Reconstruction of humanity through peace technology
S. Regis SJ
[Outline of the paper: Introduction on peace- The ‘new name for peace’= ‘Development’- New measurements for growth- Need for understanding the Essence of Technology- Introducing Peace Technology- Some PT are Green energy, Green homes, Reverse Engineering, Peace Investment on Real estate- successful efforts on PT- Conclusion.]
Introduction:
The search for Peace is an abiding concern we find in human history. Over the centuries, peace has been a major concern in religion and more often within social-political contexts. Yet perhaps ironically the world history is a long, uninterrupted story of wars and violence. Is peace a dream?
As Kapila Vatsyayan says, “Perhaps one of man’s earliest awareness was the need for a harmonious peaceful life with all living beings. In India the Vedic seers evoked peace in many hymns. They chanted the verses, invoking peace on earth: with the vegetative, the animal and the human world. Over the years the more strife man creates the more he/she calls out for peace”.[1]
The late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, our only lady prime minister once said, “Development, independence, disarmament and peace are inter-related. Can there be peace alongside nuclear weapons? Without peace, all our dreams of development turn to ashes. No peace today, no peace tomorrow”.[2]
We live in a global village. But what if the global village were to become the arena of violence and war? The climate of modern world is hostile. What we see is a dehumanized fragmented world. The human family is broken by exploitative social order. The village is destroyed by techno centric development. The city is corrupted by conspicuous consumerism. Injustice is caused by manmade laws. Violence is done by self appointed guardians of humanity.
We live in a culture of violence. The world recently witnessed wars unfold in Iraq as the United States attempted to ensure peace against alleged terrorism. More recently in the name of maintaining law and order, ordinary civilians who dreamt of a change in the governments were persecuted in the countries like Egypt, Syria and Libya. In addition to war, many developing and industrialized countries around the globe experience criminal violence.
Intuitively, the longing for peace and the yearning for sustainable development are inextricably linked. Peace is not piecemeal, and it must be sought at all levels if it is to have meaning as a tangible and demonstrable force for good. In this sense, the quest for personal peace is bound by the aim of achieving a peaceful society, and this can only be attained when society as a whole is striving to exist in a reciprocal and harmonious relationship with all other life and the non living part of the cosmos.
It is in this sense that development maybe said to be the ‘new name for peace’. And it is in this sense we can say that the problem of peace cannot be separated from the problem of development. ‘Development’ needs to be understood not as external advancement of science and technology but as internal change in attitude and mindset for the good of all the living and the environment around.
Development:
The data released by the central Statistics office on 08-02-2012 showed, “Our country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Productions) growth is expected to grow by 6.9% in 2011-2012. Ever since the global market faced the economic meltdown in 2008-09, India’s GDP was pushed to a low of 6.4% but recovered from the crisis and grew 8.4% in 2010-2011”.[3]
A country’s development is usually estimated on the basis of its growth rate in its GDP. But development indices reveals painfully of whose development a country relies on, are only an indicator of the development of a tiny fraction of the Indian society. This unit of measurement is purely based on technology emphasizing more and more on materialistic culture and is dominated by competition and affluent leading to violence and conflicts. Development is often understood as ‘having’ more things than ‘being’ humane. People are more worried about buying more than using more. The culture of consumerism has reduced us merely as store keepers of goods. Therefore there is a need to change the indices of human development. Instead of GDP, Peace technology advocates that we adopt units such as GPP (Gross Peace Production) and GHP (Gross Happiness Production).
A country like Bhutan, though it is insignificant in its economy, population, wealth and area, estimates its growth on the basis of GHP that is Gross Happiness Production. A recent survey conducted last year in Bhutan, revealed that the happiness index had scored an all time high when the king Jigme Khesar married 21-year old commoner Jetsun Pema.[4]
Surprisingly in India, Assam will be the first state where a gross state happiness index survey will be carried out this year. The survey will be undertaken by the Centre of Environment, IIT (Guwahati) in collaboration with the Assam government. The survey will be initiated on the model of the Bhutan Gross National Happiness (BGNH).[5]
When the environment is in its good state the individuals could have an easy life. Development is indeed very much linked with environment and the related issues. To find peace we need to keep our environment safe so that nature could keep us alive. With the advent of modern technological advancements we tend to ignore the cries of Mother Nature.
We often fail to distinguish the real growth of the society from virtual growth. We are in the dreaming state where we think that any growth is development. But, even cancer is a growth and how many of us distinguish cancerous growth from the normal growth? A healthy development of a country should ensure proper livelihood to its people where all can live peacefully mutually expressing care and concern to each other and more importantly leaving a better peaceful world for the future generations. To achieve this kind of development we need to understand and find appropriate technology.
Technology:
We know technology makes our life simpler. It helps us to organize our daily activities smoothly. Our jobs can be done faster. It becomes easier to communicate with other people. It helps us to know and understand other culture and society better. We also know technology is the cause for this fragmented dehumanized world today. This is our ordinary way of understanding. There are more and more communication gadgets but there is very little effective communication!
We see technology as a complex of contrivances and technical skills, put forth by human activity and developed as means to our ends. Technology, in this view, is an object, or a complex of objects and techniques. We conceive of it as passive and activated by us only. A major difficulty with this understanding of technology is that we ignore technology in its essence. In this situation, it matters little whether we embrace technology or condemn it as against peace, for we are all equally enslaved by our misunderstanding of what technology actually is.
The word technology is derived from the Greek word techne, which designates skill, art and craft or a mode of doing or making. For the Greeks, techne belonged to the general notion of bringing-forth. It is related to that which comes-forth only by our intervention in nature. So technology is that which is revealing, and not manufacturing. Heidegger says, “Technology, in its essence is a mode of revealing”.[6] So Heidegger wanted us to recognize by bringing technology to the concept of revealing and the essence of it in the life experiences.
Our control over technology is an illusion. To uncover the essence of modern technology is to discover why technology stands today as a danger. To accomplish this insight, we must understand why modern technology must be viewed as a challenge, how it affects our relationship with nature, and how this relationship affects us.
The problem of technology:
The problem we face with technology today is Technicism.[7] It is an over reliance or overconfidence in technology as a benefactor of society. Some argue that technology will ultimately be able to control the whole of existence. In other words, human beings will eventually be able to master all problems, supply all wants and needs, and possibly even control the future.
For example, more recently-developed computers are faster than older computers, and more recently-developed cars have greater efficiency and more features than older cars. Because current technologies are generally accepted as better than earlier ones, we tend to accept future technological developments blindly.
There are various drawbacks of technology. If technology has made our lives comfortable, then it has also increased anxiety in our lives. Advancements in nuclear technology have created a fear of nuclear war among the countries at international level. Internet technology has given birth of cyber crime and the cyber crime rate is increasing more rapidly as compared to traditional crimes. Technology has also increased the alternatives for the terrorists. Moreover, technology has suppressed our physical efforts and mutilates our physical fitness. It also increases unemployment since technology requires special skills and capabilities to help maintain and operate it.
This is all because the world has forgotten to realize the essence of technology; instead it remained in the material meaning. To understand the essence of technology we need to have a clear idea of what originally techne meant and its connection with peaceful development of humanity. The need of the hour is to understand that technology itself is not bad but the attitude towards it is wrong. It is not the technology but the users of technology are responsible for the fragmentation in the world. We know the reason why Alfred Nobel initiated the famous nobel prizes after seeing the attitude of people towards his invention. Our approach towards technology needs to be changed.
Peace technology:
The concept of peace is as complex as that of a web of a spider. For our understanding we can take peace as belonging to two kinds. One is passive peace and the other is active peace.[8] Passive peace is the absence of war and violence. It is frequently maintained by social and political powers. Active peace refers to social and cultural situations wherein exploitation at all levels be minimized or eliminated entirely. To do this work of ending violence and creating peace, the entire community must be involved. New innovations can be tried to stop or lessen violence while creating a peaceful environment towards sustainable development. Such innovation that helps us march ahead with peace is Peace Technology. It is a philosophy of technology where techniques and intelligence of collective minds converge.[9] It is not a different technology but it is a matter of different attitude towards technology.
The field of peace technology encompasses a continuously evolving group of methods and materials, from techniques for generating energy to non-toxic cleaning of products. The present expectation is that this field will bring innovation and changes in daily life of similar magnitude to the information technology explosion over the last two decades. It is therefore, the need of the day to reorient our thought process for innovation of a new organic model of technological and philosophical development, which will contribute to the peace process, on which development of all other sectors will be based.
Peace technology is the only solution to all existing problems regarding environment, conflicts over energy etc. Basically green technology is environmentally friendly that is created and used in a way to conserve the environment while attaining sustainable development. It is a field of new, clean and innovative ways to make changes in daily life. The aim of green technology is to recycle and reuse. This clean technology is also meant as an alternative technology that reduces the excessive use of fossil fuels that causes damage to humans, animals and plants. Green technology consists of some related ideas like Green Energy, Green Building, Reverse Engineering and Peace Investments.
Green energy:
Most of the conflicts that lead to violence are for the energy needs. We know why Iraq was attacked and why now Iran is targeted. Most countries get less than 10% of their power from renewable energy sources. Fossil fuels are easier to dry out. The most important and urgent concern and want for peace technology is for energy purposes. We need better ways to produce more energy in efficient ways without burning the fossil fuels.
The goal of green energy is generally to create power with as little pollution as possible. Every form of energy production results in some pollution. But green energy is known to cause less pollution than the other. Most people who advocate the need of using greener sources of energy claim that the result of worldwide use of green energy will result in the ability to preserve the planet for longer time. Green energy is the one and only solution of global warming, climate change, sea level increase and many other problems related to environment and humanity as a whole.
But it requires substantial amount of infrastructure to extract appreciable power. Collecting solar power requires expensive solar panels. Harvesting wind energy demands wind turbines. Hydro energy from flowing water requires dam etc. Once it is invested the output is continuous and constant. For example, solar energy is one of the untapped sources of energy that holds a lot of promise. The surfaces of the world’s oceans are largely unused and life in certain parts in the sea is very scarce that makes them ideal places for deploying floating solar panels.
Similarly deserts can be made use for constructing solar energy fields as well as wind mills. The large coastal belt is often neglected too. If only the government of India plans systematically, India can really shine. We can become the world power to power the world. The government should start from ground level. They can give people ‘solar panel roofs’ to houses. Imagine if the whole village is given solar panels, they can extract energy from each panel and that can be distributed to every house in the village. Thus the village becomes self sufficient in energy. When utilized properly, the surplus energy can reach out to other destinations. And this concept of solar village has been implemented in New Keringa, Orissa on 16, April, 2009.[10] Also a village Panchayat Odanthurai in Coimbatore District, has set up a wind mill of 350 KW capacity and became self sufficient since 31 march 2006.[11]
Green building:
The idea of Green building is an emerging field in peace technology. Buildings have major environmental impacts over their entire life cycle. Resources such as ground cover, forest, water, and energy were depleted to give way to buildings. It is not completely necessary for green energy to come from places like solar and wind fields which are the green power plants. A green energy source can be a building that is designed in a way that it keeps itself cool in daytime and warm in night time through its architectural designs rather than having air conditioners in day and heating systems at night. Thus the conservation of energy through architectural design becomes itself a green energy source.
A green building minimizes the consumption of natural resources both from the first construction view point as well as the operational life. It also uses minimum energy to power itself by employing energy efficient equipments to meet its lighting, air conditioning and other needs. It also has efficient waste management and water recycling practices.
The most criticized issue about constructing environment-friendly buildings is its cost. Photo-voltaic, new appliances and modern technologies tend to cost more money. Most green buildings cost a premium of 2% more, but yield 10 times as much over the entire life of the building. The savings in money come from more efficient use of utilities which result in decreased energy bills.
For example, from the outside, the Biodiversity Conservation India Limited (BCIL) office in Bangalore looks like any other building. But once you step inside, you begin to realize that it is pleasantly different. A part of the premises is lit up and powered by wind energy, while a large number of flower pots and a staircase, work as makeshift air conditioners. And a machine that resembles a water dispenser converts moisture in the air into clean drinking water.
Chandrasekar Hariharan, who is the head of BCIL and an expert in green buildings, says “zero emission is one of the challenges. The bigger challenge is to see how you can be sustainable without having to make too much of compromise on your lifestyle. You can have what you want in a way that you reduce your footprint”.[12] Green homes do not look any different from normal homes, though they are vastly different when it comes to energy efficiency and water conservation.
Reverse engineering:
Reverse engineering or Recycling technology is an important aspect of peace technology. Many of us tend to equate development with the increase in industries and production capacity. We fail to realize that we need to take our globe along with us towards a sustainable development which alone will bring about lasting peace. We are all constantly hearing about the ill effects of technology especially on the electronic wastes or ewastes. It is the term used to describe end-of-life electric appliances which have been disposed of by their original users.
Ewaste is said to be the result of modern technology and includes products such as computers, laptops, TVs, DVD players, mobile phones, MP3 players etc[13]. States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Delhi are said to generate almost 70 percent of the total ewaste generated in the country[14]. This is due to considerable presence of info tech parks and electronic manufacturing companies situated in these states.
Peace technology analyses the various possibilities on reusing the products in an efficient way. One of the solutions is to set up facilities to separate parts out of the end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment and also generate substantial gains by applying principles of reverse engineering. It is to move away from ‘cradle to grave’ design to ‘cradle to cradle’ design.[15]
Peace investments:
Peace technologies can lower a company's environmental impact and may provide improvements in resource efficiency and productivity. When a company operates with less energy and materials, or produces less waste, the result can create more economic value for the company and its shareholders.
Investments can be made in the sectors like energy, water and recycling of waste water, advanced materials, energy efficiency, manufacturing, transportation, and agriculture. The largest of these sectors is energy and can range from biodiesel, clean coal and fuel cells, wind and solar energy.
More specifically investments are made in the field of real estate. The growing concern over greener homes, pave way for the real estate companies to adopt this new technique that easily lures customers. It is true that India currently has a shortage of over 20 million housing units, and the need for housing is growing at the rate of 14% every year.[16]
Efforts towards Peace Technology:
The Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) had launched the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC). The code is set for energy efficiency standards for design and construction with any building of minimum conditioned area of 1000 Sq mts and a connected demand of power of 500 KW that fall under the index can be termed as ECBC Compliant Building. Moreover the BEE had launched a 5 star rating scheme for office buildings. The Reserve Bank of India's buildings in Delhi, Bhubaneshwar in Orissa and in Kerala have been star rated.
In Tamil Nadu, 11 buildings were star rated by BEE, in the year 2010, including RBI buildings. Also the government of Tamil Nadu has announced that they would construct 60,000 Green Houses with Solar Power at a cost of Rs 1,080 crores during 2011-2012 in rural areas for the benefit of the houseless poor and the unit cost of each house measuring 300 square feet under this scheme will be Rs 1.80 lakhs.[17]
Maharashtra State Government has decided to make available incentives in the form of rationalization in property tax /electricity tariff and reduction in State taxes including VAT on buildings adhering to green technology norms. To achieve this, Maharashtra Government proposes to amend the Development Control Rules for the introduction of green building regulations initially in Mumbai Metropolitan City and later in tier II cities of the State.
Under the proposed regulations, it will be mandatory for new buildings to use green technologies for recycling dry waste and drainage water, vermin-culture for treatment of wet waste, solar energy and above all rainwater harvesting. Maharashtra is not the first state to take this desirable step. Such initiatives have already been initiated in several States including Delhi, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala and Rajasthan.
TATA Power has commissioned a 25 MW solar photovoltaic power project in Gujarat that is spread over 100 acres of land estimated worth Rs 365 crores. Tata Power plans to set up 300 MW of solar power capacity by 2017. With these projects, TATA Power now has a portfolio of more than 28 MW of solar and 375 MW of wind power, making it the largest renewable utility player in India.[18]
Ground water is the largest reservoir of liquid fresh water on the planet and is critical for sustaining life on earth. From 2001, the concept of rainwater harvesting has been actively promoted by the Tamil Nadu Government. It proved excellent results within five years and every other state took it as a role model. Since the implementation, Chennai saw 50% rise in water level in five years and the water quality significantly improved.[19]
At the same time we need to keep in mind that Peace Technology alone cannot solve the existing problems of the world. It is not enough to cope with the growing demands of the people. We cannot deny science and technology in our life because science tries to find ways to be independent of nature. The drawback of peace technology that scholars list out is that it takes us back to be dependent on nature which is unrealistic because of the unpredictability of nature. We know what happened in Vidharba district of Maharashtra when the farmers had to face plenty of rain in one year and total drought in the next year which ended many of their lives. But still there are a few who hope that peace technology is the way to keep humanity alive on the globe.
Conclusion:
These innovative programs can be considered as the new beginnings of a new revolution. Revolution starts like a spark of fire that eventually consumes whole forest, slowly yet firmly and ending up in a new culture. A spark of fire is needed to initiate the whole process. It may be very insignificant and sometimes beyond our imagination but only that spark would ensure a new world order.
Peace technology is a way of living innovatively by understanding the essence of technology and using it effectively and broadening the horizons of human existence. It heavily depends on the choices we make and efforts we undertake to sustain peace in humanity by adopting peace technology.
Gandhi once wrote that “we are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of non-violence”.[20] I think that Gandhiji dreamt about this peace technology well ahead of our times.
The challenge we face today is precisely to make these discoveries and apply them to apparently diverse fields like human rights, militarism, poverty, and the environment. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”
The eternal human desire for peace can only succeed if it strives to attain this transcendent concept both “on earth” and “with earth” as inherently interconnected aims.[21] Today we are faced with paradigmatic crisis including perpetual warfare and runaway climate change. This is the crucial moment for us to meet the unique challenge of understanding technology in its essence and converting it towards reconstructing humanity.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Kapila Vatsyaan is the Academic director of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Janpath, Delhi.
Culture of peace. Ed. Baidyanath Saraswati, D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd. New Delhi. 1999.
[2] Ibid.
[3] The Times of India. GDP growth seen dipping to a 3 year low of 6.9%. P1.
[4] Pune mirror, The Crown Affairs, 08-02-2012. P10.
[5] The times of India, IIT-G to conduct GHP in Assam, 01-02-2012. P6.
[6] Heidegger. ‘The Question concerning Technology’. P5.
[7] Technicism refers to the commonly held belief that newer and more recently-developed technology is better.
[8] Holsopple Mary Yoder, Building peace, WCC publications, Geneva, 2004. P19.
[9] Fani Bhusan Das, Peace Technology, Authorhouse, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. 2002.
[10] The Indian Express, India’s first 100% Solar Village, 16-04-2009. P4.
[11] The Times of India, This Village sets stage on Energy Efficiency, 09-11-2011. P7.
[12] Eco Entrapreneur, The Week. Anniversary Special ’30 Indian Pearls’, 25-12-2011. P56.
[13] Recycling is the key, My Green Earth Expo, The Times of India, 11-02-2012. P10.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Green houses, My Green Earth Expo, The times of India, 11-02-2012. P10.
[17] Construction of Solar Powered Green Houses under “Chief Minister’s Solar Powered Green House Scheme”(CMSPGHS), Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (SGS1) Department, G.O.(Ms.) No.46 , 17.08.2011.
[18] The Economic Times. Tata Power commissions 25 MW solar project in Gujarat. 15-02-2012. P4.
[19] The Hindu, Tamil Nadu praised for its good rainwater harvesting model. 29-09-2011. P2.
[20] Mark Shepherd, Gandhi Today, Simple Productions, California, USA. 1981.
[21] Randall Amster and Michael Nagler. War and Planet Earth: Toward a Sustainable Peace. Waging Nonviolence. 21-12-2010.
