ABSTRACTS
SPECIAL
EDITION
Symposium on Ecological Alternatives in Hungary
Nádasdy Academy, June 25-26, 1999
Motto: Have You Done Anything Yet?
What Can we do Together?
Introduction
Ecological
Alternatives in Hungary
The
Nádasdy Foundation initiates regular projects for outlining a sustainable
and habitable present and future. Its goal is not problem analysis,
but rather the development of solutions and dealing with offering
alternatives especially significant to Hungary. It was in this spirit
that the Symposium on Ecological Alternatives was held by the Nádasdy
Academy on June 25-26, 1999.
József
Zelnik: The Temple of the Universe
Opening
speech at the Symposium on Ecological Alternatives
"Presumably
there is not a single day in the world today without a conference
being held on one of the two popular topics: information and ecology.
There would be nothing wrong with this fact, but for the feeling that
it is the tail that wags the dog, and naturally I mean an intellectual
tail and an intellectual dog, instead of the other way around. I know
that in the opening speech of a conference it is not polite to criticize
the form itself, but it is even more awkward to admit to the fact
that we never talk about what all these deliberations are worth, what
our thoughts on the intellectual orbit of ecology are worth. For a
long time now I have been under the impression that the narrative
on ecology has been - and please forgive my officiousness - thickly
interwoven with preaching, with intellectual sermons."
Nádasdy
Academy
Past
and Future. A Discussion with Ferenc Nádasdy
Members
of the Nádasdy family have been well known figures throughout Hungary's
history since the XII. century, the era to which their family tree
dates back. One of the most famous members was Ferenc Nádasdy who
took part in Miklós Wesselényi's conspiracy against the Habsburg's
and who, despite the intervention of the Pope in his behalf, was sentenced
to death and beheaded in Vienna in 1671. One of the family's descendants,
who is also named Ferenc, has enhanced the family's reputation by
founding the Nádasdy Foundation for the Arts and Environment. The
first Nádasdy Foundation was founded by his great-grandfather in 1857,
at which time he placed 5,250 Forints with the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences "with the purpose of rewarding the best Hungarian epic poem's
author with the sum of the money's interest". János Arany, the great
Hungarian poet, wrote his epic The Death of Buda for the foundation's
competition. Ferenc Nádasdy would like to revive this tradition and
in the future plans to advertise literary competitions as well, as
part of the foundation's mandate.
The
Nádasdy Academy and Foundation
The
Habitable City and Livable Country
Attila
Ertsey: The Concept of the Autonomous Settlement
Globalized
economy and the dissolution of borders carries within it the potential
for the loss of identity and the defencelessness of the economy. Instead
of warding off negative risks we should meet the positive challenges
the situation has to offer head on. This is only possible if the operation
of regions is embedded within world economy, and can only be carried
out based on self-government and autonomous operation, and a strong
cultural and economic self awareness.
Tamás
Fleischer: The Prospects of
Environmentally Friendly Transportation Policies
The
object of today's transportation policy-making is for environmentally
friendly modes of transportation.
Béla
Borsos: Gyűrűfű: Building an Eco-Village and the Problems That Go
With It.
In the collective
social conscience of Hungary the abandoned village of Gyűrűfű is considered
the victim of socialist society-building and centralization. A documentary
was filmed about it and the village's fate created quite a sensation.
Since the early '90's, however, a new Gyűrűfű has come to life, in
the same place and in continuity with the previous one, but founded
on a completely different, more positive concept.
József
Ángyán: Agriculture, not Agri-Business!
It's
impossible to agree with extreme opinions which would banish agriculture
due to environmentalist considerations. Today, the task lies in finding
the optimum degree of intensity and form of agriculture that best
suits the environment. We must admit that local and passive nature
and environment protection systems, as well as those that are based
on subsequent restrictions, have failed. The system of using the environment
with the goal of production and consumption according to the fundamental
concepts of active, regional protection carries more promise if it
is transformed in such a way, that besides production the task of
regions would be the sustaining of the population and the stabilization
of society, culture and environment.
Ágnes
Hajtman: Life in the Big City
Imagine
an ideal situation, in which high quality environmentalist education
begins in nursery school. Children would be aware of their responsibility
from a very early age. What would cities be like then? Our hope is,
that it will be better and it must be better.
László
Vit: Dezső Ekler's Theory of the Army Service Corps-Society
Dezső Ekler
represented one of the sharpest views of the symposium. In his opinion
there is no alternative to the destruction of nature any more for
nature, and human intellect within it, has deformed to such a degree
that the only possibility left is reconstruction. Yet his pessimism
doesn't suggest we resign ourselves to the inevitable, but emphasizes
the incredible difficulty of setting things right.
Habitable
City - Livable Country. A Debate Summary
Gábor
Nagy: "The sequence of certain things cannot be turned around. The
spirit of the times is a part of the human thought process, and the
paradigm of the times cannot be violated: If the spirit of the times
changes so does the paradigm. However, local rules of the game can
be created which have an effect on the sign of the times, while being
significant over and beyond it. This way they give rise to a new spirit
of the times. And that's when professional 'smarts' come in, technical
solutions. The reason why techniques based on 'alternative' energy
cannot be introduced is not that they aren't good or that they don't
meet professional requirements, but that they are not accepted by
the spirit of the times."
Dezső
Radó: We Turned Destructive Storms into a Daily Phenomena
"The process is
the following: The transformation of the macro-climate, that is the
change in climate, is due to two causes that have the opposite effect.
On one hand the acceleration of combustion, on the other the reduction
of area covered with vegetation, mainly forests."
The
Right to Health and Wholeness
Ilona
Farkas: Hope for the Next Century
Hungary
could be one of the world's great powers rich in intellectual resources
if only human beings would be considered a source of energy in the
eyes of the country's leaders, as well as in the eyes of individuals.
Unfortunately, this is not what we experience.
Imre
Baji Lázár: Eco-Medicine: The Chances of Gentle Healing
If the
wisdom of the saying holds true, according to which "Doctors treat;
nature cures," we must ask the question: can healing exist without
ecological humility?
Veronika
Móra: Consumerism: The Race in the Viscous Circle
A majority
of today's environmental and health problems derive from our models
of consumption and the modus operandi of a consumer society.
Ildikó
Gyalmos-Kornélia Molnár: The Food-Toxicology Problems of a Healthy
Diet
Chemicals
and pesticides used in agricultural production pose a constant threat
to plants and animals, and through the food chain, to humans as well.
Soil, water, animal and plant derivatives transmit the poisons of
an over-polluted environment into our food. Dangerous dioxins and
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are carcinogenic.
Ildikó
Farkas-Eszter Erdei-Donát Magyar: Malfunctions in the Ecological Integrity
of the Environment and Man: Allergies and Ragweed
In Hungary
the number of allergy-related diseases is on the rise. Western civilization
is an important contributing factor to this phenomenon, along with
the growing number of allergens in our environment. The most frequent
cause of respiratory allergies is ragweed pollen. The imbalance of
both the immune system and ecosystem due to inappropriate agricultural
activity and the ever increasing areas of neglected environment, are
the principal contributing factors. Action has been taken by individuals,
the authorities, and even the media to restrict profuse ragweed growth
but the effectiveness of these steps has been minimal. Much more effective
steps must be taken in the future if we are to put a stop to the growth
in numbers of the allergic population.
The
Right to Health and Wholeness. A Debate Summary
Imre
Lázár: "Non-violent medicine is wise medicine, but it cannot renounce
the power of efficacy, of often invasive procedures. The problem arises
when industrial and business interests propel the intrusion of medicine
into areas of life which are otherwise not considered the terrain
of medicine. Examples of this type of medicalization are the regulation
of the menstrual cycle using birth control pills, or considering menopause
an estrogen deficiency disorder. The conquering of psychological and
sexual problems by the medicine business is not only beneficial: it
is also extremely marketable and profitable."
Alternative
Economics
László
Zsolnai: Where are Ethics in the Hungarian Economy?
The
group of Hungarian companies leading in the area of ethics is dominated
by those dependent on the foreign market. Companies that underachieve
in this area are mainly those that depend on the domestic market.
The ethic direction of western companies operating on the Hungarian
market, contrary to popular expectation, is not outstanding.
Ada
Ámon: Humane Energy
What
would the path be like upon which we could improve negative environmental
and social consequences of energy production and usage? The Nádasdy
Academy's purpose is to find answers to these questions.
András
Lukács: How Can the Condition of the Environment be Improved?
"If
we really want to change the behavior and thought processes of human
beings according to the requirements of sustainable development we
must turn the present ratio between news motivating the intensification
of environmental destruction and that promoting the protection of
the environment around in the media and other sources information.
Instruments
of mass media, especially television, broadcast lifestyles that are
in complete contrast with environmentally sustainable development,
day and night."
Gábor
Móczár-István Farkas: Solar Energy Utilization
"The
usage of so-called fossil energy resources dominates the Earth today.
The formation of crude oil, natural gas and coal, all carrying the
radiant energy of the sun within, began 10,000 - 400,000,000 years
ago. At present we obtain energy mainly by burning these. However,
due to the intense energy usage of industrially developed countries
these resources are being rapidly depleted, and compared to the pace
of utilization their reproduction is exceedingly slow."
Alternative
Economics. A Discussion Summary
"How
can we convince the individual, the entrepreneur, international companies
and society to look for ecological alternatives? Is it possible to
do something in an alternative way successfully in a globalized world?
In today's world model aren't economy and ecology contradictory concepts?
Can development and survival be reconciled?" The Nádasdy Academy's
aim is to find the answers.
Closing
Words
What
Have You Done? What Can we do Together?
"(…)
The most significant result of the symposium is that representatives
of various movements came together for two days and formulated the
need for acting together. Having access to the information of the
symposium is important and is provided by the journal Ökotáj. (…)
The population, decision makers and those working in the field of
education must be more well informed."
András
Lányi: There Is an Ecological Alternative
"There
is an ecological alternative; this was the most important message
of the environmentalists who came together for a symposium at the
Nádasdy Academy. In Nádasdladány it became evident once again, that
it is not the lack of an image for the future or the unpreparedness
of thought that stifles those who try to herd our self-destructive
civilization onto an eco-logical, habitable, sustainable and likable
path." We need practical solutions to solve our problems.