"Ideologies exclude openness, diversity, resiliency and multiplicity, the very qualities that nourish life in any system, be it ecosystem, immune system, or social system...Ideas are living things; they can be changed and adapted, and can grow. Ideas do not belong to anyone, and require no approval. History demonstrates all to eloquently that no ideology has ever amounted to more than a palliative for any dire condition. The immune system is the most complex system in the body, just as the body is the most complex organism on earth, and the most complicated assembly of organisms is human civilization. The hundreds of thousands of organizations that make up the movement are social antibodies attaching themselves to the pathology of power...it is what the earth is producing to protect itself".
-Paul Hawken
Blessed Unrest
Paul Hawken's latest contribution to the increasingly complex dialogue on social and environmental justice movements is more like a resource encyclopedia. While he meticulously outlines the urgent nature of many imminent global crises, he is at pains to steer clear of languishing in blame and recrimination. Instead, in one important chapter, he takes the example of the human immune system as proof that living things will respond to potential threats in a complicated, yet efficient way. That is not to say all is well, and we can sit back and watch as things work themselves out. He devotes nearly half the book, as well as his latest project Wiser Earth, as an opportunity to catalogue and celebrate the action and interconnectedness of the thousands of NGO's, civil society organisations and groups that are filling the leadership vacuum left by governments and politicians. The website is a truly global resource centre and portal for those whom action on issues as pressing as global warming, real food production, AIDS, poverty, and all aspects of sustainable living are given tools for "solving as pattern", as Wendell Berry termed addressing multiple and interconnected issues.
How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why no One Saw it Coming is the appropriate subtitle.
One such example in wht he terms "the movement" is The Center For Food Safety, informing consumers what really is in their food, what they can do about it, and how to eat real food. They have pulbished a new book called Your Right to Know, Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food, by Andrew Kimbrell. It might be useful to know that over half the processed foods in the grocery shelves of the U.S. contained genetically modified ingredients.
A good place to start this journey of discovery is to be aware of what we are putting into our bodies. Food is not what it seems in many cases, and many large corporations, in the name of increased productivity and "feeding the world", are indeed toying with an unproven and highly unstable area of science, now selling at your local shop!
As Hawken points out, " Ecology is about how living organisms interact with one another and their environment. Sustainability is about stabilizing the currently disruptive relationship between earth's two most complex systems - human culture and the living world".
Good luck with that gut, buddy.
If you are not familiar with Google's newest controversial toy, Street Video, apparently one can get even closer to the neighborhood than with its famous maps, which by the way, did not even get Waiheke Island in the picture, not that I am disappointed in the least. I don't need people trying to locate and zoom in on my home. Mark Morford's column in SF Chronicle gives it a review to remember, in "I can see your thong from here". Pretty funny if it weren't actually happening. Wasn't there something by George Orwell about Big Brother and all that around 1984?
Well, it's here.
How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why no One Saw it Coming is the appropriate subtitle.
One such example in wht he terms "the movement" is The Center For Food Safety, informing consumers what really is in their food, what they can do about it, and how to eat real food. They have pulbished a new book called Your Right to Know, Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food, by Andrew Kimbrell. It might be useful to know that over half the processed foods in the grocery shelves of the U.S. contained genetically modified ingredients.
A good place to start this journey of discovery is to be aware of what we are putting into our bodies. Food is not what it seems in many cases, and many large corporations, in the name of increased productivity and "feeding the world", are indeed toying with an unproven and highly unstable area of science, now selling at your local shop!
As Hawken points out, " Ecology is about how living organisms interact with one another and their environment. Sustainability is about stabilizing the currently disruptive relationship between earth's two most complex systems - human culture and the living world".
Having children often puts a different perspective on some of these matters, as we ponder what
they and their children and grandchildren will face in coming years in dealing with the living world, which they are a part of.
If the issue of sustainability is really about ensuring adequate resources for future generations, it becomes quite personal and relevant once some of those "generations" start staring you in the face, wondering WTF you did to leave something to live on for others, like well, them.
If we continue to consume in the same way, there will not be enough, and ways of living will alter dramatically. This is already starting to happen with many, but life as we know it will not be the same...
Consuming is part of the process of living of course, and then there is hyper-consuming, a mode of living made famous in the U.S., and spreading like a virus throughout the world, thanks to the marketing saavy of our best persuaders, that teach us how to want things we don't need.
Like perhaps 66 hot dogs at one sitting. A perfectly normal activity to celebrate Independence Day...Or whatever.
they and their children and grandchildren will face in coming years in dealing with the living world, which they are a part of.If the issue of sustainability is really about ensuring adequate resources for future generations, it becomes quite personal and relevant once some of those "generations" start staring you in the face, wondering WTF you did to leave something to live on for others, like well, them.
If we continue to consume in the same way, there will not be enough, and ways of living will alter dramatically. This is already starting to happen with many, but life as we know it will not be the same...
Consuming is part of the process of living of course, and then there is hyper-consuming, a mode of living made famous in the U.S., and spreading like a virus throughout the world, thanks to the marketing saavy of our best persuaders, that teach us how to want things we don't need.
Like perhaps 66 hot dogs at one sitting. A perfectly normal activity to celebrate Independence Day...Or whatever.
Good luck with that gut, buddy.
If you are not familiar with Google's newest controversial toy, Street Video, apparently one can get even closer to the neighborhood than with its famous maps, which by the way, did not even get Waiheke Island in the picture, not that I am disappointed in the least. I don't need people trying to locate and zoom in on my home. Mark Morford's column in SF Chronicle gives it a review to remember, in "I can see your thong from here". Pretty funny if it weren't actually happening. Wasn't there something by George Orwell about Big Brother and all that around 1984?
Well, it's here.
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