|
Abstract
and Table of Contents
This recently completed book
is short and sharp like a razor edge. Also timely given the Global
Ecological Emergency we face. An article based on Failsafe theory
has been published in The Trumpeter, Volume 23, Number 1, (May 2007) -
the #1 online journal in the world for Deep Ecology. Search on Google
for the term “Failsafe in Consciousness” to see where the intellectual
property rights rest.
1.Description of 41,000 word,
200 page book, including 2 diagrams
This book arises from current
research in consciousness, particularly as a critical response to Lovelock’s
2006 book “Revenge of Gaia” where he argues that the present self-regulating
mechanisms of Gaia cannot be controlled by human agency. In the context
of Global Warming and dire predictions for a habitable econiche for homo
sapiens I argue for a Failsafe in Consciousness. I coined the phrase
in my 2002 book “The Essential Spiral” to describe how consciousness expansion
will be held in abeyance by willful human ignorance until the global ecological
situation deteriorates to a breaking point. This breaking point will
then act as a catalyst, penetrating such ignorance and activating consciousness
so it is propelled into expansion, deliberation and change. The three
main components of this concept are: Innate Earth Wisdom; Counter Culture
and Tipping Points in Consciousness. Gaia has entered discourse as
scientific concept, metaphor and social movement. Emphasis is on
the latter two aspects of Gaia and I demonstrate how it has ushered in
two new 21st century sciences – Ecopsychology and Neuroplasticity, so much
so that a tipping point in consciousness may well be anticipated.
The components of my argument all refer to attributes of mind and I refer
to understandings of the mind drawn from the observational perspective
of an awakened mind. In particular I draw on the Buddha’s Diamond
Sutra, the teachings on Consumption and Nutriments and the Five Mindfulness
Trainings. I provide a three point plan to redress matters in Part Four
– Three Strikes and You Are Out! – and conclude with a highly personal
account of my commitment on the global stage.
From talks I have given on this
topic there is an Audio CD titled “Gaia, Science and the Buddha” and a
Video DVD titled “Our Internal Climate Change”. Bob Allen’s film
company i.d.e.a.s www.integrityarts.com is making a film documentary about
Failsafe.
DEDICATION
For
Trailing Sky Six Feathers
and
Black Elk’s Vision of the
hoops of all nations interconnecting,
strong with balance and
harmony
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE:
Gaia and Science
PART TWO: Failsafe
in Consciousness
PART THREE: Transformation
in Consciousness
PART FOUR: Three
Strikes and You Are Out
PART FIVE: Conclusion
Figure I: Failsafe in Consciousness
Figure II: The Buddha’s Teachings
Appendix 1: Simple Steps
to Empowerment
Appendix 2: The Five
Mindfulness Trainings
Appendix 3: Meditation
on Heart Consciousness
Bibliography
The Author
The
Trumpeter
ISSN: 0832-6193
Volume 23, Number 1 (2007)
Failsafe in Consciousness:
Gaia, Science,
and the Buddha
Ian Prattis
Gaia
In The Revenge of Gaia (2006)
James Lovelock extends the impeccable logic that produced the Gaia Hypothesis
to argue that the planetary control system, which has worked to maintain
conditions suitable for human life, is now working against us. The dependent
variable of temperature rise is now a product of this control system and
implies that the interconnecting feedback systems will intensify and quickly
place the situation beyond human control. The evidence for this is grim.
The removal of the snow and ice cover from the sub-arctic tundra permits
the heat of the sun to be absorbed by the Earth, rather than reflecting
ninety per cent of it back into space. The huge and imminent release of
methane gas from the exposed tundra so accelerates global warming that
this alone is a major tipping point. The myriad interconnecting set of
feedback loops that constitute Gaia all amplify temperature increase in
a non-linear manner. Hence Lovelock’s dire prediction that: “Before this
century is over, billions of us will die, and the few breeding pairs of
people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.”
Failsafe in Consciousness
In The Essential Spiral
I coined the phrase “Failsafe in Consciousness” to describe how consciousness
expansion will be held in abeyance by human ignorance until the global
ecological situation deteriorates to a breaking point. This will then act
as a catalyst, penetrating such ignorance and activating consciousness
so it is propelled into expansion, deliberation, and change. This apparently
naïve view requires more support than I provided in the 2002 work,
but I must be very blunt about the context of current ecological, social,
and psychological crises.
There is an external environmental
pollution crisis on the planet because there is an internal pollution crisis
in humankind. In addition to the waste from industrial pollution, there
is the suffering from wars, atrocities, dehumanizing discriminations, and
our greed and neglect of everything around and within us. The industrial
waste and pollution is readily visible, yet the suffering that rests deep
in our consciousness is much more intractable and dangerous. Furthermore,
the dominant worldview of our global civilization sees the environment
and its resources in terms of how it can satisfy our greed and economic
self-interest. In claiming the world in this way, the environment has become
an extension of human egocentric needs and values—an egosphere rather than
an ecosphere. In this egosphere, our preoccupation is that of consuming
mindlessly in a global economy, controlled by the collective greed and
power of some 200 giant corporations, driven by equally voracious shareholders.
There is little regard for ecosystem balance or concern about the creation
of increasing inequality and poverty between and within countries. And
so we forget that we are part of an interconnected global system. To become
ecologically literate we must learn to think about the ecosphere in terms
of interconnectedness, context and process—the basic principles of all
living systems. In doing so, we can transform the accumulated garbage of
hatreds, neglect, and anger so that they may become the compost for the
garden of the twenty-first century. The three main components of Failsafe
in Consciousness are:
1.Innate Earth Wisdom
2.Counter Culture
3.Tipping Points in Consciousness
1. Innate Earth Wisdom
Ninety-nine per cent of
our evolution as a species has been predicated on a hunting and gathering
adaptation known as foraging—a strategy of adaptation that rested on sophisticated
ecosystem knowledge integrated into harvesting patterns and social organization
though spiritual ideology. Foragers thus interfere the least with ecosystem
resilience, as they know it must sustain them indefinitely. The combination
of low energy needs, efficient management of the resource base and controlled
population size, means that they minimally disrupt other components in
their ecosystem. The fact that this mindset prevailed for ninety-nine per
cent of our evolution may provide some cause for hope, as the subliminal
memories of this adaptation are stored deep in our consciousness. Just
as Gaia is a dynamic system of information circuits arranged in feedback
loops, so is consciousness. It is the radical remembering of this mindset
that will activate the feedback needed to prevent further degradation of
the global ecosystem—the Failsafe notion.
2. Counter Culture
For the corporate world,
Paul Hawken’s 1993 book The Ecology of Commerce led the charge of re-evaluating
commerce and redesigning finance capital. The design wisdom of nature is
built into Hawken’s call for a Restorative Economy, which an increasing
number of manufacturers are implementing. This has prompted the emergence
of a genuine environmental capitalism as opposed to the corporate “green-washing”
that followed the 1992 Rio conference. There is an emerging market for
sustainable energy and those companies with the foresight to see it will
be the ones that will succeed in the second industrial revolution, particularly
as fuel cell technology—which produces no emissions—is drawing considerable
investment. From Gregory Bateson we have the critical notion of the Ecology
of Ideas.i He demonstrates how our modern context has rules that need changing,
based on a critical understanding of cybernetics and ecosystems. He shows
how ecology is a set of interconnecting feedback loops that include everything.
When we destroy some of the interconnecting loops we have an ecology of
ideas which reinforce other bad ideas. Bad, that is, for the health of
the ecosystem and its components.
3. Tipping Points in Consciousness
In popular culture, the
writings of Malcolm Gladwell—bestsellers Blink and The Tipping Point—have
caught the attention of an unlikely audience. Business schools and corporate
boardrooms are consuming his notions of simplifying agendas and making
positive changes through small intuitive actions. His startling point is
that social epidemics can spread when actions are placed within the right
context, through the pull of certain strategically placed connectors. He
endorses a form of instant mindfulness and changing consciousness in the
inertia before a novel thought. Gladwell provides for pop and business
culture similar ideas as Bateson, just in a different language. There are
many others doing the same on the global stage.
There are over 40,000 citizen’s
groups, NGOs and foundations in North America that are addressing the issues
of sustainability—ecological and social—in a comprehensive manner, and
more than 100,000 such groups world wide. Civil society is mobilizing for
environmental, peace, and justice issues. The most surprising factor is
that no one is in charge of this movement. It operates almost as a consensual
anarchy. The groups share a basic set of fundamental understandings about
the Earth, how it functions as an ecosphere, the necessity of equity and
of sharing the Earth’s resources for the good of all humanity. Are these
simple ideas enough to refocus our attention and make counter culture advocacy
a reality for global citizens? The wide variety of organizations that are
part of the anti-globalization movement and the emergence of alternative
World Forums also feed off these cybernetic loops constituting a loosely
defined counter culture. Gaia as metaphor was an inspiration that sped
through the feedback cycles of this nascent movement, which objects forcibly
to the effects and agendas of the corporate paradigm.
Civil society is waking
up, and there is light piercing through the shadows of corporate paradigms.
There are many more inspiring groups and advocates for consciousness change,
but the question remains: is there enough of a critical mass that can be
identified as a tipping point into a new level of consciousness? I remember
many years ago in an audience with Sai Baba, the Indian sage, hearing him
say that a transformation in human consciousness required at least two
per cent of the population to meditate on a daily basis. I have no idea
what the knowledge source was for his pronouncement yet I do remember the
“buzz” of energy in my body and mind when I heard it. So the identification
of the many intricate and powerful feedback loops surely takes us closer
to a tipping point in global consciousness. Gaia has entered contemporary
discourse as scientific concept, metaphor, and movement in consciousness
change. Lovelock has demonstrated unequivocally where Gaia as scientific
concept takes us; yet he has neglected to adequately examine Gaia as metaphor
and movement in his cybernetic model. I believe these latter two components
have sufficient interconnecting feedback loops to justify a Failsafe in
Consciousness. Using Lovelock’s own logic, we are fast approaching a tipping
point with respect to inner ecology, the creation of a critical mass of
humanity with views radically different to the corporate paradigms that
currently regulate inter-human and human-planetary relations. Just as the
external ecology of Gaia has tipping points so must the internal ecology
of consciousness.
With irreversible changes
in the planetary web of life, and the dramatic and catastrophic environmental
changes that are ensuing, it appears that there is now only one strategy
available: change the collective human consciousness.
Why? So that clarity, understanding,
and compassion provide the bedrock for human response to the impending
crises. How? By entering into a practice of meditation and self-healing
that cultivates the energy of mindfulness in our consciousness.
The Buddha
The Failsafe in Consciousness
concept and its components all refer to attributes of mind. They are seeds
of potential stored in our minds, buried under a general amnesia from which,
as a global community, we are just beginning to awaken. To exponentially
nurture these aspects of mind it is necessary to draw on liberating teachings
about the mind. Thus, I take refuge in the Buddha, whose understanding
of the mind came from his awakened consciousness. The Buddha’s teachings
are about the mind and what to do when the mind is so overwhelmed by suffering
that there seems to be no way out. To institute lucidity and compassion
as the basis of action, the Buddha provides guidance with a consistent
set of teachings, all derived from his first dharma talk on suffering and
how to get out of suffering. Thich Nhat Hanh sees the doors of psychology
and ecology as providing suitable openings for the Buddha’s teachings to
penetrate more easily into the Western world, as the Buddha was perhaps
the first ecopsychologist. In The Diamond Sutra, the Buddha taught that
humans and nature are totally interconnected and that if we want to look
after humans we have to look after mother earth. And just as important:
if we wish to take care of mother earth we must also take good care of
ourselves. The “taking care of” is through meditation, the practice of
mindfulness, the actualization of interbeing and being aware of the consequences
of our actions. These aspects of meditation, mindfulness, interbeing, and
awareness with respect to the earth are found in many spiritual traditions,
particularly aboriginal ones. Yet neglect, ignorance, and exploitation
of the earth are the present order of the day, whatever the spiritual tradition.
Much of our present consumption
fosters violence—to our bodies, to other people, and to the planet. If
we are serious about stopping violence and bringing environmental degradation
to a halt, we must change our habits of consumption. Then, by generating
compassion, refrain from creating internal violence to our systems—and
to the planetary systems we interconnect with. We consume much more than
edible food. We also consume with our senses, desires, and cravings. This
consumption then feeds our store consciousness, which “eats” everything
we put into it. If we fill it full of toxins, violence, and other negative
energies, then it is this accumulation in our consciousness that drives
us. On the other hand, if we feed our store consciousness with mindful
nutriments, then a different energy occupies the driving seat of our lives,
one that guides us to live lives full of understanding, love, compassion,
and joy. This is the energy of mindfulness. The Buddha’s teachings about
nutriments provide clear guidelines for the consequences of consumption.
The Buddha continually asserted
that mindfulness is our protector. We must use it to distinguish nutriments
that nourish our organism and spiritual well being from those that do not.
By eliminating toxins from our sensory diet we begin to cultivate an alternative
consumption based on patterns that enhance mindfulness and compassion.
But we cannot see deeply into the interconnection between nutriment and
consciousness until we come to a stop. That is the first meditative step
before deep looking and insight help us to recognize the toxic nutriments
that pollute our bodies and mind. We then cultivate the sense impression
foods that nourish us in a positive and wholesome way. We resist by waking
up, by knowing what to do and what to refrain from. Mindfulness and spiritual
ethics of practice provide guidelines to restore our freedom.
There are three major conditions
that permitted the emergence of the Mindfulness Trainings as a set of spiritual
ethics so necessary for our time. The first is the awakened mind of the
Buddha; the second is the great skill of the Buddha as a teacher; the third
is Thich Nhat Hanh’s insightful rewording of the Five Wonderful Precepts
of the Buddha. In a language that would appeal to the consciousness of
the twenty-first century, the Buddha’s mindfulness trainings were renewed,
in tune with modern planetary, socio-economic, and cultural developments.
So when we study and penetrate deeply into the mindfulness trainings, we
touch all three conditions, in particular the awakened mind of the Buddha.
At the same time we also touch our potential to be similarly awakened—another
aspect of the Failsafe premise. With the Five Mindfulness Trainings the
Buddha communicated in a very precise way the ethical and moral basis of
practice; of how to be with ourselves, others, and with the planet and
society at large. There is an energy to the trainings that comes directly
from the awakened mind of the Buddha: an energy that is continued through
us. Once we grasp the extraordinary qualities and understand the power
of the energy created by the mindfulness trainings, then something deep
and very wholesome stirs in our hearts. From this initial experience, the
seeds of awakening are nurtured within consciousness and distance is created
between ourselves and all negative actions that can harm both us and the
planet.
In the dark times facing
us the Buddha’s mindfulness trainings provide protection. Our world needs
guidelines like these to live by. Embracing the Buddha’s awakened mind
in the trainings is taking refuge in the Buddha. Extending it to our society
and environment is the foundation of Engaged Buddhism. This is a statement
of practice and is our greatest gift to the world—the deep practice of
the mindfulness trainings. This enables us to live authentic lives and
be free, at the same time ensuring that a future is possible. Our practice
and actualization of the mindfulness trainings in daily life defines us
as true revolutionaries for the twenty-first century, for we can transform
both global terror and environmental degradation.
Conclusion
From my own experience,
I know that as a species we must learn to meditate, or at least a critical
mass of us must—otherwise the ethical imperative to shift to a new consciousness
of our interconnectedness with everything will not happen. Without this
shift in consciousness, we eliminate one by one all of our life support
systems, and we will become totally alienated, not just from ourselves,
but from the Earth we live on. Our evolution and cognition are intricately
interconnected with all that takes place within the wider ecosphere of
our planet. Our consciousness is not separate from it, and we have to recognize
this. We do this by moving to a radically different perspective, first
towards ourselves and second to the incredibly beautiful planet we live
on, and realize that the planet is changing. We have to realize that we
are part of a changing web of life, and are not the masters of the earth.
We need to relate to ourselves and to the earth with a sense of wonder
and humility—in a spiritual manner rather than an exploitative one. In
this way our knowledge will fuel wisdom rather than create structures of
dominance and destruction.
References
Bateson, Gregory.1972. Steps
to an Ecology of Mind. New York: Ballantine.
Gladwell, Malcolm. 2000.
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Boston:
Little, Brown.
———. 2005. Blink: The Power
of Thinking Without Thinking. Boston: Little, Brown.
Hawken, Paul. 1993. The
Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. New York: HarperCollins.
Lovelock, James. 2006. The
Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is fighting back – and how we can still
save humanity. London: Penguin.
Prattis, Ian. 2002. The
Essential Spiral. Lanham, MA: University Press of America.
Notes
1Bateson
1972.
Our Internal
Climate Change – on DVD
Fish Lake Sangha
Our Internal Climate Change
is a dharma talk offered to the Orlando Mindfulness Community by Dharmacharya
Ian Prattis, on April 14, 2007. A DVD was made of the talk by film
producer Bob Allen, co-facilitator with his wife Pam of the Fish Lake Sangha
in Orlando, Florida. Bob has his own film company - i.d.e.a.s. www.integrityarts.com
-
and did a wonderful job of filming, editing, and placing the dharma talk
within the beautiful location of Fish Lake and the Tibet-Butler Nature
Reserve – and also in the wonderful setting of Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition.
Bob’s film company is also making a film documentary of Ian’s recent work
on Failsafe: Gaia, Science and the Buddha
Fish Lake Sangha is generously
making the DVD available at cost plus postage: $10 US. You may contact
Pam Allen at Tel: 407 353 2000; Email: PALLEN1236@AOL.COM
and send a cheque to her
at:
Pam & Bob Allen,
9222 Charles E. Limpus Rd,
Orlando, FL 32836
USA
Our Internal Climate Change
begins with an examination of the external climate change that threatens
life on earth. At the same time the conditions for a radical internal
climate change are created, which enables humanity to meet the global ecological
emergency with clarity, insight and courage. Inspired in part by
Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, the modern era has made this quest radically
different and difficult. The dharma talk provides understanding,
issues a call for the adventure of transmuting the existing world social
order through a deep spiritual understanding of what needs to be done.
Then casts the hero’s mantle on all of us. Failsafe describes how
consciousness expansion will be held in abeyance by wilful human ignorance
until the global ecological situation deteriorates to a breaking point.
This breaking point will then act as a catalyst, penetrating such ignorance
and activating consciousness so it is propelled into expansion, deliberation
and change. The three main components of the Failsafe concept are:
Innate Earth Wisdom; Counter Culture and Tipping Points in Consciousness.
The dharma talk is about
Mother Earth from the perspective of science, metaphor and social movement
and takes refuge in the Buddha’s teachings – the Diamond Sutra, the teachings
on Nutriments and the Five Mindfulness Trainings. The dharma talk
concludes with Native American cosmology and Black Elk’s Great Vision of
reconnecting the hoops of all nations.
May your sanghas enjoy this
humble offering.
APPENDIX
1: SIMPLE STEPS TO EMPOWERMENT
The obstacles preventing
people from taking wise action regarding Global Warming are fear, despair,
disempowerment and a sense of hopelessness. “What on earth can I
do to make a difference?” is a phrase muttered all over the world in countless
languages. There is certainly global awareness, but also fear, concerning
our future place on planet earth. This is understandable as the overwhelming
terror of Gaia crashing down on us is unbearable. Yet please remember the
2% option that creates the opportunity for the Failsafe in Consciousness
to be operable. I recall many years ago an audience with Sai Baba
the Indian sage, when I was teaching meditation in India, hearing him say
to me that a transformation in human consciousness required at least 2%
of the population to meditate on a daily basis. I have no idea what
the knowledge source was for his pronouncement yet I do remember the “buzz”
of energy in my body and mind when I heard it. I do not remember
anything but that from the audience, yet have retained it as a distinct
possibility, translating it into the 2% option. This is do-able and
within our immediate grasp. If we can persuade 2% of the people we know
to commit to a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity, to reduce their ecological
footprint by conserving energy and to do at least one eco-friendly act
every day, then global consciousness as a collective human phenomenon will
change. Different questions will be asked and different solutions found,
as a new mind-set of shared consciousness emerges to make the necessary
decisions for change. Mass awakening does not mean that everyone
“wakes” up. A critical mass of 2% will be satisfactory as a tipping
point, the catalyst, to get things moving in the right direction.
The challenge is to be in
society, but as a still island of mindfulness. Take small steps at
first, then larger ones. The small steps are to realize that many
cannot drop present lifestyles cold turkey, but at the same time we do
not have to be caught by the fast pace of consumer madness and all that
goes with it in terms of energy usage. We just need to make some
essential changes. We can makes choices to free up time – be television
free for several evenings, write in a journal, meditate and sort the clutter
of the mind. All that is required is a mindful approach to everyday
living. Voluntary Simplicity is a good starting place. It means
amongst other things being more aware of our consumerism, making deliberate
choices about how we spend time and money rather than living on the automatic
pilot of busyness. Supporting environmental causes with the excess
clutter in the basement, always thinking about whether we really “need”
to buy. Enjoy being simple and living true by shifting our perceptions
just a little bit. Not a big deal really. Voluntary Simplicity
makes life suddenly available in much larger compass. Let us all
resolve to give Voluntary Simplicity a chance in our lives – look deeply
into what we do with time, money, clutter and our choices. And change.
Then see for our selves whether the consequences are peace and happiness.
For more on Voluntary Simplicity check out:
www.simpleliving.net/main/
www.gallagherpress.com/pierce/
www.google.com/Top/Society/Lifestyle_Choices/Voluntary_Simplicity/
Where do we start? Of course
we must think globally and be aware of the bigger picture and step beyond
the smaller pictures of ourselves created out of fear and disempowerment.
Yet we begin by acting locally with great vigour in our families and communities,
so that our intentions spread as ripples from a pebble dropped in still
water. In addition to holding officials, politicians and corporate culture
to account let us begin with the small things that all of us can do. While
at the same time alerting the political and corporate decision makers that
we do mean business as voters and consumers deeply concerned about the
planet and our location on it. This is very important, as our leaders are
a manifestation of our collective will. When the collective will changes,
our leaders will act differently. Here are a few suggested guidelines
- action recipes already created by concerned citizens and groups who have
taken the time to create websites so that information, strategies and plans
of action are available to all. There are many more locations than those
listed, which you will discover for yourselves. This is simply a starting
gate, somewhere for the reader to begin. Our future existence, and the
existence of other species on planet earth, depends on your making a new
beginning for all of us.
1.TAKE ACTION
A good place to start is
the website for the film “An Inconvenient Truth” about Al Gore’s Global
Warming campaign. Browse: www.climatecrisis.net - see what
registers with your concerns and capabilities. Click on the TAKE
ACTION button and explore what you can do at home, in community, politically
in your nation and internationally. Whatever level you begin with
is fine, but do ensure that you commit to “beginning.”
The David Suzuki Foundation
has a Nature Challenge – the 10 most effective ways to conserve natural
ecosystems. Click the TAKE ACTION button and also check out the Carbon
Neutral Program for guidelines to reduce your contribution to polluting
emissions:
www.davidsuzuki.org
The Small-Is-Beautiful thesis
of E.E. Schumacher translates into action by looking at people first, at
their skills and needs, so that they can shape and control appropriate
technologies: www.itdg.org and www.schumachercollege.org.uk
The Gaia Foundation empowers
local and indigenous communities in critical ecosystems:
www.gaiafoundation.org
If you are serious about
reducing the impact of climate change please check out:
Climate Outreach www.coinet.org.uk
Energy Conservation
www.ukace.org
People and Planet
www.peopleandplanet.org
2.UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
Global awakening to the
emergency facing us, and all of life, on planet earth is a highly personal
as well as a collective thing. The websites below bring this home.
Anti-Apathy encourages us all to engage positively with the issues and
crises facing the planet, with a particular focus on our patterns of consumption
and dubious ethics: www.antiapathy.org
The Web Of Hope offers readily
achievable solutions and provides connecting links with individuals and
groups – locally and internationally: www.thewebofhope.com
Common Ground focuses on
the local world of care for everyday life and surroundings with an emphasis
on celebration and social exploration: www.commonground.org.uk
We Are What We Do continues
this theme of action in every-day living while at the same time building
bridges across the chasms that divide. It directly addresses the
very important question “How Can I Make A Difference”:
www.wearewhatwedo.org
Reverential Ecology asks
us to have a sense of wonder about our natural surroundings and provides
extensive links: www.reverentialecology.org
Check out “The Consumer’s
Guide to Effective Environmental Choices”:
www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/ucs/CG-chapter-1.pdf
3.REDUCE YOUR CAR’S ECOLOGICAL
FOOTPRINT
This is a no-brainer.
Vehicle emissions are the single, most potent pollutant and it is within
our power to change this. Check out any of the websites below, though
the Carbon Trust is a good place to start – established by the UK’s Climate
Change Program:
www.thecarbontrust.co.uk
Also sign up for the “No
Car One Day A Week” strategy. Please click the link below to sign
the petition and show your support, and invite your friends to sign as
well.
www.deerparkmonastery.org/petition/index.html
For an interesting calligraphy
by Thich Nhat Hanh download:
http://www.deerparkmonastery.org/images/todayisnocarday_signlarge.jpg
Further guidelines are provided
by:
www.ethicalconsumer.org
www.carbonsense.org
www.oildepletionprotocol.org
Furthermore, consider the
option of not flying, or at least reduce your air travel to only what may
appear to be essential, then try to reduce it further, as airplane emissions
create a grossly dangerous ecological footprint. Draconian measures
are required – can we get out of our comfort zones and limited consciousness
in order to get it done? If we do not get it done, then we are done.
It is as simple as that.
www.transport2000.org.uk
www.airportwatch.org.uk
www.roadblock.org.uk
4.GUIDELINES FOR BUSINESS
AND THE WORKPLACE
To establish team-based,
environmentally aware co-operation in the corporate sector check out: www.svn.org
and www.fwbo.org/fwbo/rightlivelihood.html
For
ethics in business practice and new commercial strategies in sync with
planetary rhythms go to:
www.caux.ch/en/
www.johnelkington.com
www.paulhawken.com
www.monbiot.com
The Carbon Disclosure Project
advises financial investors about the emissions of the world’s 500 largest
businesses so that investors can create environmentally sound portfolios:
www.cdproject.net
Business enterprises that
focus on values driven banking and reducing global warming:
www.triodos.co.uk
www.climatecare.org
www.solarcentury.com
5.THE “BIG” PICTURE FOR
THE FUTURE
For world governance, corporate
responsibility and environmental balance, go to:
www.globalmarshallplan.org
www.forumforthefuture.org.uk
www.neweconomics.org
www.wdm.org.uk
www.princeton.edu/~cmi/
For video streams of global
leaders talking about environmental issues, go to:
www.bigpicture.tv
For a global climate policy
framework and the impact of globalisation on local communities – with recipes
for action - check out:
www.gci.org.uk
www.isec.org.uk
Other useful websites to
visit concerning sustainability are:
www.sd-commission.org.uk
www.livingeconomies.org
www.transitionculture.org
6.SCIENCE AND DIVERSITY
For (a) countryside restoration,
(b) scientific research and (c) children’s education:
a.www.gardenorganic.org.uk
www.livingcountryside.org.uk
www.vshiva.net
b.www.cat.org.uk
www.cei.group.cam.ac.uk
www.janegoodall.org
www.engj.ulst.ac.uk/CST
c.www.globe.org.uk
7.JOURNALS
The Ecologist www.theecologist.org
Resurgence www.resurgence.org
Utne www.utne.com
8.ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS
Support a local ecology
project in your community and one in the developing world by contacting
regional environmental organizations or join a national or international
environmental campaign. Consult:
Sierra Club www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming
Friends Of The Earth www.foe.co.uk
Greenpeace
www.greenpeace.org
9.WARNING TO GOVERNMENTS
The 2007 reports of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change now leave no room for doubt,
as the time scale for effective governmental intervention is narrowed to
ten years. Governments must wake up, particularly as citizens worldwide
have clearly designated Global Warming as their No 1 priority. Lack
of government initiative will certainly be punished at election time.
Citizens and governments have to enact a willingness to embrace austerity
and co-operation, as was the case during World War II. Drastic action
is needed and it is needed now. James Lovelock has called for governments
to retreat from their ridiculous “Missions Impossible”; George Monbiot
has carefully researched an effective, immediate plan that every political
and corporate leader must study and implement:
1.Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
by 90%.
2.Institute a global emissions
cap on a per capita basis.
3.Impose strict energy efficiency
standards on all buildings.
4.Ban all wasteful and non-essential
technologies.
5.Invest massively in alternative
energy, particularly wind, solar and tidal natural resources, and connect
them to the grid as well as encouraging local micro grids in communities.
6.Redesign public transport
systems to take private vehicles off the road.
7.Eliminate all road building
projects.
8.Reduce flying capacity
and outlaw all airport expansion.
9.Redesign retail access
with an emphasis on home delivery, eliminating car trips.
A massive global citizen
response will certainly elicit an equally massive government and corporate
response, as the bottom-up movement and top-down strategies for drastic
change meet and integrate. There is not room in this Global Ecological
Emergency for separating into “US’ and “THEM” categories. We are
totally interconnected whether we realize it or not. We will all
live together or we will all die together. An intelligent and all
encompassing green ideology embedded in everything we produce and market
is a means to bridge competing agendas. Our dependence on fossil
fuels reduces because we have become aware of the deadly consequences,
for ourselves, of our addiction to oil and coal. The transition to
a reasonably emissions-free global energy system over the next few decades
will be costly and require a massive response from government and corporate
leaders to initiate the second industrial revolution. This is necessary
to blunt the impact of climate change and is a huge global industrial project
that governments and corporations can bring about due to citizen pressure
to “Make It So!” There is hope as “Eco-Tech” is rapidly being seen
by investors as the next big global industrial thing. The public
are aware of this, as global warming has certainly gone Main Street.
It just has to extend to Wall Street, the White House and the World Trade
Organization.
Above all else, we must find
the ways and means to support the shift in consciousness at all levels
of global society to make these measures palatable – the Failsafe notion.
The websites listed in
Appendix 1: Simple Steps to Empowerment are ones that I know and have used
to good effect. This is a starting point only. There are many
more excellent sites that are just as valuable. You will find the
ones that speak to your hearts and also to your intentions to act on the
environmental stage. My friends Gunnar Goerke, Elke Gierss, Gillian
Chefrad and Ratnaprabha provided good suggestions. I also drew from
George Monbiot’s recent book “Heat”, Thomas Friedman’s April 15, 2007 NY
Times article, and Hannah Cassidy’s excellent research on “40 Institutions
That Are Changing Our World” in Resurgence No 238, September/October 2006.
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