GLOBAL VISION CORPORATION

MEDIA PRODUCTS IN DEVELOPMENT:

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THE GLOBAL VISION PROJECT
	The Global Vision Project is an international educational media campaign to promote the concept of sustainability as a global goal. Sustainability means using the Earth's resources to meet the needs of the present generation without violating the right of future generations to meet their own needs.
	This project is being produced by Global Vision Corporation, an independent non-profit Non Governmental Organisation founded in 1982. We are accredited to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) – a network of Governments and NGOs collaborating to implement Agenda 21, the 21st century sustainable development action plan agreed by 185 nations at the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
	Global Vision Consulting Ltd - www.global-vision-consulting.com - is our related for-profit company which provides advice to governments, NGOs and the private sector on sustainable development issues.
	Our network of International Partners includes UN agencies, governments, NGOs, think-tanks, institutes, socially responsible corporations, professional associations, religious groups, universities, schools, students, and leading thinkers and activists working on solutions to global problems.
	Global Vision provides these partners with a whole systems strategic approach to combine our insights, integrate our outreach, and communicate the emerging global civil society consensus for a positive future more effectively to the global public.
	Following a decade of economic globalisation and the failure of the Rio+10 World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, it is clear that the development of a sustainable civilisation now urgently requires a level of action and co-operation without precedent in history. The pre-requisite for this to happen is widespread prior agreement on the goal, for when people share a common goal, their natural tendency is to co-operate in realising it.
	Sustainability is the greatest historical opportunity of all time! Our media products are designed to communicate this vision in artistic ways that transcend cultural boundaries, fire up the collective imagination, and inspire the action that is so urgently needed.
	We invite you to explore this web site and get involved!

"Even corporations today have realised they need a regulatory framework which is the expression of society. Managing a society is not just a matter of letting the market determine what happens." - Achim Steiner, Director General, IUCN.

Sustainability: The Best Investment is an artistic documentary film we are producing to make the link between security, sustainable development, and socially-responsible investment. Calling for major funding of global solutions now, the film details how our global trillion dollar annual defense budget which taxpayers currently spend for old-fashioned military "security" is far more than is needed to solve all the underlying problems which threaten future generations and lead to terrorism and war in the first place. This film features line-up of world leaders and celebrities including H.H. the Dalai Lama, Bernardo Bertolucci, Gérard Depardieu, Kate Moss, Maurice Strong, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Amory Lovins (+ others to be confirmed). Now in development, the film is supported by UNICEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, WHO, IUCN, WWF, IISD, Working Title Developments Ltd, Dreamchaser Productions, City Screen Cinemas and Martin Scorsese. It will be released in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and Chinese versions for theatrical distribution, TV broadcast, and publication on this website on Earth Day 2007. Copies will be sent to the Head of State of every country on Earth.		OUR FEATURE FILM "I want to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race." – James Joyce The Global Vision movie is an impressionistic musical feature film conceived as a collective self-portrait of Humankind and the biosphere – a concept without precedent in art or motion picture history. It's also the first feature film to be collectively designed by its own audience on the Internet. This movie will be a mythopoeic sales pitch for a sustainable civilisation, and an artistic attempt to describe our human identity at the dawn of the global age, in a way that will be truly meaningful for a global audience. Looking at the pattern that connects humankind, the biosphere, technology, and the collective unconscious, the film is also a metaphor about the connection between the world situation and our own way of seeing it. You can participate in shaping its information content. Now in development, the film is scheduled for world-wide theatrical release in 2008.

	ECOLOGY OF MIND Ecology of Mind is a 1hr. documentary film based on our extensive series of video interviews with civil society leaders at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. The film embodies the emerging global civil society consensus that: (a) another world is possible, (b) governments will not implement solutions before it is too late, (c) time is running out, and (d) you have to be the change! Now in post-production for release on Earth Day 2006.

"If everybody would agree that their current reality is a reality, and that what we essentially share is our capacity for constructing a reality, then perhaps we could all agree on a meta-agreement for computing a reality that would mean survival and dignity for everyone on the planet, rather than each group being sold on a particular way of doing things." – Francisco J. Varela



"To know where the other person makes a mistake is of little value. It only becomes interesting when you know where you make the mistake, for then you can do something about it. What we can improve in others is of doubtful utility as a rule, if, indeed, it has any effect at all." – Carl Gustav Jung.

	WAR IS TERROR Professor Richard A Falk, a member of Global Vision's international board of advisers, is the Albert G. Millbank Professor of International Law and Practice at Princeton University, the Professor of Politics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and the author of many books including The Great Terror War (Olive Branch Press, 2002).
	In December 2002, Le Monde Diplomatique published his article Washington against Baghdad: the United Nations taken hostage, in which he condemns the so-called "war on terror" as a blatant violation of international law that sets a dangerous precedent for future "pre-emptive" wars by other nations. Fundamentalists as "identified patient" The late great psychiatrist and Global Vision adviser R.D. Laing (see interview) famously observed that the individual who is labelled "insane" is often the identified patient in a network of inter-personal relationships which are themselves pathogenic. The same is true for Islamic fundamentalists caught in a global network of neo-liberal economic and political relationships in which governments and consumers in WTO member states are collectively driving them mad. From this perspective, the USA "war on terror" is an attempt to control the symptoms which is certain to exacerbate the disease for generations to come. And guarantee more profits for the arms dealers.	GREGORY BATESON Global Vision's whole systems approach to the world situation (see position paper) was greatly inspired by the late Gregory Bateson, anthropologist and author of Steps to an Ecology of Mind and Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity. Bateson studied the self-organising aspects of biological and social systems,and felt that the major threats to our survival and well-being are the direct result of misguided attempts to apply linear control to biological and social systems whose mode of organization is non-linear. He may yet be regarded as the most important thinker of the 20th century. As he put it:
Holding the news media accountable Danny Schechter is the author of Media Wars, and the founder of The Media Channel (mediachannel.org) and Globalvision News Network - www.gvnews.net (no connection with us), a global syndicate of more than 340 independent news organizations that have joined to provide fresh and intelligent perspectives on global events as seen through the eyes of experienced, professional journalists who are native to the regions about which they report. See his interview on the need to hold our media accountable in their complicity in the "war on terror": "There's a problem with our media institutions. There's been a merger between show business and news business in the USA and in other parts of the world. There's been a shrinking number of informational educational documentary programmes about the rest of the world, as many broadcasters imitate or clone the American model of broadcasting."
"The myth of power, is of course, a very powerful myth; and probably most people in this world more or less believe in it... But it is still epistemological lunacy and leads inevitably to all sorts of disaster... To want control is the pathology! Not that a person can get control, because of course you never do... Man is only a part of larger systems, and the part can never control the whole".

The Dalai Lama on non-violence: (from our forthcoming documentary Sustainability: The Best Investment:) "It is quite obvious that solving disagreements using force is no longer effective. Although it may solve one problem, the violent method creates a more complicated situation with immense side effects. The time has come to find an alternative way to solve our conflicts. The best way is dialogue, in the spirit of reconciliation. Non-violence does not mean to disengage or remain indifferent! Non-violence means you fully engage the problem but not using the violent method. The more human way: talk, face to face, and keep the other's interests. This is our only planet and all human beings are our brothers and sisters. All the conflict within humanity is a kind of internal problem. Under such circumstances, using the violent method - killing - is inhuman and can not solve the problem."

	WHEN THE DREAM BECOMES REAL: The Inner Apocalypse in Mythology, Madness and the Future This anthropological text – written by Global Vision director Michael O'Callaghan in 1981– warned of the growing fundamentalist backlash to neo-liberal economic globalisation which eventually exploded through 9/11 and the so-called "war on terror". It traces the imagery of Apocalypse through history, mythology, and religion, to the archaic depths of the collective unconscious. Apart from the biblical Book of Revelations, images of world-destruction-and-renewal are legion in shamanic narratives, in dreams and spontaneous non-ordinary states of consciousness, in psychedelic experiences, in the hallucinatory visions of the world's 60 million "schizophrenic" people, and in the minds of religious fundamentalists, intelligence operatives, military planners, politicians, and ordinary folk who wonder what horror might await us at the end of history.
The text reviews evidence from comparative mythology, anthropology and psychiatry which shows that the Apocalypse is a psychologically built-in metaphor of personal renewal, which can take over ordinary consciousness in times of personal growth. It is also the shadow of the Myth of Progress, for as Jung said, "When an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate." This text explores the psychological meaning of this ancient symbol of transformation. It includes a brief historical review of the violent suppression of Old Europe's shamanic traditions under the Roman Empire and Christianity, an interview with Jungian psychiatrist Dr. John Weir Perry who describes his successful non-drug approach to "schizophrenia" as a natural healing process, and an account of the Global Vision Project's origin during an astroarcheological field-trip to a 6,000 year-old megalithic artwork built by the pre-Indoeuropean Tuatha Dé Danaan (People of the Goddess Danu) in Ireland.


SCIENCE & THE SACRED	"The truth that can be spoken is not the truth." – Lao Tsu

Science and the Sacred is a trans-disciplinary learning programme which Global Vision plans to launch at our future base in a secluded 12th century castle and village in the Chianti hills of Tuscany, Italy.

This is conceived as a neutral space for influential individuals from the world's religions and spiritual traditions to meet with transnational corporate CEOs and leading thinkers in the sciences and the humanities, for in-depth discussions about the identity of humankind, our perception of each other, and our place in the universe. The programme will include informal private meetings, workshops, seminars, conferences, research, graduate studies, and faculty training. The principal aims are to heal the false epistemology which claims monopoly on truth, and to address the systemic causes of religious, economic and political fundamentalism in the context of history and globalisation.

THE SUSTAINABILITY STUDENT ACTION KIT

Supported by UNDP, UNICEF, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, WHO, IUCN - World Conservation Union, WWF International, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and Earth Day Network.

Our Sustainability Student Action Kit is a world-class educational media package designed as the first gobal curriculum on solutions to world problems, for distribution to schools in 185 countries in 2007. The project is in development by Global Vision, in collaboration with our partner Peace Child International, a youth-led NGO network of 500 groups of secondary school students in 120 countries. Media product will include:

Peace Child hosted the 1999 Millennium Young People's Congress in Hawaii. They have also created a widely-acclaimed series of books including Rescue Mission - Planet Earth: A Children's Edition of Agenda 21 with an introduction by Boutros Boutros-Ghali (which sold 300,000 copies in 19 languages), Stand Up For Your Rights (with an introduction by Mary Robinson), and Be The Change! Youth Solutions for the New Millennium (with an introduction by Kofi Annan).

The 240-page book will be created by the leading educational book specialist Bender, Richardson, White. It will be written, illustrated and edited by a an international team of Peace Child students under the guidance of Peace Child director David R. Woolcombe, who is also creating an international baccalaureate on Sustainable Development with the University of Cambridge. The whole project is being produced by Global Vision director Michael O'Callaghan.

DEDICATION

FOR THE CHILDREN

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

The ecological footprint concept is a historical breakthrough - like the discovery that the Earth is round - worthy of a Nobel Prize. Developed by Global Vision advisory board member Professor William E. Rees at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and Mathis Wackernagel who founded the Global Footprint Network (www.footprintnetwork.org) in Oakland, California (see interview), the concept bridges economics and ecology by quantifiying humanity's use of natural resources.

Detailed analysis reveals that humanity's footprint grew by 250% from 1961 to 2001, to a level 21% higher than the Earth's carrying capacity. Most developed economies are running massive ecological deficits, and humankind is rapidly liquidating our planet's natural capital to support current resource use, thereby violating the right of future generations to meet their own needs. The Global Footprint Network has published ecological footprint analyses for 150 countries, which should be required reading for governments, corporations and NGOs seeking policies and tools to encourage accurate market prices, protect our common assets, and foster social and economic sustainability. If every nation consumed resources as inefficiently as the USA, we would need 3 planets to survive! Ecological footprint analysis now makes sustainability an accountable goal, and renders sustainability talk meaningless unless it is backed up by specific measurable commitments and timetables for implementation.

At an European Parliament event in June 2005, EU President Barroso helped launch Global Footprint Network and WWF's Report Europe 2005: The Ecological Footprint. The report shows that the EU uses 20 per cent of what the world's ecosystems provide in terms of fibres, food, energy, and waste absorption. Yet Europe is home to only 7 per cent of the world population. Europe's demand on the planet has risen by almost 70 per cent since 1961. Europeans now require 4.9 globally average hectares per person to provide for their lifestyle. As the continent can only supply 2.2 global hectares per person, Europeans rely on the rest of the world to make up this increasing deficit. Europe's Ecological Footprint represents an area more than twice the size of its geographical area.

GLOBAL VISION INFORMATION-ART AWARD 2002

Our first annual Information-Art Award goes to WWF International (www.panda.org), Earth Day Network (www.earthday.net) and Redefining Progress (redefiningprogress.org) for their massively informative tiny pamphlet entitled Your Ecological Footprint (shown 2/3 actual size, above left). This small info package explains the essential points of ecological footprint analysis and also ranks the world's nations from highest footprint / least sustainable (United Arab Emirates and the USA) to the lowest / most sustainable (Burundi and Mozambique). Amongst the tonnes of documents circulated at the Rio+10 summit in Johannesburg, this one clearly embodied the least amount of resources (paper and ink) for the greatest amount of information that makes a difference. Congratulations!

This pamphlet should be distributed to every school in every nation.

POPULATION EXPLOSION

Human population growth has now reached what mathematicians call the superexponential rate, straining the carrying capacity of the Earth's biosphere to the limit. Consider the numbers: world population grew from 0.5 billion in 1650, to 1 billion in 1800, to 2 billion in 1930, to 3 billion in 1960, to 4 billion in 1975, to 5 billion in 1987, to 5.5 billion in 1992, to an estimated 6.3 billion in the year 2000, heading towards an anticipated maximum of 14 billion in 2100. The problem is not the people, but their overconsumption of the Earths resources and their production of wastes. Most of the resource consumption and waste production takes place in the rich developed countries. (The USA, which accounts for so much of the global ecological footprint, has only 5% of the world population.) And half the world population now lives in cities, which are growing by over one million inhabitants each week. The 92 million added in 1991 is equivalent to adding in one year the population of about six New York Cities. There are now 91 cities with one million or more inhabitants, and 23 megacities with populations of more than ten million. There can be no sustainability without sustainable cities.


SUSTAINABLE CITY Our proposed Local Agenda 21 GIS urban management software application for any town or city to see itself - and its surrounding environment - as a whole system, measure its ecological footprint, and plan its transition to sustainability.

"People world-wide are beginning to share their stories, and a picture is emerging which is uniting them. Instead of economic globalisation, we need to strengthen our local economies." – Helena Norberg Hodge

GLOBAL VISION IN IRELAND:
	After 25 years in New York and London, Global Vision returned to Ireland in 2002, where we set up Global Vision Consulting Ltd and have been incubating various projects. We created the www.astroarchaeology.org website to help protect the astronomical design features of Irish megalithic monuments from the Neolithic period (4800 - 3000 BCE). We also founded the GM-free Ireland Network (www.gmfreeireland.org), an association of individuals and organisations collaborating to keep the whole island of Ireland free of genetically modified (GM) animal feed, seeds, trees, crops, livestock, fish and food, which are rejected by the majority of European food brands, retailers and consumers, and prohibited by 100 regions and 4,500 local authorities in 22 EU countries. The GMFI Network includes over 32,000 farmers, foresters, food producers, food distributors and exporters, leading chefs and restaurants, NGOs, professional associations, doctors, economists, lawyers, journalists, students, and consumers.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Michael O'Callaghan founded Global Vision Corporation in 1982 and Global Vision Consulting Ltd. in 2003. He considers himself an information-artist. His principal interest is in creating contexts of information which evoke the pattern that connects the world situation to our own way of seeing it.

He sees only the twisting of the path and the winding of the stream. He does not know that he is already in the Land of the Immortals. – ancient Taoist poem		You have to be the change you want to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi


	The URL of this page is: www.global-vision.org Last updated 24 August 2005 Copyright © 1982 - 2005 Global Vision Corporation For enquiries contact mail@global-vision.org