Evo Morales has been at it again, saying bold and beautiful things that other world leaders will likely dismiss as radical or simply ignore, instead of recognising his brave attempts to get us to value Earth’s life support systems before it’s too late. On Earth Day, April 22nd, Morales addressed the United Nations calling for the countries of the world to accept a set of principles that would protect the planet’s resources and ‘right to life’. (more…)
Word from the wise
Thoughts from the heartlands (on fences)
An Aboriginal elder and his grandson meander through the maze of picket-fenced gardens in a comfortable suburb of Perth…
Grandfather, why do the white folk build fences and walls everywhere?
Grandson, this is a very important question and there are answers on many levels.
On the surface, the answer is simple: they are setting out their territory and defining the limits of their area of control. If you could look down from above you would see that the network of fences, walls and borders they have produced, enclosing areas within areas, territories within territories, typifies the landscape of the ‘civilized’ world. (more…)
Schools are preparing children for the wrong future
Parents searching frantically for places in a decent school for their children – one that gets good results and values a happy atmosphere, say – are failing to spot that even the best schools fail to offer an appropriate education for their pupils at all.
Why? First, because of the future our children face. Remember, modern society is founded on an abundance of fossil fuels (mainly oil), which has produced an economic and social web of such complexity that for many of us life is very far removed from its underlying connections with the natural world. This era is coming to an end, compounded by unfolding planetary crises that are taking us into a transition that will affect how we live, eat, travel and work and the skills we will need to do these things. (more…)
Thoughts from the heartlands (on money)
A native American elder and her grandson gaze over to the towers of high-rise finance from a reservation on the margins…
Grandma, why is everyone over there so worried about their money system, and why do all those government bail-outs of trillions of dollars not seem to make any difference?
Grandson, they can’t see that money is the problem, not the solution. Money has come between people and life. It was meant as a medium of exchange but has become distorted so that modern society now sees it as a store of value. This is wrong. How can pieces of paper or numbers on a screen have value? How can chopping down trees and polluting water create value? (more…)
VIVID 