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Humanity 2.0 - 10 Principles for a Compassionate Society

Great news! I co-authored a book, and it finally got published! It is called Humanity 2.0 - 10 Principles for a Compassionate Society . I wrote it together with Aviram, the founder of Sadhana Forest , the community in India where i lived for 7 years. In a nutshell, it is a book about the vision and values behind Sadhana Forest. It offers an in-depth discussion of the ideals of Aviram and his family, on which he built Sadhana Forest and which he has been putting into practice for over 20 years. So it is not a book about Sadhana Forest as such, but about how to create an inclusive and compassionate life and community, in terms of parenting, education, health, economics, community etc. Quite broad and ambitious! The book is based on Aviram's experience, combined with a lot of research.  What was my role in the birthing of this book? When i came to Sadhana Forest, i always felt so inspired to hear Aviram talk, and i wanted everyone to be able to receive his wisdom. I approached Av...
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What's the matter with foreign aid? (3) Towards collaborative aid

In the first part of the essay, we sketched the economical and political historic background of the current aid system. In the second part, we looked at things in the current NGO-based aid system that are not quite optimal. In the final part, I will start addressing solutions, based on my own experience. What does impactful, effective NGO work look like? We should focus on a paradigm of collaborative, community-based aid, rather than aid delivery. How to create good conditions for people? An impactful paradigm is grassroots and not top-down. Local people should be co-creators, who, with the support of aid agencies, move towards becoming more independent and self-sustaining. Aid oughtn't be ‘pushed’ on local people. The Listening Project talks about a ‘collaborative aid system’.(1) You could also call it a community-based approach, where you strengthen local communities by building strong ties with them and giving them the support that really need. You achieve this by taking your ...
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Re-imagining Public Health: Towards a One Health Approach

Some might wish to forget the year 2020 as soon as possible. However, if there is one thing we can learn from it, I believe it is that we, as a species, are fragile, and that our health and well-being are closely intertwined with the health and well-being of our living environment. One health: the health of all living beings on this planet is connected Of course, this has been made clear by the pande m ic that — at the time of writing — has taken over   1.8 million   human lives. COVID-19 is a   zoonotic  disease , an infectious disease that spreads from animals to humans. Six out of ten known infectious diseases are   zoonotic in origin  [1]  and of all emerging diseases even three out of four.[2]   Major risk factors   for emerging zoonoses are our destruction of the natural environment, which brings us into closer contact with animals with whom we have had little prior contact. And, our livestock industry, which raises   billions of a...
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