Politics

The machines change, the work remains the same

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I have recommitted to local organizing that aims mainly to strengthen institutions and networks on the ground where I live, rooted in a belief that those local connections will be more important than ever in coming decades. At the same time, I try to maintain and extend connections to like-minded people around the world, hoping that those connections can contribute to the possibility of coordinated global action. In short, I am trying to become more tribal and more universal at the same time.

The extremely leisurely pace of American democracy and the urgency of our predicament

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Winston Churchill once remarked that “[t]he United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.” The assumption behind that remark is that there will be time to do the right thing after all alternatives have been exhausted. This assumption is especially troubling when it comes to addressing such issues as peak oil and climate change.

ODAC Newsletter – Jan 7

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2011 blew in with strong echoes 2008 as food and fuel prices rose strongly. The UN warned food prices are reaching “dangerous levels” as the global food index rose above the level that caused widespread rioting three years ago, and the IEA’s Fatih Birol cautioned rising oil prices could derail the economic recovery. WTI is around $88/barrel and Brent crude almost $94.

Innovation of the week: Participatory analysis for community action

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It started with a conversation among members of a women’s farming group in Affe Tidiane, a small village in the Kaolack region of central Senegal. “The leader of the women’s group said we should have a meeting and ask everyone what they wanted to do,” says Helen Fallat, a Peace Corps volunteer working in the village in 2007 and 2008. “I thought that sounded simple enough.”

What does it matter?

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When protest is successful, on those rare and remarkable and wondrous occasions when resistance is possible, it is successful not because of the pure, clear political persistence of actors who carry signs or passively protest or fight legal battles. Instead, it is successful because political protest is chained not to doors or trees but to the emergence of a new way of life. This way of life is not perfect or sufficient, but the overwhelming emergence of something new and different in ordinary and daily ways is a hallmark of almost every successful political protest.

Steady state economics and the new Congress

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Advocates of the steady state economy should be working more closely with the cutting-edge organizations fighting global corruption because the corruption and its attendant bribery of public officials is undermining governance around the world….We don’t want to return to the same spot we were in, only to have a new round of speculators crash the economic system and undermine governance. It is important, therefore, to force decision makers in Congress and the Executive Branch to think about a paradigm shift and what a steady state economy would look like.

Truthtelling & activism – Dec 24

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– Why Bolivia Stood Alone in Opposing the Cancún Climate Agreement
– Is the Wikileaks Saga the Biggest Crypto-Environmental Story of 2010?
– Thinking Dialectically About Solidarity
– How nonprofit journalism is changing the ‘news ecosystem’
– Washington Post’s big story: Monitoring America: Your Local Neighborhood’s ‘Global War on Terror’

Sustainability: From ‘terminally nice’ to ‘nice and rough’

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I’ve pondered whether to stop describing our vortex of dilemmas as a crisis of sustainability. “Sustainable growth” –and its derivative “smart growth”–has been a successful riposte to Meadows, et al.’s 1972 The Limits to Growth that has sapped vigor and anticipation from sustainability.