Article: An Open Letter To Sonoma County Sustainability And Permaculture Groups Regarding

[Barry]

An Open Letter To Sonoma County Sustainability And Permaculture Groups Regarding Occupy Santa Rosa

By Michael C. Ruppert – Founder of CollapseNet
© Copyright 2011, CollapseNet, Inc.

November 10, 2011, 1400 PST, SEBASTOPOL -- Sonoma County is home to some of the most-respected and recognized leaders in Transition, permaculture and sustainability in the world. Transition US is headquartered here. Daily Acts is here. The Post Carbon Institute is here. Occidental Arts and Ecology Center is here. Collapsenet is here. Sonoma County is alive with all of the skills that will be needed by the seven billion souls who now share our troubled planet.

All of us seeking to transform to a post-petroleum, zero growth, sustainable way of life and global transformation have inherent and obvious shared interest with the Occupy Movement. A great, and I believe unique, opportunity to lead the way in this journey towards a new paradigm presents itself to us right here in Santa Rosa.

To date, although Occupy Santa Rosa has been faced with challenges in its relations with city government, the process has been marked by professional, non-violent and diligent efforts and good faith on both sides. Santa Rosa is not Oakland. It is not any of the places where the Occupy movement has been faced with grave challenges, property destruction or violence. As of today, negotiations to prolong and extend the life of Occupy Santa Rosa are continuing in good faith, with the occupiers having agreed to comply unilaterally with the city’s camping permit process. We occupiers have redoubled efforts to address legitimate health and safety issues.

I have been deeply involved in OSR over the past weeks. I have attended City Council meetings, marched, and slept at the site. One of the large concerns expressed by the Santa Rosa city council has been the cost of restoring damage to City Hall’s ornamental landscaping as a result of the occupation. Damage has been relatively minor and OSR has also redoubled efforts to protect property. These efforts have resulted in praise today from fire and safety officials. But foot paths are being worn through ivy and the city council is concerned about damage to the lawn as a result of long-term tent placement.

To me, as it should be for all of us, restoring City Hall to its former condition is obviously something we would view as a waste of energy and resources. Sensible options would include a post-occupation conversion of landscaping to indigenous, low-maintenance plants. They could include zeroing the landscape to eliminate the need for water (reducing the city’s budget needs). They could include the planting of sustainable and harmonious food crops that will help to feed the increasing numbers of people who will soon be facing food shortages in the face of collapse.

As I look at the work and philosophy our community has developed over the last decade I see that we have all focused on several common points which we recognize as indispensable to our goals of saving lives and caring for our fellows and our planet. They include:

- The need to relocalize food production to organic, non-chemically enhanced means

- The need to reduce resource consumption, especially water

- The need to build strong community ties.

Of these, we all understand that building a strong, harmonious community is of paramount importance.

I personally know that almost all of us are in sympathy with the Occupy Movement. All City Council members have been clear in open session that they understand that the City of Santa Rosa is a part of the 99%. The current sensitive-stage of negotiations present us all with an enormous opportunity. Occupy Santa Rosa needs local support from community pillars because – as I testified at an open city council meeting two days ago – “It’s not even about the 99% versus the 1% here, because 100% of us live here, and soon enough we will be all the human resources that we have to face life-and-death challenges that are only going to get bigger. We are all we are going to have to face this with.”

Much of the world is looking to the beacon that Sonoma County has become to show a peaceful and sane way into a new future. I am, therefore, asking all of my colleagues to step up and make contact with the Occupy Santa Rosa movement through one of its organizers, Arrow Flora, or to reach out directly to city hall to become participants in making Santa Rosa and Sonoma County a better place for all of us to live. We have to walk our own walk in the eyes of the world if we are to maintain our increasing usefulness in the change of consciousness which we recognize as essential to our own missions. And all of us should want to feed and nurture the actual working community and family which is forming at OSR. Until you have seen it you cannot fully appreciate how much the Occupy movement has to teach us about how we’re going to live and function as a community.

In many ways OSR is much further ahead than most of us when it comes to community building. In all of the occupy venues around the world, almost all in less-hospitable climates, what we have been teaching all these years is being implemented at breakneck speed and a good deal of innovation from which we can all learn. Social patterns are emerging which confirm that OSR and other occupy venues are living and fertile laboratories (greenhouses) which our leadership and experience could assist in untold ways.

I am asking all of you to go and visit OSR, walk through the camp and see the myriad opportunities that exist to further our shared cause, and to put your names and your organizations in solidarity with a movement that is mankind’s last best hope to achieve voluntary change before all of us face the involuntary hardships that are arriving right now.

All of us have a vested interest in seeing OSR succeed. The world-recognized talent and leadership here in Sonoma County must be a part of this critical process. Let Sonoma County be a light for the whole world.

Michael C. Ruppert
Author,
C.E.O. – Collapsenet, Inc.

Michael C. Ruppert (born 1951) is an American author,^[1] a former Los Angeles Police Department officer, ^[2] and investigative journalist and peak oil theorist.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Until 2006, he published and edited From The Wilderness, a newsletter and website covering a range of topics including (international) politics, the C.I.A., peak oil, civil liberties, drugs, economics, corruption and 9/11 alternative theories.^{[7][page needed]} He is also the author of Crossing The Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil^[1] and was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Collapse.^[3] Currently, he is CEO and president of Collapse Network, Inc,^[8] and hosts The Lifeboat Hour on Progressive Radio Network.^[9]

[Barry]

Thanks to Zenekar (Attila Nagy) for posting this!

[Temeluch]

...I am asking all of you to go and visit OSR, walk through the camp and see the myriad opportunities that exist to further our shared cause, and to put your names and your organizations in solidarity with a movement that is mankind’s last best hope to achieve voluntary change before all of us face the involuntary hardships that are arriving right now.

2012 and Counting
I did visit, and I was not impressed by the split camp scenario.

I do have something very real to contribute, as an active member of this emerging new community, which I do value, and I do pledge my support, as a professional World Service Worker, and as one of the real people, who has heart and spirit, not neediness and dependency, who will not quit, and I am not just here to hang with the cool people across the street.

I do have land, and I do have a plan. I am a community builder, and a bit of a Food Activist.

But my time has to be respected. I will meet only with the other real people, who can and will listen very deeply, all night, if necessary, until I am through, and not just to shoot the bull, and swap complaints, with a bunch of blowhards, who have not done their homework, of thinking deeply and working on answers, and so are not worthy of a share of the killings, in my estimation, as someone who would like to think himself worthy of serving on the Tribal Council.

I have my own group of over 800 people on the web, so I already have had a huge influence.

And I can do wonders for this movement as well. But I do need a great deal of support from the local community, of which I am trying to play an active part. And I do not put myself above the Community, even though I am a very powerful leader, and even though I am a powerful force for change.

But too many people talking and nobody listening is just not good enough for Truth to come forth.

That is why things are going to have to change around here. I have had enough of the worst, and the cursed, and now it is time for the rest and the best to stake their claim. I will speak among those, who I can honor and respect, as people, who can listen without judgment.

Special times and places need to be arranged, for those with real ideas, like myself, to exchange those, in a manner which is productive, as designers, and as creators, who have something real to bring to the table.

But a General Assembly of the ignorant may not be something we need to have to fight our way through so let us meet as a core group of influential leaders only.

So let there be a time and a place for excellence to be shared, using the Talking Stick in a whole new way.

Let me have some notice, and I will be there, with all the other brothers, and the relevant sisters, who have some real resources to share, and who all come with some respect for the shining light of Truth coming First, and not what most people, might want to hear, or would like to believe, about the need to get revenge against the world.

But in short, we are, or should be, designing a different future for this community, out of a positive spirit of what is possible now that we have come this far, which will become more like a Tribe, once it has matured.

I have created a new group that we can use, called 2012-and-Counting.

To join you can just send a blank email to:

[email protected]

And then you will get an instant confirmation email, which you just return, as it is, and then you are in.

Love You All. Stay in Balance. - T

[zenekar]

2012 and Counting
I did visit, and I was not impressed by the split camp scenario.

I do have something very real to contribute, as an active member of this emerging new community, which I do value, and I do pledge my support, as a professional World Service Worker, and as one of the real people, who has heart and spirit, not neediness and dependency, who will not quit, and I am not just here to hang with the cool people across the street.

I do have land, and I do have a plan. I am a community builder, and a bit of a Food Activist.

But my time has to be respected. I will meet only with the other real people, who can and will listen very deeply, all night, if necessary, until I am through, and not just to shoot the bull, and swap complaints, with a bunch of blowhards, who have not done their homework, of thinking deeply and working on answers, and so are not worthy of a share of the killings, in my estimation, as someone who would like to think himself worthy of serving on the Tribal Council.

I have my own group of over 800 people on the web, so I already have had a huge influence.

And I can do wonders for this movement as well. But I do need a great deal of support from the local community, of which I am trying to play an active part. And I do not put myself above the Community, even though I am a very powerful leader, and even though I am a powerful force for change.

But too many people talking and nobody listening is just not good enough for Truth to come forth.

That is why things are going to have to change around here. I have had enough of the worst, and the cursed, and now it is time for the rest and the best to stake their claim. I will speak among those, who I can honor and respect, as people, who can listen without judgment.

Special times and places need to be arranged, for those with real ideas, like myself, to exchange those, in a manner which is productive, as designers, and as creators, who have something real to bring to the table.

But a General Assembly of the ignorant may not be something we need to have to fight our way through so let us meet as a core group of influential leaders only.

So let there be a time and a place for excellence to be shared, using the Talking Stick in a whole new way.

Let me have some notice, and I will be there, with all the other brothers, and the relevant sisters, who have some real resources to share, and who all come with some respect for the shining light of Truth coming First, and not what most people, might want to hear, or would like to believe, about the need to get revenge against the world.

But in short, we are, or should be, designing a different future for this community, out of a positive spirit of what is possible now that we have come this far, which will become more like a Tribe, once it has matured.

I have created a new group that we can use, called 2012-and-Counting.

To join you can just send a blank email to:

[email protected]

And then you will get an instant confirmation email, which you just return, as it is, and then you are in.

Love You All. Stay in Balance. - T

What I read here are words of a person with an inflated ego and Messiah complex. You decide who are "real people" and who are not? And you consider yourself to be humble? Is the word compassion present in your vocabulary? You are not better than another human being. I hope the 800 followers of your cult get wise soon. The Occupy Movement is about being inclusive, not divisive. Listen.

[theindependenteye]

Dear Temeluch--

I have to agree with Attila that your post comes across more as an excretory rant than as an attempt to communicate. But having been around this earth for quite a while, I can sure commiserate with the need for excretory rants once in a while. And without knowing the specifics of what you're actually doing, I can believe in your sincerity. Some thoughts:

* Rather than just asking us to send our email addresses to your unknown enterprise, it'd be good if you could post more about what your orientation is and what you're involved with.

* A lot of those ignorant blowhards you're condemning are coming from the same place you are: the need to be heard, to get it off their chest, to be acknowledged, to have a voice. Not everybody is fully rational. Not everybody speaks concisely. Not everybody shows up on time. Not everybody stays glued to the subject at hand. Not everybody follows thru. I know that, and I wish it were otherwise. But some of those people, if listened to with open ears, may have something useful to say, or something that strikes a new spark in your own head. In my experience, if you truly want to get something done you work with the people who are there, not those you imagine might be.

* If your 800 Internet people are all carefully chosen and vetted, have a proven track record of accomplishment, are actually contributing to your own thinking rather than just being ditto-heads, then you do have an extraordinary instrument and hardly need to concern yourself with what's happening in Waccoland. Otherwise, in my opinion, you come across as someone with whom the people you'd most want to work with you wouldn't want to work.

* I do share your feeling that here (and in progressive movements in general) there's a over-quota amount of pointless self-expression, ill-defined haggling over trifles, lack of followthru, impatience and neurotic reaction. Railing at it, though, is just giving it back in kind. I believe you'd better work with the people who exist, pushing your own standards persistently but very patiently and finding the elements in them that you do respect, rather than waiting for the right 12 Disciples to emerge from the void.

Anyway, take this for what it's worth. As I started out saying, I'd be interested in knowing more about what you're doing.

Peace & joy--
Conrad Bishop

[Temeluch]

We do care about all people in need, but with a great deal of expansive freedom from blame.

Helping others is a beautiful thing that we practice, if only for that reason, since we don't get sucked in to the materialistic parts of it, such as, that all people need money, so their addictions can be supported by work of others, or at the expense of the Earth.

We do support the Occupy Wall Street Movement, with bodies and minds, and spirits, all throughout the Universe.

What we have to add, to the Occupy Wall Street Movement is, that it is not that the money should be shared equally, and all given away, just because of the glaring excess of the Peoples Needs, which has been our burger King for way too long now.

But the money should be reserved, for nobody, as it might be said, after midnight, if it is not going to be reserved, for those who have done the work, and for those who have gained the core competencies, and have earned a place in honor, at our tables of grace, but one thing I would add, is that no one should be making more, than Ten Times the Minimum Wage, and that would be my very own hand made proposition for a dying planet, and my contribution to this movement, as one of the leaders of this movement, and that is in Thought Leadership, not needy dependency.


That is my job. And the Universe is who I work for, and not the Peoples Needs, so let them all be warned that they have been sidelined for a Greater God, and a much more beautiful Goddess.

I do believe I am fairly good at my job, and now I would like to see some of the positive results, of my carefully put together system of well made ideas, which are hand made, and all fit together, and they are compatible, for one reason, because they are all in alignment with Truth, which is the Highest God, and not Need, which is not even worth calling any kind of God, since it is a glaring impostor, and it is a falsification of the worst kind, that the people still bow down before, and it is especially ugly, when it gets collectivized into an angry gang thug drug culture on the street corner that is all based on needy blame and greedy self interest, most of which is not even fit for a dog.

But I will still meet with the others, who will respect the laws of Truth First, and not needy dependency for all.

I serve the Whole Web of Life, and not the peoples purchasing powers, so let that be so noted.

I do appreciate even the undue criticisms, of those who fear the Truth. But it is coming, and so you had better run for cover, or circle the wagons in fear of the unknown powers, within the Center of the Universe. - T

[nicofrog]

We do care about all people in need, but with a great deal of expansive freedom from blame.

Helping others is a beautiful thing that we practice, if only for that reason, since we don't get sucked in to the materialistic parts of it, such as, that all people need money, so their addictions can be supported by work of others, or at the expense of the Earth.

We do support the Occupy Wall Street Movement, with bodies and minds, and spirits, all throughout the Universe.

What we have to add, to the Occupy Wall Street Movement is, that it is not that the money should be shared equally, and all given away, just because of the glaring excess of the Peoples Needs, which has been our burger King for way too long now.

But the money should be reserved, for nobody, as it might be said, after midnight, if it is not going to be reserved, for those who have done the work, and for those who have gained the core competencies, and have earned a place in honor, at our tables of grace, but one thing I would add, is that no one should be making more, than Ten Times the Minimum Wage, and that would be my very own hand made proposition for a dying planet, and my contribution to this movement, as one of the leaders of this movement, and that is in Thought Leadership, not needy dependency.


That is my job. And the Universe is who I work for, and not the Peoples Needs, so let them all be warned that they have been sidelined for a Greater God, and a much more beautiful Goddess.

I do believe I am fairly good at my job, and now I would like to see some of the positive results, of my carefully put together system of well made ideas, which are hand made, and all fit together, and they are compatible, for one reason, because they are all in alignment with Truth, which is the Highest God, and not Need, which is not even worth calling any kind of God, since it is a glaring impostor, and it is a falsification of the worst kind, that the people still bow down before, and it is especially ugly, when it gets collectivized into an angry gang thug drug culture on the street corner that is all based on needy blame and greedy self interest, most of which is not even fit for a dog.

But I will still meet with the others, who will respect the laws of Truth First, and not needy dependency for all.

I serve the Whole Web of Life, and not the peoples purchasing powers, so let that be so noted.

I do appreciate even the undue criticisms, of those who fear the Truth. But it is coming, and so you had better run for cover, or circle the wagons in fear of the unknown powers, within the Center of the Universe. - T

OK at first I was ON your wagon train.. the along came "Gang ThugDrug Street Needy Blame Greedy Self DOG" That is YOU BRO
You have defined your SO CALLED MOVEMENT into a lonely sad epitaph for a Lost cause..
Sorry BUTT ..this WORLD WIDE movement will ignore your "community",and IF successful(whatever THAT is)will SAVE your sorry ass
because things are going to get a LOT worse befor they lighten up and your Privaledged LAND ownership won't help you,Or you and your imagined "friends" will be conered in a prison ,indeed are already cornered in a prison where the only freedom is immense wealth
and you better know some tricks if you have THAT because it is tempting raw meat for the yellow jackets that will be heeded this way.

Sure we have Permaculture,and Transitions,and well meaning powerless Democrats,and Unions ,but my new found intellectual friend,unless your head has been buried ,like the proverbial OSTRICH..(Or elsewhere) as you may not have noticed with Kennedy,you certainly I hope GOT IT with Nyne II word traid center coup (misspelling deliberate).. Black-vasser security,in whatever capacity they choose will be deciding what Venue is appropriate for your future rants,and you may need some homeless ignorant vagrants or schitzy anarchists to spirit you into the woods,or over a border.

Here MY take on O W S( I hope it is not WASTED on YOUR OVERLY WORTHY MIND..


OK so hey; !!!!!!!!! MIKE CHECK!!!!!
Time to "throw down for O W S etc all the way so hey
here is MY perspective this WORLD WIDE IVOLUTION WILL NOT BE NAMED ,AND HENCE WILL NOT BE TAMED they want us to get an office and a .org and start fundraising and getting candidate endorsements S**** That(and as soon as you cuss,you lose support right?
and as SOON as you choose a TOPIC You leave SOMEONE OUT, Perhaps it is(as some say"purely a financial gripe") NONSENSE does WAR have nothing to do with finances..and Whoe while we are on war, let us American Occupiers since Columbus not forget our FIRST WAR, The Native American Struggle!! and if that is separate from Immigrant rights, then who am I ? The Guy who's border crossed theirs? I think so..
and the feminists (who have been quick to point out old habits die hard--and then do we leave out Gay L.B.T. hey I might get in trouble for putting Italics).. THIS IVOLUTION cannot leave out the HEART OR ANYBODY, Handicapped access still sucks.. I and I RASTA mon
THE POWER LIES IN NOT BEING FORCED TO CHOOSE, A LOT of our people are going to be republicans and Christians rightists who are also waking up,Veterans,Police who step over the line will lead ARMY who step over the line, But NOT if we
become a schism of radical widow busters,what window would Gandhi break? (Let the Monkey wrench Gang(Like Anonymous) work their separate scene..) Even Greenpeace and R A N and a MILLION other groups are bot a support,but not our official party line OF COARSE the environment duh we need a place to be homeless IN? no?
AND YES among our Homeless will be tramps and vagrants and hey dude,can you spare a dime dudes (and count ME in with them)
I carry a shovel,and I work,but I have no home,I spend that Money on rental for my TOOLS Because there's more WORK to be done than COMFORTS to be had(and there are enough rich people around here who can share their over abundant comforts with ME thank you very much.
AND NO ,Sorry I'm NOT down ON the line(bin there in the 60's) I work with KIDS ,That's My tiny revolt,getting arrested would not serve that.

I'm into OCCUPY THE MALLS like Billy Talin! SIDEWALK CHALK the Facts,just the FACTS in front of every corporate franchise in Sonoma County.. I can do a few,together,we can do many. check out this juicy link..:) Pas Y Amor! the entire MEANING of "The revolution will not be televised"is showing up now see it? Not on cnn.
https://www.youtube.Michael Beckwith visits Occupy LA.com/