UN Invites Hungary’s Eco Valley Foundation to Attend COP16
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Dhanesvara Das
Nov 2, 2010, 7:31:46 AM11/2/10
to Varnashrama Culture
From ISKCON News website
UN Invites Hungary’s Eco Valley Foundation to Attend COP16
By Madhava Smullen on 9 Oct 2010
Read more:http://news.iskcon.org/node/3175/2010-10-09/
un_invites_hungary_s_eco_valley_foundation_to_attend_cop16#ixzz147jCIESY
The Eco-Valley Foundation and Sustainability Sciences Research
Institute—a non-profit organization run by ISKCON devotees in Hungary—
received an invitation from the United Nations this September 20th for
the COP16 Climate Summit from November 29th to December 10th in
Cancun, Mexico.
The Eco-Valley Foundation (EVF) collects and propagates knowledge
about economic, environmental and social issues, and helps people to
start and maintain sustainable communities.
Chairman Radha Krishna Dasa is also part of Hungary’s most successful
eco-village—ISKCON’s Krishna Valley.
“We want to create a universally adoptable blueprint for living,” he
says. “At the heart of this is developing the understanding that we
are part of God’s creation, and not the ruler of it. Doing this will
inspire us to live in harmony with our surroundings, and to embrace
sustainable living.”
Radha Krishna further explains: “There should be three things in a
sustainable society: a temple, a school and a place to get together.
On a broader level, a temple means that there should be a goal of life
that the community is all working to achieve. School doesn’t
necessarily mean formal education: it refers to practical life skills
such as how to grow crops, how to take care of cows, how to clean your
clothes, how to cook, how to build and repair homes, etc. And a place
to get together – such togetherness makes people happy, and we would
like to see everyone happy.”
EVF has already been busy propagating its message on a major scale: it
is affiliated with eight Hungarian universities, and has connections
with two more in India and Dubai. It is currently running four
scientific research programs, tutoring 32 university student
dissertations, and just drew 480 participants to its annual
sustainability conference at Krishna Valley—the largest of its kind in
Hungary. In addition, Radha Krishna Dasa made 73 presentations around
the world within the last year, speaking to university students,
scholars, and professionals in India, Dubai, the USA, Sweden, and
Denmark.
With the invitation to COP16, however, the Eco-Valley Foundation will
get the chance to present its message to some of the world’s biggest
decision-makers.
President Obama and over 180 other Heads of State attended last year’s
summit, as well as many politicians and environmental and economic
ministers. These are also expected to attend this year, as well as
thousands of scientists, professors, governmental delegations, and NGO
delegations.
“We would like to represent our ideas of simple living and high
thinking to those people who can change things in the world,” says
Radha Krishna. “And this is a great opportunity to show the leaders of
society a liveable, replicable model, and to express our interest in
getting to know them and to start working with them.”
The COP summit—the largest meeting of the Conference of the Parties,
the supreme body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change—is
held once a year. COP16 is, of course, the sixteenth annual meeting—
the summits have been held since before the Kyoto Protocol came into
effect in 1997, establishing legally binding obligations for developed
countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
This year’s and next year’s meetings will focus mainly on discussions
about how to renew the Kyoto agreement, which is effective only until
2012. These are of major importance, since if the agreement is not
renewed in 2012, countries will have free reign on greenhouse gas
emissions and this could have disastrous consequences for the
environment.
The two devotees nominated to attend COP16 as representatives of the
Eco-Valley Foundation are EVF strategy and development director Vadim
Sviridovich, from Russia, and assistant to the chairman George Kirs,
from Hungary. Both are economists, while George is also a teacher.
“We have been given admittance as an observer organization, which
means that they will be able to attend all the meetings and to give
feedback on them in writing,” Radha Krishna says. “They can also apply
to set up a separate brainstorming session or discussion that they
lead during the climate summit, and have permission to set up an
exhibition. Of course, we will also be able to meet and make contacts
with people we would like to work with later.”
At their first ever COP meetings, the EVF representatives plan to
gather information, draft a proposal, give their input in writing on
the issues that are discussed, and express the importance of creating
small communities.
“In the future, we would like to work with governmental officials and
scientists and universities to help people make sustainable villages
and towns, and to develop already existing villages and towns in a
more sustainable way,” Radha Krishna says. “We want to show them a
model that is a real, practical way of life.”
He concludes: “Ultimately, we would like to show the world in a
scientific way that Srila Prabhupada’s teachings on how to live are
sustainable and would result in a much happier world than the one we
have right now. We want everyone to live a happy life, maintain
themselves nicely, and go back to Godhead at the end of their life.”
Read more:http://news.iskcon.org/node/3175/2010-10-09/
un_invites_hungary_s_eco_valley_foundation_to_attend_cop16#ixzz147j6TfRn
UN Invites Hungary’s Eco Valley Foundation to Attend COP16
By Madhava Smullen on 9 Oct 2010
Read more:http://news.iskcon.org/node/3175/2010-10-09/
un_invites_hungary_s_eco_valley_foundation_to_attend_cop16#ixzz147jCIESY
The Eco-Valley Foundation and Sustainability Sciences Research
Institute—a non-profit organization run by ISKCON devotees in Hungary—
received an invitation from the United Nations this September 20th for
the COP16 Climate Summit from November 29th to December 10th in
Cancun, Mexico.
The Eco-Valley Foundation (EVF) collects and propagates knowledge
about economic, environmental and social issues, and helps people to
start and maintain sustainable communities.
Chairman Radha Krishna Dasa is also part of Hungary’s most successful
eco-village—ISKCON’s Krishna Valley.
“We want to create a universally adoptable blueprint for living,” he
says. “At the heart of this is developing the understanding that we
are part of God’s creation, and not the ruler of it. Doing this will
inspire us to live in harmony with our surroundings, and to embrace
sustainable living.”
Radha Krishna further explains: “There should be three things in a
sustainable society: a temple, a school and a place to get together.
On a broader level, a temple means that there should be a goal of life
that the community is all working to achieve. School doesn’t
necessarily mean formal education: it refers to practical life skills
such as how to grow crops, how to take care of cows, how to clean your
clothes, how to cook, how to build and repair homes, etc. And a place
to get together – such togetherness makes people happy, and we would
like to see everyone happy.”
EVF has already been busy propagating its message on a major scale: it
is affiliated with eight Hungarian universities, and has connections
with two more in India and Dubai. It is currently running four
scientific research programs, tutoring 32 university student
dissertations, and just drew 480 participants to its annual
sustainability conference at Krishna Valley—the largest of its kind in
Hungary. In addition, Radha Krishna Dasa made 73 presentations around
the world within the last year, speaking to university students,
scholars, and professionals in India, Dubai, the USA, Sweden, and
Denmark.
With the invitation to COP16, however, the Eco-Valley Foundation will
get the chance to present its message to some of the world’s biggest
decision-makers.
President Obama and over 180 other Heads of State attended last year’s
summit, as well as many politicians and environmental and economic
ministers. These are also expected to attend this year, as well as
thousands of scientists, professors, governmental delegations, and NGO
delegations.
“We would like to represent our ideas of simple living and high
thinking to those people who can change things in the world,” says
Radha Krishna. “And this is a great opportunity to show the leaders of
society a liveable, replicable model, and to express our interest in
getting to know them and to start working with them.”
The COP summit—the largest meeting of the Conference of the Parties,
the supreme body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change—is
held once a year. COP16 is, of course, the sixteenth annual meeting—
the summits have been held since before the Kyoto Protocol came into
effect in 1997, establishing legally binding obligations for developed
countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
This year’s and next year’s meetings will focus mainly on discussions
about how to renew the Kyoto agreement, which is effective only until
2012. These are of major importance, since if the agreement is not
renewed in 2012, countries will have free reign on greenhouse gas
emissions and this could have disastrous consequences for the
environment.
The two devotees nominated to attend COP16 as representatives of the
Eco-Valley Foundation are EVF strategy and development director Vadim
Sviridovich, from Russia, and assistant to the chairman George Kirs,
from Hungary. Both are economists, while George is also a teacher.
“We have been given admittance as an observer organization, which
means that they will be able to attend all the meetings and to give
feedback on them in writing,” Radha Krishna says. “They can also apply
to set up a separate brainstorming session or discussion that they
lead during the climate summit, and have permission to set up an
exhibition. Of course, we will also be able to meet and make contacts
with people we would like to work with later.”
At their first ever COP meetings, the EVF representatives plan to
gather information, draft a proposal, give their input in writing on
the issues that are discussed, and express the importance of creating
small communities.
“In the future, we would like to work with governmental officials and
scientists and universities to help people make sustainable villages
and towns, and to develop already existing villages and towns in a
more sustainable way,” Radha Krishna says. “We want to show them a
model that is a real, practical way of life.”
He concludes: “Ultimately, we would like to show the world in a
scientific way that Srila Prabhupada’s teachings on how to live are
sustainable and would result in a much happier world than the one we
have right now. We want everyone to live a happy life, maintain
themselves nicely, and go back to Godhead at the end of their life.”
Read more:http://news.iskcon.org/node/3175/2010-10-09/
un_invites_hungary_s_eco_valley_foundation_to_attend_cop16#ixzz147j6TfRn
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