Discuss: Snap into Action for the Climate

As I’ve gone about my work-a-day life since contributing early on to this conversation, I’ve found it percolating throughout my consciousness repeatedly… Only the most foolhardy among us would deny any longer that we have likely crossed the threshold of actively being in crisis on multiple fronts - the last 8 years of which have brought into high relief.

Between the redistribution of the wealth of the country (~$400Bn) from the middle and lower classes to the upper 1.0-0.5%, to the unemployment rates that are probably closer in real numbers to 13% (based on including those whose unemployment has simply run-out and who have been unable for years to find work), from statistics that 1 in 3 teens are now dropping out of high school and that 1 of the other 2 are either incapable of, or unprepared for, university-level work, to the clear evidence that climate change is progressing far more quickly than previously projected - truly, what are we to do?

As a many decade devotee’ of permaculture, I believe that the seeds of whatever salvation is to be had are to be found in its pursuit.  Rather than tinkering with misbegotten ideas of seeding sulfur into the atmosphere, let’s instead (immediately, if not sooner) begin growing our own food.  This is perhaps the single most radical move any of us could undertake, and the knowledge to do so is widely available.

It’s clearly possible to see that the diversion of food crops into bio-fuels is a huge mistake, and when large tracts of arable land are given to that, there is simply less available for growing the food that people need.  Coupled with IMF & World Bank policies that have moved the many economies they’ve meddled in away from local horticulture that fed local populations into growing vast amounts of non-food crops for export, is it any wonder why the first step should be taking back both the right, and the responsibility, to grow our own food?

And clearly, from my own investigation, people across this country, and others, are wild to begin doing this.  Google “edible estates,” “abundant yards,” or visit Vancouver BC’s website: The City Farmer (http://www.cityfarmer.info) and you’ll quickly see that people are finding ways to share their yards with their neighbors to begin growing food for themselves.

Or take a look at the website, On Day One, where people are suggesting what a newly-elected US President might consider doing on their first day in office.  The absolute number one idea, as evidenced by the number of people voting on it, is that the President should convert at least some part of the White House lawn into growing food!

In the context of permaculture (ala’ Bill Mollison, David Holmgren, Toby Hemenway, and many others), we would look toward the creation of elegant local ecologies (particularly at the scale of the back yard!) that support both ourselves and wildlife.  Permaculture - which I think of as a means to implement an ecologically-oriented lifestyle on many levels, including the primary one of growing our own food - gives us the tools for conducting careful observation, retaining resources for reuse rather than exporting them to the landfill, reducing our reliance on petrochemicals that are killing us (your preference - the war in Iraq, pesticides that mimic hormone receptors, toxic emissions contributing to climate change, et al...) to instead using organic and sustainable inputs like compost, rebuilding the health of the soil, and using redundancy as a means to protect against failure.

Here’s another website that is a superb explication of the ideas of permaculture, the Bullock brothers’ farm on Orcas Is, WA. When you see what they’ve accomplished on 20 acres, and what they’re offering in terms of education to implement these ideas, it’s very hard to imagine doing anything else but…
http://www.permacultureportal.com/

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Several years ago I went to a reading by Barry Lopez at Elliott Bay Book Store here in Seattle.  It was a typical dark and stormy night, made magical however by a very large flock of starlings that were wheeling and screaming against that turbulent sky.  Barry was on the sidewalk with the rest of us - transfixed for many moments at the sight.  Later, during the Q&A;, a young man asked Barry - given the incredible rush of content that assails us every day, if not every moment, how did he decide “what to keep”?  Barry responded that he felt it was important to “keep” those things to which we are attracted, without regard to the hegemony of ‘political correctness’ - whether it was a pink and turquoise sunrise in the desert, the 3/4 view of a woman’s face as a bus rushed past, or the sight of a flock of starlings engaged in wondrous acrobatics against the clouds, wind and rain… He went on to say that he felt it was absolutely critical that everyone do this, because there would come a time in our culture when we would have need of every single thing that every person had “kept” in order to find our way to survival…

To the writer who earlier asked what my own ideas were to help address climate change, besides being appalled at the article we’re discussing (a good and proper question I’ve thought long and hard about!), I offer that while I do not have a corner on the market for *all* the ideas that will be required, here is mine to be considered amongst the rest.

Hi Julianne,

I’m glad that your work-a-day life finally permitted some time for additional reflection on the very important questions we’re all struggling with, and, further, that you found the time and energy—I might even say “passion”—to reply in depth.

I suspect that this whole process—i.e., this discussion we’re having—is more important than any of us can even guess. You mentioned Barry Lopez, the flock of starlings and Barry’s response to the question someone asked him. In his response, I think he was following a deep line of thinking—or feeling—or intuition.

Jung once said that “wisdom” amounted to “following the deeper currents of libido.’ When Lopez advised people to “keep what attracted them,” it seems to me he was saying the same thing Jung was. And when Matthew Fox said that, according to Thomas Aquinas, you don’t change people through guilt, you change them through “pleasure,” he was essentially saying the same thing: Find what attracts you, follow the deeper currents of libido, learn who you really are, and then find the courage to follow that pattern and what it demands of you.

It seems to me that you are doing that already, Julianne.

In another of Jung’s writings pertinent to this discussion, he said, “What is the fate of great nations, after all, but a summation of the psychic changes in individuals?”

How can we change the world if we ourselves don’t change? How can others care, if we ourselves don’t care? How can we expect to mobilize others “yesterday” if we can’t mobilize ourselves today? These are questions I sweat over every day.

Perhaps you read my reply to Danny Bloom’s excellent posts on Page Four of this discussion, in which I referred to some dreams I’ve had that shed a light on the future. I would like to tell you—along with Danny or any other readers who are following this discussion—one of those dreams. (Perhaps you’ve had dreams of your own that pertain to this?) In the dream:

A group of worshippers marches into our living room. They are separated by partitions, like an egg carton, so that they are separate and yet related at the same time.

Led by a woman, they are looking for a place to “worship.” They do not belong to any sect or creed, but are bound together by love, in particular, by a common love of beauty, purposefulness, meaning, etc. The woman leader looks at the room and decides this is an appropriate place for them to pray. They all look down at the large oriental carpet on the floor and admire its beauty, then drop to their knees and begin to pray. Even though they pray together, simultaneously, their prayers are individual.

When they are done praying they all get up and walk around the room, admiring the various antique, hand-made artifacts and art objects. [End of dream.]

To me, Julianne, this is what I call a “wisdom dream.” It came to me from who-knows-where? I do not regard it as a personal possession, but rather as a cultural—or even natural—phenomenon, rather like Barry Lopez, on the one hand, or the starlings, on the other.

I don’t know if you, or Danny, or any other readers of this discussion, have ever gone to the trouble of studying your dreams, but consider this: Every hour of the day, as the planet spins on its axis, half of the planet is in darkness. Within that continuous wave of darkness, most people are sleeping and therefore, at least a portion of the time, dreaming. Even if only one percent of the dreams occurring at night—one out of a hundred—fell within that “wisdom” category, with a population of six and a half billion souls, that would amount to 65,000 wisdom dreams per night. (Please check my math.)

I can’t help but wonder what what would happen if we could tap into that continuous, nightly wave of wisdom which, I have to say, resides within each of us, as our birthright.

Of course, most of us neglect, ignore or despise our dreams. But the day may be approaching when, in our increasing desperation, we might discover that the visions and images that will finally mobilize us in large numbers, possibly leading us to to a viable future, lie within.

Please don’t misunderstand. When I say “within” I’m not talking about an egotistical or narcissistic point of view. Quite the opposite. I am saying that there is very little, or even no, separation between you and the starlings, between Barry Lopez and the stars, between me and the frogs. When Thomas Berry speaks of the “earth community,” he speaks the truth.

When I anticipate a wider human response to the world within—in particular, the creative agency of dreams—it is very much within the context of the world without. I have had experiences that tell me that the boundaries that we have been taught exist between “inner” and “outer,” are in fact specious.

If you will indulge me, Julianne, here is one last dream, a recent one, and short:

“New Age = the Coming Birth of the Unconscious.”

This dream surprised me, because I see so much “unconsciousness” all around me that I take it for granted as always having existed. How, then, can it be “born”?

I understood the dream to refer to a rising awareness of the driving force of the unconscious in our lives and hence, to a potential awakening to the importance of dreams, which are, after all, the speech of the unconscious. I would even go further and say that through dreams we can actually hear the speech of the earth—if only we have ears to hear.

Your most recent post --along with Danny’s and others’—must have required a prodigious effort, which is why I spoke of your “passion.” This touches me deeply, because it suggests that not all humans are in thrall to the gigantic, systemic distractions that pull us away from our human tasks.

I sincerely hope that you continue to find ways to express your passion and goodness. May there be more like you.

Thank you so much, Julianne.

Paco

we haven’t yet approached making a serious push toward cleaning up our carbon in the u.s., and yet i suspect we will see such debates and limited skirmishes on easing sulfur emissions, for instance, well before we have initiated a carbon tax on all property owners or instituted serious industrial reform.

the reason? people are always more willing to let others clean up their messes with promised technological salves than simply change their lifestyles.

i do expect and yearn for the greening of spiritual/philosophical systems as your article predits, but it will be hard won. respect for the earth’s global systems via acknowledged human ignorance and restraint in the field could be our first step toward being absorbed into this new relationship.

Like all other megatechnic interferences with the environment to date, deliberate or accidental, Tidwell’s favored geoenengineering scheme would almost create intractable secondary problems.  Some of these problems would be foreseen, others not.  One of the already-foreseen results would be severe damage to the ozone layer, as discussed just a few days ago in the journal Science ("The Sensitivity of Polar Ozone Depletion to Proposed Geoengineering Schemes,” April 24). I’ve made a PDF of the article available (for personal and educational sharing only) at

http://www.larrygilman.net/misc_documents/geoengineering_sulfur_SCIENCE.pdf

Re Australian action prior to the Australian Federal Election at the end of 2007 that led to the Kyoto signing, please see the link to youtube video re the “HALT CLIMATE CHANGE NOW” community human sign on Sandringham Beach, Earth Day 22 April, 2007.

Regards,

Tim Forcey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0exzYINYmV4

Dear Friends of the Orion Community,

Do you think the time will ever come when government officials stop employing every ruse under the sun to protect the selfish interests of over-consumers and hoarders, and start by choosing to do the right thing?

Life and human institutions like national economies are utterly dependent upon the Earth for existence; but too many of our leaders view the Earth as some kind of thing to be manipulated, dissipated, and ravaged secondary to their adamant practice of a religion called Endless Economic Growth. This clear and obvious object of their idolatry is the soon to become unsustainable expansion of the leviathan-like, global political economy. What a colossal sham. What a shame. What a shambles for our children to confront.

Always with thanks,

Steve

To Jef on April 24:

Why does everyone seem to forget that Homo sapiens has been the most deadly life-form this planet has ever known?

If we do not work to end or reverse climate warming, we, humanity, will likely die and take many or all other life-forms with us.  It is the neglect of the severity of our impact on the earth which has gotten us into this fix.  My regret is that we have willingly destroyed huge pieces of this earth in the pursuit of wealth and ease.  Having acted irresponsibly in the past does not allow us to act irresponsibly by standing by and watching the planet “survive quite nicely.” I, you, and all humans owe it to my children, your children, and all earth-bound life to work toward reversing the damage.