A portrait of James Lovelock, originator of the theory that the earth…
Crossing the Stones
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Arne Naess-Norwegian philosopher, founder of 'deep ecology,' and alpinist extraordinaire-is the subject of this inspiring portrait. Now in his 80s, Naess is still filled with wonder at the richness of the natural world and our unique place within it. For him life is something to be enjoyed completely.
From a childhood during the First World War through the study of psychoanalysis in Freud's Vienna, through the mid-century hardening of ideologies to the most recent decades with the emergence of ecology as a political force, his exuberant life in the throes of nature has always been characterized by a drive to embrace precise and clear thinking in the face of the great contemporary dilemmas.
Deeply touched by the thought of Spinoza and Gandhi, he coined the term 'deep ecology' to express a vision of the world in which we protect the environment as a part of ourselves, never in opposition to humanity. Deep sensitivity to nature is the articulation of something that every child understands. And for Naess, knowledge of the deepest kind should bind humanity to nature, and not push us further away from the tactile object of its study.
Naess was leader of the first Norwegian Himalayan expedition in 1950, and now lives with his wife in a remote hut well above the treeline on the side of a mountain in central Norway. And, like Thoreau, the example of his own life is as instructive as his writing.
'Arne Naess is one of the world's most influential environmental thinkers...(This video) provides more than a portrait of Naess' philosophy. It shows the man himself, his influential mountaineering days, his life, and his life-style. Unlike many people today...Naess lives and apparently thrives by his ideals.' The Sustainable Futures Society
'An interesting biography for those who want to see a remarkable philosopher who practices his philosophy.' International Society For Environmental Ethics
Citation
Main credits
Næss, Arne (Narrator)
Horne, Jan (Director)
Other credits
Photography, Borgny Baastad; film editor, Nina Stenrød.
Distributor subjects
Aging; Biography; Ecology; Environment; Environmental Ethics; Ethics; European Studies; Humanities; Philosophy; ReligionKeywords
WEBVTT
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[sil.]
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[non-English narration]
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[sil.]
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[non-English narration]
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Well, this uh… play boxing, this play with boxing
glove has… has made some kind of impression also
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in other countries, (inaudible)
saying that Naess,
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he has a complicated character. He
is boxing which is impossible for
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a (inaudible) they imply… they don’t
say it, which is so ridiculous
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because play and sport is different.
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And there is too much sport and
too little play I think today.
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And play is an, uh… is basic
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I think in life and more
suffering, the more playfulness,
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and the more you see all suffering,
the more you need playfulness.
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[music]
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And dignity tells a professor or
philosopher to behave as if you are stiff
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inside and outside completely.
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But when I met
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my present wife, Kit Fai, we met
together playfully as a mandarin,
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as a lecturer in Hong Kong,
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I behaved completely impossible and she liked that
and so she is now my wife, and we had (inaudible).
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[sil.]
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So, there is a lot to learn there
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after your colleges and universities have
skipped all this quasi-scientific way
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of behavior and let philosophy be something
tremendously different from science.
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Then you can and more people,
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who are acting from the deepest in
themselves and not seeing action
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and something very different
from the study of philosophy.
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[sil.]
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Well, mountains, uh… of course,
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that goes back to infancy,
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when I was able to go with my
older brothers into the mountains
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and somehow… somehow I cannot
say exactly why freedom
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was created with getting
above the tree line,
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somehow I don’t know,
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perspective and many… many things I have to do
with it, but from then… from already 10 years old,
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I had this dream of having a tiny
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cottage on this mountain and
live there most of the time.
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I didn’t know exactly
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how tremendously different
climate would be there, wind,
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especially, winds where
it’s arctic climate,
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completely arctic climate and
summer is only one month.
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[sil.]
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My mother had a cottage high in
the mountains above timberline,
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and then, far away, according to my
mind, tremendously, far away you had
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a mountain like a enormous wall, and
on the top of this enormous wall
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there within still higher
small peaks and so on.
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And that mountain Hallingskarvet,
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I saw as a living being
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which had all the qualities, I would
like to have, but I didn’t have.
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(inaudible),
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deep inside the deepest (inaudible) there
is something that is completely quite
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and that place Tvergastein
where I has then been
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the place where I belong.
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[music]
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One of the great movements or
sub-movements of today is to get people
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to identify with place and to
identify with surroundings,
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to identify with a landscape
something in ourselves are murdered
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when… when we destroy deep relation between
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ourselves and the immediate surrounding.
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[sil.]
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Tvergastein is situated 1,500
feet above the tree line
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and there is no kind of trail leading
to it and we have to carry everything
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for… this makes
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for self-reliance for… for instance,
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in winter when we had four or even five
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containers of water which
we have got from the lake,
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then every time I would pass
those four or five containers,
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I would say (inaudible).
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[sil.]
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Well, its age(ph) of 14, 15, 16,
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uh… I call the people almost
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interested in real… real problems,
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life problems and what you mean
by heading a life, this is just
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to get an education and uh… family,
and then, be a grandfather.
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So a lawyer,
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I met in… in the mountains (inaudible),
he said what suits you would be Spinoza,
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and I looked into Spinoza
and found it, and then,
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a Spinoza is just a wall
somebody with a total view.
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It’s… it’s everything… it’s connected
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and uh… there is something and
that’s a kind of creative force
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in humans, in everything,
which you call God.
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We had this expression God or nature,
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connecting two words for the same.
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[sil.]
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And then, he had something marvelous
about you cannot beat the…
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you can’t avoid being
glad and seeing the world
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as something to be glad
about, you cannot avoid that,
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if you are completely active
from your own nature.
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[sil.]
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[music]
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[sil.]
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What makes me feel
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quite serious meaning in life… in
my life is the ecological crisis
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because the… I can add to
my feeling for nature.
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I can add a sense of being
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useful socially and
politically by coining(ph)
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
the term deep ecology and
this has to do with relating
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deepest feelings and attitudes relating
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that to practice your own practice in life.
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[non-English narration]
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And uh… And of course, I had a kind
of practical philosophy, therefore,
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when I was suddenly made a
Phil.(ph) professor in 1939,
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27 years old,
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I said that, of course, people,
who are specialized in philosophy
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that could not be coursed to
be seen at the campus at all,
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except that certain examinations.
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So also I… I myself would
say I be here on the…
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on the campus Tuesday from 6 o’clock
and until Wednesday 3 o’clock,
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and nothing else
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because as a philosopher, how could one
live on the campus. I mean either up
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in the mountains or some kind
of conflict areas or something.
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[sil.]
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And at that time just
possible to go through
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this kind of uh… conception
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of being a philosopher, being a philosopher
different from being a professor of philosophy.
00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
[sil.]
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I was close to the (inaudible) empiricist
in 1934 or 1935 before I was professor,
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and uh… I was very close
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to the American pragmatism in opposition
to Bertrand Russell, for instance,
00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.999
who was more intellectual, I was
more influenced by zoology,
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botany, geology and natural uh… nature,
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
but then, uh… I asked myself more
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closely whether I could support
empiricism as a total system,
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and umm… that was impossible I found out,
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
so I went into a kind of skepticism.
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This uh… believing in possibility
to have any kind of systems
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and this leads me then to
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
the philosophy of diversity of lifestyles and
diversity of real conceptions and opposition
00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
to what I believe in that there should
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
or could be a scientific worldview.
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
There will be no definite
worldview in the future, I hope.
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:18.000
[sil.]
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
Philosophy, I think uh…
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
today would be concealed
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
as philosophy of life first
all, and that’s easy to say
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
that what’s driving you, what’s your
aims, basically what’s hunting you
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
and what are you hunting.
So what we need is,
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
of course, academic philosophers,
but we need much more
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
philosophers in the sense of old fashioned
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
kind of maximum perspective,
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
deepness of perspective and
broadness of perspective
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
and who act from this
perspective wholeness(ph),
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
so we have… you need people who are living
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
according to their philosophy in the sense that their
philosophy is relevant to what they decide every day.
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
[sil.]
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
So I think today, we
must change universities
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
and colleges in the direction of cultural,
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
make it more easy for
people, who have a broad
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
and deep perspective to retain that
through college and university
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
and to retain the stress
on practice that’s to say,
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
how you live, how you
influence politicians,
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
local or other, how… how
you influence people
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
and with a tremendous formal
education that’s you have in west.
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
You should be able to
articulate your views and
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
therefore, standup against technocracy
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
and standup against the… and
thinking kind of policies
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:35.000
we have in the west at the moment.
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:48.000
[music]
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
Where it’s clear that I have been
very (inaudible), very deeply
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concerned about problems
that Gandhi was taking up.
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
His aim was to free India,
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
which he meant to free the Indians,
and he said that political freedom
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
is a good instrument for
arriving a freedom,
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
but don’t mix those two things together to…
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to fight for freedom and to
fight for freedom from England,
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
but this…
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
that we are… we have the
bosses, who are English
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that is… is not good for a self respect
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and that’s with a bad self
respect you… you don’t get free,
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get to be a free person.
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
[sil.]
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It was known for insisting of
getting all the facts on the table,
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and it’s time to agree
about the facts, and then,
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
proceed what can be done
to resolve the conflict.
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
Get into the… get into the
center of the conflict,
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
don’t say outside whatever happens don’t
say outside, get into the center.
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
[sil.]
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
When he went to England and they said
no… no, you cannot go in this area
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:43.000
or industry because they hate Indian policy
of starting and making their own clothes.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
So he went there and his
appearance he has then language
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or behavior that immediately
cools down people,
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
and the workers said okay,
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
of course… of course you missed(ph),
do what your wish in India,
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
but the British government has
to do something to help us
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
because we get unemployed. So it’s our…
it’s our problem not your problem.
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
Whatever the result of the mission
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
that brought me to London, I
know that I shall carry with me
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
the pleasantest memory
of my stay in the mix
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
of the poor people of East London.
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
So I think that Gandhi showed
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
that we can always meet an
opponent whatever his view,
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
religious or other, he can always
meet in a way that calm down
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
passions and made communication possible.
00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:03.000
[music]
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
According to Luther, there are
bad people and good people,
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
and… humans are somehow
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
above nature (inaudible).
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
In… in Gandhian thinking, you can’t distinguish
this way that there are bad and good people,
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
but you have good or bad actions,
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
and how can we reduce the
power of… of bad actions.
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
How can we, maybe change
people to some extent?
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
Gandhi would say that we have to go
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
to use \"satyagraha\",
nonviolence resistance,
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
which is an active militant
resistance where you don’t mind blood
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
on your side, but you
mind blood on other side.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
So you see Gandhianism is very
different from passivism.
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:20.000
[non-English narration]
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
[sil.]
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
We were occupied five years by the Nazis
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
and you may ask by the way
Norway should have reacted
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
by nonviolence against the occupation,
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
so the first question, I would say,
sure we could have stopped Hitler
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
without any kind of
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
military means but then
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
we had to stop… we had… had it
to stop in 1918, 1919, 1920,
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
who have helped Germany
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
to get back into normalcy…
normality economically.
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:23.000
[sil.]
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
And many people in 1919, 1920, 1921,
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
thought about things like Gandhi did.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
If they had… had more power,
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
he could easily been stopped.
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
But, as I say we had to go far back,
we can talk about training of people
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
or what’s the outlook… what’s the… how
much do the military self-defense
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
do for developing in nonviolent attitude.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
The military establishment could do both.
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
And in Norway, military establishment
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
didn’t do anything to make us able to
do nonviolence during the occupation,
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
but if we had… had some education
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
and had complete nonviolence
resistant to the occupation forces,
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:30.000
it would have a tremendous influence
internationally, I think.
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:43.000
[music]
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:13.000
[sil.]
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:38.000
[music]
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
One of the things
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
which is a characteristic
of mountains is greatness,
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
because the mountains hallingskarvet
is a great, and if we interpret
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
that in a little wrong way, we talk
about the bigness of mountains.
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
[music]
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
So Himalaya being biggest in the world,
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
we have to go to the Himalaya,
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
but I resisted that
temptation until 1949 or 1948
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
because I knew that it means organization,
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
administration, and coming together
talking about inessentials,
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
but nevertheless, I went then
twice… three times and (inaudible).
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:18.000
[music]
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
And the greatest moment for me was
I remember when in North Pakistan,
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
just a tremendous mountain
that (inaudible),
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
I was climbing with my friends, impressive.
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:48.000
We made first (inaudible) at that time
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
must be the highest that had
been climbing (inaudible),
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
and that of course, made… made me more
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
notorious and made impact
in newspapers and so,
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
but you doesn’t mean much from a
philosophical point of view, not at all.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:18.000
[music]
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:38.000
[sil.]
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
Unfortunately, people in poor the countries
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
when seeing all these tourists,
we seem to have, to…
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
to completely free,
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
no work, no nothing,
they just stroll around,
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
and we must get hold all
the things they have
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
and there… the main… one main goal of a
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
next century is, of course,
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
to that we go down and materials
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
(inaudible) and so the world
would see a development
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
of the poor countries.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:48.000
[music]
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:58.000
[sil.]
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
So richness and luxury, if it has
at all philosophical meaning,
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
must be related to what you feel
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
and what you have compared to certain
other people, what they have irrelevant,
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
completely irrelevant,
especially, if you live
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
in which the industrial society.
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
How did it (inaudible)?
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
This is so little. You really need compared
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
to what you think you need.
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
So I got the slogan which is so
important in deep ecology movement
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
that rich life simple means,
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
not simple life. I… I had a
more complex life I ever had.
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
I have had more than 10 years, I have
been in Tvergastein because of wife,
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
child and everything you
needed including a couple
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
of thousand volumes of literature
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
because I… my two volume
philosopher… history of philosophy
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
made me carry more than 200
pounds of books complete works,
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
or can’t complete (inaudible) and so on.
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
And to stay there, I got free from most conventions
how a history of philosophy should be.
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:28.000
[sil.]
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
So what we should do, also
students of philosophy,
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
is to find meaning, find where they stand,
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
where their innermost being,
where like what… what direction
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
I really feel live alone.
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
Then interpret the philosopher
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
according to what they feel and
that’s what they do Spinoza.
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
Whereas people think (inaudible) he… he
is saying that Spinoza is a philosophy
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
we should use in ecological crisis. No… no,
I… I never make any propaganda for Spinoza,
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
but I am seeing things
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
in the way that are suggested by Spinoza
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
according to my interpretation.
You should know what you feel for
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
and you know what… what
you are to some extent.
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
You automatically get inventive
and creative, automatically.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:53.000
[sil.]
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
And so in ecological crisis, for instance,
you had to go and to be activist.
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
You have a religion or
you have philosophy and
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
you have a conception
of yourself and you act
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
from all that, and Gandhian
resistance, peace process(ph)
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
that you try and try and
try within the law,
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
and after having done that
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
not seeing any kind of
opportunity to reach the goal,
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
you break laws, but the breaking of law
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
is not directly succeed in
the… in the aim you’re goal,
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
but it is to simply awake people
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
that you’re willing to go
to prison because of this,
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
even with that police or
angry mob hitting you.
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
You just behave completely relaxed
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
that’s why I to some
extent, I like the thought
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
of little training in boxing because
after being hit 10 or 15 times
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
you get… get to be completely
calm about it… completely calm.
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:33.000
[non-English narration]
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:23.000
[sil.]
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
[non-English narration]
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
[sil.]
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
What was true at the time of
Gandhi is true today also
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
that umm… the civil disobedience in arctic
Norway during winter was much more successful
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
than during summer because more than 1,000
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
people were in the winter time doing
demonstration and they sent up 600 police,
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
and then… then, the population saw
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
this on television or in the newspapers
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
and they saw that it was cold… very cold, and
so you see, it’s communication basically
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
the civil disobedience not direct to…
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
to say something directly
by means of breaking laws.
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:33.000
[music]
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
So, we have
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
sinned against nature, we have
sinned against god’s creation
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
and we must live very much different,
what god has created directly,
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
has valve in itself completely independent
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
or any kind of usefulness for man.
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:08.000
[sil.]
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
[sil.]
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
We waste fantastic, a lot of energy
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
so we need a lot of progress
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
and that’s what we have to
understand by… by the term growth.
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
And Gro Harlem Brundtland,
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
herself would be under pressure to say
that, oh, of course, I do not mean
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
the growth as they have
headed before, I mean
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
our growth according to
our ecological criteria
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
that no… nobody has defined
in that way, but it shows
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
that under pressure was that I would like
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
to mean by growth enrich
nation is ecologically
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
sustainable progress in the… each nations.
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
We are overloading the planet’s ability
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
to observe the effects of human
activities in ways never before
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
experienced in human history.
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
While are we still have time to make
necessary changes, sustainable development
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
is a participatory process
on which we all should deal.
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
Sustainable development
according to one interpretation
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
of the Brundtland report
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
is that any kind of
development today implies
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
ecologically sustainable development. You
have to have abundance of life around you
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
and diversity,
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
this is ecological sustainability.
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:23.000
[sil.]
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
You have to choose an interpretation
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
which is (inaudible) supported because 22
politicians of the high level have said yes,
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
and then you have to
interpret report in order
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
to get an interpretation where they
really said something important
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
and very good ecologically. Therefore, which is
politically important to say to politicians,
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
you have said so and so, so how is
your policy consistent with you,
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
what you have said in
the Brundtland report,
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
and then, I cannot say, oh, but you
have interpreted so and so, no… no.
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
They would feel that pressure in direction
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:15.000
of real responsibility ecologically.
Tactical, we have to be tactical also.
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:33.000
[music]
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:43.000
[non-English narration]
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
In 1972, every big newspaper
and every people in power
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
were poor joining in EEC,
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
but the grassroots, we are not… they said,
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
in… in the Norway they said
(inaudible) bad enough,
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
we don’t want any new center even begin.
And today, we are fighting against
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
what some of us… fighting against joining
EEC, and this is interesting to see
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
that it’s seems that there is
some kind of deep distress
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
in bigger center like this
and a (inaudible) states.
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
Which(ph) then they say but
what about if you only
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
I stand in Norway alone, suffering alone
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
where all this… all joining
Sweden and all other joining EEC,
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
how can you stand alone… alone like that,
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
and for me it’s so ridiculous
because its only good for Europe
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
to have a couple of rich
states outside EEC to show
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
that we can ecologically,
for instance, do much…
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
much which I can’t do in EEC,
and philosophically I think it
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
is a cooperation internationally
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
and that means a cooperation in second world or third
world and trying to save little of the fourth…
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
fourth world that’s what
we… we are needed for.
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
[sil.]
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
And we in Norway could do a lot to… to
manifest that we go down to a policy
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
and lifestyle that is universalizable,
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
and we could do that with a tremendous
nice nature, plus export of oil,
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
we don’t have to serve the
oil but we can export.
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
So we are really and are
in very good position
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
to in some ways realize uh…
ecologically responsible policy.
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
[sil.]
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
If we stay outside, we will
go down maybe a little
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
in material standard of living, but that way we are
having to do anyhow (inaudible), we had to go down.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:18.000
[sil.]
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
And sustainability that means in a long
run you can keep on with the policies
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
without hurting the richness and
diversity of life on earth,
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
that’s sustainability,
philosophically I think.
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:43.000
[music]
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
[sil.]
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
So rich life simple means, not simple life,
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
whereas at a moment the half the…
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
the 500 millions or 800
millions of people living
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
in so called abundance, then cannot hope
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
that the rest of mankind would
reach anything like that level
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
of just nonsense which you
call standard of living…
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
standard of living out life quality in…
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
life quality how do you feel, how do
you really feel that’s the important,
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
and Tvergastein has to
do with that and I hope
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
that others will find other ways
of reaching the same conclusions.
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
When the frontier is long… there
is one of my favorite slogans,
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
frontier is very long, you have certain
weaknesses, you have certain strengths,
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:25.000
come on, do things,
everybody, this is how it is.
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 47 minutes
Date: 1993
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: 10-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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