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“Three Fork”: conversation beyond the norm

Written by Juliet Bennett
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Last Wednesday was the pilot launch of “Three Fork”, a cafe/bar that aims to stimulate “Free Thought”, conversation beyond the norm.

The plan: Three D’s

  • Drinks 730pm
  • Dinner 8pm (& TED Talk)
  • Discussion 830pm

The night couldn’t have been more successful.

Over Drinks the nine people who were selectively and spontaneously invited about an hour before the event, informal introduced themselves standing/sitting around the bar.

Next everyone was encouraged to help themselves to the slow cooked lamb hotpot and take a seat to watch A Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor – a TV/TED Dinner:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU[/youtube]

Then started the best bit of the night: Discussions.

It started as a group – one person making a comment, then another adding to their thoughts. Sometimes in agreeance, sometimes in conflict, either way we bounced off each other to challenge and develop ideas.

A major theme was the tension between the left and the right sides of the brain, and the pattern of tension that one can see in politics, economics, spirituality, career and personality. Let me try to map out these patterns:

LEFT side of body/politics (right side of brain)

RIGHT side of body/politics (left side of brain)

Artists/music/hippies

Maths/business/suits

All-is-one

All-is-many

Spiritual

Material

Collective

Individual

Goo

Prickles

Conformity

Conflict

Structure

Agency

Present

Past and Future

Peace in ST; Violence in LT

Violence in ST; Peace in LT

IDEM/Sameness

IPSE/Selfhood

As Jill described:

  • the right side of the brain (controlling the left side of your body), sees everything as energy and connected
  • the left side of the brain on the other hand (controlling the right side of your body), sees your body as a being made of matter that is separate from the entities and environment around it

I find it easier to think of the right side of the brain as Left and the left side as Right because of the pattern that I see in society:

  • the right-brain-dominant people are often the artists, Collectivist, the Left of politics, seeing the connections, the spirituality of life itself, and the need to care for others and the planet;
  • the left-brain-dominant are often the MBA’s running the world, Individualist, is the Right of politics, preferring religions that are about rules and books, seeing things as separate, different, numbers to be counted.

Today there seems to be a big disconnection between the Right and the Left, especially in the political sense. The Left in politics sees the Right as violent, materialistic, individualists to the cost of the wider society and environment. And the Right in politics sees the Left as hippy comms who are self-indulgent and without long term visions for security and realistic futures.

Of course this is terribly generalistic and simplified to the extreme, but a useful continuum of left to right, collectivist to individualist, goo to prickles, from which we can map the tensions and dynamics.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXi_ldNRNtM[/youtube]

Alan Watts describes two personality types:

  • the “Prickles” as those who see atoms, differences, and conflicts.
  • the “Goo” as those who see waves, similarities and conformity.

While we may have a tendency toward being Gooey or Prickly, most of us are Prickly Goo and Gooey Prickles.

Another theme that I picked up on at Three Fork was a sense of the internal struggle between conformity and conflict that many of us seemed to share:

  • a struggle to conform to material society, to be part of that culture which we have been born into and hence is a nature desire;
  • the care for social justice and relationship to the environment which involves a certain amount of conflict, putting yourself on a ledge, sticking up for the good guy, standing up to the norm.

Many feel a disjunction between our cultural values and our humanitarian and environmental ones. Our concerns for our individual self, and our care for the collective other. I could hear a subtext loud and clear: a deep sense of knowing that some of the “Western” nation’s “wealth” has involved destructive material consequences for people of the “East” and people “Indigenous” to “our” lands.

I relate this disjunction to the Left and Right – the conformity being a tendency of over-emphasise on the collective (the right-brained / left-politics), and the conflict coming from over emphasis on the individual (the left-brained / right-politics).

Both the conflict seen by the left-side of the brain, and the conformity seen by the right-side, can cause violence or peace.

Future Three Forks:

  • To occur once a month
  • Starting time could come forward an hour
  • Request $10 donations p.p. for food, and $2-3 per drink
  • Record the audio so it can be shared as a podcast

 

Peace

Flux, Fluidity and Turning Thirty

Written by Juliet Bennett
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What does it mean to have existed on a planet for thirty rotations around a sun? A sense of temporality set in.

A week ago, as I went for my first morning walk as a thirty-year-old, I felt a sense of relief, a sense of excitement and a sense of fulfillment. After what feels like four years of growing anticipation (weighted by the 2012 Mayan Prophecies, the “4-years go” campaign, and an interrelated growing eco-social conscience), I had arrived. I wrote in my diary:

“My twenties were great – packed with so many different worlds and experiences. Yet I don’t think I’ve been as content in my own skin as I feel in this moment. I’m healthy and happy in mind, body and spirit. I’m working in an area that makes me feel good, with people who are incredibly inspiring, and I have wonderful friends and the most supportive family I could ever hope for.

I also feel a sense of unattachment, of truly accepting the flux of life. Nothing, nothing, is forever.

Fact: in the flash of an eye I will be 60, and then 90, and then I will die.”

The last 30 years have flown by. We each share the experience of a fleeting life: through childhood, teens, twenties, thirties… sixties… nineties… well some of us get to.

Each bracket, a stage in life, a bunch of society-driven expectations attached to it. We can accept these social goals, or we can reject them; we can make them our own and judge ourselves by them, or define new ones and measure ourselves against that…

A pendulum swings: conform — conflict; conflict — conform; conform — conflict. And through these oscillations, through the conflict and conformity multiplied by billions of decisions made by each of us each day, the world changes. The pendulum evolves into different shapes and forms… and the swinging continues.

At times I feel overwhelmed by the smallness of my “self” – one human in a world of 7-billion; a drop of water in the ocean; a speck of sand on the shore; a tiny expression of life in a massive complex system of people, institutions, and life systems, on a planet within a vast emptiness and complex universe of its own.

I am nothing… and yet I am something pretty special.

‘”Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but earth remains forever. The sun rises and he sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises… There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:2-11)

Is life is meaningless and futile? For some, yes it is. Is there a purpose, some value from our toil? Yes, for others this is so.

We create meaning, we narrate a purpose, we act, and the consequences of those actions are the fruits or poisons for the “Self” that lives on.

“We can’t change the way things are, so we may as well enjoy it,” a friend with similar critiques of the world but with a few extra years of cynicism, justifies his decision to pursue pleasure and avoid self-sacrifice. As we “grow up” we seem to lose touch with the child inside us that screams “I want to make the world a better place.”

The institutions and fear-driven concerns swallow us alive. One throws up their hands and says:”What difference can I make?” A voice answers: “Nothing – you can’t change the injustices that cause exploitation of the “third-world” and of our planet.” Another voice answers: “Yes, you can.”

Whether you choose to see it or choose to ignore it: everything is changing. Right now the world is changing. Just as you are changing and so am I. In each moment of each day. Whether you do something or whether you do nothing, in your choice to conflict, or choice (or default) to conform, you are changing the world.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw4abs27pTo[/youtube]

Are you changing it in the way you desire? Or are others controlling your part of the change? That’s hard to say, even for those who think they are pulling their own strings. Our strings are tangled up in each others’. Each person has an affect on the people around them, each species affects the rest of life. We are all changing the world, whether we like it, know it, want to, or not.

“Don’t compare your life to others’, you don’t know what their journey is about.”

At the turn of a new decade of my life, a time where many of my friends from school are married with children – living a very different journey to mine – I find this advice (caught from a random post on Facebook) particularly useful. And a couple of other pieces of advice from a site I randomly came across[1]:

  1. Friends really do come and go. Some come back. Some don’t. That’s OK.
  2. Nobody cares about you as much as they care about themselves.
  3. Animals kill to survive. Humans kill for “fun” (also know as a psychopath) or because they’re ignorant of the consequences of their actions.
  4. It’s OK to be different.
  5. You’re not as different as you think.
  6. Most people won’t agree with you.
  7. The people who really care will still care whether they agree with you or not.
  8. You don’t need anybody’s support to make things happen.
  9. Arguments are pointless. You can’t change anyone, don’t try.
  10. People will rationalize and justify anything and everything to be “right.” Let them.
  11. It’s easier to take a small action now instead of a big action “some day.”
  12. Some day never comes.
  13. It’s OK if you don’t like something. Just don’t pretend that you do.
  14. Don’t listen to anybody who tells you “you’re missing out” by not going somewhere or doing something. You’re only missing out if you believe you’re missing out.
  15. Don’t think of cost. Think of value.
  16. Stop depending on other people.
  17. It’s OK to complain sometimes. Don’t make it a habit.
  18. Do what you love even if you don’t get paid for it.
  19. Stop texting or checking your phone when you’re with other people. It’s rude and it’s sad.
  20. Drink more water.
  21. Memories are priceless. Write them down daily. Even if they seem trivial.
  22. Show gratitude.
  23. Make more mistakes.
  24. Everybody lies. Trust people anyway.
  25. Define your own rules for success. It’s a lot easier to rule your world than someone else’s world.

As I look back over my twenties I see I achieved the dreams of my teenage years: I fell in love, I modelled, I travelled, and I learned about the world. I also developed skills in myself that back in my teens I didn’t dream were possible: writing (English was my worst subject at school), photography (I was a “mathematical” person, destined for a career in accounting not creativity), Pilates teaching (as a teenager I couldn’t even touch my toes), public speaking (my whole body used to shake, ok maybe sometimes it still does…)

I wonder if my thirties will bring to life the dreams of my twenties, and what things I have not yet dreamed might surprise me along the way.

Learn from the past, plan for the future, live in the present – this moment is the greatest gift we will ever receive, so make the most of it.

[1] I took my favourites from the 101 lessons written by Karol Gajda reflecting on his 29-years of life:  http://www.ridiculouslyextraordinary.com/101-life-lessons/

 

 

Peace

“White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy”

Written by Juliet Bennett
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The truth can hurt. It’s a harsh world, and a harsh critique: “White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy”. Unfortunately those four words capture a certain truth about our history and prevailing political and economical hierarchy of power.

These words come from American author, feminist, and social activist, Bell Hooks.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ-XVTzBMvQ[/youtube]

Hooks uses the term “white supremacy” above “racism” as white supremacy ‘evokes a political world that we all frame ourselves in relation to.’

They say life is like a lottery: we don’t choose what year, culture or family that we will be born into. After being thrown into whatever world we are thrown, we engage in a dialectic between: (1) the “agency” we have, that is the choices we have power to make, and (2) the “structure” we are in, that is the external factors that limit those choices.

For Hooks, the violence that results from “White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy” ie racial discrimination, is an issue of institutions not individual relations.

Hooks argues that a proactive sense of agency requires a greater level of literacy

‘I think we cannot begin to talk about freedom and justice in any culture if we’re not talking about mass based literacy movements…. degrees of literacy determine so often how we see what we see… what it means for our lives.’

Hooks suggest that two dimensional conflicts can be transformed by asking: “how can we have a more complex reading?”  The four words put together “White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy” complicates the issues of freedom and justice.

According to Hooks the solution to combating the structural violence resulting from this structure, or the beginning of solutions, comes from learning to think critically and be critical vigilant of the representations that we come in contact with.

‘The issue isn’t freeing our selves from representations. It’s really about being enlightened witnesses when we watch representations. It’s about being critically vigilant about both what is being told to us and how we respond to what is being told.’

Extra reading:

On looking for a thumbnail (every blog entry needs a pic) I came across a blog entry with this diagram:

 

 

Key:

RS – Racial and Sexual Domination
Rs – Racial Domination
rS – Sexual Domination

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Charles W. Mills and Carole Pateman, Contract and Domination (2007)

Mills writes:

“… though gender [=sex] subordination predates racial subordination, once racial subordination has been established, it generally trumps gender… So the interaction of the two contracts does not produce a symmetry of race and gender subordination, but a pattern of internal asymmetries within the larger asymmetry of social domination. Whites as a group dominate nonwhites as a group, while within these racial groups me generally dominate women.” (pp.172-173)

Taken from blog: http://bandung2.blog.co.uk/2008/04/12/c-w-mills-on-racial-white-supremacist-pa-4033733/

Academic, Peace

Does religion affect population growth?

Written by Juliet Bennett
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What is the connection between religion and population growth? The answer might surprise you: absolutely nothing. Well, according to Hans Rosling.

In his April 2012 TED-Talk, Rosling graphs the relationship between religion, income and children between zero and fifteen years olds. He shows that there is no connection between religion and babies, and that there is a much closer connection between:

1 – mortality rates and babies born ie the more likely a baby is to die, the more babies a mother will have.

2 – women’s education, employment opportunities and getting married older and the number of babies a mother will have.

It’s well worth watching:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezVk1ahRF78[/youtube]

Using a new medium of boxes – 1 per billion people – Rosling demonstrates why it is inevitable that humanity will reach 10 billion and hence all planning for food, water, housing etc, must be taking into account an additional 3 billion people.

This is an interesting point, though he made the same point pretty clear in his last talk. I’m curious about a few cultural and religions trends that don’t seem to be captured in this animated graph.

For example, in my 2010 visit to India it seems to me that the Indian women had so many babies not due to economic or mortality rates, but as due to their culture. More babies = higher status, at least for the women of lower incomes that I met. Culture isn’t religion but the large red dot that represented India showed a huge reduction in babies. That is, my local observation conflicts with this data. That being said UNICEF confirms that the fertility rate in 2010 in India was 2.6 [1], so I suppose it must be. I guess it depends how the US (who is the provider of the data) has collected it… I’ve asked a friend in India for their opinion and will post that when I hear from him.

Another point that has me a little wary is the connection between different religious laws/controls and birthrates. For example, if Catholicism continues a ban on birth control, surely that will have an affect on birth rates? This distinction is obviously absorbed by the joining together of all the denominations of Christianity under one banner.

Forgetting the detail for now let’s consider the big population question that seems to remain: will we stop at 10 billion?

Rosling makes it clear this will happen only if we:

1 – rid the world of absolute poverty in a way that empowers people/nations to stay out of it

2 – address the various forms of violence that are preventing child survival rates

3 – provide access to child planning

4 – continue to die off when we are 65+ at the same rates as the past, i.e. not using medicine to continue to make us live longer, or preserve our brains in robotic bodies…

Will this happen? Well if you look at the world today you’d probably say no and predict the population increasing far beyond 10 billion. However if something happens to change this eg (following the order of above) we:

1 – reverse neo-liberalist policy that make the “3rd world” provide us cheap raw materials and labour

2 – we find non-violent ways to resolve political, tribal and personal conflicts

3 – the pope embraces condoms (kidding, well sort-of kidding… global family planning does require the spread of condoms)

4 – we realize death ain’t that scary and using medicine to make us live forever ain’t a good aim

So to conclude, while Rosling’s talk is all good in theory and proves the minimum population we can stabilize at is 10 billion, I do wonder about how valid the statistics and analysis are in practice… love to hear your thoughts.

References:

[1] http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_statistics.html

 

Peace, , ,

The War Prayer – Mark Twain

Written by Juliet Bennett
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It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on…” The War Prayer, is a short story by Mark Twain about blind patriotic war and the God who is on both sides. Written around 1904, published after his death in 1923.

Part 1

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJsZCpp8hR4[/youtube]

Part 2

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsoJ-WJZGXM[/youtube]

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came — next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams — visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation

*God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!*
Then came the “long” prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory —

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, “Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside — which the startled minister did — and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

“I come from the Throne — bearing a message from Almighty God!” The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. “He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import — that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of — except he pause and think.

“God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two — one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this — keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

“You have heard your servant’s prayer — the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it — that part which the pastor — and also you in your hearts — fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ That is sufficient. the *whole* of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory–*must* follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(*After a pause.*) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!”

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

——————————————————————————–

http://warprayer.org/

Peace, ,

The Earth Charter

Written by Juliet Bennett
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“We must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals.” During my time in Costa Rica, I saw the construction of an institute dedicated to research and implementation of The Earth Charter, which is being built next to the University for Peace. The Earth Charter was developed over the last decade by an independent Earth Charter Commission, following the 1992 Earth Summit. The objective was “to produce a global consensus statement of values and principles for a sustainable future.” The document is the result of contributions from over five thousand people, and has been “formally endorsed by thousands of organizations, including UNESCO and the IUCN (World Conservation Union).”

The Earth Charter

Here it is, with blue being the parts I highlighted for my own reference as I consider them in relation to my own research. If you want to download the full version, in one of a great number of languages, click here.

PREAMBLE

“We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

Earth, Our Home

Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life. The forces of nature make existence a demanding and uncertain adventure, but Earth has provided the conditions essential to life’s evolution. The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air. The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of Earth’s vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.

The Global Situation

The dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species. Communities are being undermined. The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty, ignorance, and violent conflict are widespread and the cause of great suffering. An unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of global security are threatened. These trends are perilous—but not inevitable.

The Challenges Ahead

The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more. We have the knowledge and technology to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment. The emergence of a global civil society is creating new opportunities to build a democratic and humane world. Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.

Universal Responsibility

To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature.

We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. Therefore, together in hope we affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.

Principles

I. RESPECT AND CARE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE

1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
a. Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.
b. Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in the intellectual, artistic, ethical, and spiritual potential of humanity.

2. Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.
a. Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.
b. Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.

3. Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.
a. Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to realize his or her full potential.
b. Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

4. Secure Earth’s bounty and beauty for present and future generations.
a. Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.
b. Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the long-term flourishing of Earth’s human and ecological communities.

In order to fulfill these four broad commitments, it is necessary to:

II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY

5. Protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.

a. Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.
b. Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves, including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earth’s life support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage.
c. Promote the recovery of endangered species and ecosystems.
d. Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms.
e. Manage the use of renewable resources such as water, soil, forest products, and marine life in ways that do not exceed rates of regeneration and that protect the health of ecosystems.
f. Manage the extraction and use of non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil fuels in ways that minimize depletion and cause no serious environmental damage.

6. Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.
a. Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.
b. Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm.
c. Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.
d. Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances.
e. Avoid military activities damaging to the environment.

7. Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.
a. Reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials used in production and consumption systems, and ensure that residual waste can be assimilated by ecological systems.
b. Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy, and rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
c. Promote the development, adoption, and equitable transfer of environmentally sound technologies.
d. Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards.
e. Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.
f. Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

8. Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.
a. Support international scientific and technical cooperation on sustainability, with special attention to the needs of developing nations.
b. Recognize and preserve the traditional knowledge and spiritual wisdom in all cultures that contribute to environmental protection and human well-being.
c. Ensure that information of vital importance to human health and environmental protection, including genetic information, remains available in the public domain.

 

III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

9. Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.
a. Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required.
b. Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.
c. Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to pursue their aspirations.

10. Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.
a. Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.
b. Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and social resources of developing nations, and relieve them of onerous international debt.
c. Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards.
d. Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities.

11. Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.
a. Secure the human rights of women and girls and end all violence against them.
b. Promote the active participation of women in all aspects of economic, political, civil, social, and cultural life as full and equal partners, decision makers, leaders, and beneficiaries.
c. Strengthen families and ensure the safety and loving nurture of all family members.

12. Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.
a. Eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national, ethnic or social origin.
b. Affirm the right of indigenous peoples to their spirituality, knowledge, lands and resources and to their related practice of sustainable livelihoods.
c. Honor and support the young people of our communities, enabling them to fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable societies.
d. Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural and spiritual significance.

 

IV. DEMOCRACY, NONVIOLENCE, AND PEACE

13. Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.
a. Uphold the right of everyone to receive clear and timely information on environmental matters and all development plans and activities which are likely to affect them or in which they have an interest.
b. Support local, regional and global civil society, and promote the meaningful participation of all interested individuals and organizations in decision making.
c. Protect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association, and dissent.
d. Institute effective and efficient access to administrative and independent judicial procedures, including remedies and redress for environmental harm and the threat of such harm.
e. Eliminate corruption in all public and private institutions.
f. Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care for their environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively.

14. Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.
a. Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development.
b. Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities as well as the sciences in sustainability education.
c. Enhance the role of the mass media in raising awareness of ecological and social challenges.
d. Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual education for sustainable living.

15. Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.
a. Prevent cruelty to animals kept in human societies and protect them from suffering.
b. Protect wild animals from methods of hunting, trapping, and fishing that cause extreme, prolonged, or avoidable suffering.
c. Avoid or eliminate to the full extent possible the taking or destruction of non-targeted species.

16. Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.
a. Encourage and support mutual understanding, solidarity, and cooperation among all peoples and within and among nations.
b. Implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict and use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve environmental conflicts and other disputes.
c. Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration.
d. Eliminate nuclear, biological, and toxic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
e. Ensure that the use of orbital and outer space supports environmental protection and peace.
f. Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part.

The Way Forward

As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. Such renewal is the promise of these Earth Charter principles. To fulfill this promise, we must commit ourselves to adopt and promote the values and objectives of the Charter.

This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. Our cultural diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures will find their own distinctive ways to realize the vision. We must deepen and expand the global dialogue that generated the Earth Charter, for we have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom.

Life often involves tensions between important values. This can mean difficult choices. However, we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play. The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance.

In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.

Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.”

Searching for Unity in Diversity — at the University for Peace.

 

Peace, , ,

Necessary conflict: standing up for what’s right

Written by Juliet Bennett
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A few things happened yesterday that have led me to a morning of pondering and being frustrated by the injustices in our world and the conflict that seems to be necessary in order to stand up for what’s right…

1) Last night I watched Changeling (with Angelina Jolie, directed by Clint Eastwood, written by J. Michael Straczynsk) about the true story of a mother in the 1920s in LA who battles corrupt cops who try to convince her that a boy they have found is her missing son, when he is not. They put her in a nutter house in hope of shutting her mouth to prevent bad press. “Never start a fight, but always finish it” is her motto. She did. And, after a great deal of trauma and incredible perseverance, justice prevailed.

2) I had dinner with an old friend who insisted that the actions of the British Empire have made the world a better place for all. Really???

3) I transcribed a conversation with former Sydney Peace Prize recipient Hanan Ashwari, about the invisible but pervasive administrative techniques used to get Palestinians off their land in Jerusalem. The fine print of administrative legalities allows homes to be seized and whole families to lose their houses, land, jobs, passports, identity, and their right to do anything at all. Who was the first to use such mandates in Palestine? Surprise surprise – it was the Brits. Now Israel has maintained as part of their own system to oppress some and reward others.

I’m not saying I have a problem the British Empire, or Israel. Nor am I saying I don’t have a problem with them. Regardless of my opinions  surely we should all be able to be honest and acknowledge the things they/we have done/are doing, and who benefits… right?

4) The Sydney Morning Herald published this letter by my friend and mentor Prof Stuart Rees:

US bullies have no respect for liberties

The prospect of US charges against Julian Assange will be a test of the Australian government’s courage in standing up to big brother America, thereby showing its independence and willingness to protect the interests of any Australian citizen (”Revealed: US plans to charge Assange”, February 29).

For centuries, governments and other powerful interests have behaved as though secrecy was a necessary form of governance. Since the introduction of the war on terror, civil liberties have been further eroded by the multiplication of public and private intelligence and counter terrorism agencies such as this Texas outfit, Stratfor, whose employees are invisible and not accountable.

That the WikiLeaks/Assange cables have told us something about the clandestine and sometimes criminal activities of governments and their sub-contracted intelligence collaborators is a public service not a crime.

A grand jury in Virginia has been struggling for months to concoct a charge against Julian Assange. This demonstrates not only the flimsy nature of evidence but also America’s usual bullying desire for revenge against someone who has merely revealed what has been going on.

Stuart Rees director, Sydney Peace Foundation

Be it going along with corrupt cops, corrupt nations, corrupt policies or corrupt empires — staying silent, staying “peaceful”, not thinking for oneself, being a happy robot — always seems to be the easiest option.
It seems to me that: 1) peace requires conflict; 2) entering conflicted spaces requires courage; and 3) courage requires honesty.
Be it as individuals being picked on my corrupt cops, or as nation states sucking up to our big brothers, or as one class allowing exploitation of other classes for our own gain, I suppose whether or not we stand up for what’s right depends on these three things:
  1. Being honest with ourselves and not turning a blind eye and ear to things we don’t want to see or hear
  2. Having the courage to enter a conflicted space
  3. Caring for “the other” (be it other people or the planet) enough to do something about it

 

President of Costa Rica 1978-1982, well-known critic of the IMF and other global financial institutions, and founder of the University for Peace.

All these things, these abuses of power, the oppression of the powerless, makes me think of the famous “First they came…” words of Martin Niemoller:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

All’s well and fine when it’s not you – stay quiet, “keep the peace” so to say – but if one day they come for you, I wonder, will there be anyone left with the honesty, the courage, and the care-factor, to do something about it?
 

References:

 

 

Peace

Blogs, Fashion and a Favour… “Enough” by Nicole Bennett

Written by Juliet Bennett
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My sister, Nicole Bennett, was the first person to introduce me to “Fair trade”. She travelled to Burma, India and other countries getting the bad end of the globalisation stick, long before I did, and became passionate about making a difference. She inspired me to want to make a difference too. I’m (hopefully) doing it through my research and writing. Nicole’s doing it through her (soon to be certified) fair trade eco-friendly fashion label “Enough”.

“Enough” is all about knowing when to say “enough is enough” – enough injustice, enough poverty, enough destruction of our environment, (slightly paradoxically, she knows) enough stuff!

These are a couple of photos from her look book shoot last year:

There are more photos of me modeling her stuff of far better resolution on Margaret Zhang’s blog:

http://www.shinebythree.com/2011/01/not-enough-of-nicole-bennett/

…

And now the favour I have to ask:

Nicole is close to winning a free website in a competition. If you could spare 30 seconds of your time to click this link and then click “like” next to her label – “Enough” – then she has a very good chance of winning:

http://www.facebook.com/letsmakeawebsite?sk=app_215628168512018

The competition ends in 3 days and 22 hours from now so PLEASE help her!!! Thank you so much!

…

PS Nicole has been blogging her journey here (although she’s let it lapse a bit…):

http://iwanttobeafashionguru.blogspot.com.au/

Peace, Random Life Stuff

What Difference Does It Actually Make? Attempting to Compare Individual, Corporate & Military Emissions

Written by Juliet Bennett
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Books on climate change tend to finish with a list of things we can do to help: buy a green bag, ride instead of drive, hang up your washing rather than using the dryer, turn off the lights, decrease consumption … The thing is, when it comes to the big scheme of things, comparing our individual actions to the actions of corporations, government and military: what difference does it actually make?

I want to know where I should be putting my effort: is more effective for me to cut my personal emissions, or write letters to encourage governments or corporations to cut theirs? Does the carbon emissions from the military trump that of residential, or the other way around? What is more important? What difference can I actually make? And how?

I’ve spent days searching websites, carbon footprint calculators, emailing data providers, for some kind of comparison. I found some great tools, but failed to find any real answer to my question. It’s made all the more complicated my mixture of measurements. This is my first attempt to pull together what I’ve found, and start some kind of comparison for myself…

Apologies in advance for the mixture of Aussie/British/American spelling & measurement systems. Who is to blame for complicating that process –  someone’s idea of a funny joke around 2-300 years ago? Measurements index: 2000 pounds = one tonne; 1kg =0.001 tonnes; 1kg = 2.2 pounds; I’ll mainly use tonnes, kg & grams where I can.

Let me start on a positive note. According to The Guardian, our efforts to reduce carbon dioxide are actually reducing our world emissions (down arrows & percentages per country show the already-industrialised countries are decreasing their emissions, while the industrialising countries are increasing, which makes sense…):

Download PDF here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/31/world-carbon-dioxide-emissions-country-data-co2#_

What China and the Middle East do is pretty hard to change (— and anyway you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:5)).

I will try to starting locally… what part of these emissions relates to me? Where are these emissions coming from? In the UK the sources are broken down into:

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6955009.stm

Again I ask: what of this relates to me?

Whether or not I am happy with the situation, I must recognise the fact that Australia rides on the back of America’s defense and security expenses, and shares the same queen as Britain. Countries in the industrialised world are pretty similar and completely interconnected, and have a similar(ish) breakdown of emissions sources. In a round-about way the government, corporate, agriculture emissions of most of the “western world” relate to me – providing products, services and safety to me and others like me.

But, which of these emissions can I actually control?

How much CO2 is created by…? This really awesome visual image interactive page tells you the CO2 created by lots of little things from flying London to Tokyo (1056kg) to your average car (5.1 tonnes) to an apple (80g) http://visualization.geblogs.com/visualization/co2/

Using this simplified calculator: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/carboncalculator.html we can estimate our footprint for: home, driving, food, and flying. We can see that the worldwide average person uses 4.4 tonnes of carbon, while the typical American (or Australian, including myself) uses approx 17 tonnes.

But, what does 17 tonnes actually mean???? This might be useful for more info on CO2- Frequently Asked Global Change Questions (from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center): http://cdiac.ornl.gov/pns/faq.html I’m still left woefully confused.

What is the relative impact of my actions, compared to with the actions that I have no power over? This pie chart is based on Manchester, but let’s imagine my breakdown is probably similar.

Source: http://manchesterismyplanet.com/shaping-a-low-carbon-economy

So let’s assume that when the defense & governmental services are spread out, we are each responsible for around 7%. How much is that when totaled for the population of the US & countries with tight military relations to them?

Ben from Ben & Jerry icecream uses Oreos to show the possibilities not directly related to carbon/climate change, but related to the budget and all round movement toward a better world (given the need to reduce poverty in order to stabilize population):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kXPTwIO08&feature=related[/youtube]

I do think some of this military budget can help. Surely the USA doesn’t need weapons to blow up the world 7-times over. Surely the power to do it once is enough…

I have searched and searched for the “military ecological footprint” without much success, other than noting that the US Military accounts for 80% of the US government’s energy consumption, most which is fossil fuel (reported the Pew Research think tank’s Project on National Security, Energy and Climate). And that (apparently) the Department of Defense is “going green” … trying to reduce their “eco bootprint”: http://news.discovery.com/earth/military-green-carbon-footprint.html hm.

I found someone else frustrated by the lack of information: http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2010/05/us-military-carbon-bootprint.html

Karbuz notes that “The Kyoto Protocol (December 1997) exempts the emissions associated with U.S. military activities outside USA.” He also notes that “These emissions are not counted in the national inventory either. In fact, they are not counted in anyone’s inventory.” It is argued that “of the petroleum purchased by the military in 2008, the Pentagon’s Defense Energy Support Center says more than a third—47.4 million barrels—was burned overseas. According to EPA, that translates into 20.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent, more than the total emissions of 129 individual countries. And that figure does not take into account the greenhouse gas emissions associated with other aspects of international military activity—like the dropping of bombs and destruction of buildings—on which there is little scientific literature and even less desire on the part of political leaders to address.” Humph. I don’t really know where to start on checking Karbuz’ sources, though what he says makes a lot of sense. His estimate is for a total “bootprint” of 75 million tonnes.

There’s quite a difference from an estimated 20 tonne footprint per person, and 75 million tonne bootprint for the military.

Stepping back to see even this 75 million in perspective, I may have found the answer to my question:

20 tonnes x 20 million people = 400,000,000 (400-million) tonnes for the collective footprint of Australians. Or in the case of total number of Americans, 20×300 million people = 6,000,000,000 (ie 6 billion tonnes).

So the collective impact of our individual consumption far outweighs the military. (ie 6 billion tonnes for Americans is far greater than 75 million tonnes for the US Military).

Unless the military expenditure is already included in this 20 tonnes each.. but then that would be probably only around 7% (per the Manchester pie chart) and hence only a small part of our individual costs.

I’m not sure exactly where this analysis is going. My mind needs time to process the above analysis, and figure out where it’s at in solving my original question. If anyone has any links that might help such a comparison, please share it with me!

 

 

Peace, ,