#116. In motion

 Dear all,

it was a blessing to be in the midst of woods and water with family members last week, and to offer a set of workshops at a national Quaker gathering earlier in the month on “muscle-building for peace, justice and an earth restored”. Now my attention is turning to getting the word out about my new books (more in the Resource section). I’m planning to introduce them at an online birthday celebration (72—a good strong number) on Friday evening August 20. Save the date if you’d like to participate, and stay tuned.
Love,

Pamela




In motion

When a pond is still, the filamentous pond weed and the tiny dots of duckweed on the surface will multiply and take over, ultimately filling it in. When there is a strong enough current, however, they are washed through the outlet and the pond clears. While I don’t have the power, as one individual, to clean this pond, I can keep unclogging the outlet. As I free up the currents that would naturally be there, the weed flows steadily through. The motion that is critical for ongoing cleaning has been released.

The metaphor between pond weed and the world’s ills is not precise, but there is something about motion that I find compelling. Water in motion has the capacity to clean. Molecules in motion have the capacity of change their structure. People in motion have the capacity to transform—both themselves and the world around them. 

Yet the forces in our society that push us toward immobility around big social and environmental issues are immense. A competitive and individualist culture focuses our efforts on personal goals. With extreme economic injustice, the energies of a few at the top go toward protecting the status quo, many at the bottom are putting all their attention to just getting by. As unrelenting and escalating bad news collides with our culture’s deep-rooted narrative of inevitable progress, we find ourselves disoriented—shell-shocked even—and desperate for relief. This narrative provides little space for engaging with loss and fear, leaving us vulnerable to the ever-growing lures of consumption, distraction and addiction—anything to numb us to emotions too painful to feel.

So what can we do to encourage motion? Water metaphors keep coming to mind. We can start by mining through those layers of consumption, distraction and addiction to the cool clear water of caring—in ourselves and others around us—and be refreshed by this good life-giving water. We all care. Each of us has stories about connection—to the natural world of which we are part, to the communities that nurture us, to a desire to align with justice. Scared by the depths of grief and fear, we can also look for ways to stick our toes in these big waters as a first step. Admit to a little fear. Pay attention to a little loss. Hold hands as we take another step.

Then we can start imagining the possibility of something being better, more whole. If we can’t imagine anything different, we’re stuck where we are. But the “what might be” calls forth motion from the “what is”, creating the beginnings of a current. (Imagining the apocalypse is a different story; though it may be easier, there is no agency involved and if there is any current it leads only to despair.)

We need a vision to hold in our mind—like that clear lovely pond—and we need some sense of ourselves as actors, as part of what creates the current. I think this may be at the heart of the work I am called to—inviting people to motion. Breaking through the story line of the permanence of what is, and holding out a vision of what could be—communities building their own wealth, non-extractive social relationships, regenerated soil, rewoven webs of life. Reminding others of their goodness and capacity. Staying in motion myself, both in ongoing efforts that call my name, and shorter-term calls to action too compelling to be ignored. Listening for what calls out to others and encouraging them to take the first step, knowing that one will lead to another. Broadcasting different possibilities of action linked to vision, hoping that some will land on fertile ground. Celebrating every tiny bit of new motion, while also tending to the well-being of those who have stepped out into the roughest currents, providing an anchor of solidity, a place to unload fears and losses and reconnect to possibilities.

I love freeing up that current at the pond. In a very similar way, I am passionate about helping each other out of the sticky immobility in which we have been ensnared, back into our true nature and in motion toward a world that rings true.





Canoe on a still pond

Eight year old in the stern,
radiating concentration
as the feel of navigation
finds its way into his bones

Five year old, too scared
to venture in just days before
now gamely paddling in the bow

They wobble
circle
straighten

The universe breathes in
exhales
and is glad.

 

Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!
Divine Chocolate in Ghana

The cocoa farmers of the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative in Ghana own 44% of their Divine Chocolate company. Their cocoa is not grown on plantations, which may require clearing of rainforest trees, but on individual smallholder farms which have been in farming families for generations. Cocoa grows best in the shade of the rainforest canopy and the humid environment the rainforest creates is best for the midges that pollinate the cocoa. This is a major reason why these farmers are actively conserving the tall forest trees. They are replacing old cocoa trees with new seedlings, and actually planting new hardwood trees. Divine chooses not to use palm oil in any of their products because of its destructive impact on virgin forest and its wildlife.

https://www.divinechocolate.com/us/divine-story

Some things that have made me hopeful recently

The passage of a law in San Jose, California, requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/06/30/san-jose-california-gun-owners-liability-insurance/7822623002/

The pledge by the European Central Bank to inject climate considerations into its decisions, the first central bank to do so.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-08/ecb-pledges-to-inject-climate-considerations-into-its-decisions

A new law in Maine making it the first state to require its public employee pension fund and state treasury system to divest from fossil fuels. 

https://www.sierraclub.org/maine/blog/2021/06/maine-becomes-first-state-pass-law-divest-fossil-fuels

The Welsh government's suspension of all future road-building plans.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/22/welsh-government-to-suspend-all-future-road-building-plans?

 

Resources

Alive in this World

A book of poetry in three parts: A Home with the Trees, Commuter Encounters, and A Home with the Earth

Available in paperback and e-book at barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.

That Clear and Certain Sound; Finding Solid Ground in Perilous Times

A book of my essays, available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors

The Financial Roots of the Climate Crisis 
Link to a talk I gave at a church in Houston 
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7910215

Envision or Perish; Why we must start imagining the world we want to live in

An article I co-authored with George Lakey
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2021/02/envision-or-perish-why-we-must-start-imagining-the-world-we-want/  

Money and Soul
My newish book (based on a pamphlet of the same name) available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors.
("If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small.") 

Money, Debt and Liberation
A video of a talk I gave at Pendle Hill in January, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nP8eJ5vy8 

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance  
A book that I co-authored on Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.
The growth economy is failing to provide equitable well-being for humanity and a life-sustaining future for Earth.  However our institutional endowments and individual retirement are dependent on that same growth economy.  This book:
• offers background on our current economic system--how it is based on unearned income on the one hand and debt on the other, with a built-in momentum toward economy inequality and ecological overshoot;
• frames the conversation within the context of our deepest values and beliefs;
• suggests plausible and historically grounded alternatives to the current system, particularly with regard to financing retirement; and
• invites everyone to imagine new forms of durable economic and social security, and to help create the relationships and institutions that will make them a reality.
With many people now counting as never before on the performance of Wall Street for retirement security, how can this system be challenged with integrity and effectiveness?  Can we break with our dependence on financial speculation and build up new structures of security in a transformed, life-centered economy?
To order the book, or read it on line, go to http://www.quakerinstitute.org/?page_id=5 and scroll down.


Finding Steady Ground
If you need reminding of some simple ways to stay grounded in challenging times, I recommend this website, which I helped a friend develop following the last presidential election. 
www.findingsteadyground.com    

Other resources from my friend Daniel Hunter
Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow; An Organizing Guide.  http://www.danielhunter.org/books/building-movement-end-new-jim-crow-organizing-guide  
Climate Resistance Handbook, or I was part of a climate action. Now what? https://commonslibrary.org/climate-resistance-handbook-or-i-was-part-of-a-climate-action-now-what/ 
Leading Groups On-Line. https://www.trainingforchange.org/training_tools/leading-groups-online-book/   


More resources

Posts on other web/blog sites:

In http://www.classism.org/gifts-american-dream/, Pamela Haines locates her family's homey DIY celebrations on a class spectrum of different connections to upward mobility.

            http://www.transitionus.org/blog/unlikely-suspects-–-deep-outreach-diverse-initiating-groups-–-pace-building-trust 

    http://www.classism.org/demolition-derby

Muscle Building for Peace and Justice; a Non-Violent Workout Routine for the 21st Century--an integration of much of my experience and thinking over the years:  New link: https://www.peaceworkersus.org/docs/muscle_building_for_peace_and_justice.pdf (or just google the title)

#215. First Words

 Dear all,

What I have loved most about having a little more discretionary time this month has been the freedom I’ve felt to reach out to people in my web of caring—feeling like I have time to respond if they suggest more. We’ve had a string of incredibly beautiful days, my garden has been producing (my newest discovery is lambsquarter and parsley pesto), and I am ever more aware of the creativity, wisdom, imagination and hard work of birthing a new era that is there to be found among people all over the world. I’m feeling deeply grateful to be alive in this world.

Speaking of which, Alive in this World is the title of a book of my poetry that has just been published! Check it out at Barnes and Noble or Amazon. I have a series of essays as well, drawn from this column over the years: That Clear and Certain Sound; Finding Solid Ground in Perilous Times. If you’d like to help me think about marketing, or have ideas about ways to spread the word, I would be thrilled to hear from you!

Love,
Pamela





First Words

As I root a native thanksgiving address—"the words that come before all else”—into my daily life, I find it steadily growing me. Traditionally, when Haudenosaunee people (formally known as Iroquois) gather, they start with these words which help orient everyone in the same direction. Thanks are offered to the earth in all its manifestations—water, plant and animal life—to the sun moon and stars, and to the ancient wisdom carriers and the Spirit Creator. The recurring phrase—"and now are minds are one”—binds the community together in shared thanks.

I first experienced these words in a native context. It was early morning on the Six Nation Reserve in southern Ontario. A group of Six Nations people and allies had gathered to honor the treaties and protect the earth in a ten-day paddle down the Grand River. We stood in a big circle as the thanksgiving address started our day. That first morning a translated summary was offered to the non-native speakers. For the rest of the trip, we listened to these first words in Mohawk, Cayuga and Oneida. (For some who were reclaiming their language, these were first words in more ways than one.)

I couldn’t retain all the contents, so when I found them in a children’s book at a pow-wow I bought a copy. I read it, brought it home, and propped it up in my workspace—where it sat till a retreat of my Quaker meeting on right relationship with native peoples this spring. The leaders were determined to get us engaged not just with our heads, but with our hearts and bodies. There were long breaks where we were encouraged to walk with attention to the land and the people who walked this land for thousands of years before us. When asked how we could extend the experience of this retreat, I realized I could take my morning walk with native people in my heart.

My first attempts left me puzzled. How could I join with the original people on these city streets? What would I see and experience that would have been familiar to them? I was distracted by how completely the land had been transformed. Then I remember the book, propped up, patiently waiting for my attention. I could take the words that come before all else on my morning walk. For the first couple of times I was mostly just trying to remember the list of things, the order. I used the book as a reference when I got home, and when a phrase puzzled me I thought to look up the original and was reminded of the full content.

As I settled in with this practice, the gifts started coming. I already knew about being thankful for the water and the food plants and the trees and the moon, so initially it felt like a simple frame for familiar content. But then one morning, the prepositions hit me. The first words call us to be thankful not for these parts of our world, but to them. They call us to direct relationship. All of a sudden I could see how being thankful for, though certainly much better than nothing, carries with it a sense of separation. Here was a profound shift toward right relationship with the world around me.

Another morning I was struck by the obvious: I am trying to craft a private practice from what is, at heart, a communal experience. I think of the recurring phrase at the end of each section: “And now our minds are one.” We gather to find a way forward together, and start with the words that come before all else. We send thanks to the earth that provides everything we need, to the water and the animals and the plants for giving us life. In whatever decisions or actions we take, we do so with this shared understanding in the front of our minds.

What if these words started every board meeting, every gathering of people where decisions are made that affect the web of life that supports us all? Knowing that they are powerfully communal, I commit to absorbing their wisdom deep into my bones, and seeing how they might lead me in community.

Most recently I have found myself moved to send not only greetings and thanks, but love. As I walk and connect and send love, I find my body opening up, moving in new ways. It’s like a dance is growing inside me. I think of all the restraint with which I have held myself all these years, and give more thanks to the Haudenosaunee and the words that come before all else.






Gifts and needs

Kale that made it through the cold has gone to seed.
Big leaves I used for pesto early in the spring
have made way for stalk and flower.
Order and logic suggest I pull them out—
let old make way for new.

I could use the space, it’s true. And yet, and yet
these little buds are just the thing in salad greens
bees are buzzing round the flowers
and I would save some for the seeds.

Could we find a way to honor all these gifts and needs?
Pull one great plant, but pick the buds for salad,
try for one last batch of pesto with the leaves
plant new basil in that space,
leave the second plant for bees and buds and seeds,
maybe think again when basil needs more space?

This dance is complex, yet I would choose it every time
over straight rows, bare soil and mastery.
My soul is nourished by the company.

 



Imagine:  A new economy is possible!
A growing circular food system in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Family farmers in São Paulo’s rural south grow food that is healthy for consumers, for the environment and for themselves. A chef in the bustling urban center designs his menu around fresh food that is on offer each week. And another sells affordable organic meals in the outskirts of the city. These are just a few faces of a circular economy transformation that is reshaping São Paulo’s food system.

A circular economy redesign of São Paulo’s food system represents a $140 million opportunity with the potential to drive down CO2 emissions and enhance local biodiversity. Navigating between its rural and urban territories, the short video, ‘A taste of circular economy in São Paulo’, shows how different actors within the city are working together to realize this opportunity in building a more regenerative, distributed and inclusive food system.

https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/new-mini-documentary-showcases-são-paulos-circular-food-system-transformation






Some things that have made me hopeful recently:

Alaska voters’ adoption of ranked-choice voting as a way to combat polarization and increase voter choice.
https://www.vox.com/2020/11/19/21537126/alaska-measure-2-ranked-choice-voting-results

The successes of a campaign to get apparel companies to pay $22 billion owed to factories and workers throughout the global south.
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2021/03/payup-garment-workers-won-stolen-wages-fashion-industry/

A stunning set of recent victories of climate activists over fossil fuel companies:

The cancellation by its owner of the Keystone XL pipeline after years of opposition from climate campaigners
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/09/keystone-xl-pipeline-canceled

A remarkable set of shareholder votes and court rulings that have scrambled the future of three of the world’s largest oil companies. 
https://link.newyorker.com/view/5c92fd0e24c17c329bfe869be9uu1.n2e/d8d6252a

A victory for Dutch environmental groups in a court ruling that gives Shell nine years to cut its carbon emissions by 45% from 2019 levels in order to comply with the Paris climate agreement.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26052021/dutch-court-gives-shell-nine-years-to-cut-its-carbon-emissions-by-45-percent-from-2019-levels/?






Resources

Alive in this World

A book of poetry in three parts: A Home with the Trees, Commuter Encounters, and A Home with the Earth

Available in paperback and e-book at barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.

That Clear and Certain Sound; Finding Solid Ground in Perilous Times

A book of my essays, available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors

The Financial Roots of the Climate Crisis 
Link to a talk I gave at a church in Houston 
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7910215

Envision or Perish; Why we must start imagining the world we want to live in

An article I co-authored with George Lakey
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2021/02/envision-or-perish-why-we-must-start-imagining-the-world-we-want/  

Money and Soul
My newish book (based on a pamphlet of the same name) available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors.
("If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small.") 

Money, Debt and Liberation
A video of a talk I gave at Pendle Hill in January, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nP8eJ5vy8 

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance  
A book that I co-authored on Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.
The growth economy is failing to provide equitable well-being for humanity and a life-sustaining future for Earth.  However our institutional endowments and individual retirement are dependent on that same growth economy.  This book:
• offers background on our current economic system--how it is based on unearned income on the one hand and debt on the other, with a built-in momentum toward economy inequality and ecological overshoot;
• frames the conversation within the context of our deepest values and beliefs;
• suggests plausible and historically grounded alternatives to the current system, particularly with regard to financing retirement; and
• invites everyone to imagine new forms of durable economic and social security, and to help create the relationships and institutions that will make them a reality.
With many people now counting as never before on the performance of Wall Street for retirement security, how can this system be challenged with integrity and effectiveness?  Can we break with our dependence on financial speculation and build up new structures of security in a transformed, life-centered economy?
To order the book, or read it on line, go to http://www.quakerinstitute.org/?page_id=5 and scroll down.


Finding Steady Ground
If you need reminding of some simple ways to stay grounded in challenging times, I recommend this website, which I helped a friend develop following the last presidential election. 
www.findingsteadyground.com    

Other resources from my friend Daniel Hunter
Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow; An Organizing Guide.  http://www.danielhunter.org/books/building-movement-end-new-jim-crow-organizing-guide  
Climate Resistance Handbook, or I was part of a climate action. Now what? https://commonslibrary.org/climate-resistance-handbook-or-i-was-part-of-a-climate-action-now-what/ 
Leading Groups On-Line. https://www.trainingforchange.org/training_tools/leading-groups-online-book/   


More resources

Posts on other web/blog sites:

In http://www.classism.org/gifts-american-dream/, Pamela Haines locates her family's homey DIY celebrations on a class spectrum of different connections to upward mobility.

            http://www.transitionus.org/blog/unlikely-suspects-–-deep-outreach-diverse-initiating-groups-–-pace-building-trust 

    http://www.classism.org/demolition-derby

Muscle Building for Peace and Justice; a Non-Violent Workout Routine for the 21st Century--an integration of much of my experience and thinking over the years:  New link: https://www.peaceworkersus.org/docs/muscle_building_for_peace_and_justice.pdf (or just google the title)

#209 Well-being and the commons

 Dear all,

I’ve been surprised by how unsettled I’ve felt since the election. Maybe it’s like the lull between storms; you’ve made it through a big one, but are feeling a little battered and not quite ready to face what’s surely coming next. We’re all so tired. It’s been very good for me to start my day with an early morning walk, being present to the world as it turns from darkness to light. And here we are almost at the solstice, another opportunity to celebrate!

As many of us head into winter holidays, I wish us all good nourishment and refreshment, and times that help ground our spirits for the year ahead.

Love,

Pamela 

Well-being and the commons

A young woman I know is deeply engaged in the climate struggle. She has found a home, and increasing responsibility, in a youth movement that is playing a significant role in pushing climate issues toward the center of our political conversation. It’s hard. She works long hours. The stakes are high, there are many setbacks and it’s easy to get discouraged. She misses her family who live far away. She wonders if she’s doing the right thing, worries that she’s not doing enough.

Her therapist tries to steer her toward greater attention to her well-being: Think about yourself for a change. Don’t work so hard. Close your computer at 5:00. Do things that bring you joy. This all has the sound of good advice, yet she feels unheard somehow, dissatisfied.

As I listen to her explore this sense that something has not been acknowledged, the theme of individualism begins to rise to the surface. Everything the therapist has suggested assumes that the solutions will be personal: You are having a unique and separate problem of overwork and accompanying depression. We need to find ways that you, as an individual, can craft decisions and actions that will address this problem and make you feel better.

But what if the problem is not individual? The underlying reason that she is working so hard and feeling so badly about not doing enough is the threat of the climate emergency—the threat to the future of human life on earth. In the face of this threat, many people have responded by resolutely looking the other way, willing themselves to believe that they have no role to play, and pulling their attention away from the reality of what is unfolding around them through pleasurable distractions.

I imagine the therapist wasn’t suggesting that this young woman give up the work altogether. I imagine she was just trying for balance. But in her emphasis on finding a set of individual solutions, she was missing an obvious alternative perspective. If the problem is one that is widely shared, maybe the solution lies in community as well.

It may make sense for this young woman to do all the things the therapist suggests at times. It certainly wouldn’t be good for her to just put her head down, ignore the signs and continue down a path toward deeper depression, burnout and abandonment of the goal altogether. But there’s a third path, a way between endless lonely work for the public good and endless pursuit of private pleasures. It’s not well trodden, but her group is working in that direction, and it may be the one with the most promise for enduring happiness. This is the path of working together for a compelling cause, agreeing to long hours together during stretches when the stakes are particularly high, making shared agreements to rest deeply at other times, helping each other recognize what brings individual joy, and backing each other to do those things, all with a shared eye both on the goal and on each other’s welfare.

This is a path where everyone in a group effort is encouraged to stop and breathe, to share the tiniest successes widely, to leave no possible appreciation of someone else on the team unspoken; where small halts are called for everyone to pursue a private pleasure before getting back to work; where there is enough perspective to discern when longer breaks will add to the overall effort rather than hold it back; where everyone celebrates with abandon at times.

People used to work together to bring in the harvest. We now have a different form of common work to ensure our future. Not all of us will be full-time climate activists. But we could all benefit from bringing more of our work and our pleasures back into the commons. As we find our part in that work, we can sweat together through the crunch times, then dance and sing together in the lulls, gathering strength for what lies ahead.

  



 Crescent

The waning crescent floating low at dawn
fills me as I start my day.

To hope to see her one more time
before she turns away seems bold.

Braced for a moonless morning walk
I almost miss her

Such a tiny sliver, hung so low
my breath is caught.

New moon, then turn my sights to sunset
chafe at all that keeps me in.

Next night I plan an evening walk
timed for after dark, before moonset.

Heading west, I scan for gaps in buildings
knowing she’ll be low.

Press on and on, then find her
hanging beautiful

Serene and constant, steadying
a treasure to behold.

 

Dare to imagine: a new economy is possible!

Cooperative Energy

Cooperative Energy Futures is a Minnesota-based community-owned for-profit clean energy cooperative that focuses on developing renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other clean energy solutions while building community wealth. CEF has financed and developed 6.9 megawatts (about $16 million) of low-income-accessible community solar arrays that are cooperatively-owned-and-operated across urban, suburban, and rural Minnesota, offsetting the utility bills of over 700 Minnesota households for the next 25 years.

As the co-op generates profit, whatever is not reinvested is distributed as dividends to members through a combination of cash and equity. For equity, we invest in new activities that preserve and grow the wealth, for example by financing home insulation and other home upgrades to our members. The co-op creates a democratic process of deciding how much net profit we want to reinvest together versus distribute individually. We also pay community-based organizations for the service of helping us find subscribers, require all of our installation contractors to use at least 50 percent minority labor, and support partner organizations who provide solar workforce training by helping place trainees.

CEF is creating a model where teams of people in every community are working to produce, manage, and wisely use the energy that they need to thrive. We strive to give people and communities agency, power, and decision-making authority over the energy systems that sustain their homes, their communities, and their economy.

https://ips-dc.org/a-minnesota-cooperative-shares-the-wealth-while-advancing-a-clean-energy-future/?utm_campaign=ipsnews-120420&emci=d1f78969-5536-eb11-9fb4-00155d43b2cd&emdi=12d4c45d-5f36-eb11-9fb4-00155d43b2cd&ceid=4288612

Some things that made me hopeful about the election:

How Native American voters helped swing crucial states in the 2020 election.

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/native-american-voters-helped-swing-crucial-states-2020-presidential-election 

Orange County, Florida, the largest municipality in the United States, where voters overwhelmingly approved a "rights of nature” initiative,, recognizing rights of the county's rivers and streams, along with a right to clean water for its residents. 

https://bioneers.org/orange-county-fl-voters-overwhelmingly-approve-rights-of-nature-initiative/?mc_cid=fba9ad1555&mc_eid=862e32f332

Louisiana voters, who rejected a new corporate tax break in a landslide, after their lawmakers earlier this year voted overwhelmingly to ask voters to add a new tax break to the state constitution that would allow manufacturers to negotiate lower tax bills with local governments. Almost as many Louisiana voters rejected the proposed amendment as voted for President Trump.

https://www.theadvocate.com/content/tncms/live/ 

The vote in Portland Oregon’s county, Multnomah, to tax wealth to pay for childcare, including a pay raise for childcare workers.
https://inequality.org/research/tax-rich-school-children-pay-teachers/?

Resources 

Finding Steady Ground
If you need reminding of some simple ways to stay grounded in challenging times, I recommend this website, which I helped a friend develop following the last presidential election. 
www.findingsteadyground.com   

Other resources from my friend Daniel Hunter
Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow; An Organizing Guide.  http://www.danielhunter.org/books/building-movement-end-new-jim-crow-organizing-guide  
Climate Resistance Handbook, or I was part of a climate action. Now what? https://commonslibrary.org/climate-resistance-handbook-or-i-was-part-of-a-climate-action-now-what/
Leading Groups On-Line. https://www.trainingforchange.org/training_tools/leading-groups-online-book/ 

Money and Soul
My new book (based on a pamphlet of the same name) available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors.
("If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small.") 

Money, Debt and Liberation
A video of a talk I gave at Pendle Hill in January, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nP8eJ5vy8

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance  
A book that I co-authored on Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.
The growth economy is failing to provide equitable well-being for humanity and a life-sustaining future for Earth.  However our institutional endowments and individual retirement are dependent on that same growth economy.  This book:
• offers background on our current economic system--how it is based on unearned income on the one hand and debt on the other, with a built-in momentum toward economy inequality and ecological overshoot;
• frames the conversation within the context of our deepest values and beliefs;
• suggests plausible and historically grounded alternatives to the current system, particularly with regard to financing retirement; and
• invites everyone to imagine new forms of durable economic and social security, and to help create the relationships and institutions that will make them a reality.
With many people now counting as never before on the performance of Wall Street for retirement security, how can this system be challenged with integrity and effectiveness?  Can we break with our dependence on financial speculation and build up new structures of security in a transformed, life-centered economy?
To order the book, or read it on line, go to http://www.quakerinstitute.org/?page_id=5 and scroll down.


More resources

Posts on other web/blog sites:

In http://www.classism.org/gifts-american-dream/, Pamela Haines locates her family's homey DIY celebrations on a class spectrum of different connections to upward mobility.

            http://www.transitionus.org/blog/unlikely-suspects-–-deep-outreach-diverse-initiating-groups-–-pace-building-trust 

    http://www.classism.org/demolition-derby

Muscle Building for Peace and Justice; a Non-Violent Workout Routine for the 21st Century--an integration of much of my experience and thinking over the years:  New link: https://www.peaceworkersus.org/docs/muscle_building_for_peace_and_justice.pdf (or just google the title)

#206 Wood chips, elections and miracles

 Dear all,

As we continue to be battered by bad news, back-to-school challenges, and growing fears around the election, I wanted to share a perspective on staying active and grounded. A gift for me recently has been the opportunity to get out each evening for over a week to greet the moon as it has steadily grown from the thinnest crescent on its way to fullness.

I wish you all the best as we find ways to stay upright, connected, and alert to the joy and beauty that is there to be claimed.

Love,
Pamela




Wood chips, elections and miracles

It’s a small dilemma. An enormous pile of woodchips has been dumped in the lot by the community garden, and needs to be moved quickly. We’re urged to all come out on Saturday to weed and haul loads of chips to mulch the paths and common areas. I want to do my part, but am not eager to work in a crowd. On a morning walk I look at the front garden. I know that garden better than anybody. I could come early, commit to finish weeding before the crowds so it would be ready to mulch. I breathe a sigh of relief. That’s the part of the job with my name on it.

What if we all could do the same on a larger scale? As we approach a momentous election, I keep being reminded of a message from theologian Walter Wink—that our job in this world is to listen for what is ours to do; do it faithfully, no less and no more; and then wait in quiet confidence for a miracle.

If we don’t take the first step, our plates can easily be filled with activities that ultimately have little meaning. If we listen but hold back because of our fears and do less than what is ours to do, then we are settling for a version of ourselves that disrespects our inherent power. If we try to do more, we are likely to end up vibrating to the siren of urgency, or laboring under the weight of guilt or obligation, which not only damages the quality of our lives, but limits our effectiveness.

The last step—to wait in quiet confidence for a miracle—seems hopelessly naïve yet somehow profoundly right. If we’ve done our best, then what choice do we have but to wait? And what more powerful way to wait than in quiet confidence? And why settle for anything less than the possibility of a miracle?

So let’s take a stand against the grip of helplessness and hopelessness, and stay open to the reality that there is always something for each of us to do. Hold on to the fact that what we do matters, even though it may be a small part of the whole. Then do it. Be willing to try hard things. Welcome the feelings of fear, loss and outrage that are loosened free as we push against old limits. Do more than we thought we were capable of.

But if we begin to be caught up in the whirlwind of urgency, or pulled down into the quicksand of burdened obligation, it’s time to stop and take a breath. We have entered into the territory of too much. Whether it’s too much work or too much unprocessed emotion, it’s a sign that we need to stop, get some attention, and listen freshly for what belongs on our plate.

I spend about four hours a week helping to ground a handful of climate activists in Sunrise who are mobilizing thousands of young people around the election. Rather than doing direct electoral work myself, I committed to actively sharing opportunities with people who were casting around for something to do. I’ve stayed in close with a diverse circle of friends, and when one shared her plan to encourage voting in a poor urban neighborhood, I did a little fundraising campaign to support her efforts. I decided to prioritize a weekly check in with a friend who is teetering on the brink of overwhelm in her youth work. I invited members of a class I teach to listen to each other on the stupidest things they could do this election season, and things that might be smarter. I decided to respond with an unqualified yes to a dear friend’s request for my thinking and writing support for his project on preparing for a possible coup.

All of this has a rightful place on my plate. It fits my unique circumstances and strengths, and it is not too much. Everyone’s plate will look different; everyone’s work will count. And I really believe that if I do what is mine to do, cheerfully, fully, and to the best of my ability, grounded and alert to the possibility that there may be something else with my name on it, there’s nothing left but to wait in quiet confidence for a miracle.

The pile of wood chips did not disappear that Saturday, despite the good intentions and hard work of many people. So I have had more opportunities to consider my part. The latest came early this morning when I was happily hauling mulch and reflecting on this question of what is ours to do. As phrases—about no more and no less, about the sirens of urgency and the weight of obligation—started coming into my brain, I realized that what was mine to do right then was to stop, go home, and write.

 



Hemlock cathedral

Step out of the bright hot sunshine
busy with sights and sounds
into the cool cathedral hush
of hemlock gorge
tall ceiling of green filtered light
quiet forest floor.





Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!

A People’s Economy in Toronto: 

The Parkdale People’s Economy is a network of over 30 community-based organizations focused on building just local economies and community wealth in the Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto. During the pandemic, members of Parkdale’s People's Economy have been active in the fight against evictions in their neighborhood as they continue their long-term work to build a local solidarity economy ecosystem with participatory planning, community land trusts, community food distribution, local currencies, and more. Get policy tools to advance a People’s Economy in your own community.
http://parkdalepeopleseconomy.ca/ 
 

 

Some things that have made me hopeful recently:

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recently announced plans to ban sales of gas cars by 2035 in a state that has the fifth-largest economy in the world.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-to-ban-sales-of-new-gas-powered-cars-starting-in-2035-11600882738

How one small stretch of Italian coastline went from a hotbed of drug smuggling to a model of ecological restoration, with the fishing community playing a critical role
https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2020/08/24/how-to-save-the-ocean-fishing-community-lessons/

How one small cemetery in Ohio preserved a natural prairie habitat that has allowed for the preservation of vital prairie species.
https://trekohio.com/2016/06/30/bigelow-cemetery-state-nature-preserve/

The statement of China’s President Xi at the UN General Assembly, that committed his nation, the world’s largest carbon emitter, to reaching net-zero emissions by 2060.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/china-s-push-puts-end-of-fossil-fuels-in-sight-20200925-p55zbv.html

 


 

Resources

NEW:  #ChooseDemocracy

www.choosedemocracy.us  

Finding Steady Ground
If you need reminding of some simple ways to stay grounded in challenging times, I recommend this website, which I helped a friend develop following the last presidential election. 
www.findingsteadyground.com   

Other resources from my friend Daniel Hunter
Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow; An Organizing Guide.  http://www.danielhunter.org/books/building-movement-end-new-jim-crow-organizing-guide  
Climate Resistance Handbook, or I was part of a climate action. Now what? https://commonslibrary.org/climate-resistance-handbook-or-i-was-part-of-a-climate-action-now-what/
Leading Groups On-Line. https://www.trainingforchange.org/training_tools/leading-groups-online-book/ 

Money and Soul
My new book (based on a pamphlet of the same name) available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors.
("If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small.") 

Money, Debt and Liberation
A video of a talk I gave at Pendle Hill in January, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nP8eJ5vy8

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance  
A book that I co-authored on Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.
The growth economy is failing to provide equitable well-being for humanity and a life-sustaining future for Earth.  However our institutional endowments and individual retirement are dependent on that same growth economy.  This book:
• offers background on our current economic system--how it is based on unearned income on the one hand and debt on the other, with a built-in momentum toward economy inequality and ecological overshoot;
• frames the conversation within the context of our deepest values and beliefs;
• suggests plausible and historically grounded alternatives to the current system, particularly with regard to financing retirement; and
• invites everyone to imagine new forms of durable economic and social security, and to help create the relationships and institutions that will make them a reality.
With many people now counting as never before on the performance of Wall Street for retirement security, how can this system be challenged with integrity and effectiveness?  Can we break with our dependence on financial speculation and build up new structures of security in a transformed, life-centered economy?
To order the book, or read it on line, go to http://www.quakerinstitute.org/?page_id=5 and scroll down.


More resources

Posts on other web/blog sites:

In http://www.classism.org/gifts-american-dream/, Pamela Haines locates her family's homey DIY celebrations on a class spectrum of different connections to upward mobility.

            http://www.transitionus.org/blog/unlikely-suspects-–-deep-outreach-diverse-initiating-groups-–-pace-building-trust 

    http://www.classism.org/demolition-derby

Muscle Building for Peace and Justice; a Non-Violent Workout Routine for the 21st Century--an integration of much of my experience and thinking over the years:  New link: https://www.peaceworkersus.org/docs/muscle_building_for_peace_and_justice.pdf (or just google the title)

#205 Midwifery

 Dear all,

In my peer counseling class the other night, we listened to each other about what’s hard and scary in the world these days, took turns to notice things that are hopeful nonetheless, then each considered a range of ways we could respond to the election—from stupidest to smartest—and laughed together as we shared them out. 

Somehow that evening captures much of how I’ve been these days. I’m grateful for a week in the woods with family, good work, and the community that surrounds me in so many different ways.

(And if you’re scared about a power grab in November, check out www.choosedemocracy.us, the initiative of a friend that I’ve been helping out with.)

Love,
Pamela





Midwifery
 
A regular high point in my weeks is being in touch with a handful of young climate activists from the Sunrise Movement. Through a young man who stayed in our spare room while doing student fossil fuel divestment work then went on to be one of the founders of Sunrise, I met another young woman on their Pennsylvania staff, who introduced me to still others. Just getting to know these lovely and deeply committed people is a joy in itself. Being able to be of use to them is an honor.

I think of one of the young women with whom I now do weekly hour-long calls. We have developed a little routine. We start with self-appreciation, since it’s so easy to put all our attention on either our mistakes or the things we have not yet been able to accomplish. Then we exchange listening time, reviewing our emotional state and focusing on whatever we can vent or let go of to free up more attention and flexible thinking in the present. Finally we check whether there’s a puzzle she’s facing at work that needs solving, or a knotty problem that needs untangling.

Often there’s some small thing. She describes the situation. I listen closely, and ask questions to clarify. What does she want? Where does she feel on solid ground? Even if there are things she isn’t sure of, is there a piece of the puzzle she is able to hold out with complete confidence? What is a doable next step? What is the right time, and who are the right people to go to with it?

It’s clear to me that I don’t know the answers. There’s so much I don’t know! Their organizational structure, which is complex, has never been described to me. I’m not exactly sure of her job description or her relationship to decision-makers. I’m not an expert in the types of campaigns they are running and certainly can’t name the strategies that will allow them to succeed.

But I can provide an open space for the problem to be considered. I can ensure that this space is appreciative and free from prescription or judgment. I can listen and probe for what rings true. I can play the role of midwife. And more often than not the labor is quick and painless and the solution slips right out. What had been a worrisome muddle in her mind has become clear enough that she is ready—often eager—to take a confident next step.

Sometimes, of course, the problem is not one with a solution that is easy to think through. People lose track of themselves and each other in the midst of oppression and stress; they bring old and dysfunctional patterns of taking over or going quiet to their group interactions; old feelings of discouragement or desperation or self-blame gum up the works. There is time to tend to these issues in the middle section of our meeting, with attention to feelings of anger, fear, or grief that need to be released so that more space to think can be opened up.

This young woman, and the others that I listen to, are among the full-time staff of a movement that is mobilizing tens of thousands of young people in an effort that may play a critical role in securing a future for our species on this planet. As I do what I can to keep them working well together toward their goals—to increase clarity, restore confidence, amplify thoughtful voices, avoid missteps, seize opportunities, maximize the impact of scarce resources, strengthen relationships—I choose to believe that my small acts of midwifery are part of the labor process to bring a new world to birth. 





Gifts

On my morning walk I open myself up
take in what the world is offering
quiet my mind.

I never know what gift I might receive—
the moon, pink sky of sunrise
a new thought rising to the surface, calm and clear
sunlight on sycamores, a mist of rain
lines to a poem, a fresh breeze
an opening bud, an autumn leaf
the name of someone fallen from my view
a goldfinch, once a morning rainbow
the knowledge that I’m a part of all that is.

Sometime my mind is busy and it’s just a walk
but gifts are there, awaiting me.
My part is to be present, ready to receive.

 

Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible
Community wealth building

The Lancashire city of Preston, in England, has recently come to wider political attention. Starting after the financial crisis Preston’s civic leaders decided to experiment with a radical “community wealth building’ model that aspires to generate more resilient economic growth. The city’s community wealth building approach has five different components:

• Rooted anchor institutions – identifying significant economic actors with a stable presence in the area and focusing economic activity around them.
• Local procurement – which aims to encourage anchor institutions to use their purchasing power to influence their pattern of spending so that more wealth stays within Preston.
• Local capital investment – to seek out new sources of patient capital so investment flows can be democratically directed and focus on keeping more wealth in Preston.
• Worker cooperatives – to nurture new worker cooperatives to meet gaps in anchor institutions’ supply chains that cannot currently be met locally.
• Municipal ownership - to explore and promote new models of local public ownership.

https://demos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/June-Final-Web.pdf 

 

 

Some things that have made me hopeful recently (all among the grassroots this time):

A family on a quarter acre lot on a Florida barrier island who exchanged their lawn for native plants, and are now hosting a population of endangered butterflies. 

All the people who are pouring time, resources and heart into the children in their neighborhoods. (I’m thinking of three people in a nearby neighborhood in South Philadelphia, but I know there are others everywhere.)

The young climate activists in the Sunrise Movement who have built a base of thousands of energized young people, had remarkable success in getting out the vote for Green New Deal candidates in the primaries, and are now turning their attention to November.

All the people that I don’t know, in the Gulf and on the West Coast, who are extending themselves to others in the face of the devastation of floods and fire.

Resources

Finding Steady Ground
If you need reminding of some simple ways to stay grounded in challenging times, I recommend this website, which I helped a friend develop following the last presidential election. 
www.findingsteadyground.com   

Other resources from my friend Daniel Hunter
Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow; An Organizing Guide.  http://www.danielhunter.org/books/building-movement-end-new-jim-crow-organizing-guide  
Climate Resistance Handbook, or I was part of a climate action. Now what? https://commonslibrary.org/climate-resistance-handbook-or-i-was-part-of-a-climate-action-now-what/
Leading Groups On-Line. https://www.trainingforchange.org/training_tools/leading-groups-online-book/ 

Money and Soul
My new book (based on a pamphlet of the same name) available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors.
("If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small.") 

Money, Debt and Liberation
A video of a talk I gave at Pendle Hill in January, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nP8eJ5vy8

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance  
A book that I co-authored on Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.
The growth economy is failing to provide equitable well-being for humanity and a life-sustaining future for Earth.  However our institutional endowments and individual retirement are dependent on that same growth economy.  This book:
• offers background on our current economic system--how it is based on unearned income on the one hand and debt on the other, with a built-in momentum toward economy inequality and ecological overshoot;
• frames the conversation within the context of our deepest values and beliefs;
• suggests plausible and historically grounded alternatives to the current system, particularly with regard to financing retirement; and
• invites everyone to imagine new forms of durable economic and social security, and to help create the relationships and institutions that will make them a reality.
With many people now counting as never before on the performance of Wall Street for retirement security, how can this system be challenged with integrity and effectiveness?  Can we break with our dependence on financial speculation and build up new structures of security in a transformed, life-centered economy?
To order the book, or read it on line, go to http://www.quakerinstitute.org/?page_id=5 and scroll down.


More resources

Posts on other web/blog sites:

In http://www.classism.org/gifts-american-dream/, Pamela Haines locates her family's homey DIY celebrations on a class spectrum of different connections to upward mobility.

            http://www.transitionus.org/blog/unlikely-suspects-–-deep-outreach-diverse-initiating-groups-–-pace-building-trust 

    http://www.classism.org/demolition-derby

Muscle Building for Peace and Justice; a Non-Violent Workout Routine for the 21st Century--an integration of much of my experience and thinking over the years:  New link: https://www.peaceworkersus.org/docs/muscle_building_for_peace_and_justice.pdf (or just google the title)

#200 Breaking free

Dear all, 

What a month! Scary, stunningly beautiful (at least in this part of the country), on our own, yet all together as never before, full of despair, loss and possibility. I have been incredibly fortunate to have been spared—thus far—the sharp edge of loss, and I focus here on possibility.

I’ve added a few new resources which I hope may be helpful. I’m thankful for all of you, and wish you connection, joy in small things, and resilience on the road ahead.

Love,
Pamela





Breaking free

One of the more pernicious consequences of this pandemic is how it aligns with and amplifies the voices of isolation and helplessness from our childhood: Though we may want to make things better, the external situation is way too big for us to influence. We are separate, small, scared and alone. The best we can do is try to keep ourselves and our loved ones intact and get through our days.   

So for me, and I imagine for many others, I have been focusing on what is within reach. I sanitize knobs and switches and handles in the house. I wash my hands. I reach out to others who might be feeling lonely and even more vulnerable. I keep the tiny free library box at the corner of our park stocked, from our overabundant supply of books. I do my paid work remotely, lead my classes on-line, and work in the garden (where things can seem blessedly normal). I take in what I can of the larger situation, staying in touch with friends in Northern Uganda whose food supply is insecure and a man I know who has the misfortune to be in jail.

Yet there is a way that I have remained deep in crisis-response mode. While doing what is there to be done, my mind has been caged within this new and overwhelming reality. It has been taken up with survival, with strategizing how to process new information, how to handle fears and unknowns, how to make it through. This, too, has the ring of the constraints of childhood.

But I want more! As my mind struggles to slip the cage, what come first are the questions. What would it mean to think big about how to make use of this new window of opportunity that COVID-19 has offered?

How can we elevate the conversation about what is possible, drawing on things that are now happening that nobody believed could ever happen here? There are so many! The government is finding money to give almost every non-wealthy citizen $1200, no questions asked. Coronavirus testing is being offered whether a person has insurance or not. Cities are finding ways to give all children computers and make internet available, when this seemed unaffordable just weeks ago. Government is requiring private businesses to respond to public needs. We are learning how much work can actually be done remotely, and how many events can happen effectively online. In the process, we are discovering how much travel is unnecessary, and the corresponding importance of local resilience.

In a similar vein, how can we elevate the new conversation about who is an essential worker in our society? Front-line workers in health care, grocery stores and trash removal, to name just a few, are being recognized widely for the critical role they play. What can we do to ensure that this perspective is lasting?

How can we translate these new possibilities and understandings into an effective movement for change? How can we harness the new energy in all the mutual support efforts that have sprung up around the country? How can we link an abstract idea—that this is a window of possibility—to a grassroots movement that could actually impact policy? (And how can we do that from the isolation of our homes?) The youth climate movement and what might remain of the Sanders campaign have extensive on-the-ground capacity and a big vision. Is there a way the energy of those movements can be harnessed to more fully take advantage of this window of opportunity? What would need to happen to make that possible? 

I am excited about more and more of us breaking free from that cage and using our minds in as big a way as we can—then following up with action. I look forward to thinking freshly together, and backing each other in acting as effectively as we can.

 



Celebrating Easter during a pandemic

The sunrise service that I love,
in a meadow overlooking the city skyline,
putting our gathered attention
to the end of night
and the coming of a new day,
was not to be.

Instead, I climbed to our roof—
moon to the west, over the Catholic church
sunrise to the east, through the skyline—
and settled in to witness
the coming of the light.
And it came.

Back down, my early morning walk
led me round the park
and to the city garden that we share.

Under the peach tree
that I planted years ago
and has yielded so abundantly
I found a tiny seedling poking up—a peach!

As I looked, I kept on finding more—
life in abundance,
unexpected and unearned
ready to grow, to nourish and delight—
an Easter gift to warm the heart.





Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!

We are seeing it all around us these days, as economic policies and practices to serve the public good are being implemented that seemed impossible just weeks ago. The challenge now is to find a way to hold on.




Some things that have made me hopeful recently:

The hundreds of mutual aid networks that are popping up across the country, introducing many thousands to values and possibilities of the solidarity economy. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/people-fighting-coronavirus-mutual-aid-efforts-help-each-other? 

A victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota on Wednesday, in a federal judge’s ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving federal permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline. 
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/25/huge-victory-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-federal-court-rules-dapl-permits-violated-law 

A call by ministers from 10 European countries for coronavirus recovery to be based on a Green Deal, and not come at the expense of people and planet.
https://350.org/#updates

Rent, utility, and debt Freezes by the government of El Salvador in order to provide economic relief for those hardest hit by COVID-19.  
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/el-salvador-to-offer-relief-for-those-hit-by-coronavirus? 

The Spanish government’s position that not only would universal basic income payments be implemented, but that they would become a structural and permanent instrument. 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-spain-universal-basic-income-europe-a9449336.html? 





Resources

Finding Steady Ground
If you need reminding of some simple ways to stay grounded in challenging times, I recommend this website, which I helped a friend develop following the last presidential election. 
www.findingsteadyground.com   

Other resources from my friend Daniel Hunter

Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow; An Organizing Guide.  http://www.danielhunter.org/books/building-movement-end-new-jim-crow-organizing-guide  
Climate Resistance Handbook, or I was part of a climate action. Now what? https://commonslibrary.org/climate-resistance-handbook-or-i-was-part-of-a-climate-action-now-what/

Leading Groups On-Line. https://www.trainingforchange.org/training_tools/leading-groups-online-book/ 

Money and Soul
My new book (based on a pamphlet of the same name) available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors.
("If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small.") 

Money, Debt and Liberation
A video of a talk I gave at Pendle Hill in January, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nP8eJ5vy8

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance  
A book that I co-authored on Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.
The growth economy is failing to provide equitable well-being for humanity and a life-sustaining future for Earth.  However our institutional endowments and individual retirement are dependent on that same growth economy.  This book:
• offers background on our current economic system--how it is based on unearned income on the one hand and debt on the other, with a built-in momentum toward economy inequality and ecological overshoot;
• frames the conversation within the context of our deepest values and beliefs;
• suggests plausible and historically grounded alternatives to the current system, particularly with regard to financing retirement; and
• invites everyone to imagine new forms of durable economic and social security, and to help create the relationships and institutions that will make them a reality.
With many people now counting as never before on the performance of Wall Street for retirement security, how can this system be challenged with integrity and effectiveness?  Can we break with our dependence on financial speculation and build up new structures of security in a transformed, life-centered economy?
To order the book, or read it on line, go to http://www.quakerinstitute.org/?page_id=5 and scroll down.


More resources

Posts on other web/blog sites:

In http://www.classism.org/gifts-american-dream/, Pamela Haines locates her family's homey DIY celebrations on a class spectrum of different connections to upward mobility.

            http://www.transitionus.org/blog/unlikely-suspects-–-deep-outreach-diverse-initiating-groups-–-pace-building-trust 

    http://www.classism.org/demolition-derby

Muscle Building for Peace and Justice; a Non-Violent Workout Routine for the 21st Century--an integration of much of my experience and thinking over the years:  New link: https://www.peaceworkersus.org/docs/muscle_building_for_peace_and_justice.pdf (or just google the title)