We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, August 5, 2011

The New Normal: Billion-Dollar Disasters

Click here to access article by Julia Whitty from Mother Jones.

Climate disasters will become the new normal if we continue to let the system of capitalism go unchallenged. The system which depends upon growth to produce profits for a few is driving us off the cliffs of climate disasters and resource exhaustion. Even if we could change systems today, we would still experience climate disasters for years to come. However, if we could change the system soon, we might survive and even thrive as fully functioning human beings in harmony with the ecology of our planet.
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