Living in the 21st Century does not make us more smart or knowledgeable than people used to be. Today, mankind still struggles with illiteracy, poverty and hunger. There are many reasons but the most critical one is that we are disconnected from nature.
There are two things we must understand.
- There are vast resources available on earth which can be shared by all its inhabitants.
- There must be some rules and regulations on how to share this natural richness.
Acting on the basis of this understanding involves challenging the prevailing world view, a world view that says we must continually increase consumption. And in an age of fast and easy communications, this battle is being joined in many ways across many forms of media.
From the Arab Spring, which began when street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi burned himself to death in protest at poor living standards in Tunisia, to South America and Europe, new ideas to challenge the existing order are emerging. Different ways of thinking are being explored
In Turkey, after a brutal response to a democratic protest, thousands of people gathered in a park named Gezi in Istanbul to protect the environment and their future. What emerged was interesting. Thousands of people slept overnight, ate and survived. They cleaned the place each day, did not pollute or litter the ground, shared the food and cooked. The dynamic they established gave some indications of how we could behave in future.
We need to understand the importance of working more closely together and sharing natural resources more than ever. We need to concentrate on safe food, less waste, and saving energy by using new technology and inventions. In this way we may stop overproducing food, and secure natural sources solely upon demand, not to fuel it.
We need to reconsider the meaning of being human and question what the meaning of living is. To justify our humanity to ourselves and to others we need to consider how we share the world with all the richness of nature. Doing so could lead us to a brighter day.
Serdar Sağlamtunç, FCSI
