The Stubborn Determination to Continue Dreaming

“The future is a construct that is shaped in the present, and that is why to be responsible in the present is the only way of taking serious responsibility for the future. What is important is not the fulfillment of all one’s dreams, but the stubborn determination to continue dreaming.” ~ Gioconda Belli, The Country Under My Skin

Belli's admonition is important for Americans disenchanted with our nation's leadership in the world. It is easy to feel disenfranchised from our present government.

As I painfully listen to the U.S. President and Secretary of Defense hawk an old tune, I am once again amazed that my country's experience - that war does not bring peace - never seems to penetrate very deeply into our psyche. It would be so easy to throw in the towel when most of us come home from a day of long hours commuting, working and bringing our children along the bumpy roads of life...but that would only give them more license to proceed no matter what we think or write or even vote!

No, it is imperative that I and you choose a small part of the turf of our democracy, breathe into it new life from our personal energy, and defend it with all our might. Everything is at stake right now. Just when we need to dream, we are delivered a nightmare. The U.S. is destablizing a whole region of the world under the guise of freedom.

My dream is that we reform this government through active participation on all levels of civic life so that we begin to measure our worth through something worthy like the condition of children in our nation. Think of this: 13 million American children live in poverty. And, how do we measure up for protecting the biosphere: have we provided leadership as the world's worst polluter per capita? Have we responded to genocide wherever it festers? These are some of the true measures of whether we are actualizing prudence and compassion.

Stubborn determination it will certainly take to stay the course and not let fearful scenarios from our so-called leaders and their media entourage dim our hopes for something much better than their dystopias.

We must recover credibility not just in the eyes of other nations, but in our own eyes. And, there are another set of eyes - those of our children. I want to be able to face my son and daughter and tell them truthfully that I did everything I could to renew and protect our national dream of a society based on responsibility for each other.

The following is excerpted from "The Quickening of America" by Frances Moore Lappé and Paul Du Bois (Jossey-Bass, 1994). I believe this is a common dream we could bring into reality now. In fact there are millions of Americans "doing democracy" as I write this. See links to some of their projects at the end of this blog.

THE GREAT CITIZEN EXPERIMENT
Living democracy opens new possibilities for America and the world. It's not anti-government. In living democracy, citizens are not seeking more government. They're not seeking less government. Instead they are developing appropriate and effective roles for government - made accountable to citizens' real concerns.

It's not anti-market or business. In living democracy, the marketplace and business are not the enemy. Instead, citizens ask: How can the market and business be made to serve our community's needs and values. It's not about simple volunteerism. In living democracy, individual volunteerism is not considered The Solution. Rather it is considered a means of building citizen organizations and citizen skills in order to reshape our communities ever closer to our values.

It's not about ideology. In living democracy, citizens are seeking practical solutions, freed from fixed dogma. They're letting go of the notion that there is one formula to fit all communities, all societies. They're experimenting to find what works. They are trusting their own experiences and insights, free to change as they learn new lessons. these citizens know they don't have a democracy. Democracy is something they are doing, as they rebuild themselves and their communities and go about solving today's unprecedented problems together.

~Susan

http://www.environmental-action.org/enviroaction.asp?id2=20839

http://smallplanetinstitute.org/video/index.php

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/about/index.html

http://www.thegreenguide.com/about/tggi

Margaret Atwood's Truth

Reading Margaret Atwood is sheer pleasure. Her writing stands as a tall lighthouse that guides me as a new writer from shipwrecking on the rocks of verbal glut. I am not alone. Atwood not surprisingly engenders an erudite band of lovers: http://www.mscd.edu/~atwoodso/

Because I chose to write a novel about the way distant future-the beginning of the third millenium-I sat down one afternoon to read Atwoods' essays about writing The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake in her excellent collection of essays, Writing with Intent.

In "Writing Utopia" Atwood explains that her work is not science fiction but rather entirely conceivable in the present (we are either doing it now, did it in the past, or could start doing it tomorrow). Therein lies the power of it. The story is built around trends that we know are happening today or unfolding before our eyes. She calls this kind of novel "speculative fiction".

Whether writing about a utopia (where eveything works perfectly around someone's notion of what's "good") or a dystopia (where nothing works and thus readers discern what would be good or better), Atwood points out that only cultures based on monotheism produce either kind of novel. Polytheistic cultures, not being based on a unidirectional flow from bad to better to perfect, are circular by their nature so that all things move through cycles in a rhythm with one thing creating the forces that bring the other into existence.

From my perspective, to write a utopia or a dystopia is to make a judgement on society or declare that some values are definitely superior to others. Atwood chose to write a dystopia in both The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake. In the latter, the dismal, shattered world of Snowman is so terrible it shook me to my core. I wept long after finishing the book. Then I became angry! Why use all this talent to create a lasting vision of devastation? Rather than feeling empowered to make change, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of debilitating impotence.

As a long time environmental educator, I exist today on the hope that we can create in the minds of enough people the vision of how we can live sustainably so that a tipping point in consciousness sweeps across our nation. Atwood's dystopias innoculate us with a half-killed version of the real disease vector to hopefully make us stronger, more resistant to its threat. Why then do I resist it so? The answer may be that I prefer to eat organic food and drink clear water and let my body/mind develop its natural defenses. I prefer a positive vision I can reach toward, one that is realistic. Some would say I look for utopia.

No matter utopian or dystopian scenarios, nature will surely select out of the human community those who possess "robust" genes - or robust behaviors. If humanity goes on with business as usual, few of our progeny will make it into the 22nd century and if they do they it will not be nice.

A decade ago I stepped off the merry-go-round of status quo to study my culture through the eyes of North American first peoples, a Mojave medicine man and an Iroquois teacher. The first question they asked me was "Do you want the truth or a pretty picture?" I chose the truth. And likewise I think Atwood goes that way in her speculative fiction. But it is such a bitter pill.

As I plan my novel I consider whether to drink of the absinthian liquid of despair or imbibe the sweet ambrosia of a better world. Perhaps I will drink both, chasing one shot after another. Perhaps the best we can ever do is to actively strive toward utopia, realizing it IS a myth but that the path is something very, very good, and sustainable.

These are my reflections on a quiet but very warm morning on the Sonoran Desert. I am praying for rain.

~Susan

Meeting at the Crossroads

Most people think of cactus, cowboys or the Grand Canyon when they think of Arizona. It's true we still hatch cowboys and cowgirls in the Arizona family, but they are definitely becoming an endangered species who can now be found herding tourists as much as cattle.

Arizona is a state riding the waves of tourism, this year raking in $17 billion in revenues from people like you who come to ride white water down a canyon gorge or walk an old path in Indian country.

Arizona's waters, land and big domed sky are the state's natural capital.

So it is not surprising that Arizonans are coming together to assure we protect our nest egg. And we are not a moment too soon! Like other states we are suffering from rapid growth, habitat degradation and an awesome draw down of aquifers.

The state's professional society for environmental educators-Arizona Association for Environmental Education (AAEE)-supported by a generous grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust-hosted a statewide summit on sustainability:
The Arizona Crossroads Summit: ttp://www.arizonaee.org/events/summit.html

AAEE intends to find common ground among many sectors of Arizona's diverse culture to assure that life remains worth living (and visiting) here in the Copper State. Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust (http://www.ninapulliamtrust.org/html/) is betting on the long shot by investing in the Summit as part of their commitment to protect wildlife and facilitate a high quality of life for all Arizonans.

AAEE brought together over 80 decision-makers in April from government, business,technology, public education and university sectors along with interpreters and educators from parks, museums, nature centers and university science programs. They spent the day at the beautiful Heard Museum in Phoenix
(www.heard.org) considering how they can work together.

AAEE's members are people from all walks of life who value ecosystems and wildlife for its intrinsic value. Learning to speak the language of a broader group of Arizonans who may look at nature's value in terms of human wealth is an acquired skill. Yet both viewpoints can lead to the same end. The Crossroads Summit is AAEE's committment to interpret the value of nature in many "languages" to foster a grassroots movement that will result in more sustainable practices in a variety of sectors in Arizona.

At a Follow-up Meeting of Summit Participants at the Desert Botanical Garden, (www.dbg.org) the group focused on bringing networks of existing programs and services together to make them visible to the public. By doing so they hope to channel citizen action and support through them. In other words, there are hundreds of organizations, businesses and community groups who are already focused on sustainability and maybe all that is needed is to promote their efforts.

As this commences, the leaders believe it will define markets and illuminate what is missing from the picture. This dynamic process will lead to innovation and create a sense of being in this all together.

The Crossroads Summit moved out of the theoretical realm at the Follow-up Meeting and into action. Check the AAEE website for updates and ways to get involved: www.arizonaee.org.

Even as the Arizona Crossroads Summit moves into implementation, no one involved is deluded into thinking this fixes the problem of human impacts on fragile ecosystems in our state. This is only a first step together on a steep path but the path holds potential for Arizonans to reconsider how to live here, how to formulate a creative yet appropriate lifestyle.

For us the issue of water is of paramount importance. With Arizona at the dripping end of the Colorado River Water Pact, we face serious issues in the near future. The Follow-up Team is planning to focus on water exclusively in this early phase to support Governor Janet Napolitano's creation of a tri-university think tank to conserve water resources.

The message of the Arizona Crossroads Summit is clear: It will take all of us to make it into a viable future in Arizona.

Other resources to check out:

http://www.azwater.gov/dwr/

http://www.azcommerce.com/communityplanning/council.asp

~Susan

A Matter of Time

There isn't any place I'd rather be than by an ocean. This is the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola's main beach.

Perhaps what captivates me is its energy. Many people, maybe all human beings, are beguiled by large bodies of water. Must be some cellular recognition of our origin, when relatives unrecognizable to us today rocked in the womb of life.

That we are at all related to strange looking creatures darting about in the light-filled strata of the oceans is at best a remote feeling. Yet we learn that we are. In some long ago past our line came packaged in a silicon skeleton!

Scientific American recently published a special edition, A Matter of Time (see below for link). If I read these articles correctly, our perception of time moving forward is a physiological consequence of our neurology. In fact past, present and future may exist simultaneously in the universe.

So perhaps our old relatives exist in the fabric of space, which scientists describe as a grid-like arrangement of matter and energy in something called "spin networks". I think you will find the articles in this special edition of Scientific American very thought provoking.

The ancient knowledge on this planet-which Western societies have denied credibility-includes an understanding of this grid-like structure of the universe. Presumably there were once Earthlings who utilized the energy lines of the electromagnetic grid (where the Earth's crust releases energy from deep within). These old lines were locations of sacred structures, pathways of lost civilizations with sofisticated knowledge of the Earth and the Universe.

An Iroquois Teacher once told me she participates in balancing energy flow along these lines to help the Earth in times of great disruptions of natural energy flows (climate change?).

When I walk along the shore of the ocean, lulled by the ebb and flow of its salty waves, I feel the pull of a numinous presence, a deep call from my core. I know intuitively that call comes from something much greater than the concerns of my daily life, a Source of profound wisdom that suffuses the entire Earth and indeed, the Universe.

Perhaps this is why I am drawn to oceans....

~Susan

A Matter of Time: http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssue&ISSUEID_CHAR=6A269AE7-2B35-221B-60DCBF6A2F13F5CF

On the Edge

More articles and reports about Earth Changes. Acidification of oceans from increased absorption of carbon dioxide has reached levels that interfere with production of shells on lifeforms that are at the base of vast marine food webs; release of methane-rich cathrates during glacial and tundra thawing are expected; continued degradation of forests and grasslands rages on, imperiling Earth's large carbon sinks. Read below about acidification of oceans:

Growing Acidity of Oceans May Kill Corals By Juliet Eilperin
The escalating level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is making the world's oceans more acidic, government and independent scientists say. They warn that, by the end of the century, the trend could decimate coral reefs and creatures that underpin the sea's food web. To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/04/AR2006070400772.html?referrer=emailarticle


Our prevailing economic and political worldview results in the U.S. contributing the biggest impact per capita on the biosphere-a commons of air, water and land systems shared by the entire community of life. Our values, our Constitution, does not include the Earth and her communities of life under its protection. It is valueless in our principles of governance. This is a critical point we need to reevaluate.

For a country that purports to follow Christian ethics, what happened to the Law given to Moses? Natural Law. A very hopeful sign from religous communities shows some of us may be reexamining the Law:

Ecological efforts unite faiths in common cause. More than a decade ago on an Aegean island, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians made a startling proposition: That pollution and other attacks on the environment could be considered sins.

The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/14976527.htm
(c) 2006 ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.


The environmental alarms have been screaming for decades now but so many of us are deaf. The question is "How can we bravely face the truth of our times?"

Hopefully we will face it together with grace and humility and a lot of determination to save all we can, and we will gain understanding about how to govern ourselves more ecologically. I live in that hope and intention.

~Susan

Great Voices of Democracy

Is there not something worthy of perpetuation in our Indian spirit of democracy, where Earth, our mother, was free to all, and no one sought to impoverish or enslave his neighbor?
~ Ohiyesa, Santee Sioux (1858 – 1939)

Yes, your honor, I have many things to say; for in your ordered verdict of guilty, you have trampled under foot every vital principle of our government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my judicial rights, are all alike ignored.
~ Susan B. Anthony, Women’s Rights Leader (1820 – 1906)

When I first decided to take a firm stand against the war in Vietnam, I was subjected to the bitterest criticism, by the press, by individuals, and even by some fellow civil rights leaders. There were those who said that I should stay in my place, that these two issues did not mix and I should stick with civil rights. Well I had only one answer for that and it was simply the fact that I have struggled too long and too hard now to get rid of segregation in public accommodations to end up at this point in my life segregating my moral concerns.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Leader (1929 – 1968)

No face which we can give to a matter will stead us as well at last as the truth. This alone wears well…. Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe. ~ David Henry Thoreau, American Dissenter (1817 – 1862)

Because we have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to survive, we are ready to give up everything - even our lives - in our struggle for justice.
~ Cesar Chavez, Leader of the Farm Workers’ Civil Rights Movement (1927 – 1993)

The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives… is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty; because, as an individual, she must rely on herself. ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Women’s Rights Leader (1815 – 1902)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….
~ Declaration of Independence 1776

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it. ~ Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (1809 – 1865)

He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
~ Thomas Paine, American Patriot (1737 – 1809)

Americans raise their flag to honor Liberty and burn their flag when Liberty is in jeopardy. Liberty for All is the creed of true Americans. They cannot be swayed. They have tasted her intoxicating liberation. No government, no religious doctrine or person can deter true Americans from their pursuit of freedom.

Liberty is their only religion, their only banner. True Americans are free to think and free to live. Liberty whispers in their ears throughout the land.

On this 4th of July I am hoping for a sea change in American politics to right the wrongs of a misguided foreign policy. For the sake of Freedom and Liberty, bring home the troops.

Susan