Pensamiento Sistémico para la Sostenibilidad Más allá de cultivar un huerto orgánico

The question posed to the Occupy movement is, “What are your demands?” Terrorists make demands and since Occupy is not a movement of terrorists, why dignify the inane question by a response that would allow the media and the cynical to pigeonhole the movement? Ya, it should be self-evident that people are hungry to experience life unconstrained by, dependent upon, and unmediated by power structures that deify greed while gorging on our lives, not just upon the blood of an underclass that ekes by but on the elites themselves who are just as surely drained soullessly dry by exploiting others.

The Occupy movement doesn’t have the numbers to singlehandedly create a new, uncorrupted system ex nihilo on its own steam. However, if the movement leverages the support of the American public that supports it, turning their attention towards the question, “What do we create next?", Occupy could create an experiential manifestation of a grounded, integrated vision that is practical, elegant and life-affirming. (More on that subject in a subsequent post.)

Populist and progressive movements have had a self-defeating proclivity to oppose institutional and structural injustice on principle without presenting a substantive alternative that is functional in the real world. It’s not that I can’t sympathize with the seething frustration, resentment, disillusionment, and outrage. After a point though, one has to stop standing against everything and to find something one is willing to proudly stand para without selling out the vision. Then it’s time to walk the talk. Manifestation of a vision that large is a long haul effort, so expectations of instant gratification will weed out the flaky and the uncommitted until these folks are willing to stop complaining and to grow backbones.

Many of the folks within the Occupy movement have deep resentment towards the institutions that represent corruption but the double bind is that the Occupy movement hasn’t yet created alternative structures that people sympathetic to the movement trust will also be free of graft and corruption. There are standing offers to make donations to Occupy, yet no way to receive those donations. While it could be successfully argued that there hasn’t been a nonprofit that wasn’t corrupted eventually, if the Occupy movement wants to get something done as a matter of practicality, it has no choice but work creatively with the tools of extant institutional structures before it can fundamentally redefine and retool how alternative structures could work. It’s the principle of being the change one wants to see in the world (while not losing your sense of humor).

Like it or not, we all carry the unconscious seeds of the abusive system we’re the products of and without conscious, deep excavation of those tendencies, system replication is almost guaranteed if for no other reason than the unavoidable polarities of being incarnate in a realm of dualities. The embedded cosmic joke is the tendency to become what we oppose. We have a great deal of painful, soul-searching introspection to engage in about the paradigms we bring with us. I will risk drawing progressive activists’ anger, negativity, and criticism because if nothing else, the presence of controversy will hopefully distill into clarity the need to examine the roots of any anger provoked. If I provoke discomfort and anger, it’s because there’s a collective psychic or emotional wound that I have touched.

Por ejemplo, as a microcosmic fractal of the truth that what is in one is in the whole and that what is in the whole is in the one, Occupy has its share of overbloated egos. In L.A., the “leaders” are easy to identify since their fishbowl niche is monopolizing space in front of cameras and microphones speaking on behalf of the whole. The humorous irony lies in the presence of self-appointed leaders in what is supposed to be a leaderless movement. Meanwhile, the self-serving media would love nothing better than a feeding frenzy on the chum of negative stories about Occupy L.A.. The hunger is palpable since most within the camp don’t like those within the media tents. KPFK barely arrived and started broadcasting from the site when was voted off by the general assembly. It was a puzzling decision tactically since KPFK is a sympathetic ally with which Occupy could have cultivated a positive relationship. Goodness knows that Occupy won’t find mainstream media allies. Could you see Fox portraying Occupy in a positive light? Neither can I.

Economic and ecological sustainability integrated seamlessly with inter/intra generational social justice can’t be pasted over our dysfunctional global society like a veneer. We can’t expect that superficial approach to work because the fundamental dysfunctional power dynamics are still in place. Intensive shadow excavation and healing work through brutal self-honesty needs to take place in both the internal and external realms. The absence of any substantive internal work to change consciousness in tandem with attempting to change the external world is one of the major weaknesses of the permaculture, Peak Oil, Occupy, and Transition Town* movements and it’s a reason why many progressive organizations and movements have flailed and are flailing in their efforts to bring about systemic change. Are my standards high? Sí, but so are the stakes, which are unprecedented in global history.

*Note: The Transition Town model includes the formation of Heart and Soul committees but I don’t know if many of these subgroups have facilitators that are skilled enough to navigate the deep, sometimes rough, waters of the psyche and collective unconscious, let alone the prowess to help people own motivations that they don’t discuss proudly. Until we own our shadows, our shadows own us. That work is process, not product oriented, so there is no definable terminus.

Among all of the world’s major spiritual traditions, there are precepts for the personal management of Divine power, our lifeforce, that also enhance physical health and emotional well-bein. Violations of those precepts end up costing us spiritually as well as biologically. These precepts are: 1) Live in the present moment, 2) Seek only the truth, 3) Surrender personal will to Divine will, 4) Love is Divine Power, 5) Honor oneself, 6) Honor the whole of life, y 7) All is one. These precepts correspond to the seven chakras of the Vedic scriptures, the seven Christian sacraments, and the Tree of Life of the Kabbalistic tradition. (reference: Caroline Myss)

All is one is apparently one of the truths that sounds fabulous in theory but is hard to live by in practice. Anything that divides unity or violates the sanctity of the whole, such as racism, homophobia, classism, or sexism, is a violation the precept and hence, Divine law. Social, economic and ecological justice are inextricably linked. Abuse and concatenated energetic/spiritual violations are not permissible behaviors that we should turn a blind eye to and deny because what is in the one is in the whole and what is in the whole is in the one. The enemy isn’t “out there”. It never was. The human heart is the portal for both good and evil in the world; intention and choice mediate what we manifest through our creativity.

We live in a global culture that is highly tolerant of abuse in all its myriad forms. Although physical abuse is horrifying in its senselessness, it is a malignant outgrowth of the more prevalent, but hidden, verbal, energetic, emocional, and psychological forms of abuse, which are often more damaging because the process of non-physical abuse destroys the abused person (or animal, social class, nación, ecosystem, etc.) from the inside out. Contrary to popular myth, most abusers do not inflict harm because of mental illness or because they too were victims of abuse. Abusers abuse because they can and because no one holds them accountable for their predatory behavior; the motivations, rooted in self-serving values and attitudes of entitlement, lie in needs for power, domination, and control through their impositions on others rather than the cultivation of authentic power from within. Abuse breaches the surface of public consciousness when it surfaces in a salacious story about incest, pornography, sexual slavery or culmination in murder. This kind of violence will not subside unless and until abuse is no longer tolerated socially or interpersonally. Most abusers feel utterly entitled to behaving as they do and merely cracking down with more punitive laws or extensive punishments on the tiny fraction who are caught in the legal system will not stem the tide abuse victims. The vast majority of abusers are never caught, let alone prosecuted; they simply move on to new victims.

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Rather than use hyperbole for literary effect that would lead you to believe that I’m prone to fabrication, I’m letting the story that the e-mail tells exemplify more social patterns in the extreme to make them obvious.

A few years ago, I volunteered as a consulting garden/landscape professional for the first “Gardens of Gratitude” in Los Angeles. I’d be tempted to rechristen the project-driven event if it wouldn’t be dishonoring the spirit of abundance and sharing that Devin Slavin (a classmate in Ecological Agriculture program at New College of California 1n 2005) wanted the idea of “Gardens of Gratitude” to embody. The intention behind making materials and expertise low and no-cost was to make edible sustainable gardens accessible to low-income folks, not to subsidize the acquisitive greed of the haves (who in all likelihood could afford the materials and services when they wanted to pay for them) at the expense of neglecting the have-nots in areas such as East Santa Monica, Westlake, MacArthur Park, Southcentral, Watts, or Pacoima. The opposite of gratitude isn’t ingratitude, it’s entitlement.

Entitlement is one pervasive manifestation of America’s shadow and it is what St. Teresa of Avila called a “reptile in the soul” according to Caroline Myss. Until you own your shadow aspects, they own you.

From:

To: (e-mail addresses deleted)

Date: Sun, May 3, 2009 1:30:43 PM

Cc: (e-mail addresses deleted)

Subject: Re: Gardens of Gratitude – Thanks for signing up

Greetings Sean & All:

Thank you for welcoming us into the event. Just to let you know, our knowledge is minimal (book-learned permaculture curiosity), and being a corner lot, our blank palette is large and L-shaped. For that day, we’ve segmented off one 12×20 full-sun rectangular section of the yard to work with, and have been doing some sketches.

Our goal is to do this without spending much at all.

Uh-oh. That last sentence was a red flag.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing when culled from a book without any grounding in experience but anchored to high expectations. The only way that this family could visually achieve the upscale “architectural” results that they strove for would be on the back(con) of whoever was generous and/or foolish enough to subsidize their enterprise. Translated, the first and second paragraphs meant: “We have high expectations shaped by ideas cherry picked from books sans application contexts and we’re hoping to siphon off good quality freebies from whomever and wherever we can get them.”

We’ve acquired some piles of free dirt (about 6 pick-up loads) that my husband has dutifully sifted. We also found some medium-sized rocks to help with berms, since our vision is to create one natural-looking elevated wall to hold in the height, with the elevation sloping down to the sidewalk and some DG pathways.

Hmmm….let’s get this straight. You want a sculpted wall and decomposed granite pathways and you want materials and labor for these features for free? There’s charity and generosity on the one hand, and then there’s milking an event for everything it is worth.

My husband wants a more drought tolerant architectural look–not an obvious food garden, so no overt raised beds. But since we have hardpan, we need to pile on the good stuff… So in our efforts to compromise, I’ll be interspersing any edibles into the schema. I will have a mini tangerine and a loquat onsite for that day, and probably tomatoes. Any other stealth edibles advice is welcome!

Can’t have an obvious food garden in full view of neighbors. It sounds oh-so untidy and low class (God forbid). What will ellos think? (Who gives a flying fig as long as the plants are happy and skillfully cared for? A tended, well-loved garden always looks better than a soulless, stiff planting arrangement designed to appease the neighbors and win their approval.)

Here’s where it gets interesting since the subject wanted to mingle plants that have contrasting horticultural requirements. Once established, the tangerine and loquat would probably do just fine among drought tolerant plants as long as the trees were periodically deep soaked, but tomatoes and garden variety (un juego de palabras) edibles would not be getting their needs met among the drought tolerant plants. If the soil were watered frequently enough to satisfy the garden veggies, the drought tolerant plants would eventually succumb to fungal disease and rot. Although the couple in question might stubbornly resist following the advice they claim to want, they would have to pick either the annual edible plant palette or the perennial drought tolerant plants in lieu of conceding garden design to someone who knows what they’re doing.

Also, I think we have some snakey sand bags from Cal-Earth in the garage which can be moulded into low holding walls… TBD. That could be fun to play with!

Here’s our questions to be more ready for the day:

• BASE PREP:

All grass is gone and we’re down to the hard pan. We were thinking we would just pile the new dirt on top of that, with one side bermed, and the other sloping to the sidewalk. (The piles of dirt are a few yards away dumped on the unsolved section of the yard). We read the gardens of gratitude links about Instant No Dig Garden Beds y Double Digging… We were wondering:

     – Can we drill holes into the hard clay to help make more permeable and skip the hard labor? (the carpenter has a pneumatic drill…)

     – Or get out the pick-axes to loosen the hardpan (we’d rather not!!!)

     – Should we have cardboard onsite to place on top of hardpan (as we saw on the Mar Vista Garden tour last week)? Or is that just for lawn-suppression?

     – Any other prep tips we should know about?

I’m not going to comment on what they could have done more specifically about that alleged hardpan because I don’t know enough about their prospective garden site. This family didn’t specifically request a site analysis and I wasn’t about to volunteer one for known takers. Without that site analysis, more specific comments would be conjecture.

Dicho esto, there’s a possibility that lugging in the 6 pickup truckloads of soil and then sifting it (¿Por qué? To cull stones or remove glass?) on relatively short notice was a waste of effort because these folks were working under the incorrect premise and assumption that they have “bad” soil. I haven’t a clue why this mystifying judgment is prevalent. Los Angeles has buried some of the most fertile agricultural soils in the world under endlessly contiguous miles of asphalt and concrete. It’s not the soil’s fault that it’s been abused for almost a century. Hardpan due to compaction and ignorance is one of the least of the wounds inflicted on this land. If this family had not gotten greedy about availing themselves of freebies and if they had been patient enough to allow sufficient lead time working in tandem with the rhythm of the seasons without compulsively feeding their addiction to instant gratification, it would have been possible to use organic methods to condition that “hardpan” so that the soil would have been workable.

Drilling holes in the soil? I wonder if this carpenter and his wife ever considered that drill bits manufactured for wood aren’t made to bore holes in soil and 2) the inevitability that the drill bits (he’ll go through a lot of them) would strike unseen pebbles and rocks buried in the fill. Oops.

So many people find the idea of prolific, beautiful gardens bursting with color and life alluring and yet they’re not willing to put their backs into the effort of planting and maintaining them. There is no such thing as a free lunch. In spite of the eternal nature of this truth, people look for ways to circumvent the effort if they can’t get someone else to do the hard work for them for free (yo. Gardens of Gratitude volunteers) o, if need be, for cheap. (The quick excuse at the ready is “I don’t have the time” but when you consider how much time is spent watching TV and fiddling around on technological toys and dig deeper, the excuse actually translates to “I don’t have the interest or skills and besides, nature scares me when it’s icky”.) Gardening and landscaping are like so many other life endeavors – you get out of it what you put into it and there are no shortcuts to working with natural systems like gardens, which are human-designed and created pseudoecosystems, but natural systems nonetheless. Nature sets the tone through microclimate, geology, and climate and ultimately calls the dance. Get over it.

Personally, as much as everyone complains about clay, I’d rather work with clayey soil than sand. It takes a lot longer to build up the organic content and create good tilth in a sandy soil that leaks water and nutrients like a sieve.

• COMPOST:

In addition to our acquired topsoil, we need to enrich with compost, right? Si es así, should it be in separate piles, or mixed in with the dirt? If mixed, what are the proportions, etc.? Where to acquire FREE compost if possible? We saw some sacks available on the Mar Vista Gardens tour, but didn’t note where they were from. Let us know.

• Same for MANURE: how much for our 12×20 space, and where to acquire FREE if possible?

• WOOD CHIPS, etc.: Should we have mulch piles on-site ready for spreading at end of the project?

     We’re running out of room. Could that come later? Also, where to acquire FREE if possible. Our official Culver City source seems to have closed…

Again, this family is working under the premise and assumption that they need compost, manure, and wood chips for their allegedly “bad” hardpan soil. How did these folks arrive at their conclusions about what soil amendment materials they need for this landscaping project? What were their assumptions and why did they make them?

Eager about and enamored by the prospect of dabbling in their idea of Permaculture, they didn’t research drought tolerant plants or edibles to determine what those plants need to thrive. By their own admission, they don’t know much of anything about Permaculture or gardening, let alone the horticultural needs of plants. That kind of reading isn’t as sexy as jumping onto the Permaculture trendwagon but the blunt truth is that a lovely garden is not the end result when all the plants are struggling to survive because their needs are not being met. Attractive home gardens and landscapes, especially ones that increase property values in the long-term, are not accidents of short-lived attention, fashionable interest, and design on aesthetic whims. (Hint: Designing a daisy-shaped garden for the sake of designing a daisy-shaped garden without considering the needs of the plants, the mature sizes of the plants, or maintenance is setting yourself up for failure.)

Of the three materials that this family is requesting free source information for, I’d only recommend the wood chips for mulch and I wouldn’t skimp by going for free material unless my back was against the wall. Chipped material can be acquired gratis from a cooperative tree trimming company but since beggars cannot be choosers, the recipient 1) would not be able to specify quantity (you take whatever they give you), 2) cannot request specs on the tree and shrub species in the mix, o 3) expect to have a request for a minimal leaf litter to wood chip ratio honored. If you refuse to compromise on special requests and place conditions on the tree trimmings you are willing to receive, take a number and expect to wait until a tree trimming job that happens to meet your exacting specifications crops up. That wait could take months. If the need for mulch is time-sensitive, it’s best to just pay for it.

The vast majority of tree trimming jobs generate both leafy and woody material in equal proportions. Mix the finely chopped wet green stuff plus the moist woody stuff, leave it in a pile about a cubic yard in volume, and in a few short months you have…TA-DA!…compost! Pure wood chips that are coarsely chopped (yo. pieces 2-4 inches in length) don’t break down as quickly as free tree trimmings and where mulch is concerned, you want that 3 a 4 inch protective layer on top of your soil to last at least a few years as opposed to only several months but no more than a year. Left to its own devices, nature generates its own mulch. It may be minimal or plentiful depending on the ecosystem and plant community, but it’s there.

A propósito, I didn’t put the word “free” in all caps for emphasis on how cheap and stingy this family was. The text and its formatting is how it appeared in the e-mail verbatim. I kid you not.

• SPRINKLERS:

We have sprinklers which we don’t use, but are still hooked up. We have not retrofitted to any of the low flow dribblers or whatever–don’t have the expertise (My husband is a carpenter, not a plumber). He doesn’t want to use auto sprinkling at all, but go to hose, and says he’s willing to hand-water. I think we need a FREE pro consult on this–If the workings are there, do we want to take advantage and make life easier?

I hope this family actually tested the sprinkler system to check to see whether it still worked. I didn’t offer up my services and don’t know what sucker, um, I mean person…yeah, if anyone, stepped up to the plate to offer professional advice to tailor the irrigation system. The type of retrofit would entirely depend on the type of plants chosen for the project and since the planned plant palette was going to be mixed, you can bet that the results would be as well.

Hand watering is often a good enough option but the system failure often lies in whoever handles the hose. For busy, scattered, distracted suburbanites, the committed intention to hand water the plants wears off in direct proportion to the garden project’s novelty. Remembering to deep water drought tolerant plants on a frequency of once every 2 a 4 semana (actual frequency depends on time of year, la exposición solar, el tipo de suelo, and weather) can be another challenge if the irregular ritual of watering doesn’t become a habit. More often than not, people forget. The other challenge with hand watering is that the tops of the plants usually get sprayed, leaving the roots where the water is really needed to slowly dry out after the last of seasonal rains. Few well-intentioned hand waterers bother to check soil moisture below the mulch layer, if one is present.

• THIRSTY TREE:•

Any tree experts out there who can help advise us about our thirsty parkway magnolia which is sending sausage-sized roots up to the surface of the yard, and blasting the sidewalk out of its way in doing so? Since we stopped watering our hardpan, it’s gone wild looking for water. We’re trying to coordinate with L.A. City about sidewalk repair, and hoping to talk to the city arborist, but much redtape and perhaps many moons before we get info there. So if anyone has info here. (This challenge is separate from the 12×20 area delineated for the workday…)

Any info is much appreciated!

Thanx from the Cheapskate Family (surname changed to protect the guilty)

Harry & Virginia & boys

Want to raise some sidewalk, maybe destroy a nearby cement block wall or even a building foundation? Plant a Ficus or a Magnolia tree nearby.

The City of Los Angeles Public Works has a warped interpretation of job security. One department is charged with planting and maintaining trees that destroy infrastructure so that another department charged with infrastructure repairs and periodic rebuilding never runs out of tree related damage to address. Too bad the City is going broke and like other fiscally stretched governmental entities is postponing repairs and maintenance wherever and whenever it can.

The poor magnolia was ill-chosen for its planting location and as a result there is no solution that this family could implement that wouldn’t cost them something. But seeing that spending anything – time, strenuous effort, or money – is almost completely out of the question, there wouldn’t be any point in anyone offering these folks any advice since they wouldn’t be willing to follow it anyway.

If the family whined and complained long and loudly enough to the City’s arborist, a crew might eventually come out, sever and remove the “offending” roots, and then repour concrete slab to patch the sidewalk. The operative word is eventually. The family’s sons will likely have flown the nest by the time L. Un. Public Works slogs through their backlog, which even conservative estimates peg at a decade long wait. If that’s a bit much, Public Works suggests that residents take matters into their own hands by paying for a licensed arborist’s services out of pocket on top of a tree permit issued by the city, neither of which, I note for the record, will ever be FREE.

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What patterns did I notice in the landscape trade? Para una, I observed an addiction to collecting knowledge. Not wisdom – conocimiento. People can stuff their heads full of the stuff and never apply it for beneficial use. Perhaps feeding this addiction makes people feel like they are accomplishing something even when nothing is manifesting for lack of an investment of real sweat and labor. In Los Angeles, the city of projected dreams, tourists and the rich and privileged (or those who are trying to look that way) flock to idealized simulacra of Los Angeles such as City Walk in Universal City and the Beverly Center. There’s a pattern and principle in nature: "There is no such thing as AWAY.” The social fantasies of Los Angeles are propped invisibly upon the backs of low wage laborers that keep the machinery of the illusion working smoothly. Scratch the plasticized & painted veneers of the simulacra, allow the laborers to find new workplaces that respect their dignity and humanity at healtly wages, strip away nature’s “free” subsidies of water and power, and then ask, “What’s left?"

When some people figured out that I know my stuff, they pumped me for information…and pumped….and pumped….and pumped. They wanted the specifics of “what” connected to the precious mechanics of “how”. Depending on the context, sometimes I’d generously go all out because I genuinely wanted to help. It’s fine once in a while and I like being generous, but only up to a point because I can’t pay my bills with raving complements and thanks others gave me for the help they received. In other contexts when it was socially appropriate to communicate it, I let folks know that sustainable gardening and landscaping was what I did as a pro and then I observed that mouths would run on while pocketbooks would slam shut with the resounding finality of a solid-state walk-in safe. For reasons I haven’t figured out, the West L.A. crowd tended to want as much expertise as they could squeeze out but only for the bare minimum they could get away with paying, if not for free. I’m all for helping people get what they want but not at the price of vampiric exploitation – mine or anyone else’s.

“When you’re good at something, you don’t do it for free.” – The Joker (Heath Ledger) in The Dark Knight

The annoying and heartbreaking part is that, más de las veces, these folks wouldn’t even use the free advice they solicited. What was more astounding is that others wouldn’t even use the advice they DID pay for.

One client in the Big Rock area of Malibu name-dropped and bragged of having hired Rosalind Creasy for a consultation. On the appointed day, Wendy S. and Ms. Creasy went around the property while Rosalind fired off tailored advice off the top of her head. Fast forward 2 a 3 years later when Wendy S. hired me for some specialized labor. As she picked my brains as we made the rounds around the property, I could almost hear her make mental comparisons with Rosalind’s advice. When I gave her the same advice about caring for her forlorn containerized blueberry plants as Rosalind had given her, she piped up to say as much.  Do you see the irony yet? Even after consulting with Rosalind Creasy, Wendy S. still hadn’t used the advice she had been given so many years ago. The client’s windswept and neglected plants were no better off for hearing the advice all over again from me for one reason: it was simply and clearly not a priority to implement the expert advice she had sought. I wish that I could say this experience was singularly unique. It’s one thing to negotiate fees because someone genuinely wants your services, respects what you do, and respects your profession as a source of livelihood. It’s another thing to feed off someone else’s life energy as a symbolic parasite when you don’t respect anyone else’s need to make a living.

The client went through the laundry list of tasks she wanted done around the property. En breve, she wanted her own private farm & garden worker and at bargain basement wages. Actually, upon reflection what I think she really wanted were the benefits such a worker would confer with all of the romance and bounty that country living on a farm invokes without the hard work, body aches, or the inconvenience of having to get her own hands dirty. When I told her how much it was going to cost at a fair rate, she backpedaled, made excuses for why she couldn’t afford the services, and struggled to save face after I called her on her unrealistic expectations and her hopes to exploit me for cheap, knowledgeable labor. Since this woman wasn’t willing to pay what the job was worth, she was still trying to save face indirectly through an associate long after I dissociated from her.

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Cuando la conservación, la biodiversidad y la preservación del hábitat grupos sin fines de lucro promover sus causas, they know full well that people tend to relate best to charismatic creatures that fit their subjective standard of “atractivo”. Para la gran mayoría, murciélagos no inspiran la ‘awwww, qué lindo!’ factor de todo lo que inspira ‘ewwwww, qué asco!'. Es lamentable, porque los murciélagos son héroes anónimos. La próxima vez que estés rodeado de un enjambre de mosquitos, Sólo recuerde que si usted vive un área que podría albergar murciélagos que iba a pasar menos tiempo fuera de aplastar a los insectos chupadores de sangre y disfrutar del aire libre si los murciélagos fueron sus vecinos.

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No te pierdas esto:

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El 28 de julio, el New York Times publicó un artículo sobre el aumento de los microcréditos (http://www NULL.NYTimes NULL.com/2010/07/29/business/smallbusiness/29sbiz NULL.html?src = me&ref = negocio). Durante años, microcrédito ha sido considerada como un alimento básico económico de “en desarrollo” países. (Por supuesto, la siguiente pregunta es, ¿Cuáles son los países en desarrollo en desarrollo en?) Cuando usted considera que la misma “ajuste estructural” (cambiado el nombre “Reducción de la Pobreza y el Crecimiento (http://www NULL.FMI NULL.org / external / np / exr / facts / SCLP NULL.htm)” pero que pronto será sustituido por el “Servicio ampliado del crédito”) impuestas por el Banco Mundial y el Fondo Monetario Internacional en África y en países del tercer mundo es muy probable que en las tarjetas kármica de los Estados Unidos, el tiempo está cerca de las pequeñas ciudades y comunidades para salvarse económicamente.

¿Por qué? ¿Quién más lo hará? Ciudades de los EE.UU. (http://dinero NULL.CNN NULL.com/2010/05/28/news/economy/american_cities_broke NULL.fortuna / index NULL.htm) (Vallejo (http://artículos NULL.latimes NULL.com/2010/jul/27/local/la-me-bell-cuts-20100727/3), Campanilla, y Maywood (http://latimesblogs NULL.latimes NULL.com/lanow/2010/06/sheriffs-dept-to-patrol-maywood-while-city-employees-now-face-lay-offs NULL.html) en California para empezar) están quebrando y la mayoría de los estados están muy cerca de la quiebra (http://www NULL.huffingtonpost NULL.com/2010/06/25/state-budget-crisis-46-st_n_625285 NULL.html). En un giro doloroso, estados están aprobando los recortes presupuestarios en los gobiernos municipales y del condado (http://www NULL.huffingtonpost NULL.com/2010/05/29/states-local-budget-cuts_n_594630 NULL.html). Así (http://www NULL.google NULL.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPcuKLCFev6Vg7ZRNE7asQid3CtAD9GSG7303)me estados han hecho un llamamiento al gobierno federal en busca de ayuda financiera (http://www NULL.google NULL.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPcuKLCFev6Vg7ZRNE7asQid3CtAD9GSG7303) mientras que el país se puede muy bien estar en el camino a la quiebra (http://www NULL.telégrafo NULL.lo NULL.uk/finance/2943328/US-could-be-going-bankrupt NULL.html). Todo el tiempo, el Departamento de Defensa no puede dar cuenta de $8.7 millones de dólares en fondos del petróleo iraquí (http://www NULL.tiempo NULL.com/time/world/article/0, 8599,2006708,00 NULL.html) y el rescates bancarios a partir de 2009 podría costar $4 billones (http://dinero NULL.CNN NULL.com/2009/01/27/news/bigger NULL.rescate NULL.fortuna /). Obviamente eso es mucho más que la inicial $700 millones de dólares entregado en bandeja de plata a los bancos a través de un golpe de estado flagrante financiera de Estado a finales de 2009. Si bien las vías exactas de la pista del dinero puede ser oscuro, muchos de nosotros se sienten visceralmente la corrupción y el soborno, aunque podemos no necesariamente los nombres de nombre y localizar las direcciones de los ladrones.

Harto de las perspectivas económicas sombrías? Usted no está solo. El movimiento cobró impulso local de alimentos, porque la gente quería más sabroso, alimentos frescos los alimentos más nutritivos, sino que era más que mero sustento para el cuerpo. Fue alimento para el alma. La gente vuelve a conectar con los agricultores a través de los agricultores’ los mercados y las compras directas en las explotaciones agrícolas. A través de los alimentos y una creciente sensación de comunidad extendida descubierto a través de conexiones personales cultivadas con los pequeños agricultores, la gente vuelve a conectar con la propia tierra. Si los alimentos cultivados localmente es posible, ¿por qué no los préstamos localizada con total transparencia? No hay ninguna razón en el mundo por qué las comunidades no debe invertir en sí mismos. ¿Por qué las comunidades continuar exportando sus riquezas en manos de los bancos, grandes tiendas, y otras instituciones empresariales y gubernamentales que no tienen esas comunidades’ mejores intereses en mente?

Miedo, la ansiedad, y la depresión se nubla las mentes y los corazones de muchos estadounidenses, pero nadie nos puede salvar, excepto nosotros mismos – no el presidente Obama o su Admininistration, ciertamente no el Congreso, y olvidarse de la rama judicial del gobierno. De hecho, renunciar a la esperanza vana de que cualquier político puede salvarnos de nosotros mismos. Con su picadilloes y debilidades, nuestros oficiales electos son tan humanos como cualquiera de el resto de nosotros. Nada excepto a nosotros mismos nos puede impedir que el desarrollo de las culturas locales que satisfagan las necesidades humanas social y económico sin comprometer aún más las oportunidades de las generaciones futuras y los ecosistemas del planeta. Estamos en un momento en que la gente común se están llamado a realizar actos extraordinarios. ¿Quieres escuchar el impulso de su corazón y la conciencia o ejecutar al silencio tanto?

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Trabajar en y alrededor de Los Ángeles continúa ponernos en contacto con los que afiliarse a la “verde” apodo, lo que podría significar para ellos. No se equivoquen – como socialmente diversa como Los Ángeles es, sigue siendo una ciudad segregada, aunque nada tan evidente como paredes israelíes alrededor de aldeas palestinas o la parte de pared barricadas de la frontera sur de los Estados Unidos se han erigido (todavía). Las fronteras son cosificadas a través de la estratificación socioeconómica. Los que parecen estar fuera de límites se tratan con rapidez, y, a menudo brutalmente, por aplicación de la ley.

La brecha entre los ricos y los que no tienen en los Estados Unidos han aumentado en los últimos 30 años, reforzada por otra transferencia masiva de riqueza (http://solares NULL.com / archivo / missing_money /). Maquillaje verde sobre el asfalto describe apartheid socioeconómico, como para llevar a casa el punto de que las comunidades obreras de color simplemente no tienen su mierda juntos lo suficiente como para ser la cadera respetuoso del medio ambiente (como si eso era algo que aspiran a).

En caso de que no lo han hecho muy claro, soluciones tecnológicas no salvará a la humanidad o salvar a otras especies de la extinción. La desalinización no resolverá los problemas de escasez de agua dulce en el sur de California. Tenemos que aprender a reconocer la abundancia en lo que ya tenemos en la mano y hacer uso de los materiales disponibles a nivel local.

Un encuentro con el fundador y consejero delegado de un Parque Eco verde sin fines de lucro ilustra el punto de eco-cadera, así. Aliviado de encontrarse en compañía de lo que ella creía que era un público más simpático, se lamentó de que las comunidades pobres y la clase de trabajo de color no entienden el valor de valor ecológico de sus vidas. Me respondió que las comunidades de color tienen, de hecho las preocupaciones ambientales en sus radares, pero la verborrea es diferente. Las preocupaciones y prioridades diferentes. Si “agradable” blanco el medio ambiente los liberales y los progresistas sociales interesados ​​humildemente prestó atención y escuchó una vez en lugar de dictar los términos de la conversación al insistir en que el uso del lenguaje a todos de la misma manera con el fin de ser reconocido y escuchado, podrían aprender que las perspectivas igualmente válidas existen a la par con sus propios. Esta es la vanidad narcisista de muchos dentro del movimiento verde – una condescendencia hipócrita hacia los que no están consumiendo su camino en un “verde” el futuro.

But this is the crux of the problem: para resolver los problemas interconectados de consumo excesivo, un sistema económico mundial basado en la deuda y la expansión cancerosa, y la destrucción del medio ambiente consiste en pensar de manera diferente para obtener resultados diferentes. El problema no es sólo la fabricación de bienes materiales, Así es como los estamos haciendo y lo que estamos haciendo de ellos. Implica eso que se desconecta de hacer a fin de crear un estado deseado de ser.

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¿Alguna vez has visto a alguien jugar la carta de derecho a obtener lo que quieren? ¿Alguna vez jugar la carta de derechos cuando cree que puede salirse con la suya? ¿Qué le parece consciente apretar a alguien para tratar de obtener algo por nada? C'mon, ser honesto al respecto. ¿Hasta dónde se presiona? ¿Viste lo lejos que podía tomar las cosas? ¿Recibió frustrado y enojado cuando encontró resistencia? ¿Sabía usted incluso ir tan lejos como para tomar represalias al no conseguir lo que quería? Lo que es peor, se sintió autorizado para aplicar su propia selectiva “la justicia” para la pequeña?

¿Qué te hizo creer que tenían derecho a obtener lo que quería a costa de otras personas? ¿Qué hay detrás de su ira y la indignación? Ahora que la economía está en peor mayoría de la gente puede recordar en la historia de vida y el mundo entero se está sintiendo las consecuencias de trituración de una disfuncional, sistema económico catabólico, creo que los demás apretando es el camino a seguir, ahora más que nunca?

Alguna vez se preguntó cuál es la actual fascinación por la cultura popular con los vampiros? Esto puede parecer un no lógico cuestión de la nada, pero se cuelga allí conmigo por un minuto. Los vampiros tienen un lugar destacado en nuestra conciencia como encantadora, sexy, seductoras criaturas de la noche. Piense en el simbolismo, aunque. Los vampiros no tienen reflejo, yo. que no pueden verse a sí mismos. Su existencia parasitaria no puede soportar la exposición a la luz. Que necesitan para drenar la vida con el fin de mantenerse (y si usted voluntariamente su consentimiento para ser “los alimentos”, todos los mejores). Lo peor de todo, el acto de alimentar a los demás hace más vampiros en el proceso. La cultura popular y medios de comunicación han trabado en los aspectos atractivo sexy de vampirismo sin examinar bien la sustancia del simbolismo o el significado de la prevalencia de las imágenes.

Todos los días encuentros con los vampiros de la vida real no son tan sexy. Usted puede identificar por cómo se siente después de estar con ellos – agotado. (Y si usted ha notado que usted está conduciendo a otras personas alejadas, tal vez usted es uno de estos chupasangres.) Cuelgue en torno a un vampiro lo suficiente y tal vez incluso se sentirá mal del estómago, En función del grado del vampiro ha “negrita” en ti. Vampiros tomar y no devolver mucho a cambio. Cuando se dan, dan lo suficiente para realizar perciben reciprocity without the Actuality of its existence. Más bien, toman todo lo que les permite y que te sientas peor para el encuentro. Los vampiros sólo pueden alimentarse de usted con su consentimiento.

Mi opinión puede ser sesgada porque actualmente vive en Los Ángeles, sino un nuevo amigo que era un jefe de proyecto en el sector de la construcción intervino en que este megalop0lis tiene una multitud de personas que están fuera para obtener algo por nada. En otras palabras, este lugar es invadido por vampiros, o por lo menos las personas que actúan como ellos. Yeeech!

¿Qué tipo de agujero en el alma, lo profunda necesidad insatisfecha, unidades de este tipo de derecho? Por lo que he observado, los vampiros más virulentamente peligrosos son los individuos profundamente insatisfecho falta algo fundamental. Algunos carecen de significado y propósito en sus vidas. Otros falta una conexión con algo más grande que ellos mismos y los trozos de su propia humanidad, como trozos de conciencia o incluso de sus almas.

Algunos individuos son ts sh * en aras de ser TS SH *, siendo podridos a los demás sólo porque puede. Este tipo fácil de vampiro usa a la gente y luego descarta. Otros vampiros, como abusadores de menores y los cónyuges abusivos, el novio de sus objetivos y el uso de sus víctimas durante un período de tiempo. Otros vampiros tienen trastornos psicológicos y relacionales que la urdimbre de sus relaciones personales a las personas que están más cerca de. Sin embargo otras personas no son vampiros hasta la médula, pero que exhiben comportamientos que desembocan en otros a su alrededor. Una actitud de derecho no es más que un síntoma – una pista sobre la naturaleza del vampiro en cuestión.

¿Qué otra cosa hacen los vampiros? Se quejan. Ellos no quieren soluciones a los problemas que llevan a sus quejas, sino más bien la simpatía y la atención. Hablando de la atención, lo quieren – todo ello. Es todo sobre ellos. Los vampiros quieren ser prodigado con su vida de energía, tiempo, dinero, amor, experiencia, etc., y se sienten con derecho a lo que necesitan de usted. Sea lo que sea que usted tiene de valor que un vampiro quiere, él o ella lo quiere en espadas y aumentará el infierno si no lo entiendo. Olvídese de la reciprocidad o la igualdad, porque no existe fundamentalmente desde la perspectiva de un vampiro. Estás forrajes. Lo que usted necesita y desea como una persona soberana no figura en la imagen debido a que existen para alimentar a la necesidad.

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A veces una idea tiene que ser cocinado de vuelta a sus orígenes para que pueda renacer con una nueva vitalidad y fuerza.

Urbano / suburbano Ecoliteracy ha llegado a uno de estos choicepoints. Es poco probable que el taller continuará siendo ofrecido mensuales en el sur de California, pero no porque el contenido del taller es irrelevante y superflua. Un amigo recientemente comentó que este taller puede ser adelantada a su tiempo. Puede ser. Entonces otra vez, porque el taller existe y porque la sincronización divina es siempre lugar en, Urbano / Ecoliteracy Suburban sólo puede estar en lo correcto donde debe estar ahora. El taller sólo tiene que existir en un formato diferente.

Tenía esperanzas de que el taller sería ganando impulso positivo al tiempo que facilita nuevas relaciones sociales entre los asistentes al taller, ya que aprender la mentalidad que permite la sostenibilidad a echar raíces. En otras palabras, enseñar a la gente el pensamiento sistémico es el objetivo aparente de Urbano Ecoliteracy / Suburban, pero una de las intenciones principales del taller fue muy necesaria para reconstruir el capital social.

Esto es una prueba rápida para ver cuánto capital social que tiene en su barrio. ¿Cuántos de sus vecinos sabes? De los vecinos se han reunido y han gustado, ¿Qué tan bien conoces a ellos y cuán bien se sabe? ¿Cuántos de su confianza para cuidar a sus hijos? ¿Cuántas podría depender de tener la espalda si la mierda golpeó el ventilador proverbial? ¿Cuántos de sus vecinos pueden contar con usted para tener la espalda? La mayoría de nosotros no conocemos a nuestros vecinos, y mucho menos confiar en ellos. La confianza es una medida de la presencia o ausencia de capital social. El psicológicos, emocional, y la seguridad física y el bienestar de los niños (y otros miembros vulnerables de la sociedad) en sus propios vecindarios y en sus familias es otra medida del capital social.

También fue parte del diseño inherente al formato de taller que ese material se adaptarán en función de su localización. Todos y cada comunidad se, en efecto, el anfitrión de un taller único que tenía la intención de crear o reforzar un sentido de lugar. Teniendo en cuenta las comunidades dispares que los participantes del taller han venido de, crear un sentido de comunidad conectada a tierra y en un lugar no iba a pasar a través de los talleres. Metropolitan Los Angeles sprawls too far. Es un lugar sin un verdadero centro, que se puede decir que estar en todas partes y en ninguna a la vez. A pesar de afinidades interpersonales se puede sentir entre los participantes del taller, auténtica comunidad es difícil de promover, sin tiempo de la cara en tiempo real. Eso puede ofender a todo lo que los usuarios de Twitter y Facebook, pero la necesidad de tiempo de la cara es nuestra realidad social colectiva. Es sólo la forma en que es por cable como seres sociales.

Como hace poco agria relación con un antiguo cliente me ha hecho recordar, estamos colectivamente un largo camino desde donde tenemos que estar y donde anhelamos ser. Independientemente del color político, No sé de ninguna persona de bastante buen carácter que no quieres estar segura y para que la seguridad se extienda a los queridos amigos y la familia. Anhelamos la confianza y, sin embargo estamos rodeados mis mensajes que nos lanzan día a día que 1) no estamos a salvo, 2) nunca eres lo suficientemente bueno, 3) que nunca se tiene suficiente, 4) estamos rodeados de locos y de los depredadores, y 5) el mundo está lleno de la escasez, fuerte competencia, amenazas incesantes, y el peligro siempre presente. Usted tiene que conseguir “ellos” antes “ellos” conseguirle, quien “ellos” podría ser.

¿Es esta sinceridad del mundo que desea para sus hijos y nietos? ¿Es este el mundo que quieres para ti?

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