The Role of "Power" in Achieving Holistic Sustainability

Building of my post from 11/30/09, I have to briefly comment on Obama's plan to escalate war efforts in Afghanistan, and why a better understanding of the role "Power" plays in global society sheds a clearer understanding on the creation of positive social change.

However, let's first look at what happened in India 12/3/84. On this day, over half a million peoples lives were brutally impacted in Bhopal due to a hazardous gas leak. The ramifications of this horrible accident set of a wave of reforms across the globe regarding hazardous chemical manufacturing. The travesty in Bhopal happened 25 years ago, and while changes were made shortly after the gas leak, legislation and policy has still not ensured that the greater public and the environment are safe from future "accidents". Why? The WTO, who mandates policy for the globalized economy is not concerned with production standards. It really cares most about controlling product standards. So even after such a devastating, unnecessary point in history called to the industrialized to world to better safeguard people and the Earth from leaks of toxic gas (or fill in nuclear meltdown, left over land mines, dumping waste in waterways, etc) the emphasis the WTO promotes if how safe a product is-not how safely it was created.

The awareness of Bhopal , like many mirrored incidents since the industrial revolution, has somewhat permeated the mainstream conscious collective. Wait. No it hasn't. In reality, awareness has not really been absorbed in a way to remind people what that chain effect after Bhopal actually was. Tightening of pollution standards across the globe happened. People organized in communities thousands of miles away, in places like industrialized Worcester, MA where toxic particulates were being emitted where locals children played. The awareness came not from foresight of beating a problem before it was created, but rather from a reaction to a problem that was alive and had to be dealt with immediately.

My major point to share here is while it's essential to adapt to conditions as they present themselves, sustainability begs us to have the forethought to take action before problems present themselves. In that light adapting to catastrophe is "easier" in that precaution has brought with it the thought of what will everyone do if...

I feel a major reason that movements for peace, justice, and sustainability have failed to take a major hold of global society is because those with "Power" make those without "Power" believe that these conditions are the way it is; a natural path for humanity. That is, some have and will always have power (the affluent), while other will simply not. If people feel they are powerless to organize and act as a cohesive unit unless cataclysmic action falls by way of toxic leaks in low-income communities, war, etc. then how will lasting social change come to be?

Again, it's clear the paradigm of "civil society" must be critiqued.

Circling to the US and its escalation of war in Afghanistan, the American people were told last week that war is essential. That it's a necessity. What's not fully on the table is what interests compel the US to continue its war in the Middle East. For the US to be present, and risk lives and environmental destruction, what's really the cause?

If the main reason for action is the threat of the Taliban gaining control of nuclear weapons held currently by Pakistan, then why is that not discussed with the American people? Maybe the reason corresponds to why the WTO still has no concrete safeguards for the production of noxious materials across the world.

It goes back to power. Power held and power controlled is a major energy to understand while attempting to move forward the well-being of the total biotic community of Earth. Wealth, yeas. But not solely wealth. As I've said before, maybe if the US didn't hold the greatest amount of nuclear weapons in the world, they wouldn't be so anxiety driven to think they can defeat a radically fundamentalist group.

In the coming days, weeks, and months lets remember our power as individuals to do all what we can to reclaim our individual power, which collectively as a force can be power as Empire. It can also be a power that dismisses power, which may be what actually leads to Holistic Sustainability.

Read Holloway, think, talk, and act.

www.theworld.org/?s=Bhopal%2C+India

"Change the World Without Taking Power" by John Holloway

antiwar.com

This Darkness Has Got to Give

While away from home the past several weeks, I've had a few clear moments to reflect. As the year turns towards the winter season, and 2010 approaches, peace, justice and sustainability continue to face dramatic barriers to implementation. More than implementation is how these entities are felt throughout the total biotic community on Earth.

A recent thought has begged me to pose a series of questions aimed at understanding the present paradigm of humanity on Earth. Reflecting on the state of the nation I call home, I remember a Thanksgiving dinner six years ago when in the US it seemed, "if only Bush wasn't in office", everything would be better. This statement was closely followed some years later during Bush's second term, "if only Al Gore was president, imagine where issues on climate change and the occupation of Iraq would be".

While digesting thoughts and ideas for greater ways to contribute, I recalled these thoughts and applied them more recently. These more current thoughts went something to the tune of imagine if McCain and Palin were in office as opposed to Obama? Well, what if they were "in charge". How different would things be? People continued to argue during the Bush era that the war in Iraq would be over and the US would be fighting climate change in a more steadfast manner if only he were not in power. But now there's Obama, and he was just awarded the Nobel Peace prize, and carried the US on a float of "Change and Hope". But the US is still at war. Iraq is still occupied, bombs continue to fall on Pakistan and it seems more likely there will be a US presence in Afghanistan for many years to come. Nothing dramatic has happened to lessen coal fired power plants from supplying most of the electricity in the US, bring about energy independence, and apply the governmental support to renewable energies that the fossil fuel industries have relied on for decades.

What's so different?

We know human centered models of government have largely failed. Even those seemingly better (and truthfully better) political systems that give their people health care, education and housing, they still have their problems. Of course there's also those systems people argue have worked, but truthfully they only work if you're in the elite 1-3% of the population.

I wonder when critical measures will finally come down to try and take the best of all the many implemented models of human governance to foster a "system" that can handle and promote what's needed. Maybe a system that's not really a system? Autonomy based on bioregional and culturally relevant means? Regardless, this change can not be the change that recycles the same old barriers as usual; a standard status quo approach. Rather, to recognize the state of the US, the deepness of the moment in US history, and that no matter what ambitions Obama has, his barriers to promote Holistic Sustainability are blocked by the overall structure by which he attempts to make progress. The most clear thought here is that those barriers will continue until the actual framework by which US politics are created is greatly altered.

When a Nobel Peace prize winner is the leader of ongoing military offensives, when the country whose people consume the most and have provided the economic model by which other "developing" nations seek to follow cease to lead on environmentally and socially just fronts, and further marginalization of low income people, people of color and the Earth continues unabated, when will the masses act? It's clear what action has paved the way for where things are at now have been helped create a path, but is it not even clearer that something has got to give in a more profoundly different way?

There are still some skeptics out there, and some of them happen to help run the US

Climate change legislation continues to make its way through Congress. Although I understand there could be benefits from a cap and trade program, I still strongly feel that it doesn't come close to facilitating what's needed. I guess it really doesn't matter anyway as today some interesting news that Republican Senators are going to boycott work sessions on climate change this week. The Senator of Oklahoma is among those constituents. He has repeatedly attested to the "fact" global warming is the "greatest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people".

They are doing this as if the regular process in and of itself wasn't slow enough. That coupled with the actual fact that climate change and its numerous, widespread, diverse impacts is most certainly not something that can be fully halted, at least anytime soon, calls for a reading of this useful article from the online magazine Grist. It may not answer everything, but climate change is a definitive umbrella issue of ecology, society, economics, politics, as well as peace, justice and sustainability.

The only constructive action is to build solidarity so that every single person actually wants to be another cog in the chain for helping deal with something that has a dramatic affect on the total biotic community of Earth. And at least if this mentality is employed there will be positive change in some way and shape while real progress takes form.

www.grist.org/article/series/skeptics

Protests at the American Bankers Association (ABA)

A welcome site to an extremely unwelcome happening in Chicago today as thousands of people turned out to protest Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo at the annual ABA meeting..

With an estimated 17.8 trillion dollars expended to bail out the top tier of Wall Street executives and corporations, while the rest of the nation continues to bear the burden of their capitalistic ways, ordinary Americans flocked to the streets of Chicago demanding economic justice.

As unemployment continues to rise with the continuation of foreclosures across the country, many people just can't stand to hear of another bonus or raise given to those who helped put the rest of us in this mess. Like the health care lobbyists who continue to undermine a true public option for health care for all, these wealthy elites know what's at stake; power.

Let's continue voicing opposition to unfettered capitalism that does not provide the benefits this economic theory has promised, but rather serves the elite 1% while the rest are forced to suffer and consume one another in hopes we won't be the next to lose our job, our home, or be forced onto the streets unwillingly.

www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/10/26-10

As the Afghanistan war enters its 9th year on this day, Obama told the world he saw no reason for withdraw as well as no need for troop reductions. In fact, he said he's thinking of boosting the war effort by up to 40,000 troops.

The senate also passed a war funding bill for 626 billion dollars today. Funding for healthy food for the US? How about health care for all? Nope, just funding for more brutality.

It's days like these I wonder, if the systemic powers of the three main branched of the US government desire to simply flex their muscles rather than reflect on their mistakes. On the anniversary of this war, with occupations in Pakistan and Iraq ongoing, instead of talking about fostering peace, rhetoric is fueled by messages of war perpetuation. And I failed to mention the new weapons being built. Ones that are specifically meant for an attack on Iran.

War is arguably the most unsustainable socially constructed activity on the face of the planet. No sentient being wins, justice is completely obstructed and peace is the opposite end of the spectrum. While struggle and conflict are a part of life and can lead to brighter outcomes, years and years of brutal war, that targets civilians, that supports nothing but a police-state, a military industrial complex, and a society brainwashed to believe that war is a necessity, is nothing that promotes sustainability.

Make your voice be heard.

-While there are many sources for news, and many entities covering the anniversary of the Afghanistan war on this day, there are several worthy articles and news blogs on http://www.democracynow.org/ , as well as on older posts in this blog.

This Wednesday, 10/7/09, Marks 8 Years

Without justice there is no peace. Without sustainability there is no justice. Without peace nothing is sustainable, and that is why it is so important to place energy towards movements of anti-war and pro-peace.

This week, as the occupation of Afghanistan turns into a war of 96 months, let us learn more about how we can, in any way, no matter how small or large, lend efforts towards stopping this and any other war. War hurts humans, non-human species and the Earth alike. If we are going to fight for sustainable solutions healthy for all living things we must voice our disrest with movements that seek to undermine the harmony of the planet. War is the central and pinnacle action that disrupts the health of all sentient beings and if you care about the planet and all its life, you should educate, share and act to help protect it and end the wars in Central Asia.

http://www.rethinkafghanistan.com/

http://www.antiwar.com/

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/us/30antiwar.html?_r=1

The Movement to UNDAM the Klamath Continues

Efforts continue to attempt to restore the health of the Klamath River in Northern California. This truly is a multi-faceted land-use conflict and I invite everyone to familiarize themselves with the ingredients in the case so as to better understand what a dynamic recipe this is for a possible example of holistic sustainable land-use policy to be implemented.





Weighing in on the views of ranchers who drain the river for irrigation purposes, recreationists and environmentalists who advocate for restoration of water quality, and Native American Tribes who have subsisted on the salmon of the Klamath as well as calling the River sacred for milena, is a tricky craft. None-the-less the work continues to resolve this conflict and recently a proposal was set forth that could remove the 4 major Klamath dams by 2020. But guess what, there's a problem. Unfortunately it all seems too good to be true, to remove the dams and allow the salmon to run freely once again, as the potential tenets of this plan could undermine the rights of the local Hoopa Tribe as well as the neighboring Trinity River.

Please read through the information accessible below. Learn about this incredibly diverse case. Share what you learn with others, and hopefully, the dams will come down in a way the does not disenfranchise the local environment, the river, the salmon, the Tribes, or any other community member.

www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/09/deal_would_remove_klamath_rive.html


www.waterinfo.org/node/3806


http://klamblog.blogspot.com/

www.klamathbasincrisis.org