Knowing Our Worth: Conversations on Energy and Sustainability
What is to be done? No challenge summons this question more urgently than the global challenge of transitioning to clean, efficient, and renewable energy sources. This is the question that Daisaku Ikeda and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker set out to answer in Knowing Our Worth: Conversations on Energy and Sustainability. Over the course of eight probing conversations, the authors consider the strategies that will point us toward a sustainable future and the changes of heart and mind that will inspire the will and strength to achieve it.
“Taking ourselves off the self-endangered species list requires a human revolution—a transformation of what we do and why, as we strive to become better human beings in more compassionate and durable societies. Drawing from great Asian and European civilizations, this book distills valuable and practical insights on sufficiency through efficiency, simplicity, public purpose, and civic responsibility.”
—Amory B. Lovins, Cofounder and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute; coauthor, Factor Four and Natural Capitalism
“The authors remind me of modern bodhisattvas: facing humanity’s current challenges with hope, deep analyses, research, and dedicated compassionate action. Both these hardy souls engage with the most important global issues, shaping new paradigms, debates, and policies for our common future. Knowing Our Worth will remain a valuable guide to rising generations of global citizens in all countries as they join together to create humane societies beyond market fundamentalism, GDP-fetishism, commercialism, and mindless consumption.”
—Hazel Henderson, President, Ethical Markets Media; author, Mapping the Global Transition to the Solar Age
“Starting from ideas of resource and energy efficiency, the authors recognize that it is not enough to counter the logic of financial selfishness only with ideas of economic efficiency. They call for a human revolution that would move us toward a world without war, a world in which ideas of growth are subordinate to ethical and practical ideas of frugality and sustainability in a context of social justice. They propose an Asian-European alliance toward a “new enlightenment” that would combine the ideas from science and religion that are most critical for humanity today and in the future.”
—Neva Goodwin, Co-director, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker is former dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and currently co-president of the Club of Rome. His books include Factor Five: Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity.
Daisaku Ikeda is president of the Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist organization with more than twelve million members worldwide. He has written and lectured widely on Buddhism, humanism, and global ethics.
CONVERSATIONS
1. Hope and Recovery
2. A World Without War
3. Green Growth
4. Sufficiency and Human Fulfillment
5. The Long-term Perspective
6. Environmental Awareness
7. Social and Ecological Justice
8. Our Sustainable Future
Appendix 1. Selected Works—Daisaku Ikeda
Appendix 2. Selected Works— Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
Appendix 3. The Göttingen Manifesto
Notes
Index
About the Authors
Excerpts from Conversation Four by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and Daisaku Ikeda
IKEDA: Renewable energy is not just a means for individual nations to acquire stable energy sources but is also directly linked to preventing climate change on a global scale. UN Human Development Reports have repeatedly sounded the warning that “no one country can win the battle against climate change acting alone. Collective action is not an option but an imperative.” (7) As I said earlier, every part of our world is at risk, to a lesser or greater degree, from the abnormal weather patterns and other effects of global climate change (see Conversation Three).
It is absolutely critical for those of us living today to take responsible action for the sake of future generations.
*
IKEDA: Based on your many years of experience with environmental issues, what are your thoughts on scientists’ ethical responsibilities? With the global environmental issues we face, the scientific community’s ethical responsibilities seem to be becoming weightier, don’t you think?
WEIZSÄCKER: If you are posing this as an abstract ethical question, then my answer would be yes. Scientific and technological advances must be guided by the welfare of society—and nature. But the reality today is that plenty of jobs for scientists are in conventional industry or business stemming from a historical phase of overexploitation of nature. This is the case in the United States and to a slightly lesser extent in Germany and Japan. In many scientific domains, such as biotechnology, you are an outcast if you do not adopt an industrial orientation in your practice of science. This is of course a tragedy but not something that can be changed by moral or ethical exhortations to scientists.
It means that we need to call for ethical responsibility not just from scientists but from the system itself. We need to insist that science be a quest for truth, not profit, and that its results should benefit the public, not restricted commercial interests.
IKEDA: Many of the threats we face today are actually the results of our science and technology. Environmental pollution, for example, is the result of our relentless pursuit of convenience and affluence, which has blinded us to the self-evident principle that we are part of nature and need to live in harmony with it. Nichiren wrote, “As the poisons of greed, anger, and foolishness gradually intensify, the life span of human beings gradually decreases… .” (8) The advancement of modern civilization based on science has exacerbated and amplified the greed for possessions and dominance inherent in human beings, until they are on the verge of destroying our natural environment and threatening life itself.
In order to prevent further environmental destruction, it is important to have accurate information regarding the actual severity of the threat constantly presented to the public and to take the necessary legal and policy measures to deal with the problem. Not only experts in the field but the general public must constantly be on the alert and monitoring the actions taken by government and business.
Description
What is to be done? No challenge summons this question more urgently than the global challenge of transitioning to clean, efficient, and renewable energy sources. This is the question that Daisaku Ikeda and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker set out to answer in Knowing Our Worth: Conversations on Energy and Sustainability. Over the course of eight probing conversations, the authors consider the strategies that will point us toward a sustainable future and the changes of heart and mind that will inspire the will and strength to achieve it.
Advance Praise
“Taking ourselves off the self-endangered species list requires a human revolution—a transformation of what we do and why, as we strive to become better human beings in more compassionate and durable societies. Drawing from great Asian and European civilizations, this book distills valuable and practical insights on sufficiency through efficiency, simplicity, public purpose, and civic responsibility.”
—Amory B. Lovins, Cofounder and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute; coauthor, Factor Four and Natural Capitalism
“The authors remind me of modern bodhisattvas: facing humanity’s current challenges with hope, deep analyses, research, and dedicated compassionate action. Both these hardy souls engage with the most important global issues, shaping new paradigms, debates, and policies for our common future. Knowing Our Worth will remain a valuable guide to rising generations of global citizens in all countries as they join together to create humane societies beyond market fundamentalism, GDP-fetishism, commercialism, and mindless consumption.”
—Hazel Henderson, President, Ethical Markets Media; author, Mapping the Global Transition to the Solar Age
“Starting from ideas of resource and energy efficiency, the authors recognize that it is not enough to counter the logic of financial selfishness only with ideas of economic efficiency. They call for a human revolution that would move us toward a world without war, a world in which ideas of growth are subordinate to ethical and practical ideas of frugality and sustainability in a context of social justice. They propose an Asian-European alliance toward a “new enlightenment” that would combine the ideas from science and religion that are most critical for humanity today and in the future.”
—Neva Goodwin, Co-director, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Author(s)
Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker is former dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and currently co-president of the Club of Rome. His books include Factor Five: Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity.
Daisaku Ikeda is president of the Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist organization with more than twelve million members worldwide. He has written and lectured widely on Buddhism, humanism, and global ethics.
Table of Contents
CONVERSATIONS
1. Hope and Recovery
2. A World Without War
3. Green Growth
4. Sufficiency and Human Fulfillment
5. The Long-term Perspective
6. Environmental Awareness
7. Social and Ecological Justice
8. Our Sustainable Future
Appendix 1. Selected Works—Daisaku Ikeda
Appendix 2. Selected Works— Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
Appendix 3. The Göttingen Manifesto
Notes
Index
About the Authors
Excerpts
Excerpts from Conversation Four by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and Daisaku Ikeda
IKEDA: Renewable energy is not just a means for individual nations to acquire stable energy sources but is also directly linked to preventing climate change on a global scale. UN Human Development Reports have repeatedly sounded the warning that “no one country can win the battle against climate change acting alone. Collective action is not an option but an imperative.” (7) As I said earlier, every part of our world is at risk, to a lesser or greater degree, from the abnormal weather patterns and other effects of global climate change (see Conversation Three).
It is absolutely critical for those of us living today to take responsible action for the sake of future generations.
*
IKEDA: Based on your many years of experience with environmental issues, what are your thoughts on scientists’ ethical responsibilities? With the global environmental issues we face, the scientific community’s ethical responsibilities seem to be becoming weightier, don’t you think?
WEIZSÄCKER: If you are posing this as an abstract ethical question, then my answer would be yes. Scientific and technological advances must be guided by the welfare of society—and nature. But the reality today is that plenty of jobs for scientists are in conventional industry or business stemming from a historical phase of overexploitation of nature. This is the case in the United States and to a slightly lesser extent in Germany and Japan. In many scientific domains, such as biotechnology, you are an outcast if you do not adopt an industrial orientation in your practice of science. This is of course a tragedy but not something that can be changed by moral or ethical exhortations to scientists.
It means that we need to call for ethical responsibility not just from scientists but from the system itself. We need to insist that science be a quest for truth, not profit, and that its results should benefit the public, not restricted commercial interests.
IKEDA: Many of the threats we face today are actually the results of our science and technology. Environmental pollution, for example, is the result of our relentless pursuit of convenience and affluence, which has blinded us to the self-evident principle that we are part of nature and need to live in harmony with it. Nichiren wrote, “As the poisons of greed, anger, and foolishness gradually intensify, the life span of human beings gradually decreases… .” (8) The advancement of modern civilization based on science has exacerbated and amplified the greed for possessions and dominance inherent in human beings, until they are on the verge of destroying our natural environment and threatening life itself.
In order to prevent further environmental destruction, it is important to have accurate information regarding the actual severity of the threat constantly presented to the public and to take the necessary legal and policy measures to deal with the problem. Not only experts in the field but the general public must constantly be on the alert and monitoring the actions taken by government and business.