Dear all,
In April it’s always hard to think about anything but spring—and we’re having a beautiful one—but I’ll try!
As more people get vaccinated, we are cautiously considering that more contact might be possible. Working with a great team to teach a six-session course on economics to co-counselors around the world has challenged my deep-seated habit of solo-functioning, and required me to imagine the possibilities of having even great impact by gathering others around. And I keep finding more ways to share the invitation to focus not just on what is desperately wrong and needs to be changed in this world, but on what is right and needs to be nourished.
Wishing you the nourishment that you need.
Love,
Pamela
In spring, my mind and heart come full circle. Here we are again in the most miraculous of seasons. Just as the earth turns every night toward the morning, it has been steadily turning all through the winter toward this rebirth. If I don’t catch the fullness of this transformation—if I miss a new bud, or the unfolding of a tiny leaf, or a bird song, if I fail to fully take in the freshness of a spring breeze, it is a loss. But there is always next year. Perhaps by then I will be even more attentive, more in tune. (And of course there are all the joys of summer, fall and winter to take in before spring comes around again.)
There is a richness to this circle that makes me wonder at our collective commitment to the line. This shows most clearly in our undying allegiance to the idea of progress, the idea that we’re on an ever-upward trajectory. The past deserves only our condescending sympathy. The future will be bigger, better, brighter. (I wonder, would we want the seasons to march on to every greater heights?) Even our clocks have abandoned the circle and joined with the line.
This allegiance to the march of progress comes at a cost. The linear model of extract, consume, discard, then extract even more is wreaking havoc on our economies, our planet and our psyches. The line on the graph that heads steadily upward often leaves out more than it shows. The rising yields of the Green Revolution also brought increased fossil fuel dependence, soil and water degradation and, with seeds that could not be saved, the threat to small farm sustainability. The steady expansion of the economy brings ever-increasing, and now intolerable, stress to the planet. The incredible growth of the stock market is mirrored by the ever-growing weight of debt that supports it. The staggering number of new products that are available to consumers (who have the means) has a stubbornly neutral, if not negative, impact on well-being. And what has been the cost of monotheism, in its replacement of earth wisdom with a dominant patriarchal authority?
I think it’s time to shift our allegiance from the line back to the circle. In agriculture, this means investing back in the soil and the farmers and farm communities. In production, it means planning so that the waste product of one process are the resources for another. In finance, it means lending in a way that reliably increases the wealth of the borrower.
Are there places where a commitment to the line still makes sense? Human evolution can certainly be shaped to fit the story line of progress, with ever-increasing domination and mastery. But isn’t evolution ultimately about developing the characteristics that best equip us to flourish within the circle of life? It could be argued that as a species we are on a linear, if uneven, path toward ever-greater enlightenment. Yet wouldn’t this better be seen as an unfolding of understanding from right where we are—a movement that is not directional, but up and out and down to the roots? Not an endless extraction of new truth from the universe and a discarding of the old, but a greater clarity, a settling into the wisdom that was always right there, waiting to be revealed?
If we commit to the line, can we ever mature and become wise? It’s unclear if this was ever a good fit for the human condition. The scientific and industrial revolutions, fueled by the gift of stored sunlight from ancient times, have certainly allowed for an explosion of knowledge and access to each other. Maybe we needed this blip in history, this experiment with the line, to provide us with some of the means of surviving what it has created.
But the costs now clearly outweigh the benefits. Our long-term survival depends on reclaiming our allegiance to the circle: to recommit to generation and regeneration rather than extraction, to thriving rather than growing, to embracing the constraints of the circle rather than remaining enslaved to the allure of the ever-rising line. It means coming around full circle to the indigenous wisdom in which all of us have our roots, cultivating an ever-deeper appreciation of that which comes around, and then comes around again. It means settling into the great circle of life.
Will to live
I have a plan for this front garden plot,
no more than four feet square—
a narrow band of flowers in the front
peas to climb the fence behind
kale and basil in between
all protected by a layer of mulch.
A modest plan to balance beauty,
nourishment and care of soil.
The peas are up.
I crouch down to plant my kale—
and am undone.
There’s no blank canvas here.
Two earthworms with their thick bands joined
have claimed the space to make new life.
Countless tiny parsley leaves uncurl
across the bed, from seeds that fell to earth last fall
eager for the chance to grow,
and I find poppies sprouting up as well.
There’s life abundant here without my plans.
A layer of mulch laid thick would win
against their will to grow.
But do I want that victory?
The worms are fine, no need to worry there.
I set four kale plants in amid the parsley,
transplant some poppies to a planter by the street
to make more room for basil down the road,
abandon plans for mulch, at least for now.
We’ll find our way together in this bed,
somehow.
Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible
Investing in worker coops
Seed Commons is a national network of locally rooted, non-extractive loan funds that brings the power of big finance under community control. By taking guidance from the grassroots and sharing capital and resources to invest in local coops, they are building the infrastructure necessary for a truly just, democratic and sustainable new economy. Non-extraction is one of the key principles of Seed Commons, and it dictates the terms for all of their loans and investments: returns to the lender will never exceed the wealth created by the borrower using the capital. This is often colloquially said as “a borrower will never be worse off than before working with us.” Seed Commons is a 501(c)(3) community development financial institution (CDFI).
https://seedcommons.org/about-seed-commons/
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
The Chicago suburb of Evanston approving reparations for Black residents, a likely first.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/23/980277688/in-likely-first-chicago-suburb-of-evanston-approves-reparations-for-black-reside
How Mexico’s decision to ban Glyphosate has rocked the agribusiness world.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/02/24/mexicos-decision-ban-glyphosate-has-rocked-agribusiness-world
The response to rising anti-immigrant sentiment by a Danish group working to integrate new arrivals to Copenhagen by taking care of honeybees.
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
The Chicago suburb of Evanston approving reparations for Black residents, a likely first.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/23/980277688/in-likely-first-chicago-suburb-of-evanston-approves-reparations-for-black-reside
How Mexico’s decision to ban Glyphosate has rocked the agribusiness world.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/02/24/mexicos-decision-ban-glyphosate-has-rocked-agribusiness-world
The response to rising anti-immigrant sentiment by a Danish group working to integrate new arrivals to Copenhagen by taking care of honeybees.
https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2021/04/02/denmark-refugees-honeybees?
The sign from the University of Michigan’s decision to divest from fossil fuels that change is here.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/27/university-of-michigan-divesting-fossil-fuels-change-is-here
Resources
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 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.
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)
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 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.
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)
