UNESCO Courier articles from January 1998

UNESCO Courier archives from January 1998

A subversive idea: the values of frugality fly in the face of the prevailing economic order.
January 1, 1998... It is doubtful whether many people would subscribe openly and explicitly to the notion that human happiness derives exclusively, or even mainly, from the consumption of goods and services, or that the only, or even main, way of increasing that...

Is frugality a virtue? If not an end in itself, frugality can lead to a better quality of life.
January 1, 1998... Does frugality have some sort of ethical status? Or is it just an optional "lifestyle" - admirable in its way, perhaps, but admirable as lavish life-styles can be too? Is frugality any more firmly rooted in values than luxury is? Or is it,...

Plain living and high thinking: an imaginary interview with the Greek philosopher Epicurus.
January 1, 1998... * Posterity has seen you as a pleasure-seeker and your philosophy as pure hedonism - the opposite of the truth, since your whole philosophy of pleasure revolves around the idea of moderation. But what is it based on? Epicurus: Firstly, on...

Three exceptional figures: frugality as a moral and political protest against the established order. (lifestyles of Epictetus, Henry David Thoreau, and Mahatma Gandhi)
January 1, 1998... Epictetus (50-125 A.D.) * Frugality implies care or sparingness in the use or supply of food and other resources. The first "frugal" people were those who lived by gathering fruit (fruges in Latin), and were designated as frugal by the...

From zero towards one: interview with Shioun Michiko Nakasato.(Interview)
January 1, 1998... Are the drawings shown here inspired by calligraphy, like most of your works? Michiko Nakasato: Yes. In calligraphy you try to express yourself simply with lines and dots using two colours, black and white. White signifies space, which changes...

Waste not, want not: in today's consumer society traditional Japanese values based on moderation are more relevant than ever.
January 1, 1998... The Japanese have never sought to tame nature; they have endeavoured to bring nature closer to them and to live in symbiosis with it. The Japanese garden, for example, which is a re-creation of nature, is entirely based on the principle of...

An economy of sharing: there is no place for selfish individualism in nomadic hunter-gatherer societies.
January 1, 1998... There are two radically different ways for members of a society to satisfy all their needs: by producing a lot, as in Western societies, or by not wanting a lot, as in those the American anthropologist Marshall Sahlins has called "Zen" societies....

Making a little go a long way: needy African societies governed by an ethic of sparing, caring and sharing.
January 1, 1998... In some parts of Africa frugality is a quality that is central to social and economic life, partly because poverty has become so taken for granted in recent years. The Wolof language has an expression for it: doy lu, which may be translated as...

Pedal power: a clean form of transport rides into town. (includes related article on the modern bike)
January 1, 1998... Doubts are now being raised about the aura - almost of majesty - that surrounds motor vehicles, which, despite being too noisy and too big and guzzling too much energy, have long been regarded as symbols of national economic success and...

Youth finds use for waste. (UNESCO's 'Youth and Recycling for Sustainable Development' program encourages recycling among worldwide youth)
January 1, 1998... In 1994 UNESCO's Division of Youth and Sports Activities conducted a survey on youth, recycling and development involving 120 youth organizations worldwide with members aged 25 or younger. Contrary to the widely held belief that young people who...

Sharing - an ethic for the future. (ethical approach for the next millennium)
January 1, 1998... Let us cast our minds back to the world situation as it was in 1945. In that fateful year the North was in ruins and a sombre post-war mood prevailed. In the South, the struggle to achieve freedom from colonial domination was already under way,...

The holy mountain. (history of Mount Athos)
January 1, 1998... Ten centuries of uninterrupted creative effort shaped the architecture and art treasures of Mount Athos, which was placed on the World Heritage List in 1988. Mount Athos, a rocky headland soaring 2,000 metres out of the Aegean Sea, is the most...

Cities: residents to the rescue. (volunteers and non-governmental organizations promote environmental consciousness)
January 1, 1998... In the next ten years, the number of people living in cities will rise to around 3.3 billion. Tokyo already has a population of 27 million, Sao Paulo (Brazil) 16.4 million, and Bombay 15 million. World Bank forecasts show as much as 80 per cent...

A model project in Brazil. (feedback from the Piraja Memorial Project)
January 1, 1998... The "Piraja Memorial Project" is a scheme run by the Centro de Educacao Ambiental Sao Bartolomeu, an environmental education centre in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil. Its main aims are the affirmation of cultural identity and citizenship, and the...

Toto la Momposina. (profile of the Colombian singer)
January 1, 1998... A Colombian singer with a tremendous voice, Toto la Momposina (Sonia Bazanta) is an internally known exponent of the rich musical tradition of her country's Atlantic seaboard. Toto la Momposina is a singer and dancer who releases seismic forces...

Novelist in exile. (interview with Luis Sepulveda, Chilean novelist)(Interview)
January 1, 1998... Internationally-known Chilean novelist Luis Sepulveda is a defender of freedom and of the environment who has experienced prison and exile. Here he talks about a career in which political commitment and a passion for writing are intertwined. ...