At 11:00 AM 11/26/98 -0600, Tom Abeles [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>Don Chisholm presents a cogent and clear picture of the green movement.
>What is more to the point is the reaction which he has seen from the
>general public and from the parishes where the church leaders with whom
>he met tried to explain the situation.
>
>I can not argue with the assessment of the earth, today. Where I have a
>problem is with the "future". Whenever we have gone to "war" be it with
>guns or with science to cure a problem, there has been an "end"- A hill
>we could reach and watch the sun come up on a new day-some hope for the
>future- an opportunity to strech and breath and move forward to.....
>
>What the "green" visions hold is not such a possibility but the idea
>that if we all get behind the movement the human race and the planet can
>survive- humans get to live another day. yes, the air will be clean and
>the fields will be green and the waters blue. But what of the human
>spirit? And there is the rub.
DC
Tom, without human spirit, nothing positive will happen. It cannot be left
behind. It must be the driving passion enabling the story of chaordic
change. They say it can move mountains. How about moving public opinion
and freeing hijacked governance?
A couple of years ago I sketched a some scenarios about the how the future
might unfold. The story needed a moment, so it was called, 'TEAMSpirit;
(The EArth Movement). In Reverend Thomas Berry's Dream Of The Earth, he
speaks of the need for a story which fits both the human spirit and the
natural world. Now he should be a pretty spiritual guy!
TA
>Don says that it is time to stop the metaphysics and get with the
>program. But, what the greens offer is not hope but a plan to get us off
>a "sinking ship" and onto some island, an idyllic one, perhaps, but a
>New Age munchkin land, never-the-less. It's that or destruction
DC
I'm sure that a variety of metaphysical beliefs could be integrated into to
the effort. After all, it could be God's will that we get the show on the
road. Can't afford to leave out any potential allies, eh?
>I remember an interview with a worker in the former East Germany where
>there was discussion about closing a factory because it was so polluted.
>And the worker replied that he would choose a potentially slow death
>from cancer rather than a quick death from starvation. And there is the
>old story about the African standing with the Peace Corps worker looking
>at mining spoils. The African turns to the Peace Corps worker and says,
>"let me, first, get my TV and phone and... then we can talk about the
>environment."
>
>That is the problem with the "green" movement. It offers only a possible
>vision of some stasis in a "village" if we are "lucky" and megadeath if
>we follow the path we are on.
The possibility of a "village" as a "problem"??, in view of tha alternate? .
>I think I would rather put my faith in human ingenuity- take the chance
>on humans rather than be caught in some reconstructed vision of the
>past. George Land has a seminal book called "Grow or Die". I think that
>is what the worker in Germany is saying and what many citizens of the
>world are saying. The human spirit and creativity has made many mistakes
>in the past and will continue to make more in the future. But humans
>learn from their mistakes quickly because intellegence is Lamarkian and
>doens't require many generations of Darwinian evolution to change.
DC
It seems to me that it is exactly those features, human spirit and human
ingenuity, which might enable us to begin the change process.
>One can't argue with Jay's predictions on energy. One can make more
>energy efficient "things" and find alternative paths. But to do that one
>has to see the benefit beyond survival in some world which seems one
>step above that of a Penatante.
>
>Philosophy and Visons are what make us human. If we stop hoping and
>aspiring, then capitulation maybe the path.
>
>thoughts?
>
>tom abeles
DC
The last paragraph of my post of yesterday's was:
"If all Green political groups were all as progressive as the Ontario Greens
now seem to be, and since they have global presence now, with a little help
from very many places, perhaps they could grow into a challenging force
leading to STAGE ONE of a social contract shift which gives due respect for
Gaia, in the human/Gaia relationship."
I believe that if a movement for change could achieve a critical mass of
synergy and support, scaling back the current economic growth madness would
only be STAGE ONE. How governance would the change after ten or twenty
years, who knows. But IF there were a well informed pubic who understand
physical limits, or who believed credible leaders (perhaps spiritual
leaders?) who did understand, I expect the future could be much more
pleasant than today.
Don Chisholm
