation." I lived on the right side of the third floor.
The exterior of the apartment building “Hikari Abitation.” I lived on the right side of the third floor.
The kitchen with a view of the bathroom.
The kitchen with a view of the bathroom.
The rest of the apartment . Note the reproductions of paintings I have attached.
The rest of the apartment . Note the reproductions of paintings I have attached.

1991 apart bed

The desk where I wrote my MA thesis.
The desk where I wrote my MA thesis.
My bed and the porch where I dried my laundry.
My bed and the porch where I dried my laundry.

Great Law of the Iroquois, the “seventh generation” and the crisis of climate change

Perhaps the greatest example of law in the United States is the “Great Law of the Iroquois,” a constitution in which the Iroquois asserted that in all planning we must consider what the impact will be for people in the next century. I would agrue that government in Joseon Korea also had something of this vision, but how profoundly different from what we see today. Is there a means to bring back that Seven generation stewardship in our lost age, facing climate disaster?

“Great Law of the Iroquois – which holds appropriate to think seven generations ahead (about 140 years into the future) and decide whether the decisions they make today would benefit their children seven generations into the future. ”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_generation_sustainability

“Annuncio della mia candidatura alla presidenza di Facebook” (Geopolitica)

 

Geopolitica.info

Centro studi di geopoliticai e relazioni internazionali

Annuncio della mia candidatura alla presidenza di Facebook”

 

di Emanuel Pastreich

13 maggio 2016

 

   Cari cittadini di Facebook,

 

  Facebook è molto più delle server farm di Mark Zuckerberg e del suo esercito di encoder. Per noi, oggi, Facebook costituisce il mezzo più efficace di comunicare e di formare reti di collaborazione al di là delle frontiere nazionali. Facebook è un network senza precedenti, costituito da persone che potrebbero fortemente contribuire a risolvere le sfide della nostra epoca se ciò fosse loro permesso. È per noi giunto il tempo di dichiarare la nostra indipendenza nei confronti dell’impero che ci controlla.

 

 

italian repu of facebook

 

Internet è spesso concettualizzata come una serie di livelli distinti, che vanno dal livello 1, le connessioni materiali di fili e di cavi che sostengono le nostre comunicazioni, al livello 7, che rappresenta il funzionamento delle applicazioni in Internet. Ma la comunità globale di Facebook si situa ad un livello più elevato del livello 7, formato dall’applicazione della rete: costituisce il livello 8, di natura culturale, sociale e politica, solo indirettamente collegato ai sette livelli sottostanti.

Quando parlo della mia candidatura alla presidenza di Facebook, mi riferisco al livello più alto di Facebook: il livello 8, la Repubblica di Facebook, che noi, i suoi cittadini, abbiamo creato, e su cui Facebook, Incorporated non ha alcun impero. Ma Facebook, Incorporated tenta attivamente di minare i nostri sforzi per creare a tale livello una comunità democratica e costruttiva, rendendo impossibile il recupero dei vecchi post – privandoci così dell’accesso alle nostre proprie creazioni, privandoci di un significativo grafico sociale ricercabile per trovare nel mondo i partner idonei, e impedendoci di progettare le nostre proprie pagine. Facebook, Incorporated non ha nemmeno ascoltato le nostre proposte di miglioramento.

Mark Zuckerberg si concentra esclusivamente su profitti e non ha alcun interesse ad ascoltare le nostre richieste. Oserei dire che non lo farà mai di sua iniziativa. Dobbiamo dichiarare Facebook indipendente e dobbiamo pianificarlo ed amministrarlo in modo da rispondere ai bisogni dei suoi cittadini nel mondo intero.

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“인생은 속도가 아니라 방향이다: 하버드 박사 이만열 교수의 대한국 표류기” (21세기북스)

인생은 속도가 아니라 방향이다:

하버드 박사 이만열 교수의 대한국 표류기

21세기북스

2016년 5월

이만열 (임마누엘 페스트라이쉬)

인생은 속도가 아니라 방향이다_표지_평면

인생은 속도 아니라 방향이다

목차

 

prologue 임마누엘 페스트라이쉬에서 이만열이 되기까지

 

CHAPTER 01 젓가락질 잘하는 미국 소년

미국 선비, 낯선 한국을 만나다

동양 문화의 문을 두드리다

특별한 인연이 맺어준 나라, 한국

솔브릿지 국제대학의 첫 외국인 교수

명문 대학의 품격

 

(임마누엘의 한국 스케치 ― 한국인들의 독특한 반어법)

 

CHAPTER 02 한쿡 사람으로 산다는 것

 

고요한 아침의 나라 한국?

한국 속의 외국인, 세계 속의 한국인

가깝지만 먼, 닮았지만 다른 동아시아의 세 나라

진짜 한국을 발견하는 방법

발효와 비빔밥, 한국이 가진 다양성의 힘

한국인만 모르는 다른 대한민국

 

(임마누엘의 한국 스케치 ― 예절과 부권)

 

CHAPTER 03 인문 교육의 부활을 꿈꾸며

 

한국 교육의 현실과 위기

진정한 교육의 의미는 무엇인가?

우리는 자녀에게 무엇을 선물할 것인가?

질문하면서 토론하라

21세기, 인문학은 왜 중요한가?

어떻게 가르칠 것인가?

 

(임마누엘의 한국 스케치 ― 초콜릿과 오랑우탄)

 

CHAPTER 04 임마누엘이 만난 세기의 지성들

 

일본 문학의 대명사 무라카미 하루키

세기의 석학, 시대의 지성 노암 촘스키

역사의 종언 프랜시스 후쿠야마

파란 눈의 동양 철학자 마이클 푸엣

선구적 교육 행정가 헨리 로소브스키

 

(임마누엘의 한국 스케치 ― 불가능한 것을 알면서도 한다)

 

CHAPTER 05 임마누엘이 읽은 고전

 

독서, 낯선 세상의 문을 여는 열쇠

『아들에게 보내는 편지』에서 배우는 다산의 선비정신

『열하일기』가 뿌린 북학이란 씨앗

『홍루몽』에 드러난 시대 통찰

아우슈비츠의 비극, 『살아남은 자의 아픔』