Welcome to the GAIA update page

Welcome to the GAIA update page / Välkommen till GAIA nyhetssida

Contact/Kontakt: Carl Öhlen Västra Myrskären 20, SE 746 01 Bålsta, Sweden or carl.ohlen@lacable.se

Här nedan så hittar du användbar information om det aktuella förhållandena på vår jord när det gäller den globala uppvärmningen och energikonsumtionen. Hur allting hänger ihop. Att vår nuvarande råvaruslukande konsumtionsstil i de ”utvecklade” västländerna inte är hållbar för oss lyckliga 20 % som lever i den rika världen, speciellt när nu även delar av den övriga världen i det vi kallar ”Emerging Markets” tar efter. Huvudproblemet är inte att ersätta olja och kol med ”något annat” utan är mycket större. Vi lever över våra tillgångar in om alla områden och vi måste ifrågasätta den konsumtions modell som kräver exponentiell tillväxt ”för evigt”. Att göra det svåraste som finns vilket är att ifrågasätta vår egen livsstil och förändra oss själva.

Detta kräver en ”väckelserörelse” utan motstycke i historien. För det måste ske nu. Därför har jag skapat denna hemsida. Så jag kan sprida budskapet till alla jag känner. Och du kan sprida det till alla du känner. Du hittar bland annat “The sixty years crisis – A short story of a huge problem” som är en Internet bok på engelska i tio delar. Det är en sammanställning av många rapporter och mina egna erfarenheter från de länder jag arbetat i. Dessutom hittar ni här nedan ett antal länkar till andra webbsidor. Mycket fakta att begrunda. För detta är inte enkelt. Men det är det viktigaste du kan gör med resten av ditt liv.

Here below I will post some useful information about the status of our planet concerning global warming and energy consumption. How everything is connected. That our present raw material demanding “consumerism” in the rich western countries is not sustainable. Not for us 20% lucky ones living in the rich world. Not for 80% living in what we call “The emerging markets”. And definitely not for the coming generations living in our common future. The main problem is not to replace oil and coal with “something else”. Our problem is far greater. We are living above our means in all aspects and we have to question the very model that demands exponential growth for ever. We have to do the most difficult thing of all. To question our own life style and to change ourselves.

This requires an awakening without comparison in history. NOW! This is why I have created this website. To spread this to everyone I know so you can spread this to everyone you know. You will here below find the “The sixty years crisis – A short story of a huge problem” compiled in ten different parts. This will give you a summary of many important books and reports that has been written about our environment and our way o living during the last sixty years as well as my own experiences from different countries I have worked in. It also includes links to many other web sites with important information. This is a lot to digest. Because it is not simple. But it is the most important thing you can do with the rest of your life.

Here below you can down load the latest newsletter about GAIA:

Här kan du ladda hem de senaste nyhetsbreven om GAIA:

GAIA News letter - Nyhetsbrev

Down load area for “The sixty years crisis – A short history of a huge problem”. (In English):

Ladda hem “The sixty years crisis – A short history of a huge problem”. (In English):

Down load area for own publications in Swedish:

Ladda hem PDF publikationer på svenska:

Bakgrund till När Var Hur artiklar

All följande information är på engelska. All following information is in English.

Information from IPCC = The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

In their latest report 2007 the conclusion is:

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level”

Information from UNEP = The UN Environmental Program and Global Environmental Outlook

In their latest report 2007 – GEO 4 the conclusion is:

“While there has been progress on some of the more straightforward problems for which

solutions are proven, like the pollution of air and water, there remain what GEO-4’s authors

call the persistent problems for which solutions are emerging - for example, climate change,

deterioration of fisheries, and the extinction of species. On progress towards addressing these

issues, the report says: “There are no major issues raised in Our Common Future for which the

foreseeable trends are favourable.” And, this may threaten humanity’s very survival as well.

The scale of the challenge is huge.”

Information from UNDP = The UN Development Program and Human Development reports

As a comment to their latest report President Lula from Brazil said:

“The Human Development Report 2007/2008 should be mandatory reading for all governments, especially those in the world’s richest nations. It reminds us that historic responsibility for the rapid build—up of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere rests not with the world’s poor, but with the developed world.”

-Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
President of the Federative Republic of Brazil

So finally we are starting to wake up from our dance around the golden calf.

From our dream to consume and grow all the way to heaven.

All this information may seem complex and it is. It is an enormous amount of facts but they all point in the same direction. In one generation we have managed to severely damage life on earth. We are living far above our means, what our only planet – GAIA can withstand.

We = our generation living in a few rich countries in the western world with United States in the absolute top are fully responsible for this alarming “development”. Through our history, through our present life style and by exporting this life style to the rest of the world to be included in what we call “Globalization”.

Our worst and most urgent problem is the emission of green house gases now causing the global warming. But this is only one of many severe “crimes against GAIA”. We are since the last 60 years growing with an accelerating exponential speed where we dig ourselves into the earth and seas to get what we want and we pollute air, soil and waters with an increasing number of new substances.

So it is in fact very simple. We need to change our way of living from a high consuming society based on growth to a sustainable society based on re-cycling.

Naturally you should change to low-energy lamps, from oil based fuel to bio fuel for your car, from eating meat to eating vegetables. But it is not enough. You have to switch off the light, park the car and take public transportation when possible or car pool, cook your own food from locally produced groceries, don’t go to the shopping mall but buy locally what you need. Re-use and re-cycle. Switch off the air-conditioning and save water.

In a way it is to go back in time to a level we used to have just a few years back in time – but still at that time were satisfied with it. Because a lot of what we buy today is not necessary. We just buy to consume or throw away. Still it does not make us happy.

The best in life is for free. Love, compassion and solidarity are for free. A walk in the forest or a swim in the ocean is for free. Enjoying the singing of the birds and watching a sunset is for free. Dancing and listening to music is for free.

We can still use a lot of the fantastic technology we have created. We can watch movies and television. We can surf on Internet and play games if we want. We can communicate with our friends far away. But not use technology to consume and get absorbed in a virtual world. Because the most important thing we have to do is to rediscover the truth, goodness and beauty of our living earth – Gaia.

And we have to re-discover the meaning of life with our own role in the Universal play.

Love and togetherness was what made mankind successful through evolution. “No man is an island”. During 99% of our human history men and women have lived in extended families or small rural communities. We shared and we cared for each other. The paradox of today’s society is that although we have global communication we are more alone and separated form the whole. Now more than 50% of the world population are urbanized and live in cities. We live in a dense society where we should do things together. But we don’t. Instead more and more of us live as singles. We travel by our own car to work and the shopping mall. We fly on vacation. We live in a global world but we are separated from each other and the nature we are part of.

Our challenge is to integrate instead of separate. To recover a balanced life in harmony with Nature instead of our linear growth in war with Nature.It is to a great extent a revolution within ourselves. To change. To learn not only what to do but also what NOT to do. And it is a change that is most drastic for the wealthy rulers of the world – the stupid white men as Michael Moore calls us – and I am one of them.

In order ot find a sustainable way of life in balance spiritual, emotional, physical and mental balance we need all humnas – and we especially need our female half to focus on what is really important – health, love, harmony, peace and hapiness.

Suggested litterature

George Orwell, Nineteen eighty-four (1949)

Abraham H. Maslow, Motivation and prsonality (1954)

Erich Fromm, The Sane Society (1955)

Carson Rachel, Silent Spring (1962)

Graham Frank, Since Silent Spring (1970)

Erensvärd G, Före – Efter , Before-After only available in Swedish (1970)

Commoner, The closing circle (1971)

Ward B, Bubos R, Only One Earth (1972)

Roches L, Rungoh R, The Energy Crisis (1972)

Meadows, Randers, Behrens, The limits of growth (1972)

Schumacher E.F, Small is beautiful (1975)

Myers Norman GAIA - An Atlas of Planet Management (1984)

Worldwatch Institute – State of the world (1984 – 2008)

Wright von G.H, Vetenskapen och Förnuftet – “Science and Sense” only available in Swedish(1987)

Lovelock J, The Ages of Gaia (1988)

Barnaby Frank, The GAIA Peace Atlas - Survial into the third millennium (1988)

Young Louise B, Sowing the Wind (1990)

Commoner Barry, Making Peace with the Planet (1990)

Instituto del Tercer Mundo, The Third World Guide/ Gaia del tercer mundo (1979 -2007)

Heyerdahl, Grön var jorden å den sjunde dagen – The day was green the 7^th day only available in Swedish (1991)

Asimov I, Pohl F, Our Angry Earth (1991)

Porritt J, Save the Earth (1991)

Brown, Flavin; Postel, Saving the planet (1991)

Galbraith J.K., The culture of Contentment (1992)

Gore A, Earth in the Balance (1992)

World Resources Insttute, Environmental Almanac (1992)

Wright von G.H, Myten om framsteget – “The myth of progress” only available in Swedish(1993)

Mander, Goldsmith, The Case against the Global Economy (1996)

Coca, Dabelko, Green Planet Blues (1998)

UNEP, Earth and faith – A book of reflection for action (2000)

UNUP, Human Development and the Environment (2002)

Plannery, Tim, The Weather Makers (2005)

Gore, Al, An Inconveniant Truth (2006)

Pearce, F, The Last Generation (2006)

Lynas, Mark, Six degrees. Our future on a hotter planet (2007)

Walker and King, The Hot Topic (2008)

Javna, 50 Simple things you can do to save the earth (2008)