Issues in our Actions, Corporate Consumerism, Our Goldfish Bowl

TO It’s likely that nothing can or will change for someone who doesn’t see an issue in their actions. So “You can’t fix what you don’t first acknowledge” Richard Rohr (quote from Breathing Under Water) As long as you find reasons to blame someone else, be angry with another, point a finger at them, you’re not taking responsibility for your life. And “though a situation may not be entirely your fault” little to nothing will change by projecting blame outwards. “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” Voltaire, catch my drift? A big part of getting a second chance on the physical plane is taking responsibility for one’s own wrongs, a great question one may ask is “what should you have done instead?” But “When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation, or accept it. All else is madness.” Eckhart Tolle We should “live in the world not off the world” Jesus, that is to say that on one level none of this matters yet on the physical plane some things certainly do matter. We can’t avoid those lessons the Universe continually sends our way, and besides “Anytime you push something away it’s still there.” Ram Dass. “What you resist not only persist but will grow in size.” What you might perceive to be a problem is really an opportunity for growth if used intentionally and consciously. “Without responsibility, there is no freedom. To respond to every challenge out of freedom is responsibility. It is the inadequate response that is irresponsibility.” Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jef Lap Sorry I can't remember where this occurred. I read an article about a community that became aware of the water running out. They had figured out the math and setup a sign in their community a sign that counted down to day zero. As the days counted down, people began to become more and more conservative. Not very long before the counter was to reach zero, they discovered that the water table had indeed begun to rise again. Perhaps science could do for us all what the science of knowing the countdown did for this community. One can hope, but a community united can achieve amazing things. Much love

Mark Rego Monteiro Jeff Laporte It´s an interesting scenario. Elinor Ostrom studied communities and won a Riksbank "Nobel" for it as an ecologial economist. First thing that I note is that "science" wasn´t actually the solution. "Science," ie scientific philosophy, was a tool, producing some key data. Watching a milk jug get empty in the refrigerator and the like, and making family decision-makers aware is an analogous scenario that identifies the central human element. Not "science." "Scientific philosophy" is a form of philosophical scholarship and empiricism, an awareness which helps offset the monomania and idealization of "science" that its tangible contexts have fed in people. In terms of ecosystemic information to warn people, for example, the 1972 UN Stockholm environmental UNCHE conference was held. Their efforts have been consistent, but the publicizing of their message has been strongly interfered with by the US Big Business corporate executive community with its disproportionate forms of influence. In 1971, the Powell Memo was published in the Washington Post that targeted Ralph Nader as their number one enemy. Fast forward to Ronald Reagan cracking that Jimmy Carter had turned the White House into a bird´s nest, not least of all for putting solar panels on the roof. Reagan shut down US windpower development that percolated up as Danish citizens did grassroots reinventing and organizing up to green power co-ops. German citizens began organizing after Chernobyl blew, no less. By 2010, France and Spain had a green power co-op or two. By 2013, there were some 2,000 EU green power co-ops. Meanwhile, in the 1970s, a number of Americans tried founding food co-op stores, and dozens upon dozens survived. Thus, for me, after starting out knocking on doors for the PIRG not for profits started by Nader, learning about Sierra Club and Greenpeace, I eventually learned about the meaning of food co-op stores, Fair Trade, and green power co-ops. Yet, American corporate consumerism, with Black Friday between commercialized Thanksgiving "Turkey-day" and Christmas with "Santa Claus" now already famous, and Superbowl Sunday an ad fest, is itself a powerful phenomenon. Michael Moore´s films provide an amazing cultural phenomenon, while Occupy Wall St. gave a good signal flash. As the meme says, change requires an issue for action that is meaningful to people. As you suggest, community level awareness can lead to action. In the case of America as a nation, I see a range of contexts that constitute distractions. Yet, that´s why I love the examples of George Fox et al´s Quaker Friends, Gandhi´s account as an ex-lawyer cloth-wearing, threadspinning interfaith Christian Hindu, and Fannie Lou Hamer who overcame incredible Jim Crow violence to become a Bible-whispering leader who started a Farm Co-op. The meaning of modern corporate indoctrination control then has a number of satisfying outlets as Greenpeace´s Greener Electronics and Detox My Fashion campaign can be linked to Sierra Club campaigns that ended new coal plant construction, and plain old hiking trips, and food co-op stores that offer discounts on organic and Fair Trade foods. There´s a way to save a few lives from Black Friday stampedes, or Superbowl Sunday mass murders.