Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The way ahead will be based on a combination of knowledge obtained remotely, using modern tools and devices, and ways of knowing that are local, experienced directly, contextual, and embodied. When we connect with living systems emotionally, and not just rationally, and focus on the informal, the local and the conversational – things will really begin to change.
What strikes me now in writing this, is just how extraordinarily privileged I am to have the peace and space for contemplation and dialogue. My clarity is the product of thousands of miles of travel, hundreds of conversations, days of writing. The major question I’m left with is how on earth can folks in the US find the peace to make sense of the present and dream of a future worth fighting for?
For me, resilience is much more complicated than the capacity to ‘bounce back’ from or respond to changes or ‘disturbances’ or other similar definitions. To be useful, resilience must be about what people are doing with the idea, how they know it and apply it, and what happens when they do.
Our chapter explores the Transition Movement of grassroots responses to climate change, peak oil and economic contraction, and seeks to place it in the broader context of commons-based responses to climate capitalism.
Searching for ways to reconnect and renew, a non-profit organization called the Community Learning Partnership is providing students, instructors, and community groups a model for preparing the next generation of local leaders and activists.
Global society has come unhinged from its political, socioeconomic, and ecological reality-moorings as we’ve known them. We’re in the whitewater rapids of what could be a downward spiral toward system collapse, and/or the brink of an unprecedented opportunity for the evolution of human consciousness. In both cases we’re headed into uncharted waters.
Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the earthquake in central Italy – as we post this 241 people are known to have died, dozens are still trapped, many are homeless and aftershocks continue to rock the area.
We truly cannot envision the ripple effects of our actions and the impact they can have on the future.
I see so much remarkable stuff happening in so many places, and meet so many focused, committed people, that I really believe that a new economy, a new culture, is possible, indeed it is already here.
The challenge is always what’s the particular role of an individual person or of an individual organization. The discernment process is something that everyone is working on, figuring out my role in this systems change.
Our thing is that right here—your self—is the most accessible whole system that you have. That’s the best way to effect change.
The more you connect with other people the more their resources are in your problem-solving process. We have enough. We have enough together, but nobody has enough by themselves.
