the global change-makers’ magazine

Activist Superpowers

A Complex Predicament: PART 3 - THE ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICAMENT

THE NEW SACRED ACTIVISM

FAREWELL MICHAEL RUPPERT, and thank you.

The Politics of Going Beyond Coal: THE PURSUIT A PEOPLE-POWERED OF HAPPINESS MOVEMENT

- CHANGEMAKER PROFILE - David Rovics: The Communicator

ISSUE #3 THE POWER OF WE ALL CONTENT IS Dear reader, CONTENTS CREDITS Welcome to the third issue of SHIFT magazine! FEATURES If you’re reading SHIFT, chances are you realize all is not well with Editorial team 53 The Human Race: the world, and are hungry for change. Our ever-evolving world Sean Crawley Farewell Michael Ruppert, and Thank You The Tyranny of “Me”? is a place of pain and beauty, of desperation and hope, and of 4 Kari McGregor Wesley T. Miller, Jenna Orkin & Guy McPherson pay Sean Crawley mulls over society’s modern-day inspiration and tragedy. Striking a balance is never easy, and to do Graphic design tribute to the life and work of peak-oil analyst Michael obsession with the empire of the self, and its role in our so requires a shift in attitude, in direction, and in the conversations C. Ruppert. apparent inability to change the course of our culture. Ben Matei our society holds. David Zwolski 15 A Complex Predicament: How our Energy, Economic REGULARS Cover artwork Thank you for taking part in the much-needed shift in public and Ecological Systems are Creative Director - Ben Matei discourse, and for making time for the conversations that matter. Connected The Critically Endangered Photographer - Alex Cahill 7 Species File: Models - Sean O’keeffe, Brendan Crew, Kasia Targowski, SHIFT is a labour of love for the all-volunteer team that people- Feedback Loops, the Jevons Paradox, Jordan Anne, Chanel De Pledge powers its way into print every second month. Traversing time-zones and the Three End Games: The Leatherback Turtle Special Thanks to CHRIS HUZZARD STUDIOS and the treadmill, our team has worked wonders on a shoestring Part 3 - The Environmental Predicament Sean Crawley investigates what is driving the global decline of the Leatherback Turtle, and what can be done Contributing artists In the final of this three-part series, Dave Pollard gets to budget, investigating, interviewing, visioning, scribbling, editing, to pull this remarkable species back from the brink. Martin Sharman - https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharman/ grips with the complexity of our environmental crisis, and designing, and printing this third issue of ad-free critique, and what it all means for us. Michel - https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtchm/ inspiration to practical action. 11 Changemaker Profile: Alex Loach - https://www.flickr.com/photos/53825985@N02/ 31 When Surrender Does Not Mean Giving David Rovics: The Communicator Glenn Halog - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ghalog/ Issue #3 of SHIFT sets out to explore people-power, the ‘power of Up: The New Sacred Activism Kari McGregor met with independent artist and one’ that each of us possesses to make a difference, to deposit a Carolyn Baker unpacks the concept of the new Sacred political songwriter David Rovics to explore the power Activism, an idea whose time has come in the face of a of music for telling the stories of our times. drop in the bucket of change, no matter how insignificant each drop future filled with uncertainty. NEXT ISSUE RELEASE alone may seem. An exploration of our strengths and weaknesses, our assets and flaws, and our strides despite our setbacks, this issue 41 The Politics of The Pursuit of Happiness 23 Top 10: is an honest celebration of ‘the power of we’. Of course, not all is Bayo Akomolafe challenges our culture’s concept of Activist Superpowers happiness, questioning how it is achieved, and why it 21st July plain-sailing in the change-makers’ world, so in this issue we devote Activism really can be for everyone, and we all bring our seems to be so elusive for so many. own skills to the mix. What’s your activist superpower? a little space to the need for social support, time and space for

READ ONLINE, DOWNLOAD, reflection, and the pitfalls of committing oneself entirely to a cause. 46 Activism and the Gifts of Imperfection ORDER HARD COPY Miss Metanoia explores the role of minorities and the DEPARTMENTS Change-makers from diverse disciplines and backgrounds disadvantaged in the privilege-dominated arena of collaborate over SHIFT, delivering fresh food for thought to assist activism. www.shift-magazine.org the shift in our conversations, our ideas, and our actions. Every 1 From the SHIFT team issue of SHIFT also aims to feature a couple of submissions from our COLUMNS readers, so if you fancy wordsmithing your way into print, pitch us 3 Contributors your idea and we’ll take it from there. Submission guidelines and FOLLOW US AROUND 9 Growthbusting: forms are on our website at www.sustainabilitysc.org. 22 Subscribe Sustainable Thinking… Pass It On! Free from commercial advertising, SHIFT is fully supported by digital @ShowcaseSustain Dave Gardner’s latest big idea: a pyramid scheme for 61 Economize Cryptic Crossword /AllAboutTheSHIFT the sustainability movement. #SHIFTmag and hard-copy purchases and subscriptions from our readers. This means you get to read only the stuff you want to read, in the format 60 References The Overthinker: you want it in, and don’t have to leaf through pages and pages of 27 Going Beyond Coal: A People-Powered consumer-paradigm junk. Thank you so much for your support, your Movement company in these interesting times, and your feedback that enables CONTACT US Kari McGregor travels to the Galilee Basin in SHIFT to evolve. Queensland’s rural heartland to connect the dots on the people-powered movement to put fossil fuels where they We hope that you will find SHIFT an inspiring and empowering belong: in the past. [email protected] +61 7 5450 0892 (Australia) read, and that you will find information worth sharing. Take care, and have a good read! 49 Doing it Ourselves: Where Collapse Meets Radical Politics Love and solidarity, This magazine has been Theo Kitchener explores a new radical politics, the printed on acid-free nexus point where the radical left meets transition. 100% recycled paper. departments CONTRIBUTORS

Dave Gardner Kari McGregor

Dave Gardner has worked as a professional A committed downshifter, Kari’s career film director for 30 years, and directed the pathway through non-profit management documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on and mainstream education recently Growth. He is also founding contributor at culminated in a leap from the treadmill and Growth Bias Busted, the media watchdog a return to her activist roots. Harbouring project that sheds light on the pro-growth nomadic tendencies, she has lived in the bias in our media. He writes, films and speaks UK, Spain and Thailand before settling in regularly about our culture’s addiction to Australia and making the Sunshine Coast growth. Dave is based in Colorado Springs, her home for now. Kari now divides her time GrowthBusters USA. /TheOverthinker.org between consulting for the non-profit world, and working for the grassroots non-profit, @growthbusters @ThinksItOver Sustainability Showcase. She blogs as The Overthinker, freelancing a critical spin on our planetary predicament. www.growthbusters.org www.theoverthinker.org

Miss Metanoia Bayo Akomolafe

Miss Metanoia, aka Anne Nguyen, ‏is Adebayo Akomolafe (PhD) is a clinical a millennial-generation freelance writer, psychologist, lecturer, speaker and author cultural creative, and professional homebody. from Covenant University in Nigeria. He is A digital native, she critiques culture through an activist for a radical paradigm shift in the lens of a generation raised on selfies consciousness and current ways of living, an and status updates, whilst attempting to emerging voice calling for the re-enchantment navigate an economic and political terrain of indigenous ways of being in the world. In unrecognizable to previous generations of 2011, Bayo initiated a book project called thinkers. Miss Metanoia is based in Sydney, ‘We will tell our stories: Reimagining the @stalksnu Australia. Koru Conversations Social Sciences in Africa’, and is currently publishing the book in collaboration with other leading African intellectuals. www.miss-metanoia.blogspot.com.au Bayo Akomolafe

Theo Kitchener Dave Pollard Farewell Michael Ruppert, Theo Kitchener has a background in activism Dave Pollard retired from paid work in and community building, and more recently 2010 after 35 years as an advisor to small has been working to raise awareness around enterprises. He is a long-time student of and Thank You collapse and transition possibilities through our culture and its systems, of history and the Melbourne-based volunteer group, Doing of how the world really work. His books It Ourselves. Self-described apocaloptimist, include Finding the Sweet Spot: The Natural Theo is positive about the future, focusing Entrepreneur’s Guide to Responsible, on community, , appropriate Sustainable, Joyful Work, and Group friend and colleague, Jenna Orkin. technology, voluntary simplicity, participatory Works: A Pattern Language for Bringing Michael C. Ruppert was a analyst, Doing It Ourselves democracy, community economics and our @DavePollard Life to Meetings and Other Gatherings. He Along with some parting words from potential transformation. Theo is based in is currently working on a collection of short investigative journalist, and activist. Many www.doingitourselves.org Melbourne Australia. www.howtosavetheworld.ca stories about the world two millennia from Guy McPherson, these speeches are now. He lives on Bowen Island, Canada. readers may know Mike as author of Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American published in the pages that follow. Sean Crawley Carolyn Baker Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, or as the subject of the 2009 documentary Collapse, In solidarity with Mike’s nearest and Sean Crawley has decided to hang around Carolyn Baker, Ph.D. is the author of and get involved in earthly affairs for as Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths based on his book A Presidential Energy Policy. dearest, and all those who connected long as possible because his curiosity to For Turbulent Times. Her previous books see how all this pans out is greater than the are and Navigating The Coming Chaos: A with his message, we would like to bid sometimes attractive option of hanging up Handbook For Inner Transition (2011) and one’s boots. Sean has worked as an educator Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path After a long battle with his personal demons, for farewell to Mike, and encourage folks to in schools, community settings and in youth Of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse (2009). mental health, and currently donates much She lives and writes in Boulder, Colorado. reasons known only to him Michael C. Ruppert help him rest in peace by living life as he of his time to the grassroots non-profit, A former psychotherapist and professor of Sustainability Showcase. He lives and works @drumbaker psychology and history, Carolyn offers life took his own life on April 13th 2014. A public would have wanted: downshift, connect on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. coaching for people who want to live more memorial service/Celebration of Life was held with your community, and prepare for a www.carolynbaker.net resiliently in the present as they prepare for www.fourtwentytwoam.blogspot.com.au the future. in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday 17th May precarious future. [email protected]. 2014. Among the speeches given by Mike’s nearest and dearest were a eulogy written by Goodbye Mike, and thank you so much for his close friend and business partner, Wesley T. having the courage to take the path you took Miller, and sections of a speech written by his in life.

3 SHIFT Magazine 4 departments From: Jenna Orkin Jenna Orkin, a colleague and friend of Michael Ruppert, is the author of The Moron’s From: Guide to Global Collapse. Portions of the speech below were read out at Mike’s public memorial on Saturday 17th May. Guy McPherson, a supporter and friend of Michael Ruppert, is a professor emeritus, writer and public speaker, and author of Walking Away from Empire and Going Dark, among other Mike Ruppert was a complex, brilliant, infuriating, funny, by a CIA Executive Director. publications. Below are Guy’s heartfelt parting words for Mike. impossible, honest (usually), never boring, enraged, musical, competitive, generous, contradictory, dog-loving, But one of his greatest achievements occurred around horse-whispering, childlike giant who happened to be right 9/11. At FTW and in his book, Crossing the Rubicon, about the most important problems facing the world today. Mike showed that four months before the attacks, Vice President had been put in charge of war Michael C. Ruppert discovered my work in Michael’s pursuit of reliable information made A psychologist once said, “You can’t have just a baby’s game exercises; and that in spite of the multiple warnings April 2012. He contacted me via email that him an enemy of the state, an outcome that foot,” meaning, “You can’t have the cute parts of a baby from foreign intelligence agencies to the White House month while I was on a speaking tour, and undoubtedly shortened his life. He pulled the without the sleepless nights and dirty diapers.” Similarly, concerning a terrorist attack the week of September 9, at we connected via Skype the following day. I trigger, but he didn’t load the gun. He was you can’t have Mike’s unique gifts to the world without the least five war games had been scheduled for that morning was interviewed by Michael on the Lifeboat disparaged for a long time and attempts to upheaval he generated around him. which drew planes away from the East Coast, where they Hour four times between mid-April 2012 discredit him and his work surely took their toll. would have been able to intercept the hijacked planes, to and late December 2013. We corresponded To lionize him does not do him justice; he doesn’t need it. Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland and Iceland. FTW occasionally between radio interviews, In the end, the state did not need to assassinate He had his demons, both internal and external. In fact, also revealed insider trading – exorbitant numbers of put generally via online, electronic communication. Michael Ruppert because they successfully he epitomized the old saw, “Just because you’re paranoid options on the airlines involved in the attacks; a sure red turned public opinion about him in a strongly doesn’t mean they’re not following you.” flag that a major disaster was about to take place. Michael became a huge supporter of my work negative direction. He was viewed as insane shortly after making contact. By that time, I because of his radical views, thus reminding me of a line from Jiddu Krishnamurti: “It is He once said, “There is a deep flaw in me and that is the The best way to honor Mike is to understand and educate had read Crossing the Rubicon and had been no measure of health to be well adjusted to a source of everything I’ve done.” Driven to flee his own others on the fundamental lessons he taught. First, his following Michael’s work for nearly a decade. I profoundly sick society.” devils, he fought far greater ones on the global stage. And favorite line: “Until you change the way money works, you was particularly impressed with his commitment although he didn’t succeed in single-handedly shifting the change nothing.” An economy based on infinite growth to, and aptitude at, pursuing and synthesizing paradigm of the global economy, he got further than just cannot continue indefinitely on a finite planet. Resources evidence. We were drawn to each other in I miss Mike and his clear, strong voice. I am about anyone else. are being depleted as population growth marches on. large part because of our shared pursuit of inspired by his work and his life, and I will The population currently stands at seven times what it was evidence regardless of personal cost. strive to reach his high standards with my own work. And I will continue to grieve. You don’t have to perform the mind-bending feat of when oil started being used to fuel the economy. No matter accepting death by self-inflicted gunshot wound as a peace how smart our technology becomes, as easy oil inevitably In supporting my work, Michael increased my offering in order to show him respect. To paraphrase wanes, the replacements cannot fill in at the same rate, reach and credibility. He was an unflagging Mike’s own eulogy to who also killed himself, certainly not without poisoning the air, water and soil as colleague and friend. By the time he died, I was only Mike knows why he finally did it after threatening for well as huge swaths of people. closer to Michael -- even though we never met at least eight years. in person -- than to my own blood relatives. If we don’t deal with this now, it will deal with us later and Some of Mike’s accomplishments: From uncovering CIA at far greater cost. That’s what Mike’s been trying to tell drug-dealing, he went on to found fromthewilderness.com everyone for ten years. Relocalize. Grow food not lawns. which revealed how the US banking system looted Russia And end our current economic system of fiat currency, after the fall of the USSR. FTW also published documents fractional reserve banking and interest. Do that and Mike which helped secure the release of CIA spy Edwin Wilson will be able to rest in peace. who had been convicted on the basis of perjured testimony Jenna Orkin

5 SHIFT Magazine 6 regulars CR FILES:

Plastic waste – particularly degrading plastic bags – is mistaken as Leatherback Turtle food by these turtles. Images of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, created by humankind with the assistance of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, Each issue of SHIFT will present one species of life that is classified as critically endangered, Homo should embarrass every one of us. The simplest action you can take as an sapiens excluded. By definition, whether it be by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), individual is to eradicate plastic bag usage. or your nation state’s environmental governance structure such as the Department of the Environment in Some of the many programs to save the world’s largest sea turtles, that have Australia, critically endangered essentially means that the species is facing an extremely high risk of been around for 65 million years, can be found at: extinction in the wild in the immediate future.

COMMON NAME: SPECIES: • http://www.costaricaturtles.org/costa_new_leatherback.html Leatherback, Leatherback Sea Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea • http://saveourleatherbacks.org/ Leathery Turtle, Luth, Trunkback Turtle, Trunk Turtle, Coffin-back • http://www.leatherback.org/

• http://www.wcs.org/saving-wildlife/ocean-giants/leatherback-sea-turtle.aspx RANGE: THREATS: • http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/marine_turtles/leatherback_turtle/ Leatherback turtles are found around the Loss and degradation of nesting habitat world (see http://maps.iucnredlist.org/ map.html?id=6494) Oil spills and marine pollution Ocean plastic Coastal nesting sites may be tropical/ subtropical, but foraging range extends Fishing bycatch into sub-polar oceans Poaching Global warming Disease

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS:

Though comprehensive data is sadly lacking, all evidence available demonstrates this species is in dramatic decline. Some data quote global populations in 35,800 adult females in 2004, a massive decline from the 1982 figure of 115,000. In the Pacific, where numbers have declined the most, estimates are that there has been an 80 – 95% decline in numbers over the last 20 years.

This turtle is a truly global animal. Its conservation can be justified, as with any species, on biodiversity grounds. But perhaps another unique reason for humans to increase efforts to save this species is that it is a major consumer of jellyfish. The recent evidence of jellyfish blooms, and the threat they pose to the health of the oceans, surely provides grounds for protecting the leatherback and other turtles from disappearing from the ocean ecosystem.

80-95% Decline IN PAST 20 YEARS

7 SHIFT Magazine 8 columns

Pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, and multi-level marketing: Our job is to take every brilliant pro-sustainability message all of these rely on the power of exponential growth. If I that comes to us, and recommend it to our friends and recruit ten people into a multi-level marketing organization, colleagues. When I get this issue of SHIFT, I will post it to my and each of those folks recruits ten who are each responsible facebook wall and tweet it to my followers. I do the same for bringing in another ten recruits, in no time I have 1,000 with ’s Museletter.2 You, no doubt, have people earning me commissions selling whatever the your own favorite sources. I see good material all the time organization markets. Add one more level and it’s 10,000. from ,3 New Economics Foundation,4 The level after that will be 100,000. You can see why people Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy,5 get excited about that. and Transition Network.6

People and organizations that profit from a growing market When my GrowthBusters7 project puts out a new video, we have long been fans of the biggest pyramid scheme in history. can’t afford to buy airtime to run it on CNN. We count on our The past century’s rapid increase in global population has supporters around the world to be multi-level marketers and been providing them with a growing pool of cheap labor pass it on to their networks. If we create an inspired video and (more job-seekers than jobs keeps wages low) and an ever- our pyramid scheme works, it can go viral. Annie Leonard increasing supply of customers. didn’t have the resources to buy airtime or run ads alerting the public to her Story of Stuff8 video. People loved it enough These growth profiteers have the power and money to to pass it on. It’s now been translated into 15 languages and vigorously defend the status quo in a number of ways: they seen by over 12 million people. print newspapers and run news networks, and those who don’t own mass media have the money to run ads in the Of course it’s essential that we are all adjusting our own media. Two recent examples: lifestyles and pushing policymakers in order to accomplish the “shift” we seek, but we also have phenomenal power 1. Economy to multiply our efforts. Don’t just read this magazine and use it for personal inspiration. Pass it on. Don’t just watch More and more people are beginning to question the GrowthBusters or Story of Stuff. Pass it on. Don’t just read effectiveness of our current economic system. Even some Daly, Jensen, Chomsky or Hopkins and learn from them. Pass well-respected advisors have been raising the possibility that them on! the era of robust economic growth is over. To keep the natives You can see Dave’s latest potentially “viral” video, Spaceship from getting restless and insisting on moving on to a more 9 sustainable and equitable system, the defenders of the status Earth Passenger Safety Briefing, on YouTube. quo have started running commentaries from their in-house economists that tell us everything is okay; we are not at the end of growth. Just last month Rupert Murdoch’s Journal ran an article titled The World’s Resources Aren’t Running Out, 1 by Matt Ridley.

2. Fracking

Oil companies in the U.S. have pooled their money to occupy our media with advertisements extolling the virtues of extracting natural gas (jobs, economic growth, energy independence, cheap energy) to quash an uprising of resistance to drilling in our neighborhoods (and all the pollution that involves).

Those of us working to move our civilization in a sustainable direction, whether it’s weaning us from population and economic growth or from fossil fuels, don’t own major newspapers. We don’t have deep pockets to buy ads on major TV networks. But we do have the ability to put our own pyramid scheme to work. We can attract a growing number of people, disenchanted with the status quo, to explore sustainable thinking and living, through effective multi- level marketing of our own.

By Dave Gardner

9 SHIFT Magazine 10 feature Changemaker profile: The Communicator

Each issue of SHIFT magazine features a changemaker profile. Issue #1 of SHIFT featured The Resistor, and issue #2 featured The Builder. Coming up are: The Investigator, The Networker, and The Nurturer. This issue features The Communicator.

Inspired by the stories told by David Rovics’ Songs of Social Significance1, Kari McGregor met with the American independent singer/songwriter and political activist to explore the power of music for telling the stories of our times. Most of Rovics’ music conveys a political narrative Alternative media for an and alternative worldview, raising issues that need to be addressed, and celebrating progress made alternative message by social movements. Featuring historical events and individuals as their protagonists, Rovics’ When asked why people accept the stories told songs weave on honest narrative absent from by the mainstream media, Rovics points out that the mainstream media. Perhaps for this reason “for most people, in most places, the mainstream David Rovics Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now2, has media is the only media they’re familiar with.” described the artist’s work as “the musical version This is even true of people who are skeptical. The of Democracy Now”. Covering a wide range of reality is that most of us are still reliant on the topics from war to global warming to indigenous mainstream for much of the reporting on what is rights issues, Rovics’ songs of social significance happening in the world. This is simply a matter The Communicator: David Rovics follow his own journey from the discovery that all is of resources, and small-scale alternative media not well in paradise. simply cannot compete with the financial backing Artists don’t come much more independent than David Rovics, whose resolutely political of corporate conglomerates. So we are left with, at music belongs to no record label, and who answers to no one. Shunning the norms of It starts with one thing, and then it naturally best, an alternative media interpretation of what expands into other things because once you get mainstream sources are reporting. the industry, Rovics makes all of his music available online for free, along with his lyrics tuned into social movements that are trying to and sheet music, encouraging its use for non-profit purposes. The message is clear: this change something then you get tuned into other The alternative media interpreting is very useful social movements that are related, and then the is not just art for art’s sake; there are stories that need to be told, and heard. – it’s crucial to read between the lines with the concentric circles just keep expanding. But for help of analysts who are interpreting the facts me it started with the anti-nuclear movement as laid out by the mainstream media. But those after the 3 mile island meltdown in Pennsylvania. facts are going to be laid out by the mainstream media first.” Rovics became involved in the anti-nuclear movement from a young age, growing up in the When pressed for his opinion on the most important Songs of social I think that most people understand the world US during the Cold War, painfully aware of its under-reported stories of our time, Rovics remarks through stories, and I think this has always been implications and adamant that nuclear power is not that although the environment is the bottom line, significance true. And stories are told in various forms, but a viable option for powering our society if we care environmental issues cannot be resolved without I think most people best understand the world to survive. Despite the clear wake-up call heralded addressing capitalism. around them in terms of stories about individuals by Fukushima in 2011, much of the general public The stories of our culture are its binding Because obviously if we can’t live on the force. Our storytellers wield great power, or small groups of people that they can relate to. still believes the industry rhetoric that nuclear planet then nothing else matters. But I think and with that great responsibility. David If you try to explain things about the world, or power is both clean and safe. In Rovics’ view the also that when it comes to the environment it’s Rovics, one of the great storyteller of our history or politics or whatever, in terms of numbers media has a lot to answer for in terms of its support also impossible to isolate that from everything and the big picture, that can be useful for a lot times, has made a life and livelihood out of for political and business interests above the public else, because I think actually that if we don’t of people, but I think for most people it becomes wellbeing. overthrow capitalism then there’s no hope for telling the alternative stories of our culture harder to understand, and it’s easier if you can living in a world where we can survive as a that are missing from the mainstream convey what you’re trying to communicate using species, because capitalism is fundamentally media in a way that is emphatically small-scale examples that have a narrative form. bent on the destruction of life on earth because relatable. it doesn’t value it.

11 SHIFT Magazine 12 feature

Aside from the environment, Rovics’ muses of the On the plus side of being on this list I always You could say there’s two different things here that are moment include the Trans-Pacific Partnership, have an empty seat next to me on any flight separate, but luckily they’re both consistent. On the one the Ukraine crisis and the fall-out from Edward inside the US, because I think that’s where the hand there’s the principle involved: do you want to get your Snowden’s whistleblowing. The blunders of US air marshal is supposed to be sitting if there is message out to the broadest audience? If so then you want to politicians also provide Rovics with substantial one on the flight – so it gives me extra leg room give it away. But the other question is the practicality aspect mileage for his music, while foreign policy topics to be on this list. – you know, is this practical? The thing is, actually, that not such as Israel, Palestine, Syria and Iraq provide giving it away is not practical, because if you don’t give it ample material for critique. He admits to being a little nervous about border crossings as he’s never quite sure it’ll be smooth away, nobody’s going to hear it. So unless you’re getting sailing, but shrugs it off as “a familiar thing for commercial airplay, or you’re in Hollywood, nobody’s going people around the world, but otherwise it doesn’t to hear it if you don’t give it away, so you have to give it Politics for a muse bother me. I would feel really inadequate if I weren’t away. being watched. What are they doing with all those The question then remaining is how to make a living from When I quiz Rovics as to what he thinks is the people and all that money if they’re not watching me?” one’s art once one has amassed an audience. One way to greatest threat to the world at present, his response do that is to tour and play shows and charge for the shows. is consistent with an American often accused of The other way Rovics recommends, which he combines with being anti-American: United States brinksmanship touring, is to embrace the subscription model of funding. post-WWII. Rovics views the US as a nakedly imperialistic nation whose international interest is The path of independence …that’s something that in the past year I’ve been not the development of peace and democracy, but experimenting with, and have had really great success with political and economic hegemony. Right now the Rovics tells of how his decision to become an that. I’ve been really happy to find that there’s a lot of people US is not only beefing up their offensive military independent artist, like that of many others, was who are into that idea… capacity – the only developed country to do so – but more a matter of necessity than choice. Since the is also aggressively attempting to sway the global deregulation of the airwaves in the US in 1980 economy to its advantage with so-called free trade there has been little to no hope for the vast majority deals such as the TPP and the TTIP. of artists, political or otherwise, to get a record The role of music in social change deal. When asked how he feels about being American in For one thing, the other routes were not available, Despite the obvious difficulties, Rovics is committed to a life as these times, Rovics mulls over what he interprets as so you’ve got to be creative. The music industry a communicator and storyteller – a singer of songs of social a complex question of responsibility. in the United States especially, but in many other significance. In Rovics’ view, humans are inherently musical countries as well, is totally dysfunctional. Most of creatures, and music holds an important place in the overall Basically I think it’s not so much about being the things that you would think the music industry movement for social change. an American as being a human, you know, I should do it doesn’t do. was just born in this country through accident …people need to hear stories in order to understand the of circumstance, like most people in the United Rovics critiques the music industry for creating and world around them. And so often those stories are going to States as well as most people in all the other promoting a small handful of superstars instead be in the form of a song. Basically people forever as far as settler nations like Canada and Australia – we of discovering and promoting talented artists with ended up in these places because of our ancestors history goes and prehistory as well, people learned about a message. He puts it down to the same dollars the world around them through music, and music plays an fleeing wars and persecution in Europe and and sense attitude that afflicts Hollywood, which elsewhere… So, as a descendent of European essential role in building any kind of a culture or subculture does far more to promote business interests than it refugees, I don’t know if I feel necessarily and maintaining a sense of cultural identity or subcultural responsible more than anybody else about the does talented actors and writers with stories to tell. But Rovics believes that there are viable ways for identity and fostering a sense of community – it plays so many crimes of this country. But I feel obligated as a vital roles in society and in any kind of social movement. moral human being to try to oppose them. independent artists to establish themselves, if they embrace the gift economy. How well music can be used by the social movements of our time … you have to embrace the idea that the internet Rovics elaborates that music is also often used in order to depends largely on how well aware is there for people to discover your music, just prop up the dominant culture, however. The military-industrial Perhaps due to his political views and activism change-agents are of how useful like radio stations might have been or might be complex and transnational corporations use music very Rovics has long had issues with international travel. music is. Yet to fully grasp the for artists with major record deals, but if you’re effectively to sell patriotism and their products, so it is not an He speaks nonchalantly about being on a watch- value of music and its role in social not gonna get on the radio, and in this country inherently good thing. It all depends on how it is used, and the list, and how being on the list poses difficulties for change, our movements for change you won’t unless you’re on a major label, you stories it is used to communicate. border crossings for various countries including are crying out for communicators have to find your audience some other way. And Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It’s not all like David Rovics. Songs of social the way I think you need to do that is by giving Music has very, very important positive contributions bad, though, he affirms, jokingly. significance are needed now more all your music away for free on the internet. And to make to culture and to social movements, and that than ever. if you do that and people like your music then always has been the case and I’m sure it always will you will have an audience. be the case.

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In his new book Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist he says “Behind the facade of scientific detachment, the the Truth About Climate Change, author Clive Hamilton climate scientists themselves now evince a mood of barely writes: suppressed panic. No one is willing to say publicly what the climate science is telling us: that we can no longer It was only in September 2008, after reading prevent global warming that will this century bring about A COMPLEX a number of new books, reports and scientific a radically transformed world that is much more hostile to papers, that I finally allowed myself to make the the survival and flourishing of life.” shift and admit that we simply are not going to act with anything like the urgency required… Beyond the shock of coming to grips with this realization The climate crisis for the human species is now comes the challenge of trying to imagine what this PREDICAMENT an existential one. On one level I felt relief: relief “radically transformed world” will look like, and how we at finally admitting what my rational brain had humans are going to respond to, and cope with it. What been telling me; relief at no longer having to makes it even harder is appreciating that this will not be How Our Energy, Economic and Ecological Systems are Connected: spend energy on false hopes; and relief at being a sudden, overnight crisis, but what James Kunstler calls a able to let go of some anger at the politicians, “Long Emergency” that will unfold over decades or even business executives and climate sceptics who are centuries, in waves of varying intensity. And it will not be largely responsible for delaying action against a temporary crisis, one we can bounce back from with courage and effort, but rather a permanent transformation If Runaway Climate Change is Now Inevitable, global warming until it became too late… of everything we now think of as our global civilized culture – the only way we know to live, the only way most Is There Any Rational Response? We [now] have no chance of preventing emissions of us can imagine living. rising well above a number of critical tipping points that will spark uncontrollable climate The Ecological change. The Earth’s climate [will now] enter a PART THREE: chaotic era lasting thousands of years before Our non-linear predicament Predicament natural processes eventually establish some sort of equilibrium. Whether human beings [will] still What I’m going to depict in this article is a scenario I be a force on the planet, or even survive, is a am calling the Great Migration – the displacement and By Dave Pollard moot point. One thing seems certain: there will movement of billions of humans in search of a more be far fewer of us.3 hospitable place to live as runaway climate change makes the places most of us know and love as “home” unrecognizable and unlivable, and what will happen Climate scientists are, of necessity, experts in understanding when those billions encounter billions of others whose complex systems. Over the past few years, when I’ve home places are less affected, but not able to support met with them, they’ve become increasingly pessimistic, even their current populations, let alone a massive influx to the point of finding it difficult to reconcile what they of climate refugees. have come to believe in with what they are required to say publicly – even if it’s for the sake of keeping their jobs and audiences. Clive’s experience has been similar, and

This is the third of three articles on understanding rather than later, might lessen the hardship and complexity and how positive feedback loops are suffering of drastic climate change that we and leading inexorably to civilization’s collapse – and our descendents are likely to face. what we can and can’t do about it. In Part One1 I [...] the Great Migration – the looked at our global energy and resource systems, In this third and final installment, I’ll explain how displacement and movement of and the complex relationship between resource our biosphere is yet another complex system, look prices, regulation, exploration, supply and at some of the latest climate change scenarios, billions of humans in search of a demand, and how they are pushing us towards and try to paint a picture of a future world as much more hospitable place to live as disastrous resource exhaustion. In Part Two2 I warmer than our planet is today as it was colder at runaway climate change makes looked at the complexities of our global economic the coldest point in the “ice ages” of Earth’s recent the places most of us know and systems, and explored whether, although it won’t past – and ask, in the face of this grim certainty, love as “home” unrecognizable ‘save’ civilization, the dismantling or crumbling what a rational, useful, human response might be. and unlivable... of our current industrial growth economy, sooner

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Here’s a closer look at the “climate feedback loops” box in the chart above, showing what climate scientists say is now happening to our atmosphere: under-ice methane release reinforcing feedback loop (”vicious cycle”)

CO and other ENERGY USE & 2 glacial & reectivity of ECONOMIC GROWTH gases in the polar melting polar surfaces atmosphere

mean Earth destabilized RUNAWAY CLIMATE CHANGE: surface climate CLIMATE temperature + 4.6ºC BY MID-CENTURY? FEEDBACK LOOPS reinforcing feedback loop (”vicious cycle”) LEGEND

increase deserti cation, carbon sinks forest cover loss decrease

• the uncontrollable burning of most of the Because we were, until recently, looking at these world’s remaining tropical, subtropical changes in our atmosphere as linear phenomena, and and temperate forests due to latent heat But first, I want to return to the diagram I used in the first culture and a return to a much simpler, relocalized, low- ignoring (or ignorant of) the reinforcing feedback loops, two parts of this series, which shows the interrelationship tech and marginal human society (with, as Clive says, • the prevalence of desertification, we were extremely optimistic about our ability to forestall disappearance of glacial melt, coastal between our economic, energy/resource, and many fewer humans). climate change through coordinated human action. flooding, massive water shortages and/ ecological/climate systems, and how crises in one Now we realize that some of the natural consequences system can precipitate crises in the other two. Each of In this final part, I want to focus on the reinforcing of atmospheric warming (methane release from the or endemic high rates of heat-related the three systems has reinforcing feedback loops that feedback loops in our ecological systems, shown at the arctic, more heat absorption as ice cover disappears, deaths in many of the world’s temperate tend to accelerate disequilibrium (what we call “vicious top of this chart. There is now little doubt that we have desertification, forest cover loss, other changes reducing zones cycles”), and other balancing feedback loops that tend passed the ‘tipping point’ to runaway climate change, natural “carbon capture” sinks, and other phenomena • an ice-free world, with a commensurate to mitigate these accelerating changes and bring the and that it will now radically alter the face of our planet in the oceans we are just beginning to understand) rise, sooner or later, of 50-70m in sea system back into stasis. in this century and for millennia to come, and will do so actually reinforce and accelerate warming. As a result, levels even if we were to stop all human activity tomorrow. some recent studies now predict a median surface As I wrote in the first two parts of this series, we are quickly temperature increase of 4oC or more as soon as mid- • unprecedented and chronic floods, running out of ways to intervene and keep these systems century, and 8oC or more by end-of-century, regardless storms and monsoons in balance, because our global energy/resource of what actions humans take to mitigate the accelerating • the death of almost all ocean life systems are predicated on the availability of unlimited, rise. This is far more than was predicted even just a year • large-scale collapse and abandonment inexpensive resources, and our global economic systems ago. are predicated on our capacity to generate unlimited of aging physical and technology and perpetual economic growth. Since neither system These scientists also agree that this quantum of change, infrastructure not designed for such is sustainable, we are now beginning to spiral into which is comparable to the change that happened when extreme and frequent weather events reinforcing feedback loops that will take us to resource the Earth last slid into an ‘ice age’ (though in the opposite • massive numbers of climate change exhaustion and economic collapse, which will likely temperature direction), is catastrophic – it will render refugees, migrating (mostly north) precipitate the end of our complex global civilization most of the planet uninhabitable to humans without using thousands of miles in search of lands prohibitively expensive prosthetic technologies. that are still habitable and arable

Here’s what “runaway climate change” means, How might humans respond in the face of such according to various scenarios described recently by change, transforming our planet over the course of climate scientists: the next few decades?

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Most human infrastructure abandoned: David Korowicz, an economist and complexity expert with the Irish sustainability think-tank Feasta, explains that much of our social fabric is based on large- The Great Migration scale ubiquitous infrastructure, which will have to be abandoned due to economic collapse and the Great Here’s the scenario I envision we might see, based Migration. In his study “On the Cusp of Collapse” on my study of the collapse of past cultures, the he writes “We are deeply dependent on the grid, IT human movements that occurred in response to ‘ice and communications, transport, water and sewage, ages’, and the recent human responses to great and banking infrastructure… amongst the most depressions, famines and other massive cultural A Great Migration: What we will see, I technologically complex and expensive products in dislocations. think, is a gradual swell of people, a Great our civilisation… This [ever-deteriorating] infrastructure Migration over a few decades fleeing requires continuous inputs for maintenance and famine, thirst and disease. Those who migrate Pulling together in times of crisis, and repair [and] specialised components that depend may encounter friction from those in more upon very diverse and extensive supply-chains.”4 experimentation with new ways of temperate areas struggling with resource living: I believe the response of most exhaustion, economic collapse and less The abandonment of this infrastructure (we won’t be people to climate and other crises severe climate crises, who will not welcome able to maintain it or take it with us as we move) will, rather than panic, violence or climate refugees adding to their population will of necessity require a shift to a much simpler, selfishness, be more nuanced, peaceful and resource pressures. Many of these subsistence lifestyle. and collaborative. xenophobes will then be forced to join the will give us the opportunity to try out a Great Migration further north, or south, as variety of pragmatic responses before Food scarcity and the need to shift to organic, the habitable area of the planet continues to sustainable permaculture: The complexity and we need to cope with the more extreme shrink. consequences of climate change. interdependence of our systems will introduce other challenges as infrastructure essential to these systems Squatters, encampments and a “baby is abandoned. David Korowicz explains: “Global bust”: There will be no money to build new food producers are already straining to meet rising infrastructure for these billions of refugees, Massive dislocation: Just as during so most of them, I predict, will live either demand against the stresses of soil degradation, the latest ‘ice age’ a large proportion as nomads, scrounging what they can water shortages, over-fishing and the burgeoning of the planet’s people would have from abandoned land (monoculture farms, effects of climate change… 7-10 calories of fossil-fuel been forced to migrate towards bankrupt, deserted suburbs, etc.), or in energy go into every one calorie of food energy we Preparing for the Long equatorial areas of the planet, massive settlement camps, reliant on food consume… Without nitrogen fertiliser, produced from Emergency climate change will require the handouts. Birth rates among these billions will natural gas, no more than 48% of today’s population people now living in tropical areas plummet as hopelessness and malnutrition could be fed [even] at the inadequate 1900 level. So how, and when, do we prepare for such a (which will be scorched out), and become endemic, so most of the mid-century No country is self-sufficient in food production today. future? How do we give up trying to perpetuate in many desertified and parched, fall in human population will be the result of The fragility of the global food production system will the unsustainable and instead begin to prepare or inundated coastal subtropical rapidly falling birth rates rather than rising be exposed by a decline in oil and other energy for failure? and temperate areas (much of the death rates. production. It is not just the more direct energy inputs, Western US and Canada, much of such as diesel, that will be affected, but fertilisers, Australia, all of Southern Europe and Emptied cities, relocalized communities, and pesticides, seeds, and spares for machinery and In his article “Tipping Point”, David Korowicz the Middle East, much of Southeast the collapse of large institutions: For those transport. The failing operational fabric may mean writes: fortunate enough to live in sub-polar and Asia and most of Mexico and there is no electricity for refrigeration, for example… Part of the preparation is in the acknowledgement boreal areas with adequate precipitation, A major financial collapse would not just cut actual of our predicament, that we recognise it when Central America) to migrate towards or in cooler temperate regions where soils the nearer pole, north or south (and/ food production, but could result in food left rotting we see it. That as systems fail, we spend our have not been seriously depleted and efforts on positive change and adaption, rather or to higher ground inland). At least where urbanization is modest, will likely in the fields [and consequent famines].” As these massive food systems collapse, relocalized, organic, than finding scapegoats or letting anger and two billion people live in these areas fare relatively well – they’ll be too far away loss drive the cannibalisation of our social now. for most climate refugees to reach, and not more resilient and flexible permaculture systems will fabric… Those who, through fear or avarice, as seriously affected by the worst effects replace them. try and insulate themselves from the impacts of climate change. For them, economic by disproportionate hoarding or land grabs collapse will mean a dramatic relocalization The above scenario – a Great Migration, a collapse of human will imperil not only their community’s security of society – collapse of national and numbers, economic and energy systems and infrastructure, and and wellbeing, but their own. This will be a time regional governments, large corporations, a relatively peaceful shift to a radically simpler and relocalized when we really will need the cooperation and international trade and markets, leading way of living -- is only a guess, of course, at one of a million support of others. to devolved authority and responsibility to possible outcomes. We can’t know how system collapse will communities, with enough time to relearn the play out. But those who have been paying attention know that essential skills of living in community. business, and life, “as usual” will not be possible much longer, especially for our children and descendants.

19 SHIFT Magazine 20 SUBSCRIBE TO SHIFT MAGAZINE

SHIFT is run by an all-volunteer team. All money raised from SHIFT If we look at the history of peoples who successfully magazine goes toward cost of made the transition from a collapsing civilization to a sustainable, subsistence post-civilization culture, we production and supporting issues of can identify four viable strategies: importance to our readers.

Relearn essential skills, knowledge and capacities As the philosopher John Gray has written, it that have been lost as our culture has become is human nature to be preoccupied with the dependent on complexity, centralization, hierarchy, needs of the moment, and to put off thinking imports and unsustainable infrastructure. about or acting on issues that, however These include technical skills, “soft” skills (like important, do not seem urgent. Most of us are facilitation, conflict resolution and mentoring), and therefore unlikely to change our behaviour until knowledge – including knowledge of place and it is too late, and as a result the transition – self-knowledge. through a cascading series of existential crises to an unimaginably different way of life – will be challenging, unpracticed, unprepared for, Subscription type: Payment options: and probably quite chaotic. As Buddha put it: 1 2 Learn to create and build community: Practice Prices in Australian Dollars | Prices do not include overseas postage For more payment options, please visit www.sustainabilitysc.org “The problem is that we think we have time.” the arts of working, sharing, collaborating and Yearly subscription cooperating with those in your immediate physical Debit my credit card As unpredictable and harrowing as it may be, neighbourhood. Collapse will force us to make Digital copy (PDF or E-reader) $21 Card type: Visa Mastercard American Express things work at the community level, together. some of us will have to do better, be ready for whatever is to come and show others how A5 hard copy (sustainable size) $30 Cardholder’s name: to adapt and live differently. We will have to A4 hard copy (standard size) Card number: do this with the knowledge that collapse is $42 Heal ourselves and each other: Understand and no stranger to this fragile planet, and with the Expiry date: CVC: (Card Verification Number - last 3 digits on back of card) appreciate the damage that the stress of our awareness that we’ll inevitably make some big Two year subscription fiercely competitive, scarcity-creating, horrifically mistakes in the struggle to create new cultures Signature: Date: Digital copy (PDF or E-reader) unequal and morally agnostic culture, has done that are viable in a strange and turbulent new $42 to us, physically and psychologically, and work to world. And with the belief that beyond that A5 hard copy (sustainable size) $60 OR help each other recover from that damage. struggle is a world unimaginably different from industrial civilization, a world of real peace, A4 hard copy (standard size) $84 I prefer to pay by cheque equality, connection, freedom and joy. Please address the cheque to Sustainability Showcase and post it with this form Live an exemplary, joyful life: Most people will not be swayed by impassioned arguments from The Great Migration, and beyond it the 3 Contact details: OR strangers about “what we need to do now”. But new and smaller role of our species aboard Name: they will appreciate, and consider emulating, those Spaceship Earth, is our new human story. It’s Address: I prefer to pay by bank transfer who live and act, every day, in ways that seem not too early to start writing it, and telling it to Please make the payment with SHIFT Sub as reference inspiring, conscious, sensible, and admirable. everyone we know. Bank Acc. Name: Sustainability Showcase Suburb: Postcode: Acc. Number: 31264634 | BSB: 814 282 State:

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Archetype: Everything about you screams activist - you are the usual suspect, and, let’s face it, everyone can tell. Every chance you get, you’re living your values on the frontline because nothing is more important to you. You’ve occupied and blockaded, been there and done that, and you probably designed the t-shirt.

Superpowers: Fearlessness, solidarity, and a great deal of stamina.

Secret weapon: Tactical misdirection!

Contrary to popular misconception, activism isn’t only for dreadlocked misfits and Molotov cocktail-throwing troublemakers. Activism is a vital part of participating in a dynamic society and playing our part in the change we wish to see. In a world crying out for change we all need to embrace our activist spirit. Archetype: A smooth operator, you’re the type to be negotiating and mediating, brokering deals with decision-makers at all levels. You Far from the one-size-fits-all stereotype, activists come in all shapes and sizes, each might be a campaigner, or a lobbyist, or even a legal eagle - whatever bringing their own set of skills to the movement to shift the paradigm. Carving out your official role, it’s your representation of your values that gets the a niche for activism in our everyday lives is easy once we’ve discovered our own activist superpowers. The trick is to find your natural pace of ‘active being’, and job done and saves the day. then commit with purpose. Superpowers: Negotiation skills, the power of persuasion, and a steady Here’s a run-down of what we at SHIFT think are the Top 10 activist superpowers. set of nerves. What’s your superpower? Secret weapon: Your firm handshake and the negotiating ace up your sleeve!

Archetype: You’re the idealistic instigator - the one who inspires action and rallies the troops. Comfortable in leadership positions, you are cool in a crisis and a master strategist. Chances are you are the spearhead of change who planted the seed that sprouted the group or initiative you work with.

Superpowers: Inspiration, charisma, and strategic vision. Archetype: You’re at the hard-core end of activism, and you’re not afraid of what others might think. A roots radical, you Secret weapon: The seeds of change! like your actions direct where the impact is greatest, and you’re no stranger to sabotage. Your commitment and conviction mean you live by your values and lead the way on change.

Superpowers: Stealth, courage, and nerves of steel.

Secret weapon: A set of bolt-cutters or a monkey-wrench!

23 SHIFT Magazine 24 regulars 6. GEEKTIVIST Archetype: You may not look like a typical superhero, but your tech wizardry empowers the movement with a vital online presence that amplifies the message. Like the Wizard of Oz, folks may never know the face behind the screen, but they dance to the beat of your Archetype: A master of the art of simplicity you already inhabit keystrokes nonetheless. the new paradigm. You’re off the treadmill and on the case, and everyone wants to know the secret behind your smile. A low- Superpowers: Digital problem-solving, hacker skills, and footprint locavore, your life in the slow lane sets the pace for lightning coding speed. a revolution of harmony with nature.

Secret weapon: The DoS (Denial of Service) attack! Superpowers: Conscious consumption, a light ecological footprint, and the art of post-carbon simplicity.

Secret weapon: The time on your hands to get involved!

Archetype: You may not appear on the frontline much, but it’s often your work that puts people there. The investigators and researchers who bring the movement the information it needs to act on are integral to change. Where Archetype: Far from the stereotype of the usual suspects, nobody would would we be without the likes of Assange, Snowden, Manning guess you’re an activist. You slide seamlessly between roles like Clark - and you? Kent into Superman, or a knitting nanna on the frontline. Whatever your disguise you are camouflaged in the crowd, perfectly positioned for a Superpowers: Curiosity, critical thinking, and a finely-tuned precision strike. bullshit detector. Superpowers: The element of surprise, a social Secret weapon: Your recording device! license to operate, and the ability to blend in with your crowd.

Secret weapon: Your camouflage!

Archetype: A builder of the new paradigm in the most literal sense, you bring your practical skills to the front of the curve and set the trend. Whether you’re building Earthships, rocket stoves, or permaculture gardens, you’re in your element when you’re getting your hands dirty. Archetype: You stand out, and you love it. Whatever your art, you possess a power of persuasion that you deliver with infectious Superpowers: Craftsmanship, experimental genius, and upcycling charm. Artists have always flirted with revolution, and as a great wizardry. improviser you use your artistic intuition to pack a powerful punch wherever it is needed. Secret weapon: Pretty much any tool that falls into your hands! Superpowers: Creativity, imagination, and a wicked sense of fun.

Secret weapon: Whatever the tools of your art are - the pen is mightier than the sword, and so are the paintbrush, the guitar, and the tambourine!

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Livelihoods are under attack, but this is not all that the But not all of the proposed mega-mines have been landholders are out to protect. Far from the NIMBY challenged, and the Queensland government has just stereotype, the Galilee landholders are fighting for the approved the fourth of the nine mines slated for the Galilee safety and security of the region’s groundwater, and they Basin: Indian mining magnate Adani’s Carmichael mine.4 are deeply concerned for their state’s future The Carmichael mine is set to be Australia’s biggest, to the should agriculture be usurped by mining. tune to 60 billion tons of thermal coal per annum. Federal approval is Adani’s next hurdle, and the bar is set low. Only twelve mining projects in Australia have ever been rejected on the basis of their environmental impact statements.5 From cattle station to courtroom Mining a nature refuge Landholders of the Galilee have taken their fighting spirit With the battle against Big Coal practically on my to Queensland’s courtrooms. GVK Hancock’s Alpha mine doorstep, I took to the road with a team of climate activists Of all the places in the Galilee Basin that coal mining threat to Speculation Station has not yet been defeated, but to investigate. threatens to destroy, none beggars belief quite as much as it has, for the time being, had the wind knocked out of its sails. the Bimblebox Nature Refuge.6 Bimblebox, 8,000 hectares Speculation’s fate is now up to the Queensland government, of quintessential Desert Upland bush, is an oasis of nature who must either accept or reject the land court’s ruling: GVK Coal, Australia’s #1 export and much-touted bringer surrounded by cattle country. It encompasses six distinct Hancock, to avoid rejection, must meet extra conditions if ecosystems and boasts an impressive array of wildlife, of economic growth, is at the centre of controversy in Cattle and coal country their applications for an environmental authority and mining Australia’s rural heartland, and the movement to take on including threatened species like the black-throated finch lease are to be granted. These extra conditions include which make the aptly-titled Refuge their home. Big Coal is gathering steam. Glencore Xstrata’s Rolleston mine, proud producer of negotiating “make good” deals with three landholders in 14 million tons of thermal coal per annum, sits nestled the Galilee Basin, deals intended to protect the landholders After a workshop on invasive weeds – which consisted The Galilee Basin, sprawled across inland central between Albinia national park and the tranquil beauty from any potential damage to their water supplies. Queensland, is home to one of the world’s largest coal of Springwood station. Springwood has been home to mainly of ripping up said weeds – I was treated to a dusty deposits, and Queensland, according to state premier the same family since 1895, and now faces the loss of tour of the Bimblebox Refuge balanced on the back of a Campbell Newman, “is in the coal business”. Open 3,000 hectares of land to the expansion of the open-cut truck. One cannot help but note the stark contrast between season has been declared. Where the climate movement pit. Although Springwood is not for sale, the mining giant the dense vegetation of Bimblebox and the razed fields sees a time-bomb threatening to blow a 5% chunk out of aims to acquire the land from under the family living on it. of the neighbouring properties. A smattering of bustards our optimistically-termed global ‘carbon budget’, mining There is plenty to fear when the precedent has already demonstrate their indifference toward us as they proudly magnates see the opportunity to turn their millions into been set by the company’s compulsory acquisition of strut their stuff, and we take in the landscape under the billions.1 Springwood’s neighbouring property. long shadows of the late-afternoon sun, giving way to a soft golden sunset. After hours Bimblebox features falling Nine mega-mining projects are slated for the Galilee, five Speculation Station sprawls across arid red earth in the stars and dismissive kangaroos munching dew-softened of which will dwarf all currently operational Australian desert uplands, a quintessentially Australian landscape greenery, seemingly oblivious to the transient invaders of mines. Australia, a country whose electricity grid is 85% of termite mounds and exotic birdlife fluttering between their territory. coal-powered, currently ships 54% of its coal overseas the gum trees. Speculation’s adversary is GVK Hancock, to feed the furnaces of economic growth.2 The Galilee the partnership of Indian-owned coal lightweight GVK, It is a cruel twist of fate indeed that a patch of land mines are set to double Australia’s already gargantuan and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock coal. Like Springwood, supposedly protected forever just happens to sit atop a coal export capacity and pump 700 million tonnes of Speculation is not for sale, a status mining companies large coal deposit eyed by mining magnate Clive Palmer. CO2 into the atmosphere every year,3 making the have treated as negotiable as they attempt to sweet-talk The inappropriately-named “China First” mine hints at a Galilee Basin the world’s seventh largest emitter when the landholder family into selling out to the 6.4 billion foreign workforce temporarily ‘insourced’ at below-industry ranked against top-emitting nations. The prospects look dollar Alpha mine project. standard pay rates, rendering claims of Big Coal’s benefit rosy for already grotesquely wealthy mining magnates, to the local economy spurious at best. but less so for Australia’s landscape and groundwater, and the planet’s delicate climatic balance.

By Kari McGregor

27 SHIFT Magazine 28 columns

all that once thrived is annihilated, and the source of so by crisis shows that solidarity should be fun – that if we are much life is laid to waste. After the holocaust is a dead to unite in the face of adversity then we should not only calm, a land now devoid of voices, littered with the lifeless fight side by side, but also celebrate side by side. and mangled bodies of the precious individuals whose work maintaining the balance in their corner of the world is decimated in one fell swoop. Usurped for white man’s self-interest, lives unaccounted for in our stock-take. Going beyond coal

Bimblebox was one place where such crimes against The Australian Beyond Coal Alliance is gaining in strength nature were never going to be allowed, the Refuge while financial support for Big Coal seems to be waning. designated a safe haven forever. But forever is a long The pressure is on at the supply end of the chain with time, and time is money. And the almighty dollar always legal challenges and the global credit crunch squeezing seems to have the final word. As long as we want hot financial resources, aided in part by a hefty divestment showers and cold beers, powered by coal, this is the way campaign. But the profitability of Big Coal must also be it’s going to be. removed if we are to avert the ignition of a carbon time- bomb. There is work to be done both at the demand end We need to quit coal and then some. If we are ever to end of the chain where we can all exercise responsibility, and to this ecocide that we currently excuse as ‘compromise’, in employing the delay tactics which are proving to be we are not only going to have to change how we power vital. the lives we want, but also what those lives we want consist of. To move beyond coal we are going to have to transition to a different way of life. We cannot afford to wait for the promise of large-scale centralized renewables to kick King Coal off the grid, consuming coal-powered electricity Where is there hope? all the while. We literally must stop using coal if we are to end its production and usher in an era of distributed Hope now lies in the hands of the average Aussie, and small-scale renewable energy systems, an endeavour ordinary Australians are no longer taking for granted that will require political pressure as well as individual court, and they’re in this for the long haul, so consistency From frontline to backstop the notion that the government has their best interests at action. We will likely have to get used to using energy is needed. heart. The beginning of discontent is the beginning of a more conservatively through transition, and localize our It has taken time to build resistance to mining in the movement for change, and it’s better late than never. horizons. Perhaps ironically for Big Coal, the localized Galilee since Bimblebox first took on the challenge The conservation volunteers at Bimblebox and the economies, with a smaller scale of energy consumption, grassroots organizers whose practical support has from Palmer’s Waratah Coal. But now that coal mining Avondale, the final stop on our trip, is a community united by actually provide security for communities in a way that etched out a picket line in Queensland’s courts are threatens the land and livelihoods of many more of the crisis that has declared itself coal and gasfield free. Strong short-term coal prospects feeding an export market the heart and soul of the transition beyond coal. These region’s families a frontline of resistance is forming. Of and sensuous women, Earth Mothers and Daughters, cannot. forgotten heroes hold the fort for a movement whose course, there are many who dig deep but cannot find front the Avondale campaign against coal, and we are kudos is so often dished out to figureheads who rarely the energy to fight; justice is something that is hard-won treated to a glimpse of how a community can truly come In the meantime, talk of delay tactics that recently drove connect with the families on the frontline. These are the when up against Big Coal. For those who do fight, one together over hardship. It wasn’t until their community was fracking company Metgasco out of the Northern Rivers people whose hard yards make the rest possible. thing after another is dropped from their lives as they threatened by coal mining that Avondale found strength in region of New South Wales have begun to enter the struggle to keep up with the endless legal paperwork, numbers. Fears for the safety of their groundwater rippled Beyond Coal dialogue. The recent victory of the Bentley days in court, and bureaucratic nightmares that steal through the community, and Coal Free Wide Bay, Burnett Blockade8 boils down to a solidarity forged from precious time away from their livelihoods and families. & Beyond was born, an alliance of community groups community connection and mutual support. It is a timely There is work to do, homesteads to run, kids to raise, Clearing the way for coal working together to protect the region’s land, water and reminder of the power we all possess, inspiring a new long distances to travel, and simply not enough hours in future from coal mines and gasfields.7 fighting spirit in the Galilee, and fuelling the transition the day for many families to get involved. Carbon emissions and groundwater issues are the well- beyond coal with an ardent people-power. understood impacts of coal mining, but little is reported Feeling re-invigorated by the strength of the Avondale on the sheer devastation caused by the land-clearing To help fight coal in the Galilee will take support of community, I wash away my weariness under a cool hose required to make way for mines. Land-clearing is such a far more humble kind than a mass-movement of city- in a field of starlight, and join the crew for a knees-up an innocuous term for such an insidious operation. based youth with catchy social media slogans, can- in celebration of our solidarity against Big Coal. As if Bulldozers crush all that lies in their path, ripping out do rhetoric, and divestment days. It will take practical to remind me of the precariousness of nature, I stumble mighty trees by the roots, sending the few winged support – people getting out onto the land and pitching upon a red-bellied black snake weaving its way across creatures that survive screaming from their nests, their in with some manual labour, sifting through legalese the grass as I approach the homestead that is the scene homes, in an incomplete exodus – no time to account and explaining it in plainspeak, and lending a hand of our evening’s festivities. And festive it is; we are treated for loved ones, no warning given, no move-on order at homesteads. Taking work off the hands of directly to a feast, sampling dishes from each of the local guests, or forced ‘resettlement’. Nature is razed to the ground, affected stakeholders frees them up to face their days in eating, drinking, and getting merry. This community united

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A few weeks ago Andrew Harvey and I recorded a Whether any kind of stable, humane and just future— conversation1 between us on the topic of how to live in the any kind of just society—is still possible.4 face of catastrophic climate change. We made this recording in the context of other conversations about the need for a Isn’t this just giving up, or giving in? The pathetic whining “new Sacred Activism” that is informed and updated by of defeatists? How can any respectable activist utter these the dire realities of runaway climate change and near-term words? When Surrender human extinction. [While the focus of this article is not on the science of climate change, the reader will find some of I argue that, in fact, the perspectives articulated by Pollard the most recent and ominous research on climate change and Stephenson are utterances of concession, but also below.*] of extraordinary courage. The Means Isn’t this just giving word I choose to describe their Not Recently, I’ve noticed some longtime perspective is surrender. But activist voices verbalizing a new up, or giving in? The isn’t surrender synonymous with Giving Up: perspective and one that some would pathetic whining of “giving up”? Aren’t Pollard and label as “defeatist.” Writing in his “How defeatists? How can any Stephenson really suggesting To Save The World Blog,”2 Dave Pollard that we abandon the struggle, recently offered a piece entitled “In respectable activist utter acquiesce, go back to business The New Defense Of Inaction,” in which he states: these words? as usual, eat, drink, be merry, or possibly take our own lives? No one is in control. The enemy, if there is one, is not a cabal of elites, but a set of co-dependent collapsing systems that every one of us . WHAT CAN WE DO? Sacred has a vested interest in trying (insanely) to perpetuate. Systems we have all helped co-create and are almost In my recent article, “What Does It Mean To ‘Do all dependent on…The question we must each ask Something’ About Climate Change?”5 I noted that, ourselves, I think, is this: If we acknowledge that our ‘Doing something’ implies that developed nations Activism systems and hence our civilization cannot be reformed of the world and the fossil fuel industry will come or ‘saved’, what can we do now that will make a real together and: difference, for the future, in our communities and for those we love?...The insanely rational answer to this 1) Agree that climate change is actually happening; There is nothing to do question, I think, is (a) probably nothing, and (b) it’s And nowhere to go. too early to know.3 2) Understand that the situation is so dire that humanity’s living arrangements must be radically Accepting this, Subsequently, Wen Stephenson’s “Let This Be The Last Earth We can do everything Day,” in The Nation Magazine pleads: altered; And go everywhere. End the dishonesty, the deception. Stop lying to 3) Sacrifice their economic security and industrial ~Mark Nepo~ yourselves, and to your children. Stop pretending profits to significantly reduce carbon emissions; that the crisis can be “solved,” that the planet can be “saved,” that business more-or-less as usual—what 4) Agree to the reality of climate change and the progressives and environmentalists have been doing altering of their living arrangements in time to prevent for forty-odd years and more—is morally or intellectually another 2 degree C rise in temperature.” tenable. Let go of the pretense that “environmentalism” as we know it—virtuous green consumerism, affluent I then asked the reader what they genuinely, low-carbon localism, head-in-the-sand conservationism, realistically thought can be done about catastrophic feel-good greenwashed capitalism—comes anywhere climate change, particularly in the face of more than near the radical response our situation requires… The 30 self-reinforcing feedback loops that are proving question is not whether we’re going to “stop” global the process unstoppable and irreversible. warming, or “solve” the climate crisis; it is whether humanity will act quickly and decisively enough now to save civilization itself—in any form worth saving. By Carolyn Baker

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I believe that what both Pollard and Stephenson may Contrary to our cherished THE HERO ARCHETYPE One’s passionate commitment to the journey makes avoidance of this particular snare exceedingly difficult. be echoing is a third perspective that Andrew Harvey assumption of vanquishing all Along the way, the hero may find him/herself becoming and I are naming “the New Sacred Activism.” That forms of injustice, we must ask Human consciousness is deeply influenced by personal inflated but can always choose to pause, reflect upon is to say that the fundamental issue is that we are and cultural archetypes or universal themes of which we the purpose of the journey and “something bigger” being challenged to move beyond the triumphalist ourselves if we are willing to put may or may not be aware. A few examples of archetypes which compelled the hero to begin the journey in the first assumption that we can and must, through our love into action even if we don’t are: mother, father, hero, savior, martyr, warrior, maiden, place. This is an opportunity to surrender to the ultimate activism, defeat capitalism, catastrophic climate physically survive. crone, healer, and many more. If we are not aware of the purpose of the journey and the spiritual forces that archetypes that influence us, we may unconsciously live motivated and support the hero. In all of mythology, the change, economic corruption and collapse, and yes, them out in both creative and destructive ways. ultimate purpose is the transformation of consciousness, the extinction of species, including our own. Indeed, Similarly, the reward of accepting both one’s own and that of the community. In mythology, our current predicament compels us to transcend the reality of near-term extinction Mythologist Joseph Campbell wrote and taught more failure to surrender to the larger purpose of the journey the binary inference that if we do not conquer a about the hero archetype than perhaps anyone in guarantees the hero’s demise. diabolical system, we are only colluding with it and is liberating even at the same time modern times. Campbell simply defined the hero/heroine exhibiting shameful cowardice. that it is agonizing. Something far as “someone who has given his or her life to something In Greek mythology the hero was always aware of the bigger than oneself.” According to Campbell, the hero’s seduction of thinking himself equal to or wiser than the more meaningful and momentous task is threefold: separation, initiation, and return. He/she gods. Whenever heroes succumbed to this temptation, Contrary to our cherished assumption of vanquishing beyond our own physical survival usually experiences some sort of unusual circumstances they began plummeting toward their demise. Perhaps the all forms of injustice, we must ask ourselves if we at birth; sustains a traumatic wound; acquires a special most famous example of the inflated hero is Icarus who, are willing to put love into action even if we don’t becomes available to us. weapon that only he/she can use; proves him/herself by determined to soar, flew too close to the sun whereby his physically survive. The extremity of the crisis does not way of some sort of quest or journey through which he/ wings, which were made of wax, began melting, and he limit Sacred Activism, but rather expands it because she is forever changed. fell into the sea. Whether the wax wings of Icarus or the vulnerable heel of Achilles, the fundamental lesson with we make ourselves available to 1) Bearing witness which all Greek mythological heroes were confronted to the likely irreversible horrors of climate chaos and was their human limitation and the consequences of 2) Commitment to compassionate service to all living forgetting those. beings who suffer with us. This requires unwavering engagement with serving the earth community and practicing good manners toward all species in order to make their demise, and ours, easier. Taking one’s own life or succumbing to escapist self-medication is easy. Commitment to a life of service and fortifying one’s own connection with the sacred, thus deepening The hero’s journey is one of one’s sense of meaning and purpose, constitute a far death, rebirth, and transformation more daunting and painful path. on which he/she embarks for Very often people who receive a terminal medical the wellbeing of the community. diagnosis report that while the announcement was Meanwhile, it is the hero, as well as heartbreaking, terrifying, and profoundly unfair, they the community who is transformed. experienced a certain kind of liberation in the process. Contrary to our cherished The pitfalls along the journey are assumption of vanquishing many, but one of the most common all forms of injustice, we must – and also the most injurious to ask ourselves if we are willing the hero and the community – is to to put love into action even if become inflated with one’s heroic we don’t physically survive. mission. In Greek mythology the hero was always aware of the seduction of thinking himself equal to or wiser than the gods. Whenever heroes succumbed to this temptation, they began plummeting toward their demise.

33 SHIFT Magazine 34 feature The hero symbolizes courage and sometimes appears as a warrior as well, but whether hero or warrior, courage GRIEF AND THE NEW SACRED ACTIVISM is one of his/her stellar characteristics. One lesson the Members of the Dagara Tribe of West Africa for hundreds hero/warrior must learn is when to fight relentlessly and of years have practiced regular grief rituals because when to exercise restraint or surrender, for whatever they believe that both the earth and the community need reason, to the dilemma with which he/she is confronted. Of paramount importance periodic releases of grief. Without doing so, they say, the The Shambhala Warrior, for example, receives training in in the new Sacred Activism is heart becomes and remains hard, and this becomes toxic fighting spiritual rather than physical battles. Discernment regular, conscious grief work. for the community. Always a community versus a private regarding restraint or full-on combat is pivotal, and at all ritual, the Dagara experience that grieving together times the warrior must examine the heart and will. He/she Unless activists mourn, they solidifies the community and makes conflict resolution does not continue fighting at all costs simply because “that can easily be consumed with less problematic and complicated. As a result of the is what warriors do.” Rather, the spiritual warrior considers the fires of passion because community grieving together, members of the tribe also whether or not it is time to stop fighting altogether or their psyches are not tempered experience something that Westerners might not expect, whether it may be time to change strategy. Fighting may namely, a deepening of joy. In Entering The Healing not mean “winning” in the heroic sense, but rather, fighting with the waters of grief. Ground, Francis Weller shares his conversation with a for reasons that surpass even one’s survival. Dagara woman immediately following a grief ritual. The woman displayed a radiant smile and seemed to exude As we confront joy from every pore. When he asked her how she could catastrophic climate Conscious grieving be so happy after engaging in a grief ritual, she replied, change which is likely to Fighting may not mean “winning” in is an integral aspect “I’m so happy because I cry all the time.” Her response, result in near-term human of the “astringent it seems, echoes the profound words of William Blake: extinction, we must ask the heroic sense, but rather, fighting maturity” we develop “The deeper the sorrow, the greater the joy.” if we are willing to put for reasons that surpass even one’s as we balance hero/ love into action, even if warrior courage with Artist, educator, author, and activist Ann Amberg offers we don’t survive. Can survival. discerning acceptance online classes in the powers of the universe and “how we move beyond a of our predicament. In his we can embrace a bio-spiritual, planetary species triumphalist agenda? marvelous book Entering identity, inclusive of and embedded in the entire earth Accepting the possibility of near-term extinction is an The Healing Ground: Grief, Ritual, And The Soul Of The community.” Of our current catastrophic climate crisis she agony, but an agony that liberates the spiritual warrior World, Francis Weller states: writes: in the powers of truth and love in order to discover the diamond hidden in the darkness that cannot be discovered ...we must be willing to mature and grow into our place of in relentless fighting in order to “overcome.” The diamond Grief is the work of mature men and women. It is wholeness as a species in which we invite the earth and can only be acquired by surrendering the need for anyone our responsibility to be available to this emotion universe to inform our identity and to place constraints or anything to survive, even oneself. In the words of Andrew and offer it back to our struggling world. The on our behavior. One evolutionary capacity might be Harvey this is “a glorious and terrible adventure, but it is gift of grief is the affirmation of life and of our learning to embrace “what time it is” --to partner with loss the antidote to despair.” intimacy with the world. It is risky to stay open and [my emphasis]--the acceptance that we are actually in vulnerable in a culture increasingly dedicated to an extinction phase and rapidly approaching the end What we need now is not heroic victory but, again in point. To help us understand this destruction, we can Andrew’s words, an “astringent maturity,” an entirely new death, but without our willingness to stand witness recall what the cosmos does: the supernova that has level of adulthood that acts in ways that bring forth optimum through the power of our grief, we will not be able been fusing for billions of years suddenly implodes. We joy, optimum healing, and optimum beauty which will to stem the hemorrhaging of our communities, the don’t see it coming! It is hard for us to digest the deep leave seeds for whatever life might remain as most species senseless destruction of ecologies or the basic ecological truth that the universe is our referent for what it on the planet face their demise. The sacred inspiration we means to be human, that technology will not save us….7 require results not from false hope or finding solutions, but tyranny of monotonous existence…Grief is…a from a state of active being in which we voluntarily enroll in powerful form of soul activism. If we refuse or Upon first reading Amberg’s statement, I was captivated radical psychological and spiritual training. If we haven’t neglect the responsibility for drinking the tears by the phrase to partner with loss. Indeed, that is the crux registered for this psycho-spiritual apprenticeship, then we of the world, her losses and deaths cease to be of the new Sacred Activism. In partnering with loss, we will persevere in our triumphalist agenda and inadvertently registered by the ones meant to be the receptors of open a door to unfathomable intimacy with the universe- perpetuate despair. that information. It is our job to feel the losses and --a relationship that has the capacity to profoundly alter mourn them. It is our job to openly grieve for the our very identity as consciously self-aware humans. It is one thing to struggle to save the earth, yet quite another loss of wetlands, the destruction of forest systems, The sacred inspiration we require matter to feel oneself inextricably connected with it in the decay of whale populations, the erosion of every cell of the body. results not from false hope or finding soil, and on and on. We know the litany of loss, It is one thing to struggle to save the solutions, but from a state of active but we have collectively neglected our emotional earth, yet quite another matter to response to this emptying of our world. We need being in which we voluntarily enroll to see and participate in grief rituals in every part feel oneself inextricably connected in radical psychological and spiritual of this country.6 with it in every cell of the body. training.

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THE PERSONAL PERILS OF HEROIC ACTIVISM At the very least, humans are changing Recently, I have been personally shaken by the the chemistry of the planet. At worst, death of my longtime activist colleague and friend, Mike Ruppert. After decades of political struggle we are rendering it uninhabitable. and physical health challenges, Mike took his own life on April 13, 2014. Literally thousands of people attribute their awakening to our planetary predicament to Mike’s efforts. The legacy he left At the very least, humans are changing the for us is enormous, yet everyone close to Mike chemistry of the planet. At worst, we are rendering as Preparing For Near-Term Extinction;10 Fukushima And witnessed his reckless abuse of the body and the it uninhabitable. Catastrophic Climate Change: The Earth Community In emotional wounding which ravaged his psyche and Hospice,11 and Hospice Is A Busy Place,12 many people finally led to his suicide. As with many activists, Mike At first blush it may seem that the extraordinary quality of intimacy with the earth of which I have spoken in hospice report that it was the most meaningful time of was only capable of surrender by terminating his their lives. For them it provided sacred space in which to physical life. While on the one hand, he had every would compel us to fight to our last breath to save it. When the heart is entwined with another living reflect deeply upon their lives—to evaluate relationships right to choose that path, I believe that his demise is that were enriching; to make amends and restitution with a cautionary tale against heroic activism. being, is not surrender to the demise of the beloved out of the question? Indeed, we stand in awe of respect to some relationships that were difficult and painful; earth warriors such as Julia Butterfly Hill, Edward to provide service to others in their hospice environment; Abbey, and Derrick Jensen who have devoted their and to prepare mindfully and reverently for death. lives to defending and protecting our planet. Yet as Heroic activism, and particularly activism in which with a terminally ill beloved human, we must now In this regard, Woodbury concludes: “If we are able we do not grieve, invariably leads to burnout and realistically assess our capacity to spare our own to apply the same principles at a societal scale, then compromised bodies and psyches. Rather than being species and thousands of others from near-term ecopsychologists and planetary thanatologists can self-indulgent, self-care, including grieving, is a spiritual extinction. The heroic option of martyrdom for the become the kinds of spiritual midwives that will be needed practice that honors the corporeal container permeated Earth is indeed a viable one. So also is a conscious to transform the planetary death/rebirth process from by the sacred for the purpose of advancing its work. consent to admit ourselves to planetary hospice a painful dislocation rife with suffering and regret into a as Zhiwa Woodbury so beautifully and brilliantly healing process for both the human race and the Earth itself articulates in his recent article “Planetary Hospice: -- even into a Great Awakening.” Rebirthing Planet Earth.” 9 Additionally, Woodbury applies Kubler-Ross’s Five Stages of Grief to The Great Dying/Great Awakening. In fact, the LEAN INTO THE ANTHROPOCENE Woodbury, an environmental attorney and a practicing Buddhist states that “The Great author reminds us, we are facing not only the possibility Anthropocentric Extinction is upon us ….Sober of near-term human extinction in the larger context of our At the website Welcome To The Anthropocene, this relatively consideration of the current, cascading evidence planetary predicament, but also a plethora of endings on new concept is explained: leads to the inescapable conclusion that life as we a smaller scale in terms of the limits of economic growth, have come to know it is, quite simply, at an end.” energy depletion, and the end of life as we have known it in Every living thing affects its surroundings. But a variety of venues. Whatever our ultimate fate as a species, At the conclusion of several pages of analysis of the fundamental assumption that progress is an infinite humanity is now influencing every aspect of the humanity’s unwillingness to meaningfully address phenomenon to which humans are exceptionally entitled Earth on a scale akin to the great forces of nature. and attempt to reverse climate change, Woodbury is unraveling at dizzying speed as human consumption is concludes that “Our situation is regrettably, terminal.” now literally consuming life on earth. There are now so many of us, using so many On the one hand, the mental health profession resources, that we’re disrupting the grand cycles of should have a significant role in preparing us to biology, chemistry and geology by which elements face our demise, but it is ill-equipped to do so. Eco- like carbon and nitrogen circulate between land, psychology, however, “is reinventing psychology by sea and atmosphere. We’re changing the way including ‘the psychological processes that tie us to Whatever our ultimate fate as a the world or separate us from it’ in a more holistic water moves around the globe as never before. vision of the human psyche (Buzzell & Chalquist, species, the fundamental assumption Almost all the planet’s ecosystems bear the marks 2009, p. 17) that views humans and the world that progress is an infinite phenomenon of our presence. we inhabit as inextricably bound together….So from an eco-psychological viewpoint, the question to which humans are exceptionally Our species’ whole recorded history has taken now becomes what is the role of mental health entitled is unraveling at dizzying place in the geological period called the Holocene professionals in preparing society for the end of life as we know it?” speed as human consumption is now – the brief interval stretching back 10,000 years. But our collective actions have brought us into The hospice model can be applied with the literally consuming life on earth. uncharted territory. A growing number of scientists perspective that the coming catastrophe does not think we’ve entered a new geological epoch that have to result in widespread fear, panic, dread, or needs a new name – the Anthropocene.8 hostility. As I have noted in a number of articles such

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Our spiritually puerile affirmations such as “Every Giving up, becoming defeatist? Is this the essence of day and in every way, everything is getting better the New Sacred Activism? Indeed it is not. Rather, as and better,” must be supplanted, not by “Every day Woodbury notes, we must open to the “dark night of and in every way, everything is getting worse and collective humanity’s soul” and live as if every act, every worse,” but by a seasoned spiritual equanimity that task performed in daily life, every kindness expressed wisely surrenders to whatever appears at the door of to another being and to oneself might be the last. experience---a perspective so beautifully articulated by This is one way I stay connected with the light in dark Rumi’s marvelous “Guest House” poem: times. Walking in reverence, living contemplatively with gratitude, generosity, compassion, service, and an This being human is a guest house. open heart that is willing to be broken over and over Every morning a new arrival. again. I do not always live the way I want to live. It’s a practice, and practice never makes perfect. Practice A joy, a depression, a meanness, only makes practice, and if I think it’s perfect, I’m not some momentary awareness comes practicing. Nevertheless, I’d rather stumble in the dark, as an unexpected visitor. finding an occasional candle to light the way, than Welcome and entertain them all! become blinded by incandescent heroism. And so *The Science of Catastrophic in this time of unprecedented darkness, find the light Climate Change Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, whenever possible, but most importantly, be the light who violently sweep your house for someone else who may not be as familiar with the • Dr. Michael Mann, Pennsylvania State University, empty of its furniture, darkness as you are --- and be willing to admit yourself Climate Research Website to planetary hospice at the same time that you commit still, treat each guest honorably. http://www.meteo.psu.edu/holocene/public_html/ to being a hospice worker for the earth community. Mann/index.php He may be clearing you out That may be why you came here, and that is the New for some new delight. Sacred Activism. • Skeptical Science: “Alarming New Study Makes Today’s Climate Change More Comparable To The dark thought, the shame, the malice. Earth’s Worst Mass Extinction” meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. http://www.skepticalscience.com/Lee-commentary- on-Burgess-et-al-PNAS-Permian-Dating.html Be grateful for whatever comes. because each has been sent • Thom Hartmann Interviews Dr. Guy McPherson on Conversations With Great Minds, April 6, 2014 as a guide from beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1GyIohx-tU

• “Geo-Engineering Ineffective Against Climate The Great Dying cannot be practiced in isolation. Change” Never before have humans required loving community to the extent that we do now. For as Woodbury notes, http://www.livescience.com/43654- “… planetary hospice workers will be linked by a And so in this time of unprecedented geoengineering-ineffective-against-climate- change. html transmission of intention – the intention to be spiritual darkness, find the light whenever midwives for the rebirth of planet Earth. Just as the • Time Magazine, “Humanity’s Future Depends On hospice movement today relies heavily on trained possible, but most importantly, be the Mission To Mars,” volunteers, so will planetary hospice rely heavily on light for someone else who may not http://time.com/76178/nasa-chief-humanitys-future- the efforts of any and all who share the vision of the depends-on-mission-to-mars/ Great Dying as the dark night of collective humanity’s be as familiar with the darkness as soul, and who are equally committed to ushering the • Arctic News: “Arctic Methane Impact,” Sam human race through this difficult ‘night sea journey’ you are Carana, November 28, 2013 – during which ‘the sun sinks into the sea only to be http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/arctic- devoured by the water monster – into the dawning light methane-impact.html of a new day’.” (Washburn, The Ego and The Dynamic Ground,1995, p. 21). • Arctic News: “A Runaway Greenhouse Event,” John Davies, September 20, 2013 http://arctic- news.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/a-runaway- greenhouse-event.html

• Louise Leakey, TED Talk, “Is The Human Race In Never before have humans required Danger Of Becoming Extinct Soon?” Huffington loving community to the extent that Post, July 5, 2013 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louise-leakey/ we do now. human-extinction_b_3543036.html

39 SHIFT Magazine 40 feature

Pur Silhouetted by an iridescent blur of running children, No, it’s not possible, we both echoed. He asked again e s dancing draperies, and rhythmic conversations, my – this time, slowly, as if to encourage us to be just as h u wife Ej and I inched our way toward an old man sitting hesitant with our responses – but while he asked, he cut t i quietly by an anonymous stack of coloured papers and a few inches off the piece, making it even smaller – and t abandoned sandals. It was our first ‘Unconference’ and us, even surer. And so we stitched our next answer with f our first visit to Bir, a Tibetan colony overlooking the a few meandering but admittedly needless comments mighty Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, India. The ‘old about why it was obviously impossible, our confidence o o man’ in question, fondly called ‘a walking encyclopedia’ still resolute. by those that took to his counterintuitive thoughts, had s f just spoken to a small circle about quantum dynamics Without further ado, he folded the piece many times over and consciousness. I had read some of his writings on and, with his scissors, made little cascading incisions on c the internet, and decided we should meet him. two sides of the now rectangular folds, and then snipped H off the edges of the emergent pattern. Seconds later, i After we had made small talk about our careers as while mumbling to himself, he held out a miracle: the tiny

university lecturers, and thanked him for the beautiful insignificant piece of paper had become a zigzagged a

t discussion he had facilitated in his group, he reached ring large enough for both of us to dance through. He

around his chair, grabbed a little piece of paper on the didn’t spare us a moment to gasp:

i

p floor and – with a self-assuredness that was strangely l more appealing than off-putting – asked if it were The thing with folks like you”, he began, “is that

possible to cut a hole in it that was large enough you are so caught up in your answers, in your p o for any of us to go through. We doubted it. ways of knowing, in your little binaries. Life isn’t

We were totally confident that it was that familiar. Life isn’t that coherent.

i impossible: the square-ish piece P

n of paper he held was a few

inches across; a hole in its I remembered his words when, on March 20th this e

e middle wouldn’t have year, some people I know decided to celebrate the

accommodated ‘International Day of Happiness’. Not quite sure what s

h my arm. So we celebrating the Day would entail, and even less sure

s said so. what it ultimately means to be happy, I settled into the T

What is happiness? Is it worth pursuing? Is our culture really interested in our happiness?

Jiddu Krishnamurti

‘Happiness is strange; it comes when you are not seeking it. When you are not making an effort to be happy, then unexpectedly, mysteriously, happiness is there, born of purity, of a loveliness of being.’

By Bayo Akomolafe

41 SHIFT Magazine 42 feature relatively lackluster stance of an interested observer. notion of the coherent Self. The dominant myth of our solving our most challenging problems, we would be firmly find a well-defined, well-boundaried quality lurking in For many, creating parody videos and dancing to the times is that the self exists at a distinguished distance from situated in a significantly happier world. Isn’t it awkward, conscious awareness. In fact, for some of us, happiness psychedelic tunes of Pharrell’s phenomenally successful ‘nature’ and from other selves. Having propped up the then, that urbanization, economic growth, technological has a tragic quality to it, for not only is it fleeting, it single, ‘Happy’, was good enough to ennoble the Day; advancement, security, scientific rationalism and all the embodies a desperate longing for permanence that others felt it was a good time to take a road trip, see familiar trappings of modern civilization haven’t made us belies our transience. Happiness, like a drunken dancer, new places, and visit the shopping mall. Not surprisingly, The dominant myth of our times is that a happier species? Not even the mass culture of positive always seems one step ahead – preferably beyond multiple blogs and websites like Huffington Post posted the self exists at a distinguished distance thinking successfully hides our existential faux pas, our our final grasp… so that we curiously prefer the desire advice on the virtues of positive thinking, and what one from ‘nature’ and from other selves. conspiratorial embarrassment at our inability to achieve for happiness, the pursuit of happiness, over happiness must do and not do in order to be truly happy. And happiness. It is perhaps too difficult for us to own up itself. Perhaps we unconsciously reject the crippling ;/’while the United Nations General Assembly – the body to… too difficult for us to admit that we aren’t any better, finality of achieving happiness, and would very much that instituted the Day – acknowledged that happiness any happier, than generations past. So, beneath the prefer to keep up appearances than win to ourselves means different things to different people, it suggested discrete, isolated self on a golden pedestal, the prime subterfuge of the normal, we continue to enlarge our this much coveted trophy; perhaps, in more ways than that the Day was a time to affirm that happiness is good, burden of thought has been to come to terms with how living spaces, to purchase the most recent technological we care to admit, happiness reminds us of sadness and that a large number of people around the world are not best the self can thrive. The Euro-American imperatives innovations, to keep up with the Twitter-verse, to build is often indistinguishable from that intractable angst that as happy as we are, and thus we ought to be grateful to preserve the workings of a separate ‘self’, and to sleeker roads, to gain access to more cash and property, inhabits our every breathing moment. about how already happy we are – and optimistic about globalize the process of individuation, have worked hand to seek more and higher educational qualifications and a future filled with happiness. Having grown up in an in hand with the directionality offered by the discourse degrees. But yet another persuasive reason why ultra-charismatic Christian context, where the faithful were on happiness. What modernity thus offers us is a yellow happiness has proved elusive is oddly somewhat ‘expected’ to speak only ‘positive things’, brick road – a singular pathway towards happiness – Those larger spaces have, however, given us more because we pursue it so relentlessly give awkward high-fives, repeat ‘yearly declarations’ just a rational trajectory, a thesis that accentuates loyalty to room to be miserable in, accentuating our separation; before they began a conversation, ‘claim blessings’, and formal ways of knowing, to the marketplace, to the nation the cosmologically urgent addition of an extra USB smile very often, I couldn’t help but identify the Day as yet state, to the idea of progress, and to a linear conception port to the latest iPad device speaks volumes about our another ritual that silently reinforced the fictional primacy of time. The promise is that happiness lies solely in what priorities. And Twitter? The recent overabundance of of happiness and the gallantness of its pursuit. For me, modern institutions have to offer. social networks has hollowed out our once boisterous But yet another persuasive reason why happiness there had to be something amiss when people weren’t just and visceral experiences of intimacy, replacing face to has proved elusive is oddly because we pursue it so happy – but had to be. face conversations with the enhancement of a wall post relentlessly. In fact, the pursuit of happiness is enshrined Isn’t it awkward, then, that and a sterile avatar that we pretend to be. in our social operating systems – motivating us to high urbanization, economic growth, ambition, upward mobility and constant self-scrutiny. Yet For me, there had to be something technological advancement, security, Better roads have only given us more reason to get away there seems to be a paradoxical process buried in human amiss when people weren’t just happy scientific rationalism and all the familiar from each other – faster; making more money adds to behavior, which thwarts our most resolute intentions to – but had to be. trappings of modern civilization haven’t the illusion of independence, the delusion of control, be happy. It seems that the more determined we are to made us a happier species? the trickery of lordship and magisterial detachment from do something, the more we stand in the way of doing it. ‘nature’. And if schooling has taught us anything, it is that Alan Watts called it the ‘law of reversed effort’; Lauren knowledge is joyless, boring and tethered to equally Berlant called it ‘cruel optimism’, hinting at the ways In a sense, modern civilization is a set of instructions and morbid authority figures whose claims to wisdom are hope and desire often force themselves on things that coordinates designed to discipline human experience One would expect, therefore, that with all the progress highlighted by their cluelessness. are hindrances to one’s flourishing; Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and subjectivity, delineate between fabricated polarities, we’ve made in asserting our superiority over nature, and galvanize collective action towards reinforcing the conquering outer space, and crafting advanced tools for It is not that there is a yellow brick road that leads to happiness we haven’t yet found. The ‘problem’ runs deeper than this, and lies somewhere in the realization that happiness – for all its instrumental potency, experiential acuity and linguistic attractiveness – is not a ‘thing’. We are not at all sure what we mean by happiness. We think we know what it is, and can probably summon memories or imagery that evoke feelings of deep satisfaction, childish bliss and contentment. But knee-deep in those circumstances, if we are to inspect our feelings, we don’t

Just think positive, just think positive, just think positive...

43 SHIFT Magazine 44 feature author of The Brothers Karamazov, bemoaned his failure we live more beautiful lives. at thought expression and immortalized the story of the ‘white bear’; and Daniel Wegner, a psychologist, Modernity was an attempt to broadcast the triumph of inspired by Dostoyevsky’s thought experiment, carried the isolated self, and sterilize our notions of wellbeing. out experiments of his own to illustrate how trying not to We are now awakening to the realization that the self is think about something readily makes that thing irresistibly porous and not as contained as we might like to think – available to awareness. Wegner’s experiments allow us and that all aspects of consciousness dance together in a to see how self-defeating the ideology of positive thinking mutual state of inclusivity, so that it is ultimately impossible really is. Constantly thinking ‘positive thoughts’ (and to divorce happiness from grief. Perhaps coming home to attempting to ‘repress negative thoughts’) is fraught with ourselves involves recognizing that grief has its purpose, In our individualistic, identity-asserting culture of conditional worth and critical problems. What could be more disarming than the without which happiness is a mere plastic echo of itself. comparative selfhood, it can feel as though every triumph and tribulation realization that our protracted efforts to be happy have Perhaps coming home to a more beautiful world means is scrutinised as a defining fault of personal character. As activists and created unprecedented measures of grief? we realize – as the gentleman up in the Himalayan global citizens, we face enough pressure from reigning ideologies and regions told Ej and I – that life isn’t that coherent. the media telling us how to live and be A Worthwhile Person that it’s What could be more disarming than the sometimes difficult to differentiate when we’re helping the world from realization that our protracted efforts to when we could be hurting it, and by reflection, ourselves. be happy have created unprecedented I remember being taught that a worthwhile person is one who, deeply measures of grief? and correctly, introjects the dominant values of his or her culture; one who wears a managed heart of unutterable dreams, setting every sleepless alarm to the clockwork grind of cunning success and civil obedience. Those who make a conscious decision to take the path less travelled, So how do we achieve happiness? Is it even a worthwhile to dedicate time capsules for a brighter future they may not live long goal any longer? Was it ever? enough to inherit, suddenly appear to the world as deluded dreamers and maladjusted iconoclasts. As the gap widens between our fearless One thing is somewhat clear: the infrastructure of change-making ideals and the battle cries of our wounded inner child modern human experience no longer serves our deep struggling to rise to the challenge, we become truth-seeking veterans, and emerging desires for a life of our own making. The fighting to make peace with our cruelest limitations. promises of big money, trickle-down economics, structural adjustment programs, giant industries, deregulated If you’re reading this, chances are you’re interested in changing the transnational corporations, banks, and more jobs have world somehow, even if you might be a little skeptical that we have failed us. The normal is no longer worthwhile. We can the will and motivational resources, collectively, to do so. Determined no longer abide a system that actively exploits our hopes, not to reduce my raison d’être to an existential vacuum of commodified supplants our energies with cruel optimism, and acts on apathy, I was desperate to take control of my own learning and discovered activism in my late teens. I shopped around for like-minded our behalf – while silencing our own voices. communities that I resonated with, and ended up volunteering with an organisation that did some pretty ground-breaking paradigm shifting However, if Dostoyevsky’s white bear experiments teach at the time. Thursday nights were spent handing out flyers in front of us anything, it is that we very often assume the shape of that the Martin Luther King mural in Newtown, and setting up a projector which we work so hard to resist. Perhaps this is why civil screen for free documentary screenings – from The Century of Self to action groups and protest movements end up resembling The Corporation, and The Story of Stuff. I will never forget the the giant corporations they fight against. While that kind heartwarming chance encounters, though they still sadden me to do this of activism has its place, our best hopes probably lie in co-creating relational spaces of rejuvenation, where the hegemonic dynamics of the coherent self can be slowly We are now awakening to the dismantled. By turning to each other, and summoning realization that the self is porous and not spaces that allow our radical simultaneity to be expressed, as contained as we might like to think – and that all aspects of consciousness dance together in a mutual state of inclusivity, so that it is ultimately impossible to divorce happiness from grief.

By Miss Metanoia

45 SHIFT Magazine 46 feature day, like talking with homeless street kids who thanked us of greater diversity and inclusiveness means change making Her vision is for the Indigo Project to be more than a place for our work but were consumed with thoughts of how to organisations are at risk of alienating the very lifeblood of to seek psychological treatment, but a place where people get their next liquor fix and a warm body for the night. their message: their supporters. can come to hang out, learn more about themselves, and get creative with their values while connecting with those Being involved with a genuinely inspiring community meant In all fairness, most organisations would willingly make on a similar path. It provokes us to imagine what an ideal I wanted to be more like the activists I admired, so I made changes if they were aware of the steps needing to be taken. activist space and culture might look like, particularly in a habit of sneaking out to co-ordinated meetings. The team In most cases, it’s left up to minorities to speak up about addressing the root causes of psychosocial afflictions, as was planning a series of lectures and media artivism events, their needs, which is problematic if they’re new, doubtful opposed to artificially numbing its symptoms. where the archetypes of confident public speaker, social or afraid of being judged. Credible organisations have a butterfly promoter, articulate intellectual and the artistically duty of care to their volunteers to abide by a code of ethics, Maya Angelou once truthfully articulated, “There is no skilled were in highest demand. Of course, there were which includes being accountable to anti-discrimination and agony like bearing an untold story inside of you.” I wonder behind the scenes technical and administrative positions, equal opportunity principles. It’s the vested attitudes and if the invisible elephant in the room is that we don’t know but on the whole, figuring where I fitted in seemed like unconditional acceptance of those personally involved, each other well enough to understand where to begin the ultimate square peg proposal - “here are all the roles however, who have the power to shift relational schemas dismantling structural divisions. We know every argument available in taking the world by storm, now pick one” (or from ‘role culture’ (exclusionary groupthink) to ‘people and counter-argument inside out as to why transnational as many as you like or can handle). Naturally my reaction culture’ (celebrating differences and individual expression.) trade agreements screw people over, but we’re rarely was, “well, as a socially anxious, moderately depressed mindful and aware of what makes our fellow activists 18 year old with a low pain tolerance for being in the most Head psychologist and founder of the Indigo Project, Mary tick on an individual level. We cannot create a new dim lit of spotlights, I suck at all of these, so I think I’ll stick up Hoang, who has experience facilitating disadvantaged epochal mythology, which is holistically resonant, as long posters and frisbee paper cuts at ducking yuppies instead.” groups, and believes the most important qualities we can as we remain black boxed, like wasted, unwanted gifts Pamphleteer, by The Weatherthans, became my theme use to build rapport within emerging communities are to each other. Our darkest struggles shouldn’t be treated song for those restless next few months, “Facing rush hour congruence and authenticity, states: as character flaws or a burden upon the community, but faces turned around / How causes dance away from me / an outlet for expressing the relatable nature of our fears, I am your pamphleteer.” Meanwhile I kept secretly praying, [In my work with disadvantaged youth], kids complementary motivations, and understated capacities. “Please universe, don’t let me attract any argumentative can tell when you’re not being real with them. I’m hoping that earth community leaders will take the pseudo-intellectroll types. And don’t you dare mistake me, They need personable, down to earth mentors, initiative to collate priority research into activist facilitation fedora wearing dude with the crumpled tie, for a religious who are relatable because of their varied needs; either through comprehensive surveys, skill-sharing, cult evangelist before you read the damn flyer.” life experiences. Using mindfulness strategies personal development workshops, or friendly orientation teaches the importance of being present and in meetings. Forgotten activists, particularly those of the ego- Fast forward three years, and my awkward pamphleteering the moment with each other. We’re able to speak deficient variety, deserve to feel confident telling their more relevantly to people from all walks of life days are behind me. I’m compelled to think more critically if they know we don’t claim to be living our lives stories - subverting the standard narrative of ghostwritten about what works for me and what doesn’t regarding perfectly either. selfhood, as though it were radically reimagined in the activism commitments, while pensively reconciling why it glossy pages of a centrefold. took me so long to start believing in my potential. I’m happy Change-making communities don’t have to pretend to know to leave the sharp-tongued political debating and verbal everything about every marginalised group, but they do sparring to the pros, while I go about my business reading, need to sensitively and confidentially open up a dialogue writing, collecting inspiration, learning as much as I possibly with activists who might have special needs to feel safe can about how the world works, and perhaps attempting rather than breadth. Neither style of contribution is better enough to talk about it. to shift the change-making dialogue into something a little or worse, deserving of guilt or preferential treatment. It’s more personal. The best approach is to treat people as individuals, disheartening to comprehend how some people aren’t where everyone is valued and respected for their even being granted basic respect for their contributions, diverse range of skills and passion for our cause. When a friend opened up to me recently about loved ones let alone the appropriate guidance and recognition they who were vilified and excluded from so called activist “safe deserve. Mary attributes her organisation’s success to the contribution spaces” on the basis of having a disability, suddenly it hit of a multi-disciplinarian team of interns, creative professionals home that if I felt peripheral and insignificant, imagine how There’s also an unspoken expectation in some activist and volunteers. damaging that is for disadvantaged minorities accustomed communities that volunteers should be able to easily The project is bigger than me now, it’s grown into to universally inadequate representation. You might be assimilate, take on mountains of responsibility, not question something which involves entire communities we familiar with the homogenised stereotype of the ideal how things are run, nor assert their individual needs for work with. We want to help people find a purpose humanitarian / bleeding heart philanthropist: able-bodied, support and facilitation. Newsflash: some of the most they can align with, so life imbues a fresh sense highly educated, time and money-privileged enough to dedicated, well-intentioned and compassionate of us afford volunteer commitments, naturally disciplined and of meaning. I think those who have gone off the could never live up to such a lofty ideal. My concern is that well-worn tracks, ventured into uncharted parts of consistent with face-of-the-campaign charisma. Never change-making communities can easily fall into the trap of mind the fact that we’re all fundamentally different in our themselves, and got themselves into trouble, tend standardising team productivity at the expense of individual to have the most interesting things to say about life. temperamental wiring, inclinations and abilities. Some self-determination. In reality, people are more nuanced, people are sturdy as a golden pancake when spreading When inner fulfilment isn’t about the day to day fascinating and complex than the utilitarian embodiment grind anymore, people have this need to connect themselves thin with commitments; others are gifted in of a mission statement. No one deserves to feel like their slower, more specialised settings, oriented towards depth with something beyond themselves, to help others best isn’t good enough. Failing to prioritise the integration along their journey as well.

47 SHIFT Magazine 48 columns

The second, and I think more worrying, counter-movement of this becomes a major problem. It already is a problem. is the bid by the powers that be to hold on. You can see We ignore it at our peril. There is plenty that can be done this, for instance, in banks and landlords evicting people to combat it, and this work is just as important as raising who can’t pay their mortgages or rent; the fossil fuel awareness and building alternatives is. industries ramping up highly damaging and only slightly profitable unconventional oil and gas production; other As a radical activist turned transition activist, I have been damaging industries like genetically modified food; guilty of believing – and at times promoting – the idea nuclear and fossil fuel energy; and the military industrial that the most important activist work right now, the only complex. All of these need to cease to exist if we want kind that will truly change things, is of the transition kind. I a humane and environmentally sane world. In the arena think mostly I wanted to believe that because I got burnt of government you see enforcement of regulations that by being around police violence and campaigns that make simpler and more sensible ways of doing things never seemed to have any wins. Meanwhile, most people illegal – think, for instance, of composting toilets and in the transition movement seem to have had little to no the overzealous application of food safety laws. Then engagement at all with radical political theory. you have the continuous building of more and more prisons, the introduction of laws designed to curtail our rights to protest, and free trade agreements which allow corporations to sue governments over local decisions to together so that we can approach our predicament with Getting most people to the point of wanting the paradigm protect workers, consumers or the environment. shift that transition toward a sustainable and just society the benefit of both radical political thought and the theory represents is a massive and daunting task. Yet the way of collapse and transition. I may well be writing from an to go about it seems relatively straightforward and Australian perspective here (where the economic crisis has And last but not least, you have the rise of prejudice and generally agreed upon by transitioners. It involves raising not yet hit us very hard), but while it seems that the radical fascism, which can best be illustrated by the examples awareness about the inevitability of collapse, the ways left are discussing collapse a fair bit more than they used of Nazi Germany and modern-day Greece. Historians the current system disadvantages people, and the ways to, it still seems to be fully understood and assimilated are in general agreement that Hitler was voted in by the a simpler system would benefit people, while at the by only a tiny minority of activists. Meanwhile, amongst middle class after they had lost their former wealth to same time building alternatives that both demonstrate transitioners, only a tiny minority seem to understand the WWI reparations. He offered them two things: an enemy what’s possible, become the basis for our future society, need for a radical politics of collapse. to express their anger toward (Jews), and a promise of and reach out to help those in need. At the same time, future wealth through national socialism. The Nazis were the increasing severity of collapse over time means that funded by big corporations, particularly those involved the current system becomes less and less viable, and in heavy industry who hoped that Hitler could keep the noticeably so. working class under control in what would otherwise The counter-movement likely have been a time of social revolution. How we win the ongoing battle with the existing system, Malcolm Gladwell, in his often-referenced book The though, is a topic often talked about by the radical left Tipping Point, argues that if you can convince one per Today in Greece, to use the most obvious example of but mostly ignored by transition types (the term ‘transition’ cent of the population of something, then it will grow and many around the world, a very similar story is being told. is used here quite broadly to include not just people become a movement. If you can then grow your movement Economic collapse hit hard and the (former) middle class involved in Transition Towns, but also those involved to ten per cent of the population, then it will eventually are angry at their loss of wealth and relative security. with permaculture, appropriate technology, community become mainstream. He also points out however, that The fascist party Golden Dawn, who have 18 seats in building, awareness this will only work IF there is no equally strong counter- the Greek parliament, offered them a target for their raising and so on – movement. This is perhaps the main issue transitioners anger (migrants) and a promise that Greece will be the broader transition often neglect. economically great again. Golden Dawn offers free food movement). It’s time to Greek nationals; meanwhile they are behind a massive increase in street violence towards migrants with the we brought these two The counter-movement we’re up against is two-fold. First general approval, and sometimes collusion of, the police strands of thought there is the apathy of individuals who are sufficiently force, of whom around half voted for Golden Dawn. The appeased by the status quo, and just want to keep on current government in Greece is moving further and further living as they are. This could theoretically be overcome to the right in order to not lose votes to Golden Dawn, by the dynamics of collapse forcing them to change their and is arguably becoming a fascist state itself. ways. People won’t be sitting on their bum watching their big-screen TV all the time when they can’t afford their electricity bill – they’ll be organizing. In the meantime, This is not the stuff of , just the logical however, the inertia in the system that is created by this actions of self-interested parties – landlords, banks, appeasement and apathy, along with the blind adherence corporations, bureaucrats, politicians, and desperate to cultural norms, is definitely something to be worried people looking for someone to blame – as collapse By Theo Kitchener about. worsens. I don’t have hope, like Rob Hopkins and many others, that we’ll somehow make the transition before any

49 SHIFT Magazine 50 columns

We need to get political the steps of town halls and police stations until adequate home raided and turned upside down, and their computers housing was found. This activity led to state governments and personal food stores confiscated by a SWAT team offering measures like rental subsidies for up to two thirds of armed with semi-automatic rifles who gave no reason for Regardless of where this short-sightedness comes from, rent in low income areas. the invasion. It certainly doesn’t pay to be naïve about the what can we actually do about it? I would argue that in possibility of corporations using government agencies to addition to raising awareness and building alternatives, enforce their existing monopolies. we need to get political. Transitioners have always been More recently in Spain a movement of eviction resistance and squatting has become quite mainstream. The Platform on board with lobbying and getting elected to local Noncompliance with councils, which is great, but we could go a lot further. for Mortgage Affected People (PAH) has stopped 725 Many people are choosing to act illegally, whether Radical politics has taken many different forms throughout evictions across Spain by blockading entrances to dwellings Unjust Laws it be by building simple composting toilets in their history, and a diversity of tactics is important. If you really so that eviction orders cannot be delivered. They then backyards, slaughtering their own animals and selling love gardening or whatever you’re doing, absolutely do negotiate a lower social rent with the bank or a dropping of There are plenty of things that make good sense in terms of meat to neighbours, or farming in urban areas where the focus on that, but if you’re just doing it for the sake of doing the debt after foreclosure. resilience but turn out to be illegal. Joel Salatin’s book titled zoning doesn’t allow it. This is civil disobedience of the something useful, perhaps it’s worth exploring some of the Everything I Want to do is Illegal details all the kind Thoreau, Gandhi and King would have approved. five radical political actions outlined in the paragraphs PAH and others are also organising the squatting of ways in which he is unable to legally run an They all argued that where laws are unjust we are below. We need to make sure we’re covering all our foreclosed apartment buildings to provide housing for the ethical and sustainable meat-producing morally obligated to break them. And when people bases if we are to have any chance of a peaceful and homeless. New Internationalist quotes a woman explaining farm. Much of this legislation is are dependent on industrially produced food which is just transition. her situation, ‘We don’t want to steal anyone’s house, but probably simple overzealousness, neither healthy nor likely to always be available and/or we have nowhere to go and these chalets are empty. It’s but some of it is clearly designed to affordable as we move deeper into collapse, building a crazy ... We want people to understand that we are not benefit big businesses at the expense resilient, decentralised food system is a matter of social despicable or lazy. We used to be the middle class.’ Rafael of the little guy. This is most evident in the justice. Martín Sanz, the president of a real estate management excessive force which is sometimes used company in Spain, says that squatting has become so in enforcing these laws. To give just one Food freedom activist Liz Reitzig has this to say about mainstream that real estate agents are hesitant to put up example, the family who run Manna noncompliance: “Whatever the threats might be for signs indicating that an apartment is empty. He says ‘the Storehouse, a large food co- noncompliance in a vastly unjust system, the dangers joke is that half the people touring apartments that are on operative in Ohio, had their of compliance are far greater. Obedience to the market are actually just picking out which apartment they oppression serves no one. Yes, I AM scared that Eviction Resistance and want to squat in’. one day I might face a courtroom, perhaps Squatting even jail for my continued and increasing The PAH have also been pushing for a new law which would actions in support of food freedom. But I Iain McIntyre has documented the history of eviction institute a moratorium on evictions, a retrospective cancelling am even more terrified of the world my resistance in Australia during the Great Depression in his of debt at the time of foreclosure and a transformation of children will inherit if I, and others, do excellent pamphlet Lock Out the Landlords!, and since all foreclosed properties into affordable housing. It has the not take a stand now.” people today tend not to think of Australia as being a support of 90% of the population. particularly radical place, it’s worth noting some of what The Farmer To Consumer Legal went on here. One last example is the inspiring Movement of Landless Defence Fund, formed in the Workers (MST) in Brazil which organises occupations of United States in 2007, raises While banks were holding auctions to sell off land they parcels of land where they have managed to settle 370,000 money and provides pro had confiscated from farmers who were unable to pay their families over the last two decades. These occupations then mortgages, some of these farmers were able to hold onto organise their own co-operative stores, schools and camp their land by disrupting these auctions with large numbers of assemblies. There is now also a Movement for Those people so that no one was able to make bids. In the cities, Without Roofs working Anti-Eviction Committees and the Unemployed Workers on squatting in Brazil’s Movement employed tactics such as letting landlords know cities. that eviction would be resisted, street pickets with community sing-alongs, blockading and occupying houses, and trashing houses to send a message to landlords and banks. They also lobbied councils and government departments for secure housing for evictees, and sometimes dumped furniture and set up camp on

51 SHIFT Magazine 52 columns bono legal assistance to farmers and food producers who South Wales and James Price Point in Western Australia come up against unfair laws. They provide an extremely recently stopped new gas developments. However, these A Word of Caution on important support role to the many individuals and families movements are nowhere near the scale they need to Revolution who routinely break unjust laws. get to for us to actually stop the damage being done. Hopefully, though, as credit and demand dry up due to Times of extreme hardship are often also revolutionary financial crisis, there will be fewer of these battles to fight times, and though I think we need to do everything we so the scales may be somewhat tipped. can to move toward a situation in the future where we are able to shut down all the non-renewable energy sources, Anti-Fascism and stop all the other crazy shit that’s going on, and create a simpler, saner system, we also need to be very The experience throughout Europe and around the world, Keeping focus careful around revolution. as much as it goes against many people’s non-violent ethic, is that fighting back against fascist bullies is the only Nicole Foss would argue though that, going into the We don’t just want to replace the government with a better Participatory Democracy thing that works. The argument goes that fascists don’t play future, fewer and fewer people will have the energy, one. That won’t solve anything in terms of collapse, which by the rules and are not swayed by non-violent action essentially the privilege of caring about issues much is not under the control of politicians, though of course since they are not accountable to the public, so stopping larger than what they’re going to do to get food on the it could be managed better than it is being. While one If we are to transform our society into one that makes sense, fascists from gaining numbers in any way possible is a table. So in order to make non-transition activism more big single solution is often very enticing, it usually doesn’t we will have to transform or replace our representative good thing, even if it means using their own fear tactics resilient, perhaps it needs some aspects of transition. work, and not just because systems are too complex democracies – which have been corrupted by vested against them. Anti-fascists are intervening around the world An excellent example of this in practice is the La ZAD for that. When a revolution overthrows a government, a interests – with actual participatory democracies. Many in racist, homophobic and anti-semitic bashings whenever struggle in France, which has been holding a long term power vacuum is created and it is all too easy for a new different models are being experimented with around the they can, and sometimes simply attack fascists directly. As occupation to stop the construction of a new airport: “La regime we don’t actually want, perhaps one that’s even world, almost all of which would probably work better a result, according to my contacts in Greece, the fascist ZAD has been a laboratory for ways of living despite worse than what was there before, to take control. Think than what we’ve got at present. Politics is currently a cut- activity there is largely limited to certain regions since capitalism since the 2009 French Climate Camp. At the of the recent Egyptian revolution leading to the current throat game; to get anywhere near the top you need to they are outnumbered by radical leftists in most places. camp activists and locals put together a call for people to military dictatorship, or the Russian or French revolutions. have quite an impaired sense of ethics, making politicians Anti-fascists often organise a show of strength whenever come and live on the Zone to protect it. Now you can find exactly the kind of people we don’t want running our fascists gather in public, and can often easily outnumber illegal goat herds and organic bakeries, bike workshops In each of these revolutions, there was a genuine movement countries. Direct or participatory democracy creates fascists. Particularly in places like Australia where fascist and bee hives, working farms and communal kitchens, a for deep radical change towards equality and freedom, the opportunity for ordinary people to deliberate with groups do exist but are not particularly strong, this kind of micro brewery, a mobile library, and even a pirate radio and each time it was repressed (often violently) by a each other and come to logical conclusions, without the activity is extremely important. station: Radio Klaxon.” different set of elites taking power. The only way around interference of corporate lobbyists or back-room deals. this is to build an alternative society while fighting the old Another way of doing this would be to build solidarity one, without calling for an overthrow of the government. Many traditional villages were governed by village between transition activists and activists focused on other There is literally no point. Instead if we manage to build assemblies, and this tradition has continued as if it is only important issues. Transitioners could potentially support something amazing, and defend it when it faces attack natural whenever governments are delegitimised, such as other activists with food and other supplies in the future. (neighbourhood defence militias could eventually become during the French Revolution and throughout Latin America There can be a danger in feeling that building alternatives necessary) then the existing system will crumble due to a in its long and ongoing battle against colonialism. In is the only kind of politics likely to bring about radical lack of popular and economic support and we will have Greece during the December insurrection in 2008 change and therefore the only important kind. If we the new society that we always wanted. neighbourhood assemblies spread across the country, manage to deal with financial collapse and peak oil, acting as the main co-ordinating bodies for political Stopping the Damage but are then blindsided by runaway climate change, or a activities. Likewise the M15 movement in Spain relied wave of nuclear meltdowns, there will have been no real heavily on neighbourhood assemblies and these were the point. We have to be covering all our bases. inspiration for Occupy’s general assemblies. While collapse may mean that new coal-fired power stations won’t get built and some may shut down due to At the same time, collapse and transition theory could be The move towards participatory democracy can also a lack of demand, they won’t all be shutting down since very useful to climate change activists in particular. The come from political parties themselves. The 5 Star coal power is cheap. If we’re to have a good chance current focus on promoting large scale renewables which Movement recently became one of Italy’s major parties of not seeing runaway climate change, though, we’ll simply aren’t going to be economically viable is, I think, while promoting participatory democracy as a solution need more than the cuts in emissions that will come from quite damaging to the movement, since it takes up a great to Italians’ lack of trust in their political system. Then economic collapse alone. A similar argument could be deal of energy that could be much better spent promoting there is the Pirate Party which, after starting in Sweden made for nuclear power, fracking, genetically modified biochar and appropriate technologies that reduce in 2006, is now present in over 40 countries. They are food, logging of forests, the military and prison systems, the need for fossil fuels. Particularly where people are committed to direct democracy, freedom of information, factory farming, and so on. struggling economically, there is a high likelihood of self- and transparency. An innovative open source software interest leading the way in these technologies becoming project called Liquid Feedback is used by many Pirate At the moment, the movements around these campaigns mainstream if they are promoted well enough. A first step Parties and some local branches of the 5 Star Movement are relatively small. Big enough to have some exciting and perhaps could be attempting to raise awareness about to make decisions. motivating wins of course. The Bentley blockade in New these issues amongst climate activists.

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The world is moving so fast. Its pace is matched by its picture view of the world, I can see that the 70s was a time exponentially increasing size and complexity. All together when humanity was really starting to pick itself up again after it’s not an easy task to make sense of it all. A huge amount two world wars. It has been argued that these devastating of observation, study and contemplation is needed to even events signalled the end of a long history of tyranny of one get a little bit of understanding happening. I think I’m just sort or another. By tyranny I mean the acutely hierarchical beginning to understand the 1970s, and I wonder whether societies which evolved from flawed human beliefs and this 40 year lag between events and any substantial form of ideologies built around concepts of religion, or bloodlines, or true awareness – about what the heck is really going on – brute force, or survival of the fittest, or some nasty combination is normal. If so, this would explain, to some extent, why the of two or more these crazy or corrupted ideas. The rise and people who are protesting the state of the world, and who fall and rise of hierarchical civilisations appears to have are wanting positive change, are having such a tough time of dominated the world for most, if not all, of recorded history. it. The current crop of change agents (the awkward but so far One of the most obvious and abhorrent features of any best attempt to describe themselves) have strong and honest tyranny is that primarily each and every individual’s status, gut feelings that the world is upside down, but without the role and destiny, is largely pre-determined at birth. Gender, luxury of 40 years of hindsight and consequent wisdom they race, nationality, religion, genes, and family history are some struggle to explain, in any simple and convincing way, that the of the attributes one is born into and, these often permanently world is actually broken and that we are madly accelerating recorded labels are extremely hard, if not impossible, to to an unimaginable, but certainly unpleasant, future. change, lose or deny. Most civilisations have tales of heroes who rise above their lowly rank to conquer the oppression Most of us, even with the “something’s not quite right” nausea of the state, but for the masses these myths typically serve to kicking in, find that it’s much easier to be pragmatic, to not instil a false sense of natural justice in obviously corrupt and ask too many questions, and to commit oneself to playing the dysfunctional societies. game of life as hard and as clever as possible. The fear of drowning – in measurably rising waters – feeds our frantic It was about 500 years ago that some big thinkers started to struggles to stay afloat and dulls our curiosity to wonder get some well-ripened public attention and sympathy after “why is this so?” The frequent lament that it is the conservative the centuries aptly named the “dark ages”. Slowly but surely controlled mainstream media that keeps us toiling in the dark, the enlightenment managed to wake up the Western world by selective editing and downright lies, is becoming a tired to the injustices that became inevitable when we structured old excuse when deep down we know that the truth – when society as a rigid pyramid of hierarchy, from an absolute eloquently and sensitively articulated – will spread faster and authority on top of everything, all the way down to the very permeate deeper than any sensationalised headline, titillating lowest class of human; secular humanism was born. Since celebrity gossip, or cute internet meme that goes viral for a then, tumultuous periods of high drama and massive change day or two. At least that is my opinion. I propose that, as yet, ensued. An optimistic view of the world today can quite no one or no group has been able to voice, in a universal and profound way, the what, why, who, when, where and how of the current state of human affairs. With the ever-increasing Most civilisations have tales pace required by us all to maintain a foothold, even for basic of heroes who rise above needs like a roof over one’s head, it can seem unlikely that their lowly rank to conquer philosophers and artists of a new breed are waiting in the wings to appear and shake us all fully to our senses. the oppression of the state, but for the masses these In 1970 I was nine years of age, that’s about when I consider myself as having some degree of consciousness, or myths typically serve to instil some level of free will, or whatever you want to call it. I had a false sense of natural justice already rejected God and religion as a source of knowledge in obviously corrupt and or meaning, and was diving into “The Golden Book Junior Encyclopedia”. It was an American publication and I – for a dysfunctional societies. while – could name the capital city of every state, and most of the state birds. Forty years later, with a somewhat bigger

By Sean Crawley

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achieve their wildest dreams. Excuse me while I just step outside confidently report that, by and large, many of the injustices to vomit. of the past such as slavery, racism, sexism and poverty, if not totally eliminated, are well on the way to becoming history, The celebrities of the modern world have come up with all sorts once and for all. On closer examination though, it can equally of mythologies to justify the human race to succeed at all costs.

The promise of science and What has gone wrong? With the technology to give us unprecedented eradication of the old-style tyrannies, comforts and increased leisure time has a more subtle but equally in this life, without having to wait for devastating hierarchical tyranny risen some post-death paradise, was a up to coerce us all into a diabolical pretty easy sell. trajectory toward self-extinction? be argued that the rise of secularism, the increasing freedom of the individual, and the equality of both wealth and opportunity They aren’t often asked, but when they are they invariably invoke for all peoples actually peaked in the 1970s. And the decline some flawed logic or metaphysics to ignore the widespread of these conditions has been steady ever since. atrocities still being committed by the successful upon the earth and its inhabitants. And worse than that, they encourage the rest The 1970s can also be viewed as the decade when our of us to follow in their footsteps. understanding of ourselves, as a species interdependently connected with the finite earth and its other inhabitants, What has gone wrong? With the eradication of the old-style blossomed. In the 1960s the public was exposed to both tyrannies, has a more subtle but equally devastating hierarchical photographs of earth from space and a series of environmental tyranny risen up to coerce us all into a diabolical trajectory catastrophes. The evidence of our place in the universe and our toward self-extinction? (If you think I am being a bit dramatic impact on the environment was so compelling and irrefutable here, pull out your Year 11 Biology prac book and look over the that it was taught in public schools. I myself, with a youthful and bacteria population experiment in a petri dish of nutrient agar). innocent trust in the public education system and the popular Has all serious collective dialogue about the human condition notion of Australia being pretty damn lucky, eagerly looked died, just as God died with Nietzsche? Has this vacuum left only forward to the modern life on offer, and consequently dived the possibility of an individualistic free for all? Have the historical right in to participate in just about anything and everything failures of large collective efforts permanently replaced the on offer. The promise of science and technology to give us notion of “we” with “me”? Have we taken the notion of liberty, unprecedented comforts and increased leisure time in this life, enshrined in the classic enlightenment documents, too far? Has without having to wait for some post-death paradise, was a the power and experience of working together for the common pretty easy sell. The optimism of the era was reflected in a good devolved into a world of over seven billion emperors and confidence and belief in ourselves that we had the capacity as empires of the self? The distrust and disdain for our most basic intelligent and industrious beings to find new and better ways collective power base – democratically elected governments to eke out a harmonious existence on this, our only planet. – as demonstrated by the popular and brag-worthy pastime of beating the taxman, is symptomatic of a world of individuals The vision of the future on offer back in my high school days out there acting purely for themselves. How ironic that a species has spectacularly failed to materialise. On two measures alone that evolved successfully largely due to social cooperation has – the distribution of wealth and the health of the environment – culturally evolved into a society of “every man for himself”, or we have collectively failed. Sure, there are good news stories “dog eat dog” if you prefer, that is destined to annihilate itself. – on the material or money side of things we hear tales of The modern affliction of ignorance of our own humanness is not rags to riches, the triumphs of modern medical science and the basis upon which some vision of a successful life ought to the adventures of ordinary people creating and ticking off be built. bucket lists. On the environmental front, small wins against big corporations, advances in solar technology, and successful breeding programs in zoos, are examples posted occasionally on the telly or in the daily rag. This is mainly a sedative for a public waking up to alarm clocks and commuting to “jobs”. Any serious analysis clearly shows that the exceptions are not the rule. The so-called winners love the world, thank God, and preach that anyone with hard work and determination can

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Sustainable Thinking… When Surrender Means Pass It On Not Giving Up: The New 1. The World’s Resources Aren’t Running Sacred Activism Out: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/ 1. http://www.carolynbaker.net/2014/04/16/ Psychologically, we are good at SB1000142405270230427990457951786 how-we-should-live-in-the-face- 2612287156 of-catastrophic-climate-change-a- washing our brains so that we don’t 2. Richard Heinberg’s Museletter: http:// conversation-with-carolyn-baker-and- richardheinberg.com/museletter andrew-harvey/ go stark raving mad at the horror of 3. Post Carbon Institute: http://www. 2. http://howtosavetheworld.ca/ it all. postcarbon.org/ 3. http://howtosavetheworld.ca/2014/04/20/ 4. New Economics Foundation: http://www. in-defence-of-inaction/ neweconomics.org/ 4. http://www.thenation.com/blog/179375/let- 5. Center for the Advancement of the Steady earth-day-be-last State Economy: http://steadystate.org/ 5. http://www.carolynbaker.net/2014/04/13/ 6. Transition Network: http://www. what-does-it-mean-to-do-something- transitionnetwork.org/ about-climate-change-by-carolyn-baker/ If my personal 40-year lag in getting some sort of handle 7. Growthbusters: http://www.growthbusters. 6. http://www.wisdombridge.net/ on what the world is really like is the norm, then maybe our org/ 7. https://sites.google.com/site/ species with its current breakneck rate of acceleration is 8. The Story of Stuff: http://storyofstuff.org/ annambergdesign/What-Does-the- doomed. Humans are adaptable and we will no doubt cling 9. Spaceship Earth Passenger Safety Universe-Do to survival for as long as possible. Psychologically, we are Briefing: https://tinyurl.com/o65pqrh 8. http://www.anthropocene.info/en/ good at washing our brains so that we don’t go stark raving anthropocene 9. http://workthatreconnects.org/planetary- mad at the horror of it all. hospice-rebirthing-the-planet/ Changemaker Profile: The 10. http://www.carolynbaker.net/2013/05/07/ Drugs, religion, sex, celebrity, fashion, technology, and the Communicator preparing-for-near-term-extinction-by- relentless pursuit of money, are some of the major distractions carolyn-baker/ that keep us half asleep at the wheel while stomping down 1. http://davidrovics.com/ 11. http://www.carolynbaker.net/2013/11/06/ 2. http://www.democracynow.org/ fukushima-and-catastrophic-climate- firmly on the gas. The latest panacea being touted as the most change-the-earth-community-in-hospice- likely salvation for naughty humanity is for the internet (along by-carolyn-baker/ with burgeoning catalogue of sleek and shiny devices) to 12. http://www.carolynbaker.net/2014/01/27/ hook us all up to some utopian world of social media. A Complex Predicament: hospice-is-a-busy-place-by-carolyn-baker/ Part 3 Or will it be 40 years before we can really understand how 1. http://www.sustainabilitysc.org/magazine/ the advent of the internet did not, as predicted, save the world, a-complex-predicament-part-1-the- but was just another distraction that further divided us, rather energy-predicament/ than uniting us as a force to conquer the latest tyranny – the 2. http://www.sustainabilitysc.org/magazine/ a-complex-predicament-part-ii-the- tyranny that we haven’t even got a name for yet? Is the World- economic-predicament/ Wide Web really liberating us from mindless participation in 3. http://clivehamilton.com/books/requiem- a global economy that benefits the very few and is fuelled by for-a-species/ the destruction of the earth’s life support systems? 4. http://www.feasta.org/2011/10/08/on-the- cusp-of-collapse-complexity-energy-and- the-globalised-economy/

Is the World-Wide Web really Going Beyond Coal: liberating us from mindless A People-Powered participation in a global Movement economy that benefits the 1. http://www-new.greeninstitute.org.au/sites/ default/files/wp-files/2009/09/Galilee-Basin- very few and is fuelled by the backgrounder-June-2013.pdf destruction of the earth’s life 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_ support systems? Australia 3. https://p3-admin.greenpeace.org/australia/ Global/australia/images/2012/Climate/ Galillee%20Report(4.2MB).pdf 4. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05- 12/coal-mine-aproved-despite-expert- environmental-concerns/5447150 5. http://www.foe.org.au/digging-eia- %E2%88%92-failures-impact-assessments 6. http://bimblebox.org/ PS: I am working a bit more conscientiously on understanding the 80s and 90s in an 7. https://www.facebook.com/CoalFreeWBBB attempt to reduce my 40-year hindsight time lag. Join me if you so desire! 8. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-20/ bentley-history/5463800

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Across 3. FIAT – Italian car is money out of thin air 5. BARTER – Alternative to consumerism has Homer’s son next to emergency room 6. DISCOUNT – Savvy shoppers look for scattered coin dust 8. DEBTSLAVERY – Very best lad mixed up and caught in cycle of modern day life 11. WORK – Initially we only risk knowledge then it becomes an unpopular 38 hour activity 12. CAPITALISM – Is mail pact crazy way to increase wealth and power? 14. FREEMARKET – Freak meter reassembled as a supposed cure for all the world’s problems 15. ECONOMY – Money Co. rearranged the flow of resources and services 16. INTEREST – Insidious inflated payback mixed up in setter 18. LEVERAGE – Effort, load and fulcrum before an era is a canny way to get ahead financially 20. BANKS – Much more useful in containing rivers than money 21. MORTGAGE – Home loan from re-engineered goat germ 22. WAGE – From the start we all get emasculated, but its needed to ”pay your way”

Down 1. DOLLAR – Inside idol largess is what everyone’s striving to make quickly 2. FINANCES – Wall Street is the home of the worlds’ chaotic nice fans 4. GROWTH – From the beginnings of getting rich, one way to hell, is the word on every pollies’ mouth 7. INVESTMENT – Tangled vines plus many males plus nothing else and Down you have money for venture Across 2. City mum on crazy local group 9. EMPLOYMENT – “No, my temple” mumbled the workers’ lament 1. Not private taste of hotel with tongue 3. Spread harvest about really equal starts a fair division 10. TRADE – Look inside the extra dear exchange of goods 4. Power to the people comes from deconstructed creamy cod 4. Great variety sounds like a metropolis of pearl gatherers 7. Two plus two equals five 5. To reject the doctrines of authority sent Sid mad 13. MONEY – My one mess makes the world go round 9. Busy insect gets off unemployment 6. Untied with core reversed reverses meaning 17. SHARES – In the middle fish are selling basic market units 10. Potters spin a street march 8. Seven billion plus expending energy over time is needed for global 12. Company – spy of sorts unveils business owned by workers transformation 19. WEALTH – The law gone wrong allows the one percent to get almost 18. Gross Rats eat a donut and swap guts to become a movement from the 11. Coil amiss rewoven into a now rare ideology all of it ground up 13. Look inside with arm on your head to find tranquility 20. Main mush manifests to philosophy of enlightenment 14. Sister Cane scrambled a sometimes secret opposition 21. Make wort mixed up by pulling together 15. “Get real optimists understand profit” starts collection of like minded 22. Tell voice c to rearrange the masses together 16. Stir a tonic to get something done 17. In the middle of dotcom monsters is an area owned by all 19. Girl’s name keeps on giving to the needy

61 SHIFT Magazine 62 Sometimes I think the world is divided into those who have a comfortable relationship with power and those who have a naturally adversarial relationship with power..

- Arundhati Roy