Too much bad news? Here’s hope…

The changes we are occurring as a result of SL’s effort are not always easily discernible, but when others make the same observations on a broad scale that I see here in lawrence, I take heart, and I want to pass them along as hopeful signs, if not out-and-out good news.

Here, edited, are some items from an AlterNet article on trends to be watching for.

1. We’re finally getting real about the urgency and scope of the climate challenge. The incoming Obama administration take appears to take science seriously, which means taking climate change seriously, too. The naysayers have quit denying the existence of global warming and have resorted to random delay tactics. Many now see the conversion to a climate-friendly society as a major opportunity, with new jobs and investment needed to weatherize buildings, retool factories, develop renewable sources of energy and rebuild transportation infrastructure – all along “green” lines.
2. Social movements are building people power.  [AlterNet backs up this assertion citing examples from the Labor front;  I'll  simply agree with the basic idea.  Perhaps you have your own evidence from whatever sector you live/work in.]
3. DIY (do it yourself) communities are piloting the shift to a people-centered society. These folks understand that true security is found in the “social capital” of community.  I could not agree more.  They aren’t waiting for policy changes or bailouts, instead, they are helping each other now and getting on with the most important challenges of our time.

Look around Lawrence: growing social capital, mutual self-support, and focus on sustainable future.  Heck, we’re even eating better.  Yum!

Ralph

Food. Oh, yeah.

(Local activists beware.  Policy-wonking ahead.)

You eat.  But how permanent is that?

Here’s an excerpt casting doubt about your ability to continue that habit from an op-ed piece in today’s (1/5/09) NY Times.  It’s by Wes Jackson and Wendell Berry.  No slouches they.

“For 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe that as long as we have money we will have food.  That is a mistake.  If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy.  The government will bring forth no food by providing hundreds of billions of dollars  to the agribusiness corporations.”

See the entire article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/opinion/05berry.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Ralph