BEIJING'S GLOBAL VILLAGE
SHERI LIAO XIAOYI
I almost did not open the e-mail. It was from China. It was from the President of Beijing's Global Village, Sheri Liao Xiaoyi, she was wanting to meet me that week in Florence to discuss Jan van Ruusbroec, to combine spirituality and ecology. And then she would go on to Groenendaal. I am so glad I did not zap that e-mail into the waste-basket! We talked for two days, she and her seventeen-year-old daughter and I. Their website was at http://www.gvbchina.org. This is her essay:
Desert in Heart Definitely Causes Destruction in Ecology
The environmental destruction act of The Promise crew is not only a misconduct of one movie crew, but a reflection of common issues of dim environmental awareness and low-qualities of humanities in the current entertainment industry. Whereas this industry greatly influences the value orientation of the public, as well as lead, manipulate and control the spirit world of the masses. The production team of films and TV players such as The Promise trampled the original ecology at their will, deformed and distorted our 5000 years of national spirit by building artificial scenes made of modern concrete, steel, plastic etc. And there is more than one Promise crew that had similar scenarios of ecological disfigurement! It is everywhere in the development of China’s tourism. These Monsters of Steel Reinforced Concrete, neither environmental friendly nor humanity oriented, is being constructed and disfiguring Chinese environment, bearing down menacingly and irreversibly.
It seems to be a problem of aesthetic focus but profoundly, it is the issue of our whole national spirit. People use man-made instead of nature-made, abandon national spirit of “Worship of Nature and Integration of Nature with Human”, and trample the spirit world that supports us for thousands of years. It is the shrinking of beauty, kindness, love and wisdom of the whole nation. Worship of money is the biggest pollution source. One person would lose his conscience as long as he could make money. When a nation loses its spirit world, the natural environment is much more irremediable. If a country became a desert of spirit, it would bring a more horrifying disaster than desertification and water pollution in rivers.
Remedying the desert in heart is the base of avoiding ecological disfigurement. Meanwhile, laws, mechanism of supervision, and mechanism of public participation, such as official accountability mechanism of ecological destruction act, as well as economic and legal responsibility, should be set up. According to the evaluation of an international expert, an original tree, which has lived more than 50 years, has the eco-value of $190,000 all together, including a series of functions such as retaining water source, purifying air, providing habitats for animals and so on. But who should undertake this responsibility of destroying such a valuable tree? Should polluters also share relevant legal responsibility other than the economic compensation?
To remedy the desert in heart and avoid the disfigurement in ecology, we must account eco-economic value, implement Green GDP system and standard to examine government officials’ achievement, provide a green assessment mechanism for managers and decision-makers of local functional departments, that is to say, calculating the value of ecology and making the protection of ecology, environment and natural heritage a measurable standard for the managers and decision-makers in the assessment of their achievements. Besides, the power of managers of natural landscapes needs to be identified. Local government is not the owner, but the guard of natural heritage.
In the eyes of many natives and nature’s children, places like Bigu Tianchi Lake are sacred, and should not be easily bothered. If they do go there, they must pilgrimage, not utilize or conquer. No matter filming or traveling, people should learn skills of keeping a harmonious relation to nature from local residents, not to distort their culture and environment. Nature is neither enemy nor servant, but our friend and family. As long as human beings want to survive sustainably, they must respect, worship and love nature.
Author: Liao
Xiaoyi
Translator: Zhu Yan
Published date: May 12th, 2006
Naomi
Klein, The Shock Doctrine: http://books.guardian.co.uk/video/2007/sep/07/naomiklein
Jian-Ming
Zhou, the Chinese and then Italian scholar living, and
dying, in Florence, had these important publications
on world agriculture. Posted 15 February 2011.
(http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4cd5a06a0100mwoe.html)
Good/Bad news; My Proposals; World Bank gives no solution
好消息,糟消息;我的建议;世界银行未提出方案
(http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4cd5a06a0100jsbe.html)
Jian-Ming Zhou Email to WTO Director-General Lamy of 23 Sep. 2009
周兼名2009年9月23日致世贸组织总裁拉米的电邮
(http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4cd5a06a0100jsbo.html)
Jian-Ming Zhou Email to WTO Director-General Lamy of 8 Oct. 2009
周兼名2009年10月8日致世贸组织总裁拉米的电邮
(http://www.icarrd.org/proposals/Zhou.pdf)
(http://www.icarrd.org/en/proposals/Zhou.pdf)
Jian-Ming Zhou Fifth Publication by FAO (English)
(http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4cd5a06a0100k25p.html)
Jian-Ming Zhou Fifth Publication by FAO (Chinese-1)
周兼名在联合国粮农组织发表的第五篇文章正文中译本-1
(http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4cd5a06a0100k25x.html)
Jian-Ming Zhou Fifth Publication by FAO (Chinese-2)
周兼名在联合国粮农组织发表的第五篇文章正文中译本-2
(http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4cd5a06a0100k261.html)
Jian-Ming Zhou Fifth Publication by FAO (Chinese-3)
周兼名在联合国粮农组织发表的第五篇文章正文中译本-3
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