Thanks to the Efforts and Insights of Many People (by Michael Rainbow)
Thanks to the efforts and insights of many people, we may still change the world. See http://EnergyValueSpiritConnection.BlogSpot.Com for details. Consider the following: All things are connected, including particles, people and ecosystems. All things are forms of energy, including matter, life force, thoughts and feelings. We cannot do anything that does not affect the world and ourselves. All things we create to satisfy human needs have value as commodities, but this is not the only form of value. There is the usefulness value of things not created by humans, such as air, water, etc. There is also spiritual value, e.g. we might value natural beauty and the well being of future generations and other species. The cost of destroying nature for human needs is immeasurable.
The challenges we face may seem daunting… global warming, population explosion, economic catastrophes, etc. Yet much of it is of our making and can be undone. “Civilization”, up until now, has been built on the domination and exploitation of people and nature. This is not sustainable. Surviving isolated older cultures, still living in cooperator societies, have lived sustainably for millennia.
Several changes can work synergistically. We can convert the world economy from one based on profit (obtained from the exploitation of human energy and natural resources) to one based on collective and democratic ownership and management of all major enterprises. War, which is a product of greed and fear, fueled by the adoption of dehumanizing stereotypes of others, and almost always over resources and markets, can be stopped and replaced with a system of international cooperation, fair trade and human rights, such as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/) and Earth Charter (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Charter#Principles). We can make the satisfaction of basic human needs, such as food, water, shelter, health care and education into human rights to the extent that society can provide them. At the same time, we can institute democratic and humane population control. All of the energy we really need could come from renewable sources and greater conservation (especially in those countries with the highest use of resources per capita). We can stop polluting our environment. We can make our cities more livable, beautiful, and provide for the free expression of spirit. We can only do all these things through the cooperation of all people in a global true democracy.
True democracy cannot coexist with a single or dual party system. It requires elections and media independent of both corporate and government control. It may include instant run-off elections, equitable low-cost campaign funding, direct voter participation in lawmaking and the democratic control of the workplace and financial management.
To help us reach sustainability, let’s start thinking with both sides of our brains (the analytic left half and the creative right half). We can support each other by sharing listening and speaking time equitably. We can boost our spirits through time in nature. We can work together with others who have different expertise and perspectives. We can try to set an example for others. We can practice love and compassion.
