YJA Convention 2010 07 New Brunswick NJ Ninth

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

Page 13

Keynote Speakers
The Complexities of Non-Violence
In a world that rallies around a single word, "hope," we are everyday confronted by the challenges of effecting meaningful change that can soften the burden of a blunt, too often ruthless world. Everyone speaks of peace, peace, peace. Yet achieving it - economically, politically, emotionally, ecologically and ethically- remains the most exasperating and serious undertaking our species has ever confronted. The stakes are far more astounding and critical than at any time in the last 65 million years, when the dinosaurs went extinct. The Jain visions of reality represent a crucial pathway towards achieving the reconciliation of pain and inequity with social and interspecies justice. Dr. Tobias will present the basic Jain tenet of non-violence ("ahimsa") in the globalized context of a multitude of perspectives, initiatives and obstacles that can be viewed with an eye towards turning the biological and spiritual crisis around. This is the generation to make a profound difference.
Speaker Biographies Session Descriptions &
Michael Tobias - Dr. Michael Tobias is a world-renowned interdisciplinary global ecologist, anthropologist, author, filmmaker, historian, and explorer. As long-time President of the Dancing Star Foundation, based in the U.S. and New Zealand, Dr. Tobias has been a strong policy analyst and advocate for international biodiversity conservation, animal protection, and environmental education. He has worked in more than 75 countries with governments and countless communities in an effort to help formulate conservation, animal welfare and sustainability blueprints that imaginatively meet the needs of people and nations. Tobias obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California-Santa Cruz in 1977 in the History of Consciousness Department. Tobias has studied Hebrew, Sanskrit, French, Italian, Russian, and Greek.
During the 1980s Tobias was the Science & Current Affairs Producer for PBSSan Francisco (KQED) and the Executive Producer in Charge of International Productions for the third largest PBS station in the U.S., Maryland Public Broadcasting.
Tobias' 40 books and more than 100 films - read and/or broadcast in as many countries - have won and/or been nominated for over fifty international prizes and awards, including several Emmys.
Inspire. Connect. Do The Jain Thing.