Shepherd
05-14-2007, 07:29 AM
Following is a rough draft of some thoughts I put down this morning after reading some newspapers and in response to a brief email from the publisher of HopeDance magazine, included at the bottom. I plan to organize this into an article for publication and would welcome any comments on how to improve them.
Thanks for any help,
Shepherd, [email protected]
In addition to the importance of the re-localization described in the current issue of HopeDance magazine (www.hopedance.org), I feel that some of us need to re-institutionalize ourselves. I can already hear some of my West County friends reacting to this. One good model is what the Graton-based Climate Protection Campaign has done. They worked with officials in each Sonoma County city and with the County and got amazing buy-in to their efforts to deal with climate change issues, putting our County in a national leadership role.
In my case the two institutions that I have recently reconnected with are schools and churches. For various reasons, I marginated myself from them decades ago. Now I find myself returning to these two gathering places for communities. Sonoma State University has taught a "War & Peace" course for 20 years now, which I will be co-teaching this next semester. The course includes lectures open to the public on Tues. afternoons from 4:00 to 5:15. They begin Aug. 21 and extend into Dec. Among the scheduled speakers is Col. Ann Wright, who spoke recently on campus about why she resigned from the military and State Department after over 30 years of service to protest the war in Afghanistan. When our speaker's list is complete, I will send it out, in case you would like to join us for one or more of the lectures. 80 SSU students have already enrolled, and will have sections of 20 each to discuss war and peace issues.
I see war & peace, climate change, and Peak Oil issues as intimately related. As Michael Klare and others have documented, the current surge in global warfare is partly a struggle for natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to continuing fueling the American Empire.
"Contingencies for Nuclear Terrorist Attack" reads an May 11 SF Chronicle headline. It reports on government and military officials meeting to plan for what they call "The Day After." A San Francisco taxi cab driver friend of mine picked up a ride who is a friend of Vice-President Cheney. The friend reported that Cheney prefers a nuclear exchange soon, rather than in say ten years, because he knows that the U.S. is on the decline and would get more bang for its buck now rather than later.
Daniel Ellsberg and many experts expect the U.S. to bomb Iran, possibly initiated by Israel.; this could involve nuclear weapons. Though the Chron. headline speaks of "terrorist attack," it could be a response to an attack initiated by the U.S. If you believe in karma, the chickens coming home to roost, reaping what you sow, you could expect the U.S. to be attacked, big-time, as a result of its ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do not expect this one to be as mild as Sept. 11. Prepare now, with re-localization, as well as re-institutionalization. Work, educational, and religious institutions are where people gather and communicate.
"Perilous optimism" is a concept I first read about in Richard Heinberg's "The Party's Over" book. Some of my friends seem to have this attitude that if we simply "think positively" and ignore signs, we will be OK. I do not hold to this ostrich position, as do people in some New Age religious groups. I prefer the approach of groups such as the Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations. They have a great diversity of views within their members, including pagans, atheists, agnostics, Christians, Jews, Buddhisst, etc. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have some amazing UU groups doing good social action and other work.
If there is the kind of "collapse of government order" and social and economic organization that the Chron article on a nuclear attack describes, we will need local institutions beyond the government to provide buildings where people can gather for connection, protection, and enjoyment.
Having lived in Chile when the fascists took over in l973 I feel, in my body, that the longer the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars continue, the more likely we are to to need to prepare for what James Howard Kunstler describes in the sub-title of his book "The Long Emergency" as "Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century." Since the book was published in 2005, the pace has quickened considerably. Climate changes are happening much faster than most people thought and could be quite disastrous.
By turning to some of the institutions which have historically been gathering places for people, I am finding new friends to communicate with and have fun with as we hunker down for an unpredictable future. The governmental/military "Day After" group recommends that people "build underground bomb shelters" and other band-aid approaches. I think we would be better off to impeach Bush, stop the Iraq War, improve relations with other countries and work to prevent the worst but prepare for it, having fun with each other along the way. This is not a time to attempt to go it alone.
Shepherd
On May 13, 2007, at 3:33 PM, Bob Banner wrote:
good for you..,. tell us how it works out. Am feeling the same. Have a new girl friend who works for Rideshare which is all about trying to get people out of their cars. Shes actually getting paid to do this!! In fact she and others arranged a safe rout to school campaign by organizing a way for community*folks would help kids walk to school rather than get driven by their parents. The*amount of*bicycles almost*doubled that day and there were a number of kids getting pins of recognition by the principal the morning of the event. One girl when she learned about it was so upset at her mom for forgetting recommended to her mom that she drive her back to the spot where the kids in the neighborhood were walking to school.. and the teachers had large signs on the dor as the kids walked into the classrtoom where there was a list of the kids who had either walked or biked or scootered to school. I was one of the folks who helped one kid to school... Lisa will be writing a report about it as well as our bike month and our monthly bike happening for the summer issue of HopeDance. Please send stories like this to us at [email protected].
It would be good to hear and read stories like this to get others like you and me to start working within the system since it can pay off so much smoother!!! and especially when collaboration happens, i.e.* parents, principals and various organizations, either government led or citizens led.
thanks
bob
On May 13, 2007, at 6:12 AM, Shepherd Bliss wrote:
I increasingly feel the need to work within institutions to help prepare people for the growing probability of greater world-wide crises resulting from climate change, war, Peak Oil, and related trends. I have had the freedom of working mainly outside institutions for decades, but now feel the need to reconnect to the many people within institutions, especially academic and religious.
Shepherd
____________
Bob Banner
HopeDance
Radical Solutions Inspiring Hope
FiLMs, PRiNT & Web
[email protected]
https://www.hopedance.org
805.544.9663
Thanks for any help,
Shepherd, [email protected]
In addition to the importance of the re-localization described in the current issue of HopeDance magazine (www.hopedance.org), I feel that some of us need to re-institutionalize ourselves. I can already hear some of my West County friends reacting to this. One good model is what the Graton-based Climate Protection Campaign has done. They worked with officials in each Sonoma County city and with the County and got amazing buy-in to their efforts to deal with climate change issues, putting our County in a national leadership role.
In my case the two institutions that I have recently reconnected with are schools and churches. For various reasons, I marginated myself from them decades ago. Now I find myself returning to these two gathering places for communities. Sonoma State University has taught a "War & Peace" course for 20 years now, which I will be co-teaching this next semester. The course includes lectures open to the public on Tues. afternoons from 4:00 to 5:15. They begin Aug. 21 and extend into Dec. Among the scheduled speakers is Col. Ann Wright, who spoke recently on campus about why she resigned from the military and State Department after over 30 years of service to protest the war in Afghanistan. When our speaker's list is complete, I will send it out, in case you would like to join us for one or more of the lectures. 80 SSU students have already enrolled, and will have sections of 20 each to discuss war and peace issues.
I see war & peace, climate change, and Peak Oil issues as intimately related. As Michael Klare and others have documented, the current surge in global warfare is partly a struggle for natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to continuing fueling the American Empire.
"Contingencies for Nuclear Terrorist Attack" reads an May 11 SF Chronicle headline. It reports on government and military officials meeting to plan for what they call "The Day After." A San Francisco taxi cab driver friend of mine picked up a ride who is a friend of Vice-President Cheney. The friend reported that Cheney prefers a nuclear exchange soon, rather than in say ten years, because he knows that the U.S. is on the decline and would get more bang for its buck now rather than later.
Daniel Ellsberg and many experts expect the U.S. to bomb Iran, possibly initiated by Israel.; this could involve nuclear weapons. Though the Chron. headline speaks of "terrorist attack," it could be a response to an attack initiated by the U.S. If you believe in karma, the chickens coming home to roost, reaping what you sow, you could expect the U.S. to be attacked, big-time, as a result of its ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do not expect this one to be as mild as Sept. 11. Prepare now, with re-localization, as well as re-institutionalization. Work, educational, and religious institutions are where people gather and communicate.
"Perilous optimism" is a concept I first read about in Richard Heinberg's "The Party's Over" book. Some of my friends seem to have this attitude that if we simply "think positively" and ignore signs, we will be OK. I do not hold to this ostrich position, as do people in some New Age religious groups. I prefer the approach of groups such as the Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations. They have a great diversity of views within their members, including pagans, atheists, agnostics, Christians, Jews, Buddhisst, etc. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have some amazing UU groups doing good social action and other work.
If there is the kind of "collapse of government order" and social and economic organization that the Chron article on a nuclear attack describes, we will need local institutions beyond the government to provide buildings where people can gather for connection, protection, and enjoyment.
Having lived in Chile when the fascists took over in l973 I feel, in my body, that the longer the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars continue, the more likely we are to to need to prepare for what James Howard Kunstler describes in the sub-title of his book "The Long Emergency" as "Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century." Since the book was published in 2005, the pace has quickened considerably. Climate changes are happening much faster than most people thought and could be quite disastrous.
By turning to some of the institutions which have historically been gathering places for people, I am finding new friends to communicate with and have fun with as we hunker down for an unpredictable future. The governmental/military "Day After" group recommends that people "build underground bomb shelters" and other band-aid approaches. I think we would be better off to impeach Bush, stop the Iraq War, improve relations with other countries and work to prevent the worst but prepare for it, having fun with each other along the way. This is not a time to attempt to go it alone.
Shepherd
On May 13, 2007, at 3:33 PM, Bob Banner wrote:
good for you..,. tell us how it works out. Am feeling the same. Have a new girl friend who works for Rideshare which is all about trying to get people out of their cars. Shes actually getting paid to do this!! In fact she and others arranged a safe rout to school campaign by organizing a way for community*folks would help kids walk to school rather than get driven by their parents. The*amount of*bicycles almost*doubled that day and there were a number of kids getting pins of recognition by the principal the morning of the event. One girl when she learned about it was so upset at her mom for forgetting recommended to her mom that she drive her back to the spot where the kids in the neighborhood were walking to school.. and the teachers had large signs on the dor as the kids walked into the classrtoom where there was a list of the kids who had either walked or biked or scootered to school. I was one of the folks who helped one kid to school... Lisa will be writing a report about it as well as our bike month and our monthly bike happening for the summer issue of HopeDance. Please send stories like this to us at [email protected].
It would be good to hear and read stories like this to get others like you and me to start working within the system since it can pay off so much smoother!!! and especially when collaboration happens, i.e.* parents, principals and various organizations, either government led or citizens led.
thanks
bob
On May 13, 2007, at 6:12 AM, Shepherd Bliss wrote:
I increasingly feel the need to work within institutions to help prepare people for the growing probability of greater world-wide crises resulting from climate change, war, Peak Oil, and related trends. I have had the freedom of working mainly outside institutions for decades, but now feel the need to reconnect to the many people within institutions, especially academic and religious.
Shepherd
____________
Bob Banner
HopeDance
Radical Solutions Inspiring Hope
FiLMs, PRiNT & Web
[email protected]
https://www.hopedance.org
805.544.9663