Discuss: Change Everything Now

Correction needed: Robert Riversong mistakenly attributes to me the comments made by NaTasha Bertrand. Robert, I agree with the points you make and I am one of the “whiners” about overpopulation.

There are people working on exactly what Gus Speth says we need, and they have been for at least three decades (some even longer). For example, Richard Grossman for years has been educating people on how our current corporations came into being and what we can do to basically take back the concept of corporate charters so that they serve the people. Others have been creating community currencies, inventing new ways of living and working together, integrating values into lending and investing in business, land trusts, etc. I wrote about such ideas and models in my books (Economics as if the Earth Really Mattered in 1986 and Invested in the Common Good in 1995). And yet such efforts are still assigned to the margins despite today’s ever-greater need for such models and concepts. Speth is right, it is way past time to transform our economy and our relationships with each other and the Earth.
  It is time to get out in the streets. I love the idea of a million person march on Washington to force attention and action on the most serious issue facing us: climate change. Every other issue is rolled into it, from energy to housing to population. And let’s put it this way: If we don’t begin, NOW, the work of transforming our economy and our way of life, climate change will do it for us, and a lot sooner than most of us thought possible even as few as ten years (or even five years) ago.
  One more thing. If those of us calling for such transformative change also have to describe, step by step, exactly how to deal with all the “what if’s” and “yeah, but’s” then nothing will happen. I’m not saying we should plunge ahead with no idea where we’re going, but really, we’re facing a situation we’ve never faced before. To expect that we must have all the answers before we act is unrealistic given the seriousness of the situation. As I see it, it’s up to us to create the path as we go. Eventually we’ll see farther and farther ahead. Right now the only sure thing is if we don’t change, and dramatically, we’re headed for oblivion.

Re: corporations, see “Help, I’ve Been Colonized and I Can’t Get Up,” and an article about many previous and common features of corporate charters that would amaze you (variously called, “Corporations for the Seventh Generation” or “Fixing Corporations,” in Rachel’s. Re: the pro-corporate domestic “free trade” zone that needs to be dismantled, see my new book, Gaveling Down the Rabble: How “Free Trade” is Stealing Our Democracy. All of the above except book are easy to find on-line. And, for a publication that faces carrying capacity and criticizes halfway feelgood measures up-front, see Synthesis/Regeneration. Jane Anne Morris

I hope that Mr. Speth will include Canadians in any activism.  We are well organized and willing to support this kind of movement.  I believe the same would hold true for Mexico.  A NAFTA presence on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial would make a larger impact

Robert Riverstone (8) wrote:

“Dave Gardner calls those concerned about overpopulation ‘whiners,’ and puts Speth in this category.”

Robert, please go back and check. In the “whining” reference, Dave Gardner (6) was actually quoting NaTasha Shastan Bertrand (5).

Lest we forget, the eugenics efforts began here - 2000 or so black females sterilized in the 20’s with no press coverage. Comments by yon “smLowry” are right on.  The police tactics around the RNC convention are a taste of what awaits us if we do not organize very carefully.  “Free Speech Zones,” no more than locked down cages in the street have already been used and would surely await us as we descend on the capitol.  It is quite easy for one in an office at Yale to dream and ignite bigger dreams, but it may take a crisis like the unknowns in Warming ahead to give us an opportunity to reclaim the commons and the gov’t so long in the grip of the Commerce Clause and all that entails. The rich get a _Free Lunch_ in myraid ways. 

  We need a “break” in the compelling norms of everyday necessities to mobilize enough folks to even begin planning a movement they cannot suppress.  Meanwhile, all levels will keep “making babies” which becomes adults sooner than is easily comprehended.

ananda

When we look for examples of “taking to the streets” everyone remembers the Civil Rights era but we tend to overlook the country’s long, long history of battling to build labor unions and earn women the right to vote as well as policies sought through civic and brotherhood associations. We are a country with a rich history of activism that we need to draw on now. Read Theda Skocpol’s “Diminished Democracy” for a new perspective. Taking to the streets without better networked community-based organizations will feel good but produce very little. Where’s the investment to re-build that stable civic infrastructure that can challenge power? We have dismantled and lost much of that old civic infrastructure and new groups have emerged but they are challenged to unite as a force. I’m thinking of Hawken’s “Blessed Unrest” - nice idea to bring movements together but it’s costly and difficult to partner deeply and groups need help to do that across jurisdictions. Where is the organizational heart of this movement? The Civil Rights era was an organized movement. They were ready. One can nary get a penny to organize these days…

Yeah, the overpopulation issue again? It gets tiring. Our world is not overpopulated, just need a better plan to spread out those resources and maximize the population in each place. This calls for collaboration.