April/May 2007
Why Having More No Longer Makes Us Happy
Bill McKibben
Communities Uniting for climate Action
Lesley Adams
Are Big Enviro Groups Holding Back the Anti-Warming Movement?
Megan Tady
Al Gore and the Wedges Game
Kelpie Wilson
Jody Woodruff
Plastic Bottles and Can Liners Under Scrutiny Again
Jody Woodruff
Creating a New Level of Awareness. Interview with Dr. Joe Dispenza
Katie Elliott
Ashland Independent Fillm Festival
Bowing to Fate, Growing to Destiny: A look at Women's Themes through Film
Marla Estes
Awakening to Our Full Potential
Arjuna Ardagh
Life Organizing: A New Way to Flow with Time
Jennifer Louden
Homelessness in the House
Coenraad Rogmans
Dharma Publishing
Karen Egan
Cosmic
Calendar
Salina Rain
By Deborah Mokma
“The seven blunders of the world are wealth
without work; pleasure without conscience;
knowledge without character; commerce
without morality; science without
humanity; worship without sacrifice;
politics without principle.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
Through organized, sustained citizen action the greatest challenges facing us—like ending the occupation of Iraq, preventing an invasion of Iran, changing humanity’s role in global warming, providing healthcare for all, creating sustainable communities—will be successfully addressed. And by carefully considering Gandhi’s observation of the seven blunders, which continue to this day, we can improve the ways we conduct ourselves on the planet, affecting a positive change in the environmental and social impacts we invariably have upon our world.
Ted Glick, a founder of the Climate Crisis Coalition and the Independent Proessive Politics Network, says “… to bring about significant change thergre are a number of things that need to happen, but one bottom-line, essential requirement is the coming together of a critical mass of organizers and activists into a grassroots-based, politically independent, popular and progressive network.” Ted is active in organizing an important initiative that has the potential to advance what he calls “a unity- and alliance-building process across lines of race, culture, issue and geographic region,” the United States Social Forum, which will take place in Atlanta, Georgia this summer from June 27 to July 1. The US Social Forum is emerging out of many years of World Social Forums beginning with the one held in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2001 and others which followed in Mumbai, India; Caracas, Venezuela; Bamako, Mali; Karachi, Pakistan; and most recently in Nairobi, Kenya last January. Visit www.ussf2007.org to see how you can participate in the upcoming US Social Forum.
If traveling that far from home is not something you can do, consider what author and environmentalist Bill McKibben shares in his new book, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, about the power of grassroots organizing: “I’ve seen dozens of people and communities working on regional-scale sustainable timber projects, on building energy networks that work like the Internet by connecting solar rooftops and backyard windmills in robust mini-grids. That such things can begin to emerge even in the face of the political power of our reigning economic model is remarkable. As we confront significant change in the climate, they could speed along … and they would not only use less energy, they’d create more community.” (Our excerpt from Deep Economy begins on page 6). Bill is one of the organizers of Step It Up 2007, a nationwide action of more than 1,100 events taking place on April 14th throughout all fifty states—including screenings of An Inconvenient Truth, marches, bike rallies, teach-ins, town meetings, art installations and faith celebrations—as we raise our voices together to demand that Congress begin mandating carbon reduction to address climate change. See page 9 for some of the events planned for your community or visit www.StepItUp2007.org for more details of what’s happening nationwide.
While there is certainly plenty of “bad” news to be found in the mainstream media’s coverage of current events, it’s best to focus on what’s positive in our world today, because this is what will inspire us to embrace new ideas. And there really are many inspiring reports of people making a difference and offering solutions.
One of these people is Dr. Joe Dispenza (see page 14), a scientist who works in neurology, neurophysiology, and brain function. Dr. Joe has found that “Whether we are changing beliefs or perceptions, attitudes or habitual thought patterns, the brain seems to like to replace an old idea for a new idea. So there is an exchange of self-limiting thoughts and memories for new and improved thoughts. Eliminating negative thoughts is probably better said as interrupting the negative habitual thoughts by creating a new level of awareness which then allows room for more serving thoughts.”
This approach can work on the individual and global level—imagine the tremendous potential of millions of us replacing self-limiting thoughts and our incandescent light bulbs!
