I've started writing a book about my views on environmentalism on
http://fecowebs.ourproject.orgI cannot trust in the service provider, so I usually show this homepage to some people, even before the book is ready. I have started to write the book as someone writes a blog, so people can see how I progress. And I've already uploaded some resources which can be interesting until my book is ready. There are some links, and I've wrote what I think the readers will consider the essence of my future book in advance. Foreseeing the essence that way, I will be able to write my book one level wiser. Hereby I share that essence with you, which is also accessible from here:
http://fecowebs.ourproject.org/theessence.htmlFeedback is appreciated, especially English-language error corrections, as I'm a native Hungarian speaker and English is only my second language.
Árpád Fekete's brief environmentalist teachings (2012)At the beginning of the 21st century we could experience a big world economic crisis. This came suddenly to the common man, but its foresigns could be seen by economic experts even at the end of the 20nd century. Increasing personal and national debts, increasing costs of the living standard, increasing consumption and depleting natural resources could all predict hard times for the future. The bad news is that much worse is predicted for the middle and the end of the century. Annual oil production will decrease soon, so energy will probably cost more, which will cause the living standard fall. Actually, we even have to be grateful for that, because the other way the carbon-dioxide which gets into the air by burning the oil would probably cause a greater-scale global warming. Because of global warming, the melting inland ice can raise the sea levels and can decrease the land areas available to mankind. Meanwhile, agriculture struggles with a lack of fresh-water and the draining of lands, and there is overfishing in the seas. As the human population of Earth still increases, even the most optimist predictions wait for great famines. In a worse scenario a nuclear war or other permanent destruction happens. The ozone layer and Earth's natural ecosystems are in danger too. The mentioned problems were even more severe if people didn't observe the international agreements because of a collapse or wars. What can we do in this situation?
Mankind should realize sooner or later that population growth should be limited, otherwise it will be limited by famine, which comes with greater suffering. Sooner or later the wastage of resources should be decreased to the minimum too. For the sake of environmentalism, it would be better to accomplish them sooner. By the way, the most important thing now is survival, and for this purpose it should be made sure that the countries which can create nuclear weapons will not use them, and people should not use other fatal technologies either. It is not enough only to disarm nuclear weapons, because people could quickly recreate them again in case of a war. Instead, such an educational and political situation should be created where the production and usage of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction becomes hard and meaningless.
It is a sad experience that both the private economy and the democratic politics served short-term interests, because the buyers and the voters have chosen the better standard of living instead of sustainability. If it goes on further this way, we will probably not be able to prevent the expected crisis, and we have to take care of our own survival. We should understand what dangers are waiting for us, and how can we avoid them in our own lives. If we are poor and weak, then it is not worthy beget children just before the crisis, otherwise it is indeed possible that the child would die. If everyone would prepare for the collapse so consciously, then it might not be able to cause so severe damage. If people and nations would store food for themselves, then the crisis could come less abruptly, and more time would be available for tackling the crisis. If everyone would acquire the survivor equipment and the ability to use it well in advance, then everyone could get them. Survival chances could even be increased by making alliances. If the rich people and the states doesn't protect the environment sufficiently, at least they should prepare for the crisis.
The rich have more chance for preparation, because they are not disturbed by everyday cost-of-living worries. In case of a possible collapse, however, when money doesn't matter, they are the ones who can lose the most. That's why it is worthy for a rich person to be surrounded by such allies whom the rich person supported before, they being grateful to the rich person. If the rich person prepares to be self-sufficient and self-defensive with these people, they can raise their chances for survival, and beside that, they could also drive the world economy to a more sustainable course. Because if the role of trade decreases, then the output decreases, but it will probably not collapse so easily. Nations should also sustain themselves alone, otherwise a global collapse would harm them severely, as there would hardly be other which helps them. If a country needs more food than it produces, then it should not get the food even now, but instead, part of its population should move to another country. After this operation, every country should import only that much food which it exports, and immigration should be allowed to be greater than emigration only if the population is decreasing. This way the food scarcity could more easily limit population growth, and the countries would perhaps create laws against overpopulation earlier.
Árpád Fekete's brief philosophyThe man who is full of questions can find the answer to them on his own, if he searches for it. The person longing for wisdom can get on without a teacher. But for that, it is worthy to observe two pieces of good advice:
- He/she should take care that he/she should not believe in any false teachings, because already many false teachings have come into being in this world. If he/she regularly filters what he/she hears, this practice can make him/her wiser, as knowing the truth and wisdom are close to each other. If he/she doesn't believe the things blindly, he/she can understand the relations better.
- He/she should regularly let time for resting and disengagement. This time he/she could open for something new. He/she could increase his/her wisdom by letting his/her brain time to process the information. It is worthy for a human to let a whole day for this in each week, and to have good a night's rest. Many persons might have got wiser from it, but if not, a day as this is surely good for making sure that our lives is not only about struggle, but about pleasure too.
Meeting with a mature philosopher could make the spiritual development faster: it could make appetite for thinking and it can share new thoughts. This can most easily happen in those areas of philosophy which are the most interesting: in the topics of worldview, ethics and politics. Religions were about them, and Plato and Aristotle wrote about them too. Those are the areas which can influence our own lives too.
Worldview: There is a worldview which holds that the world is a machine which changes according to the natural laws discovered by or to be discovered by science. But this worldview can hardly approach the questions of human self-consciousness and the wonders written down in history, and it cannot prove its standpoint mathematically, it could only tell that the worldview is probable. There is a more perfect worldview which acknowledges its ignorance and does not rule out the possibility of a higher intelligence's existence. With the higher intelligence, the science of Natural Theology deals. The God arguments and the arguments for God(s)'s features belong to there. While traditional theology is based on authority and on tradition kept in human works, Natural Theology builds upon the phenomena observable in Nature, and thus we can trust in that more. Perhaps the best God arguments are the teleological arguments (having final cause), which point to a concrete phenomenon of the world and argue that it came into being not because of humans, and it still helps an intelligent cause or humans. It is possible that there are God arguments too, which are accessible only to those people who are the witnesses to God's wonders.
Ethics: Ethics can mean two things. It can mean life wisdom, which is useful for ourselves, as the golden middle way from Aristotle, or the philosophy of right goal from Buddha. Ethics can mean goodness too, like the moral duty in Kant's philosophy. The approach from life wisdom can be formulated by good advice and arguments beside them. Such can be that important good advice too, that we should not be too obese in order to live long. Such can be the advice too, that we should return the good and bad deeds of people, and in the hope of return we should do good to more people publicly. It is possible that there are also good pieces of advice which have no arguments beside them.
Politics: Human society works according to the rules of politics. If these rules are wrong, then it can cause too much suffering to the people. That's why it is worthy to make politics more perfect, and that's why the role of ethics is multiplied on this area. The most important goals of politics should be to provide freedom, justice, prosperity and sustainability. In order to achieve them, the basic knowledge about worldview, ethics and politics should be taught in public education with obliged exams, e.g. instead of fictional literature. According to Árpád Fekete, in an ideal political system real estates should be allowed to be given or sold only to the state, and after the death of the owner the state would inherit them, and thus the state could more easily provide the equality of chances and the protection of the environment. For the sake of peace and the easier transformation, money would be as inheritable as before.
If money and publicity were provided, Árpád Fekete would like to write about worldview, ethics and politics more.
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