Joseph Wilhelm
Greeting 2012
this year’s OWA (One World Award) award ceremony marks the end of the third OWA application process. Once created to reward individuals and institutions for their commitment for a more human and sustainable globalization and to encourage people around the world to double their efforts for a more just development, the purpose and the contents of the OWA are even more important today than before.
For a more conscious behavior and take on responsibility
It seems as if the world is staggering from one crisis into the next. Financial problems, environmental catastrophes and regional (civil) wars in various places dominate the incessant daily news input. The global population increases a billion at a time and the struggle for survival of the very poor on the one hand and the increasing egotism of the rich countries on the other side accelerate the destructive exploitation of the Earth’s resources. Scarcity of drinking water and the staggering losses of fertile soils due to erosion and building developments as well as industrialization will make a suffi cient food supply increasingly diffi cult in the future.
These menaces scare people and foster discouragement. This effect is comprehensible and understandable but it also aggravates negative developments. The short-sightedness of political decision makers further compounds the situation.
These menaces scare people and foster discouragement. This effect is comprehensible and understandable but it also aggravates negative developments. The short-sightedness of political decision makers further compounds the situation.
The turn-around of this apparently unstoppable demise requires the courage and activity of as many people as possible. With the OWA we want to make our humble contribution for a better world. Find inspiration in the OWA for a more conscious behavior and take on responsibility within the complex context of a globalized world. Globalization is not all negative as it provides a growing number of people with a suffi cient and sustainable subsistence.
I would like to extend my gratefulness to our friends from our OWA partner IFOAM and to the members of the jury who make this award possible with their voluntary effort. And I would like to thank all those who applied to the OWA by submitting their projects but who could not be considered for the award this time. My heartfelt congratulations go to all fi nalists and the laureate of the OWA 2012!
Joseph Wilhelm
Initiator of the One World Award,
Founder and Managing Director of Rapunzel Naturkost
I would like to extend my gratefulness to our friends from our OWA partner IFOAM and to the members of the jury who make this award possible with their voluntary effort. And I would like to thank all those who applied to the OWA by submitting their projects but who could not be considered for the award this time. My heartfelt congratulations go to all fi nalists and the laureate of the OWA 2012!
Joseph Wilhelm
Initiator of the One World Award,
Founder and Managing Director of Rapunzel Naturkost
