#228 Know my name

 Dear all,

It was a delight to get away for a week to the woods of northern Pennsylvania, and I share some of that experience in what follows. Now we’re enjoying the (somewhat) slower pace of summer at home. I love how my early walks and garden time get me out in the cool of hot days, and it’s good to have relaxed time with Chuck as he steadily recovers his strength.

I have a new book of poetry coming out later this summer: Encounters with the Sacred and the Profane. I’m working with a very small publishing house, and they’ve lent a hand to make sure it will be ready by my birthday! So if you’re interested, save the date, Friday evening, 8/19, and let me know if you’d like an invitation. And now, in my ongoing project of getting the word out, I’m on the lookout for folks who know about starting podcasts—and doing TikTok videos (any talented but bored teenagers in your midst?!)

It’s been a blessing to be out in the evenings, taking in the moon as she grows ever more full. The sense of wonder and anticipation never fades.

Love,
Pamela




Know my name

Looking back on my childhood, it is sobering to realize I had no confidence that any of my teachers until sixth grade knew my name. They probably did. They may even have used it at times. But my felt experience of moving through that space unseen was no less real. In contrast, I remember the two bus drivers from my elementary school days with enormous fondness and gratitude. They always had a smile for me and greeted me by name.

Now this memory could logically lead to a reflection on the important role any adult can play in the life of any child, by letting them know that they are seen. I do believe this to be true and potentially life changing. But, after spending a week in the mountains where the human population is low, my thoughts are with the birds and the trees.

Earlier in the summer, a mother bird had decided to build her nest on a quiet window ledge of a deserted cabin. We arrived to find it right outside the window above the kitchen sink. She immediately flew off in alarm, and we worried that we would cause the death of those two tiny babies, totally dependent on a mother who was now too terrified to come near them. Fortunately, with great care and respect on our parts and great courage and persistence on hers, we found a way to coexist. It was a privilege and a delight to have such close access to this new little family, and it was good to know their name: this was a family of robins.

I was grateful that it was a robin who had built that nest. But there are so many birds I don’t know—like the striking pair with the double black ring around their necks that we saw in a field on our way in, the very red one flying into a nearby tree, the tiny one with bright distinctive coloring hopping under a picnic table at the park. They sent me again and again to the bird book. I had some success—those distinctive double bands were clear identifiers of a killdeer—but mostly I was overwhelmed by the incredible diversity of bird life and all that I did not know. So many names to learn if I would interact respectfully as a neighbor and co-inhabitant of this place!

Last time, my attention was on the trees. Over the years I have come to know a small core of the trees in these woods: maple, beech, birch, black walnut, hemlock, pine. With the help of the tree book and a couple of more knowledgeable friends, I was very pleased to be able to add cherry and white ash to my circle of acquaintances. We found the cherries on a little excursion farther afield—great towering trees with rough dark reddish bark. The delicate cherry blossoms underneath, which helped confirm their name, seemed so incongruous in that setting. The ash, by contrast, is growing up among the maples right outside the cabin. Its leaves are similar to black walnut, but I can see now that it has a different look. Invisible to me before, this time I was able to greet it, if not as an old friend, at least by name.

Once you know someone’s name, you are in relationship—and a relationship is a powerful thing. I think again of how painful it was to me as a child to experience that lack of relationship at school, that feeling of invisibility. Our species has gained unprecedented power in the last couple of centuries over the other species on earth—the birds and the trees among so many more. Our actions can wipe them out with terrifying ease. There are no simple answers. But acknowledging the relationship, as that of valued and interconnected neighbors, has to be part of the way forward. And this means calling them by name.





Swimming hole

This swimming hole is a jewel
a product of the Depression
(Give those young men a job).
It lies in the bend of a river,
ancient plateau cut by moving water
over millions of years
to form this gorge.

Amid steeply rising hemlock forests,
the river makes its way
among the rocks—and here
in the middle of the park,
a place to swim.

The whole park is a jewel
in this rural county
where lumber once was king
staunchly conservative
working folk eke out a living
while the new fracking barons
seduce and despoil…

But this park has no politics.
We have all come with loved ones
here to swim—and so we gather
stripped down, undefended, intimate
held in the arm of the river
watched over by great hemlocks
reaching ever upward for the sky.

 



Imagine: A new economy is possible!
City land trusts protect affordable housing

As housing prices skyrocket in neighborhoods across the country, some state lawmakers and local officials are turning to a decades-old model for keeping homes affordable: community land trusts. These are mostly nonprofit organizations that operate within a specific neighborhood facing development pressure. They acquire and own land while selling homes that sit on the property or leasing apartments and commercial space. The trusts’ permanent ownership prevents the land from being scooped up by developers and converted to high-dollar housing.
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/05/25/cities-back-community-land-trusts-to-protect-affordable-housing?mc_cid=b70c6a034b&mc_eid=b2f3d85ae2

In one example, the Community Justice Land Trust in Philadelphia promotes equitable development through community ownership with projects in three low-income neighborhoods, for a total of over a hundred rent-to-own townhomes. The intention is to ensure permanent affordability and permanent community control by retaining ownership of the land and having decisions driven by the community. Operated by the Women’s Community Revitalization Project, the CJLT remains accountable to the local community through an advisory committee of residents and other stakeholders to guide it in a direction that puts the community first.
https://www.wcrpphila.org/cjlt 

 



Some things that have made me hopeful recently 

A progressive Democrat running for the US Senate from Pennsylvania with strong rural and working class appeal.
https://www.mironline.ca/democrats-revisited-the-rust-belt-the-working-class-and-john-fetterman/

The European Union’s recent Digital Services Act agreement that increases regulation of Big Tech platforms in their accountability around advocacy of hatred and spread of disinformation.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/european-union-digital-services-act-agreement-a-watershed-moment-for-internet-regulation/

The effective cancellation of major coal-fired power plant projects in Indonesia and Bangladesh after the Japanese government announced it would stop providing critical loans for such projects.
https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/planned-coal-plants-fizzle-as-japan-ends-financing-in-indonesia-bangladesh/

A new study documenting the presence of large groups of southern fin whales in ancient feeding grounds in Antarctica for the first time since their hunting was restricted in 1976. 
https://www.earth.com/news/fin-whales-are-finally-rebounding-in-the-antarctic/





Resources

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

https://bookshop.org/books/alive-in-this-world/9789768273260

That Clear and Certain Sound; Finding Solid Ground in Perilous Times
A book of essays from this blog.

https://bookshop.org/books/quaker-quicks-that-clear-and-certain-sound-finding-solid-ground-in-perilous-times/9781789047653

Get Down to the Rock; Addressing the Economic Roots of the Climate Emergency

https://www.friendsjournal.org/get-down-to-the-rock/

Public Banking Has the Potential to Truly Revolutionize Our Economy
An article on my experience with the public banking movement as revolutionary reform.
https://truthout.org/articles/public-banking-has-the-potential-to-truly-revolutionize-our-economy/

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

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

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

Money and Soul; Quaker Faith and Practice and the Economy
If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small. 

https://bookshop.org/books/quaker-quicks-money-and-soul-quaker-faith-and-practice-and-the-economy/9781789040890

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

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance; Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.

https://bookshop.org/books/toward-a-right-relationship-with-finance-debt-interest-growth-and-security/9789768142887

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

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


More resources

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

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

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
 

Pamela Haines
215-349-9428 (h)
267-467-3263 (c)
919 S. Farragut St., 
Philadelphia, PA. 19143

Money & Soul; Faith and Practice and the Economy

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

Alive in This World—a poetry collection 

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work; you don't give up.
-Anne Lamott

pamelahaines.carrd.co

www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com

#227 Blank slate

 

Dear all,

I’ve been treasuring some stunningly beautiful late spring days, even as we brace for the heat that is on the way. I’m loving my growing garden and ripening fruit, gathering stories from valiant childcare workers for our newsletter, making new friends, feeling well-used in a variety of other ways. Overall, I’m blessed to be moving through days rich with diversity, meaning and connection, finding a balance between the horrors in the news and so much everyday goodness.

As I clarify a goal of expanding my reach as a trusted source of information and perspective I look to you, in my inner ring, for help. (My my age-old habits of going it alone and trying to stay under the radar are just not serving me well here!) I’m hopeful that you may have resources or ideas to offer—people to invite to this column, places to share my writing/thinking, ways to enhance my author FB page, other electronic sharing tools with potential, promising conversation sites. Please take a moment to think if there’s anything you might have to offer. Thank you.

And I share the joy of a full moon whose beauty and steadiness are beyond words.

Love,

Pamela

 





Blank slate

I’ve been struggling with my approach to the little plot I tend in our community garden. I love it dearly, but worry that it sucks up too much of my time, and that I could be getting a better harvest with less effort if I made better choices or were somehow more efficient. It has more weeds than many of the neighboring plots. Why do I cling to tenaciously to an approach that can be faulted on all fronts? Part of it, of course, is that always having more that could be done in the garden provides a great excuse for taking a break from “important” work, and a pleasurable context for being outdoors. If I suppressed weeds with the latest products and organized my plants into orderly and well-spaced rows, there would be less reason to hang out.

But as I’ve lingered in the garden this early spring, I’ve come to see that it’s more than that. It’s about relationships. I move larkspur, that would take over my whole little plot but has such beautiful flowers, out to the big front flower bed where they can be enjoyed by passersby. I dig up a trowel full of tiny kale plants—from last year’s kale gone to seed—and transplant them to give away to other gardeners. I carefully move little raspberries that are intruding on the area where I want to plant sweet potatoes, finding a place for them back among the other raspberries. I dig an invasive weed out from among the little lettuces that have grown from seeds I had saved last summer and scattered in open spots in February. I dig up ever-spreading black-eyed Susans to pot and give to a group that plants community orchards, complete with native pollinator flowers, across the city.

I love the role I get to play in this rich circle of life. It’s true, I do have some agency. I do want my tomatoes (grown from last year’s seed) to produce. I do want the pleasure of eating all those other tasty veggies. I do pull weeds. But even so, I want to do my part in a vibrant living community that serves all its members. 

There may be people who don’t have this luxury in how they grow their food—folks in the community garden whose lives are so stretched that they have only snatches of time for the garden, or small organic farmers who are tending too much land to pay attention to every square foot. But I think the motivation is sound. And as I think about it, this messy relational frame can be applied in other contexts.

Take children, for example. While treating them as the proverbial blank slate has gone out of favor in many circles, setting aside an overall habit of control and entering into their lives with open-ended, relationship-based curiosity is far from the norm.

Where else has our vision been distorted by assumptions around control and blank slates? I think of settlers coming to this continent, seeing a vast wilderness to tame—missing the productive and flourishing indigenous economies that were right before their eyes. I think of those who have engaged in “urban renewal”, razing whole communities to create a fresh palate on which to build their great dreams. I think of the fossil fuel industry which has no use for living ecosystems, but inconvenient parts of the land as obstacles to be flattened and overcome in pursuit of profit. The underlying perspective is that “There’s nothing here of value—nothing to compare with what I can create!” A master’s vision is centered as more productive and fitting.

The alternative of finding one’s place in a living system does sacrifice some efficiency and order—and at times there may be compelling reasons to assume mastering over another life form or community in search of a higher good. But if we can’t see the value of the life that is already there, we may find ourselves creating a monster whose impact over time will come back to haunt us. Valuing relationships, and observing life closely with great curiosity and respect, seem like more trustworthy guides as we chart our way into a future that is always unknown.

 

Bags

Almost out the door
put one more bag in my pocket
just in case
find another on the street
before I reach the park.

Fill one with the trash
that’s overflowing by the can—
the volunteers are strapped, I know.

Approaching where I clean each day
a man is struggling
with a scooter and torn paper bag
items falling out—
I have the means to help.
The good wishes we exchange—
heartfelt.

I try to pick this trash—my trash
without a bag,
find that I can, head home
a spare in my pocket,
warmth in my heart.





Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!
Basic income in Brazil

The seaside city of Maricá in Brazil (population 160,000, is by no means affluent, but compared with other similar cities it has a visibly higher quality of life. One reason is the basic income program initiated by its mayor nine years ago, inspired by his lifelong dream of an egalitarian society.

Low-income residents of Maricá who have lived in the city for at least three years and have signed up for the program currently receive a local social currency of 170 mumbucas a month, roughly comparable to the poverty rate. Accounts in this alternative currency are held by Banco Mumbuca, a city-owned bank. The money can be accessed in the form of a card and managed through the bank’s mobile phone app. The mumbuca is accepted within the city at approximately 3,000 establishments, such as hairdressers, grocers, and pharmacies.

The Maricá local government decided to open the bank to distribute money from royalties from oil sales found in the Santos Basin along the Maricá coastline in 2010, starting with residents living in extreme poverty. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Maricá boosted its payments to help reduce the harmful effects of the pandemic on its citizens. At the end of 2021, the bank had 65,367 active accounts, and 2 billion mumbucas circulated in Maricá from 2018 through September 2021. In the past year, other cities within the state have been inspired to create their own community currencies based on the success of this model. 

https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2022/05/26/basic-income-brazil?

 
 

Some things that have made me hopeful recently

An Indian court’s ruling that nature has legal status on par with humans, that humans are required to protect it, and government has power to act as a guardian for those who cannot care for themselves.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04052022/india-rights-of-nature/

The landmark collective bargaining agreement for the United States Women’s National Team that creates a blueprint for equity across global sports organizations.
https://inequality.org/great-divide/equal-pay-victory-soccer/

How workers in historically unorganized occupations are forming unions—and breathing new life into the U.S. labor movement.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/new-labor-movement-amazon-starbucks-union

An update on international appliance safety standards that allows the use of more climate friendly refrigerants in air conditioners and heat pumps which could pull hydrofluorocarbons—global warming agents far more potent than carbon dioxide.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22052022/climate-refrigerants-air-conditioning-heat-pumps/





Resources

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

https://bookshop.org/books/alive-in-this-world/9789768273260

That Clear and Certain Sound; Finding Solid Ground in Perilous Times
A book of essays from this blog.

https://bookshop.org/books/quaker-quicks-that-clear-and-certain-sound-finding-solid-ground-in-perilous-times/9781789047653

Get Down to the Rock; Addressing the Economic Roots of the Climate Emergency

https://www.friendsjournal.org/get-down-to-the-rock/

Public Banking Has the Potential to Truly Revolutionize Our Economy
An article on my experience with the public banking movement as revolutionary reform.
https://truthout.org/articles/public-banking-has-the-potential-to-truly-revolutionize-our-economy/

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

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

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

Money and Soul; Quaker Faith and Practice and the Economy
If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small. 

https://bookshop.org/books/quaker-quicks-money-and-soul-quaker-faith-and-practice-and-the-economy/9781789040890

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

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance; Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.

https://bookshop.org/books/toward-a-right-relationship-with-finance-debt-interest-growth-and-security/9789768142887

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

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


More resources

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

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

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
 

#226 Pruning

 

Dear all,

With a recent scan giving Chuck a clean bill of health (yay!), the new challenge is how to not overfill my life going forward. There are so many attractive options! I’ve been doing some speaking and workshops—thanks to the wonder of Zoom—trying to build people’s capacity as actors in a challenging world; tending to abundant life in the garden (planting, harvesting, weeding, transplanting); puzzling over the knotty questions of promoting my writing (and getting help!); loving friends and family; doing my share in ongoing roles; trying to be responsive to new opportunities and urgent needs, while letting so many others go by.

It seems that we are going to miss seeing our moon full and in eclipse this evening because of cloud cover. It will be a loss, but I’m still glad to know that she’s there.

Love,

Pamela

Pruning

Scanning my experience of pruning, I notice that most of it has left a bad taste in my mouth. As a young adult I hung out for several years around a community of apple-pickers. One group had learned an extreme pruning technique, whose focus on increased production and easy access left the trees so ugly that it hurt the eye to look. I always wondered if it could really be worth it. Moving to a city whose streets were lined with beautiful old sycamores, it hurt my heart to see them chopped and disfigured in service to the power lines. Later, the lovely linden in front of our house was cut so brutally to fit below the wires that it couldn’t recover and died a slow death. Then there are all the smaller losses, like forsythia whose branches are meant to arch and flow being shaped into sharp-edged boxes. Surrounding and permeating these experiences is the smell of hard, unloving hubris and domination.

It was a revelation, and balm to the soul, to participate in a fruit-tree pruning workshop several years ago where the leader so clearly loved the trees. He invited us to see our goals as helping the sun to kiss the fruit and inviting children to climb. I took everything I learned there to the little orchard we are creating in the front of our community garden. Looking at the peach tree that I had planted as a little sapling and has now been bearing abundant and delicious fruit year after year, I knew this was a sacred task. How could we cut in such a way that the sun would have easy access, people could reach to pick, and the tree’s integrity would be preserved? Each cut was an exercise in loving discernment, with the intention of cutting back for the purpose of creating more.

This metaphor of pruning is a powerful one for human beings as well. If we tend toward accumulation, our lives can become so overgrown with possessions or obligations that the light is obscured and parts of our natural inheritance of meaning and joy have grown out of reach. In such situations we may need to take on the discipline of pruning. What clutters our way and keep the sun from being able to kiss the fruits we most value? What could we cut out in the service of having more? How do we remove that which obscures our fruits and our true shape, reaching through the pain of loss to become more fully ourselves?

If we tend toward spareness, on the other hand, we may find ourselves cutting out life-giving branches, or pruning with a vengeance in single-minded pursuit of a personal ambition or a noble cause. Ruthlessly cutting out everything that gets in the way, we may find ourselves disfigured in the process. In other contexts, we may succumb to fear, and shape ourselves to what others will think is attractive or acceptable, sacrificing our natural arch and flow to square edged conformity.

Then there is the question of pruning others. This is a sacred responsibility, not something to be taken on lightly. Yet much pruning is done heedlessly, as we use our power to shape the environment around us to suit ourselves. In our yards and gardens, perhaps we should offer an explanation or an apology with each cut. It is easy, as well, to prune people who have less power in our midst—children and others over whom we exert authority. Some can bounce back, or conform without changing their essential nature, but cutting off branches that are essential to their well-being—leaving a lasting impact on their shape—is a serious thing. As those who would be pruned by others, we all have a right to stand against forces that would disfigure or diminish us.

At its heart, good pruning calls for close observation of the true nature of a person (or tree), growing out of great love and commitment to their unique shape and sacred wholeness, only in pursuit of more light, sweeter fruits.

 

 

What exercise?

Early in the morning
amidst dog walkers and runners
I feel naked, incomplete.
What am I giving exercise

on this walk?

I realize that it is my mind, my heart—
waking it up
getting it moving
opening it to the possibilities
of a new day.

I have to believe
that this exercise,
without apparent goal,
is worth the time.





Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!
Public Banking

A growing awareness of the potential benefits of public banking has sparked grassroots movements across the country in recent years. In 2021, eighteen public banking bills were introduced at state, municipal, and federal levels. Bills were introduced in Massachusetts, New Mexico, Hawaii, New York, Oregon, and Washington; at the municipal level in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco; and at the federal level in the House of Representatives.

The Public Banking Institute serves as the hub for public banking information, expertise, and resources, supporting advocates in their outreach work. With calls for a global “reset” mounting, PBI is working to facilitate the transformation of our society into one that is truly in the hands of the people. Critical to that transformation is a transparent national public banking system with a mandate to provide access to affordable credit to local governments, small businesses, and residents.

https://publicbankinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PBI_Annual_Report_2021_final_WEB.pdf

 

 

Some things that have made me hopeful recently:

A Brazilian federal court that has upheld the suspension of an environmental license for what would be the largest open-pit gold mine in the nation’s Amazon rainforest, dealing a blow to the Canada-based company behind the project.
https://apnews.com/article/business-environment-forests-brazil-belo-sun-mining-corp-132865d50e57bb5c50b4a0b7e9d2c80e?emci=dc3eaa77-d9c7-ec11-997e-281878b83d8a&emdi=c5e5a1c0-e4c7-ec11-997e-281878b83d8a&ceid=4288612

A foundation in California that is building into its finances a land tax to the indigenous people on whose original territory it operates.
https://medium.com/justice-funders/from-learning-to-action-a-foundations-journey-to-paying-shuumi-land-tax-f78f738c3880

The government of Quebec’s recent explicit ban on oil and gas development in its territory after decades of campaigning by environmental organizations and citizen groups—a first in the world.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/04/14/news/citizens-officially-win-fight-ban-oil-and-gas-development-quebec

An interactive map developed by the Melbourne Urban Forest that provides an email address for each tree, and all the love letters that have been received in response.
http://melbourneurbanforestvisual.com.au/





Resources

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

https://bookshop.org/books/alive-in-this-world/9789768273260

That Clear and Certain Sound; Finding Solid Ground in Perilous Times
A book of essays from this blog.

https://bookshop.org/books/quaker-quicks-that-clear-and-certain-sound-finding-solid-ground-in-perilous-times/9781789047653

Public Banking Has the Potential to Truly Revolutionize Our Economy
An article on my experience with the public banking movement as revolutionary reform.
https://truthout.org/articles/public-banking-has-the-potential-to-truly-revolutionize-our-economy/

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

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

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

Money and Soul; Quaker Faith and Practice and the Economy
If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small. 

https://bookshop.org/books/quaker-quicks-money-and-soul-quaker-faith-and-practice-and-the-economy/9781789040890

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

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance; Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.

https://bookshop.org/books/toward-a-right-relationship-with-finance-debt-interest-growth-and-security/9789768142887

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

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


More resources

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

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

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
 

#225 Alignment

 Dear all, 

I think of three threads from the past month: The first is an uneasy relationship with a “return to normal”. Chuck is steadily getting better, but do we want to go back to all our habits that were broken by his fight with cancer? COVID has eased and opportunities seem to be opening up, but it seems unlikely that the old normal is around the corner.

Then there is spring, which is pure delight (I could go on and on…). And finally, I’ve been aware of the joys of my work in early childhood—building vision and community in a leadership and advocacy fellowship, being part of heartfelt appreciation at an awards ceremony, co-creating stories for our newsletter that give voice to people who are often unseen. I’m noticing my deep engagement in relationships which are foundational to everything.

I could use some help in promoting my writing. If you have ideas about event venues, interview opportunities or effective ways to use social media, or if you’d like to be part of a support/accountability team, please let me know!

And I am taking in the full moon and looking forward to witnessing the sun rise tomorrow morning.

Love,
Pamela




Alignment

With the invasion of Ukraine, a dedicated and powerful climate activist was trying to get her mind around war. Engaging in her own crash course on the military industrial complex and leverage points for change, she was exhorting her considerable following to do the same. To be anything less than powerfully in motion here, she suggested, was to abdicate our inherent power. I couldn’t disagree, but the thought of it just made me tired.

How much force can one person exert against counterforces that are so much bigger? Reaching for a perspective beyond guilt-infused exhaustion, a series of sailing adventure books from my childhood came to mind. Following these children on the water, we learned a lot about the wind. You go fastest, of course, when it’s at your back. But you can still make progress against a headwind. You just can’t do it head on. You have to go at a diagonal, tacking first to the left then to the right, adjusting your sails to harness the power of the wind. This image has its own power, suggesting the potential of alignment with forces that are larger than ourselves.

As I work with this idea, fruitful possibilities begin to emerge. First is an offering from Frederick Buechner: “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.” You don’t sacrifice yourself for the sake of a noble cause. Rather, you find the point of intersection where you flourish as you make a contribution to a larger whole.

I think of my longing to put my skills to their best use in the climate movement, and how I found a place offering individual attention to a handful of dedicated young climate activists. I think of the imperative of relating to indigenous rights, and finding my way into a mutually life-giving relationship with a Haudenosaunee community.

I think of my recent struggle to stand with water defenders against pipelines. Putting my body on the line a thousand miles away in the midst of COVID seemed like facing too strong a headwind. Writing a letter to the president seemed so insignificant as to be pointless, but perhaps a letter a day, along with an invitation to others to do the same, would be better than nothing. The practice on my morning walk of reaching for three or four sentences that connect me with native people, one good man and my love for the earth has been unexpectedly grounding. And who knows? That steady drip of loving call to right relationship might even have an impact.

If we’re facing strong headwinds, we need a good and life-supporting boat. I think of my local public banking coalition, and all the ways that group is nourished—by growing friendships, by drawing on and openly celebrating a variety of strengths, by our resident poet’s offering at the start of each meeting. As we navigate the choppy waters and gusty winds of local politics and rigid bureaucracies, the sturdiness of our vessel is no small part of the story.

Speaking of joy, my mind goes to a scrappy group of Quaker-related climate activists who set their sights on our local electric utility and the imperative to transition to renewable sources. One of their actions involved blocking doorways, and they decided to do it with a dance party. So they turned up the music and invited everyone to join in the electric slide.

There are other ways of aligning. Align with the earth, paying enough attention to the turning of the days and the seasons that we are in tune, drawing nourishment and strength, rather than opposing its forces. Align with physics. It’s amazing the size of a rock that can be moved by a strategically placed lever. And we can stay open to the unexpected. Sometimes a fresh breeze might catch us and draw us along, even though that hadn’t been part of our plan.

There may be occasions for just putting our heads into the wind, drawing on all our resources of sheer determination and pushing toward a goal. At times stubborn opposition may be all that we have available to us. But constant straining against overwhelming odds drains both energy and joy—and it’s hard to invite others in.

I can’t mobilize all my strength against every new injustice. But I can decide to look, grab a hand, consider what is mine to love, and seek ways to align with greater forces that are already at work around me. I can find my place in the arc of the universe that bends toward justice. As we practice this alignment, stepping out from under the oppressive weight of obligation and joining with the great creative spirit that is alive in this world, I wonder if this might be the way we get to be our biggest selves.




Oasis

I’ve picked this little triangle
between park and gas station
clean of winter’s trash,
refresh it every morning now.

As I rest in the beauty
I wonder about others
passing by.
Do they notice
what is no longer
there to be seen?

Or is it just a little less 

grit in the shoe,
sand in the eye?




Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!
Guaranteed income

A universal basic income has been discussed for many years, as the simplest way to address financial need. Experiments in more targeted programs that guarantee income have been tried out in a variety of places over the years, and are becoming more widespread.

A prominent example is the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, which put $500 a month into the hands of 125 low-income residents of Stockton, California, for 24 months. Data gathered from the SEED project found that the cash significantly helped recipients stabilize their finances, acquire jobs, and improve their mental health, compared with a control group. Two more recent ones in New York City and Atlanta are showing how modest monthly cash payments to low-income women of color can make a huge difference in alleviating race and gender-based economic inequities.

https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2022/02/11/guaranteed-income-projects-economy-more-equitable?

 

Some things that have made me hopeful recently:

Successful union efforts at both Starbucks and Amazon that are shaking up power relationships in the far-reaching food service and warehousing industries.
https://www.vox.com/recode/23005336/amazon-union-new-york-warehouse?
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/seattle-starbucks-workers-vote-to-unionize-hoping-to-send-a-signal-of-change-to-the-food-service-industry/

The collaboration of Finnish Indigenous knowledge holders and scientists to rewild and protect peatlands, revitalizing local ecosystems and economies while expanding carbon sinks again.
https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/traditional-knowledge-guides-protection-of-planetary-health-in-finland/

Examples of indigenous tribes regaining control of ancestral lands—in Virginia and California—with the potential in California of safeguarding old-growth forests and endangered species.
https://nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/after-350-years-the-rappahannock-tribe-gets-land-back
https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/california-redwood-forest-indigenous-guardianship‍

Denver’s program to dispatch mental health teams instead of police, that is so successful that it is expanding five-fold.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/denver-star-program-expands-in-2022/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_medium=weekly_mailout&utm_source=23-03-2022

Resources

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

https://bookshop.org/books/alive-in-this-world/9789768273260

That Clear and Certain Sound; Finding Solid Ground in Perilous Times
A book of essays from this blog.

https://bookshop.org/books/quaker-quicks-that-clear-and-certain-sound-finding-solid-ground-in-perilous-times/9781789047653

Public Banking Has the Potential to Truly Revolutionize Our Economy
An article on my experience with the public banking movement as revolutionary reform.
https://truthout.org/articles/public-banking-has-the-potential-to-truly-revolutionize-our-economy/

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

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

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

Money and Soul; Quaker Faith and Practice and the Economy
If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small. 

https://bookshop.org/books/quaker-quicks-money-and-soul-quaker-faith-and-practice-and-the-economy/9781789040890

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

Toward a Right Relationship with Finance; Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.

https://bookshop.org/books/toward-a-right-relationship-with-finance-debt-interest-growth-and-security/9789768142887

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

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


More resources

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

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

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