We have a lot of great success stories of people choosing sustainable practices. One notable feature is that they are nearly all localized!! You won’t hear about them in the mainstream media, except in the most cursory passing. Only in independent films, documentaries, and searching through the many NGO reports that publish this information through words of mouth or independent CD releases and small publisher books.
I finally watched the newest big ‘save the Earth’ video. I posted a trailer a few weeks ago – How to live on Earth (see Full film link), narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.Note it is ‘Live on earth,’ not exactly live ‘well’ on earth. Although that might sound the same, it is a critical nuance. The film was quite well done with some new ideas. The big problem, alluded to by all the indigenous people presented and also the one British ecologist living and researching in a South American jungle was the need to understand the biodiversity and interconnectivity of all life. The word ‘wisdom’ came up several times. But we are then left hanging as though wisdom is a self-evident path with no attempt to mention the root causes of the lack of wisdom – the business-as-usual model that currently runs the planet.
Only so much you can cover in a 95-minute film. Some great examples of activists making great headway over corporate greed. I was particularly interested in the Natural Asset Company (NAC) idea of using ecosystem value as a tool for saving and restoring ecosystems (see link). I have talked several times of knowledge about ecosystem services as a means to be more mindful of how we extract resources and for potential technology development. Does monetizing stewardship get us past our destructive consumer-material mindset?
NACs sound good, BUT it assumes that somehow, the value of a natural system can be recognized simply through our current economy model. These kinds of sustainability films find encouraging localized examples of people fighting against corporate greed by finding alternate ways to create profit that also has some ecological benefit. But wisdom rarely plays out anywhere in the financial decision making except for those who are already so inclined.
And who exactly are all these investors with their willingness to invest in NACs? Are these the uber rich who suddenly develop a mindful conscience about life? How is this investment different from the profit only mindset that currently prevails? Ecological economics has been pondering this problem for a few decades now with no easy solutions. Yes, value change is needed, but with our current profit only monetary value model leaves me thinking it is still the same rickety bus heading down the precipitous mountain gravel road. If our core values about life and an equitable humanity do not change then we merely postpone the inevitable.
A Recent post by ‘The Conscious Observer’: “Humanity was never meant to be divided by borders, beliefs, politics, or fear. We all laugh, cry, dream, and hope beneath the same sky. Freedom loses its meaning when only some people experience it. Our greatest purpose is not simply to build better lives for ourselves. But to help create a world where every person can live with dignity, safety and opportunity. When we stand together against injustice, we remind the world that compassion is stronger than oppression.”
Greed, corruption, injustice, and inequity dominate our world. Our Social Contracts have failed. Our collective illusionary expectation is that the current global economy with its social Darwinian values, feeding the global corporatocracy and the governments that work with it, should serve the needs of the people. Instead, it obliges the needs of immediate profit generation that serves only the needs of the financial elites. This is clear evidence that any social contract in which people can expect, or even hope forlornly for, an equitable societal from the powers-that-be disappears in a dust of control and manipulation. Even excluding the power and control of the hierarchies and the Cabal, modern capitalism has failed miserably. And with it any vestige of hope that this current economy can remedy the myriad problems it creates, or even reverse course to ‘save the world.’
The only constant in life is change, and yet that constant is what scares people the most – fear of what could happen next. So we collectively hope that the powers-that-be will somehow change because we complain more loudly and believe politicians that claim to champion our rights while fostering corporate rights instead. Meanwhile we are inundated with more and more ‘Doom-Trolling,’ which seems to be the in-thing at this time from Super intelligent A.I. to economic collapse, and everything in-between. Disinformation, misinformation, propaganda, conspiracy overload, keeps us polarized and in constant fear, which keeps us controlled and manipulable fighting among ourselves.
For all its faults, globalization coupled with the internet for the first time in recorded history has made us a global population, aware of each other. We are no longer vague strangers from distant lands. It is this very situation that presents the bulk of humanity a way to escape the yoke of millennia long oppression and to claim our personal and collective sovereignty.
WE can make choices to use our humanist values to heal ourselves and our relationship with each other and the earth. “A man [sic] disconnected from nature is one without common sense in regard to the stewardship of the home environment. A brainwashed consumer subject to the whims of corporatism” Jacob Wisdom (blogger).
The ‘Live well on Earth’ video highlighted the need for using wisdom with our technology and decision-making on using it. That will only come from us. We can’t depend on the power-that-be to do it. Healing and focus for a sustainable change come from our positive intentions. One part of the film was how Singapore has created vast natural looking areas integrated within the human build city. I once showed a class on sustainability a short advert of a city where nature was all through a city with wildlife and gardens instead of a ‘concrete jungle.’ One of my sustainability students cried out, “That’s where I want to live” and the rest of the class agreed. When I had the class discuss why this was appealing to everyone, they said it was relaxing and with little stress as it integrated nature more harmoniously. They expressed that it gave a deeper sense of place and connection, and belonging to something larger than themselves – a more spiritual idea.
“Did you know that humans can see more shades of Green than any other color? Before cities and suburbs, we used to live in forested areas. It was crucial for our survival to be able to differentiate plants and trees. Being surrounded by green is our natural state. Next time you are down, surround yourself with nature” Curious Nature” Curious Nature.
The chronic use of technology without wisdom affects our individual creativity. The corporate model stifles us to merely be compliant consumers. If we as individuals keep innovating the corporate overlords lose control of the intellectual process. Our ability to choose is where our sovereignty exists to exit their control. We can already affect the corporate system directly with our choices as well as how we live together. We review our core beliefs and values and make the changes accordingly. When we all do that, we can create a tidal wave of change. By simply responding with kindness and compassion, and choosing to support wise choices with technology development we create a new path forward. Couple that with localized systems and we uncouple form the fragile food, energy, and transportation systems that currently dominate our lives. WE decide that living well in peace and harmony is more preferable to the control the Cabal gives us. We bring in harmony for ourselves all while starting to disengage from the authoritarian control as we become sovereign individuals and communities.
So test your beliefs. Sit with doubt. Pursue what would prove you wrong. Richard Feynman said, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.” Know yourself – be completely open and honest with yourself. Understand your beliefs and values. Which values do you truly espouse, and which are simply part of your conditioning? What really brings you peace and happiness? When you truly do a deep dive into your own psyche, you will be amazed at yourself when you find out who you really are. And I bet it’s not the face you show to the world each day. Who is the real authentic you crying out to be expressed?
“If your economy requires people to consume things they don’t need or even want, and to do more of it each year than the year before, just in order to keep the whole edifice from collapsing, then you need a different economy? Jason Hickel. WE can change everything to what we need. WE just need to decide to do it – WE’re the only ones who will.
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