A TEDx presentation made at TEDxWWF in Geneva for WWF International (13 October 2011) by Michael Spencer, communications consultant, who holds the position of Visiting Fellow at the Music and Culture Research Centre of Ueno Gakuen University (Tokyo). Here he talks about the world of song.

Peak Moment 200: "Is the world a better place because you were born?" asks author Derrick Jensen. He contrasts sustainable indigenous cultures who enrich their habitat with the current "dominant culture destroying everything." He explores how industrial civilization is inherently violent, turning people into objects and the earth into stuff. His books include A Language Older Than Words, Culture of Make Believe, and Endgame.

Wade Davis, author of The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World, criticizes the United States for viewing technological prowess as the only sign of progress. "Climate change should finally teach us that we're not the paragon of humanity's potential," he says. ----- What does it mean to be human and alive? The Long Now Foundation Edmund Wade Davis (born December 14, 1953) is a noted Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author and photographer whose work has focused on worldwide indigenous cultures, especially in North and South America and particularly involving the traditional uses and beliefs associated with psychoactive plants.

Complete video at: fora.tv

David Meslin, Community Catalyst, addresses the question: local politics -- schools, zoning, council elections -- hit us where we live. So why don't more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? Dave Meslin says no. Meslin encourages we recognize apathy actually as a web of barriers that reinforce disengagement - and that we work together to dismantle the obstacles.

Joes Segal s a Professor of Cultural History at Utrecht University whose work concentrates on the history of modern art, cultural history, cultural boundaries and identity constructions with reference to the common grounds between art and politics in Europe, the US, the Soviet Union and China since 1945. He is the Author of East German Material Culture and the Power of Memory (2011) and Divided Dreamworlds? The Cultural Cold War in East and West (2012). Joes was the recipient of a Senior Research Grant and was based at the Wende Museum, as a guest curator, and UCLA, as a guest professor.

To order his latest book from Amazon, Divided Dreamworlds, click on the image or visit your local bookstore. Thank you.

Consciousness and Cultural Beliefs tagged in EarthSayers.tv.