>> where do we come from? where are we going? and what i is the meang of it ? this week, "global 3000" turns to some fundamental questions. we asked some people in berlin where they find that meaning. >> that's a very hard question to answer. i don't know, maybe i'll be easy and just say beer and fun? yeah, beer and fun. maybe that, yeah.

> to be happy? >> love and -- >> to be better every day. >> tell me if you find a good answer. >> some of us look to self-help guides for advice, while others head to the school of life. >> can you learn how to live? most might say you learn life on the job. but some people actually go to school to try to get it right in our complex, fast-paced world. just look at all the courses and seminars offering orientation and guidance. this particular course is about learning equanimity. >> my background is in philosophy, but i have long been interested in developing a richer understanding of the concept of the good life. the school of life brings together psychological theories, advances in neuroscience, meditation, and mindfulness.

>> whether it comes in the form of works of art or literature or philosophy, it is certainlnly something i can draw on. and sometimes i can find answers -- even to unanswewerable questions such as the meaning of life. >> i consider the world to be fundamentally flawed. a world that was not created in a meaningful way, but just emerged, is probably flawed, but we have the chance to improve it. if everyone does their part, however tiny.. i at least don't want to make the world worse by my actions. for me, that's the meaning of life. >> the meaning of life -- that's long been a concern of thomas biller. he set up the berlin branch of the school of life in 2016. he used to run tv production companies, until the financial crisis hit.

>> i went to london and trained as a pastry chef, and there i stumbled upon a shop called the school o of life. it attracted attention, like it does here in berlin. the themes were appealing. and as an entrepreneur, i was interested to see that you can make a business out of it. >> he acquired licences for the bags, the cards, the books -- all the meaningful merchandise that can enrich a life. as do the courses on offer at the school of life franchises. it's an identifiable brand. >> the themes are the same the world over -- love, relationships, work problems. the dilemmas arere the same everywhere. so you c can address them hehen berlin or in london or in buenos aires. the enterprise is the brainchild of alain de botton.

he opened the fifirst school f life in londonn 202008. now there are e 12 of themnn cities a around the world. and of course, there is a youtube channel offering philosophical insights for everyday consumption. it's been viewed by millions. >> there is a type of under-confidence that arises, specificalal when we grow too attached to our owown dignity d become anxious around any situation at m might seen n to which there e is any r risof enng u up looking g ridiculou, which comprises, of course, almost all the most interesting situations. >> doing t things yoyou are scd of, pushing the envelopepe, nw experiences. for the longest time, i didn't do that, and remainened insidey comfort t zone. when i started to move beyond it -- starting work in a a kitchens an apprentice when i i was cloe to 50 -- i realilised there iso

much inside us that's undiscovered. trtrying it out isis clearlylyy valuabable activity. >> proroviding tips to help peoe lead a meaningful lilife -- -t certainly looks like a win-win kind of business. >> for millennia, religion has been a central source of meaning, providing a sense of stability and structure. but today, many are turning away from the established religions and seeking comfort elsewhere. with an increasingly broad variety of spiritual alternatives available, it's now possible to seek your own answers. some are finding it in new f fos of s self-improvement, while others are taking a more esoteric approach. >> thousands gather at stonehenge in england every year

to celebrate the summer solstice. for many, the prehistoric site is sacred -- a place of mystery and magic. on some level, we all seek to find meaning in our lives.s. in the west today, some are turning to esoteric forms of spirituality for answers. >> today, europe is suffering from depression. 30% of the population is suffering from depression. it's a very high number. so it's the last percentage of people in need of inner peace. >> crop circles in bavaria. some people here believe there are supernatatural fororces at . othe see a a message f from our space. a survey suggests 40% of germans are open to esoteric concepts such as astrology and new age.

>> i think we all yearn for something good that will help us. something holy. >> i want to attain new knowledge, enrich my life, and expand m my consciousness. >> in search of memeaning, soe peopople are w willing to travo the remotest corners of the earth. like this shshamanistic touruf northern greenland, complete with song and incense. it's not cheap -- it costs several thousand euros. >> i am not there to p pump moy out of people.e. i am there to give them. but of cours it costs money to come here. it coststs money to establisha campso it had to be paidid. >> t t market for esoteric it cosservices is huge.ablisha

at the annual mystic fair in rio de janeiro, hundreds of practititioners market their seservices -- fortune tellers, spspiritual teachers, , healered alternrnative medidicine types.. and there is plenty of merchandise, too -- incense, healing crystals, tarot cards, books. it's been estitimated that t e industry turns over 176 billion euroros a year. >> in cities, in urban centres, where everything is loud, the streets, the stress, e especiay in places like that, people need spirituality. despite, or perhaps because of, ththis chaos, people feel the nd to believe in something, to improve their lives through spirituality. >> some people seek self-improvement through yoga. in the united states, it's at

least 36 million. others look within themselves. some do it literally. there's a new movement called quantified self -- using technology to collect data about our bodies and environment. >> i track my sleep pattern very closely. and it's easy to track how much exercise i get. if you sleep better, eat better, and move more, you just t feel better. >> boosting performance and enhancing health in the hope of attaining happiness. this, too, is a huge market. >> in germany, we spend about 8 % of g gdp on health. in the united states, it is a lot more -- it's 16%. that amounts to several hundred billion dodollars. that figurure is about double germany's entire auto industry. >> some are taking

self-optimization even further, like these biohackers in pittsburgh. they're taking a diy approach, building monitororing devices n their home laboratory. the little boxes collect data and analyze it on the spot -- within the body. heart rate, blood sugar, and cholesterol -- when a value moves out of the normal range, the biohackers step in. a brave new world in the search for meaning and personal growth. >> society seems bent on striving for perfection -- optimal performance, beauty, and health. science and technology has opopened the door to new diagnostic procedures that make imperfection harder and harder to accept. which raises key ethical questions. what does it mean to decide in favor of a child you know isis disabled? just what is a life worth? we head to south africa to meet some people who show that life isis hugely valuable, whether is able-bied d or not.

>> my name is edward ndopu. 20 years ago medical experts told your mother that due to spinal muscular atrophy, you would not live past your fifth birthday. you feel guilty because you have left folks behind. unlike youou, they are l lockep inin the back rorooms of grm nursing homemes, made to disapar from public c view, and are neglected d and ill-trtreated by society and ththe state. >> i want to have something of my own -- preferably my n business. i want to learn more about jewelry so i can teach others, even thosese who aren't disable. so they can see we can do this, despite our disabilities.

>> my name's ntswaki tsoliwe. i'm 31 years old. >> thehe kind of life thatat ik to livive is on an epic scscald really big. and i think there's a reason for that. i think because i know thahat m dying. i know, because i have a degenerative disability and because e i know theldlder i g, the weaker i b become, there'sn urgegency at the back of my mi. and d because e of that urgenci don't have timime to play smsm. i think that t the vast majoriy of people withth disabilities n south africa are incncredibly disenfrancnchised, to the pointf being invisible. people with disasabilities disappear into the background. we don't see them.

we don't hear from them. there's already overwhelming poverty and overwhelming inequality and unemployment in sosouth afafrica for youor non-didisabled person. but for disabled south africans, it's compounded by the anti-disisability society in w h we livive -- which is not justa south africacan problem, but i would argue, a g global proble. >> on the street, people feel pity for me. they s say "why is it so diffict for you to walk? what caused this?" i don't respond. this is how god made me. i didn't cause this condition. >> do you feel ashamed of your disability, or you a a not ashamed of it?

>> no,o, i'm proud of it.. >> i paint houses purple to show support for people like me. we also need people to support us. just like we support each other. >> schools rejected you time and time again. it was said that you would never cut it in the formal education system. so when i was 1616ears old, , y mum came home one afternoon and she broughght with her a magazi, and snap bang in theididdle wa a a feature on this new schoo, the african leleadership acade.

the popoem was part of the grad opening of the acacademy. i am free. if we lookok at society, i its made to help a able-bodied peop. eveverythihing about the builtlt enenvironment is structuredd because somebody assumes a certain body. and this body stands and walks and sees and hears. ththis is why i say that independence doesn't't exist. what does exexist is interdepependence. wewe all need each other too survive. we all do. >> i want to say that pepeople with d disabilities s are humant like everyonone else. we're all ththe same.

the only difference is that i need help walking and other people don't. >> i want to leave the planet in a blaze of glory. i want to go out like a firework. my body may have deteriorated over the years a and may have decayed, but my spirit is everlasting and will conontinue to reverberate long after i've left the earth. >> where do you head to o find spiritituality? check out our facebook page and let us know.

this week, it's all about the meaning of life on "dw global society." without water, there's no life -- it's our most important resource. anand it's the topic of f this week's "global ideas," our series focusing on p people ad projects involved in climate protection. 80% of the worldld sewage is dumped unprocessedn n the environment. our reporter joaim egger travelled to peru. every year, millions of tourists visit cusco, latin america's oldest settlement, before making a pilgrimage to the world-famous inca site of machu picchu. and that's a huge challenge for cusco's water utility -- even though it has a tradition spanning centuries. from the source, the water flflows through h channels intoe

terraced gardedens of tipo buil600 0 yearago, i it'an idyllic placace. 300 people once lived here, explains a hydraulic engineer who's worked here for decades. the ruin is situated 3,500 meters above sea level and is considered a masterpiece of water management. >> tipon was a huge ecological experiment, where the pre-hispanic people made use of nature and especially water. it was used for rituals and ceremonies and also for agriculture. specific hydraulic systems were developed for these purposes -- for example, the channels, the subterranean cisterns, and the aquaducts. >> the incas succeedededn channelling the water ov a a course o of several hundred mets down the hillside, without it

gaining pace, then sending it in various directions to irrigate their gardens, and then on down into the valley. a few kilometers to the west is cusco, the capital of the inca empire before the spanish conquest. today, over 2 million tourists visit each year. the city is thriving, its population booming. 450,000 people live here. but it hasn't lost its unique atmosphere. the legacy of the incas still survives. even the course of the river sapi outside the city limits is a testament to inca history. like in tipon, the water is channelled into man-made basins to slow down the flow. that also helps remove debris from the water. but washed-up trash is the least of the problems.

much worse is the raw sewage from thousands of toilets. the stench is overwhelming. this engineer works for the sedacusco water utility company, which aims to improve the situation. >> our goal is to decontaminate cusco's water. including here in the river sapi. the water here is filthy, and it's our duty to rid the river of toxins. >> the problem is the many new housing developments on the outskirts of the city. there are 50 in the northwest alone. all generate sewage from toilets, sinks, baths, washing machines, and dishwashers. the river flows in underergroud channels to ththe neighborhoodf san jeronimo at the other end of the city.

from there, it f flows into a sewage treatment plant. it's the pride of cusco. it's been undergoing renovation since 2014. with the help of german consultants, it's being made more efficient. >> working in peru's most modern sewage treatment plant is very gratifying. it's also very challenging. every day we investigate new technologies and learn about how cities in other countries are implementing them -- things that are new to us in peru. >> most of peru's sewage ends up unfiltered in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. it's dangerously unhygienic and an environmental nightmare. >> human waste generate approximately 75 kilos of carbon dioxide per year per person. if it isn't treated, it could

soon be 400. this plant allows us to reduce human-generated emissions to 20 kilos of carbon dioxide per year. >> you c can smell the improvement. the fermentation gas that accrues in sewage treatment plants is now filtered out more efficiently, so the stench is far less overwhelming. much to the relief of the plant's neighbors. on avenida collana, for example. this shop owner has been living here for seven years. the street used to be notorious. >> when you came here by bus, the stop would be announced as "buenos aires" -- "good air." that's what the neighborhood was called. no one would visit.

even the buses didn't want to come here. >> it was especially bad at midday. >> in the past, when i would eat over there with my mother-in-law, we thought at first that the stench came from the bathroom. and anyone who visited us would notice the smell. we'd always tell them that it came from the plant. it's much better now. it smells a bit. but it's nowhere near as bad. >> delegations come from across the country to visit the sewage treatment plant -- on average two a month. the stench has largely disappeared, thanks to the optimized biogas facility. it prevents thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere. >> we're in the process of deciding on a framework for the biogas team. the plan is for cusco to convert 2000 cubic meters of gas into electricity by the end of the

year. >> the plant will soon be completely self-sufficient. the water company will save over 20,000 euros in electricity costs per month. the only question that remains is, how did the incacas deal wh sewage? >> this is the bedroom. the toilet, the bathroom, was probably adjacent. >> the bathroom? >> yes. we assume it was the bathroom on the basis of the floor plan and the ceramics we found. researchers have identified layers of organic material on pots with layers of sand between them. the incas probably used them as chamber pots.

>> the cat litter principle. perhaps the incas valued their water supply too highly to befoul it. >> next week on "global ideas," we head to south africa, where agriculture and d trade arare ko the economy.y. every day, thousands of refrigerated lorries carrying perishable goods hit the roads. most of them use environmentally-toxic cooling agents, and they're also often poorly insulated. by substituting natural coolants and using improved technologies, refrigerated transnsport is seto become a whole lot greener. you'll find all that and more on next week's edition. that's all for today, but we love hearing from you. drop us a line to global3000@dw.com or visit us on facebook -- dw global society.

bye for now. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

07/07/17 07/07/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacififica, this is democracy now! welcome to hell. that's been the rallying cry of protesters in hamburg, germany, where donald trump and other world leaders are meeting for the g20 summit. we will go to the streets of hambmburg and then look aheaeado trump's meeting with russian president vladimir putin. the meeting taking place a day after trump acknowledged