Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Think about it! We’ve been presented with a win-win opportunity to build on the Occupy Movement. And — really — don’t we all share the “Occupy” vision of a kinder, more sustainable world?
If together we could see everyone as part of the 100%, rather than as “we-versus-them” confrontational camps, then perhaps we can all actually make a difference.
Not that long ago, the notion of an archdruid speaking at a national conference on peak oil would likely have occurred only to humorists and anti-environmental zealots. Over the week just past, as the industrial world showed unnerving signs of lurching into crisis, that preposterous scenario did indeed come to pass. The Archdruid offers his reflections on the event.
It struck me that Transition says to people “take this model and do it where you are”, whereas Occupy suggests coming together to suspend your life while you explore, with others, the question of what’s the best thing to do now. Transition is about building that into your own life, right now, drawing on the experience of many others. You might say that Occupy suggests occupying, for example, Wall Street, while Transition suggests occupying your own street, putting up runner beans and solar panels rather than tents. There is great richness in this diversity of approaches. I was left mulling the question I should have asked Frannie from the information tent, when people arrive and say “I don’t have the time to be here at Occupy, but what can I do in my own life, at home, in my street?” It would be fascinating to know the answer they receive.
Here is the single biggest question to consider about the economic, energy and environmental unwinding we are facing – what will the economy look as we go?
So, people tend to be attracted more by pleasant fables rather than by inconvenient truths. That doesn’t mean that truth needs to be unpleasant, negative, or apocalyptic. However, if we want to pass our message to the public, data alone are not enough; scientific results must be presented in ways that take into account the human side of the problems. How to succeed in this task is an open question, but Antonio Turiel, who keeps the blog “The Oil Crash”, has examined it in a recent post titled “running away from reality dedicated to the “Chemtrails” legend.
What do Resilience Circle members think of Occupy Wall Street?
How well Occupy grows depends in part on the effectiveness of the basic political and economic processes it borrows or develops, the ability of these governance processes to be both inclusive and efficient, and the way its internal economic process can shift resources and skills to areas where needed, avoiding bottlenecks. Below are some suggestions (some of which are already being tried out at a few Occupy locales) for things that can improve the Occupy movement’s socio-economic-political processes.
Rachel Schragis is a 25-year-old New York City-based artist, educator and activist who created a flow-chart visualization of the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City. Since the image was posted on Facebook, comments began pouring in and the image was disseminated widely, not only among Schragis’ friends, but eventually by complete strangers.
“This image is profoundly not a solution: to either the injustices we face or my own (infinitely smaller) creative concerns. It is a statement of the problem, and its material being does not reflect the world we want: to start, it is drawn with (toxic) sharpies and distributed through the (unsustainably powered) internet. And the reality it states, let us not forget, is pretty bleak. I dream about making spaces that inspire justice – not just collections of words that show what’s wrong. And isn’t this really what OWS is about, at its core? Believing that if we start by stating the problems correctly, a better world than we can currently envision is possible. Demanding that we dream up that world, and build that dream. “
– Who knows where the occupations are going – it’s just great to be moving
– Occupy Cross-Roads: What Will Happen If OWS Loses Its Park?
– A Chill Descends On Occupy Wall Street
The notion that politics only takes place in the voting booth or halls of state basically evaporated in the 1960s. We now know that political acts occur in a range of settings: in our neighborhoods, bedrooms, kitchens, and, yes, even in our gardens.
For over a century, liberals and radicals have seen the possibility of change in capitalist systems from one of two perspectives: the reform tradition assumes that corporate institutions remain central to the system but believes that regulatory policies can contain, modify, and control corporations and their political allies. The revolutionary tradition assumes that change can come about only if corporate institutions are eliminated or transcended during an acute crisis, usually but not always by violence. But what happens if a system neither reforms nor collapses in crisis?
But the hands that write also stir, chop, mix and fold. They have learned in these cooking and eating out years to touch and feel and memorise the living fabric of the earth, the vibrancy of fish and fowl, the rough coats of seeds and bark, the soft down of peaches. These hands know what to do with sea urchins and dead hares. They have shopped in the markets of the world – Greek islands, South American cities, desert and mountain towns. They are smart, gentle, ruthless. Like everyone’s hands.
