IFG Releases Report on Cash behind Global Crisis

Faces Behind a Global Crisis: US Billionaires and the UN Climate Deadlock via KochCash.org

Resources for a Post-Coal Society

Jobs Beyond Coal via the Labor Network for Sustainability

Columbus Day, 2012?

Picture this: 2012, second weekend in October, the United States of America, observing the federal holiday, Columbus Day. 

Its that time of year again. The air feels different, the sun’s heat is just a little gentler. The shadows are longer, later into the morning.  All indications point toward Mardi Gras.  The second weekend in October is just strategic enough to make preparations, figurative and literal, for the imminent winter. We deserve a day off between saying goodbye to summer, Labor Day, and being gracious for our bounty, Thanksgiving.

The federal government delivers, again! Boom - day off in October, delivered in 1937. Some states currently choose not to celebrate, some renamed the holiday such as South Dakota’s Native American Day, some choose to recognize the achievement made by Columbus in being the first European on this side of the world.  Not only can you choose if you want to observe this one, you can do so while experiencing the full irony of our situation! 

The full irony that I can’t help but see every October is that our government continues to have a day of national recognition for a foreign explorer, yet has no day of national recognition for Indigenous Americans. Reinforcing the perception of institutionalized racism, the federally recognized holiday is a relic of our government’s less than friendly attitudes towards Native American populations. Every second Monday in October symbolizes the country’s unwillingness to progress in dignity towards an inclusive and progressive society. But it sure is nice to have a day off in October.

Picture this: 2012, second weekend in October, the United States of America, observing the federal holiday, Indigenous American Day and truly enjoying my day off.

Peace Ambassador Training #10

The intrinsic value of humanity is grossly underrepresented in terms of ‘worth’ and thus public policy, foreign relations and peace building efforts are continually subverted in the name of economics.   Moreover, the planet earth is vastly misrepresented in the negotiations for prioritization. Our long-term health and survival requires comprehensive, systems based solutions that do not compromise basic needs and also promote healthy ecosystems.

We also have learned enough to know that the actions of one, affect the lives of many and vice versa.  We can no longer plan and implement in isolation – mining is a known cause of ground water pollution, coastal zones are experiencing rapid sea level rise, sweat shops persist in the name of inexpensive merchandise, etc.  Solutions to our complex global issues oblige attention to the micro-impacts as well as the macro-impacts – with regards to geography, ecology, culture, relationships, etc.

As a global network, it’s essential to anticipate the water/food, shelter & sanitation needs for the future survival of individual communities.  Security in these 3 areas in conjunction with environment/resource conservation is imperative for long-term peace initiatives. Applying systems based solutions for these 3 areas of focus will require conditions for quality engagement, re-patterning the way resources are distributed and a general shift in global priorities.  Systems based methodologies are keystones to the future of sustainable water/food access, shelter & sanitation for every one.

Reprioritizing the human population over notions of profit, resource control, property value and other systems of monetization that undervalue human capital requires a shift in the notion of ‘worth.’  I am worth more than wage slavery, I am worth more than man-made carcinogens, I am worth more than land stripping practices. The shift in myself then is directed outwardly. 

We, as the global population, are worth clean water/food access, sanitation & shelter; we are worth more than resource grabs and war profits; we are worth peace.

Enough is Enough!!! Free Leonard After 35 Years!

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/peter-worthington/leonard-peltier_b_1665689.html

Peace Ambassador Training Week 9

In systems theory we learn about nonlinear dynamics: under certain conditions small inputs can have a large impact, this is sometimes referred to as the butterfly effect. What is your short list of small strategic initiatives that could have broad impact in peace work….share your list. 

Living and volunteering on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation from 2002-2005 taught me about land, rights and value.  The landscape is so vast in South Dakota, you can see for miles, and sunsets are majestic.  How can you put a price on a hill, on someone else’s hill? Rights are relative in hegemonic societies.  I’ve redefined what value and worth mean to me, defined now by spiritual wholeness and connection. My philosophy of life is to live simply and to love abundantly. My short list of strategic initiatives are centered on equality and the understanding that no one is less than.  I’m keenly aware of the amount of impact US consumerism has on our planet and I’d prefer not to ‘have’ if its going to be at the expense of another person’s well-being, integrity or humanity. 

Here’s a more concrete list to compliment my previous abstraction:

• Compost
• Garden
• Bike ride
• Buy used/recycled
• Host/attend clothing swaps
• Engaged in local, state and federal legislative initiatives
• Support local food network
• Mentor children – work founded in respect, courage, wisdom
• Pray

David Korten emphasizes equity as a key bridge to peace and sustainability. How can you participate in building this bridge ……from fair trade food, more conscious diet, local cooperatives/ local farm produce, shared resources etc?

I completely agree with Mr. Korten, equity is the key. Peace and sustainability has to include strong commitments to the equitable distribution of key resources. At every turning point in history, the tipping point is centered on the demand of key resources. With global populations swelling, water, power, and fuel are on high demand.  Understanding water and energy policies is a cumbersome workload. However, since water is so critical to life and power has become so fundamental to our lives, it is becoming ever more important to be educated consumers of these vital resources.  The goal should be for the public to be able to control the decision making process for infrastructure and distribution issues.

Letter sent to Congress on the Farm Bill from Major US City Mayors

Lets pass a smart Farm Bill

Buddhist Peace Fellowship - Ajahn Sulak Sivaraksa

Peace Ambassador Training #3

What is your understanding about moving from right versus wrong to wounding and healing?
I'm learning that relationship building is necessary to move from wounding to healing. I see this in particular in homeless populations. I've volunteered with homeless populations in several countries and one thing is generally consistent. Homeless individuals are, by and large, shunned by the mainstream society. External monologue, dirty, unsightly, unkempt, unshaved, withdrawn, asleep, different.  Homeless people are treated like a disease contracted by urban culture.

And I can't decide whether people have a harder time looking homeless people in the eye or thinking about the fact that there are people who live on the streets without shelter every day of their lives.  I think a lot of homeless people aren't treated like people at all and that makes me confused and sad. In terms of building relationships, I think that the cycle of homelessness for individuals has a greater likelihood of breaking if strong and supportive bonds can be developed.  For society in general, if we can begin to build relationships with the reasons why homelessness can continue to exist in the 21st century and really explore the foundational limitations inherent in our current framework, then we can begin to understand how to move forward.


What is the relationship between truth, mercy, peace, and justice?
Its interesting because I immediately pictured a peace sign - with peace in the center, justice connected at the top point with mercy and truth along the left and right of the circle connecting them all.  I recognize they are all connected, yet peace is at the center. Peace, for me, informs how I will interpret the others, i.e. without peace, my understanding of truth will not be the same as if I was at peace, etc.  Justice, mercy and truth all revolve around peace because without peace at the center, those concepts will be skewed and unconnected.
Interestingly, also, is that these concepts all can mean something very different from person to person. I find this point to be the most difficult to reconcile when trying to be mindful of other people's values and perspectives when they differ from my own.

Peace Ambassador Training #1

1.  Track your own worldview changes and transformation. Have you noticed particular changes recently?

I think the most dramatic change for me recently has been my willingness to accept that working on myself and bettering myself will have a positive effect on the world around me. I’m grateful for the opportunity in this course to connect with others around the world who trust in love.  I recently completed a meditation on my heart, which consisted of deep listening, forgiveness, acceptance and wholeness. I have layers of scar tissue that continually need my loving kindness and attention. Opening into a space to really love myself and appreciate myself helped me to open further into compassion for others.  My worldview has changed most recently by being willing to love those that make choices contrary to my convictions or philosophy of living. I aim to walk a path of peace and open to all possibilities of loving kindness.  

2.  Review “I am a Peace Ambassador”: what are you moving from and where is it you are shifting towards?

I am moving from beliefs of ‘less than’, ‘other’, and general worthiness issues to loving kindness and compassion.  I am moving from hyper self-consciousness to global consciousness. I am moving from individual to community awareness. I am moving toward storytelling as healing and art as expressions of mystic communication. I am moving toward the collective heart of the creation. I am moving from fear to gratitude.  

3.  Write and share some thoughts on a how a culture of peace has a dimension of change from the inside-out, from inner to international.

I really resonate with integral theory – linking the personal & systemic with the collective culture. The US has been at war for over a decade consistently – I could even argue that the US has been at war in some capacity for generations, but for this point I’m talking about the specific war in which the US is currently engaged. And I got to thinking how all kinds of systemic unravelling is occurring in the US from financial to infrastructure to social. My conclusion is that the collective psyche of the US is damaged, damaged from years of oppressing – in my mind the culture of peace from within represents the opportunity for individual responsibility in participating in a global dialogue. Elevate the conversation to underscore the mutual respect for all living beings, without compromise.

I know for me, I try to say hello to people I pass on the street and look people in the eye and smile because people make me really happy. I am really grateful to live in a neighborhood where people walk on the streets often. I feel a sense of comfort knowing there are other people doing things and living their lives. Also, when I’m outside I like to become really aware of everything alive around me, whether it be the plant life or animals out and about. I feel the connection between all living things, and I am grateful to be on such a creative planet. There is creation occurring continuously, simultaneously, ubiquitously, and consistently at any given moment. The culture of peace within me feels very attuned to the rhythms and cycles of nature.

4.  Spend time over the week looking at how you process energy and when it is transformational not just managing difficult energy.

I grew up being an energy zapper, because I was brought up not to engage with my feelings, to numb them. But over the course of the last 10 years with meditation practices, reflection, discernment, and patience, I’m learning to hear where my impulses originate and feel when I’m overwhelmed, without judgment. I’m learning to breathe through my difficulties, staying present through the waves of my emotion and allowing myself the amount of time I need to process.  Being aware of my impulses made me sensitive to how other people control their own impulses. I became aware of tone and inflection, posture and delivery.  Using this awareness, I think my communication skills have increased and I am able to relate to more people because I am deeply listening.  I am a phenomenologist and believe that the content of conscious experience will always be meaningful to the collective conscious. I continue to listen.

Peace Ambassador Training #2

What have you learned from Aqeela’s presentation about how to maintain inner peace in the face of challenges, and even conflict and wounding? 

The message I took away from Aqeela’s presentation is that storytelling, sharing experiences, and deep listening are key to building the compassion needed to not only heal but to grow as a community.  I’m very curious about this because my upbringing involved a lot of fairy stories made up by my mother which transported me to another realm of reality. But she rarely shared stories about our family, or my father or her life before me.  So this taught me that we can create the world we want to see around us, but the world that is around us doesn’t have to exist. My understanding of storytelling was fractured from a young age.  

I lived on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for three years after graduating college as a volunteer teacher in a parochial school. I learned the value of storytelling and deep listening there too. Storytelling on the individual level opens the possibility to reconcile confusions that come from holding a story so close.  Storytelling has the power to filter our cultural experiences, values and traditions into powerful threads of collective identity.  

I studied phenomenology after I left the reservation. Phenomenology is the study of lived experiences. I believe that because we all have lived experiences together simultaneously, our individual experiences are all equally important to the collective truth of our lives together.  We all are the sum of our collective memories.  

I really appreciated this week’s discussion. I learned that once personal healing begins within, the work for a cause can be rooted in loving kindness, equanimity, compassion and peace.
 

What are you learning in your own story?
I’m learning how willing I can be to feel unworthy of love and learning how untrue that is.

Happy Belated Birthday Dr. King

Happy Birthday Dr. King, may we find guidance in your example

Film made available by: http://www.rebuildthedream.com/mlk

January 18 Round-up

350.org, Friends of the Earth & all reasonable people are celebrating Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal. As Bill McKibben echoed, this is just the beginning!


Google, Wikipedia & other freedom loving multi-national tech companies orchestrated  an internet black-out in protest of the US legislation aimed at censoring the internet. Opencongress.org reports that, at minimum, $94 million worth of lobbying has been spent in support of the legislations and claims the largest online protest happened in dissent of these legislative pieces today.


Update!! Movetoamend.org is organizing large scale mobilizations including an OCCUPY THE SUPREME COURT! Find the location of the nearest occupation to you!Events happening all over the country January 20, Occupy the Banks and make wall street pay. I had the option of buying into my organization's 401(k), but after studying the financial packages I realized that I'd just be sending my money to wall street. I am OCCUPYING MY MONEY!


Good news story! Atlanta church, Higher Ground Empowerment Center, staved off foreclosure from BB&T with a little help from a disgusted populous of 99%-ers.


In SF on Friday, January 20 while some may prefer occupying the banks, others might want to join the New Priorities Campaign to Occupy Wall Street in front of the Bechtel Corporation. Protestors are convening at 6am at the world headquarters for the military contractor.

Huge redevelopment news out of New Orleans!! New Orleans East saw a preview of the Joe Brown Park's Victory Field last week. See pictures here. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the summer 2012.


The crew at Sierra Club is having fun! I'm speechless, in a good way!


Last but not least, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is accepting nominations for the Lifetime Achievement Award, Distinguished Achievement Award and the Coastal Stewardship Award for an individual or group who has made an exceptional contribution to protecting and restoring Louisiana’s wetlands. Yay Coastal Stewardship! Submit nominations here.

Delivering Energy Efficiency to Middle Income Households

     A recent study by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) identifies steps to deliver energy savings to middle income U.S. households.  Still trying to crack the energy code, LBNL details the importance of energy efficiency and steps to making efficiency a priority.
     Power production and distribution for power providers fall into the category of: few people have any concept of the details going into providing power.  Ask an average person what the power purchasing obligations are for their power provider? Or ask that same average person what the allowable profit margins for distribution their power provider are allowed under their terms of regulation?  These are details that few people in our country know about, but these same details all go into the accounting for monthly utility bills.
     As a utility customer, it is important to take as many actions as possible on your end to ensure you are getting the maximum value for your money spent. 


Read the report here!