Hi, Janet,
I enjoyed your erudite forward on the IMF and World Bank, but must pick
a bone with respect to its conclusion:
The IMF and the World Bank are the most logical intermediaries -- but
under
new management. The IMF must get back to objectively policing the
international monetary system without unduly favouring private
capital; and
the World Bank must start acting like the long-term development-funding
institution it was constituted as, rather than meekly relinquishing that
task to providers of private capital who have proved incapable of taking
more than a short-term and bottom line-oriented view of development.
Throughout its former existence, the World Bank favored megaprojects
and mass movements of people off their traditional lands. It's idea of
development has always been of the top down caspital intensive type.
I have recently discovered the work of Paul Krapfel, a teacher and
naturalist whose passion is diverting tiny flows of water so that they
are slowed and largely absorbed into the earth before they have a
chance to commingle into massive unstoppable torrents. The water
soaking into the soil provides moisture for small plants and insects,
which loosen the soil and pave the way for larger plants and trees.
Thus his tiny earthworks- diagonal diversions rather than blocking
dams- invoke the synergy of nature to reverse the spiral of entropy.
Paul learned his craft the hard way, after seeing dams- his tiny ones
as well as big bulldozed ones- swept away and actually adding the force
of their stored energy to the forces of erosion and entropy.
As I reflect on Paul's work, I think more and more that it is our
fascination with mega-projects and massive interventions which
underlies most of the problems of the modern world, from economics to
ecology. There is nothing new about our fascination with bigness-
indeed it ha been reinforced by the endurance of past megaprojects- the
Chinese canal system and the Great Wall, and the nearly ubiquitous
Pyramids and temples. But there has been a growing consciousness of the
futility as well as the human and social cost of these projects,
starting with Shelley's sonnet, Ozymandias.
Chaos and complexity theory have reminded us of the potential of tiny
interventions, but for me the famous butterfly flaps are too abstract
to understand and internalize, to "grok in their fullness." On the
other hand, Paul's diversion of rivulets is easy to get my mind around.
I've often played with small flows, never with a real purpose, but
nevertheless I know something of how they operate, as does everyone
who's ever played on the beach or watered a garden. So when Paul talks
about turning a barren and arroyo-slashed slope into grassland decked
out with returning trees and alive with songbirds as well as the tiny
creatures which do the work of loosening and enriching the soil, I can
finally grok.
What we need are not better top-down institutions, but rather ones
which are alive with the understanding that small is not only beautiful
but is also incredibly efficient. Proerly used, the shovel IS mightier
than the bulldozer.
Years ago, I was enchanted by the story of 'The Man Who Planted Trees.'
But Paul goes beyond the planting of trees to restoring the conditions
in which they can and will plant themselves. The forces of nature have,
with the help of the sun, overcome entropy to create this beautiful
planet. Yet we collectively devote most of our energy to fighting and
trying to dominate them rather than joining with them to co-create a
more beautiful and livable world.
Our institutions need not just new leaders but a new understanding of
our place in the universe.
Paul Krapfel's self-published book "Shifting" could easily change the
way you think about everything.
Paul can be reached at 18080 Brincat Manor, Cottonwood, CA 96022, or at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
He also has a homepage at
http://www.enterprise.k12.ca.us/chrysalis/Paul_Krapfel/welcome
Caspar Davis
Victoria, B.C., Canada
A wall of infinite dimension stands before the course of human evolution.
It is the finitude of the earth and its resources.
--Steve Morningthunder
