#103 Eco-vision
The ecology movement has made remarkable progress over the last several decades in challenging the illusion, driven by the scientific and industrial revolutions, that we are separate from and masters over an external environment. We have not been so successful, however, in challenging the illusion that growing our economy is the solution to all our problems. Yet this economy is exploiting the natural world beyond its ability to sustain itself, while delivering prosperity to an ever-smaller percentage of the population.
By any religious, moral, or ethical standard, our economy should serve all our people, the children who come after us, and the commonwealth of life on which our existence depends. Surely it should not be just to give the wealthiest more wealth and power; to maximize profits by eliminating jobs that people need; to convince us we need things that we are better off without; to strip the earth of its resources, pollute it with our wastes, and make life untenable for the most vulnerable.
I can hardly stand it when people cede all these issues to the economists, and assume that we have no alternatives. It makes me crazy to see us lured to worship a heartless god of materialism when our religious traditions are so much richer. We are imprisoned in a false consciousness, in a framework of beliefs that has no future. More than anything, we need word that there is life outside these prison walls--that another economy is possible.
We need a way to be better informed, enlightened, invigorated and connected. We need to be armed not just with facts, but with an understanding of the flawed foundations of our present failed economic system and the essential building blocks of one with a future. It’s all out there. There’s incredibly exciting thinking and work going on. Most of us just don’t know.
After participating recently on a call of a group of interfaith ecology/economy activists, listening to people pondering what we are capable of pulling off, I had a vision. It’s a vision of an electronic resource/blog/conversation that could become a go-to place for people who have figured out that something is wrong, but don’t know how to take the next step. It would start with the religious community because they have some organization and a constituency that can be called to question false gods and debased values, and to have a heart for justice and God’s creation.
We call it something like ECO-VISION; An Interfaith Voice on Economy and Ecology. New material goes up every day in brief accessible form, focused on finding/creating a way forward. It is organized thematically by days of the week, i.e.
Monday: grounding/philosophy/concepts/ecology-economy links
Tuesday: alternative models that people are trying out
Wednesday: facts, breaking news
Thursday: the next generation; voices of youth and young adults
Friday: policy and action implications
Saturday: reflections/sermons
Sunday: Sabbath rest--no posts
People, or teams, who take responsibility for the content choose the threads they are most interested in (for me, it might be the alternative models), and only have to post once a week. Readers might be initially attracted to just one of the six threads, but then get drawn into others.
I’m excited about this idea--though the voice of my fears keeps insisting that it’s too pretentious or impossible or lame, and that others will just roll their eyes. But I’m trying to listen to my hopes and not my fears. One thing is obvious--that my old habitual mode of sticking to what I can pull off all by myself has to be abandoned right from the start. So I’m asking for your help.
Some questions that come to my mind:
What would improve/strengthen the concept?
Where would such a voice best be housed?
Who else might want to participate?
Who would need to be involved from the beginning to make it effective in reaching broadly?
If you have thoughts, please respond (just to me). I have enormous respect for the power of the stories we tell each other, and see an opportunity here for us to learn new stories and share them in bold hope for the future.
Heat wave
Saturday morning
in the garden
at the crack of dawn—
finesse the heat wave
(watch the sunrise)
Others come
to water, weed and harvest
bend and sweat
all sturdy urban gardeners
who know
you can’t avoid the weather
if you want the food
but you can be smart
about when you’re out.
We chat
just neighbors
tied close this morning
by the choices we have made
about the weather
and the earth.
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
The decision by city leaders of Cleveland, faced with massive deindustrialization, skyrocketing unemployment and urban blight, to rebuild their local economy by focusing on “anchor industries” like hospitals and universities, and establishing local worker-owned businesses to supply these anchor industries.
A recent vote in Italy, where an overwhelming number of people (96 percent of the 57 percent of the population that voted) cast their ballots for a peaceful future based on shared ownership of water, overturning a law which would have encouraged private companies to buy up public water utilities and have guaranteed them a profit.
The response to tragedy in Norway, where leaders cried publicly and encouraged the enormous crowds who thronged to streets to be close and listen to each other with love and respect and where, rather than demanding revenge against the anti-Islamic offender, a collective agreement was reached to embrace the values that he wished to destroy, by creating an even more open, friendly and inclusive society.
The growing momentum all over the world to mark September 24 as a day to move beyond fossil fuels: www.moving-planet.org
Check out: www.ourchildrenourselves.org, a home for all the parenting
writing I've done over the past 20 years.
Also: www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with
others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com.
(If the background is too dark to read, I hope you can get a computer whiz
to help--and let me know what you figured out! When I go there on my Mac
via Safari, it's fine.)
And I've joined Facebook! We'll see if I can use it as a communications
tool and not get sucked into all the rest...
By any religious, moral, or ethical standard, our economy should serve all our people, the children who come after us, and the commonwealth of life on which our existence depends. Surely it should not be just to give the wealthiest more wealth and power; to maximize profits by eliminating jobs that people need; to convince us we need things that we are better off without; to strip the earth of its resources, pollute it with our wastes, and make life untenable for the most vulnerable.
I can hardly stand it when people cede all these issues to the economists, and assume that we have no alternatives. It makes me crazy to see us lured to worship a heartless god of materialism when our religious traditions are so much richer. We are imprisoned in a false consciousness, in a framework of beliefs that has no future. More than anything, we need word that there is life outside these prison walls--that another economy is possible.
We need a way to be better informed, enlightened, invigorated and connected. We need to be armed not just with facts, but with an understanding of the flawed foundations of our present failed economic system and the essential building blocks of one with a future. It’s all out there. There’s incredibly exciting thinking and work going on. Most of us just don’t know.
After participating recently on a call of a group of interfaith ecology/economy activists, listening to people pondering what we are capable of pulling off, I had a vision. It’s a vision of an electronic resource/blog/conversation that could become a go-to place for people who have figured out that something is wrong, but don’t know how to take the next step. It would start with the religious community because they have some organization and a constituency that can be called to question false gods and debased values, and to have a heart for justice and God’s creation.
We call it something like ECO-VISION; An Interfaith Voice on Economy and Ecology. New material goes up every day in brief accessible form, focused on finding/creating a way forward. It is organized thematically by days of the week, i.e.
Monday: grounding/philosophy/concepts/ecology-economy links
Tuesday: alternative models that people are trying out
Wednesday: facts, breaking news
Thursday: the next generation; voices of youth and young adults
Friday: policy and action implications
Saturday: reflections/sermons
Sunday: Sabbath rest--no posts
People, or teams, who take responsibility for the content choose the threads they are most interested in (for me, it might be the alternative models), and only have to post once a week. Readers might be initially attracted to just one of the six threads, but then get drawn into others.
I’m excited about this idea--though the voice of my fears keeps insisting that it’s too pretentious or impossible or lame, and that others will just roll their eyes. But I’m trying to listen to my hopes and not my fears. One thing is obvious--that my old habitual mode of sticking to what I can pull off all by myself has to be abandoned right from the start. So I’m asking for your help.
Some questions that come to my mind:
What would improve/strengthen the concept?
Where would such a voice best be housed?
Who else might want to participate?
Who would need to be involved from the beginning to make it effective in reaching broadly?
If you have thoughts, please respond (just to me). I have enormous respect for the power of the stories we tell each other, and see an opportunity here for us to learn new stories and share them in bold hope for the future.
Heat wave
Saturday morning
in the garden
at the crack of dawn—
finesse the heat wave
(watch the sunrise)
Others come
to water, weed and harvest
bend and sweat
all sturdy urban gardeners
who know
you can’t avoid the weather
if you want the food
but you can be smart
about when you’re out.
We chat
just neighbors
tied close this morning
by the choices we have made
about the weather
and the earth.
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
The decision by city leaders of Cleveland, faced with massive deindustrialization, skyrocketing unemployment and urban blight, to rebuild their local economy by focusing on “anchor industries” like hospitals and universities, and establishing local worker-owned businesses to supply these anchor industries.
A recent vote in Italy, where an overwhelming number of people (96 percent of the 57 percent of the population that voted) cast their ballots for a peaceful future based on shared ownership of water, overturning a law which would have encouraged private companies to buy up public water utilities and have guaranteed them a profit.
The response to tragedy in Norway, where leaders cried publicly and encouraged the enormous crowds who thronged to streets to be close and listen to each other with love and respect and where, rather than demanding revenge against the anti-Islamic offender, a collective agreement was reached to embrace the values that he wished to destroy, by creating an even more open, friendly and inclusive society.
The growing momentum all over the world to mark September 24 as a day to move beyond fossil fuels: www.moving-planet.org
Check out: www.ourchildrenourselves.org, a home for all the parenting
writing I've done over the past 20 years.
Also: www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with
others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com.
(If the background is too dark to read, I hope you can get a computer whiz
to help--and let me know what you figured out! When I go there on my Mac
via Safari, it's fine.)
And I've joined Facebook! We'll see if I can use it as a communications
tool and not get sucked into all the rest...
posted by Pamela Haines | 9:20 PM
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