News You Need
Human Values in Aging Newsletter
August 3, 2007
H.R. Moody, Editor,
AARP Office of Academic Affairs
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Council of Elders
- The Disappearance of Europe
- Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"
- Public Policy and Aging
- What's Wrong with Left and Right
- Web Sites to See
- Books of Interest
- Boredom: The Root of All Evil
COUNCIL OF ELDERS
"We are moving to a global village and yet we don't have our global elders," according to theelders.org. In response to this challenge, a group of elders has come forward on the world stage.
On his 89th birthday on July 17, 2007, former South African President Nelson Mandela assembled a "Council of Elders" made up of leading statesmen, development experts and Nobel Peace laureates who are dedicated to fostering peace and resolving global crises such as climate change, poverty and AIDS. The new group was the idea of singer Peter Gabriel and British entrepreneur Richard Branson, who have raised enough money to fund the enterprise for three years. Members of the Council of Elders include Jimmy Carter, Bishop Desmond Tutu, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan; former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland; former Irish President Mary Robinson; and micro-credit pioneer Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh.
Get more details on the Council of Elders. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.1.35374
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THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EUROPE
This just in! Have you noticed that Europe is starting to disappear? No, not the geographic land mass but the population. The European population has been undergoing the most massive demographic collapse since the Black Death (1348) because of population aging: fewer children, more older people. This is a big, big story that hasn't been covered adequately.
Europe is disappearing mainly because the fertility rate there (and Japan) is far below replacement level (2.1). If we project European population trends into the future --a couple hundred years from now -- Europe is gone, gone, gone.
Well, not quite. The reason is immigration, which is the other big story here. In Europe it is immigrants, mainly from North Africa, Turkey, and other parts of the developing world, who have been coming into the continent. By all evidence, Europe has not been doing a great job of assimilating these newcomers. Japan, demographically the oldest country in the world, has never supported immigration to any degree.
Contrast these trends with the USA, which has a fertility rate higher than any other industrialized country. Moreover, half of all the immigrants in the entire world come to the United States. The result is genuine "American exceptionalism" in 21st century demography. True, the US is also undergoing population aging: a Boomer turns age 60 every 8 seconds. But here a combination of higher fertility plus immigration means a growing total population in the future.
The impact of population aging on a global basis demands our attention. Gerontology need to think more broadly about how population aging interacts with other demographic trends.
For more on this, see:
THE LAST DAYS OF EUROPE:
Epitaph for an Old Continent, by Walter Laqueur (St. Martin's Press, 2007). Details are available. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.2.35374
In his book Walter Laqueur cites THE DEMOGRAPHIC TURNING POINT IN HISTORY, by Herwig Birg (2001) and THE TWILIGHT OF THE OCCIDENT, by Jean-Claude Chesnai (1995).
See more on the demography of population aging and the so-called "Methusaleh Conspiracy." http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.3.35374
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BERGMAN'S WILD STRAWBERRIES
Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish director long ranked as among the masters of world cinema, has died at the age of 89. He lived his last years on remote Faro Island. Bergman was the director of "Wild Strawberries," one of the greatest films about aging ever made. The film features famed Victor Sjöström as Dr. Isak Borg, an aging professor of medicine who reviews his life in a single day while traveling to his old university to receive an honorary degree. The film has been analyzed insightfully by psychologist Erik Erikson, whose treatment is available. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.4.35374
Other reviews of "Wild Strawberries" are available. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.5.35374
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PUBLIC POLICY AND AGING
The "Public Policy & Aging E-Report" is a new, no-cost bimonthly email publication from GSA that highlights key developments and viewpoints in the field of aging policy from a wide variety of sources, including articles and reports circulating in the media, academy, think tanks, private sector, government and nonprofit organizations. See an archive of past issues or subscribe to this publication. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.6.35374
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WHAT'S WRONG WITH LEFT AND RIGHT
Ever wonder what's so unsatisfying about our current political discourse? Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners, has one answer:
"Liberalism is unable to articulate or demonstrate the kind of moral values that must undergird any serious movement of social transformation. The critical link between personal responsibility and societal change is missing on the Left.
Conservatism still denies the reality of structural injustice and social oppression. To call for individual self-improvement and a return to family values while ignoring the pernicious effects of poverty, racism, and sexism is to continue blaming the victim."
>From THE POWER OF HOPE: A Sign of Transformation, by Jim Wallis, available. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.7.35374
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WEB SITES TO SEE
CONSCIOUS AGING. The author of the best-selling textbook on aging takes up the banner of conscious aging. Read Robert Atchley's "Nurturing a New Vision of Longevity." http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.8.35374
LATE STYLE IN ART. For an approach to late-life creativity. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.9.35374
DEMENTIA. "The Aging Spirit or Dementia and THAT person behind" by Doris Bersing, available. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.10.35374
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BOOKS OF INTEREST
ENDURING QUESTIONS IN GERONTOLOGY, edited by Debra Sheets, Dana Bradley, and Jon Hendricks (Springer, 2006).
LATE THOUGHTS: Reflections on Artists and Composers at Work, edited by Karen Painter and Thomas Crow (Getty, 2006). "Artistic lateness is retrospective, an inference about the latter stage of creative life, a sign of our perception that an artist's idiom may turn all the more rich and strange in the presence of aging or illness or encroaching death." http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.11.35374
THE BODY IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE, by Julia Twigg (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY. First Annual Conference of the Division of Humanistic Psychology (Aug. 14-16, 2007, San Francisco, CA). "Humanistic Psychotherapies for the 21st Century: Evolution in Theory, Research and Practice." Preceding the APA Convention. Get the Conference Registration Form. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.12.35374
MENTORING. (Aug. 14-19, 2007, Mendocino, CA). "The Initiated Soul, the Awakened Self: A Mentoring Retreat for Younger and Older Men." Michael Meade, Jack Kornfield, and others. Mendocino Woodlands Camp Mendocino, California. Get more information. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.13.35374 or call (206) 935-3665
MIDLIFE TRANSITIONS. "Great Escapes and Other Necessities of Mid-Life." (Aug. 15, New York, NY). A show by Morgan, the Ph.Diva, cabaret singer and scholar of lifespan development. She's performing at 7 PM at Don't Tell Mama's --343 West 46th, NY, NY. Another performance takes place Sept. 4, 2007, 7 PM. Get details. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.14.35374
HEALTHY AGING: "Healing and Healthy Aging: Nature and Nurture" (Week of Aug. 20, 2007, Chattauqua Institution, New York). Bill Thomas, M.D., and Sherwin Nuland, M.D., are speakers on Aug. 22. Get details. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.15.35374
IN SEARCH OF SOUL: "The Realisation of the Self in Personal Life and in the World" (Aug. 22-25, 2007, Oxford University, UK). Annual Conference of the Guild of Pastoral Psychology. Exploration of the spiritual quest and depth psychology. For details and reservations, phone +44(0)20 3204 0175 or visit: http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.16.35374
GLOBALIZATION. "Globalization, Social Inequality and the Life Course" (Sept. 1-2, 2007, Groningen, Netherlands). See details.
Internet: http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.17.35374
TOOLS FOR BUILDING COMMUNITY. (Sept. 30–Oct. 2, 2007, Abingdon, VA). Sponsored by ElderSpirit Community Resource Center and held at Jubilee House Retreat Center in Abingdon. A workshop focused on creating community for and with elders. $175 per person covering room, six meals and program, including a tour of ElderSpirit Community. Abingdon is listed in "The 100 Best Art Towns in America" and described as "a Virginia historic landmark" in the highlands of Southwest Virginia (airport at Tri-Cities, VA/TN).
For details contact Monica Appleby, ElderSpirit Community at PO Box 665, Abingdon, VA 24212 or monicaappleby@xtn.com or visit the website. http://news.aarp.org/UM/T.asp?A910.52852.3934.18.35374
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"Boredom is the root of all evil --the despairing refusal to be oneself."
-- Kierkegaard
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This electronic newsletter, edited by Harry (Rick) Moody, is published by the Office of Academic Affairs at AARP (601 "E" Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20049) and is cosponsored by the International Longevity Center-USA. The Newsletter contains items of interest about humanistic gerontology; it does not publish original writing but is limited to brief and timely announcements. To submit items of interest or request subscription changes, contact hrmoody@aarp.org.
(c) Copyright 2007; all rights reserved.