SUSTAINABILITY: TRANSFORMATION OF THE CULTURE WLL START LOCALLY
The BP disaster in the Gulf, the weather chaos such as the Pakistan flood, the chronic unemployment in our capitalistc system—these all suggest this is a great time for creative thiinking and acton on he deepest level. We need to go beyond the immediate events to consider bigger questions.
All of these issues have something to do with energy policy and building a sustainable world. The Gulf oil spill was much bigger than this one horrific episode—it once again challenged us to rethink our addiction to oil. The floods, heat waves, droughts all tie into weather extremes that likely have something to do with changing climate. While our traditional economic system may no longer require our total labor force to produce all the goods and services we need, an energy-efficient culture based in sustainable lifestyles will open up a very different economy with a whole range of new work demands.
I seems that the Congress and also, unhappily, Obama, have abandoned ship for an energy/climate bill. Wall Street is still locked in business as usual. This makes clear that the beachhead for transforming our culture toward a more sustainable world is being formed with the huge army of projects being implemented in local areas: creating sustainable communities, constructng buildings using renewable energy, growing food close to home with natural technologies, pioneering new kinds of businesses, inspiring some out-of-the box educators.
I mention in my book, “Odyssey of a Practical Visionary,” that when we served on the Education Task Force of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, it was continually emphasized that th U.N. and governments can pass resolutions but the real action will take place at the local level.
The millions of us who use Facebook, for example, can help to pave the way, countering the mainstream political and economic leadership with our practical models of sustainable living.
Belden
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