You could ask, "If quantum mechanics works for objects we can see, but tells us that we can't be sure of their position and velocity at the same time, then how can I catch a football?" The answer is that the uncertainties about the position and velocity of the football are very small-the larger an object, the more exactly we can tell its position and velocity at the same time. General relativity is perhaps even harder to understand. Newton thought of gravity as a force of attraction. General relativity dosen't think of gravity as a force. Imagine a heavy bowling ball lying on a mattress. It will deform the mattress and anything near the bowling ball will sink toward it. Einstein's theory says that a heavy object like a star deforms space and time around it, and this causes the motion of the planets around it. It says space and time are curved by heavy objects.Even weirder!
4 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/05(日) 15:44:07 ]
最後です
Newton's laws describe the everyday happenings that we can see about us. Quantum mechanics explains how very small things such as electrons behave. General relativity explains how very large things like stars and galaxies behave. Physicists would like to have just one theory that explains how everything behaves. There are two big problems in developing this. The theories of quantum mechanics and gereral relativity have some fundamental differences, and it is hard to see how they can be combined into the one theory. And scientists can't set up laboratory experiments with electrons and stars to test both theories at the same time, so they have none of the experimental results that they normally use. Developing a single theory to explain what both quantum mechanics and general relativity explain is perhaps the biggest challenge in modern physics.
長文ですがよろしくお願いします
5 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/05(日) 17:25:16 ]
In the Far East, such as China, Japan and Korea, many people traditionally recognize the advantages of use of acupuncture and other types of Oriental medicine. In these countries, wide use of acupuncture has indirectly contributed to maintaining or lowering total national medical expenses, which has made it possible to have health insurance for every individual in Japan and China as well as free medical care for the elderly(over 65 years old) in Japan and the people's Republic of China.
Without this total savings of medical expenses for the nation, by the use of acupuncture, moxibustion, shiatsu, and other forms of Oriental medicine, a national insurance policy for every individual may not have been possible in Japan. Despite of such facts, many Japanese have not recognized the implications of the economic merit of acupuncture to the nation's well being. In the People's Republic of China, Mao Tse Tung and other leaders solved national health problems most economically by encouraging the best of Western medicine and of Oriental medicine, particularly acupuncture. Regardless of whether a particular government may or may not be ideal, politicians who are seriously concerned about national health can greatly benefit from knowing something about the merits and background of acupuncture.
どなたか和訳お願いします。
6 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/05(日) 18:00:54 ]
お願いします。
In 1962 the book titled Silent Spring was published and caused a greater stir than anyone had ever imagined. This important work on ecology made people aware of the dangers of chemical insecticides and changed the course of history. The author of the book was Rachel Carson. She was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania on May 27, 1907. The woods around her family’s home were the scene of long walks when she was a child, often with her mother, who was a gentle woman with a strong interest in nature and who remained her companion for must of her life. Rachel entered Pennsylvania State College for Woman to become a writer. Then, in her second year she took a required biology course. All of her interest in the outdoors-----the woods, the sea, various living things, etc.-----came together in this subject. She decided to study biology instead of writing and earned her degree in it in 1929. After graduation she went on to Johns Hopkins University, where she studied genetics, and later to the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole.
7 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/05(日) 18:02:43 ]
続きです。
Rachel Carson’s life seemed neatly laud out for her. The master’s degree she had gotten in genetics led directly into teaching in the early 1930s, first at Johns Hopkins University and then at the University of Maryland. In 1936 she took an examination to work for the government and accepted a position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Though she was very busy, she had never given up her desire to write. “Eventually it became clear to me,” she once said, “that by becoming a biologist I had given myself something to write about.” She wrote some novels and short articles, working as editor-in-chief for the Fish and Wildlife Service. She spent the war years in her office in Washington and later in Chicago. Hundreds of reports, many of them secret during the war, passed over her desk. She also looked at information on the dramatic effects of certain chemicals. Among those chemicals was DDT. Because DDT was effective in killing insects that damage crops, people ignored its dangers. It does not break down in the environment, but continues to exist in its poisonous state for years, even for decades. This seemed wonderfully convenient for farmers because it was not necessary for them to apply DDT to their crops frequently. Then in the 1950s, scientists began to uncover disturbing facts about DDT‘s effects on “the chain of life.” Put simply, this had to do with DDT’s unfortunate tendency to collect in the fatty tissues of wildlife. Rachel Carson, like many other biologists, was aware of the reports on pesticides collecting in wildlife. Nevertheless, experienced biologists are human beings too; they read, they listen, and still they are not always moved to action until the danger comes closer to home.
続きです。 For Rachel Carson that moment came with a letter from her friend Olga Owens Huckins. In the letter, which was written in January 1958, Mrs. Huckins told Rachel Carson of her bitter experience. Mrs. Huckins and her husband looked after a private bird sanctuary ----- two acres of fenced-in land covered with growing trees, with a small pond ----- behind their home in Massachusetts. In 1957, when the planes sent by the state repeatedly spread deadly pesticides over marshes as part of a mosquito control project, they killed a very large number of birds in the Huckins’ sanctuary. Rachel Carson was horrified by the carefree way in which chemicals were being used. It was apparent that the new chemicals presented a major threat to a great deal of the natural world that she loved. What ultimate effect this use of large amounts of chemicals would have on human life itself, no one seemed to know. But she saw clearly that people were, more than ever before, approaching the Earth not with humility, but with arrogance. For the moment, she did not consider this special problem as the topic of her next book. But she began to assemble evidence of the destruction people were spreading through their environment by using pesticides too much. At that time it came to her attention that a magazine was considering an article dealing with the benefits of applying pesticides from the air. “If this is true,” she wrote to the magazine’s editor-in-chief, “I cannot refrain from calling to your attention the enormous danger ----- both to wildlife and more seriously, to public health ---- in these rapidly growing projects for insect control using pesticides, especially those widely distributed by airplanes.” She went on to give him many of the facts on which she based her warning.
Some kinds of deviant behavior interfere with the welfare of the individual (a man who is so fearful of crowds that he cannot ride the bus to work; an alcoholic who drinks so heavily that he or she cannnot hold a job; a woman who attempts suicide). Other forms of deviant behavior are harmful to society (an adolescent who has violent aggressive outbursts; a paranoid individual who plots to assassinate national leaders).
Sometimes personal distress may be the only symptom of abnormality; the individual's behavior may appear normal to the casual observer. None of these definitions provides a completely satisfactory description of abnormal behavior. In most instances, all four criteria - statistical frequency, social deviation, maladaptive bahavior, and personal distress are considered in diagnosing abnormality.
Have you finished writing a letter to your friend？ The tall man who has just come in is my father. These flowers really smell sweet. The class discussed the problem.
John spent three hours fixing his car yesterday. It took John three hours to fix his car yesterday. He will succeed without fail. He is sure to succeed. Mary got sick two weeks ago. She is still in bed. Mary has been sick in bed for two weeks. Ⅰpaid 2,000 yen for the parcel to be sent by air. It cost me 2,000 yen to send the parcel by air.
Do you want to lift your level of happiness? Here are some suggestions based on research finding and other sources. First of all, practice acts of kindness. Being kind to others, whether friends or strangers, has positive effects. It makes you feel happy, gives you a greater sense of connection with others, and brings you smiles. Next, make a good friend who you can talk with about anything. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Friendship cannot be built in a day, but it can make your life happier. The biggest factor for feeling satisfaction with life appears to be strong personal relationships. Thirdly, have realistic goals in your life and work for them. Happiness lies in the very process of their achievement. If you like to help someone who is in trouble, work as a volunteer. Volunteering is becoming more popular these days and people who do so are happier than people who do not. Helping others makes you feel happy. Lastly, do things that you enjoy and that are good for your body. Getting plenty of sleep, exercising, stretching, smiling and laughing can all improve your mood in a short time. Practiced regularly, they can help make your daily more satisfying. Although the sense of happiness differs between individuals, why do not you try to rut these examples into practice? Then you will be able to live a happier life from now on.
どなたか宜しくお願いします。
19 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/06(月) 01:26:05 ]
どなたか和訳＆回答をお願いいたします。
Recycling is (almost, nothing, quite, something 適当なものを選択) new. We have been recycling paper, drink cans and newspapers for many years. Though efforts to improve recycling have increased in recent years, most people forget to recycle unless it saves them money. How many shopping bags do we use every time we go to the convenience store? It saves a lot of plastic if we just put the juice we bought in our backpack, or carry an old clean shopping bag to use again. (Although, As long as, Because, But 適当なものを選択) most people know that we should recycle plastic bags again and again, most people’s kitchens or trash cans are full of plastic bags that were only used once. The business of recycling is getting more and more developed each year. To (to recycle/people/old bags/remember/help), most supermarkets in Europe charge money for shopping bags. This not only saves the supermarkets money by not having to give every customer a new bag, but saves the shopper since of course the supermarkets don’t really give the bags away for free. The cost of the bags are included in the cost of the foods and goods that shoppers buy. Most Europeans prefer to pay less in food costs than have an extra plastic shopping bag. Making people bring their own shopping bags to the supermarket is one just example of “precycling”, so that things like bags won’t have to be recycled again later.
20 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/06(月) 01:28:18 ]
19の続きです。
Another example of precycling is when we shop, we buy products which have less packaging, less paper, less plastic. What we really want is the food or thing (inside, of, than, with 適当なものを選択) the package. If that means we get more food and (7) packaging for (7) cost, then everyone is happy. Many “green” shoppers check to make sure that food is not wrapped in polystyrene or too much plastic. If goods are wrapped in paper, we don’t have to recycle the plastic or polystyrene later. It saves us time and money, since the company which made the goods doesn’t have to spend so much money for the packaging, if we bring our own bag to the convenience store or the supermarket, we won’t have to recycle one more bag later. Not only does precycling save the environment, it saves us money.
(7)の２箇所に順に入れるものは(less/less),(less/more),(more/less),(more/more)のどれかです。 Backpack=リュックサック trash can(s)=ゴミ箱 charge=請求する give away=与える green=環境問題に対する意識の高い polystyrene=ポリスチレン
More than 80% of the earthquakes that happen every year hit the countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean. However, earthquakes can hit anywhare, anytime. In fact, most people do not realize that earthquakes are actually happening all the time. We just don't feel them. An esti-mated 9,000 quakes that measure less than 3.0 on the Richter Scale occur every day around the World!
After invasions by Celts, Romans, Saxons and Vikings, the fifth and last major foreign invasion of Britain came in the year 1066. This time, the invaders came from Normandy, a region in the north of France. By the 11th century England had become a unified country ruled by either Saxons or Danish kings. In 1066, King Edward died. He had no sons and so he had no natural successor. Harold, the son of the most powerful local leader in Britain, declared himself king. Duke William of Normandy, however, claimed that Edward had promised that he would be king on Edward's death. When Harold claimed the English throne, William was furious. He immediately began to prepare an army to invade England and become king. William was not the only problem the new King Harold had to face. The King of Norway also wanted to claim the kingship of England. Harold led his army to meet the Norwegian invaders and defeated them in a battle in the northeast of the country. Meanwhile, William's army had landed on the south coast of English. On hearing the news, Harold had to lead his army on a long journey southward to fight the new invader. By the time the army arrived, it was tired, poorly equipped and full of inexperienced new recruits. The Saxons and Norman armies met at the Battle of Hastings. The battle was very closely fought but eventually Harold was killed and his army was defeated. William then marched to London and declared himself the new king of England. Eventually he became known as William the Conqueror. William was not only a skilled fighter, but he was also a clever politician. In order to control England, he took control of all the land in the country. The old owners were thrown out and replaced by Normans. He also built more than 80 store castles all over the country to help strengthen his rule.
30 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/06(月) 20:42:37 ]
The Norman invasion had some very important effects on England. The old Saxon rulers were replaced by Normans. English disappeared as the language of law, literature and the church and was replaced by French. But perhaps the most important change was that England began to lose its connection with Scandinavia and become more closely connected with France and other centres of Western European civilization. よろしくお願いします
Our age is marred by multiple forms of violence－economic,military,and cultural. The violence of the dominant culture is reinforced by the violent responses of those whose lands and cultures are invided. A nonsustainable economic system based on principles of free trade,greed,and imperialism is creating vicious cycles of violence from which there seems to be no way out.
A few years ago,during a public dialog entitled “Globalization and Violence” in Udipi, South India,in reaction to the phrase “culture of violence”, Samdhong Rinpoche,the prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile,said violence cannot have a culture. The word culture in Sanskrit－sanskriti－means activities that hold a society and community together. Violence breaks societies up, it disintegrates instead of integrates.The practice of violence,therefore,cannot be referred to us “culture”. In Sanskrit and Hindi,in fact,we have a word for destructive processes－vkriti,that which disintegrates and violates.In English,however,the phrase “culture of violence” is frequently used.During British rule in India,Gandhi was asked what he thought of Western civilization.He responded “it would be a good idea.” An imperialist West can not be a civilized West, since civilized people do not destroy other civilizations and cultures.To be civilized is to live and let live,both at the indivisual and societal level.
Imperialism has always operated under the pretense of mak-ing other cultures civilized while, in fact destroying other cultures and robbing people of their humanity,diversity,and identity.Living cultures are based on cultural diversity and recognize our universal and common homanity. Killing cultures are based on imperialistic universalism－a violent imposition of the cultural priorities of an imperial power. The universal order of globalization and impearialism is not based on universal re-sponsibility,compassion,and solidarity, but on the conquest and colonization of resources,of history,and of the past and the future. False universalisms lead to war and violence;true universalism based on our common humanity,our oneness,and our interconnectedness provide the conditions for peace,cooperation,and coexistence.Diversity and autonomy are treated as a plobrem and disease in the false universalism of imperialism,corporate globalization,crusades,and jihads,but in the universalism that creates peace,they are expressions of freedom.
The situation of the use of acupuncture contrasted with Western medicine is somewhat comparable to the situation existing between utilization of necessary protein from plants or animals. For instance, most Westerners prefer to obtain one of the necessary nutrients, protein, from animals in the form of meat from cows, pigs, or chickens. However, the same necessary protein can be obtained from a proper combination of plants, such as beans, rice, wheat, and corn, at a fraction of the expense of protein obtained from meat. In order to obtain meat, an animal must be fed plant protein, with all the suitable necessary amino acids. These plant proteins are converted to animal protein in the form of meat, so the meat is naturally a more expensive source of protein. In certain parts of Japan, deep in the mountains during World War Ⅱ, there was no meat or fish available, yet some villagers maintained excellent health and physical condition. This was apparently based on plant protein mainly coming from beans in the form or miso or tofu, with a combination of rice, wheat, and green, red, and yellow vegetables. In this situation, acupuncture and other forms of Oriental medicine may be comparable to obtaining protein from plants, and Western medicine may be comparable to obtaining protein from the meat of animals.
よろしくお願いします！ While it is courteous for the boy to help the girl while crossing the street,he does this simply by placing his hand lightly under her elbow. She will be a great many years older and much weaker before she needs to hang on his arm for support as they walk. And it need not be added that an arm about the shoulders or the waist is reserved for first aid to the injured.
よろしくお願いします② In entering a bus or other vehicles,the girl goes first and the boy helps her―again by a hand under the elbow. If they have met accidentally or if they are on the way to school together,she should not expect him to pay her fare. There will be no embarrassment about this if she makes a point of having her fare ready and dropping it in the coin receiver as she enters first.
訳おねがいします。 The imperialists do not recognize their inability to respect the autonomy, self-organization, agency, and integrity of the other, creates diverse forms of violence. Corporate globalization has unleashed a war against farmers, against women, against other species, and against other cultures. While the project of corporate globalization is based on the imposition of a global monoculture－a food monoculture shaped by McDonald’s, Monsanto, and Coke; a dress monoculture; a media monoculture; a transport monoculture－we are not witnessing a disappearance of diversity. Diversity is becoming dominant. There are, however, two kinds of movements for cultural diversity that are growing.
お願いします。 One is the extremist and exclusivist “Talibanization (ターリバーン化)” of culture－a patriarchal, militarist response to the empire that mimics the violence of the empire. While resisting imperial occupation, it simultaneously declares cultural wars within its bound-aries against women, minorities, and other groups. In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, the violence against women and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas(バーミヤーン渓谷) are examples of destruction of culture in the name of the protection of culture. The reduction of the 2004 US elections to “red” and “blue” belts and conflicts over so-called cultural values are other examples of the destruction of diversity and pluralism through the construction of exclusivist identity. Such identifications give rise to the culture wars, crusades, and jihads of our times. The other movement for cultural diversity can be found in the movement for peace, sustainability, and justice, which protects diversity through care and compassion, not through domination and conquest. These positive, diverse identities provide alternative to the imperialistic, patriarchal models of relating to the diverse other. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has articulated how compassion and respect for human rights of people of all cultures can be a basis for public life and international relations:
To me it is clear that a genuine sense of responsibility can result only if we develop compassion. Only a spontaneous feeling of empathy for others can really motivate us to act on their behalf.
Democracy is the system which is closest to humanity’s essential nature. Hence those of us who enjoy it must continue to fight for all people’s right to do so…. We must respect the right of all peoples and nation to maintain their own distinctive characters and values.
50 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/07(火) 01:04:20 ]
和訳をお願いします。
History abounds in examples where education has encouraged revolutions. The oppressive regimes of the former Soviet Union, Germany under the Nazis, or Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge illustrate how education can become a political tool. The ideas and values of millions of young people have been crushed or deformed when education is politicized. Education promotes propaganda. Through informal education, people of all ages absorb cultural values. Totalitarian governments use the power of informal education to strengthen their control. Orthodox views are socially acceptable, while unorthodox ones are not. Since most people want to belong to a group, they usually accept the ideas approved by the government.
①When you hear the world"water",yoy may think of the water in a glass or bathtub. ②That's the kind of water which you are most familiar with. ③However,there is another kind of water. ④How much water is needed to produce a hambuger? ⑤The answer,which might suprise you,is about 1000 liters. ⑥Let me explain.You need lots of water to grow wheat for bread. ⑦Research shows that you need 2000 liters of water to produce one hundred grams of beef. ⑧Why do you need so much water to produce beef? ⑨The reason is that a lot of feed is neccessary to raise cattle. ⑩Water is needed to produce that feed. ⑪Since Japan cannot produce enough wheat or beef,it imports a lot of both of these products from abroad. ⑫And this means that we are indirectly importing a large amount of water.
よろしくお願いします。 In leaving the or whatever means of transportation they are using,the boy gets out first. This is so that he can help the girl to get off. He does this by holding out his hand so that she can take hold of it as she steps out. It serves a second purpose,too,if the vehicle is crowded. In walking down the aisle first,he clears a path for her as she follows him.
お願いします② When boys and girls become teenagers,they begin to go out in pairs. Dating poses all sorts of questions that may trouble them and spoil their fun. Knowing the few simple rules―based on treating others as we want to be treated―can make each occasion a smooth and memorable event.
Can a green,plastic machine improve the education of poor children around the world ? A team of researchers at MIT's Media Lab think so. They have created a laptop computer that runs on electricity that kids make themselves. To make electricity,kids just need to turn a bright yellow handle on he side of the computer. The laptops will sell for only about $100 each. The low price means that millions of kids around the world who would otherwise never be able to buy a computer will now have a chance to have their own laptop.
>>69>>71です。 はい、抜けてました！ もう一度書くと、 In leaving the bus or whatever means of transportation they are using,the boy gets out first.
です！
78 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/08(水) 00:01:48 ]
どなたか、お願いいたします。
Informal education also explains the power of peer pressure. Far too often, young men and women move into gangs, drugs, or other self-destructive behavior, because they want to belong. Fear of being an outsider blinds them to the consequences of their choices. Although peer pressure seems like the “easy way out,” it is a dangerous abdication of individual responsibilities.
79 名前：２５ [2008/10/08(水) 00:05:09 ]
Time to say goodbye 慣用句的? わからんので(^-^)/
80 名前：名無しさん＠英語勉強中 [2008/10/08(水) 00:52:00 ]
Unit 3 E-pals in Asia Starting Out Q: Do you use a computer? Why? A: 17人… To play games. 11人… To exchange e-mail. 10人… To surf the Internet. 7人… Other. I use a computer to play games. I use a computer to surf the Internet. Dialog Emi: I want to find some e-pals. Mike: OK. Let's surf the Internet and find some. Emi: Is it difficult? Mike: No. Many people around the world make friends through computers. Emi: It sounds like fun. Reading for Communication メールで返事を出そう My name is Cool. I'm fourteen and I live in Korea. I like comics. In Korea they're very popular. Are they popular in your country, too? Write me soon. Hi, Cool! I'm Lucky. I'm in the fifth grade in Thailand. We also like to read comics. We have a manga club at school. Do you know the word manga? I'm Sea. I'm seventeen and I live in China. I know the word manga. It comes from the Japanese language. In 2000 Hong Kong hosted the fourth Asian Manga Summit. Many people got together to talk about manga culture. I like manga. It can tell us about different cultures. I hope to hear from you soon. Reading for Communication 紹介 My name is 1_____________. I'm 2_____________ and I live in Japan. In Japan 3_____________________________. Please tell me about your country. 4_________________________________?
This philosophy of diversity plus universal responsibility provides the basis for cultivating living cultures from the midst of killing culture…. Economic globalization is not merely responsible for economic wars and class division. It is also contributing to cultural wars and religious and ethnic conflicts. When the monoculture of economic globalization is imposed on ethically and religiously divers societies, the diversity is not eliminated－it mutates into virulent forms emerging as religious fundamentalism, ethnic cleansing, and other symptoms of cultural wars. These cultural mutations are induced by multiple factors. As Amy Chua discusses in her book World on Fire, the economic polarization of globalization is superimposed on existing class inequalities. These class inequalities frequently mirror ethnic patterns. Class conflicts, she argues, thus get camouflaged as ethnic conflicts.
As diverse cultures experience a threat to their values, norms, and practices by globalization, there is a cultural backlash. When the cultural response dose not simultaneously defend economic democracy and create living economies, it takes the form of negative identities and negative cultures.
Culture and economy are inseparable. The neoliberal ideology of development and globalization wishes culture away, yet culture dominates and becomes the surrogate for concerns over livelihoods and economic security. Fundamentalist religion becomes, as Marx so aptly observed, an “opiate of the masses”.
Politicians and political parties that have fully supported the agenda of neoliberal globalization are also increasingly invoking exclusivist religion for gaining political power－and claiming their power comes directly from God, not from corporation and capital. The “divine right of rule” seems to be the epidemic of the day. A concept that died with feudalism is making a comeback thorough representative democracy in the context of globalization….
Imperialism is both an economic and cultural process. It is no accident that there has been an emergence of an arrogant, blinded, religious zeal to rescue the fallen, the cursed, the barbaric. Today the label of barbarism is being applied to Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Two centuries ago when India was the target for imperial conquest, it was viewed as needing imperial salvation….
The rise of empire goes hand in hand with the imperialism of religion and culture. Both share an intolerance for diversity and the illusion of deliverance through destruction. The evangelical fundamentalists in the US today had their counterparts in another age of empire. Imperialism of religion and culture simultaneously performs two functions－it hides the roots of economic injustice and dispossession and it offers cultural colonization as a cure.
"Every single problem you can think of――poverty,peace,the environment――is solved with education," saays a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. "These computers will enable children to become more active in their own learning," said United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
How do people think of names when they have created an invention or a new product? Often these things mean a lot to the creators so they must think carefully when they give names to their "other self."
Why are we as a species destroying the very basis of our survival and existence? Why has insecurity been the result of every attempt to build security? How can we as members of the earth community reinvent security to ensure the survival of all species and the survival and future of diverse cultures? How do we make a shift from life-annihilating tendencies to life-preserving processes? How we do, from the ruins of the dominant culture of death and destruction, build cultures that sustain and celebrate life?
When reality is replaced by abstract constructions created by the dominant powers in society, manipulation of nature and society for profits and power becomes easy. The welfare of real people and real societies are replaced with the welfare of corporations. The real production of the economies of nature and society is replaced by the abstract construction of capital. The real, the concrete, the life-giving is substituted for by artificially constructed currencies.
その② Closely linked to the rule and reification of abstraction are the monoculture of the mind and the law of the excluded middle, which threaten life in its diversity, self-organization, and self-renewal.
The monoculture of the mind is the reductionist perspective which seen and constructs the world in terms of monocultures. It is a mind, build to diversity and its richness, that pushes to oblivion and extinction biological and cultural diversity－the very preconditions of ecological and cultural security.
The law of the excluded middle, which is based on an either/or logic, becomes the basis of legitimizing of exclusion and ecocide and genocide. It constructs the world in mutually exclusive categories, thus banishing multiplicity and pluralism as well as relationships and connectedness. It shuts out spaces between nature and culture. It denies the existence of biodiversity on farms and food from forests. It denies cultural diversity in our knowledge, our food, and our dress.
Even while the market economy erodes nature’s economy and creates new forms of poverty and dispossession, the market is proposed as a solution to the problem of ecologically induced poverty. Such a situation arises because the expansion of the market is mechanically assumed to lead to development and poverty alleviation. In the ideology of the market, people are defined as poor if they do not participate overwhelmingly in the market economy and do not consume commodities produced for and distributed through the market. People who satisfy their needs through self-provisioning mechanisms are perceived as poor and backward.
その③ Cultural perceptions which prejudice the market economy also impact this situation. As Rudolf Bahro observed, culturally conceived poverty based on non-Western modes of consumption are often mistaken for misery and poverty. People are perceived to be poor if they eat millet or maize, common non-Western staple foods that are nutritionally far superior to processed foods (and are once again becoming popular in the West as health foods). Huts constructed with local materials, rather than indicating poverty, represent an ecologically more evolved method of providing shelter than concrete houses in many conditions. Similarly, natural fibers and local dress are far superior in satisfying region-specific needs to machine-made nylon clothing, especially in tropical climates. The West uses its own misguided definition of poverty and backwardness to legitimize non-sustainable forms of development, which have, in turn, created further conditions for material poverty or misery by diverting essential resources to resource-intensive production processes.
その④ Once we break free of the mental prison of separation and exclusion and see how the world is interconnected, new alternatives emerge. Despair turns to hope. Violence gives way to nonviolence. Scarcity transforms into abundance and insecurity to security. Diversity becomes a solution to violence, not its cause.
The concrete context of culture－the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the languages we speak, the faiths we hold－is the source of our human identity. However, economic globalization has hijacked culture, reducing it to a consumerist monoculture of McDonald’s and Coca-Cola on the one hand, and negative identities of hate on the other.
The Cartesian idea of freedom is based on separation and independence. This conception of independence has its roots in capitalist patriarchy and allows powerful men owning capital and property, while dependent on women, farmers, workers, and other cultures and species, to pretend that they are independent. Furthermore, these men can pretend that those whom they exploit and who support them, are dependent on them. Patriarchy presents women as dependent. Imperialism projects itself as a liberator－colonized are dependent on the empire for freedom and liberation….
その⑤ Identities can also be forged by compassion and the consciousness that we all belong to the earth family. These deep positive identities recognize that we share a common evolutionary history and a common future. They are stronger than those forged from hate. We, especially indigenous peoples, have a deep identity of place. We have bonds of family, community, and country. We have an identity as members of the earth family. We have a common human identity that is universal, even while embedded in local culture. We are both local and universal beings. Living cultures are vibrant, evolving, self-generative, and peaceful. Living cultures are rooted in life－the life of the earth, the life of the community. The economic, ecological, and social crises resulting from corporate globalization demand a new way of thinking and living on this planet. They demand a new worldview in which compassion, not greed, is globalized; a new consciousness in which we are not reduced to consumers of globally treaded commodities if we are privileged, or to narrow, fragmented one-dimensional identities based on color, religion, or ethnicity if we are excluded. We can and we do experience our lives as planetary beings with planetary consciousness, mindful and aware of what our actions, our consumption, cost other humans, other species, and future generations.
その⑥ Not only are we connected with all life on the planet, past and future, but the diverse and multiple dimensions of our lives are connected. Economy shapes culture, culture shapes economy.
Earth Democracy reconnects culture to how and what we produce and consume, and to how we govern ourselves.
Beginning with people’s everyday actions, Earth Democracy offers a potential for changing the way governments, inter government agencies, NGOs, and corporations operate. It creates a new paradigm for global governance while empowering local communities. It creates the possibility of strengthening ecological security while improving economic security. And, on these foundations, it makes societies immune to the virus of communal hatred and fear.
Earth Democracy offers a new way of seeing, one in which everything is not at war with everything else, but through which we can cooperate to create peace, sustainability, and justice in our violent and volatile times.
Earth Democracy provides the context for living cultures－inspired both by the timeless wisdom of ancient worldviews and by the emerging solidarities of new global movements of citizens against globalization, war, and intolerance. Humanity has been connected through a planetary consciousness in the past. Our contemporary crises－the multiple fallouts of globalization－connect our future humanity even more intimately. We are experiencing ourselves as simultaneously local, national, and global. This diversity and multiplicity, and the non-violence and inclusiveness it implies, is giving birth to a new living culture of our common humanity and our rich diversities.
その⑦ As Gandhi has said, non-violence is not just the absence of violence. It is an active engagement in compassion. Ahimsa(非暴力), or non-violence, is the basis of many faiths that have emerged on Indian soil. Translated into economics, non-violence implies that our systems of production, trade, and consumption do not use up the ecological space of other species and other people….
Ahimsa combines justice and sustainability at a deep level. “Not talking more than you need” ensures that enough resources are left in the ecosystem for other species and the maintenance of essential ecological processes to ensure sustainability. It also ensures that enough resources are left for the livelihoods of diverse groups of people….
Diversity and pluralism are necessary characteristics of an ahimsic(非暴力的な) economic order. If we don’t encroach on others’ rights, diverse species will survive and diverse trades and occupations will flourish. Diversity is, therefore, a barometer of non-violence and reflects the sustainability and justice that non-violence embodies.
Diversity is intimately linked to the possibility of self-organization. It is, therefore, the basis of both swadeshi and swaraj(国産品奨励と自治), of economic and political freedom. Decentralization and local democratic control are political corollaries of the cultivation of diversity. The conditions in which diverse species and communities have the freedom to self-organize and evolve according to their own needs, structures, and priorities are also conditions for peace.
