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TechnoratiNo long ago I lived through a few minutes of very deep fear, thinking it possible that I had accidentally given my six-year-old an overdose of an over-the-counter medication.
I filled the little plastic measuring cup with a teaspoon of the viscous liquid and handed it over to my daughter, who drank it down, if not willingly, then without complaint.
It was only after she had swallowed it all, as I washed the little cup at the sink, that I noticed the confusing labeling - teaspoons and tablespoons jumbled together on the same faint row of measuring guides. Which had I given: one teaspoon as directed, or one tablespoon, a dose for someone three times her weight?
It didn't take long to figure out that all was well; I'd given the proper dose, but the period of not knowing was more than long enough for a mother's mind to run through worst case scenarios: stomach pumping, convulsions, unconsciousness, liver damage, brain damage.
We were spared all of that, and my daughter barely registered the depth of my panic during those few moments; certainly she didn't understand the bottomlessness of my guilt.
Every day since that one, every time I look at her - her dark eyebrows, the small, light hairs on the back of her neck, her sturdy little body - every time I hear her making a joke or whispering to her sister - I am amazed by the power of my love for her. Ten times a day I am left breathless by the hugeness of what could have so easily been lost through my carelessness.
If it weren't for the self-protective layers that we wrap around ourselves when it comes to climate change, I imagine we'd all be feeling something similar about the melting Arctic, the rising seas, the wreckage of New Orleans, and all the losses to come, the species, the island cultures, the options and possibilities.
What we might feel, if we were able to break out of that cocoon of self-protection, would be an amplified version of what I felt that morning at my kitchen sink, a gut-churning combination of fear, remorse, and panic. Amplified because, in the case of climate change, the overdose isn't just a possibility or a passing fear. It is an actual overdose; every day we pour twice as much carbon dioxide into the air as the Earth can absorb. And where my story of almost-overdose would have affected just one child, this one affects them all, all that live today and all that are not yet born, human and non-human alike.
This enormity of feeling is not something most of us have been taught we are strong enough to bear, which explains, of course, the protective layers of denial and distraction we wrap around ourselves.
But we must try our best to bear this sorrow and fear. I learned again at my kitchen sink, clutching a little plastic medicine dispenser in my hands, that fear and grief and remorse are the mirror images of love and dedication.
We shy away from our fear and grief about climate change because they are so huge, but that hugeness is also to our advantage, because the hugeness of these 'dark' emotions reveals the hugeness of our love for our world and our sense of responsibility for it. This hugeness is the untapped power we have to draw on to complete the work of the Sustainability Revolution.
Obviously there are better ways to come to understand the gift of a child in your life than to almost risk that child's health in a careless mistake. And there are better, less costly ways to come to know the gift of being a part of the flowering of life on this planet than to push and pound away at that flowering until its beauty and viability are threatened.
But the overdosing of our Earth is not yet irreversible. Scientists tell us that we have a decade or perhaps two to in which to make drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. That we can hardly imagine the magnitude of this change, or the work and creativity and common purpose that will be required to accomplish it, does not change the reality that we still have time to act.
When it comes to climate change we are not going to be as lucky as I was with my daughter's almost-overdose. We aren't going to earn the gift of knowing our blessings while having caused no lasting harm, because harm has already been done - harm to communities and ecosystems, harm to the future. But when the scientists tell us that we have time to act before the worse scenarios of climate change become unavoidable, what they are really saying is that we have the opportunity to awaken to our blessings in time to save many of them.
The flip side is also true: the longer we wait to feel the sorrow, and thus know the power of our love, the less of what we love will we be able to save.
Elizabeth R. Sawin is the Director of Sustainability Institute's Our Climate Ourselves program and is a writer, teacher, and systems analyst who lives with her family as part of an intentional community and organic farm in Hartland, Vermont. For more of her writing visit www.ourclimateourselves.org
51 Comments so far
Show AllHere is a sattelite photo of my favorite global warming spokesman's home.
http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_nov2004/Travolta_House.htm
How many "progressives" with money would choose to live like hellodarling My guess. None.
I think we need to cut HD some slack; he's earned some moral high ground that most of us haven't. But like it or not, if you live in the western world, are on the grid, eat a 2,000 calorie diet--almost no matter what you eat--have kids, and/or at least occasionally order consumer products, you are a small part of the problem. The fossil fuels consumed and CO2 produced in the processing and transportation of that DVD you just ordered online are greater than the annual allotment of the herder squatting over a fire in Bhutan roasting his goat meat.
Yes, people should live in compact cities, because sprawl is a huge part of the problem and perhaps the most intractable, but you have apparently never heard of the "Netherlands fallacy." You know, those "green" city dwellers are not part of a closed system, and their consumption patterns drive enviromental degradation (including climate change) that may have its "proximate" cause halfway around the world.
That's why government at every level as well as we consumers all have to make not some but all of the best choices now and forever in the future. A very tall order. Hard to be optimistic about our chances, quite frankly.
48.
damon13 - *eyes roll* the cane is metaphorical.
Yes, it is, but that is another discourse on how pain that brings you to your knees can open your eyes and heart ... and many metaphorical stories, parables ... similar.
However, maybe all the Zen masters and other self-styled teachers don't know it's metaphorical. Ram Dass in a week-long retreat that was extremely intense got whacked quite a bit. I think, if I recall, he finally just stayed with the whacking too and didn't lose focus, or maybe even said "enough," and then it stopped.
I did take you seriously on this, and that is part of the difficulty of typed postings. If I heard you and saw your face, I likely would have then known you were using "the cane" metaphorically.
That is why we have to perhaps clarify with a bracket [metaphor] [LOL], etc., sometimes or a question or statement that is kind and gentle ... as in the Dalai Lama's "My religion is kindness."
Obviously, people get testy with each other when they are interpreting what someone says as a put down, even though I realize that some people are very insecure and thus get their jollies or try to empower themselves by dissing others.
peace, damon13 ... or I'll come after you with my cane ... LOL ;-))
*eyes roll* the cane is metaphorical.
One question I seldom see raised with regrd to climate change - even if global warming isn't man-made, isn't it just a good idea not to foul our own nest?
Hi DCB,that's a problem with E-mail and blogs, sometimes there are mis-understandings. I was being a smart ass in the first place and I'd be glad to be on your team anytime. I'm not highly educated however and when those who are start talking to one another, I at times feel pretty dumb. I do joke a little too much at times too. Anyway I'm sorry I wrote that blurb in the first place. Peace back.___ Kem
"I don't understand what you mean by me creating my own reality___ when the subject is DU however? I'm not the expert on the subject, I only repeat what the experts are warning us of, as so many don't know how deadly serious it is."
KEM, sorry if I came across in a negative way. I was being facetious. Of course depleted uranium is going to be hell-toxic for all of us. I just get frustrated when I hear of any hint that the "mind" is going to change things. It tends to be a rationalization for inaction...
I've read dozens of your posts and I think you are an extremely intelligent person, with knowledge in many areas that I don't have. It's going to take all of us to fix the problem, and would appreciate being on your team, if you'll leave a spot open for me. :-)
Peace
It all begins in your community. My Unitarian Universalist congregation is just beginning to address Green Sanctuary. It will be a learning process for all of us. We are becoming involved with the hot potato of clean, renewable power. We have one of the nation's worst polluting coal-fired power plant. We will see, in the next six years, an off-shore windmill farm, the first on the east coast. It's already in the works. The problem is that our state government is determined to spend money to upgrade the power plant to become the second worst polluter in the state, dioxin and mercury being two of it's noxious products, which takes away money from building a larger windmill farm. Right now, I'm trying to make a financial choice to spend $6 each month to recycle. It gets more difficult when you always seem to be falling short as costs rise. We're living on Social Security. I wish the local government would give us a tax credit on our property tax for that. Perhaps I should take it up with the county council. I know this sounds insignificant. But these are the nuts and bolts activities and local issues, that, accummulated, could make a difference. In the old West, they hung horse thieves. It doesn't sound like a capital offense now. But a man without a horse was far more likely to die. So it became very serious. Now we have corporate greed wantonly polluting and destroying the land, water and air. While I'm not partial to capital punishment, it's that serious. I have a son who was poisoned by lead paint and is severely disabled. It costs the federal and state governments over $100,000 a year to care for him. The makers of that lead paint long decades ago KNEW they were manufaturing a time bomb. Their lobby kept that paint on the market. There are Super Fund sites, identified and unidentified, scattered about the nation poisoning local populations with no plans for clean up thanks to the Republicans and George W. Bush personally. Figuratively speaking, they all ought to be hung. Reality-based speaking, criminal policies and conduct which poisons the environment and us should be severely punished. That is the only way to stop the sociopathic corporate model, the ONLY way.
HD, your one track mind, which still seems much more focused on ego protection then environmental protection will make this my last post on the matter, so as not to further draw away from the core content of the article.
My children are not an excuse for anything, they are the very best reason for making the changes I am making and for teaching them the reasons why this is important.
Back to my original point about committing to livable cities as the habitat humanity has made for itself. If people at all stages of life (not just arrogant kids barely off the apronstrings that can afford to focus on only themselves) are going to adopt sustainable lifestyles toward which many of those here are changing, there must be the ability to have quality of life as well as environmental protection. This is why the goals of society as a whole need to change from economic gain and financial wealth to ecological responsibility.
fin.
Damon13:
"As my Zennist, teachers taught, "right thinking, begins with the cane". [But this is within a very specific context of a chosen spiritual practice, Damon13, to control the little-self's mind which is distracted with uncontrolled thinking when the desired place/focus is the space of No Mind and just Being and Beingness. When one drifts in thought or begins to snooze, the Zen Master will whack you back into focus. It is not an across-the-board affirmation of using a cane on others as a general practice.]
And then there's: "He who spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him correcteth him betimes" (Proverbs 13:24) and "Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell." (Proverbs 23:13-14)
Hell from Sumerian Goddess Hel and other mythological beliefs in the underworld just got translated through the centuries, and the threat of HELL is about controlling others with FEAR.
And then there's - from the German manual of child rearing, circa late 1800's: Do not neglect to BEAT YOUR INFANT. It is never too early to teach respect and obedience. ???
Hitler learned all about that from a very cruel stepfather.
And then there's - And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. [similar teachings in the Qu'ran, and taken literally in Sharia Law which was codified by the "elites" of the time about 300 years after the Qu'ran was assembled. Mohamed definitely was not about cutting people's hands off or poking out there eyes. His life history speaks to that.
What is this patriarchal b.s. that generates FEAR and is all about controlling in a most unimaginative and unloving way?
FEAR even in the smallest animal will lead to attack, even if it is in self-defense, fighting for survival. Biting, scratching, clawing ...
With this kind of FEAR, the ability to think clearly, rationally is lost.
ALL FEAR LEADS TO ATTACK [The Course in Miracles] - think about it, examine that notion.
Children who are afraid of being beaten and/or are beaten are psychologically/emotionally damaged. Sneaking, cruelty, repressed feelings of anger and rage, overt aggression and hostile behavior towards others and other creatures, all kinds of acting out, insecurity, false bravado, passive aggressiveness ...
Many research studies have documented the effects of spankings to beatings
on children. Their findings are the same. They are available for anyone to read.
And tongue lashings, verbal abuse is usually part of the mix.
Alice Miller - a classic in-depth study - FOR YOUR OWN GOOD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whenever a man has told me that his father beat him and it made a man out of him, I usually had already noted how limited, inflexible and unwhole this person was in many of his responses, and he didn't have a clue.
It's all about learned/taught Belief Systems - teachings of many religions are some of the worst, and we are suffering for it now and causing others to suffer and die in the millions.
THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING - Socrates
... and at the rate we're going we won't be living if we don't examine so many of the things we have been taught as true and truth ...
It is time, as Dr. Jean Houston often says, of [and for] whole-system transitions.
"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World Peace in one generation!" Jane P. Stillwater
What a WHOLE-SYSTEM TRANSITION that would be! as in a last instruction by a very wise man: "Love One Another." What if we just did that?
Stinger says:
"What I have realized as I developed my own plan is that it's not nearly enough. In the outlying sprawl where we live, there is simply no adequate service to avoid the use of the car to get kids to/from day care on conflicting schedules etc. Unless you catch the rare express service, it takes 2-3 hours to get anywhere on transit and about an hour to go by bike, which is not an efficient means to transport 2 growing children, especially in winter."
1. you use your children as an excuse for your behavior. you are teaching your children the same lifestyle that you were undoubtedly taught, unless you're going to tell me your parents rode on horses or actually walked to a destination other than to and from the family carriage. it's no wonder we're in dire straights because you're perpetuating the cycle by teaching it to your offspring.
Stinger then says:
"So that leaves life in the city, but everything there is devoid of allowance for family habitation. Apartments above a bachelor are ridiculously expensive and seem more like filing cabinets than anything you could call home. No parks, no more community programs, no place you can just go. Everything requires a membership or a subscription and closes up when the business rush goes home to protect their budgets and profit margins.
2. You use money as an excuse for your behavior. Of course none of can afford to responsibly sustain the environment. that's what i was talking about when i mentioned "sacrifices", which i haven't seen yet.
as i stated before, there will be no real change unless and until you refuse to financially support the companies that are most responsible for environmental degredation. stop giving them your money and believe it or not, they will stop providing the means in which you, and i in a small extent, albeit unfortunately, are inadvertantly, and in some instances purposefully, degrading the world around us.
PEACE!!! IMPEACH BUSH!!!
NO WAR!!!
Sure glad to hear that too, DCB that time I understood what you were writing. You are obviously much more educated than I and I did not understand what you meant the first time, it was way over my puny brain. I also guess my sense of humor is not what it should be, at least not for you.
I don't understand what you mean by me creating my own reality___ when the subject is DU however? I'm not the expert on the subject, I only repeat what the experts are warning us of, as so many don't know how deadly serious it is.
Any empty-headed fool can sit on his butt and criticize. If that is all you can do, that is all you are.
Hello KEM PATRICK
The actions that hellodarling and stinger are taking to reduce their impact are all excellent, IMO. I happen to kill rattlesnakes, black widows, and centipedes that are near or in my house, and after reading hellodarling's testimonial, I think it would be a lot more compassionate and helpful for me to spare their lives - relocate them, what-have-you. But the point I wanted to make is that individual action is not enough. Certainly not enough to change John Conyers' mind. That's what collective, coordinated actions are for. Another quote from Zeitgeist the movie (I think Thomas Jefferson): "We must hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately."
BTW, KEM PATRICK
Do you create your own reality? How's that working for you and your DU exposure?
Sure glad to hear that DCB, makes me feel lots better.
Obviously this is an issue that has touched a raw nerve with many people, which I hope is because there are growing numbers who are assembling real plans to live more sustainably.
HD is executing some very practical ideas toward this end. His/her knee-jerk defensive attitude and assumption of being more special/more committed than the rest of us is counterproductive to useful dialogue.
I too have taken steps to reduce what I can in terms of energy consumption. CF lights, solar chargers for the small gadgets, power bars with breakers to eliminate standby power usage, additional passive roof vents to cut down on AC use, less driving, more transit & cycling, growing food in gardens instead, watered with rain barrels instead of municiple water and other things.
What I have realized as I developed my own plan is that it's not nearly enough. In the outlying sprawl where we live, there is simply no adequate service to avoid the use of the car to get kids to/from day care on conflicting schedules etc. Unless you catch the rare express service, it takes 2-3 hours to get anywhere on transit and about an hour to go by bike, which is not an efficient means to transport 2 growing children, especially in winter.
So that leaves life in the city, but everything there is devoid of allowance for family habitation. Apartments above a bachelor are ridiculously expensive and seem more like filing cabinets than anything you could call home. No parks, no more community programs, no place you can just go. Everything requires a membership or a subscription and closes up when the business rush goes home to protect their budgets and profit margins.
Cities with all of the advantages I mentioned in my first post would make allowances for these things, but because economically it generates little or no profit, these elements have been gradually eliminated from core urban life, at least where I am.
"You give these westerners the idea of making change , but they have none. They substitute change as they substitute their cars, there is really no change of mind."
damon - you're right. it's this escapist elitist hype that surrounds "the secret" -- basically dismissing the real limitations posed by the physical and environmental circumstances you are born into.
so you've been raped, don't like the nuclear reactor next door, can't get a job because you're gay ---- it's all your fault because you CHOOSE your reality. it's called cognitive dissonance - a form of mental deceit whereby you rationalize your (or another's) pain because you don't think you can do anything about it. this notion of our every moment of reality being a conscious choice (tell that to a child growing up in Baghdad today) is a psychological rationalizing of perceived helplessness. it's also a selfishness of witholding assistance to others that parades as a spiritual path. this dharma of "i create my world - and aren't i great" plays into the neoconservative strategy of atomizing the US populace so that no one gives a shit or lifts a finger to help someone less fortunate.
Walter E. Wallis, at 8:51am. What is your point? Trace unanium in a natural state is not harmful. Sure there may be trace ammounts of uranium in any shovel full of soil.
Depleted uranium used in weaponry is a far different story, as Paul M Smith stated. Our military has fired off thousands of tons of DU in the United states on firing ranges. A single microscopic speck of nano-particle DU, if inhaled by anyone, will over time kill them. In a 'cupful' of burned DU, there are over 'five billion' of those specks floating in the air, blown all over the country by winds. In thousands of tons there would be trillions times trillions of the silent death in the air. DU will kill any living thing, down to the microbal level.
So W. Wallis, you can safely shovel dirt in your back yard, but don't inhale any DU or allow your family too either. One inhaled speck will kill them.
"perhaps you can share with me the ways in which you have had to make sacrifices and changes in ur life to promote sustainable environments worldwide?"
hellodarling -- from the quick read i gave to stinger it appeared to be appropriate comments. we should all pat ourselves on the back for not being part of the problem. but we are. i am. you are. you know all that stuff about US citizens having 10x the environmental footprint of a third worlder. so you buy organic, or shop sparingly, or whatever. good for you. but it's only a start. you still rely on non-unionized labor (eg Whole Foods and WalMart), fossil fuel transportation (nice organic apples from Chile during the US winter, eh?), nuclear or whatever for what powers your plug into the grid. the system as it is is going to collapse and it's going to decimate other nations in it's long fall down.
while change starts "within" or with yourself (yada yada), it is through GROUP, COLLECTIVE effort that we change political, energy, and other SYSTEMS. get with the league of women voters, get with common cause, get with the greens, and hold all these fuckers' feet to the fire until change occurs.
i would take the time to congratulate myself too. but there is no time for that. the writing for our nation (and species) is on the wall. ego inflation in the service of helping a couple of black widows ain't gonna do squat in the big picture.
buddhist, you really don't see the damage you're doing. The whole idea of hard work toward enlightenment . You can't give out the prizes before the effort. From what i see, you may talk of humanity as achieving this but you neglect the work needed to be done. You give these westerners the idea of making change , but they have none. They substitute change as they substitute their cars, there is really no change of mind.
Damon- sorry (heh) -entrance by reason * entrance by conduct ~choose?
Odd Damon- I read you are a proud son of Hakuuin. He would say Bullshit! but at the same time he would swallow it. 'Cause (cuz) it is truth what I say is truth. But what is true for one might not be true for you.
I am only momentarily startled by Illusion, it does not constrain ME. I accept the same as the rest of reallity.
If you believe that the man who decided to save the world from suffering was not a bit touchy-feely in his care you do not know the origins of such a committment.
It is not enough just to be proud of oneself. I see past your bulshit. you must see past the bulshit to see Buddha in each of us. and that is buddhism.
Buddhist. I think you're a fraud. Your syntax heralds of ancient times, and it sounds fake. Your ideology reeks of a eastern/western union of bullshit. Buddhism, never has that touchy feely sensitive tone.
When you quote, " Every one responds positively to a sense of responsibility. Even the Laziest and most reclusive have a deep sense of responsibility for the things they Love."
Buddha rolls over in his grave. People are constrained by the "illusion". As my Zennist, teachers taught, "right thinking, begins with the cane".
Cee Miracle brings up an interesting theory I have from Purdue and Buddhism.
Buddhists know that everything in the cosmos is each directly connected to each of the others both in the 3 dimensions and especially in the 4 dimension- Mind or Buddha. in this Indra's Net of realtionships all things are remembered and each Action and Reaction is balanced by reactions Vibrating throught the entire structure -INDRA'S WEB.
this is a buffered system as all of us know from high school chemistry, i think. The earth is buffered in the 3dimensions -It's sphere of rock and earth and life and moon. But as Indra's Net dictates the earth is also balanced by an Infinite Internal Dimension -It''s relatedness to the Cosmos and vice-verse. It is the qualities of this inner infinite relationship that gave rise to life on our earth, preseves it and brings it to evolve. We might have faith that it will continue to do so.
Sure their have been disasters in the past. Disasters that wiped out life as it was evolving, bringing to be more versatile beings such as ourselves and most all these others we share our world with. we believe these disasters are long past and have been resolved by stellar and geologic time.
Now conveniently we are running out of oil and thus rea;;y the whole excess of our carbon emmissions by todays standard-just as Global Warming threatens us with certain destruciton. We're not really in a race against time but in a competition to make use of Indra's Nett againt the failing resource of our mismanagement and it's carbon exhaust.
We might believe , if our effort equals our nobility -and nobility is to "Rise Above". and our nobility IS GREAT (though not maybe what it could be)- if we make that effort -Indra's Net ,which is not metaphysical but physical will sustain us through the transition vry mch lkly with our civiization transformed but in tact.
this is the work and the hope
Take a shovel of dirt from your back yard and ask for an assay of uranium. Chances are there will be uranium in it. Chances are there was always uranium in it.
estimatedprophet: well, not sure who to blame here, satan, maybe??? just joking...
We're conditioned, so it's a matter of examining one's own belief systems and encouraging others to do the same.
"Ohhhh ... You really believe that? Who taught you/me that? ... [always interesting] Is it something that serves me/you/the world or is it a belief/a conditioning I choose to discard? ... and with this new awareness or chosen, revised belief, how do I take responsibility for it in a meaningful way to make a difference for the good in my own life and the lives of others ... human or otherwise"?
LOL - no such thing as a BAD-BUDDHIST [I know you know that ;-)] ... or a BAD anything, but I'll stop there lest we end up talking about karma and eternity as the infinite
"play" ground and go on and on INFINITELY in a little box on a "Board."
But thanX ...
namaste,
Cee MIRACLES
i believe that one of the biggest hindrances to slowing, stopping, and even reversing the destructive behaviors we are wreaking upon the planet is our separation from the whole processes of things. of most of the material things in our lives, even things that are very intimate to us, our food, water, shelter, clothing and so on, we have no idea where they came from, how or by who they were created, or what went into creating them. we also, for the most part, have very little idea of where things go or what they do after they are no longer with us... down the drain, into the trash, landfill, what have you... i would like to believe (although i am not sure that i do) that most people, if they had a real and thorough understanding of the interrelatedness of all things (which our ancestors were very aware of), that they would choose to live their lives in such a way as to at least lessen their negative impacts on the world. if we at least begin to think and feel and sense, as was mentioned earlier, rather than follow this path of mindless consumption and gluttony we have been encouraged to follow by... well, not sure who to blame here, satan, maybe??? just joking..anyway, hopefully you get the point.
NAMASTE- YOU ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL . I'M SURE YOUR CONSCIENCE AND GOOD SENSE APPEALS TO ALL OUR HEARTS. i HAVE BEEN A BAD-BUDDHIST. YOU HAVE REMINDED ME THAT WE ALL SUFFER IN THE FACE OF THE AWESOME THREATS- UNIVERSAL AND PERSONAL. IT'S NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO COME TO TERMS WITH THEM ALL ALONE.
AND I HAVE NEGLECTED REMEMBERING THAT EACH OF US IS A PERFECT BUDDHA, OBSCURED BY VERY REAL AND VERY RECONSILABLE EMOTIONS. ALL WE NEED IS A COLLECTIVE AND OUR PRINCIPLES-SEEMS-
RIGHT ON! AND THANX
buddhist:
the answer is simple. Personal leadership produces the kinds of results that would benefit BioMass not only in the short term, but in the long term as well.
Personal leadership begins when the individual comes to the realization that he/she is NOT powerless to change things. However, most people want to change the things around them, not taking into account that one needs to change oneself into the tool needed to tackle the particular job first. For example, you wouldn't want to fix a car with your bare hands. You would first want to get a set of tools.
Now i don't know if this is because self reflection is difficult or if it's just more fun to try to change the things around us. But what is clear to me is that when people take personal leadership, they are living by an example that is easier to follow than living by the examples of others.
It's not enough to have 1 leader generating ideas and organizing the followers into a cohesive unit. What is needed is to have multiple leaders working as a cohesive unit to organize themselves. In this way, instead of having one set of results coming from the action of a single leader, you can have an exponential number of results coming from the actions of the whole. Each of us has the potential to be a leader. It is our personal leadership responsibility, or lack thereof, that forces us or keeps us from creating the results needed for a particular problem.
Using this approach to BioMass would produce an exponential number of results, some bad, some good, etc. This is good in the short term because it gives us an opportunity to find new ideas and put them to use, whether good or bad, instead of waiting for a long-term solution. This is good in the long term because it gives us the experience necessary in creating new ideas and implementing the ideas we KNOW to be useful to the common good.
There is no excuse for waiting for an answer and the very few solutions we have been offered seem to sound like "more of the same" from the auto and gasoline companies.
if you want to see climate change in a positive way, stop supporting the corporations responsible for negative climate change. it's that simple. the only other alternative they would have to continue destroying mother earth, is to take our money by force. but now, i don't see that happening.
Lots of ideas about Destruction, Few ideas about sustainability-
HelloDarling- what do you think? What leadership would produce a BioMass of Results?
dponcy says: We are required to hope. It is the only way forward.
Stinger_28 presents some sound ideas with broad strokes that require tremendous organization.
Buddhist says: Organize, Organize, and then talks about how hard that is with concerned, but lazy, insensitive family members who won't even bother to view a Christmas present video of "An Inconvenient Truth," and also the unaware or selfish folks who want their stuff when they want it and are waiting for the Hippies to do something [and likely perceive Buddhist as sort of a Hippie/songwriter/strange person], and maybe, he says, he'll write some more songs and get a guitar next summer to play and sing to folks at the local coffee shop.
hellodarling talks about how she is consciously living to not contribute to environmental degradation and global warming, but by asking "Who is the WE the mouthpieces all refer to when they write about climate change"? ... unwittingly sets off a time bomb embedded in thin skins and tender egos.
And the cross-insults and defensiveness BEGIN about egos and snottiness and being an "@$$hole, etc.
I identify with every place and position and tender-ego place, and hoping, but not acting, and relatives who think I'm WEIRD and "doom and gloom,"
and the marvelously broad ideas that I conceive and start to go with and then dribble off because of various life's demands and curve balls, and also regularly doing aware personal things so as not to contribute to environmental/ecological degradation ...
Having said the above, however, I can't identify with the personal choice to insult and create strife when we so need to be together and be supportive of each other.
Let us be mindful of how we write to each other and share ideas. We all are in this together.
Let us take care personally as hellodarling does to do things that will help not hurt the environment; let us share and explore our creative ideas; let us encourage each other to act, not just hope as the only way to go forward; let us each do what we can to create harmony and peace and intelligent, productive conversation, to inform each other, to help each other have the courage to act when we can, to do those things that can make a difference.
Maybe respecting each other can be a major contribution towards peace and sanity. And then we may be more inclined to respect others even if their viewpoints are different than ours. Let us find ways to honor our common ground and then move together toward solutions.
Yeah. Those of us who know we're in deep doo-doo get frustrated by those either in denial or who don't give a "fig" one way or the other. But those of us who come to this Board do care; otherwise, we wouldn't be here.
So ... NAMASTE - loosely: I honor the spirit in you as I honor my own spirit.
namaste ...
Bobbi Dykema Katsanis asks, "But why be an @$$hole about it???
because i'm sick of being blamed for the continuing degredation of the planet. wouldn't you be pissed if you were blamed for the actions of others? it's this kind of attitude that perpetuates the cycle of destrutction.
and besides, i was hoping STINGER could have responded. what rock did you crawl out from under?
RE: wilmoor August 30th, 2007 2:46 pm
I know what you mean about spiders, and killing them at every opportunity. I remember doing the same thing for years. When I moved to Arizona a few years ago (I'm back living in VA now) the house we bought had a lot of black widows in the back yard. After some research & observation I discovered they build a very strong nest and stay put very close to it, so rather than upset this ecosystem I just made a mental map of their locations...no problem for/from me, no problem for/from them.
While reading about your relocation of the brown recluse the thought struck me of a parellel between what you did and what we have been doing in Iraq (and other parts of the world). To the ants you did something similar to dropping an atomic bomb on their home, causing generations of fear, eradication, and eventually immigration for them to survive.
In Iraq we have been poisoning the people of that country (region & world for that matter) with a nuclear WMD called DU (misnamed depleted uranium, but still with a third of its radioactive potential). The result is the same as for the ants, however, we are talking about people here being fearful, eradicated, and eventually forced toward immigration for survival.
What gives us the right to play God?
Where do we immigrate to when we have poisoned this planet beyond livability?
How do we know the 'Rapture' scenario written about was not written by some deviated mass-murder oriented maladjusted nutcase with a grudge to bear against humanity? Because a book with questionable authenticity and suspect authorship says so? If I tell you (or better yet write it down in a book) that pigs really CAN fly will you believe this also? If I claim it as a miraculous Godly intervention does it make it anymore believable to most sane people's concept of reality? I thought not.
Unfortunately, reality points to armageddon coming not in a blinding flash, but a slow lingering painful permanent death, for all life forms on this planet, through the unconscionable, immoral, illegal use of DU weaponry by forces in the 'Coalition of the Wanting'.
What gives us the right to play God?
Where do we immigrate to when we have poisoned this planet beyond livability?
Oh, that's right, up in the sky somewhere. When pigs/humans learn how to fly, that is.
Anybody else think this was going to advocate for metric conversion? "T vs t?" Give it all in "ml"s and it'll be easier for us to get on with the enlightenment.
HD your snottiness is hardly an advertisement to others to emulate you. Yeah, good on you for making wise environmental choices. But why be an @$$hole about it???
stinger, thanks for proving me right when i said that, "i know people will still find fault." however, i was hoping that someone with half a wit would find fault in my methods of conservation and responsible stewardship. perhaps you can share with me the ways in which you have had to make sacrifices and changes in ur life to promote sustainable environments worldwide?
i was merely pointing out the steps i've taken to limit my destructive power on the planet and asking why other's such as yourself can't do the same.
is it wrong to NOT want to be lumped in with the rest of the earth-destroying and selfish excuses of human beings?
STINGER share with us some of the sacrifices YOU have had to make in your personal life and please share with us how perhaps you could do more. Cuz at the moment, all i hear is "boo hoo" and nobody sharing personal experiences with this issue.
But i suppose this will be too much for you and you will rest with your rude comment and patronizing attitude.
Organize- Organize. Yet Organization requires Leaders. THe Opposition appeals to our instincts for hatred and Gang-Paychology. By the very nature and requirements for action and Cooperation to Save our Earth, we can't use these methods. How to invite establish and organize A significant fraction of the world population that can provide a buffer and implement change on a Grand Scale?
I may be overly burdened with a familly that has no true vision, but I find my neo-conservatives won't even give their Christmas copies of "An Inconvenient Truth" a cursory examination. ANd they revile Al Gore as some kind of Con-Man Cracked-Pot. Obviously this is a counter-attack. They realy do rationally feel responsible for the escalations of mismanagement that has brought this upon us. Yet as they are moving into senacence they see it is our problem not theirs. They are in deep Denial.
The younger neo's , my generation, understand that the policies they were disciplined in from their youth are the policies that have brought this upon us, and are unwiling to relinquish these principles and policies, because they want to keep the lifestyle they were introduced to- which soon will be unavailable but to the very few. They are also hiding from reality and resposibilitty.
And I have stumbled on an important point here- about motivating the world over for the task at hand. -RESPONSIBILITY.
Every one responds positively to a sense of responsibility. Even the Laziest and most reclusive have a deep sense of responsibiity for the things they Love.
We must appeal to people's sense of Responsibility.
When we beleive we have no hope for saving the Earth, Our sense of responsibility turns to despair and we become impotent. This you have so well said above. we need to sustain hope and very importtantly-we can't be forcing resposibility for the earth on people, they have to come to it by their own reasoning. What we need is plain facts just like AlGore gives us.
But how do we get people to watch and listen and think. I think the Al Gore works are extremely powerful to inform and persuade anyone with their own Values. But so much of America has no Values of their own but only what's been preached to them by demagogues. They only cling to these values because they are shared values but this crowd psychology excludes personal Values. A few of these people will be persuaded just by the mystery of nature itself, but not many.
I must tell you for mr. Gore's sake however that even the most socially conscious liberals in my family have yet , nearly a year Later have not watched their Christmas Copies of an Inconvenient Truth. THis I cannot fathom. they seem to think that it's enough for them to be conscerned and that changes everything, yet they ignore the necessity of learning and applying the facts and methods and building the monumental constituency needed.
They seem to have no hope and expect Hippies to do something about it.
Smetimes I wonder just how to go about it myself. I'm a songwriter, people respond strongly to song. I thind I'll by a guitar nest Summer and spend my days down at the Plaza and Coffee-Shop ~thanx
The only difference between the two situations the author compares is that one involves her daughter and the other our Mother.
What we refers to HD is the fact that you, despite your own obvious ego and self-importance make very little difference on your own. You've taken some laudable measures. Congrats! 'We' refers to the restructuring of human society in the so-called 'first world' to make adjustments on a grand scale.
who is the "we" that these mouthpieces all refer to when they write about climate change?
i don't drive a car. i recycle. i don't support corporations by buying cigarettes, fast food, cars, gasoline, and a host of other things people don't need. i walk when i can, but ride the bus to get further.
i work for myself, from home and my operating costs are nil.
i know people will still find fault.
i do have electricty, which i try to use as little as possible. i would love to use an alternative source of power such as wind, water, or solar, but since i live in an apt. complex, i don't have that luxury. i do have a t.v. to watch south park on, so i am guilty of supporting comcast. yes i hate comcast. they have hijacked the tellecommunications. i should dump t.v.
well that about has it. who is the "we" in the talk about environmental degradation?
i guess if i don't cut out my cable and electric company we're all gonna die from global warming. god help us!
go green and please try to make a distinction between those who are actually destroying the environment i.e. those who don't give a shit about anybody but themselves, and those who do give a shit and actually have to struggle to live correctly in order to end the perpetuating cycle of destruction.
One of the first things we all need to do is accept cities as our habitat and learn to shape those cities in form and policy into places we want to live in. We need functional capacity scaled transit, walkable communities, local services, green space, playgrounds and other community and culturally focused services. The areas surrounding these cities should be a belt of agricultural land as well as windmill and solar fields and anything outside that except for road and rail connections to other such cities should be allowed to return to its natural state. Tidal power systems can be used in coastal areas.
Our sprawling and spreading, disease like across the planet and all of the pollution we bring along as a result of trying to sustain these massive areas of low density habitation is going to kill this planet fastest of all. Think about how much industrial pollution backs the endless production of single family homes and the power, water, gas, sewage and communication lines to connect to all of them, and the cars and the parking lots and obig box retail stores and malls and the fleets of diesel trucks that supply them several times daily and the fuel and industrially manufactured parts that go into those trucks and so on up the scale.
We are overdosing as fast as the planet is and if we don't stop soon we'll drown or suffocate in our own waste and filth.
Does anyone have a 12 step program for this?
jm2c
"Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will." -Antonio Gramsci.
"Revolutions or born of hope, not despair." -Peter Kropotkin.
We are required to hope. It is the only way forward. All of those without any hope, please leave the discussion immediately. You serve no purpose other than furthering our paralysis. Please go.
On the other hand, we are in deep shit, folks.
Even worse than the fear of overdosing your child is not knowing how what's been prescribed today will interact with what was prescribed last week mixed with over-the-counter meds. The millions of possible "drug salad" combos make it impossible to ever know if this plus that plus that equals life or death. And it's the same with the Earth - we know much about pollution, deforestation, sun spots, etc. But we have no idea what will happen as more and more ingredients are tossed into our bowl in ever increasing quantities. It's safe to say that, although science is doing it's best, when, how, and how severely our climate will mutate is unknowable. All we can be sure of is that it won't be pretty or expected.
About twenty years ago I "received" the message that I should start taking care of those little creatures who inhabit this planet with me. I'd always been as quick to swat, smash, or spray as anyone. I was deathly afraid of spiders my whole life, and didn't want one within miles of me.
But this message, simply a feeling that pervaded every ounce of my being, my brain included, was so strong I couldn't ignore it. And so I began to try to live up to that feeling. It was a matter at the beginning of simply refraining from killing anything, but grew over time to becoming somehow connected to the little beasties. The first time I "relocated" a black widow spider from my garage to a better place in my yard, catching her on the ball of my long Dexter Duster, I was shaking so badly I could barely walk. Since then I've "relocated" a dozen or more.
I keep track of where the widows are in my yard, and have a very healthy respect for them. But I no longer have any fear of them or any other spider. A few days ago I had to relocate a widow from the hole in the bottom of one of my shallow pots on the patio. I worked gently, and carefully, with my face only a foot away, and convinced her to come out. I got her into a container and put her in a more appropriate area.
I once put a brown house spider I'd found in my bathtub in the area beneath my kitchen sink. It took care of all the ants coming in down there for four years!
Seeing all the shelves of spider, ant, bee a and other creature killing stuff on the store shelves makes me feel sick inside. What chance does the earth, or anything living on it have as long as the dominant species is so kill-happy?
Economy-from the Greek "the running of the household"
Ecology-from the Greek "the study of the household"
How can we run the household without studying how it works first?
We all need earth parenting classes in ecology. Faith in market forces is a form of superstition used to justify gross inequality.
Ken,
i think, i sense, i see, the ecosystems are going to collapse. It is too late for humans to "learn how to fit in", the damage has been done, the disruptions have begun vibrating through the living Earth.
i think, perhaps, "we" might survive, in the sense that some humans might navigate the collapse into an unimaginable future. But not "we", not most of us, the vast majority of humans are going to die in a fairly short period of time, in the not too distant future, as the cascading distruptions intensify and our systems stop functioning...
So i do imagine, that if SUDDENLY all humans everywhere began using Permaculture design principles to change all our human systems as quickly as possible to systems that work WITH the living Earth instead of AGAINST it, that we might have some chance of helping to stabilize the destabilized living Earth.
But based on what i experience, and see, and sense, in my own circles of friends, and family, and community, as well as in the wide world of humans, i hold out very little hope for any sudden transformation in the ways we design our human systems, the ways we treat the Earth. Do you see any such reasons for hope?
Perhaps we are on the verge of some unforseen "tipping point" in human consciousness, there are certainly persons who claim that this is so. i see no good evidence for such a thing. i see vast seas of denial... at every level of human existence, with tiny pockets of awareness, of persons who are insistently open to the grief, the fear, and the wonder of the challenge to sense the living Earth and live accordingly.
What do you sense?
On second thought, maybe i should have said "most likely...."
The ecosystems don't need to collapse if we learn how to fit in....it would be good.....
Peace,
Ken Hausle
Yep, we will see one way or the other.
Personally, i prefer "sensing" things being that when you sense it there is more to it than just sight. Because we should all know the "eyes" can play tricks on the brain.
Regardless, the upcoming unprecedented (at least for humans) ecological collapse is going to demand that we work together to survive. Of course everyone gets to choose, but it seems real simple to me.
Peace,
Ken Hausle
It is not only climate change, we are overdosing our planet with poison. The clues of what the continuing spread of DU is doing to ALL life on the planet, beginning with the birds and bees, is clearly obvious. Just wait, we will see,___ we all will see.