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The most important piece of news yesterday, this week, this month, and this year was a new set of statistics released yesterday by the Global Carbon Project. It showed that carbon emissions from our planet had increased 5.9 percent between 2009 and 2010. In fact, it was arguably among the most important pieces of data in the last, oh, three centuries, since according to the New York Times it represented “almost certainly the largest absolute jump in any year since the Industrial Revolution.”
What it means, in climate terms, is that we’ve all but lost the battle to reduce the damage from global warming. The planet has already warmed about a degree Celsius; it’s clearly going to go well past two degrees. It means, in political terms, that the fossil fuel industry has delayed effective action for the 12 years since the Kyoto treaty was signed. It means, in diplomatic terms, that the endless talks underway in Durban should be more important than ever--they should be the focus of a planetary population desperate to figure out how it’s going to survive the century.
350.org
But instead, almost no one is paying attention to the proceedings, at least on this continent. One of our political parties has decided that global warming is a hoax--it’s two leading candidates are busily apologizing for anything they said in the past that might possibly have been construed as backing, you know, science. President Obama hasn’t yet spoken on the Durban talks, and informed international observers like Joss Garman are beginning to despair that he ever will.
Who are the 99%? In this country, they’re those of us who aren’t making any of these deadly decisions. In this world, they’re the vast majority of people who didn’t contribute to those soaring emissions. In this biosphere they’re every other species now living on a disorienting earth.
You think OWS is radical? You think 350.org was radical for helping organize mass civil disobedience in DC in August against the Keystone Pipeline? We’re not radical. Radicals work for oil companies. The CEO of Exxon gets up every morning and goes to work changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere. No one has ever done anything as radical as that, not in all of human history. And he and his ilk spend heavily on campaigns to make sure no one stops them--the US Chamber of Commerce gave more money than the DNC and the RNC last cycle, and 94% of it went to climate deniers.
Corporate power has occupied the atmosphere. 2011 showed we could fight back. 2012 would be a good year to step up the pressure. Because this time next year the Global Carbon Project will release another number. And I’m betting it will be grim.
Originally posted on Daily Kos.
126 Comments so far
Show All"President Obama hasn’t yet spoken on the Durban talks, and informed international observers like Joss Garman are beginning to despair that he ever will."
And why do you still hold out hope that he EVER will speak out about this catastrophe affecting the 99% let alone DO anything about it? Oh, wait, there will be some pretty words in a non-committed way, but mostly he will remain silent.
President Obama is speechless on Durban!
Bill McKibben speaks!
The 99% must speak! Speak out, loudly and clearly. Hit the silent and the deniers where it hurts them the most ... in the pocketbook! BOYCOTT, BOYCOTT, BOYCOTT! PROTEST in your way by witholding YOUR money from the tills of the perpetrators, the silent, the do-nothings, the deniers.
Every person can take part. You don't have to travel to an organized protest. You don't even have to get out of your own neighborhood. Move your money to a community bank or local credit union. Stop using credit cards. Purchase only what is absolutely necessary. Reduce the use of automobiles and other gasoline powered contraptions. Use your reusable shopping bags as travelling billboards ... REMEMBER KYOTO, NOW IT'S DURBAN! ... OCCUPY EARTH! ... OCCUPY BIG, CONSUME LITTLE! ... TAKE BACK OUR EARTH ... whatever the message ... tape it on, paint it on, sew it on ... but say something. Others will see and perhaps it'll spark their brains into action also.
Notice gas prices have come down just in time for holiday shopping. Well, guess why! The perpetrators want YOUR $$$$$!!! The propaganda that citizens returning to the altered ego of 'consumer' will bring back the economy and create more jobs. It's propaganda. Just like the 'elite' with all the tax benefits and tax loopholes and low % income tax rates are the so-called 'job creators'. So where are all the jobs they should theoretically have been creating? It's propaganda. It's all propaganda. So stop funding the 'elite'. Stop funding the ' corporate perpetrators'. If enough citizens stop funding the sources of climate destruction then perhaps something will actually happen for the better.
Walk. Run. Skip. Leave the auto alone.
Bicycle.
Reduce electricity use. Reduce oil use. Reduce natural gas use. Reduce gasoline use.
Use a clothesline ... indoors and/or outdoors!
Don't buy prepared foods.
If a meat eater ... reduce meat consumption ... or at least/best buy locally pasture raised.
If need be ... buy used if what you have is beyond repair.
Become an activist in your own home, neighborhood, town. We all can reject the 'consumer' scheme and return to being activist citizens with a right to protected Earth to protect the Earth for future generations. Control the money and you control the outcome!
Wow! Wonderfully said. Sometimes the comments on articles are just as good, if not better, than the article. I can feel McKibben's depression and despair, and you are right, we need to start throwing our economic weight around. Boycotting selected markets could be done thru social networking, and with the assistance of TV like Free Speech TV, Link TV, MSNBC and Current TV. Select one oil company. and boycott it. See how long it takes for that company to cry uncle. I think at this juncture in our rapidly diminishing democracy, that the only clout we have is with our buying habits. The big corps only see us as consumers, so let's show them our power. This could be done in conjunction with the OWS movement.
I agree and also felt good energy just reading the above comment. We should be selective in how we use our money. yes yes yes
"Control the money and you control the outcome!"
No, you don't, - you have no control over the money; arrangements are being made to throttle Iranian banks and anyone who deals with them, in addition to covert assassinations and cyber disruptions. That the Iranians not only survive, but strike back harder, demonstrated in the drone capture, has no apparent effect, Nor did the Chinese submarine standing off California and launching an ICBM with pinpoint accuracy back to western China.
Most telling of all is the massive build up of nuclear weapons taking place, and the ever more laughable series of "plots" advertised; the nukes are there to be used, no matter how ridiculous the pretended cause.
Goodbye humanity, and good effing riddance. Mother Earth will appreciate a rest.
Thanks for your wise words of encouragement. We will follow your advice, do nothing, and see how that turns out.
I love it! You're 100% correct, I can't believe how this media has taken control of the mindless and swayed the course of history in so many ways, bad ways. I have a question for you, what gives people the right to give opinions on matters that they don't even understand? There are still folks blabbing at the gums about things that they obviously have no clue about. Not you, this is what I like to read as a commentary thread of news, thank you! You've given me hope again.
"The CEO of Exxon gets up every morning and goes to work changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere." Stunning hubris.
Terse. To the point. Heartbreaking - to hear words so near to despair from Bill McKibben, who thinks hard about keeping people motivated to work for some progress. It's been a tough year, with Durban just the icing on the cake. I share McKibben's grief over lost opportunities. I'm feeling crushed.
Hopefully you have recovered, Aleph Null. This is the time for a thousand Bill McKibben's to spring up everywhere. And a million more! This is a struggle like no other in the history of humanity, IMO. And therefore it may be hard to find precedents to learn from adequately. Precedents need to be set as we move forward and pull humanity back from the brink of disaster. The fight would by no means be against the big corporations alone! That is a mindset that people here need to change. Yes, the corporations are the biggest criminals. But there are millions of enablers, happy to spout forth stupid denialist BS, comfortable in the "knowledge" that their own worthless life this time around is safe from any disaster ahead. I just posted some sample comments on a CBC story from their website, reproduced here on CD:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/12/05-7
The point is, there are literally millions of ordinary people who would somehow need to be convinced that it is in everyone's interest to change course, drastically. How to convince them, I don't know exactly. But try, we must! People talk of climate "tipping points." I am hopeful of a consciousness tipping point ahead. We just cannot give up!
maybe play the movie "The Road" on TV every Saturday Night.
One powerful way to convince millions of ordinary people that anthropogenic climate change is altering the chemistry of the atmosphere (and even more worryingly, the chemistry of the oceans) is to warn parents - that the lives of their children and grandchildren are being threatened by the criminal actions of the elites (the 1/10 of one percent) who hold economic and political power. They need to realize that failure to deal with climate change is tantamount to imminent inter-generational genocide.
Yes, and I talk to youngsters too whenever I get a chance.
HOWEVER, when you bring up the implications of taking action and what it would mean for their lifestyle, such as giving up some totally non-essential, wasteful indulgence that has a huge carbon footprint, they turn off. Like George H.W. Bush declared at the height of the first Gulf War, some of these people too think that their way of life is not negotiable. That is why I said I haven't found an effective way to convince such people. And that is why I said the fight won't be against the corporations alone. The per capita carbon footprint of countries like the US and Canada is way too large, and right at the top. There is a certain arrogant, thuggish mindset that I sense in some otherwise friendly and polite people the moment I bring up the topic of carbon footprint.
It is essential that we find the ways to talk with people, if we can get them off their iThings, today's equivalents of thneeds. Perhaps we can hire a big PR consulting firm to figure out how to deliver the messages. ; /
I suppose we could. Wouldn't hurt at all. They probably have a better handle on which buttons to push and which not to. But I think we would soon reach a point where only authentic communication would work, if it is to produce any fundamental or drastic change in people's mindset. However, every bit helps - so I think hiring a professional PR firm is a good idea, since the other side does it so routinely. If someone didn't know any better, they might actually think that the tar sands must be one helluva green project, listening to the soothing voice in the commercial! When I read the book "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme," by Richard Brodie, it was vaguely scary at first, but then I wondered if the ideas in it could be adopted by the environmental groups. But then I forgot all about it, and remembered just now on seeing your post.
After typing the above, I wonder if you probably meant "how to deliver the messages" on an individual, person-to-person level? Sure, I could use some lessons there too, no doubt!
Public Relations is the secular religion of our culture. From the invention of PR in the 20's to its modern-day full-scale deployment as the mind-control methodology behind television programming, it is expressly designed to deceive and control people. The techniques of PR cannot be used to enlighten and empower.
"If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? The recent practice of propaganda has proved that it is possible, at least up to a certain point and within certain limits."
That's from Freud's grandson Edward Bernays, the founding father of PR.
The consciousness required of humans, if we are to survive, is one of distinguishing mere wants from true needs, desires from necessities. The only purpose PR serves is to destroy our natural ability to make this distinction. Public relations is the pied piper dancing us all over the cliff, the Church of Nihilism. I know you're only joking about hiring a PR consulting firm, but the point is worth making anyhow: we don't need to have anything to do with these bastards, who are primarily responsible for destroying the Earth.
This is so true...the Luntz group gives advise to the Republicore and gives all the right words for the right wing politicians, the climate deniers, the reactionaries...the Michael Beck and Rush Limbaughs of the world. There is a book called "Don't think of an Elephant" by Logoff and I think it is a must read by the progressive community on learning how to frame the argument.
Even in conservative mags, like the Economist ,have said things that are sound arguments for the environmental issue for years now. One article that I remember reading was saying>>>OK, let's say that you are right, that there is no such thing as global warming or if there is warming it has nothing to do with us..well OK, You win and no one gets hurt. But, on the other hand let us say that I am right and the forecast that has been given by our scientists are: more severe storms; heavier rains; more flooding; very high winds; oceans rising because of glacial melting; etc etc which by the way we have been seeing for the past few years as predicted!...Well if I AM RIGHT then we are all dead. So why don't we err on the side of caution. Let us put our might behind this idea world wide so that people (your children and grand children) can live a normal life with clean air, good water etc...unless you really don't care to help your children and grandchildren.
PR is usually a total solid manipulated lie and those people who know how to use it and have the power and money to spend to get their message across win because people don't read and they don't think. They see a blurb and react.
The environmental groups today are infiltrated by high corporate lawyers of destructive companies. If you are at a social function you run into more legal counsel
and more Pr people for environmental front running that I have ever seen.
Take a look at the law suit that has been going on for the last 60 years or so on the pollution of the Hudson river by GE. Finally, after spending millions defending their stance that the PCBs that were put into the Hudson did not cause a threat to the health of the surrounding areas, GE decided to spend the $500 mill to clean it up because a PR agency said to them...hey
if you are going to say that you are a GREEN company, then you get correct this little problem.
LAKOFF, George Lakoff. Don't Think of an Elephant
"Perhaps we can hire a big PR consulting firm to figure out how to deliver the messages. "
Adbusters hired the 99% to occupy Wall Street. How much more of a message can there be?
At a certain point we either change things or we accept that certain things can't (or won't) be changed. At least, not without a crisis.
"SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A 2010 spike in the melting of ice cover in Greenland caused a large part of the island's bedrock to lift almost an inch, a U.S. researcher says." Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/12/09/Study-Greenland-rose-as-ice-melted/UPI-70731323477337/#ixzz1gBzkOyPx
I'm in for crisis. I don't see much willingness to change.
Yes, good points by dgrey and Alcyon. But simply telling people the truth of what's happening isn't working, and for good reason/s. People feel powerless and that makes them terrified. They will not contemplate something that drops them into awareness of their despair, and nothing does that like global extinction.
So the answer is to get them to volunteer to come to a place where they can hear the whole message cycle--what we have to lose, how bad it is, how it could be better, and what we can, er I mean, ARE going to do to MAKE it better. (You get them to come by telling them what's going to happen and assuring them that there will be resolution at the end.) There has to be room at every one of those steps for expression of their anger, fear, despair, hope, desire, misgivings, the inner critic and inner delaying denialist naysayer... so that when they get to the other side they're ready to start action. Then they need to be supported in that action with more of the same--education, questions answered, encouragement, sounding board, further emoting... and community in which to act alone and together.
The Pachamama Alliance's Awakening the Dreamer Symposium does this somewhat, but we need more, and more specifically about climate.See it online
www.awakeningthedreamer.org/participate-overview/experience-a-symposium/digital-symposium/
or with actual people near you,
www.awakeningthedreamer.org/ems/
then become a facilitator and show it to people yourself.
In 2012 with a few others I will begin to present a series of workshops I've been working on to do this and form ongoing action/support groups in the San Francisco Bay Area (Berkeley). To learn more subscribe to this group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/eastbaypermaculture/ .
That right there is one of the big problems. Ppl with children don't WANT to believe that civilization, as we currently know it to be, is under threat. Ppl are ppl and prone to believe what they want to believe bcs they simply want to believe it.
Look at the Iraq war as a prime example. 'We are there bcs of weapons of mass destruction . . .what, oh, no . . . we're there bcs of terrorist links . . . wrong again? We're there for democracy and freedom!' Never allowing themselves to acknowledge the obvious truth. That we chose to invade and occupy Iraq for oil and our soldiers are cannon-fodder for the elites; not liberators of the down trodden. And that was just about patriotism (supposedly).
Now interweave the natural human tendency to deny an inconvenient truth with their paternal instincts and you have a combination where these ppl CAN'T bring themselves to foresee the impending negative outcomes.
I say if someone hasn't been convinced, thus far, by the worlds leading scientist and the rash of extreme global weather events and disasters . . . then they're not going to be until disaster is staring them personally in the face.
The gaping hole in the boat is apparent. You can chose to find a life-boat or get left behind. I'm done trying to convince anyone to save themselves.
Wonderful comment. But you left off that important group of people who are enlarging the hole in the lifeboat in order to sell more buckets. They dominate the discussion since buckets mean jobs and immediate survival.
herb
There is only one lifeboat and we are all in it together.
Agreed. I hear a tone here from Bill that is becoming, to quote the new cliche - the new normal.
Don't feel crushed ... get activated! Do something, anything. The easiest and most effective action is BOYCOTT! Stop feeding the monster! Make YOUR $$$$ work for YOU and what YOU believe in, what you are about as an individual and as part of this wonderful Earth that you want to keep wonderful for all the future generations. Money is what it's all about. So take back your $$$$. Control your $$$$. Be careful to whom it goes to. Be careful where it goes. If the 99% stopped feeding the monster(monsters) then they would shrivel up and be dust to the wind. It is our collective responsibilty ... the 99% ... we have allowed it all to get to this point ... we, collectively, can take the activist position with each and every action always with the safety and beauty of Earth in mind ... do no harm to her, walk softly on the precious ground ... knowing not who walked there before nor whom will after.
what do you want, Bill?
"You think OWS is radical? You think 350.org was radical for helping organize mass civil disobedience in DC in August against the Keystone Pipeline? We’re not radical."
Bill is right on this one. They're very tame. Very tame, indeed.
CLIMATE CONTROL: Only when the pentagon and the MIC is dismantled, the National Police State here at home is reversed along with a new political movement in place, will anything begin to change regarding the planet's climate. They have thugs. Thugs and they're bosses win when not challenged directly.
Bill's mission is a noble one, but it's moot to chase the problem using the structure/tools of Americas political /capitalist machine. Its not going to stop doing what its doing. Piss & moan, write and yell all you want. They will not be denied.
You might win a battle, but they'll be back. In the long run, they'll outlast you. There has to be a sea change of thought before the big problem of killing our planet can be addressed.
The people are too divided at this point e.g. OWS, Tea Party, democrat vs republican, a silly poisonous divisiveness made possible by the political press. All of them along with the National & Local Press has for all intents and purposes, killed our collective brain as a nation along with the ability of rational thought.
Any pressure & leverage worthwhile will be generated underground.
Just my opinion. I could be wrong.
I agree you are mostly right.......plus.OCCUPY would do well to focus more on the dastardly FEDERAL RESERVE, a privately-run totally out-of-control metastizing ECONOMIC CANCER!
Occupy the coal power stations,
Turn off the emissions of nations.
Blockade drilling of coal seam gas,
to show the best of human class.
Apathy rules uncaring in the bureaucracy.
All representatives are hostaged in democracy
Growth is worshipped in the economy
Dead zombies savage for the military
Its time to stop being polite,
attack business as usual with a good fight,
Otherwise do not complain at the fall of night,
that nothing was done to escape climate plight
Low culture is in its narcissistic phase
it loves only itself near the end of its days,
Comfort and illusion most temporary stays,
With no fight left to change future ways.
My framing partner and I took the day off on impulse today, and drove out into the foothills country southwest of Calgary to Turner Valley and Black Diamond, where the first big Alberta gusher was drilled. A good friend of mine - her grandfather was the driller on that well.
The mountains were magnificent under the warm winter winds of a Chinook, and on this mental health day I was reminded by the many nodding pump jacks of the eighteen years I worked to extract oil from the Earth as a consulting wellsite geologist.
Seven years climbing mountains full-time set me straight.
The human being is a hunter and an explorer, pure and simple. Every one of his instincts says this.
Then we tried farming and cities, and now the New World Order.
Time to gather around a campfire and talk about this.
The campfire may have to look like Common Dreams?
Manysummits
========
.
"We’re not radical"
Oh yes we are! And let's be proud of it! The Latin root of the word "radical" means "of the roots." The word was originally a description of those who employ research, investigation, and reasoning as a means towards making sense of the world - we go to the root of issues for answers and solutions. Over time, the word morphed and now, conveniently, means whacko or anyone who doesn't bow down to the powers that be and their all so-called higher abilities to lead and make important decisions. We're not "triangulators." The opposite of radical is narrow minded and shallow.
I want to second this comment. I was disappointed to see that McKibben had taken the word Radical that has been demonized by the conservative presses to the extent that its definition has become lost . They have worked to do that with many words....raising emotional fears..... "socialism" is another word they have struggle to put off-limits....You can hardly mention the word without being considered an enemy....They have even twisted words like "democracy" which they have come to fully equate with (corporate) capitalism..... It is important that people who care do not fall into the trap of name-calling nor of using language in its co-opted form. We must get back to the roots, the essence, radically!
Since Copenhagen and Cancún did not produce either an extension to or a new Kyoto protocol and Durban won’t either,
Since Durban won’t produce any money for the Green Climate Fund ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/un-weather-office-affirms-earths-longterm-warming-trend-arctic-ice-shrinks-to-record-lows/2011/11/29/gIQAdlyi7N_story.html ),
Since Denmark has never come close to relying for wind for 20% of its electricty ( http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/denmark/Denmark_DEBUNKED.pdf ), and has essentially stopped construction of on-shore wind ( http://jeffersonleaningleft.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-denmark-gave-up-on-onshore.html ),
Since feed in tariffs have almost bankrupted Spain and are now being reduced in the UK, Czech Republic and elsewhere ( http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2ffd1d02-0ee0-11e1-b83c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1fZXx09ia ),
Since the Keystone XL pipeline will be approved ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/gop-bill-would-force-approval-of-keystone-xl-pipeline-from-canada/2011/11/30/gIQAiFRFDO_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop ),
Since none of the usual suspects have mentioned warming for months,
Its obvious that the whole edifice of global warming is collapsing http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/global_warming_bubble_is_popping.html : “The 5,000 internal emails among ”scientists“ in the UK -- Climategate 2.0 -- are proving to be the tipping point. This story is now moving at warp speed.”
*yawn*
Let more libetarian shit throwing at the wall. linking a bunch libertarian trash.
mcsandberg,
I'm concerned that you are, intentionally or unintentionally, spreading lies, and it's likely to have a corrosive effect on your physical and psychological well-being as well as causing an unimaginable amount of suffering for our children and grandchildren.
The science of climate change is accepted by a virtually unanimous scientific community. Global warming is real, happening, threatening to destroy civilization and cause a mass extinction. But the worst can still be avoided if we act quickly and massively to switch to renewables, reforesting, local organic permaculture, etc.
Those who seek to delay these actions for the sake of short term profits for a few or for other, psychological reasons, are guilty of crimes against humanity and the Earth. Please learn all you can about the truth of climate cataclysm and the ways to avoid it and stop spreading the lies these people are generating.
Here are a few places to start:
ClimateProgress.org,
www.grist.org/article/series/skeptics
Climate Cover-Up, James Hoggan
Tim Flannery, The Weathermakers and videos:
www.democracynow.org/2007/10/25/leading_australian_scientist_tim_flannery_on
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r60Wh_YIiJM
look on the bright side - hardly anyone uses carbon paper anymore.
Si, si!
Remember when computers were going to lead us to use less paper? Instead, we seem to use more because it's so quick and easy to print something up - no retyping nec.
Nobody knows anything.
No,computers were going to bring us all the truth all the time.
McKibben: "Who are the 99%? In this country, they’re those of us who aren’t making any of these deadly decisions. In this world, they’re the vast majority of people who didn’t contribute to those soaring emissions."
Right on the (policy) decisions; wrong on the contributing anyway. Largely through breeding or living like a Westerner.
Or eating meat.
"The republicans have decided that global warming is a hoax" ..... and the democrats give lip service to environmentalists like McKibben while duplicitously and repeatedly thwarting any attempts to change course.
.
Stop covering for the Oblahblah and the "democrats" Bill ... you're better than that.
True, but at least the Dumbocrats are not viciously anti-science and anti-intellectual.
Ummm ... they have a better veneer, better to rope in decent people. But look at what they do with all their Harvard and Yale credentials - Hillary Clinton's Tar Sands review, Obama's role in Durban and his approval of more drill baby drill activities. Not to speak of their economic appointees. Well, economics is not really science, but there are still things called facts and accounting. When it comes to applied science, they are just as corrupt as the Republicans.
At MIT, we called Harvard the liberal arts college up the creek. 'Nuff said of Ivy League college credentials.
I'll state again, the Dumbocrats are not anti-science. While they may still bend over for their 1% handlers, they are not trying to cast us back into the dark days of superstition with their religionist beliefs in imaginary friends. While many Dumbocrats are religionist, at least they do not carry their weak-minded beliefs on their sleeve.
How about those smarmy prayer breakfasts in DC? People who pray publicly and then make deals with the devil in private are perhaps more dangerous and reprehensible than people who sincerely believe what they say about religion.
Speak of the devil ...... Prominent democrat Hillary Clinton was a member of a conservative DC religious cult called "The Family"for many years ... along with numerous other democrats. "The Family" is the secretive group that started the prayer breakfasts.
I was generalizing. Yes, there are incoherent Dumbocrats, but it is not a party-wide thing, unlike the born-again Repugs.
And Christ said to the woman at the well." God is looking for those that worship in spirit and in truth". So much for those Chamber of Commerce, DC Christian Do rights and their love of sitting and being observed praying for (Lots O Cash) (Big BMW for Christmas) (My sins are forgiven- God I sure hope so, because otherwise I am in deep crap). But I sure didn't mean to loose all that money...I didn't intend to do so..."let us pray". Pass the mashed potatoes.
Perhaps more dangerous? Reprehensible? To be or not to be. Or Know thyself.
You can either love Mammon or God but you can not love both.
And on that subject. Please, when the manager of Amoco or Monsanto or others like WR Grace years ago opened the flood gates of chemicals that went out into the rivers and filled the glasses of their wives and their children....and then they had their wives loose their lives to cancer and or their children...Where were the Christians? Where were those that would stand up and say. Sir we can not do this as you are harming our families. We drink this water. Or others just like us drink this water.
The argument might have been "well we just didn't know that it was harmful" but other witnesses say..Oh yes you knew...but why did you do it.? The chemicals are dangerous. We knew. This is the same exact argument today. Nothing has changed.
Nothing new under the sun. Humanity needs to get kicked out of the cave. I hope it happens soon.
I wrote this recently to Bill...I am sure he won't mind my sharing it...
Email eons ago, I wrote to you about he need for a system change approach. Recently this has taken shape in the Occupy movement. The foundations of this movement are solidly aligned with the teachings of Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky and others as well as various global liberation movements-past, present and future. It represents a profound reaction to the spiritual destruction, materialism and global inequality in the world.
At a spiritual level, all of these movements focus on community and giving all people a genuine voice. The greatest strength of any social movement is the people that make it up-their energy, creativity, experience, wisdom, skills and willingness to face the Truth. Fundamental to this understanding is the belief that people are basically good. Religious teachings rooted in the notion of original sin-have become more instruments of state power-legitimizing it by the belief that man is basically evil.
I do not know what shape your (our) movement will take. Focused direct actions, crafted with leverage and incorporating multiple points of attack can achieve some level of victory and build greater awareness. However, sustainable change requires sustainable process and harnessing the movement's only strength and hope-they people that make it up. Current institutions offer no hope-with electoral victory offering temporary relief at best. Coupling social/political change with personal transformation faciliated through sustainable group process and community is the way to go. The aims can be big and the timeframes aggressive. Urgency is the movements greatest impetus.