Tuesday, June 28, 2016
#155 Escape
Dear all,
Two big worrisome unknowns have resolved this month, with very hopeful outcomes. My director of nineteen years at work--and partner and friend--has retired, and I'm thrilled to be liking everything about the woman who is taking her place. Then, the co-director of the urban farm whose board I lead resigned this spring, amidst a thicket of thorny problems, and the woman we were finally able to hire brings more promise than we had dared hope for. Two big sighs of relief! My summer schedule is also beginning to open up a little, and I'm enjoying cool early morning time in the garden or park. Two great gifts.
Love,
Pamela
Escape
Two narratives of escape were colliding in my brain. I was reading an account of life in the conflict regions of East Africa, including harrowing stories from people who had escaped to the Kibera refugee camp in the Congo. At the same time, many of my co-workers had taken advantage of a conference in Orlando to escape from the daily grind and go to Disney World. They were worlds apart and totally different, of course. Or were they?
What do I know about escape? As a woman, it’s been easy to notice how many men seem to use sports as an escape. I’ve sometimes wondered if the energy and passion they put into being on top of the sports news is a safer alternative to being on top of the much more troubling news of the real world.
It was a humbling moment when I realized that I had my own gender-based escape in reading feel-good novels. Other women choose shopping, or immerse themselves in the pop culture, becoming experts in the lives of others. With more gender neutral choices—many of them involving screens—the impetus is similar: I want out of the real world and into a place where I have no responsibility and can be sure that nothing problematic will intrude.
Then there is escape that is less benign. Many try escaping seemingly intractable problems—poverty, oppression, pain—through drugs or other damaging addictions. Which brings us to the refugees in Kibera who are escaping for their lives.
Clearly it would have been better if the people in Kibera camp had not had to flee, if the perpetrators had not committed the initial atrocities, if they could have been stopped. Indeed, some people in the camp were trying to escape from that they had done, and wondering how their lives could ever be whole again. Similarly, it would be better if those who escape to dangerous addiction could find another way, if the resources could be found to deal with the pain or if their other needs could be met. In both situations there is immeasurable and tragic waste.
Yes, yes, you may say, but where do sports, fiction, shopping and Disney World fit into this grim picture? By all appearances, they are totally different. Our lives are not ruined as a result of such escapes. On the contrary. We have simply laid down the yoke of obligation and given ourselves a little break.
But what does a need to escape say about the lives we are living? What are we escaping from? Could it be related to some basic lack of connection or meaning? Could it be something that is killing us? I can’t help but wonder if we were more closely connected with those people in Kibera whether we would see our choices in a different light.
When is escape an expression of our power and life-affirming determination, as in escape from abuse or confinement into a future that is different and better? And when is it the opposite—an expression of lack of power, a coping mechanism for endurance in a life-draining situation that we can see no way to change?
I wonder if we can make a clearer distinction between refreshment and escape. Let’s be refreshed by all means. Let’s take the vacations that invigorate us, rest deeply when we need rest, do what’s needed to get a new perspective when ours is getting stale. But let’s question the pull to escape. Let’s asks what we are escaping from, then try deciding to stay, to gather the resources to face down the dragons, and put our energy into looking for real meaning and joy in our lives and those of others around us.
Efficiency
Part of me
(the old part)
is sharp with impatience.
I could do this transaction
in a quarter of the time
a tenth.
There’s work to be done
I haven’t got all day.
The other(newer)part
would extend this moment
buying dry-root strawberries
(five kinds)
from the young man
at our new neighborhood nursery.
We chat.
He gardens across the river
volunteers at the same
urban farm I love
with the same black farmer.
I have visions of
young black men
from all over the city
finding this farmer
soaking up the lore
of earth and growing things,
reclaiming their roots.
We knit a connection
while he takes his time
sorting and packaging
strawberry roots.
Why would I ever
want it to end?
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Building a circular economy
Reverse logistics is the process of moving post consumption goods to their ultimate destination: remanufacturing, refurbishing, reusing or recycling. Much of this involves incentivizing users to return them. Lush, a cosmetic company, exchanges empty cosmetics pots from its customers with new products; once collected, empty pots are recycled into new ones. Caterpillar links used engine cores to a deposit and discount system to maximize the capture of used components into their remanufacturing operations.
Heineken’s distribution company in France has installed equipment at its customer sites that crushes and stores up to 20 kg of glass. This equipment reduces the space required for empty bottles, lowers transportation costs, and minimizes health and safety risks. Because recovery of their products can be challenging, Apple and the telecom company O2, lease phones to their customers to ensure their return.
By closing the loop of product lifecycles, reverse logistics plays an important role to transitioning to a circular economy. Products can also be designed from the start with resource recovery and recycling in mind, but that’s a different part of the story!
http://circulatenews.org/2016/06/why-corporations-will-have-to-invest-in-their-reverse-logistics/
Some things that have made me hopeful recently
Diébédo Francis Kéré, an architect from Burkina Faso, who has created a beautiful naturally air-conditioned school in the village he grew up in, all with local materials and labor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgrIhbuneSI
Hand in Hand, a group of schools in Israel where Jews and Arabs learn and grow together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHEkP6cBIG8&feature=youtu.be
D.C.’s Retirement Board, that has divested its $6.4 billion city government pension fund from the 200 largest publicly traded coal, oil and gas companies.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/06/06/3785278/dc-pension-divests/
350.org’s campaign in Vietnam to raise awareness about the devastating health effects of coal-fired power plants, leading to Vietnam’s Prime Minister halting new coal plant development and reviewing the country’s national power development plan.
http://350.org/campaign-update-east-asia/?akid=14359.1048214.zLdj9M&rd=1&t=11
More resources
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
Recent 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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Sunday, May 22, 2016
#154 Onion dreams
Dear all,
It seems like there's more stress and scarcity in my life than usual these days--nagging little health issues, various systems resisting repair or resolution, urgent to-do lists, illness and death in the community.
Then I go to the garden and am reminded of another reality. Mary gifts us with vegetable starts that she grew in the greenhouse. Karen is glad to share her stunning deep purple irises so I can plant some in the front flower bed. Sue asks if I'd like a bouquet of her lovely pink roses. I'm delighted to offer Denora some currants that I propagated last fall so she can plant them in the neighborhood. I'm surrounded by wholesome abundance and sharing, and I breathe more deeply.
I wish that experience of grace and abundance for all of us.
Love,
Pamela
Onion dreams
How to invite a three year old fully into the joys of the garden in spring? I want him to love it—and I also want the little vegetable plants to survive. Having wooden walkways helps, but it’s hard to remember, hard to always be careful. So one day in the back yard I mention that he doesn’t have to be careful in the mint. It is strong and sturdy and will bounce back. His eyes light up. He checks to make sure he understood, then steps into the mint bed and proceeds to walk around. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I know that mint is indeed incredibly resilient, and not in short supply, so I hold my tongue.
At our community garden the next week, he helps with planting and watering new strawberry plants, then plays while I transplant tomatoes and peppers. I keep pointing out the plants he’s almost stepping on (trying to keep the urgency out of my voice) and reminding him of the wooden plank paths.
At one point he asks if the winter onions will grow back. When I say they will, he takes a deliberate step into the bed. I consider—there are more than I need, the season is almost over, they do bounce back—and I don’t warn him away. He proceeds to walk in the bed, to stomp in it, delighted to be in the middle of a winter onion jungle. Then it occurs to him that he could lie down in this green and growing bed. He lies down happily and announces that he is sleeping on a winter onion pillow. He is so pleased that I have to smile. “Are you having onion dreams?” I ask. More delight. “I’m having onion dreams.”
Back home, as he’s telling his parents about our garden adventures, I know I made the right choice—to relax my protective instincts and sacrifice a few onions in order to invite him all the way into the joys of the garden. “I lay down in the winter onion bed,” he says. “I had onion dreams.”
Dandelions
At my house
dandelions were not allowed.
You could find
mold in the fridge
dustballs in the corners
stacks on the surfaces
But dandelions were dug out
every year, one by one.
A lawn, after all,
is no place for a weed.
We picked them in meadows
slit and curled the long stems
braided flower crowns
blew on those irresistible
fragile spheres
but that was different.
Learning they were valued once
as earliest greens of spring
created dissonance.
My first salad
of dandelion greens
with hot bacon dressing
specialty of the Pennsylvania Dutch
was a surprise and a delight.
Yet I dug them steadily
from yard and garden
habits strong
virtue and vigilance combined.
A country relative
brings a dandelion green
salad for Easter.
Weeding his garden
he found so many
he couldn’t resist.
It was a labor of love, he said
all that washing.
As I savor
the sharp taste
I give thanks
for this love of a weed.
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Participatory budgeting
The Brazilian city of Porto Alegre started the first full participatory budgeting process in 1989. In Porto Alegre, as many as 50,000 people have participated each year, to decide as much as 20% of the city budget. Since then, participatory budgeting has spread to over 1,500 cities in Latin America, North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. In the US and Canada, it has been used in Toronto, Montreal, Guelph, Chicago, New York City, and Vallejo (California).
While participatory budgeting doesn’t change economic structures, it facilitates grassroots democratic decision-making, over the design of the budgeting process; what proposals go on the ballot; and what gets funded. It changes how government works and how people can engage in democracy, by crafting processes that build individuals’ skills and knowledge; bringing neighbors together across divides; and connecting residents, experts, and officials, to make better decisions together.
http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/about-participatory-budgeting/examples-of-participatory-budgeting/
Some things that have made me hopeful recently
A small town in western Pennsylvania that has legalized civil disobedience in its fight against fracking. http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/faced-with-a-fracking-giant-this-small-town-just-legalized-civil-disobedience-20160513
The new Muslim mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who ran a campaign on bread and butter issues and working together, and beat a candidate who tried to raise fears of Muslim extremism. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/07/world/europe/britain-election-results.html?_r=0
Black farmers, from farms in the south to cities in the north and everywhere in between, who are reclaiming the positive values of their connection to the land. (See video on Soul Fire Farm at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0-DS6qnFTk, or check out this Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Mid-Atlantic-Wellbeing-Diaspora-Herbs-Initiative-504561246295470/ )
The recent White Privilege Conference, held in Philadelphia, where 2000 people wrestled with hard issues and didn’t give up.
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
It seems like there's more stress and scarcity in my life than usual these days--nagging little health issues, various systems resisting repair or resolution, urgent to-do lists, illness and death in the community.
Then I go to the garden and am reminded of another reality. Mary gifts us with vegetable starts that she grew in the greenhouse. Karen is glad to share her stunning deep purple irises so I can plant some in the front flower bed. Sue asks if I'd like a bouquet of her lovely pink roses. I'm delighted to offer Denora some currants that I propagated last fall so she can plant them in the neighborhood. I'm surrounded by wholesome abundance and sharing, and I breathe more deeply.
I wish that experience of grace and abundance for all of us.
Love,
Pamela
Onion dreams
How to invite a three year old fully into the joys of the garden in spring? I want him to love it—and I also want the little vegetable plants to survive. Having wooden walkways helps, but it’s hard to remember, hard to always be careful. So one day in the back yard I mention that he doesn’t have to be careful in the mint. It is strong and sturdy and will bounce back. His eyes light up. He checks to make sure he understood, then steps into the mint bed and proceeds to walk around. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I know that mint is indeed incredibly resilient, and not in short supply, so I hold my tongue.
At our community garden the next week, he helps with planting and watering new strawberry plants, then plays while I transplant tomatoes and peppers. I keep pointing out the plants he’s almost stepping on (trying to keep the urgency out of my voice) and reminding him of the wooden plank paths.
At one point he asks if the winter onions will grow back. When I say they will, he takes a deliberate step into the bed. I consider—there are more than I need, the season is almost over, they do bounce back—and I don’t warn him away. He proceeds to walk in the bed, to stomp in it, delighted to be in the middle of a winter onion jungle. Then it occurs to him that he could lie down in this green and growing bed. He lies down happily and announces that he is sleeping on a winter onion pillow. He is so pleased that I have to smile. “Are you having onion dreams?” I ask. More delight. “I’m having onion dreams.”
Back home, as he’s telling his parents about our garden adventures, I know I made the right choice—to relax my protective instincts and sacrifice a few onions in order to invite him all the way into the joys of the garden. “I lay down in the winter onion bed,” he says. “I had onion dreams.”
Dandelions
At my house
dandelions were not allowed.
You could find
mold in the fridge
dustballs in the corners
stacks on the surfaces
But dandelions were dug out
every year, one by one.
A lawn, after all,
is no place for a weed.
We picked them in meadows
slit and curled the long stems
braided flower crowns
blew on those irresistible
fragile spheres
but that was different.
Learning they were valued once
as earliest greens of spring
created dissonance.
My first salad
of dandelion greens
with hot bacon dressing
specialty of the Pennsylvania Dutch
was a surprise and a delight.
Yet I dug them steadily
from yard and garden
habits strong
virtue and vigilance combined.
A country relative
brings a dandelion green
salad for Easter.
Weeding his garden
he found so many
he couldn’t resist.
It was a labor of love, he said
all that washing.
As I savor
the sharp taste
I give thanks
for this love of a weed.
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Participatory budgeting
The Brazilian city of Porto Alegre started the first full participatory budgeting process in 1989. In Porto Alegre, as many as 50,000 people have participated each year, to decide as much as 20% of the city budget. Since then, participatory budgeting has spread to over 1,500 cities in Latin America, North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. In the US and Canada, it has been used in Toronto, Montreal, Guelph, Chicago, New York City, and Vallejo (California).
While participatory budgeting doesn’t change economic structures, it facilitates grassroots democratic decision-making, over the design of the budgeting process; what proposals go on the ballot; and what gets funded. It changes how government works and how people can engage in democracy, by crafting processes that build individuals’ skills and knowledge; bringing neighbors together across divides; and connecting residents, experts, and officials, to make better decisions together.
http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/about-participatory-budgeting/examples-of-participatory-budgeting/
Some things that have made me hopeful recently
A small town in western Pennsylvania that has legalized civil disobedience in its fight against fracking. http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/faced-with-a-fracking-giant-this-small-town-just-legalized-civil-disobedience-20160513
The new Muslim mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who ran a campaign on bread and butter issues and working together, and beat a candidate who tried to raise fears of Muslim extremism. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/07/world/europe/britain-election-results.html?_r=0
Black farmers, from farms in the south to cities in the north and everywhere in between, who are reclaiming the positive values of their connection to the land. (See video on Soul Fire Farm at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0-DS6qnFTk, or check out this Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Mid-Atlantic-Wellbeing-Diaspora-Herbs-Initiative-504561246295470/ )
The recent White Privilege Conference, held in Philadelphia, where 2000 people wrestled with hard issues and didn’t give up.
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
#153 The real thing
Dear all,
This has been a more challenging month than some, with sickness in the midst of work--and other--obligations, a friend's final struggle with cancer, project I'm responsible for hitting snags, challenges around racism.
Yet spring comes, the moon waxes and wanes, grandchildren explore and grow, help manifests, love is there to be offered and taken in. I'm grateful for all of these things, grateful to be on the mend, grateful to be alive in this world.
Love,
Pamela
The real thing
I recently spent ten days with my son and his wife and two small boys, helping out as Erin was dealing with a health issue that kept her mostly in bed. I’m very good at making myself useful, and my help was clearly needed, so I cheerfully read stories, pushed swings, washed dishes, prepared meals, played chase games, did laundry, picked up toys, and ran errands.
What I was not prepared for was Erin's comment toward the end of my stay that what she appreciated most about my being there was that I loved her boys. It caught me by surprise. In my mind, based on a lifetime of training, my contribution was the work. I had to get my mind around the fact that, while I’m sure she was glad for the help, it was my love--something that couldn’t be seen or measured--that really made the difference.
Then I came home to find this quote from Bruce Springsteen in my mailbox: "I understand it's the music that keeps me alive.... That's my lifeblood. And to give that up for, like, the TV, the cars, the houses — that's not the American dream.... Those are the booby prizes. And if you fall for them, when you achieve them, you believe that this is the end in and of itself — then you've been suckered in.”
Those things that you see and can measure—the TV, the car, the house—those are the booby prizes. The real thing that keeps you alive, the music, the meaning, the higher ground, is invisible.
I can’t tell if I’m more taken by Springsteen’s characterization of these visible signs of affluence as "booby prizes", or more sobered by how much I still measure my life’s worth in terms of visible work produced. While I’m not prepared to view all my work as a booby prize, it’s helpful to have been offered this perspective on tasks accomplished, and to notice the times when I hold them up as the highest prize. At the same time, I’m compelled to take more seriously that which I offer which is invisible. I guess, as I think about it, it’s not the work, but the spirit in which I do my work that is the real thing.
Mint
Early spring day
a three year old samples
the promise of the yard.
Worms, of course
tastes of parsley and celery
survivors of winter
Mint, just coming up.
He pinches at those
little nubs of green
barely poking through the earth
getting just enough
to remind a remembering mouth
of that potent delight.
Imagine - A new economy is possible!
Financing household energy efficiency
Many households don’t upgrade to energy efficient technologies because they can’t afford the up-front costs. On-bill financing overcomes this barrier by covering such costs, which are then repaid over time via charges on the utility bill.
This allows people to get efficiency upgrades at no added cost, since energy savings from efficiency improvements are greater than the on-bill finance costs. Default rates have been found to be lower than with other loans, since people are used to making payments via their gas or electricity bill. Using a utility bill repayment history to underwrite upgrades also allows customers with poorer credit scores access to financing.
The South Carolina “Help My House” Rural Energy Savings Program Pilot led to a 34 percent reduction in energy use for residential program participants and resulted in average annual savings of $288 per home after loan payments.
Twelve states have enacted legislation to create loan funds for capital, create pilot programs or require utilities to offer on-bill financing. Another 20 states have utilities with on-bill financing programs in place.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/energy/on-bill-financing-cost-free-energy-efficiency-improvements.aspx
Some things that have made me hopeful recently
The Philadelphia Orchard Project, which has repurposed acres of blight and planted thousands fruit trees and bushes in 53 urban orchards, providing free fruit for neighborhoods that need it.
http://newfoodeconomy.com/city-orchards-philadelphia/
The encouragement from Pope Francis for a conference on just war to focus on the importance of non-violent action as a means to struggle for justice.
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/francis-encourages-vatican-just-war-conference-revitalize-tools-non-violence#.Vw7Ic8g-jKY.facebook
How the release of the Panama Papers has shed light on the shadowy practice of hiding wealth in shell companies overseas.
http://www.alternet.org/world/panama-papers-show-how-easy-it-finance-terror-using-us-shell-companies
Stories of how, in the midst of government inaction, civilians in Greece have stepped up to aid Syrian refugees.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/impact-humanitarian-volunteers-greece-820222
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
This has been a more challenging month than some, with sickness in the midst of work--and other--obligations, a friend's final struggle with cancer, project I'm responsible for hitting snags, challenges around racism.
Yet spring comes, the moon waxes and wanes, grandchildren explore and grow, help manifests, love is there to be offered and taken in. I'm grateful for all of these things, grateful to be on the mend, grateful to be alive in this world.
Love,
Pamela
The real thing
I recently spent ten days with my son and his wife and two small boys, helping out as Erin was dealing with a health issue that kept her mostly in bed. I’m very good at making myself useful, and my help was clearly needed, so I cheerfully read stories, pushed swings, washed dishes, prepared meals, played chase games, did laundry, picked up toys, and ran errands.
What I was not prepared for was Erin's comment toward the end of my stay that what she appreciated most about my being there was that I loved her boys. It caught me by surprise. In my mind, based on a lifetime of training, my contribution was the work. I had to get my mind around the fact that, while I’m sure she was glad for the help, it was my love--something that couldn’t be seen or measured--that really made the difference.
Then I came home to find this quote from Bruce Springsteen in my mailbox: "I understand it's the music that keeps me alive.... That's my lifeblood. And to give that up for, like, the TV, the cars, the houses — that's not the American dream.... Those are the booby prizes. And if you fall for them, when you achieve them, you believe that this is the end in and of itself — then you've been suckered in.”
Those things that you see and can measure—the TV, the car, the house—those are the booby prizes. The real thing that keeps you alive, the music, the meaning, the higher ground, is invisible.
I can’t tell if I’m more taken by Springsteen’s characterization of these visible signs of affluence as "booby prizes", or more sobered by how much I still measure my life’s worth in terms of visible work produced. While I’m not prepared to view all my work as a booby prize, it’s helpful to have been offered this perspective on tasks accomplished, and to notice the times when I hold them up as the highest prize. At the same time, I’m compelled to take more seriously that which I offer which is invisible. I guess, as I think about it, it’s not the work, but the spirit in which I do my work that is the real thing.
Mint
Early spring day
a three year old samples
the promise of the yard.
Worms, of course
tastes of parsley and celery
survivors of winter
Mint, just coming up.
He pinches at those
little nubs of green
barely poking through the earth
getting just enough
to remind a remembering mouth
of that potent delight.
Imagine - A new economy is possible!
Financing household energy efficiency
Many households don’t upgrade to energy efficient technologies because they can’t afford the up-front costs. On-bill financing overcomes this barrier by covering such costs, which are then repaid over time via charges on the utility bill.
This allows people to get efficiency upgrades at no added cost, since energy savings from efficiency improvements are greater than the on-bill finance costs. Default rates have been found to be lower than with other loans, since people are used to making payments via their gas or electricity bill. Using a utility bill repayment history to underwrite upgrades also allows customers with poorer credit scores access to financing.
The South Carolina “Help My House” Rural Energy Savings Program Pilot led to a 34 percent reduction in energy use for residential program participants and resulted in average annual savings of $288 per home after loan payments.
Twelve states have enacted legislation to create loan funds for capital, create pilot programs or require utilities to offer on-bill financing. Another 20 states have utilities with on-bill financing programs in place.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/energy/on-bill-financing-cost-free-energy-efficiency-improvements.aspx
Some things that have made me hopeful recently
The Philadelphia Orchard Project, which has repurposed acres of blight and planted thousands fruit trees and bushes in 53 urban orchards, providing free fruit for neighborhoods that need it.
http://newfoodeconomy.com/city-orchards-philadelphia/
The encouragement from Pope Francis for a conference on just war to focus on the importance of non-violent action as a means to struggle for justice.
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/francis-encourages-vatican-just-war-conference-revitalize-tools-non-violence#.Vw7Ic8g-jKY.facebook
How the release of the Panama Papers has shed light on the shadowy practice of hiding wealth in shell companies overseas.
http://www.alternet.org/world/panama-papers-show-how-easy-it-finance-terror-using-us-shell-companies
Stories of how, in the midst of government inaction, civilians in Greece have stepped up to aid Syrian refugees.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/impact-humanitarian-volunteers-greece-820222
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Saturday, March 12, 2016
#152 Help and confidence
Dear all,
I am awed, once again, by the beauty of spring as it is beginning to unfold around us. The threat of global warming makes it feel more important than ever to delight in and value the earth that envelops us.
As a mother, I rejoiced in our son Tim's trip to Nicaragua with this three year old, who got to hang out with friends in his first language. I was glad to add a generous dose of help and love to our son Andrew's family out in British Columbia as they face Erin's multiple ankle surgeries, though sobered by the health ripples of childhood leukemia treatment of the 1990's.
As always, I am glad to be alive in this world amidst all its joys and challenges.
Love,
Pamela
Help and confidence
Something had happened to my computer, leaving me unable to get on the Internet. Nothing I tried made a difference, except possibly to make it worse. Nobody around me could help. The Apple Store seemed to offer the only hope.
I had never gotten tech help there, and couldn’t quite believe there wasn’t some catch. I’m generally suspicious of institutional bureaucracies, and of putting myself in the hands of people with power. I would rather stay away, but there seemed to be no alternative.
So I walk into the store with my unusable computer, my story, my need, and my suspicion. What I get is a revelation: pure help, served up with kindness on all sides. It takes two visits, but I leave with a system that is not only restored but improved, and a head swirling with new thoughts and images about help.
Why is this experience still reverberating after days? Well, help is something that I struggle with in general. I’m used to not asking for it, not getting it, assuming it’s not there, managing on my own. So this was a striking reminder that my habits and assumptions come from deep in the past and are neither the best fit for current reality nor the best prescription for my emotional well-being.
But there’s more. What was it that allowed all the staff in this store—and I interacted with many of them over those two days—to offer their help with such warmth and generosity? While good customer service training may play a role, I can’t believe it explains the whole. I think the key likes in the fact that they knew they could help. We were coming in with problems that had solutions; we didn’t have access to those solutions, but they did. They could afford to be kind, because they were confident. And they had each other. When one part of the puzzle I brought in was outside someone’s expertise, he was totally relaxed about letting me know that he needed to consult. He wasn’t worried about the outcome, or about his self-worth. He didn’t try to make what he knew be enough when it wasn’t. He didn’t need to defend his limitations or worry about them. He knew that together, they could do anything that was possible to be done.
I begin imagining other things that might be fixed in such an environment. Maybe children could bring their malfunctioning families to the store. They would describe the problem they were experiencing and an employee would say, “Oh yes, we can help you with this. We know what to do. We’ve seen this problem before. It may take a little while, but we can straighten it out.”
Or maybe people who are concerned about the climate could bring the planet to the store. They would explain what was broken, and an employee would say, “You’re right; this is a bad problem. I’ll have to call in all my colleagues—and actually there’s a role you’ll need to play here too. Let me explain the process. It will take quite a while, but don’t worry. We do know just what has to be done.”
As these scenarios were finding a home in my brain, I started wondering about the times that people come to me for help. Do they see me the way I saw that staff, as unwaveringly confident, kind and able? That’s a pretty humbling thought! While I do try to be kind, I often don’t feel all that confident, and there are lots of problems I can’t solve. But it reminds me of the importance of sharing every bit of real confidence I do have. And when I don’t, maybe that’s where my co-workers—my fellow human beings—come in. What would it mean, and what would it make possible, if we all could rest in the confidence that we have each other, and that together we can do anything that is possible to be done?
Lent
Invited to Lent
not my tradition but interesting.
What to give up?
Cookies?
Then a new invitation:
What would God
want you to give up?
Work as a to-do list
all production, no joy?
This pops into my head, unbidden.
I’m in.
The discipline and tradition surround me.
If others can do this
have done it for centuries
are doing it right now
then so can I.
I remember, repeatedly
that there is joy to be found
in any moment as I work
(I also forget).
The forty days
is somehow comforting.
I’m not stuck with this choice,
not trapped.
I can always go back to
work without joy
if that’s what I want.
It’s just for Lent.
Imagine - A new economy is possible!
Chippewa tribe bans fracking
Members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians banned fracking on their 77,000 acre reservation in 2011, one of the first such bans in North America. Some initially thought an oil and gas boom would be a good thing, but they learned that the frackers would drill right through their precious aquifer, risking contamination of their drinking water and lakes. They learned that at a nearby reservation in the heart of the Bakken oil fields, fallout from a fracking boom included a spike in violent crime, pollution from contaminated materials dumped on the reservation, damaged roads, and increased demand for social services.
Receiving this information, the Turtle Mountain tribal council unanimously voted to ban fracking. An impoverished tribe left millions of dollars on the table, saying “We all know that in the very near future, water will be more valuable than oil or gold or anything else.” The council has since adopted a water code that solidifies the tribe’s stance on fracking, and with the help of a Department of Energy grant, the tribe is moving into developing the abundant solar and wind energy resources of the reservation.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/in-north-dakotas-booming-oil-patch-one-tribe-beat-back-fracking-20160121
Some things that have made me hopeful recently
The Moral Monday movement, started in North Carolina, that invites a grassroots fusion of economic and social justice issues within the framework of morality.
http://newsone.com/3345792/the-third-reconstruction-how-moral-mondays-fusion-politics-are-fueling-the-rise-of-a-new-justice-movement/
The new white working class mayor of Philadelphia who doesn’t seem to have trouble identifying with the strengths and needs of the minority community, and who is putting out a very progressive agenda for the city.
A small timber and mill town in southwest Washington with a desperate need for jobs, whose commissioners voted unanimously against a proposed $1.25 billion oil refinery and propane export terminal, on the basis of environmental and health concerns.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/how-a-small-town-won-an-unlikely-victory-against-big-oil-20160226
The comeback of the monarch butterfly in its winter sanctuary in Mexico, more than tripling the area they cover from last year.
http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/monarch-butterfly-population-surges-in-mexico-160229.htm
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
I am awed, once again, by the beauty of spring as it is beginning to unfold around us. The threat of global warming makes it feel more important than ever to delight in and value the earth that envelops us.
As a mother, I rejoiced in our son Tim's trip to Nicaragua with this three year old, who got to hang out with friends in his first language. I was glad to add a generous dose of help and love to our son Andrew's family out in British Columbia as they face Erin's multiple ankle surgeries, though sobered by the health ripples of childhood leukemia treatment of the 1990's.
As always, I am glad to be alive in this world amidst all its joys and challenges.
Love,
Pamela
Help and confidence
Something had happened to my computer, leaving me unable to get on the Internet. Nothing I tried made a difference, except possibly to make it worse. Nobody around me could help. The Apple Store seemed to offer the only hope.
I had never gotten tech help there, and couldn’t quite believe there wasn’t some catch. I’m generally suspicious of institutional bureaucracies, and of putting myself in the hands of people with power. I would rather stay away, but there seemed to be no alternative.
So I walk into the store with my unusable computer, my story, my need, and my suspicion. What I get is a revelation: pure help, served up with kindness on all sides. It takes two visits, but I leave with a system that is not only restored but improved, and a head swirling with new thoughts and images about help.
Why is this experience still reverberating after days? Well, help is something that I struggle with in general. I’m used to not asking for it, not getting it, assuming it’s not there, managing on my own. So this was a striking reminder that my habits and assumptions come from deep in the past and are neither the best fit for current reality nor the best prescription for my emotional well-being.
But there’s more. What was it that allowed all the staff in this store—and I interacted with many of them over those two days—to offer their help with such warmth and generosity? While good customer service training may play a role, I can’t believe it explains the whole. I think the key likes in the fact that they knew they could help. We were coming in with problems that had solutions; we didn’t have access to those solutions, but they did. They could afford to be kind, because they were confident. And they had each other. When one part of the puzzle I brought in was outside someone’s expertise, he was totally relaxed about letting me know that he needed to consult. He wasn’t worried about the outcome, or about his self-worth. He didn’t try to make what he knew be enough when it wasn’t. He didn’t need to defend his limitations or worry about them. He knew that together, they could do anything that was possible to be done.
I begin imagining other things that might be fixed in such an environment. Maybe children could bring their malfunctioning families to the store. They would describe the problem they were experiencing and an employee would say, “Oh yes, we can help you with this. We know what to do. We’ve seen this problem before. It may take a little while, but we can straighten it out.”
Or maybe people who are concerned about the climate could bring the planet to the store. They would explain what was broken, and an employee would say, “You’re right; this is a bad problem. I’ll have to call in all my colleagues—and actually there’s a role you’ll need to play here too. Let me explain the process. It will take quite a while, but don’t worry. We do know just what has to be done.”
As these scenarios were finding a home in my brain, I started wondering about the times that people come to me for help. Do they see me the way I saw that staff, as unwaveringly confident, kind and able? That’s a pretty humbling thought! While I do try to be kind, I often don’t feel all that confident, and there are lots of problems I can’t solve. But it reminds me of the importance of sharing every bit of real confidence I do have. And when I don’t, maybe that’s where my co-workers—my fellow human beings—come in. What would it mean, and what would it make possible, if we all could rest in the confidence that we have each other, and that together we can do anything that is possible to be done?
Lent
Invited to Lent
not my tradition but interesting.
What to give up?
Cookies?
Then a new invitation:
What would God
want you to give up?
Work as a to-do list
all production, no joy?
This pops into my head, unbidden.
I’m in.
The discipline and tradition surround me.
If others can do this
have done it for centuries
are doing it right now
then so can I.
I remember, repeatedly
that there is joy to be found
in any moment as I work
(I also forget).
The forty days
is somehow comforting.
I’m not stuck with this choice,
not trapped.
I can always go back to
work without joy
if that’s what I want.
It’s just for Lent.
Imagine - A new economy is possible!
Chippewa tribe bans fracking
Members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians banned fracking on their 77,000 acre reservation in 2011, one of the first such bans in North America. Some initially thought an oil and gas boom would be a good thing, but they learned that the frackers would drill right through their precious aquifer, risking contamination of their drinking water and lakes. They learned that at a nearby reservation in the heart of the Bakken oil fields, fallout from a fracking boom included a spike in violent crime, pollution from contaminated materials dumped on the reservation, damaged roads, and increased demand for social services.
Receiving this information, the Turtle Mountain tribal council unanimously voted to ban fracking. An impoverished tribe left millions of dollars on the table, saying “We all know that in the very near future, water will be more valuable than oil or gold or anything else.” The council has since adopted a water code that solidifies the tribe’s stance on fracking, and with the help of a Department of Energy grant, the tribe is moving into developing the abundant solar and wind energy resources of the reservation.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/in-north-dakotas-booming-oil-patch-one-tribe-beat-back-fracking-20160121
Some things that have made me hopeful recently
The Moral Monday movement, started in North Carolina, that invites a grassroots fusion of economic and social justice issues within the framework of morality.
http://newsone.com/3345792/the-third-reconstruction-how-moral-mondays-fusion-politics-are-fueling-the-rise-of-a-new-justice-movement/
The new white working class mayor of Philadelphia who doesn’t seem to have trouble identifying with the strengths and needs of the minority community, and who is putting out a very progressive agenda for the city.
A small timber and mill town in southwest Washington with a desperate need for jobs, whose commissioners voted unanimously against a proposed $1.25 billion oil refinery and propane export terminal, on the basis of environmental and health concerns.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/how-a-small-town-won-an-unlikely-victory-against-big-oil-20160226
The comeback of the monarch butterfly in its winter sanctuary in Mexico, more than tripling the area they cover from last year.
http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/monarch-butterfly-population-surges-in-mexico-160229.htm
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
#150 Loving Francis
Dear all,
What a rich winter holiday, with ALL our family--including four grandchildren four and under--gathered for over a week of visiting, playing, laughing, exploring, and taking turns. And now, with Chuck gone for three weeks in Australia, I have a very different rich opportunity--for quiet and self-direction. I'm grateful for both.
I bring other people's voices more than usual this month. My initial reflection is full of Pope Francis, and Instead of a poem I include a few thoughts from Robin Ward Kimmerer, a woman with Native American roots who knows and says things I would wish I could say myself.
With the buzz of festivities and hype of resolutions over, I wish you all a good start to a good new year.
Love,
Pamela
Loving Francis
When Pope Francis released his encyclical, Laudato Si, in the summer, I was delighted. I have since come to appreciate how the timing and content were planned strategically to have the greatest possible impact on the Paris climate talks. More recently, as part of sharing the encyclical with my faith community, I’ve had the opportunity to put that delight into words.
I love having a spiritual leader decide it was his place to speak out on matters that are usually seen as secular—and strongly defended as such. I love how he has mined the wealth of his spiritual understanding and tradition to bring such a fresh and powerful perspective to these big issues, in language that is accessible to everyone. I love having someone so wise to follow and be guided by—and I love it that such guidance is available outside of my (sometimes smug) Quaker tradition.
I love how he refuses to be put in a box. He’s not focusing just on personal morality or spirituality. He’s not focusing just on compassion for the poor. He’s not focusing just on stewardship of God’s earth. He’s focusing on how they are all part of one whole—and it is the connections among them that end up providing us with the most insight. What can we learn from his suggestion that “the human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together”?
I particularly love his emphasis on economics and technology. No part of our lives has been more fiercely walled off as secular territory or more fiercely protected against the “soft” and “unscientific” voices of ethics and religion. And Pope Francis just wades right in—totally and serenely confident in his right to be there!
He is eloquent on the dangers of compulsive consumerism, an issue dear to my heart. “Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products”, he says, “people can easily get caught up in a whirlwind of needless buying and spending. That paradigm leads people to believe that they are free as long as they have the supposed freedom to consume.” Freedom, indeed!
I love how clear he is about the limits of economic growth. We cannot grow our way into equality; indeed, without strong government intervention, economic growth has historically led to greater and greater disparities of wealth. “And the idea of infinite or unlimited growth…is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of earth’s goods.” I love someone who isn’t afraid to call out a lie.
He is also eloquent about the limits of technological solutions. While technology has remedied countless evils over the years, when it is “linked to business interests, and presented as the only way of solving these problems, it proves incapable of seeing the mysterious network of relations between things, and so sometimes solves one problem only to create others”. Furthermore, “a technology severed from great ethical principles will not easily be able to limit its own power”. Now there’s a warning to ponder.
I love how he turns our ideas about debt upside down. While we tend to think of the Global South—the poor countries of the world—as being indebted to the Global North, he says no. Rather, we who have extracted their resources and used up way more than our share of the earth’s fossil fuels to power our industrialized lifestyles, it is we who owe them a very real debt.
We can’t just tinker with our current economic system, says Francis. “Is it realistic to hope that those who are obsessed with maximizing profits will stop to reflect on the environmental damage which they will leave behind for future generations?” Read that one again, slowly. If we are to survive, we have to transform our systems of providing for common well-being (and he uses that word “common” over and over again); we have to transform our relationships with each other; we have to transform our relationship to the earth.
He’s like the little boy who has called out the emperor with no clothes. I find that enormously hopeful, particularly because of the number of people who listen to him. With Pope Francis, I feel that we are on solid ground. The news is not good and the future is not secure. But we know what’s true, we know what’s important, we know how it’s all connected, and we know how to face as we move forward. Ultimately our lives will be better for grounding ourselves in truth, and acting from the basis of the love and connection that are at the center of his message.
Reclaiming the Honorable Harvest
Robin Ward Kimmerer
We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth: air to breathe, fresh water, the companionship of geese and maples--and food. Since we lack the gift of photosynthesis, we animals are designed by biology to be utterly dependent upon the lives of others, the inherently generous, more-than human persons with whom we share the planet...
How can we reciprocate the gifts of the Earth? In gratitude, in ceremony, through acts of practical reverence and land stewardship, in fierce defense of the places we love, in art, in science, in song, in gardens, in children, in ballots, in stories of renewal, in creative resistance, in how we spend our money and our precious lives, by refusing to be complicit with the forces of ecological destruction. Whatever our gift, we are called to give it and dance for the renewal of the world.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/good-health/the-honorable-harvest-lessons-from-an-indigenous-tradition-of-giving-thanks-20151126/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz1vgfZ3etE
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Boulder's Carbon tax
First approved by voters in 2006, Boulder’s Climate Action Plan levies a carbon tax on energy use and uses the proceeds to pay for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. In 2012, Boulder voters approved a five-year extension of CAP, which generates around $1.9 million for the city. The average annual cost is $21 to residents, $94 to businesses, and $9,600 to industrial customers. The tax pays for energy-efficiency and renewable-energy programs, including rebates, credits and "energy audits" for homeowners and businesses.
The city now mandates energy-efficiency standards for rental housing and uses CAP funds to provide rebates and incentives to help landlords reach those mandates. It also runs a pilot program to get businesses to track their energy use more, and may mandate that businesses reach certain energy-efficiency standards. By encouraging upgrades, CAP tax funds help Boulder continue reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_21941854/boulder-issue-2a-carbon-tax-appears-likely-be
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
How Muslims on a bus in Kenya saved Christians from a terrorist attack, and helped shift the conversation about Islam and terrorism in Kenya.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/12063208/Muslim-bus-passengers-save-Christian-brothers-and-sisters-during-Al-Shabaab-attack.html
How US presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders is helping to change the political conversation by focusing his campaign on the economic needs of the working poor and middle class and the moral crisis of extreme inequality.
How millions in China are using a new app that provides updates on air and water pollution to put pressure on violators.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/millions-in-china-use-app-to-pressure-polluters-with-govt-help/
How Amsterdam in the Netherlands offers financing for local sustainability projects, available to start-ups, commercial ventures, and individual residents.
http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/media-centre/city-hall/press-releases/2014-press-room/amsterdam-sustainability-fund-award
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
What a rich winter holiday, with ALL our family--including four grandchildren four and under--gathered for over a week of visiting, playing, laughing, exploring, and taking turns. And now, with Chuck gone for three weeks in Australia, I have a very different rich opportunity--for quiet and self-direction. I'm grateful for both.
I bring other people's voices more than usual this month. My initial reflection is full of Pope Francis, and Instead of a poem I include a few thoughts from Robin Ward Kimmerer, a woman with Native American roots who knows and says things I would wish I could say myself.
With the buzz of festivities and hype of resolutions over, I wish you all a good start to a good new year.
Love,
Pamela
Loving Francis
When Pope Francis released his encyclical, Laudato Si, in the summer, I was delighted. I have since come to appreciate how the timing and content were planned strategically to have the greatest possible impact on the Paris climate talks. More recently, as part of sharing the encyclical with my faith community, I’ve had the opportunity to put that delight into words.
I love having a spiritual leader decide it was his place to speak out on matters that are usually seen as secular—and strongly defended as such. I love how he has mined the wealth of his spiritual understanding and tradition to bring such a fresh and powerful perspective to these big issues, in language that is accessible to everyone. I love having someone so wise to follow and be guided by—and I love it that such guidance is available outside of my (sometimes smug) Quaker tradition.
I love how he refuses to be put in a box. He’s not focusing just on personal morality or spirituality. He’s not focusing just on compassion for the poor. He’s not focusing just on stewardship of God’s earth. He’s focusing on how they are all part of one whole—and it is the connections among them that end up providing us with the most insight. What can we learn from his suggestion that “the human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together”?
I particularly love his emphasis on economics and technology. No part of our lives has been more fiercely walled off as secular territory or more fiercely protected against the “soft” and “unscientific” voices of ethics and religion. And Pope Francis just wades right in—totally and serenely confident in his right to be there!
He is eloquent on the dangers of compulsive consumerism, an issue dear to my heart. “Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products”, he says, “people can easily get caught up in a whirlwind of needless buying and spending. That paradigm leads people to believe that they are free as long as they have the supposed freedom to consume.” Freedom, indeed!
I love how clear he is about the limits of economic growth. We cannot grow our way into equality; indeed, without strong government intervention, economic growth has historically led to greater and greater disparities of wealth. “And the idea of infinite or unlimited growth…is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of earth’s goods.” I love someone who isn’t afraid to call out a lie.
He is also eloquent about the limits of technological solutions. While technology has remedied countless evils over the years, when it is “linked to business interests, and presented as the only way of solving these problems, it proves incapable of seeing the mysterious network of relations between things, and so sometimes solves one problem only to create others”. Furthermore, “a technology severed from great ethical principles will not easily be able to limit its own power”. Now there’s a warning to ponder.
I love how he turns our ideas about debt upside down. While we tend to think of the Global South—the poor countries of the world—as being indebted to the Global North, he says no. Rather, we who have extracted their resources and used up way more than our share of the earth’s fossil fuels to power our industrialized lifestyles, it is we who owe them a very real debt.
We can’t just tinker with our current economic system, says Francis. “Is it realistic to hope that those who are obsessed with maximizing profits will stop to reflect on the environmental damage which they will leave behind for future generations?” Read that one again, slowly. If we are to survive, we have to transform our systems of providing for common well-being (and he uses that word “common” over and over again); we have to transform our relationships with each other; we have to transform our relationship to the earth.
He’s like the little boy who has called out the emperor with no clothes. I find that enormously hopeful, particularly because of the number of people who listen to him. With Pope Francis, I feel that we are on solid ground. The news is not good and the future is not secure. But we know what’s true, we know what’s important, we know how it’s all connected, and we know how to face as we move forward. Ultimately our lives will be better for grounding ourselves in truth, and acting from the basis of the love and connection that are at the center of his message.
Reclaiming the Honorable Harvest
Robin Ward Kimmerer
We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth: air to breathe, fresh water, the companionship of geese and maples--and food. Since we lack the gift of photosynthesis, we animals are designed by biology to be utterly dependent upon the lives of others, the inherently generous, more-than human persons with whom we share the planet...
How can we reciprocate the gifts of the Earth? In gratitude, in ceremony, through acts of practical reverence and land stewardship, in fierce defense of the places we love, in art, in science, in song, in gardens, in children, in ballots, in stories of renewal, in creative resistance, in how we spend our money and our precious lives, by refusing to be complicit with the forces of ecological destruction. Whatever our gift, we are called to give it and dance for the renewal of the world.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/good-health/the-honorable-harvest-lessons-from-an-indigenous-tradition-of-giving-thanks-20151126/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz1vgfZ3etE
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Boulder's Carbon tax
First approved by voters in 2006, Boulder’s Climate Action Plan levies a carbon tax on energy use and uses the proceeds to pay for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. In 2012, Boulder voters approved a five-year extension of CAP, which generates around $1.9 million for the city. The average annual cost is $21 to residents, $94 to businesses, and $9,600 to industrial customers. The tax pays for energy-efficiency and renewable-energy programs, including rebates, credits and "energy audits" for homeowners and businesses.
The city now mandates energy-efficiency standards for rental housing and uses CAP funds to provide rebates and incentives to help landlords reach those mandates. It also runs a pilot program to get businesses to track their energy use more, and may mandate that businesses reach certain energy-efficiency standards. By encouraging upgrades, CAP tax funds help Boulder continue reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_21941854/boulder-issue-2a-carbon-tax-appears-likely-be
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
How Muslims on a bus in Kenya saved Christians from a terrorist attack, and helped shift the conversation about Islam and terrorism in Kenya.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/12063208/Muslim-bus-passengers-save-Christian-brothers-and-sisters-during-Al-Shabaab-attack.html
How US presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders is helping to change the political conversation by focusing his campaign on the economic needs of the working poor and middle class and the moral crisis of extreme inequality.
How millions in China are using a new app that provides updates on air and water pollution to put pressure on violators.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/millions-in-china-use-app-to-pressure-polluters-with-govt-help/
How Amsterdam in the Netherlands offers financing for local sustainability projects, available to start-ups, commercial ventures, and individual residents.
http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/media-centre/city-hall/press-releases/2014-press-room/amsterdam-sustainability-fund-award
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Saturday, December 12, 2015
#149 Fine and well
Dear all,
An unexpected pleasure in November was taking advantage of the later sunrise and mild weather to get outside and greet the day, and get a more intimate sense of the varieties of early morning color and light. As we settle in, here in our part of the northern hemisphere, to await the shortest and darkest days of the year, i am reminded of all the different ways we have found to bring other kinds of light into the world.
In a holiday season that can be full of extra stress and expectation/disappointment, I wish you small joys of connection, perhaps in unexpected places.
Love,
Pamela
Fine and well
When I was growing up, everything was fine. That was the non-negotiable way of the world. I was fine. My family was fine. Life was fine. We were told that we were a big happy family and, with no hard evidence to disprove it—and much to support it—we accepted this worldview as truth.
Since I was fine and my life was fine, and my mother was very busy working to keep it that way, there seemed to be no place for complaints. So I never complained. I settled into the job of having a happy childhood, and more or less succeeded.
What a shock to discover as an adult that this wasn’t the whole story! My childhood hadn’t been as happy as I had been taught. It turned out that my father was harsh and judgmental, my mother was emotionally needy, and in a family that prized education I secretly (even to myself) hated school. All in all, it had been quite a chore to be the hard-working non-complaining responsible team member that my big happy family required.
It was a huge relief to realize that everything had NOT been fine. I took some time luxuriating in outrage at what I’d had to put up with, and the idea of complaining, while still seeming totally taboo, began to hold some attraction. Yet I was constrained by awareness of how relatively good my life had been. To increase my confusion, the life I was living in the present was markedly better than my childhood, and as my perspective on the world widened, my own little problems seemed more and more petty and insignificant. At the same time, I fought against being pushed back into that familiar position where the needs of the larger whole always and inevitably trumped mine.
Did I, or did I not, have a right to complain? I started experimenting: complain about this, complain about that. In a way it was a relief to be able to notice and say out loud that some things did not feel fine. But when I really got into it, I started to get confused about reality. Were my complaints real? Were they from the past or the present? Was I really not fine? I liked the possibility that there could be space in the world for my complaints, but did I want them to define my emotional state?
On the other hand, was the only alternative to be “fine”? I couldn’t buy that one either. Things had not been fine in my family, and they are certainly not fine in the world. The attempt to believe or pretend that they are requires walling off great pieces of reality and agreeing to a small and defended life. While I was born into relative comfort and have more than enough in the present, it’s not hard to notice that I’m in a minority. Our peoples and our planet are in great and growing distress, and I ignore that reality at peril to my soul.
In a real way, “fine” has no substance. Used as a response when people ask how you are, it’s clearly just code for “I’m choosing at this moment, for any number of reasons, not to complain.” It’s no more than an opaque brush-off.
I’m reaching for a response that captures more truth. Currently this is how it sounds. “I have a few complaints.” There is space in this world for me to experience life as I experience it, and things will not all be sunshine. “There is a lot to grieve and fear.” I am connected to the larger picture, and I would choose to engage with all that is not fine rather than turn away. And, finally, “I am well.” I have found my way to a life of connection, joy and meaning, even in the midst of great suffering, and will not be rocked from that place.
In my experience, being fine calls for a cover-up, as completely as possible, of all that is wrong, and a commitment to construct a life on top of that cover-up. Being well is the opposite—a commitment to connecting to the solid ground that lies underneath, and engaging with all that is wrong, and all that is right, from that place. I am happy to consign “fine” to the dustbin of history, and have great faith that “well” will see me forward.
Bathing in wood air
We all know that a walk in the woods refreshes--
great trees, bird calls and breezes
pungent scents of earth and pine.
Yet our senses fail to name the greater forces
here at work.
Mushroom threads—mycelia—
weave a network underground
sharing nutrients at the root
helping those great trees to thrive.
And all those trees give out
not just the oxygen
that we forget to thank them for
but other subtle essences
(named now by scientists, thus real)
that nourish us.
We are bathing in wood air
as they say in Japan
deep in the molecular life of the trees
breathing in the benefits of
living in an interspecies web.
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Economic conversion
As we look for precedents for transitioning an economy away from fossil fuels, there's an obvious on in our country's recent history. During the Second World War, the U.S. government took strong measures to increase its control over the economy. The War Production Board, established by Roosevelt by executive order, converted and expanded peacetime industries to meet war needs, allocated scarce materials vital to war production, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, and prohibited nonessential production. It rationed such things as gasoline, heating oil, metals, rubber, paper, and plastics.
The auto industry, which had been producing three million cars a year, was turned to war production; from early 1942 through the end of 1944 essentially no cars were produced in the United States. In addition to the ban on the production and sale of cars for private use, residential and highway construction was halted, and driving for pleasure was banned. Strategic goods—including tires, gasoline, fuel oil, and sugar—were rationed. Reducing private consumption of these goods freed up material resources that were vital to the war effort.
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
If you liked--or missed--the film, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, here's a trailer about the upcoming sequel: Earth Island: Cuba, Community and Climate Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD4Eof3nfPs
The Sustaining All Life delegation at the Paris climate talks, how they harnessed the power of listening and weren't afraid to look at the hard issues at the root of climate injustice. www.facebook.com/SustainingAllLife
A project initiated by George Lakey at Swarthmore College, that has gathered hundreds of stories of successful nonviolent action from around the world. http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu
And have I mentioned Pope Francis recently? I find him an ongoing source of hope.
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
An unexpected pleasure in November was taking advantage of the later sunrise and mild weather to get outside and greet the day, and get a more intimate sense of the varieties of early morning color and light. As we settle in, here in our part of the northern hemisphere, to await the shortest and darkest days of the year, i am reminded of all the different ways we have found to bring other kinds of light into the world.
In a holiday season that can be full of extra stress and expectation/disappointment, I wish you small joys of connection, perhaps in unexpected places.
Love,
Pamela
Fine and well
When I was growing up, everything was fine. That was the non-negotiable way of the world. I was fine. My family was fine. Life was fine. We were told that we were a big happy family and, with no hard evidence to disprove it—and much to support it—we accepted this worldview as truth.
Since I was fine and my life was fine, and my mother was very busy working to keep it that way, there seemed to be no place for complaints. So I never complained. I settled into the job of having a happy childhood, and more or less succeeded.
What a shock to discover as an adult that this wasn’t the whole story! My childhood hadn’t been as happy as I had been taught. It turned out that my father was harsh and judgmental, my mother was emotionally needy, and in a family that prized education I secretly (even to myself) hated school. All in all, it had been quite a chore to be the hard-working non-complaining responsible team member that my big happy family required.
It was a huge relief to realize that everything had NOT been fine. I took some time luxuriating in outrage at what I’d had to put up with, and the idea of complaining, while still seeming totally taboo, began to hold some attraction. Yet I was constrained by awareness of how relatively good my life had been. To increase my confusion, the life I was living in the present was markedly better than my childhood, and as my perspective on the world widened, my own little problems seemed more and more petty and insignificant. At the same time, I fought against being pushed back into that familiar position where the needs of the larger whole always and inevitably trumped mine.
Did I, or did I not, have a right to complain? I started experimenting: complain about this, complain about that. In a way it was a relief to be able to notice and say out loud that some things did not feel fine. But when I really got into it, I started to get confused about reality. Were my complaints real? Were they from the past or the present? Was I really not fine? I liked the possibility that there could be space in the world for my complaints, but did I want them to define my emotional state?
On the other hand, was the only alternative to be “fine”? I couldn’t buy that one either. Things had not been fine in my family, and they are certainly not fine in the world. The attempt to believe or pretend that they are requires walling off great pieces of reality and agreeing to a small and defended life. While I was born into relative comfort and have more than enough in the present, it’s not hard to notice that I’m in a minority. Our peoples and our planet are in great and growing distress, and I ignore that reality at peril to my soul.
In a real way, “fine” has no substance. Used as a response when people ask how you are, it’s clearly just code for “I’m choosing at this moment, for any number of reasons, not to complain.” It’s no more than an opaque brush-off.
I’m reaching for a response that captures more truth. Currently this is how it sounds. “I have a few complaints.” There is space in this world for me to experience life as I experience it, and things will not all be sunshine. “There is a lot to grieve and fear.” I am connected to the larger picture, and I would choose to engage with all that is not fine rather than turn away. And, finally, “I am well.” I have found my way to a life of connection, joy and meaning, even in the midst of great suffering, and will not be rocked from that place.
In my experience, being fine calls for a cover-up, as completely as possible, of all that is wrong, and a commitment to construct a life on top of that cover-up. Being well is the opposite—a commitment to connecting to the solid ground that lies underneath, and engaging with all that is wrong, and all that is right, from that place. I am happy to consign “fine” to the dustbin of history, and have great faith that “well” will see me forward.
Bathing in wood air
We all know that a walk in the woods refreshes--
great trees, bird calls and breezes
pungent scents of earth and pine.
Yet our senses fail to name the greater forces
here at work.
Mushroom threads—mycelia—
weave a network underground
sharing nutrients at the root
helping those great trees to thrive.
And all those trees give out
not just the oxygen
that we forget to thank them for
but other subtle essences
(named now by scientists, thus real)
that nourish us.
We are bathing in wood air
as they say in Japan
deep in the molecular life of the trees
breathing in the benefits of
living in an interspecies web.
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Economic conversion
As we look for precedents for transitioning an economy away from fossil fuels, there's an obvious on in our country's recent history. During the Second World War, the U.S. government took strong measures to increase its control over the economy. The War Production Board, established by Roosevelt by executive order, converted and expanded peacetime industries to meet war needs, allocated scarce materials vital to war production, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, and prohibited nonessential production. It rationed such things as gasoline, heating oil, metals, rubber, paper, and plastics.
The auto industry, which had been producing three million cars a year, was turned to war production; from early 1942 through the end of 1944 essentially no cars were produced in the United States. In addition to the ban on the production and sale of cars for private use, residential and highway construction was halted, and driving for pleasure was banned. Strategic goods—including tires, gasoline, fuel oil, and sugar—were rationed. Reducing private consumption of these goods freed up material resources that were vital to the war effort.
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
If you liked--or missed--the film, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, here's a trailer about the upcoming sequel: Earth Island: Cuba, Community and Climate Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD4Eof3nfPs
The Sustaining All Life delegation at the Paris climate talks, how they harnessed the power of listening and weren't afraid to look at the hard issues at the root of climate injustice. www.facebook.com/SustainingAllLife
A project initiated by George Lakey at Swarthmore College, that has gathered hundreds of stories of successful nonviolent action from around the world. http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu
And have I mentioned Pope Francis recently? I find him an ongoing source of hope.
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
#148 Risk management
Dear all,
The ripples from our trip to Africa continue to spread in my life and my mind, as can be seen in this month's post. I'll keep looking for more ways to share that experience.
An on-going joy at home is a near-by grandchild, who reminds us on a regular basis of the incredible buoyancy, keen observation and intelligence, flexibility and love of life that is our birthright. May we rejoice in it in others, and reclaim it more and more for ourselves!
Love,
Pamela
Risk management
As I was biking into a poorer neighborhood just west of mine to get to my local YMCA, I noticed how the number of bikers without helmets grew, and couldn’t help but think of my recent time in Africa, the tons of bike riders there, and the total non-existence of helmets. I think most of us would identify an arc of progress here: Africa in the rear, many in the US ahead of them, my helmet-conscious neighborhood in the vanguard.
There’s certainly logic in this line of reasoning. Historically, prosperity has created the conditions for risk mitigation, with generally good results. It’s great, for example, to ensure that water is safe to drink, require people to follow traffic laws, and encourage vaccination against deadly and contagious diseases.
As we extend beyond these overall public protections, however, there are some troubling trends. We seem to be focusing more and more on consumption of safety. In a society with great income inequality, such risk mitigation comes at a price that is often paid individually. The more affluent can drive the biggest and safest cars, consume the best health care, and buy protection from violence in gated communities. People with fewer resources have fewer options about the risks they are exposed to, from the environmental contaminants in their neighborhoods to the lack of spending money for “extras” like bike helmets.
We have identified many more things as risky than our parents or grandparents ever did, and prohibitions against individual behavior that is deemed risky are steadily growing. Yet, as we pour our resources and well-developed risk management capacity into a crusade to eliminate risk, the expense of additional protection yields less and less additional well-being. I would go farther, and suggest that we may have reached the point where our risk aversion is putting us in greater danger.
Childhood asthma, for example, has now been linked with the reduction in gut bacteria that comes with use of antibiotics in the first years of life. I have to wonder: are those parents who are trying hardest to protect their young children from bacterial infections actually putting them at greater risk? The early childhood education field struggles with a similar paradox. Regulations around sanitizing, that are getting increasingly stringent in an effort to create germ-free environments for our little ones, are creating their own unintentional hazards—both in the dangers of inhaling/ingesting the sanitizing agents, and in the decreased opportunities for children to acquire their own antibodies to fight off infection.
Shifting to look through the widest possible lens, by far the greatest risk we are facing as a species is the threat to life on earth that comes from global warming. From that perspective, our focus for risk mitigation is seriously misplaced. Those of us with the largest carbon footprint—driving cars, heating and cooling big houses, eating food that’s traveled thousands of miles, mindlessly consuming products that depend on scarce natural resources—are engaging in the most risky behavior of all. Riding without a bike helmet entails risk. Pursuing consumption and economic growth at the cost of the planet’s integrity, however, is risk of a whole different order.
I wonder if part of our obsession with fighting germs and pursuing bike safety is a manifestation of this paradox. In a world with enormous risks and dangers all around, we focus on the little ones that are at hand. While taking antibiotics and wearing bike helmets can’t protect us from climate change, at least it’s something that we as individuals can do to feel safer.
I’m not advocating that we stop taking basic safety precautions or that we intentionally put our loved ones in danger. But what if, whenever we spent time, attention, money or energy in order to feel safer ourselves, we committed to spending an equal amount of time, attention, money or energy to reduce the risk that our cumulative individual and societal decisions are bringing to others in distant places or future generations?
As I think about this whole issue, a couple of lessons stand out. First, it always helps to step back and take a look at the big picture. Second, when we think about risk management, it may be time to look beyond traditional technical, regulatory and product safety solutions—to mass movements for changed priorities, perhaps. Finally, a little humility may be in order. Those countries in Africa that have lots of helmet-less bike riders and few cars to hit them—that seem so backward to us—may be engaging in much less risky behavior overall than our own rich industrialized fossil-fueled hyper-risk-averse societies.
First light
First light, I learn
can give relief to those who struggle
with the darkness of the winter.
I choose first light of summer for the cool,
before it is a penance
not a joy
to work outside.
But I have marveled at
the beauty of the sky when day is new
and searched for words.
Soft? Delicate?
These only hint at what envelops me.
But now I know.
This light is new. Not settled yet
it fills the sky with possibility
and draws us in.
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Eliminating homelessness
In the past nine years, Utah has decreased the number of homeless by 72 percent—largely by finding and building apartments where they can live, permanently, with no strings attached.
Nationwide, the chronically homeless fill up the shelters night after night and spend a lot of time in emergency rooms and jails. This is expensive—costing up to $50,000 per person per year according to the Interagency Council on Homelessness.
Traditionally in social service sectors, homeless people are required to get a job, deal with substance abuse or treat mental health issues first before they can even be considered for housing. But in 2005, Utah adopted a policy called “Housing First” which calls for putting the homeless in housing before addressing the issues that caused their homelessness in the first place.
Nine years into the 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, officials estimates that Utah's Housing First program cost between $10,000 and $12,000 per person, about half of the $20,000 it cost them to treat and care for homeless people on the street.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/housing-first-solution-to-homelessness-utah
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
An 84 year old Chinese woman who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine for her discovery (in 1977) of the cure for malaria, based on a reference in a text from 400 A.D.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-34451386
Brazil’s pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions 37% by 2025 from 2005 levels, the first major developing country to pledge an absolute reduction.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/546bf2c0c20d4a99adf59cf5321b3dd2/brazil-pledges-cut-greenhouse-gas-emissions
The September win by California prisoners of an historic settlement ending long-term solitary confinement.
https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/ca-prisoners-win-historic-gains-with-settlement-against-solitary-confinement/
A summer ruling by the Hague District Court that the Dutch government must ensure that Dutch greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2020 be at least 25% lower than those in 1990—a precedent that could be used by courts in other countries.
http://www.calltothebar.org/court-orders-government-to-do-more-to-fight-climate-change/
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
The ripples from our trip to Africa continue to spread in my life and my mind, as can be seen in this month's post. I'll keep looking for more ways to share that experience.
An on-going joy at home is a near-by grandchild, who reminds us on a regular basis of the incredible buoyancy, keen observation and intelligence, flexibility and love of life that is our birthright. May we rejoice in it in others, and reclaim it more and more for ourselves!
Love,
Pamela
Risk management
As I was biking into a poorer neighborhood just west of mine to get to my local YMCA, I noticed how the number of bikers without helmets grew, and couldn’t help but think of my recent time in Africa, the tons of bike riders there, and the total non-existence of helmets. I think most of us would identify an arc of progress here: Africa in the rear, many in the US ahead of them, my helmet-conscious neighborhood in the vanguard.
There’s certainly logic in this line of reasoning. Historically, prosperity has created the conditions for risk mitigation, with generally good results. It’s great, for example, to ensure that water is safe to drink, require people to follow traffic laws, and encourage vaccination against deadly and contagious diseases.
As we extend beyond these overall public protections, however, there are some troubling trends. We seem to be focusing more and more on consumption of safety. In a society with great income inequality, such risk mitigation comes at a price that is often paid individually. The more affluent can drive the biggest and safest cars, consume the best health care, and buy protection from violence in gated communities. People with fewer resources have fewer options about the risks they are exposed to, from the environmental contaminants in their neighborhoods to the lack of spending money for “extras” like bike helmets.
We have identified many more things as risky than our parents or grandparents ever did, and prohibitions against individual behavior that is deemed risky are steadily growing. Yet, as we pour our resources and well-developed risk management capacity into a crusade to eliminate risk, the expense of additional protection yields less and less additional well-being. I would go farther, and suggest that we may have reached the point where our risk aversion is putting us in greater danger.
Childhood asthma, for example, has now been linked with the reduction in gut bacteria that comes with use of antibiotics in the first years of life. I have to wonder: are those parents who are trying hardest to protect their young children from bacterial infections actually putting them at greater risk? The early childhood education field struggles with a similar paradox. Regulations around sanitizing, that are getting increasingly stringent in an effort to create germ-free environments for our little ones, are creating their own unintentional hazards—both in the dangers of inhaling/ingesting the sanitizing agents, and in the decreased opportunities for children to acquire their own antibodies to fight off infection.
Shifting to look through the widest possible lens, by far the greatest risk we are facing as a species is the threat to life on earth that comes from global warming. From that perspective, our focus for risk mitigation is seriously misplaced. Those of us with the largest carbon footprint—driving cars, heating and cooling big houses, eating food that’s traveled thousands of miles, mindlessly consuming products that depend on scarce natural resources—are engaging in the most risky behavior of all. Riding without a bike helmet entails risk. Pursuing consumption and economic growth at the cost of the planet’s integrity, however, is risk of a whole different order.
I wonder if part of our obsession with fighting germs and pursuing bike safety is a manifestation of this paradox. In a world with enormous risks and dangers all around, we focus on the little ones that are at hand. While taking antibiotics and wearing bike helmets can’t protect us from climate change, at least it’s something that we as individuals can do to feel safer.
I’m not advocating that we stop taking basic safety precautions or that we intentionally put our loved ones in danger. But what if, whenever we spent time, attention, money or energy in order to feel safer ourselves, we committed to spending an equal amount of time, attention, money or energy to reduce the risk that our cumulative individual and societal decisions are bringing to others in distant places or future generations?
As I think about this whole issue, a couple of lessons stand out. First, it always helps to step back and take a look at the big picture. Second, when we think about risk management, it may be time to look beyond traditional technical, regulatory and product safety solutions—to mass movements for changed priorities, perhaps. Finally, a little humility may be in order. Those countries in Africa that have lots of helmet-less bike riders and few cars to hit them—that seem so backward to us—may be engaging in much less risky behavior overall than our own rich industrialized fossil-fueled hyper-risk-averse societies.
First light
First light, I learn
can give relief to those who struggle
with the darkness of the winter.
I choose first light of summer for the cool,
before it is a penance
not a joy
to work outside.
But I have marveled at
the beauty of the sky when day is new
and searched for words.
Soft? Delicate?
These only hint at what envelops me.
But now I know.
This light is new. Not settled yet
it fills the sky with possibility
and draws us in.
Imagine: A new economy is possible!
Eliminating homelessness
In the past nine years, Utah has decreased the number of homeless by 72 percent—largely by finding and building apartments where they can live, permanently, with no strings attached.
Nationwide, the chronically homeless fill up the shelters night after night and spend a lot of time in emergency rooms and jails. This is expensive—costing up to $50,000 per person per year according to the Interagency Council on Homelessness.
Traditionally in social service sectors, homeless people are required to get a job, deal with substance abuse or treat mental health issues first before they can even be considered for housing. But in 2005, Utah adopted a policy called “Housing First” which calls for putting the homeless in housing before addressing the issues that caused their homelessness in the first place.
Nine years into the 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, officials estimates that Utah's Housing First program cost between $10,000 and $12,000 per person, about half of the $20,000 it cost them to treat and care for homeless people on the street.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/housing-first-solution-to-homelessness-utah
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
An 84 year old Chinese woman who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine for her discovery (in 1977) of the cure for malaria, based on a reference in a text from 400 A.D.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-34451386
Brazil’s pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions 37% by 2025 from 2005 levels, the first major developing country to pledge an absolute reduction.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/546bf2c0c20d4a99adf59cf5321b3dd2/brazil-pledges-cut-greenhouse-gas-emissions
The September win by California prisoners of an historic settlement ending long-term solitary confinement.
https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/ca-prisoners-win-historic-gains-with-settlement-against-solitary-confinement/
A summer ruling by the Hague District Court that the Dutch government must ensure that Dutch greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2020 be at least 25% lower than those in 1990—a precedent that could be used by courts in other countries.
http://www.calltothebar.org/court-orders-government-to-do-more-to-fight-climate-change/
More resources
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
Recent 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: doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm (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.
www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.
For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com. I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
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