1.
Sweden
–
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
2.
Parliament House, Stockholm
–
The Parliament House, is the seat of the parliament of Sweden, the Riksdag. It is located on half of Helgeandsholmen, in the Gamla stan district of central Stockholm. The building complex was designed by Aron Johansson in the Neoclassical style, Parliament House was constructed between 1897 and 1905. In 1889, a competition had been held to select a design for the new Parliament building, upon opening, it replaced the Old Riksdag Building on Riddarholmen. The two buildings of the complex were constructed to house the Riksdag in one, and the Sveriges Riksbank in the second. Assembly Hall expansion After the bicameral Riksdag was replaced by a legislature in 1971, and the bank relocated. During the construction, the Parliament moved into premises in the newly erected Kulturhuset south of Sergels Torg. The Right Livelihood Award, awarded by the Swedish Parliament annually, is presented to recipients at a ceremony in Parliament House annually, the award was established in 1980 to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today. There presently 149 Laureates from 62 countries
3.
David Suzuki
–
David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC OBC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph. D. in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known for his television and radio series, documentaries and books about nature and the environment. He is best known as host of the popular and long-running CBC Television science program The Nature of Things and he is also well known for criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment. The Foundations priorities are, oceans and sustainable fishing, climate change and clean energy, sustainability, the Foundation also works on ways to help protect the oceans from large oil spills such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Suzuki has also served as a director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association from 1982 to 1987, Suzuki was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 2009. His 2011 book, The Legacy, won the Nautilus Book Award and he is a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 2004, David Suzuki ranked fifth on the list of nominees in a CBC Television series that asked viewers to select The Greatest Canadian of all time. Suzuki was the top finalist still alive, Suzuki has a twin sister named Marcia, as well as two other siblings, Geraldine and Dawn. He was born in 1936 to Setsu Nakamura and Kaoru Carr Suzuki in Vancouver, British Columbia, Suzukis maternal and paternal grandparents had emigrated to Canada at the beginning of the 20th century from Hiroshima and Aichi Prefecture respectively. A third-generation Japanese-Canadian, Suzukis family suffered internment in British Columbia from early during the Second World War until after the war ended in 1945. In June 1942, the government sold the Suzuki familys dry-cleaning business, then interned Suzuki, his mother and his father had been sent to a labour camp in Solsqua two months earlier. Suzukis sister Dawn was born in the internment camp, after the war, Suzukis family, like other Japanese Canadian families, were forced to move east of the Rockies. The Suzukis moved to Islington, Leamington, and London, Ontario, Suzuki, in interviews, has many times credited his father for having interested him in and sensitized him to nature. Suzuki received his B. A. in Biology in 1958 from Amherst College in Massachusetts where he first discovered genetics study, from 1961 to 1962, Suzuki worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. From 1962 to 1963, he was an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, early in his research career he studied genetics using the popular model organism Drosophila melanogaster. To be able to use his initials in naming any new genes he found, Suzuki began in television in 1970 with the weekly childrens show Suzuki on Science. In 1974, he founded the radio program Quirks and Quarks, throughout the 1970s, he also hosted Science Magazine, a weekly program geared towards an adult audience. Since 1979, Suzuki has hosted The Nature of Things, a CBC television series that has aired in nearly fifty countries worldwide, Suzuki has been a prominent proponent of renewable energy sources and the soft energy path
4.
Jakob von Uexkull
–
Carl Wolmar Jakob Baron von Uexküll is a writer, lecturer, philanthropist, activist and former politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament 1987–1989, representing the German Green Party, in 1980, Uexkull founded the Right Livelihood Award, and in 2006, he co-founded the World Future Council. Born in Sweden, he holds both Swedish and German citizenship, and is a resident of the United Kingdom. The son of Gustav Adolf Gösta Baron von Uexküll and Ewa Lewerentz, Jakob von Uexküll was born in Uppsala, after studying in Sweden and Germany, he won a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. His grandfather Jakob von Uexküll was a biologist and the founder of the study of biosemiotics, Uexküll is married and has three children. He lives with his family in London, the Right Livelihood Award evolved from von Uexkülls opinion that the Nobel Prizes were relatively narrow in scope and usually recognised the work of citizens in industrialised countries. Uexküll first approached the Nobel Foundation with the suggestion that it establish two new awards, one for ecology and one relevant to the lives of the majority of the worlds population. He offered to contribute financially but his proposal was turned down.000 euro, in 1980, the first Right Livelihood Awards were bestowed in a rented hall. Five years later, the invitation to present them in the Swedish parliament in Stockholm followed, since 2005 his nephew Ole von Uexküll has taken over the management of the Right Livelihood Award. The German Green Party has several times nominated Jakob von Uexküll in elections to the European Parliament, as a Member of the European Parliament, he served on the Political Affairs Committee and the Science and Technology Committee. He was also a member of the Delegation for Relations with the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Uexküll is co-founder of The Other Economic Summit, and founder of the Estonian Renaissance Award. He is a patron of Friends of the Earth International, member of the Council of Governance of Transparency International and he served on the Board of Greenpeace, Germany, and the New Economics Foundation, London. He was also a member of the UNESCO Commission on Human Duties and Responsibilities, Uexkull lectures on environment, justice and peace issues. He is also a philatelist with publications including The Early Postal History of Saudi Arabia, in 2007, Uexküll founded the World Future Council. Petersburg Patron, International Student Week in Ilmenau 2015 Right Livelihood Award, The Founder – Jakob von Uexküll Got his eyes on the prize, by Ulla Plon, Time,2 October 2005
5.
Germans
–
Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history. German is the mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans. The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages, before the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Germans constituted the largest divided nation in Europe by far. Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world, roughly 80 million consider themselves Germans. Thus, the number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million, depending on the criteria applied. Today, people from countries with German-speaking majorities most often subscribe to their own national identities, the German term Deutsche originates from the Old High German word diutisc, referring to the Germanic language of the people. It is not clear how commonly, if at all, the word was used as an ethnonym in Old High German, used as a noun, ein diutscher in the sense of a German emerges in Middle High German, attested from the second half of the 12th century. The Old French term alemans is taken from the name of the Alamanni and it was loaned into Middle English as almains in the early 14th century. The word Dutch is attested in English from the 14th century, denoting continental West Germanic dialects, while in most Romance languages the Germans have been named from the Alamanni, the Old Norse, Finnish and Estonian names for the Germans were taken from that of the Saxons. In Slavic languages, the Germans were given the name of němьci, originally with a meaning foreigner, the English term Germans is only attested from the mid-16th century, based on the classical Latin term Germani used by Julius Caesar and later Tacitus. It gradually replaced Dutch and Almains, the latter becoming mostly obsolete by the early 18th century, the Germans are a Germanic people, who as an ethnicity emerged during the Middle Ages. Originally part of the Holy Roman Empire, around 300 independent German states emerged during its decline after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ending the Thirty Years War and these states eventually formed into modern Germany in the 19th century. The concept of a German ethnicity is linked to Germanic tribes of antiquity in central Europe, the early Germans originated on the North German Plain as well as southern Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the number of Germans was significantly increasing and they began expanding into eastern Europe, during antiquity these Germanic tribes remained separate from each other and did not have writing systems at that time. In the European Iron Age the area that is now Germany was divided into the La Tène horizon in Southern Germany and the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany. By 55 BC, the Germans had reached the Danube river and had either assimilated or otherwise driven out the Celts who had lived there, and had spread west into what is now Belgium and France. Conflict between the Germanic tribes and the forces of Rome under Julius Caesar forced major Germanic tribes to retreat to the east bank of the Rhine, in Roman-held territories with Germanic populations, the Germanic and Roman peoples intermarried, and Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions intermingled. The adoption of Christianity would later become an influence in the development of a common German identity
6.
Philanthropy
–
Philanthropy means etymologically, the love of humanity, in the sense of caring, nourishing, developing, and enhancing what it means to be human. In this meaning, it both the benefactor in their identifying and exercising their values, and the beneficiary in their receipt. A person who practices philanthropy is called a philanthropist, Philanthropy has distinguishing features from charity, not all charity is philanthropy, or vice versa, though there is a recognized degree of overlap in practice. The literal, classical definitions and understandings of the term philanthropy derive from its origins in the Greek φιλανθρωπία, the most conventional modern definition is private initiatives, for public good, focusing on quality of life. This combines the social scientific aspect developed in the century with the humanistic tradition. These distinctions have been analyzed by Olivier Zunz, and others, instances of philanthropy commonly overlap with instances of charity, though not all charity is philanthropy, or vice versa. The difference commonly cited is that charity relieves the pains of social problems, the first use of the noun form philanthrôpía came shortly thereafter, in the early Platonic dialogue Euthyphro. Socrates is reported to have said that his out of his thoughts freely to his listeners was his philanthrôpía. In the second century CE, Plutarch used the concept of philanthrôpía to describe superior human beings and this Classically synonymous troika, of philanthropy, the humanities, and liberal education, declined with the replacement of the classical world by Christianity. During the Middle Ages, philanthrôpía was superseded by Caritas charity, selfless love, Philanthropy was modernized by Sir Francis Bacon in the 1600s, who is largely credited with preventing the word from being owned by horticulture. Bacon considered philanthrôpía to be synonymous with goodness, which correlated with the Aristotelian conception of virtue, then in the 1700s, an influential lexical figurehead by the name of Samuel Johnson simply defined philanthropy as love of mankind, good nature. This definition still survives today and is cited more gender-neutrally as the love of humanity. However, it was Noah Webster who would more accurately reflect the usage in American English. The precise meaning of philanthropy is still a matter of some contention, nevertheless, there are some working definitions to which the community associated with the field of philanthropic studies most commonly subscribes. The Greeks adopted the love of humanity as an ideal, whose goal was excellence —the fullest self-development, of a body, mind, and spirit. The Platonic Academys philosophical dictionary defined Philanthropy as a state of well-educated habits stemming from love of humanity, just as Prometheus human-empowering gifts rebelled against the tyranny of Zeus, philanthropic was also associated with freedom and democracy. Both Socrates and the laws of Athens were described as philanthropic and democratic, gradually there emerged a non-religious agricultural infrastructure based on peasant farming organized into manors, which were, in turn, organized for law and order by feudalism. Francis Bacon in 1592 wrote in a letter that his vast contemplative ends expressed his philanthropic, Henry Cockeram, in his English dictionary, cited philanthropy as a synonym for humanity—thus reaffirming the Classical formulation
7.
Environmentalism
–
While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologism combines the ideology of social ecology and environmentalism. ‘Ecologism’ is more used in continental European languages while ‘environmentalism’ is more commonly used in English. For this reason, concepts such as an ethic, environmental ethics, biodiversity, ecology. The exact measures and outcomes of this balance is controversial and there are different ways for environmental concerns to be expressed in practice. Environmentalism and environmental concerns are represented by the color green. Environmentalism denotes a movement that seeks to influence the political process by lobbying, activism. The word was first coined in 1922, an environmentalist is a person who may speak out about our natural environment and the sustainable management of its resources through changes in public policy or individual behavior. In various ways, environmentalists and environmental organizations seek to give the world a stronger voice in human affairs. In general terms, environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources, in its recognition of humanity as a participant in ecosystems, the movement is centered around ecology, health, and human rights. A concern for environmental protection has recurred in diverse forms, in different parts of the world, for example, in Europe, King Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its smoke had become a problem. The fuel was so common in England that this earliest of names for it was acquired because it could be carted away from some shores by the wheelbarrow. Earlier in the Middle East, the Caliph Abu Bakr in the 630s commanded his army to Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, at the advent of steam and electricity the muse of history holds her nose and shuts her eyes. The origins of the movement lay in the response to increasing levels of smoke pollution in the atmosphere during the Industrial Revolution. An Alkali inspector and four sub-inspectors were appointed to curb this pollution, typically the highest priority went to water and air pollution. The Coal Smoke Abatement Society was formed in 1898 making it one of the oldest environmental NGOs and it was founded by artist Sir William Blake Richmond, frustrated with the pall cast by coal smoke. Although there were pieces of legislation, the Public Health Act 1875 required all furnaces and fireplaces to consume their own smoke. It also provided for sanctions against factories that emitted large amounts of black smoke, financial incentives were offered to householders to replace open coal fires with alternatives, or for those who preferred, to burn coke instead which produces minimal smoke. Smoke control areas were introduced in some towns and cities in which only smokeless fuels could be burnt, the act formed an important impetus to modern environmentalism, and caused a rethinking of the dangers of environmental degradation to peoples quality of life
8.
Human rights
–
Human rights are moral principles or norms, which describe certain standards of human behaviour, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. They are applicable everywhere and at time in the sense of being universal. They require empathy and the rule of law and impose an obligation on persons to respect the rights of others. They should not be taken away except as a result of due process based on circumstances, for example, human rights may include freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture. The doctrine of human rights has been influential within international law. Actions by states and non-governmental organizations form a basis of public policy worldwide, the idea of human rights suggests that if the public discourse of peacetime global society can be said to have a common moral language, it is that of human rights. The strong claims made by the doctrine of human rights continue to provoke considerable skepticism and debates about the content, nature, ancient peoples did not have the same modern-day conception of universal human rights. Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the family is the foundation of freedom. All human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights. According to Jack Donnelly, in the ancient world, traditional societies typically have had elaborate systems of duties, conceptions of justice, political legitimacy, and human flourishing that sought to realize human dignity, flourishing, or well-being entirely independent of human rights. These institutions and practices are alternative to, rather than different formulations of, one theory is that human rights were developed during the early Modern period, alongside the European secularization of Judeo-Christian ethics. The most commonly held view is that the concept of human rights evolved in the West, for example, McIntyre argues there is no word for right in any language before 1400. One of the oldest records of rights is the statute of Kalisz, giving privileges to the Jewish minority in the Kingdom of Poland such as protection from discrimination. Samuel Moyn suggests that the concept of rights is intertwined with the modern sense of citizenship. The earliest conceptualization of human rights is credited to ideas about natural rights emanating from natural law, in particular, the issue of universal rights was introduced by the examination of extending rights to indigenous peoples by Spanish clerics, such as Francisco de Vitoria and Bartolomé de Las Casas. In Britain in 1689, the English Bill of Rights and the Scottish Claim of Right each made illegal a range of oppressive governmental actions, additionally, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 encoded into law a number of fundamental civil rights and civil freedoms. These were followed by developments in philosophy of human rights by philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, hegel during the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the term had been used by at least one author as early as 1742, in the 19th century, human rights became a central concern over the issue of slavery
9.
Sustainable development
–
The desirable end result is a state of society where living conditions and resource use continue to meet human needs without undermining the integrity and stability of the natural systems. As the concept developed, it has shifted to more on economic development, social development. The concept of development has been — and still is — subject to criticism. What, exactly, is to be sustained in sustainable development, Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of natural systems with the social, political, and economic challenges faced by humanity. Sustainability science is the study of the concepts of sustainable development, there is an additional focus on the present generations responsibility to regenerate, maintain and improve planetary resources for use by future generations. Sustainable development has its roots in ideas about sustainable forest management which were developed in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1713 Hans Carl von Carlowitz, a mining administrator in the service of Elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony published Sylvicultura oeconomica. Building upon the ideas of Evelyn and French minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert and his work influenced others, including Alexander von Humboldt and Georg Ludwig Hartig, eventually leading to the development of a science of forestry. Two years later, the United Nations World Charter for Nature raised five principles of conservation by which human conduct affecting nature is to be guided and judged. In 1987 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development released the report Our Common Future, the report included what is now one of the most widely recognised definitions of sustainable development. In 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and Development published the Earth Charter, which outlines the building of a just, sustainable and it emphasises that in sustainable development everyone is a user and provider of information. Furthermore, Agenda 21 emphasises that broad public participation in making is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving sustainable development. Broadly defined, sustainable development is an approach to growth and development and to manage natural, produced. A2013 study concluded that sustainability reporting should be reframed through the lens of four interconnected domains, ecology, economics, politics, the goals are to be implemented and achieved in every country from the year 2016 to 2030. Sustainable development, or sustainability, has described in terms of three spheres, dimensions, domains or pillars, i. e. the environment, the economy. The three-sphere framework was proposed by the economist René Passet in 1979. It has also been worded as economic, environmental and social or ecology, economy and this has been expanded by some authors to include a fourth pillar of culture, institutions or governance. The ecological stability of human settlements is part of the relationship between humans and their natural, social and built environments, also termed human ecology, this broadens the focus of sustainable development to include the domain of human health
