Dear all,
Well, July was a whirlwind of a month, like a great Thanksgiving feast with way too much to eat and no time to digest. As problems go, it’s a good one to have, but I’m feeling very thankful for what looks to be a much quieter August. As I slowly unpack and digest, you may hear more about solidarity of all kinds, public banking, investing with integrity, allies to men...
Our big family news is that Andrew and his family are moving from British Columbia to Ontario, not far from where we were just paddling with a community of folks who are becoming steadily more important to us—what a blessing!
And the garden news is that we had a spectacular peach harvest, shared by many in the community, and the tomatoes are finally starting to come in.
Love,
Pamela
Healing river
Our first day on the river was a magical one. Closer to the source than we’d ever been before, our long lines of canoes and kayaks slid between wooded banks, pulled gently by the current at times, rushed along by little rapids at others. Great blue herons stood at attention on the shore or glided from bank to bank. A bald eagle swooped low over us, then three others soared and circled high above.
This was the Grand River in southern Ontario, long-time open sewer for the industrial towns to the north. One old-timer talked of how it had been fifty years ago, with raw sewage in the water and scant wildlife to be found on the shores. But dedicated conservationists have worked tirelessly with public officials and farmers to plant trees, improve municipal waste-treatment facilities and reduce harmful agricultural runoff; closure of heavily polluting industries has eased the burden on the water as well.
The river and its banks are coming back to life. Not only herons and eagles, but trout, otters, beaver, badgers and barn owls are back. And an indomitable Mohawk woman wants her people to partake in the healing.
She was inspired by a great paddle down the Hudson in 2013. Led by the Onondaga Nation, in what is now central New York state, hundreds of indigenous people and allies paddled down the Hudson from Albany to New York City in two rows—to commemorate the first treaty between natives and settlers in 1613. The two purple rows on the white wampum belt signified a shared promise to live side by side, each respecting the other’s ways and rights.
She and two others from the Six Nations reserve and two allies who had all been on the Hudson dreamed together of a Two Row paddle on the Grand, to honor the treaties and protect the earth. Members from the reserve, plagued by poverty and social ills, could get out on the water, reclaim their natural environment, discover inner strengths, and experience the healing of the river. Though she was thinking mainly about her people, the Two Row paddle would be an incredible gift for the allies as well.
The first year, 2016, a small group of teachers from the reserve and a few others who were committed to bringing back life-affirming traditions were joined by a larger group of eager allies. The second year, folks working in mental health came in, along with some of their youth. This year, the health department was out in force, with more youth.
And so we paddled together, indigenous and settlers. We watched out for each other going down little rapids and doing the heavy work of portage. We pointed out birds to each other, shared snacks, jumped in at times for a swim. When our arms protested that there was nothing left, we kept going. We ate and camped and huddled together under a tarp in the rain.
The healing that happens on the river is hard to pin down. When every stroke of a paddle moves us forward, our worth is made visible. Our motivation to be our best is nourished in a group that values every member. Strengths are discovered that we didn’t know we had. The isolation of lonely lives is cracked open. A way across the chasm that separates settler and indigenous lives opens up. I know of a few broken lives that are healing in this process; I’m sure there are more.
Giving thanks for this healing, I see all that is left to do. While bacterial counts are way down, one elder spoke with pain of the heavy metals that remain in the bottom of the river, endangering the lives of his grandchildren and those to come. While individual connections are strengthened; the great wrongs of land theft and oppression can’t be righted by paddling alone. Once the Six Nations had treaty rights to the Grand and six miles on either side, from its source to Lake Erie. Now they are left with just a fragment of that land. As the western mode of mastery and exploitation that decimated the native population now threatens the very fabric of the ecosystems on which we all depend, we need healthy indigenous communities more than ever.
So, as we open our hearts to the water and to each other, we create the conditions and commitment to do the hard work that lies ahead. Love for the ecosystem strengthens us to face the heavy metals. As people become real for us, issues of injustice come alive. As the river is being healed and healing others in return, who knows how far that healing power might spread?
Crab grass
The heat had been intense.
We longed for cooling showers
some relief.
Early morning and a hint of moisture
on the ground.
I contemplate the lawn
as I have done each morning
through this week—
lush and lovely
save for crab grass here and there.
I long to pull it out
as we did when we were children
living in a helter-skelter house
where nonetheless my mother
had us pull out every weed
that marred the lawn.
It was a restful task
and one that satisfied.
We did it bit by bit
and left each little bit pristine.
Here was a place where perfect order
lay within our reach.
It just took time.
My eyes rest on this crabgrass once again
wishing it away
when I notice drops of water
lying on each blade.
The fine dark blades of lawn grass
stand upright and unadorned.
The ugly crabgrass
squatting low and fat
spreading sideways
mars the beauty
holds the jewels.
There’s a moral
hiding in this lawn
among these drops of dew.
I’ll have it out.
Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!
Low income housing and solar
In Denver, Colorado, affordable housing got a solar boost when investments made through a CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) were used to provide a 15-year loan of $2.45 million to the Denver Housing Authority, to build a 10-acre community solar garden. The solar garden will provide enough electricity to reduce energy costs by around 20% for more than 500 homes. It’s the nation’s first community solar project owned by a housing authority, and the largest low-income community solar garden in Colorado.
The goal is to: provide renewable energy choices and lower energy cost for affordable homes; provide hands-on solar job training and employment opportunities for Housing Authority residents; and help meet the City of Denver’s 2020 sustainability goals
https://ofn.org/articles/cdfi-story-bringing-solar-energy-power-affordable-housing
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
Climate activists in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, https://350.org/action-days-spotlight/?akid=45425.1048214.67h5FX&rd=1&t=10, climate activists in Africa, https://350africa.org/break-free-2018-heres-what-happened/, and the Pope’s pressure on Exxon Mobil, Eni and BP to make a faster shift to clean energy, http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/06/09/pope-francis-tells-oil-chiefs-keep-ground/
Ranked Choice Voting, which allows voters in rank their preferences among the candidates: first, second and so on, followed by a simulated series of runoff in which the last-place candidate is defeated, and ballots for that candidates go to their next choice until someone wins with a majority of the vote. A recent study indicates that it is working well, as it spreads to more cities and states across the country. http://www.fairvote.org/ranked_choice_voting_s_midterm_report
An article in our local paper on emotional intelligence among construction workers. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/emotional-intelligence-construction-workers-roofers-union-20180619.html
Philadelphia’s decision to end a contract which allows ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) access to the city’s arrest reporting system—a big win for immigrant rights activists.
http://aldianews.com/articles/politics/immigration/philadelphia-announces-decision-end-pars-contract-ice/53468
Resources
Money and Soul
A transcript of a keynote address I delivered at a Quaker conference in New Mexico, June 2017
https://westernfriend.org/media/money-and-soul-unabridged
Toward a Right Relationship with Finance
Check out this new 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
www.findingsteadyground.org
Resource 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
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: https://www.trainingforchange.org/publications/muscle-building-peace-and-justice-nonviolent-workout-routine-21st-century (or just google the title)
faitheconomyecology.wordpress.com, a website that I've contributed to often (check the archives)
www.ourchildrenourselves.com, a home for all the parenting writing I've done over the past 20 years. NOTE THE NEW URL.
