
“If we don’t change our direction, we’re going to wind up where we’re headed”
-Native American Saying
I had the extreme pleasure of attending a lecture given by Starhawk last week. I decided that her message was too important to keep to myself, so here are the salient points that I came away with…
The decisions we make in the next ten years will determine the future of the human species and the earth. Culture forgets that our resources are sacred. We need to start caring about Earth’s resources more than our own comfort. We need to care enough to refuse watching it be defiled. We need to care enough that we will make sacrifices in order to maintain clean water.
It is a problem when power is in the hands of few people. Centralized power likes centralized power. Why does centralized power require enforcement? Because in its very nature, it’s calling for rebellion. We can’t ‘solve’ climate change because of the vested interest in oil. The Tar Sands raise a deep moral question. How do we take care of the earth? A million Litres of water a polluted EVERY DAY in the extraction of oil from Tar Sands, 95% of which cannot be treated. The first are showing signs of tumors and cancer. What we need is a shift in consciousness, spirit and values in order to make change. We need interdependence and cooperation.
“What would it be like if we replaced scarcity thinking with the goal of creating as much real abundance as possible?”
-Courney White, Grass, Soil, Hope
Abundance means sharing and everyone having enough. Abundance is found through generosity. We need to create safe, renewable power within ourselves to regenerate the land. We need to rehydrate the earth – water brings life. Slow it, spread it, sink it. Drought represents many levels of difficult relationships. Put humus (carbon) back in the soil to regain humility. Heal the soil by using compost, compost tea, sheet mulching, worms, bio-char, fungi/mycellium, growing intentionally selected plants and working for survival. Look to holistic management practices for grazing animals according to patterns of wild herds to regenerate soil quickly by restoring carbon.
We don’t need outer solutions, what we need to do is work in harmony. Here she cited the example of a company looking to invent a device to take carbon dioxide out of the air, balking at this unnecessary business venture, since nature and plants have the best possible systems to serve this need, ones we couldn’t dream of replicating, let alone improve on. What we need to do is stop taking resources out of our planet in order to preserve the pristine while doing all we can to put carbon back into the soil. We are responsible for giving back, not just taking.
We need to be considering the destruction of our environment as a moral issue. Then value moral issues above economic issues. We need to take care of each other. Our money should be going to support the elderly, educating the young and taking care of the sick. Wealth distribution is not stable or sustainable. Localize and regenerate the cities by growing food near them. How many times the dollar changes hands before it leaves the community is the determining factor for how much buying local is actually supporting the local economy. Shopping at your local chain store serves no inherit benefit. We need to shift our view away from large systems. The message isn’t less, it’s conservation. Save energy.
Let’s look at how to improve the quality of our lives so we require less quantity. Transition towns. Community gardens. Community on every level is the antidote to climate change. We need to organize in order to create change. Lobby. Campaign. Use media. Build coalitions. Resist and protest. Say no to policy, not to the people behind it. It is for a noble cause that we separate the people from the choices they make. Build leverage, but out of love rather than hatred. Build our future for the land, nature, and our children. We need to do all of this yesterday – but since we can’t, we need to do it today!
Stages of an activist campaign: research, educate (children and officials), negotiate (policies and legislation), mobilize, direct action, and transformation! She left us to ponder the question,”What are you producing that feeds the land?”