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Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 05 February 2021

Hits: 2265

First Publishedon 05 February 2021. Updated on 06 October 2024

‘To detach nature from economic reasoning is to imply that we consider ourselves to be external to nature.’

'Our economies, livelihoods and wellbeing all depend on our most precious asset: nature. We are part of nature, not separate from it.' 

Earth seen from above.- Photo:nasa.gov

‘Respected Mother, you have children who are proud of themselves as brilliant mathematicians, skilled artisans, gifted architects,{genius economists, the know it all academicians- Emphasis added} but few are able to see that you are the greatest mathematician, the most accomplished artisan,the most talented architect, and {the wisest economic teacher that has ever been- Emphasis added}. We only need to look at a branch of cherry blossoms, the shell of a snail, or the wing of a bat to see this truth. We have talented artists, but how can our paintings be compared to the works of art that you reveal to us in the four seasons? How can we paint such compelling dawns or create such radiant dusks? Our musicians are geniuses, but how can our songs measure up to your wondrous orchestra of Earth and Sky, or the magnificent sound of the rising tide? We have brave soldiers, knights, and heroes who have endured extreme heat and cold and traversed mountains and rivers, but how many of us have your patience and capacity to embrace? We have great love stories, but who among us has your immense love that includes all beings without discrimination?’- Adapted from Love Letter to the Earth by Thich Nhat Hanh- Continue to read HERE

Economics and a sustainable world: What to teach our students?

Photo: Via Pinterest

Nota bene

‘In all my academic life, spanning over four decades, I have been dismayed, frustrated and overwhelmed with pain to notice that our education model has not embraced the beauty and the wisdom of our mother nature and our sacred earth, incorporating them into the teaching curriculum.  

This, to my mind, has seriously deprived the students, our future leaders, or indeed, our current leaders, to get a wholesome, values-led education, and thus, has prevented them, to vision and implement policies to heal our world, to better our lives.’ 

At  times of chaos, crises, and disorder, as it is today, in this rapidly changing world, faced with many environmental challenges, ecological degradation, and social inequalities, to name but a few, the role of economics education in shaping and inspiring students- our future leader- is more critical than ever. If we wish to aspire them to become the architects and builders of  a sustainable future, it is essential to (re)evaluate what we teach our students about economics and its implications for the world we live in.

My Plea to my fellow academic economists: Make your classrooms the regions of hopes, dreams, kindness, empathy, and beauty and let poets and philosophers of love be your sources of inspiration in all you do and in all you teach.

You should open your eyes and look beyond economics to the beauty and wisdom of Mother Nature and in the timeless, precious words of William Wordswoth, ‘Let Nature be Your Teacher’ and ‘Make Economics ‘A Thing of Beauty’ and Build a Better World’. 

This moment creates an opportunity to bring about a better future for  ourselves, our children, and grandchildren

An open letter to all my fellow academic colleagues: Make Education ‘A Thing of Beauty’

World in Chaos and Despair: A Manifesto for Education to Build a Better World

Education to Heal the World

World in Chaos and Despair: Let Wordsworth be Your Teacher

Journey to Healing: Let Me Know What is Essential

Detaching Nature from Economics is ‘Burning the Library of Life’

Photo credit: Ancient World Magazine

‘We are facing a global crisis. We are totally dependent upon the natural world. It supplies us with every oxygen-laden breath we take and every mouthful of food we eat. But we are currently damaging it so profoundly that many of its natural systems are now on the verge of breakdown. Every other animal living on this planet, of course, is similarly dependent. But in one crucial way, we are different. We can change not just the numbers, but the very anatomy of the animals and plants that live around us. We acquired that ability, doubtless almost unconsciously, some ten thousand years ago, when we had ceased wandering and built settlements for ourselves. It was then that we started to modify other animals and plants…

‘Economics is a discipline that shapes decisions of the utmost consequence, and so matters to us all. The Dasgupta Review at last puts biodiversity at its core and provides the compass that we urgently need. In doing so, it shows us how, by bringing economics and ecology together, we can help save the natural world at what may be the last minute- and in doing so, save ourselves.’- These are the opening and the concluding  paragraphs of The Foreword by Sir David Attenborough to a landmark study ‘The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review’ published February 2021. 

"We need a new way of thinking, one that tightly links the human-made world of economics and politics with the natural world of climate and biodiversity and with the designed world of 21st century technology. Consider my own home field of study, economics. Sometime in the 19th century, economics largely dropped its traditional attention to land, water and food, as industry replaced agriculture as the leading economic sector. Economists decided, by and large, that they could ignore nature – take it “as given” – and instead focus on market-based finance, saving, and business investment. Mainstream economists derided the claims of “limits to growth.”

“Of course this was never correct; economies have always depended on what we now call “natural capital.” Yet the complete separation of economics and nature was the predominant way of economics thinking and teaching until very recently. Libertarian free-marketers in the US and UK hold to this day that climate change must be a hoax because if it were true it would overturn the laissez-faire economic philosophy”- Jeffrey Sachs, former director of The Earth Institute, Columbia University and author of The Age of Sustainable Development

Photo: Gov.UK

‘We are embedded in Nature” and “nature is more than a mere economic good’

‘Nature nurtures and nourishes us, so we will think of assets as durable entities

that not only have use value, but may also have intrinsic worth’

The Dasgupta Review calls for urgent and transformative change in how we think, act and measure

economic success to protect and enhance our prosperity and the natural world.

'It’s time to say farewell to one of the biggest and longest running myths in the economy: that social development must come at the cost of nature.

That this dichotomy is false has long been articulated and promoted by the conservation movement, but to little avail.

Around the world, countries and businesses have continued to empty natural resources for short-term economic profit.

Now, more than ever, someone needed to tell them this cannot continue – but who would they listen to?

This is where the Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity comes in.’- Prof. Alexandre Antonelli, Director of Science at Kew Gardens

Nature is our Greatest Life Asset

Photo: The Conversation

‘To detach nature from economic reasoning is to imply that we consider ourselves to be external to nature.’

'Our economies, livelihoods and wellbeing all depend on our most precious asset: nature. We are part of nature, not separate from it.' 

These are the opening lines of a newly published landmark review of the economics of biodiversity.

The Economics of biodiversity review: what are the recommendations?

Photo: What is biodiversity and why does it matter to us?/ Via The Guardian

First and foremost: The report recommends that ‘GDP should be ditched as a measure of wealth and nature valued to protect wildlife and humans. The use of GDP “is based on a faulty application of economics” because it measures the flow of money, not the stock of national assets. Introducing natural capital into national accounting systems would be a critical step.’

Then the report notes that: ‘Instilling an appreciation of nature through education is vital in a rapidly urbanising world. The discipline to draw on nature sustainably must, ultimately, be provided by us as individuals. Many people have grown distant from nature. Our education systems should introduce nature studies from the earliest stages of our lives, and revisit them in secondary and tertiary education.’-- WOW! This is music to my ears!

Nota bene

Before I proceed further, I must note my happiness and joy of reading the two vitally important recommendations above, which have occupied my mind, my heart and my research over the last couple of decades. I have noted these in detail elsewhere. For the purpuse  of now and this posting it suffices to note the following:

Photo:bing.com

The madness of the never ending economic growth

We have to look beyond the madness: we should invest in everyday services to create a society run for collective good

The Growth Delusion and Confusion, The GDP Measurement: lies, damned lies and statistics

We must do better, much better. Why?

Economic Growth: The Index of Misery

The Case for Degrowth: It is urgent, necessary, and greatly needed for our survival

......

Re-Connecting the World’s Children and Young People with Nature

‘When there is no Mother Nature Present- There is no Balanced, Values-led Education’

'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.'- Aristotle

Young children play on a tree on Hampstead Heath, London. Four out of five children in the UK

are not adequately'connected to nature'.- Photo: Gregory Wrona /Alamy/Via The Guardian

‘In all my academic life, spanning over four decades, I have been dismayed, frustrated and overwhelmed with pain to notice that our education model has not embraced the beauty and the wisdom of our mother nature and our sacred earth, incorporating them into the teaching curriculum.  

This, to my mind, has seriously deprived the students, our future leaders, or indeed, our current leaders, to get a wholesome, values-led education, and thus, has prevented them, to vision and implement policies to heal our world, to better our lives.’- Kamran Mofid

The Time is Now to Explore the Benefits of Nature-Based Education in Our Teaching Models

By Forgetting Mother Nature- We have Now Ended Up with This unenviable World

Photo:bing.com

On the 250th Birthday of William Wordsworth Let Nature be our Wisest Teacher

In this troubled world let the beauty of nature and simple life be our greatest teachers

Nature the Best Teacher: Re-Connecting the World’s Children with Nature

A Sure Path to build a Better World: How nature helps us feel good and do good 

Nature is the model to teach business how to thrive

The healing power of ‘Dawn’ at this time of coronavirus crisis

......

And now continuing with the Economics of biodiversity review: what are the main recommendations?

‘The world is being put at “extreme risk” by the failure of economics to take account of the rapid depletion of the natural world and needs to find new measures of success to avoid a catastrophic breakdown, a landmark review has concluded…

‘Prosperity was coming at a “devastating cost” to the ecosystems that provide humanity with food, water and clean air. Radical global changes to production, consumption, finance and education were urgently needed’

‘’The  review urges the world’s governments to come up with a different form of national accounting from GDP and use one that includes the depletion of natural resources. It would like to see an understanding of nature given as prominent a place in education as the “three Rs”, to end people’s distance from nature.

‘Nature is our home. Good economics demands we manage it better,” said Dasgupta. “Truly sustainable economic growth and development means recognising that our long-term prosperity relies on rebalancing our demand of nature’s goods and services with its capacity to supply them. It also means accounting fully for the impact of our interactions with nature. Covid-19 has shown us what can happen when we don’t do this.’

‘Humanity’s impact on the natural world is stark, with animal populations having dropped by an average of 68% since 1970 and forest destruction continuing at pace – some scientists think a sixth mass extinction of life is under way and accelerating. Today, just 4% of the world’s mammals are wild, hugely outweighed by humans and their livestock.’

‘The report said almost all governments were exacerbating the biodiversity crisis by paying people more to exploit nature than to protect it. A conservative estimate of the global cost of subsidies that damage nature was about $4tn-$6tn (£2.9-£4.4tn) a year, it said. “Humanity faces an urgent choice. Continuing down our current path presents extreme risks and uncertainty for our economies.” the review said.

......

Ten Steps to Successfully Build the Library of Life

Photo: Dream world painting by Jacek Yerka  webneel.com 

Details

Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 04 February 2021

Hits: 1494

Photo: ArishaRay/Getty Images/iStockphoto

N.B. Although, this posting is about the tragedy of self-harm and suicide in children and young people in Britain, but, the tragedy, pain and hurt are global. The children and the youth of the world are in this together. I sincerely hope that this heartbreaking global challenge receives urgent attention by all concerned. 

The rates of self-harm have increased in the UK over the past decade or so and are now among the highest in Europe. Moreover, the rates of self-harm are much higher among groups with high levels of poverty and deprivation and in adolescents and younger adults. Self-harm results in about 200,000 attendances at accident and emergency departments each year and is one of the top five causes of acute medical admission. Furthermore, given the pandemic, lockdowns, self-isolation, closure of schools and colleges, the continuing fallout of the inhumane and unjust neoliberal economic policies and austerity, which has resulted in abject poverty for the many, has now created a much higher rate of admission than ever before.

Today, reading my morning news, I was heartbroken and extremely saddened, but not surprised, to see the following headline:‘Coronavirus doctor's diary: We're getting self-harming 10-year-olds in A&E.’ to which I will return shortly.

The plight, struggles, hopes, dreams, health and well-being of children and the youth has always been very close and fundamental to all we do at the GCGI, as evidenced by the number of articles, postings, conferences and interviews and more by myself and other members of the GCGI family and friends. 

To recall and to focus our minds, a selection of related postings from our archives are noted below:

Poverty, Destitution, Hunger and Homelessness in the Midst of Plenty

This is nothing, but a manifestation of a cruel and inhumane state of affairs

Lest We Forget

‘A country/nation drunk on market values, guided by cruel machinery of exploitation, racism, class division, austerity, cruelty, aggression, that humiliates it’s innocent, weak and vulnerable citizens, with neoliberalism, poverty, inequality and food banks and celebrates extreme individualism, feral competition, worship of mammon, rat-race to a success that it can never deliver and ignores the struggles and plight of its children and youth, ceases to be civilised and sooner or later ceases to exist morally or spiritually.’

Neoliberalism and the rise in global loneliness, depression and suicide

The scar on the conscience of Britain: The neglect of its children, youth, students and more

Child Poverty UK: The Shaming of the British Elites

The Report that should Shame us all: The Neglected and Abused Children in England  

Austerity driven Homeless children put up in Shipping Containers in ‘Great Britain’

Eruption of anxiety, depression and suicide in Britain

The blight on the conscience of the world: Why are so many youth and students killing and harming themselves?

An Open Letter to University Leaders: Students’ Mental and Emotional Wellbeing Must Be Our Priority

Student Suicides at Bristol University: My Open Letter to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Hugh Brady

The Broken Economic Model and the Inhumanity of the Lost Decade of Austerity

A Plea to address Global Youth Depression

Why Happiness Should be Taught at Our Universities

The Value of Values: Spiritual Wisdom in Everyday Life-Rosemary Dewan 

My Guest Blogger Rosemary Dewan: Teachers’ Challenges

Investing in Our Children is Wise and Will Bring High Returns on Investment: A Close Look Into the Socioeconomic Status of Children in California (Jamshid Damooei)

Economic Efficiency and Ethical Behavior: Jamshid Damooei

My friend Jamshid Damooei and a greater, better, kinder America

OUR SACRED EARTH Tuscany Forum: The Videos 

And now reverting back to: ‘Coronavirus doctor's diary: We're getting self-harming 10-year-olds in A&E.’ 

‘The pandemic has had a deep impact on children, who are arriving in A&E in greater numbers and at younger ages after self-harming or taking overdoses, writes Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Children are a lost tribe in the pandemic. While they remain (for the most part) perplexingly immune to the health consequences of Covid-19, their lives and daily routines have been turned upside down.

From surveys and interviews carried out for the Born in Bradford study, we know that they are anxious, isolated and bored, and we see the tip of this iceberg of mental ill health in the hospital.

Children in mental health crisis used to be brought to A&E about twice a week. Since the summer it's been more like once or twice a day. Some as young as 10 have cut themselves, taken overdoses, or tried to asphyxiate themselves. There was even one child aged eight.

Lockdown "massively exacerbates any pre-existing mental health issues - fears, anxieties, feelings of disconnection and isolation,"

says A&E consultant Dave Greenhorn.

While Bradford has been in lockdown longer than some other parts of the country, there is no reason to believe this is a local problem. Dave says fellow A&E consultants he's spoken to in Scotland, Portsmouth and Northern Ireland all report a significant increase in mental health attendances - among all age groups, children as well as adults…’- Continue to read

See also:

‘They are not likely to get seriously ill with Covid and there have been very few deaths. But children are still the victims of the virus - and our response to it - in many other ways.

From increasing rates of mental health problems to concerns about rising levels of abuse and neglect and the potential harm being done to the development of babies, the pandemic is threatening to have a devastating legacy on the nation's young…’Covid: The devastating toll of the pandemic on children

Supporting Children & Young People who Self Harm

Values-led, Meaningful Education and Economy to Elevate Mental Health Wellbeing

Healing the Wounds: Path to Hope, Joy and Recovery 

As an educator, academician and activist, it is no surprise that I strongly believe that the answer lies in better education and a fairer economy. Education must become a vehicle to empower the youth, by having the following pillars, amongst others: Respect and care for the whole web of life, Social and Economic Justice, Ecological Integrity, Nonviolent Conflict Resolution, and Respect and care for relationships. For me nothing else will do. And there you have it. We must try to bring back smiles to the faces of children. Happiness is the best gift to give.

Photo: Sheeba Magazine

'When we bring forth the spirituality of teaching and learning,

we help students honor life’s most meaningful questions.’

‘Don’t just teach your students how to count. Teach them what counts most.’

Photo:Pinterest 

To reverse the current destructive path and begin the task of healing, we need a different education model and we need a different economic value and economy. However, these are not possible to achieve so long as  The Fraudulent Ideology reins supreme. Full stop. Carpe Diem!

This is my call to anybody, everybody in a position of power to instigate change:

1- Introduce and Connect the Children and the youth with Mother Nature

Nature the Best Teacher: Re-Connecting the World’s Children with Nature

Rethinking Education at the Time of Coronavirus Crisis: The Time is Now to Explore the Benefits of Nature-Based Education in Our Teaching Models

2- Introduce and connect them to poetry

Poetry is the Education that Nourishes the Heart and Nurtures the Soul

3- Introduce and connect them to the healing power of music.

Playing for Change: How music can change the world!

Music to Heal the World

4- Teach them the Economics of Kindness Not the Economics of the Rat Race

Wouldn’t the world be a better place with a bit more kindness? Harnessing the Economics of Kindness

What if Universities Taught KINDNESS?

Calling all academic economists: What are you teaching your students?

“Education of My Dream”

5- Teach them about Emotional Literacy

Why We All (Children and Grown Ups) Need Emotional Literacy, Now More than Ever

6- Teach them the art of Simplicity and  Living a Simpler Life

Simplicity: it’s our true guide to a better life

The beauty of living simply: the forgotten wisdom of William Morris

In Praise of ‘Enoughness’ and 'Lagomist' Economy

The Number One Message of Lockdown

I am doing Nothing, how about you?

In this troubled world let the beauty of nature and simple life be our greatest teachers

7- Teach them the art of Happiness and what it means to be Happy

What is Happiness? What is the Good Life? Lessons from the ancient philosophers to help improve our lives today.

Wisdom of Lao Tzu: The Path to Virtue, Happiness, and Harmony

Are You Still Searching for Happiness?

What makes us happy?

Why Happiness Should be Taught at Our Universities

8- Teach them What it Means to be Human and What Makes us Human

Have We lost the Art of Knowing What it Means to Be Human?

What Makes Us Human?

Yes, it is true: “Education is what makes us fully human”

What is this life if…?

Come and meet the Team Human, My Favorite Team

Build a Better World: The Healing Power of Doing Good

Photo: Pinterest

And finally This is My Ten Steps to Heal the World and Make Everyone, Young and Old, Happier and More Hopeful