To Indiana Moral Mondays Environmental Justice:
The point I was trying to make about Keystone, and earlier about the “War is Not the Answer” campaign was that I hope we can come up with a clear message to focus on.
I don’t think any of us envision our work being simply reacting to whatever legislation appears. That’s why I was trying to get at ways we could be more proactive and help initiate legislation to help our cause.
Comments so far have pointed out the challenging conditions we face. Most of the general public seems to have given up on the state/national legislative processes. There is a huge disconnect between our democratic form of government ideals and the way things actually work.
You are probably aware that the 50th anniversary celebration of the Selma story is being used to promote voter registration and rights.
The civil rights struggles of the 1960s exploded because the oppression had become so extreme that it was unbearable, which is really saying something. Ferguson and its aftermath are a sign, I think, that the level of unrest has risen to nearly that level, once again.
I think the New Social Settlement paper from the New Economics Foundation is really interesting because it changes the focus of work for change. It identifies that we are facing systemic problems that need to be addressed globally.
Also a number of thinkers are writing along the lines of Jeremy Rifkin in the Zero Cost Margin Society, who explains that true social/political revolutions occur when three things change: source of energy, means of communication and infrastructure/manufacturing. He describes these revolutions from the past, and states that we are in one now because the source of energy is changing to renewable energy, the means of communication has changed to the Internet of Things and portable devices, and manufacturing is changing with the spread of 3D printers. One of his main points and the title of the book, is that energy, communication and manufacturing (3D printing) costs are approaching zero.
So I thought one of our focuses could be to hurry along the process of converting to free energy. And it makes the most sense to me to focus on those who are struggling financially, first. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. And there is no doubt how beneficial it would be to have greatly reduced, and eventually totally free, energy. And those states that have already invested a lot in renewable energy are the ones new industry is attracted to, because industry knows fossil fuel prices will continue to increase, and sources are diminishing.
Free energy, free people
Solar, wind, people power
Gone with the wind 🙂
Jeff
My letter to the editor in the Indianapolis Star 2/16/2015
Keystone XL Pipeline Threatens the Environment
Sao Paulo running out of water:
From Marcus Jones, who I worked with during his research Fellowship at Riley Hospital:
Hi Jeff,
The situation is pretty bad in São Paulo. We are lucky to live 1500 Km south of SP and have plenty of water resources.
And just 3 million people in the extended metropolitan area (SP has 19.6 million…)
Marcus H Jones, MD PhD
Professor da Faculdade de Medicina PUCRS – Brasil
Quakers, social justice and revolution 