Activism

Ernest Callenbach, Last words to an America in decline

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This document was found on the computer of Ecotopia author Ernest Callenbach (1929-2012) after his death:

“As I survey my life, which is coming near its end, I want to set down a few thoughts that might be useful to those coming after. It will soon be time for me to give back to Gaia the nutrients that I have used during a long, busy, and happy life. I am not bitter or resentful at the approaching end; I have been one of the extraordinarily lucky ones. So it behooves me here to gather together some thoughts and attitudes that may prove useful in the dark times we are facing: a century or more of exceedingly difficult times.”

Democracy’s Arc

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It’s hard to think of any word more freely bandied about in contemporary political discourse than “democracy,” and harder still to think of one freighted with a heavier burden of wishful thinking, utopian fantasy, and entitlement. As industrial civilization staggers toward its end, however, today’s fashionable contempt for democracy as it actually exists may become a potent force driving societies in crisis toward far worse options.

Seascape with methane plumes

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In the wake of last week’s post, I’d meant to plunge straight into the next part of this sequence of posts and talk about the unraveling of American politics. Still, it’s worth remembering that the twilight of America’s global empire is merely an incident in the greater trajectory of the end of the industrial age, and part of that greater trajectory may just have come into sight over the last week.

Creating community: Lessons from Occupy

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Whether Occupy is able to deal effectively with the substantial external threats and internal obstacles is yet to be determined. It will depend partly on the capacity for self-reflection and compassionate listening, as well as the success of channeling anger and frustration into powerful, constructive action.

Many specific suggestions have come from psychologists and activists, such as those at the OccuPsy meeting last month in Oakland.

In small groups and small towns, opposition to Citizens United spreads

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The small group, or “affinity group,” has been a crucial part of many social movements, and people are increasingly realizing its relevance for today. 
“It can sometimes be hard to get a group of activists to pull away from a political or social agenda,” says Lore. “But I always promise people that if you take five or six sessions focused on getting to know each other, you won’t be sorry. You’ll become much more effective activists. And you’ll also have fun in the process.”

Occupy World Street – a global roadmap for radical economic and political reform: review

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This book by Ross Jackson, published in March 2012 by Green Books, asks a good question: what can we do about the fact that we live in an unacceptably unjust and hopelessly unsustainable world? We know there are many useful things that can be done at home or locally, and by corporations or governments. Lots of examples were suggested by contributors to Fleeing Vesuvius. The trouble is that not nearly enough individuals, local communities, corporations or governments do these things. To reverse current trends the system as a whole has to change. But how? It’s such a huge question that few, if any, other writers have tackled it head on, which is what this book does.

Alternative finance radicals: Infusing rebellion with entrepreneurial creativity

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The Left has traditionally been a thought-leader in alternative economics. Many individuals who self-identify as ‘left-wing’ are at their best when providing cutting and insightful macro-level critiques of structural flaws in economic systems, often from a justice perspective.

At their worst though, these critiques can break down into moralistic martyr-complexes underpinned by a chronic sense of jaded victimhood. A side-effect of this can be a muted ability to recognise when and where positive change is occurring.

Tedium and black magic: the trouble with Energy Descent Action Plans (EDAPs)

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At the heart of the current Transition Town process is the creation and implementation of the so called Energy Descent Action Plan for each locality. The Totnes group spent two years — 2 whole years! — on creating their EDAP. I am not the first person to wonder if the time, effort and money could not have been more profitably spent on actually “doing energy descent.”

America: origins of an empire

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To understand how America’s empire works and why its fall is imminent, it’s useful to trace the trajectory of its rise. That’s a complex matter, because the United States may be a single political unit but it’s never been a single culture or country, and its empire emerged out of a long struggle between competing visions of national expansion. To understand those, it’s necessary to begin with the early days of European settlement — and the demographic cataclysm that preceded it.

Review: Petroplague by Amy Rogers

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We have a brand-new entrant to the oil-eating-bug-runs-amok tradition: the self-published novel Petroplague. It’s a Crichton-esque thriller written by microbiology professor-turned author Amy Rogers, who says she aims to “blur the line between fact and fiction so well that you need a Ph.D. to figure out where one ends and the other begins.” The plot involves a batch of experimental, oil-hungry bacteria inadvertently loosed upon Los Angeles, which proceed to wreak a near biblical swath of destruction. Part ecology lesson and part cautionary tale, Petroplague is an entertaining entrée into the subject of oil depletion and its implications for society, human health and the environment.