Taking the Pulse--World Reports
20th Century Death--Selected
Major Causes
Click below to
access and expand the diagram
from the Information is Beautiful website
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/20th-century-death/
We think that the time is coming for a diversity of colleagues to come together intentionally, visibly, and practically on behalf of global integration (GI). GI put simply is how we skillfully integrate our lives and values on behalf of the issues facing humanity. Likewise we think that the time is coming for colleagues to carefully reflect and act on what it means to be good global learners-practitioners--to seriously consider what it means to be what we are calling global integrators (GI-People).
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Global Integrators
stay current with global events, issues, and developments. Or at least they try
to...So to what degree, practically speaking, is this really possible, given
the masses amount of information, news, publications, websites, organizations,
gatherings, etc. that are increasingly being produced? And knowing that it is
not just information that is needed but things like accurate analysis and wise application
that are especially needed? The answer depends on how
much time one is able to judiciously track with the core materials that seem the most relevant, knowing, as we certainly
do, that there are often many gaps in one's awareness of and time for important materials and resources. Global Integrators, realistically, are more likely to be developing
into Relevant People than Renaissance People.
Here are four items
that have helped us recently--"world reports" (all but the fourth one
is published annually). We usually cannot read lengthy reports word for word
but we at least go over the Executive Summaries/Overviews in order to grasp the
main messages and new terms/concepts as well as consider
their applications for our GI-related work (member care, mental health,
sustainable development). These world reports help us to take some of the world pulse.
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1. World Disasters Report: Focus on Culture and Risk (2014). International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "This year, the World Disasters Report takes on a challenging theme that looks at different aspects of how culture affects disaster risk reduction (DRR) and how disasters and risk influence culture. The report asks, for example, what should be done when people blame a flood on an angry goddess (River Kosi, India, in 2008) or a volcanic eruption on the mountain god (Mount Merapi). After the tsunami in 2004, many people in Aceh (Indonesia) believed that Allah had punished them for allowing tourism or drilling for oil, and similar beliefs were widespread in the United States regarding Hurricane Katrina, showing God’s displeasure with aspects of the behaviour of the people who live in or visit New Orleans. Most people who live in places that are exposed to serious hazards are aware of the risks they face, including earthquakes, tropical cyclones, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides and droughts. Yet they still live there because, to earn their living, they need to or have no alternative. Coasts and rivers are good for fishing and farming; valley and volcanic soils are very fertile; drought alternates with good farming or herding. Culture and beliefs, for example, in spirits or gods, or simple fatalism, enable people to live with risks and make sense of their lives in dangerous places. Sometimes, though, unequal power relations are also part of culture, and those who have little influence must inevitably cope with threatening environments." (quote from website) [Note--the diagram at the top of this entry is included in this Report as a foldout between pages 18-19].
2. Human
Development Report: Sustaining Human Development--Reducing Vulnerabilities and
Building Resilience (2014). United Nations Development Program. “As successive Human Development Reports have shown,
most people in most countries have been doing steadily better in human
development. Advances in technology, education and incomes hold ever-greater
promise for longer, healthier, more secure lives. Globalization has on balance
produced major human development gains, especially in many countries of the
South. But there is also a
widespread sense of precariousness in the world today—in livelihoods,
in personal security, in the environment and in global politics. High
achievements on critical aspects of human development, such as health and
nutrition, can quickly be undermined by a natural disaster or economic slump.
Theft and assault can leave people physically and psychologically impoverished.
Corruption and unresponsive state institutions can leave those in need of
assistance without recourse. Political threats, community tensions, violent
conflict, neglect of public health, environmental damages, crime and
discrimination all add to individual and community vulnerability.” (p. 1, bold
font added for emphasis) http://hdr.undp.org/en/2014-report
3. World
Development Report: Mind, Society, and Behavior (2015). World
Bank Group. “This Report aims to integrate recent findings on the
psychological and social underpinnings of behavior to make them available for
more systematic use by both researchers and practitioners in development
communities. The Report draws on findings from many disciplines, including
neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, behavioral economics, sociology,
political science, and anthropology. In ongoing research, these findings help
explain decisions that individuals make in many aspects of development, including
savings, investment, energy consumption, health, and child rearing. The
findings also enhance the understanding of how collective behaviors—such as
widespread trust or widespread corruption—develop and become entrenched in a
society. The findings apply not only to individuals in developing countries but
also to development professionals, who are themselves prone to error when
decision-making contexts are complex.” (pp.2-3) http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2015
4. White
Paper on Peacebuilding (2014), Geneva Peaebuilding Platform. "The White Paper on Peacebuilding reflects a 12-month
collaborative multi-stakeholder initiative with peacebuilding professionals
from all regions coordinated by the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. The aim of
this exercise is to present a range of voices and perspectives about the
challenges, opportunities and future of peacebuilding practice. These
reflections occur at a moment of several agenda setting processes including the
10-year review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture and the work of the High-Level
Independent Panel on Peace Operations. The White Paper on Peacebuilding
complements these efforts by broadening the discussion about how countries and
societies can move towards sustainable peace, and about the assistance the UN
and other international and local actors can bring to such processes."
(quote from website) http://www.gpplatform.ch/white-papers/whitepapers
