Our human culture, as many have characterized it, is like a cancer growing across the planet. More than one person has claimed that the only viable solution to the human condition might be a giant meteor or other calamity. I have heard from many that they no longer like people, or that humanity is, pardon their language, fucked. I don't believe any of these positions, but do recognize the reasons some would be led to them. Some people call our current time period post-capitalist society, some prefer the term Anthropocene, the geologically significant period in which human desecration of the geophysical world will remain evident to whatever species comes next It is true that our human-made footprint will remain for many millions of years hence. however, there are even more people calling for a Green New Deal.
Implementing such a plan may require more human cooperation and more humanitarian effort than has ever been amassed or wielded during any prior period of human history. This may not even seem possible to a population privileged enough that they have never had to accept responsibility for anything. Especially for the ruling class, the oligarchs who currently run our governments, every element of the Green New Deal sounds like naive pipe dreams or utter lunacy. Interestingly enough, it is perhaps the most pragmatic policy to come down the pike since the last New Deal, FDR's (Franklin Delano Roosevelt's) groundbreaking suite of legislation that codified such systems as Unemployment Compensation, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. There was a veritable alphabet soup of new agencies and departments under this legislation that not only employed those deemed unemployable by the richest men among us, but that led to transformative changes the likes of which our nation had never seen before and sadly, have never seen since. However, both logic and a broad perspective informed the New Deal and the same is true for the Green New Deal.
Another great document that helps set ground rules for exactly what is needed at this time is the Earth Charter. (earthcharter.org) The real insane, naive pipe dream is the one harbored by the wealthiest men on the planet. The one that leads them to believe that they are better suited to run things than the rest of us. Right now, in early 2019, there are twenty-six men who own as much wealth as half the population. Income and wealth disparity is exponentially greater now than at any prior time in human history. Ironically, the impoverished are often more hospitable to strangers than those who can afford to feed everyone, but decide not to. In her groundbreaking and terrifying work, Diet for a Small Planet, Francis Moore Lappe' dug deep, long before the age of computers to find in 1970 that 1/7 of the entire human population was at risk for starvation. That number has stayed the same to the present day. In spite of the massive wealth poured into technology, food science, refrigeration, and transportation systems, heck the entire Green Revolution that brought western food production techniques to the impoverished around the globe, we still have about 1/7 of the world at risk of starvation. as we have all come to understand, insanity is trying the same thing over and over but expecting a different outcome. what we need are qualitative changes that have not been tried yet.
Those who have read my blog closely understand that in my opinion, each and every problem can be distilled down to the essential question, will we love? or will we fear? We have only ever been able to choose one. Albert Einstein wrote, "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."
The two are mutually exclusive. The same is true of love and fear. At this juncture, we are faced with the chance, as every preceding generation has been, to let go of our fear. Hoping for a meteor or praying for Armageddon are definitely on the fear side of the decision-making chart. When we list the good things and bad things that might come about because of any decision, we typically choose the side of that chart, or decision tree where the good outcomes outweigh the bad ones. However, "just business" and business as usual both present our human population with more bad outcomes than good results, so why do we continue to tell people who are hurting that they need to suck it up and stop complaining? In a word, Calvinism, the idea that mostly brown people, but also poor people from around the world make bad decisions and that their poverty is their own fault; punishment for being immoral. We may know that this is a lie, but the wealthy, who own our media continue to tell us the same lie and it is hard to find someone who is not contaminated with the idea.
We need to accept the fact that basic human rights include debt-free healthcare and education access to healthy air and water, as well as healthy soil upon which to grow our food. Until we get those things straight, we will continue to subsidize the richest men on the planet. Until we admit that each and every human being deserves food, shelter, community and love, we will continue to inappropriately value those with more cash at their disposal. Until we stop the commodification of people through "human resource" departments and meaningless "service" jobs that only serve the ultra-wealthy, we are doomed to keep making the same mistakes. One tragic symptom of our failure is that the average student debt in the U.S. of A. is $37,172.00 that represents a twenty thousand dollar increase in just the last thirteen years. My first home cost less than that. Thirty-five years ago, my total student debt was $1,050. Even so, the money grubbing loan sharks who were flocking around education at the time were quick to add their interest and penalties for late payments, thinking not of how the educated make better decisions or the good to our society that could come from the education, just what it would be able to purchase once they got their hands on my money. The story has been the same for generations, but we can tell a different story is we choose to.
Implementing such a plan may require more human cooperation and more humanitarian effort than has ever been amassed or wielded during any prior period of human history. This may not even seem possible to a population privileged enough that they have never had to accept responsibility for anything. Especially for the ruling class, the oligarchs who currently run our governments, every element of the Green New Deal sounds like naive pipe dreams or utter lunacy. Interestingly enough, it is perhaps the most pragmatic policy to come down the pike since the last New Deal, FDR's (Franklin Delano Roosevelt's) groundbreaking suite of legislation that codified such systems as Unemployment Compensation, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. There was a veritable alphabet soup of new agencies and departments under this legislation that not only employed those deemed unemployable by the richest men among us, but that led to transformative changes the likes of which our nation had never seen before and sadly, have never seen since. However, both logic and a broad perspective informed the New Deal and the same is true for the Green New Deal.
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| Spending an afternoon planting trees, our hands helped to transform this plot from a wind swept, inhospitable hilltop to a rich bio-diverse haven for people and wildlife. In the Green New Deal, a little goes a long way. Love always wins over fear. |
Another great document that helps set ground rules for exactly what is needed at this time is the Earth Charter. (earthcharter.org) The real insane, naive pipe dream is the one harbored by the wealthiest men on the planet. The one that leads them to believe that they are better suited to run things than the rest of us. Right now, in early 2019, there are twenty-six men who own as much wealth as half the population. Income and wealth disparity is exponentially greater now than at any prior time in human history. Ironically, the impoverished are often more hospitable to strangers than those who can afford to feed everyone, but decide not to. In her groundbreaking and terrifying work, Diet for a Small Planet, Francis Moore Lappe' dug deep, long before the age of computers to find in 1970 that 1/7 of the entire human population was at risk for starvation. That number has stayed the same to the present day. In spite of the massive wealth poured into technology, food science, refrigeration, and transportation systems, heck the entire Green Revolution that brought western food production techniques to the impoverished around the globe, we still have about 1/7 of the world at risk of starvation. as we have all come to understand, insanity is trying the same thing over and over but expecting a different outcome. what we need are qualitative changes that have not been tried yet.
Those who have read my blog closely understand that in my opinion, each and every problem can be distilled down to the essential question, will we love? or will we fear? We have only ever been able to choose one. Albert Einstein wrote, "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."
The two are mutually exclusive. The same is true of love and fear. At this juncture, we are faced with the chance, as every preceding generation has been, to let go of our fear. Hoping for a meteor or praying for Armageddon are definitely on the fear side of the decision-making chart. When we list the good things and bad things that might come about because of any decision, we typically choose the side of that chart, or decision tree where the good outcomes outweigh the bad ones. However, "just business" and business as usual both present our human population with more bad outcomes than good results, so why do we continue to tell people who are hurting that they need to suck it up and stop complaining? In a word, Calvinism, the idea that mostly brown people, but also poor people from around the world make bad decisions and that their poverty is their own fault; punishment for being immoral. We may know that this is a lie, but the wealthy, who own our media continue to tell us the same lie and it is hard to find someone who is not contaminated with the idea.
We need to accept the fact that basic human rights include debt-free healthcare and education access to healthy air and water, as well as healthy soil upon which to grow our food. Until we get those things straight, we will continue to subsidize the richest men on the planet. Until we admit that each and every human being deserves food, shelter, community and love, we will continue to inappropriately value those with more cash at their disposal. Until we stop the commodification of people through "human resource" departments and meaningless "service" jobs that only serve the ultra-wealthy, we are doomed to keep making the same mistakes. One tragic symptom of our failure is that the average student debt in the U.S. of A. is $37,172.00 that represents a twenty thousand dollar increase in just the last thirteen years. My first home cost less than that. Thirty-five years ago, my total student debt was $1,050. Even so, the money grubbing loan sharks who were flocking around education at the time were quick to add their interest and penalties for late payments, thinking not of how the educated make better decisions or the good to our society that could come from the education, just what it would be able to purchase once they got their hands on my money. The story has been the same for generations, but we can tell a different story is we choose to.
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