BIOPOLICY: ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES
THE OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD A GREEN SOCIETY
Prof. Agni Vlavianos Arvanitis
President and Founder, Biopolitics International Organisation
10 Tim. Vassou St., Athens 11521, Greece Tel: (+30210) 6432419, Fax: (+30210) 6434093
e-mail: bios@otenet.gr www.biopolitics.gr
Abstract
Environmental and economic threats are growing because enlightened environmental policy is in scarcity in the world today. To be effective in coping with these global challenges, we need to give priority to a new dimension of profit; not profit in terms of money only, but also in terms of values and of ways of rebuilding society. This requires new ethics and new policy to replace conventional practices with progressive participatory perspectives, through multi-stakeholder dialogue, systems thinking, education, and inclusive cross-cultural processes.
Efforts to restructure our economies need to focus on curbing unemployment, eradicating poverty, protecting biodiversity, and promoting clean technology and energy, education, international cooperation and intercultural dialogue. Technological developments provide numerous opportunities for the control of emissions from a wide range of sources, the remediation of waste sites and polluted water sources. Nanotechnology revolutionises the development of “green” products and processes that minimise the production of undesirable by-products. Hydrogen energy production from algae adds new dimensions to the renewable energy sector. Cleaner production and low carbon technologies contribute to climate change mitigation and offer a win-win scenario for businesses everywhere. The concept of “zero-emission” cities brings new hope in urban management, while green transport and green jobs improve quality of life and boost the development of strategies for sustainable livelihoods.
For the past 25 years, the Biopolitics International Organisation (B.I.O.) acts as a driving force to ensure the continuity of life on our planet by underscoring the interdependence among all forms of life and all cultures. We strive to “plant” new ideas and infuse new thinking, by mobilising the collective talent of our network in 150 countries through innovative projects and programmes that help to implement worldwide action for environmental ethics and policy. In this context, we focus on the need to draw inspiration from culture and from diachronic values. It is very timely that Istanbul has been chosen as this year’s Cultural Capital of Europe, as perhaps no other city in the world embodies such diachronic diversity. With roots in both Europe and the East, Istanbul can serve as a paradigm for the promotion of new philosophy and ethics to build a “green society,” a society of hope and environmental harmony.
