One simple step to better living

What if there existed one simple step that you could take to make this world a better place to live in? Rest for a second and picture one action that if implemented by everyone could in fact change our world climate and even dramatically improve the overall quality of our lives. Does such a step exist? And if it does, what would be its cost? In fact, such a step does exist, and its cost is little. 

The solution, this one life altering step, is to be found in a new movement that goes by the name of  “Weekday Veg”. It is a movement that not only has the potential to make this world a healthier place, but is one that for once is not our wallets’ enemy, but best friend. Maybe it sounds too good to be true, but the facts are in, and this movement could truly enhance our lives. 

Weekday Veg: the rules and benefits

The idea behind Weekday Veg is simple: don’t eat meat on weekdays, and give your life a fresh breeze of health, and creative and conscious restraint while also saving the environment. After mustering the strength to be meat-free for five days, the weekend is yours: be proud of your achievement and enjoy the taste of first class beef or chicken.Weekday Veg is a non-binary movement that promotes helping the environment while still being able to enjoy the pleasures of meat. It may just seem like another doctrine of hippie-ism, but it is far from it. Free from flower power attachments, it stands independently, simply as a step towards achieving a longer, more fulfilled life for yourself and the earth.

Giving climate change a Roundhouse Kick

 The evidence of the meat industry harming the environment is mounting. In a comparison study done by the British government’s environmental authority across animal products, seven categories were researched: use of energy, pesticides, land, nonrenewable resources, and its impact on global warming, acidification, and eutrophication  Across these seven categories, red meat proved to be the worst offender in almost all seven categories, with poultry and eggs proving least harmful. In fact, red meat (which includes beef, lam, goat, and bison) produces more carbon dioxide equivalent than any other food group, and its production is responsible for four times more greenhouse gas emission than the equivalent production of chicken or fish. 

 Live longer, healthier and happier

If this isn’t reason enough to put down that hamburger, think about the fact that meat isn’t just harmful to the environment, but can be unhealthy for you, as well. It’s no secret that people living in meat driven societies tend to have higher chances of cancer and heart disease. A medical experiment done by a team in the United States indicated that adding meat to the diet of vegetarians caused a rapid and substantial increase in blood cholesterol levels. Compared to North America and Europe where meat is a focus of consumption, the people of Asia and parts of Africa where rice, vegetables, and fruits are more the focus, are healthier, and tend to live longer.

Bring quality in your life

In addition to being meat free for five days, on the weekends when you treat yourself to meat, try cutting mediocre meat and replace it with local beef that is superior not only in taste but cause. It’s not just about trying to change the world we live in; it’s about respecting your body. Respect yourself enough to seek for quality instead of quantity. Sure, you could eat mediocre meat more times a week, but isn’t your healthy and the earth’s health worth eating genuine meat less times a week? Once you begin eating local meat, the kind that melts on your tongue, you’ll never want to go back to that mediocre meat-if you can even call it meat, the way you have to chew it like it’s bubble gum just to get it past your throat. Plus, eating locally grown foods can also decrease greenhouse gas footprint, although not as much as switching meat for vegetables.

However, becoming a vegetarian full time is daunting and frankly impossible for some of us, so going local is the next best thing. According to a Carnegie Mellon University team of researchers, swapping out meat once a week would save the greenhouse gas equivalent of driving 1160 miles less each year, and while the equivalent of eating locally grown foods is less than that at 1000 miles less a year, it is still a significant decrease.

 Courage, creativity, and endurance

 Of course, being a vegetarian-even only on weekdays- in a meat driven society is far from easy; however, it is not impossible. What one needs to achieve vegetarianism is courage, creativity, and endurance. At times you may need to just take a moment to take a long breath because frankly, not being able to eat meat may at times be a struggle. Being a vegetarian takes integrity-you must be honest with yourself, because only in truth can you rally the power to stand up and jump over yourself. It’s about learning to substitute the intense, immediate, and short-term pleasure of the senses with the long-lasting content of the intellect. Humans are in battle with these two conflicting parts on an everyday basis-and it’s not to say that sensory pleasures are bad; it’s just that sometimes focusing on the intellect is more important for the future. Indeed, this task is challenging, but the good news is that the mind is like any other muscle: the more you train it, the stronger it becomes, and as a bonus you will find that this new strength will radiate into other disciplines in your life. 

Go out and play

In the best of cases, leaving a positive impact on our environment and is manifested just by what we do in our daily lives. This is the vision of Weekday Veg. The salient point is that change starts in our kitchens, and the best news is that we are the main beneficiaries. Feeling healthier, living longer, saving money…these are all great reasons to act. And once you take in all the ways that it could personally benefit you, knowing that you have a smaller carbon footprint, are wasting less of earth’s sparse water resources, and giving climate change a Roundhouse Kick isn’t too shabby either.

But maybe it’s best to forget all of that and just go out and play; go and explore the world around you. There are countless arguments that can be presented to you, but the curiosity and courage to try something new, to acquire new tastes and perceptions on life has to come from within you. The facts are obviously important, but what’s even more vital is that you go out of your comfort zone, and find pleasure in experimenting with something fresh. Perhaps Weekday Veg will guide you to new taste discoveries and a new love of cooking. In any case, whatever that new “something” is, at least give it a shot: see if is compatible in your daily life; see if it can change your daily life.

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Text by Nikolas Konstantin and Maria Garguilo

Photos by Nikolas Konstantin

Mason Vicentino (VI), Italy.

The Scanavin family’s house; my grandfather’s house. While I travel the world, while I change my mind, while I develop new philosophies and I forget old ones, while I push myself forward, looking for new truth and new adventures, there is something that always remains constant. I come back home every 2 to 5 months and when I do I feel lucky to see the same pictures and images repeating themselves over and over again: the same traditions, the same opinions, the same ways of living. Life is so easy here that I cannot even imagine or comprehend it sometimes. The world can be so small and insignificant while at the same time so meaningful. Life is everything that is happening in the moment you are living it: a walk in the sun, a talk about football, the same old glance of your grandfather (lost between you and the incomprehension of who you are today), a glass of home-made red wine, shaving a thin beard while sharing ancient laments about health. Harmony is inside all of these actions and I am impressed to see how intensely we can still perceive these simple emotions that we seem to have forgotten the ability to witness.

Self experiment: Picture yourself listening to the songs you used to listen to with your first love. Now, imagine looking at the pictures you took during that same time in your life. How do you feel? Are the two sentiments-the one from the music and the other from the photos-similar?

Brothers capturing the intangible

There is a reason why they are. Photography and music  share common ground. Both transcend language; they  touch the spectator/listener in ways that words could never succeed in doing. Aldous Houxley said “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” The power of photography is similar. It is the kind of power that makes Dirk Bogard say, ”The camera can photograph thought”. We also hear Ryan Lobo, the great photojournalist, explain: “Photography transcended culture, including my own. And it is, for me, a language which expressed the intangible, and gives voice to people and stories without”.

Yes, both Photography and Music assist us in capturing the intangible. A good picture freezes reality and therefore gives us the opportunity to explore a situation thoroughly and deeply. Likewise, a song, a melody is the detailed exploration of a mood, feeling or emotion. Both music and photography touch us and change us. In its best moments a great picture inspires us to act in the same way music entices us to dance.

Soul Photography and Decisive Music

But what qualifies a picture or song to be good?  When do both have the power to move us?

Musicians and Photographers have one thing in common: they must master the technique of their arts virtuously in order to understand the art of composition. Art is unique and intuitive: these artists could be dedicated students of their genre or even masters of their field of art, but if their art misses a hidden detail, all the proficiency becomes paltry. There is always one minuscule yet essential detail at the  basis of every good picture or song that cannot be taught in schools or read about in handbooks.

This tiny detail is what transforms  a mediocre picture to a paramount picture.  This detail is what brings the mojo to music. This detail is the emotion that is caught in between celluloid. It is this intangible detail that catches the eye of the beholder and allows him to be overwhelmed with emotions of joy, sorrow, or compassion.The big step from the mediocre to the paramount picture is not to be found in the actual picture but in the spark of emotion the picture evokes at the moment it is viewed.

What the “soul” is in music is the “decisive” in photography. Duke Ellington says” It don’t” mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.” In other words a picture without soul is a dead picture, a song without the vital sparkle that jumps from instrument to the ear of the listener is worthless.

What people are made of: the power of the arts

Martha Graham once said: “There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost.” If the musicians’ art becomes channeled through this vitality, and if this expression is honest and genuine, it will transcend the existent.   A stunning picture is a keyhole to a hidden story, it is the small hole in the wall through which we see our reality more profoundly and wholesomely. A good picture therefore surpasses words: it expresses what cannot be written or said.

Photography and Music in their best moments allows us to sees what people are made of. On their most glorious days they enlighten man on the subject of man. Borges describes this moment of clarity and truth as follows: ”Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.” Music is a snapshot of our emotions. Just like Photography, it freezes a single moment; its atmosphere and sentiment reveal to us the hidden story.

Capture Emotions

What can we take from this insight? If you want your expressions to be unique, reach out for the intangible and bring it into existence with your art. If you want to shoot a great picture,  master the instrument;  master the composition. And then forget the rules  and play. Jamming, free styling-whatever you call it, lose yourself in the details.

Be daring enough, be curious enough to embark on a quest for what moves you because composing mesmerizing music or taking a stirring photo is impossible without heart and soul.  In the end, it is not the music we play but the harmony that reaches our listener’s mind. It is not the pictures we think we captured, but the emotions that they evoke in our viewers. The harmony of a picture touches us in the way a euphonic melody speaks to us. Music and Photography are brothers in capturing the inexpressible, revealing their powers when words simply are not enough.

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Comparison by Nikolas Konstantin

www.nikolaskonstantin.com

The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy presents the opportunity to gain an insight into the field of diplomacy:

The Academy for Cultural Diplomacy will take place from 25^th July – 1^st August, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

At the end of July, the Berlin-based Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) will hold its regular Academy session. The Academy explores both the history and development of cultural diplomacy throughout different regions of the world. The Institute invites students, graduates, and young professionals to participate in a week-long program, which will consist of lectures, workshops, debates, and cultural visits. The topics will range from economics and politics, to arts and sports as cultural diplomacy.

Previous speakers at the Academy include Peter Craven, Political Moderator for Deutsche Welle TV; Katharina Narbutovič, Director of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program; and Dr. Karl Erik Norrman, Former Head of Culture at the Swedish Foreign Office. In the past, the speakers have graciously contributed to the Academy sessions through the presentations of their respective organizations, which have offered both the enhancement of intercultural dialogue and the support of international relations.

Besides being given the unique opportunity to participate in seminars led by experts in the field of cultural diplomacy, the participants will also receive the chance to apply their newly acquired knowledge in leadership initiatives. The Institute has developed a course in leadership initiatives, which encourages the participants to develop a program, the aim of which is to create a project which will contribute to a better international dialogue within the local community, which will in turn lead to the creation of a broader cultural exchange.

The Academy will help explore the importance of cultural diplomacy in strengthening international relations, thus giving participants a truly hands-on experience in the field of diplomacy.

More information about the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy can be found at www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy. The application period will be open until the 20^th of July, 2010. The ICD encourages people from all academic and professional backgrounds to apply.

Editor’s note:

For more information concerning this Press Release, please contact:

academy@culturaldiplomacy.org or 00.49.(0)30.2360-7680

For more information about the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, please visit: www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy

About The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy:

Founded in 1999, The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) is an international, not-for-profit, non-governmental organization with headquarters in Berlin, Germany. Over the past decade, the ICD has grown to become one of Europe’s largest independent cultural exchange organizations. Our programs facilitate interaction between individuals of all cultural, academic, and professional backgrounds, from across the world.

For more information visit: www.culturaldiplomacy.org

Jacque Fresco’s vision of the future

In a world that rests precariously on the edge of civil unrest it can sometimes seem that we have become forsaken. That our destiny lies in a no-mans land somewhere between now and the waste and refuse of a race hung-up on its own desire to consume as much, and whatever it can with an unbecoming levity.

It can be so easy for ‘us’ – the fortunate of the western world, out here on the crest of our first world “civilisation” - to look out over the violence and unrest around us, to see it as just another ‘thing’ tucked amongst the pixels of our screens. It can be so easy for us to take it all for granted.

We are so used to the information being fed to us, so capable of being aware of everything around us that, in the end, the important things seem to melt with the unimportant; to the point that we allow all of these things to quickly twist into tragedy. Until eventually, at some point, when we may have left it all a little to late, we turn to ask, how can we save ourselves?

What is important then? Well if you ask industrial designer and social engineer Jacque Fresco, he has a lot to say on the matter.

The Zeitgeist Movement is the activist arm of The Venus Project, an organisation that works to publicise Jacque Fresco’s vision of the future. Fresco states that our profit-based economy is the cause of all unrest in the world. He states that crime, corruption, poverty and social barriers are the effect of a monetary system; a system that suffocates the true potential of a society that is more than capable, through the use of socially beneficial technology and science – used in a non-competitive, non-profit based society – to create a world where people can “live longer, healthier and more beneficial lives.”

Fresco is a ‘Futurist’. A man with a vision of a utopian world, a world that can seem so far away from our life time if we were to look at how far we have to go. But with Fresco and with the Zeitgeist Movement, you get the sense that they are taking those first important steps on that proverbial ‘Journey of a thousand miles’.

To learn more and to become a part of the movement visit:

www.thezeitgeistmovement.com

www.thevenusproject.com

So, share your ideas concerning the Journey!

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Please send an email to ideasmagazine@gmail.com

Stay updated on “IDEAS Magazine’s Journey” by checking the website!

The story of the Moldovan state begins with the splitting of the Moldavian Principality in 1812, following the Russian-Turkish war. The Principality would then for the first time be torn apart between russian and turkish influence. After the end of the first world war the territory would become an integral part of Romania, only to be divided again by the signing of the Molotov -Ribbentrop Pact in1939. Following the end of the second World War, Moldova would undergo a second wave of russian and cultural colonization.

The USSR was at that time trying to homogenize its newly acquired territories and disarm any potential local resistance. In the newly created Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic russian colonization was taking an previously unseen route: creating a distinct “moldovan” identity, as opposite to the “romanian” one, as recognized by the native population. This new identity would imply the creation of a separate history, that emphasized Moldova’s distinct identity, and the creation of a new “moldovan” language, which even though was nothing more than a light dialect of romanian, was now being written in its own cyrillic alphabet.

While social pressures managed to force change in Eastern/Western Germany, the wall dividing Moldova and Romania is still very much in place. In higher education the focus is still on courses taught in russian language, even though romanian is the native language of over 80% of its population. There have been reports even as late as 2009 of children not having access to education in their native romanian language. As it appears, the russians have managed to slowly build a separate national identity for the new Moldovan state, and even the younger generations now see themselves as being “moldovans”, not romanians. Worth mentioning is the fact that the moldovan intelectual elites are educated either in Romania or in Western Europe, as opposed to the traditional political elites, which are invariably russian-educated. How this bears on the future leadership of the country remains to be seen.

This brings to the forefront the question of if and how would Moldova integrate itself into the European Union. While the country now has a romanian-orientated government, the cultural and economic gap dividing the two countries is still wide enough to prevent their unification in the near future. The European Union though is quietly pushing for the integration of Moldova into its ranks, and this can be seen as the closest thing to the disappearance of the wall dividing the two countries. While the border will still exist, it will no longer be the wall that it used to be. This solution could prove to be satisfying for both sides, as it maintains the sense of a moldovan national identity without the artificial division of the two countries.

Radu Matei

I have a question to ask you: Are you happy? Although it might seem awkward, happiness is an issue that modern science is beginning to study seriously. While in Europe, especially after Enlightenment, we have been focusing on reason and progress as the foundations of joy, leaving aside emotions, Eastern cultures have strengthened their belief in emotional intelligence for thousands of years.

Matthieu Ricard, a French scientist turned Buddhist monk, sums it up quite well: happiness is commonly taken for pleasure in the Western world; this last one being contingent on time, place or subject. Modern life tends to look for this emotion in the outside instead of in the inner conditions: serenity, inner strength, freedom or self-confidence; as people like Ricard, after years of regular meditation, have discovered.

Our satisfaction with life is, we think, many times dependent on work, health, family, money, education or our ethnic group.  However, fifty percent of our happiness is genetic: the rest is just auxiliary help! But lay back, labs bring good news too: Brain plasticity does not end with adulthood; we have the capacity of changing our predisposition and controlling two ancient systems related to each other:

-The reward system: the hormone dopamine increases when, for example, when we are in love; it is normally active when we are obsessed with something and it produces a feeling of “need”; it works like a drug.

-The pleasure system: oxytocin, channelled in a strategic way, could be the tool to create long term bonds.

It seems the “romantic” image of happiness we maintain has more to do with chemistry (and with our animal nature) than we are willing to accept. Maybe now you understand why the joy you feel when looking at the sunset is more profound than when working on your favourite subject; humans have strong responses to the beauty of the nature (biophilia) and moreover, these emotions are contagious! And what is most important for the times we are living in: new technological advances have revealed that competition and individualism activate the right part of the prefrontal cortex, that is, the area dealing with depression and negative thoughts. Human beings are happy when we collaborate with others: be it when playing sports, learning together or having sex.

To conclude, I will propose you to follow this equation, taken from the book “The trip to happiness”, a book by Eduard Punset. Because we have to start thinking about tangible ways of improving our state of being in the world:

Happiness= E (M+S+P)/R+I

These being:

E: emotions in the beginning and the end of a project, that is to say, there is no action completely rational and emotions have a key role in taking decisions.

M: maintenance of your body but also your mind, give some time to yourself.

S: Enjoy the journey itself as well as arriving.

P: Cultivate your personal relations

R: Avoid these factors, they reduce your state of well-being: forget most of what culture and society have taught you, learn how to “dis-learn”; do not always recur to traditions-innovate; do not let yourself be driven by fear because fear is the biggest enemy of happiness.

I: Inheritance. Abject political power exercise; imagined stress (when you get stressed over something that has not actually happened yet); harmful mutations in our genes; ageing. Try to fight them as much as you can as long as it is in your hand.

I hope you find it useful and interesting, and that you get a fare share of happiness out of it. And now, why don’t you tell us what truly makes you happy?

Punset, Eduardo. (2009) El viaje a la felicidad. Barcelona: Ediciones Destino.

In January 2010, three young Europeans, Nicola, Raphael and Benjamin, founders of Locomotive Organisation, will hit the road for a unique journey. Starting point: The Netherlands. Destination: Latin America. To be crossed: Europe, Africa and the Atlantic ocean. The three adventurers will show that it is possible to live and travel while respecting the earth and it’s earthlings.

The trio will reduce it’s CO2 emissions to a minimum using only hitchhiking, boathiking or walking. Therefore no airplanes, trains or buses will be taken during the whole trip. As the meat industry is responsible for more than half of all man-made Greenhouse Gases, their diet will be vegetarian. All electronic devices will be only powered with renewable energy from the solar backpacks. Water will be provided through the Lifesaver Bottle that can filter any kind of sweet water.

This journey aims to demonstrate that everything human beings need is already out there: some cars are always going in the same direction as the travelers or some food will be always left out by somebody. The three travelers will show that it is possible to live with the wastes of the society to denounce humanity’s over-consumption and wasting habits. Avoiding consumerism, they will not buy any products during this journey, money will be used only for emergencies and visas. They will not sleep in any hostels, hotels or campsites, enjoying the wonderful hospitality of the people or the starry sky!

The trio will leave in complete freedom with themselves and the environment, Latin America is the only destination, they will then move freely in a timeless journey exploring the untraveled paths. Sharing is everything! The trio is open to talk with everyone, listening to their stories and telling their own. Through these encounters, they want to increase the understanding of the diversity of the world and its inhabitants.

Being all three photographers, writers and video-makers, they will report on their adventures to the world as well as focusing their lenses on positive actions people undertake in order to make this world a better place by promoting peace, equality and respect for diversity. They will also depict the problems the world is facing today, such as over-consumption, pollution, poverty, inequity and prejudices. Workshops and cultural events, aimed at promoting environmental consciousness, equality, multiculturalism and art, will be organized with the people, wherever the possibilities may be found. The aim is to bring the people together all around the world emphasizing that what unites us is much stronger that what divides us.

The adventures of the three travelers will appear online. The trio will update regularly depending on the availability of the Internet.

A self-made documentary will relate the adventures and experiences of the trio to be shown to the entire world for free. It’s goal is, on one hand to stimulate and inspire the people to pursue their dreams, and on the other hand to promote a sustainable way of living as a solution for an improvement of the quality of everyone’s life. Furthermore, photo exhibitions of travel photographs as well as screenings of the documentary will be organized all around the world after the journey.

Locomotive Organisation – creative actions for a conscious world -
Three young world citizen from Italy (Nicola Zolin, 25), France (Benjamin Lesage, 24) and Germany (Raphael Fellmer, 26) founded the Locomotive Organisation in 2009 in The Hague with the general purpose of making this world a better place, together with all the people who aim to undertake positive actions for a constructive change. Locomotive aims to bring consciousness to the people in order to demonstrate that we are the change that we want to see in the world. To achieve this mission, Locomotive organises workshops, photo exhibitions, conferences, seminars, documentaries and cultural exchanges.

Locomotive Organisation

For interviews and more details
smile@belocomotive.org
www.belocomotive.org
skype: belocomotive