Miscellaneous
Stop the presses!
News gives people a false sense of wisdom. Knowing what goes on in the world does not make anyone more knowledgeable about what really matters. In fact, suggests Ode editor Marco Visscher, less news is a prerequisite for greater wisdom. How about tuning in to our own lives, instead of the lives of Read More...
World Social Forum 2003
Looking back at the World Social Forum Jurriaan Kamp, Helene de Puy, Tijn Touber and Marco Visscher | February 2003 issue It is a matter of choice. Either you believe in the world of power and money, of politics and elections and slow change. Or you believe in justice and respect, in your own Read More...
The third power
When it comes to change, don't wait for governments. As citizens we need to take the initiative, says Sara Larrain. A conversation on the limitations of economic growth, the blind spot of price fixing, Santiago supermarkets and the need to develop our own vision. Marco Visscher and Jurriaan Kamp | Read More...
Bio diversity
EM in natural forestry management Marco Visscher | March 2003 issue A sandy path runs from the Kyusei Nature Farming Center to the forest atop a small mountain. For years this area was plagued by the same problem facing many natural forests in the tropics: the continual threat of forest fires. Read More...
Radha Kumar's break
Solving ethnic conflicts around the world - Radha Kumar has not chosen an easy objective to tackle. For years she was the angry activist that climbed over barricades but now, thanks to pearls of ancient wisdom from her homeland of India, she is looking for peace closer to home. Tijn Touber | Read More...
Surviving on hope
Once you become aware of the amount of hunger and inequality there is in the world, your only option is to fight against it. That awareness gave Kenyan Njoki Njoroge Njehu her mission: not the reduction of poverty, but its eradication. This is a conversation about Njehu's lost innocence. 'Why do Read More...
Deodorant
EM in waste processing Marco Visscher | March 2003 issue Rubbish in the tropics. It's just about the most disgusting combination imaginable. In the tropical heat a waste processing plant is not exactly a tourist attraction - if only because the stench keeps visitors away. In Praekkasa, a half-hour Read More...
Getting to the bottom of it
EM for water purificationMarco Visscher | March 2003 issue The idea came right from the mayor. A 300 metre-long pond in Nakornrajsima was heavily polluted and stank as a result. Fish were dying and people were suffering from stomach and intestinal ailments that were linked to the polluted water. Read More...
We be many and they be few
The international business community benefits from corrupt politicians. And rulers, in turn, from an economy and society that profess to be 'free'. It is possible to stop this imperialism, Indian writer Arundhati Roy told the closing session of the World Social Forum. By refusing to believe their Read More...
I'd rather have results than theory
'Competition should remain limited to areas that are not crucial to the preservation of life.' EM-inventor Teruo Higa on the beauty of agriculture and and a new technological revolution.Teruo Higa | March 2003 issue When I went to secondary school, I earned my tuition by selling cabbage and Read More...