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Our Aging Population

Wednesday Dec 30 2009

The fact that our global population is aging is becoming a topic of major concern. Julia Moulden wrote in her Huffington Post article "The Aging Population: A Silver Tsunami" about the conversations at the Business of Aging Summit in Toronto, Canada earlier this month. It was hotly debated whether this age wave should be seen as an opportunity or a challenge. Ms. Moulden sees this as an opportunity to reshape the world. Read her article online to discover 5 people whom she believes exemplify those who are "riding the crest of this wave".[Read More]

Written by eldering at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: aging aging_population business_of_aging huffington_post julia_moulden

Double Happiness in Shanghai

Tuesday Dec 01 2009

The world’s most populous nation (1.3 billion people) is looking to raise its birth rate. China is under pressure to relax the country’s one-child policy, begun almost 3 decades ago to support the country’s development. Now there may not be enough young people in the workforce to pay for its aging population and continue economic development. Shanghai is now inviting their citizens to drink from the cup of ‘double happiness’, and to have two children. The unintended consequences of the one-child policy are seen in cities like Shanghai, where almost 20% of the population are senior citizens (twice the national average).[Read More]

Written by eldering at News

Tagged with: aging_population china double_happiness one_child_policy

When do we take action?

Friday Jul 10 2009

By Jim Selman | Bio

The conventional wisdom in Alcoholics Anonymous is that alcoholism is a ‘disease’ of the ego—self-centeredness. Basically the alcoholic becomes trapped in his or her own point of view and denies any other perspective on ‘reality’. The alcohol is a symptom of a loss of control and choice—a condition of cognitive blindness and a self-destructive pattern of behavior. I have distinguished that culture works the same way. That is, the ego is to the individual what culture is to an organization or society—a self-referential structure of interpretation (a worldview) that blinds us to possibilities, robs us of any semblance of choice, and eventually results in some form of ‘hitting bottom’. The belief in AA is that no one really ‘gets it’ and does what needs to be done to sober up until this happens. The only question is where is the bottom?[Read More]

Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action

Tagged with: action aging_population david_korten economy environment wisdom