Radioactive times

You certainly cannot say that it's boring at the moment. Earthquakes in Burma and Japan, a devastating tsunami, nuclear catastrophe, war and riots in the Arab countries, the global economic crisis still not under control. Hard choice these days for the news editors on deciding what to put on the front page.

Here are a few personal thoughts on two current events: The war in Libya and the nuclear meltdown in Japan.
The northern African state of Libya has suffered from the dictatorship of Gaddafi for over four decades. The population had finally had enough of it and, inspired by political changes in Tunisia and Egypt, has started to fight the regime. That Gaddafi is responding to the uprising with violence and cruelty comes to no surprise. Feeling sorry for the Libyan people the NATO decided to intervene and sent fighter jets to help the rebels. Seems to make sense, doesn't it? I'm just wondering one thing: If, after last week's bomb attack in Jerusalem, Israel decided to attack Palestine again, would the NATO come to help the Palestinian people too? And if not, why not? Is it all about oil again?

Moving on to Japan, it's definitely a buzzing place to be at the moment. Today they announced that water around reactor 2 is ten million times more radioactive than normally. The situation remains totally out of control. Because of this catastrophe people all around the world, including governments, are questioning the safety of nuclear power. Is it really worth to continue with it, judging the fatal results when things go wrong?
Do we need it?
The main argument of those in favour of nuclear energy is that it's still the cheapest, cleanest and despite occasional problems the safest form of energy. 99.6 % safe I read. Now, that's indeed a high percentage. Ironically though you have a much smaller chance of winning the lottery yet people still play because they believe it's possible to win. But a 99.6 % safe reactor, well, who cares about the 0.4%? Let's rather keep the cheap energy. Isn't it fascinating how the human brain filters out everything to one's own advantage?
The problem of course with nuclear power is that if something DOES go wrong, the damage is often beyond imagination. So, is it worth the risk?
The other day I talked to a guy who said that those dangerous reactors should be far away from human civilization. With civilization he meant of course the so called developed countries. His suggestion was to put the reactors somewhere in the Sahara. Made me wonder... First, where would they get the vast amounts of water from needed to cool those bloody things, and second, why would the local Berber community have to take the risk? I don't think they care too much about electricity down there. Doesn't seem fair. So, to get that argument out of the way: if WE want cheap electricity from nuclear power stations, WE gotta be the ones taking the risk. Not others.
Regarding nuclear energy being clean, well, that depends. In the short-term, if nothing blows up, yes, it's pretty clean energy. But what about all the nuclear waste, all those used fuel rods which continue to radiate for thousands of years once they fulfilled their purpose inside the reactor? Common practice is to bury them somewhere in a big steal case. But who can guarantee that no radiation will leak over the next thousand years?
Looking at those who take these long-reaching decisions, it is noticeable that most of them are rather old – you don't become a high politician or CEO of a huge energy company when you are thirty. So these people, the decision makers, have relatively few years left to live. I'm sure they care for their families, but do they really care about the future of the planet? If they can earn a lot of money today with nuclear energy, why worrying about old fuel rods that won't cause any problems until they are long gone?
As a reaction to the events in Japan, the German governments has ordered for seven old reactors to be switched off and checked vigorously. So far so good. However, last week the German minister of economy was caught telling bosses of the big energy companies that switching off those reactors was only for tactical reasons – elections are coming up, so the public has to be told what they want to hear. How comforting having these people as leaders.
I actually think that when it comes to deciding whether to go ahead with nuclear energy or not, all people above the age of fifty or sixty shouldn't be allowed to vote. It's not their future after all, so why should they have the power to decide over it?

We are living in important times, exciting times. I really believe we have the opportunity to change and I think change is happening already. And although it is quite sad that we need wars and radioactive contamination to start thinking properly, if it means that we get our act together then at least the fighting and suffering serve a purpose.

Opportunities

1.a) A favorable circumstance or combination of circumstances.
1.b) A favorable or suitable occasion or time.
2. A chance for progress or advancement.

Life's full of opportunities. If we only opened our eyes to see them. Sometimes they come in waves, sometimes hidden and alone. But they're always there, somewhere behind the next corner, waiting to be discovered. We just need to use them.

Here's a little story (the similarity with current events in Japan was not intended, interesting synchronicity though...):

It's a stormy afternoon in a small village in northern Spain. Worrying news of a broken dam in a nearby valley have just been announced on the radio. The situation is getting quickly out of control. In his house by the river, Sebastian is standing on the balcony and is watching how the rising water is taking over his garden. Everything around him is already under water. Suddenly a man in a canoe comes by and offers him a lift to dry lands.
“No, thank you”, Sebastian says, “I have faith that God will save me.”
The canoeist shakes his head in disbelief, and sets off.
The water keeps rising, and soon Sebastian is forced to climb onto his roof. His situation is becoming desperate. Luckily a boat comes by.
“Come on”, the captain says, “we get you out of here.”
But Sebastian is not interested.
“I'm fine, I have faith that God will save me.”
The captain tries to convince him to change his mind, but without success. Just as the canoe, the boat sets off too.
About half an hour later the water has risen so much that Sebastian is standing on the very tip of his roof, with his feet starting to get wet. When all seems already lost, a rescue helicopter appears. A rope ladder is lowered, but to the surprise of the helicopter crew Sebastian refuses to climb up.
“I stay here because I have faith that God will save me”, he shouts up towards the sky.
After a few minutes, with the storm getting fiercer and fiercer, the helicopter disappears in the darkening sky.
Five minutes later, Sebastian is dead.
He arrives in heaven, where God welcomes him.
“How are you my friend?” God asks.
“I'm very disappointed”, Sebastian says, quite furiously. “I had so much faith in you, I really believed you were going to save me.”
God looks at him with astonishment.
“Well, I sent you a canoe, a boat and even a helicopter. What else do you want me to do?”

So many times we get offered a helping hand, from God, Life or simply a Friend. But we don't take it. And I think it's not that we don't want to – we just don't see it, the chance to change our current situation. And so we become collectors of missed opportunities, while complaining about the unfairness of life. It's weird, isn't it?

So, I invite you to look for all those opportunities that life throws at you, to grasp them, take them and make a change for the better.
The chance is (y)ours!

Berlin

I’ve been 12 days in Berlin now. Honouring the German in me, here are
some statistics:

Number of museums visited: 0
Number of interesting conversations: 16
Number of musicians I met: 12
Number of scientists I met: 0

Days gone to bed after 4am: 11
Days without alcohol: 1
Days I had brown rice: 0
Days I took a vitamin C pill: 9

Number of times I took public transport: 27
Number of times I entered a car: 2
Hours I spent walking: 34
Hours I spent in traffic jams: 0

What else? Well, Berlin is certainly very different to my Andalusian village where I normally live... But even looking at other major cities the German capital stands out. First, it’s much more chilled out. Looking at London or Paris for example, Berlin almost feels village-like. People talk slower, walk slower and seem generally less stressed. For any kind of art it’s a fascinating and innovative melting pot, with artists from all over the world dropping in to be inspired by the present cultural capital of the world. For how long Berlin will keep this status, I don’t know. Some say it has passed its zenith, others give it a few more years. It will change, that’s for sure. After New York, London and Barcelona the time will come when the cultural pioneers will move from Berlin to another place. But that’s the future. For now you still get that special feeling of being in a place that is leading the way.

Apart from the arts, there are also other aspects of daily life where Berlin is spearheading into new territories. Food for example. I have never seen so many organic shops and supermarkets, they’re everywhere! It’s great to see that organic food has moved from its hippie reputation to mainstream. After all, good food that is healthy for us and the planet should be used by everybody, not just by a green minority. The other day I read in a local paper that there is even a prison nearby where they get organic food. In a prison!!! In Spain, not even the fucking president eats organic food.

Regarding sightseeing, there’s really not much need for it in Berlin. Of course there are many things to visit and see, but you don’t have to enter a museum to explore the history of the city. It’s all around you! Close to where I stay, in an eastern district, there is a funky urban area and on one of the houses it says in huge letters: THIS HOUSE USED TO BE IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY. That gets you more thinking than a tour through the most expensive gallery.

Another really interesting experience for me as a German is that for the first time I am in my home country in a place where the whole world wants to go to. Let’s face it, Germany has never been a number one travelling destination. But Berlin is different. It’s really attractive, almost sexy. It’s vibrant and incredibly creative. Suddenly it has become ‘cool’ to go to Germany.

I have a few days left, so I am off now to Alexanderplatz, grab a coffee and then I jump on the U-Bahn train with all those snobs, punks, yuppies and hippies, with the locals and travellers, the Arabs and the Nazis. Cause they’re all there. In one wagon. All trying to find something in the big city.

Home

A home is a place of residence or refuge.
As an alternative to the definition of "home" as a physical locale, home may be perceived to have no physical definition—instead, home may relate instead to a mental or emotional state of refuge or comfort. (Wikipedia)

A few weeks ago I talked to a friend who told me that he will return to live with his parents this spring. “Why?” I wondered. My friend is around 45 years old. Where I’m from, moving back home is not the coolest thing to do once you’re past your early twenties... Well, it turns out that the parents of my friend are getting quite old, the end is nearing. He feels that he wants to spend some time with them before they go, to help and to do something useful. And he wants to reconnect with his hometown. And he feels that NOW is the time.

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about what he said, why he returns home. I can really relate to what he’s experiencing, the desire to reconnect. It’s been 14 years since I left Germany. I have always been happy to live away from my home country, often I couldn’t even bear the thought of ever living there again. Even my own mom, who never stops hoping that I come back one day, has told me that she thinks I probably wouldn’t be able to live in Germany any more. Both of my parents enjoy reasonably good health, so in this way there’s no urgency for me to get back. Nevertheless, over the last months I have felt more and more a need to reconnect with the german part in me. Maybe to learn something about myself that I don’t know yet. Or to rediscover something that I might have left behind 14 years ago. Who knows.

Spain is my physical home. And not only that, I have my daughter here, lots of friends, lots of history, lots of emotions. Culturally however, things look a bit different. Culturally I feel a strong pull coming from the North. A feeling of curiousity, of wanting to find out how deep my german roots go. To find out in which culture I feel at home.

So I am off to Germany today for six weeks. Reconnecting with the soil I grew up on and also sowing some new seeds. THE LITTLE BUDDHA has been released in german last month, which means I just need to find some rain now so it grows. And to find rain in Germany, that should be easy ;-)

Home – an emotional state of comfort. I like that. Could be anywhere really.

Are we clever enough to change?

In theory we are, yes. However, in practice we seem to be a rather stupid species. Unless we are forced to make changes, nothing happens.

For over three years I have been having back pains. Not all the time, but often and painful enough to be a real nuisance. Lots of sports I can’t do because one wrong step and I hardly get out of bed for two days. Not fun. At some point I got an x-ray, and basically it turned out that the only real ‘cure’ is to strengthen the muscles around the area. So, what did I do? Pretty much nothing. Why? God knows! Recently I started to do some more exercises, but only because the pains have gone from yearly to monthly to almost weekly. A few days ago I went swimming, the first good exercise in at least 6 months. And what did I do? Something like trying to break the world record over 1000m... The result? I strained my back which is now in the worst pain ever. I didn’t even know you can hurt yourself swimming…
Anyway, that’s my own stupid self at work. The point is that, very often, we only start looking after ourselves when we have no other choice left. We wait until we have almost crashed into the wall before we change the direction. A rather painful approach. Not surprisingly, by far the number one motivation for people to give up smoking is when the doctor tells you it’s quit or die.

Here’s another example: Bread. I make my own bread, and so I go to the local mill in the andalucian town where I live to buy my flour. Once a month or so I get five kilos of organic spelt and have a chat with one of the guys who run the business. Today I went there, and when I asked how things are, he said that the business is quite low at the moment. I said that I was surprised because I had thought that even in crisis, people will still continue to eat bread. Well, they do. But one thing doesn’t happen anymore: bread is not being thrown away. The guy from the mill told me that before, during the times of economic boom, people bought a bread one day, ate half, threw it away at night and bought a new, fresh one the next day. Now they keep the old one until it’s eaten completely. Similar story with bakeries: When money was nothing to worry about, the bakery shelves were kept full all day long, and what was left in the evening landed in the bin. With the economy crumbling away now, bakeries make only the amount of bread they can actually sell. Good idea, isn’t it?
I mean, in the most positive sense, that’s the power of the crisis! Without it, thousands of tons of bread would be thrown away every day. That’s land wasted to grow the grain, oil to harvest, mill and transport it, more energy to make the bread, and then more energy and more land to get rid off it. How can we be so stupid to let that happen? No wonder the planet is fucked.

"I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it." (Terry Pratchett)

Looks like we don’t need less crisis, but more. Learning the hard way.

Take climate change: Are we really going to switch voluntarily to electro cars and bicycles? No way! Unless we are forced by a three metre sea level rise or oil depletion, we’ll continue to burn as much oil as we need for our wasteful and polluting lifestyle.
It would be relatively easy to change. For example, increasing the oil price artifically through taxes, in a controlled way, using the money to invest in stuff that makes sense – education, health, renewables, etc. Taking it gradually to, let’s say three Euros a litre of petrol within one or two years. What would happen? First of all, far less traffic. Emptier roads, cleaner skies, healthier oceans. Less stress for everybody and everything. It would lead to more regional food, and more regional travelling. That would be good for the local economy, and more sustainable for the planet. With oil being more expensive, all things made of plastic would be more expensive too. So we would start to make mobile phones that last 10 or 20 years, instead of one. Most packaging would disappear – from the supermarket shelves and from the landfills. It would be the end of cheap plastic toys, crappy one Euro T-shirts and bottled water from the Fuji islands. And so on and so on.
The only problem is the word WOULD. And a lack of clever politicians.

I fear we need to crash really badly before these needed changes will happen. And I will probably have to pull quite a few more muscles before I start doing some proper exercises for my back. Or doing something about my bad posture while writing on the computer…

Sadly, most of us are just not clever enough to change voluntarily. Not yet.

Happy new year!

Another one... Like an ashcloud, 2010 came and went. Was it good, was it not? Well, for me it wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. Like most years. But looking at where I am now, which is the result of all the things that happened last year and all the time before, I feel 2010 was a really good year. So I’d like to express my gratitude for the past 12 months:

Thank you 2010!!

Thinking about it, don’t you also find that looking back often seems more pleasant than looking ahead? You tend to mainly remember the good things, and the bad ones become needed stepping stones on the journey called life. Looking ahead is more tricky. You might be optimistic, but even the most optimistic person can’t avoid certain worries. About jobs, money, family, health. About the world and how things are unfolding. About unfulfilled dreams and when will be the time that they become real. Worries about love, war, peace and silly things. About the future, this uncertain pool of endless possibilities. Who knows what will happen...

Let’s just hope 2011 will bring many beautiful moments that will be remembered in 2012. Moments filled with excitement, stillness and music. And with love. Lots of it!

The perfect village

Strangely enough, there were even lonely people amidst the masses.
(The Little Buddha)

Next year around this time we will count seven billion people on planet Earth. 7 billion! That’s a lot of people!
With the world getting that busy, you would think that we are moving closer together. Well, physically we do. But emotionally? We have incredible communication systems, but do we feel connected? Are emails and skype chats enough to satisfy our emotional needs?
For me, sometimes they are. But most of the time they’re not. I always call it the curse of globalisation: Having great friends all around the world, but not being able to popp by for a cup of tea. And it’s not only friends. Families are spread out thousands of kilometres apart. Sharing life in the traditional way becomes difficult that way. Sharing those special moments that make us feel happy human beings. Because for these, we need humans. A computer screen doesn’t do it.

I live in the countryside, five minutes away from a small village. I have a garden, orange and walnut trees and plenty of space. I can put the music as loud as I want, pretty much whenever I want. There are some friends around and I know the names of my neighbours and of the guy I buy my flour from. So far so good. But – and of course there is a but – the village is of the villagers. It doesn’t feel like my village.
Not long ago I was walking with a friend through his hometown, and he greeted an old teacher. For me that was a really nice example of community. Of being connected with those around you. I know that unless I move back to my hometown I won’t be able to experience the same. But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss it.
Of all the people I know, maybe 10% live within a fifty kilometre radius. 10% is better than nothing, sure. But it really sucks not having the other 90% closer! Sometimes I wish I could get all the people I love to live together in one area. But unfortunately that’s impossible. No matter where I go.

You could say that all this is my personal issue, because I live alone in the countryside. And yes, sitting by myself in an empty house in the winter can be quite depressing. But really I don’t think it’s only me. Almost everybody I talk to is looking for a place where they might be able to settle down. A place to slow down, live, share, create, maybe even grow old. A perfect village. And while there are many different factors at play, in the end it’s always a question about people: Where can I find enough friends to feel at home?

I guess one solution would be to become really rich, buy a big plot of land and get everybody there. Once my book is a bestseller I might come back to this option. In the meantime: What to do?
Another possibility would be to move back home. Home in the sense of ‘where I grew up’. Problem is, who is left there? Almost everybody has moved somewhere. So unless lots of others would go back as well, it wouldn’t be an improvement. That leaves us with two options: Going to look for that ideal place somewhere, or staying where you are and create it. Searching or settling. Giving up or trying. Starting something new or recycling the old.

I feel that whatever we choose, the challenge is to (re)connect with those who live around us. To create meaningful relationships in a sea of seven billion. To build communities. To make friends.
If nothing else we need to be hopeful. Maybe one day we are living together in that perfect village. Or we will have created lots of perfect villages all around the globe. Just like in the old days. A real community. Where you can meet your best friends for a chat any time.
Not on facebook.
But offline!