La pensée des systèmes pour la durabilité au-delà de jardinage organiques

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? A l'heure actuelle, 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 pour 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.

Par exemple, 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? Oui, 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, et 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, émotionnel, 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, nation, 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(avec) 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 ils 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 (jeu de mots) 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 et 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.

Cela dit, there’s a possibility that lugging in the 6 pickup truckloads of soil and then sifting it (Pourquoi? 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 (Je. Gardens of Gratitude volunteers) ou, 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 c'est le cas, 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, ou 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 (Je. 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 à 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.

Au fait, 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 à 4 weeks (actual frequency depends on time of year, l'exposition solaire, le type de sol, 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. Une. 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? Pour une, I observed an addiction to collecting knowledge. Not wisdom – connaissance. 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, more often than not, 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 à 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 bref, 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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Lorsque la conservation, la biodiversité et la préservation des habitats des groupes à but non lucratif promouvoir leurs causes, they know full well that people tend to relate best to charismatic creatures that fit their subjective standard of “attractivité”. Pour la grande majorité, chauves-souris ne sont pas inspirer les ‘awwww, c'est mignon!’ facteur autant qu'ils inspirent ‘ewwwww, quelle horreur!». C'est malheureux parce que les chauves-souris sont des héros méconnus. La prochaine fois que vous êtes entourés par une nuée de moustiques, n'oubliez pas que si vous avez vécu une zone qui pourrait accueillir les chauves-souris que vous seriez passer moins de temps au large de la qu'écraser insectes hématophages et profitant du plein air si les chauves-souris ont été vos voisins.

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Check this out:

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Le 28 Juillet, le New York Times a publié un article sur la montée du microcrédit (http://www NULL.nytimes NULL.com/2010/07/29/business/smallbusiness/29sbiz NULL.html?src = moi&ref = entreprise). Pendant des années,, microcrédit a été considéré comme une base économique “en développement” pays. (Bien sûr, La question suivante est, Quels sont les pays en développement en développement dans?) Quand vous considérez que les mêmes “d'ajustement structurel” (rebaptisé “Réduction de la Pauvreté et pour la croissance (http://www NULL.FMI NULL.org / external / np / exr / facts / FRPC NULL.htm)” mais qui sera bientôt remplacé par le “Facilité de crédit élargie”) imposées par la Banque mondiale et le Fonds monétaire international sur l'Afrique et les pays du tiers monde est très probable dans les cartes karmique pour les États-Unis, le temps est proche pour les petites villes et les collectivités à se sauver économiquement.

Pourquoi? Qui d'autre le fera? villes des États-Unis (http://argent NULL.CNN NULL.com/2010/05/28/news/economy/american_cities_broke NULL.fortune / index NULL.htm) (Vallejo (http://articles NULL.LATimes NULL.com/2010/jul/27/local/la-me-bell-cuts-20100727/3), Cloche, et 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 CA pour les débutants) font faillite et la plupart des Etats sont très proches de la faillite (http://www NULL.huffingtonpost NULL.com/2010/06/25/state-budget-crisis-46-st_n_625285 NULL.html). Dans une torsion douloureuse, Les États sont de passage des compressions budgétaires sur la ville et le comté de gouvernements (http://www NULL.huffingtonpost NULL.com/2010/05/29/states-local-budget-cuts_n_594630 NULL.html). Si (http://www NULL.google NULL.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPcuKLCFev6Vg7ZRNE7asQid3CtAD9GSG7303)me États ont lancé un appel au gouvernement fédéral d'aide financière (http://www NULL.google NULL.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPcuKLCFev6Vg7ZRNE7asQid3CtAD9GSG7303) tandis que le pays lui-même peut très bien être sur la voie de la faillite (http://www NULL.télégraphe NULL.ce NULL.uk/finance/2943328/US-could-be-going-bankrupt NULL.html). Pendant tout ce temps, le DOD ne peut pas tenir compte de $8.7 milliards de dollars en fonds du pétrole irakien (http://www NULL.temps NULL.com/time/world/article/0, 8599,2006708,00 NULL.html) et le renflouement des banques à partir de 2009 pourrait coûter $4 billion (http://argent NULL.CNN NULL.com/2009/01/27/news/bigger NULL.plan de sauvetage NULL.fortune /). Il est évident que c'est beaucoup plus que la première $700 milliards remis sur un plateau d'argent aux banques, par un coup d'Etat flagrante financière à la fin de 2009. Bien que le parcours exact de la piste de l'argent peut être obscure, beaucoup d'entre nous se sentent viscéralement la corruption et la prévarication, même si les adresses que nous pouvons citer des noms et pas nécessairement identifier des voleurs.

Vous en avez assez des sombres perspectives économiques? Vous n'êtes pas seul. Le mouvement des aliments locaux pris de l'ampleur parce que les gens voulaient plus savoureux, plus nutritive des aliments frais, mais que la nourriture était plus que de simples moyens de subsistance pour le corps. Il avait de la nourriture pour l'âme. Les gens renoué avec les agriculteurs par le biais des agriculteurs’ marchés et des achats directs sur les exploitations agricoles. Par la nourriture et un sentiment croissant de la communauté élargie découvert grâce à des liens personnels cultivées avec les petits agriculteurs, les gens renoué avec la terre elle-même. Si les aliments cultivés localement est possible, pourquoi ne pas prêts localisée en toute transparence? Il n'ya aucune raison au monde pour les collectivités ne devraient pas investir en eux-mêmes. Pourquoi les collectivités continuent d'exporter leurs richesses dans les mains des banques, magasins à grande surface, et d'autres entreprises et les institutions gouvernementales qui n'ont pas ces communautés’ meilleurs intérêts à coeur?

Peur, anxiété, et la dépression sont brouiller les esprits et les cœurs de tant d'Américains, mais personne ne peut nous sauver nous-mêmes, sauf – pas le président Obama ou son admininistration, certainement pas le Congrès, et oublier la branche judiciaire du gouvernement. En fait, renoncer à l'espoir vain que tout homme politique ne peut nous sauver de nous-mêmes. Avec leurs faiblesses et picadilloes, nos élus sont tout aussi humains que tout le reste d'entre nous. Rien si ce n'est nous-mêmes peut nous empêcher de développer des cultures locales qui répondent aux besoins économiques et sociaux de l'homme sans plus compromettre les chances des générations futures et des écosystèmes de la planète. Nous sommes à un moment où les gens ordinaires sont appelés à accomplir des exploits extraordinaires. Allez-vous tenir compte de l'impulsion de votre cœur et votre conscience ou de courir à la fois le silence?

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Travailler dans et autour de Los Angeles continue à nous mettre en contact avec ceux qui s'affilier à la “vert” moniker, quelle qu'elle signifie pour eux. Ne vous méprenez pas – comme socialement divers que Los Angeles est, il est encore une ville distincts, mais rien de plus flagrante que les murs autour de villages palestiniens d'Israël ou de la paroi barricader partie de la frontière sud des États-Unis ont été érigés (encore). Les frontières sont réifiés par stratification socio-économiques. Ceux qui semblent être hors des limites sont traitées de manière rapide, et souvent brutalement, par application de la loi.

Les écarts entre les nantis et les démunis dans les États-Unis ont creusé au cours des dernières 30 ans, renforcée par encore un autre transfert massif de richesses (http://solaire NULL.com / archive / missing_money /). Écoblanchiment sur l'asphalte décrit l'apartheid socio-économiques comme pour enfoncer le clou que communautés ouvrières de couleur n'ont tout simplement pas leurs conneries ensemble assez pour être respectueux de l'environnement de hanche (comme si c'était quelque chose d'aspirer à).

Dans le cas où nous n'avons pas fait très clairement, les solutions technologiques ne sauvera pas l'humanité ou mettre d'autres espèces de l'extinction. Dessalement ne résoudra pas les problèmes de pénurie d'eau douce dans le sud de la Californie. Nous devons apprendre à reconnaître l'abondance dans ce que nous avons déjà en main et à utiliser des matériaux disponibles localement.

Une rencontre avec le fondateur et chef de la direction d'un parc vert à but non lucratif Echo illustré le point de l'éco-hop bien. Soulagé de se trouver en compagnie de ce qu'elle croyait être un public sympathique, Elle a déploré que les pauvres et les communautés de travail de classe de couleur ne comprennent pas la valeur de l'écologisation de la valeur de leur vie. J'ai répliqué que les communautés de couleur ont en effet des préoccupations environnementales sur leurs radars, mais le verbiage est différent. Les préoccupations et les priorités diffèrent. Si “Nice” blanc de l'environnement concernés libéraux et les progressistes sociale humblement attention et écouté pour une fois, au lieu dicter les termes de la conversation en insistant pour que tout le monde utilisent le langage de la même manière afin d'être reconnues et entendues, qu'ils pourraient apprendre que les perspectives existent également valables en tandem avec leurs propres. C'est la vanité narcissique d'un grand nombre au sein du mouvement vert – une condescendance moralisatrice envers ceux qui ne consomment pas leur chemin dans un “vert” l'avenir.

But this is the crux of the problem: pour résoudre les problèmes reliés à la surconsommation, un système économique mondial basé sur la dette et l'expansion cancéreuses, et la destruction de l'environnement entraîne à penser autrement pour obtenir des résultats différents. Le problème n'est pas seulement la fabrication de biens matériels, c'est la façon dont nous les faire et ce que nous leur fabrication à partir de. Il implique que les choses ont être déconnecté de faire afin de créer un état désiré d'être.

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Avez-vous déjà vu quelqu'un jouer la carte de droit à obtenir ce qu'ils veulent? Avez-vous déjà jouer la carte de droit lorsque vous pensez que vous pouvez sortir avec elle? Que diriez-vous consciemment serrant quelqu'un pour essayer de faire quelque chose pour rien? C'mon, être honnête à ce sujet. Dans quelle mesure avez-vous poussez? Avez-vous vu dans quelle mesure vous pourriez prendre les choses? Avez-vous frustré et en colère lorsque vous avez rencontré la résistance? Avez-vous même aller jusqu'à des mesures de rétorsion si vous n'avez pas obtenu ce que vous vouliez? Ce qui est pire, Qu'avez-vous ressenti en droit d'appliquer votre propre sélective “la justice” pour la légère?

Qu'est-ce qui vous a fait croire que vous aviez droit à obtenir ce que vous vouliez au détriment de quelqu'un d'autre? Qu'est-ce que derrière votre colère et d'indignation? Maintenant que l'économie est au pire la plupart des gens peuvent se souvenir de l'histoire vivante et le monde entier subit les conséquences écrasement d'un dysfonctionnement, catabolique système économique, pense que d'autres compression est le chemin à parcourir, maintenant plus que jamais?

Vous vous demandez quelle est la fascination actuelle de la culture populaire a avec les vampires? Cela peut sembler comme un non sequitur à cause du bleu, mais accrochez-vous avec moi pour une minute. Les vampires ont une place prépondérante dans notre conscience comme de charme, sexy, créatures séduisantes de la nuit. Pensez à la symbolique, quoique. Vampires n'ont pas de réflexions, Je. ils ne peuvent se voir. Leur existence parasite ne résiste pas à l'exposition à la lumière. Ils ont besoin de drainer la vie afin de subvenir à leurs besoins (et si tu as accepté de consentir à être “alimentaire”, d'autant mieux). Le pire de tout, la Loi de l'alimentation sur les autres vampires est plus dans le processus. La culture populaire et les médias ont verrouillé sur les aspects joliment sexy du vampirisme sans examiner ni la substance du symbolisme ou la signification de la prévalence de l'imagerie.

Tous les jours des rencontres avec des vampires la vie réelle ne sont pas aussi sexy. Vous pouvez les identifier par la façon dont vous vous sentez après avoir autour d'eux – drainé. (Et si vous avez remarqué que vous êtes au volant d'autres loin, peut-être vous êtes l'un de ces suceurs de sang.) Traîner un vampire assez longtemps et peut-être vous même se sentir mal à l'estomac, selon la façon dont le vampire a fortement “gras” sur vous. Vampires prennent et ne donnent pas beaucoup en retour en arrière. Quand ils donnent, ils donnent juste assez pour vous faire apercevoir sans réciprocité la réalité de son existence. Plutôt, ils prennent autant que vous et leur permettre de vous laisser le sentiment pis pour la rencontre. Vampires ne peut se nourrir de vous avec votre consentement.

Mon point de vue peut être faussé parce que je vis actuellement à Los Angeles, mais une nouvelle connaissance qui a été un chef de projet dans le secteur de la construction chorus que cette megalop0lis a une foule de gens qui sont là pour obtenir quelque chose pour rien. En d'autres termes, Cet endroit est envahi par les vampires, ou au moins les gens qui agissent comme eux. Yeeech!

Quel genre de trou dans l'âme, ce profond besoin non comblé, lecteurs de ce type de droit? De ce que j'ai observé, les vampires les plus dangereuses sont violemment des individus profondément insatisfaits manque quelque chose de fondamental. Certains sens le manque et le but dans leur vie. D'autres sont manquantes d'une connexion à quelque chose de grand qu'eux-mêmes et des morceaux de leur propre humanité, comme la conscience ou même des morceaux de leur âme.

Certaines personnes sont ts * sh pour des raisons d'être sh * ts, être pourrie pour d'autres simplement parce qu'ils peuvent. Ce genre facile de vampire utilise gens et les rejets après. autres vampires, tels que les agresseurs d'enfants et les conjoints violents, marié leurs objectifs et d'utiliser leurs victimes sur une période de temps. autres vampires ont des troubles psychologiques et relationnels qui voilent leurs relations personnelles pour les individus qu'ils sont plus proches de. Encore d'autres personnes ne sont pas des vampires à la base, mais affichent des comportements qui sont elles se déversent dans les autres autour d'eux. Une attitude de droit n'est qu'un des symptômes – un indice sur la nature du vampire en question.

Quels sont les autres vampires ne? Ils se plaignent. Ils ne veulent pas des solutions aux problèmes qui mènent à leurs plaintes, mais plutôt la sympathie et l'attention. Parlant de l'attention, ils le veulent – tout cela. C'est tout à leur sujet. Vampires veux être prodigués avec votre énergie vitale, temps, argent, amour, compétence, etc, et ils estiment avoir droit à ce dont ils ont besoin de vous. Quoi qu'il en soit que vous avez de la valeur d'un vampire veut, il ou elle veut dans bêches et soulèvera l'enfer s'ils ne l'obtiennent pas. Oubliez la réciprocité ou d'égalité parce que ni fondamentalement existe du point de vue d'un vampire. Vous êtes fourrages. Ce que vous devez et que vous souhaitez en tant que personne souveraine ne figure pas dans la photo parce que vous existez pour nourrir la nécessité.

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Parfois, une idée doit être cuite vers le bas à ses origines afin qu'il puisse renaître avec une nouvelle vitalité et la force.

Urban / Suburban Ecoliteracy a atteint l'un de ces choicepoints. Il est peu probable que l'atelier continueront d'être offerts chaque mois dans le sud de CA, mais pas parce que le contenu de l'atelier n'est pas pertinent et superflue. Un ami a récemment déclaré que cet atelier peut être en avance sur son temps. Il peut être. Puis à nouveau, parce que l'atelier existe et parce que le calendrier divin est toujours sur place, Urban / Suburban Ecoliteracy peut-être que là où il doit être en ce moment. L'atelier a juste besoin d'exister dans un format différent.

J'avais l'espoir que l'atelier serait gagne du terrain positif, tout en facilitant de nouveaux liens sociaux entre les participants à l'atelier, ils apprennent que l'état d'esprit qui permet la viabilité à prendre racine. En d'autres termes, enseigner aux gens la pensée systémique est le but ostensible de Ecoliteracy urbain / suburbain, mais l'une des intentions principales de l'atelier était de reconstruire cruellement défaut capital social.

Voici un test rapide pour voir combien de capital social que vous avez dans votre quartier. Combien de vos voisins ne vous le savez? Parmi les voisins vous avez rencontré et aimé, Connaissez-vous les connaissez et comment se débrouillent-ils vous le savez? Combien feriez-vous confiance à vos enfants de regarder? Combien pourriez-vous compter pour avoir votre retour si la merde a frappé le ventilateur proverbiale? Combien de vos voisins peuvent compter sur vous pour avoir le dos? La plupart d'entre nous ne connaissons pas nos voisins, et encore moins leur faire confiance. La confiance est une mesure de la présence ou l'absence de capital social. Le psychologiques, émotionnel, et la sécurité physique et le bien-être des enfants (et d'autres membres vulnérables de la société) dans leur propre quartier et dans leur famille est une autre mesure du capital social.

Il faisait également partie de la conception inhérente de la forme d'atelier, que cette matière serait adapté pour sa localisation. Chaque collectivité, en vigueur, organisera un atelier unique qui visait à créer ou à renforcer un sentiment d'appartenance. Considérant les communautés disparates que les participants à l'atelier sont venus de, créer un sentiment de communauté et relié à la terre dans un lieu ne va pas passer par les ateliers. Les régions métropolitaines de Los Angeles s'étend trop loin. C'est un lieu sans un véritable centre, dont on peut dire d'être partout et nulle part à la fois. Même si affinités interpersonnelles peuvent se faire sentir parmi les participants à l'atelier, communauté authentique est difficile de promouvoir sans délai face en temps réel. Cela peut choquer tout ce que vous les utilisateurs de Twitter et Facebook, mais le besoin de temps face à notre réalité sociale collective. C'est juste la façon dont nous sommes branchés comme des êtres sociaux.

Comme récemment détériorées relation avec un ancien client me l'a rappelé, nous sommes, collectivement, un large loin de là où nous devons être et où nous aspirons à être. Peu importe leur allégeance politique, Je ne connais personne d'assez bon caractère, qui ne veut pas être en sécurité et pour que la sécurité doit être étendu à des amis et la famille bien-aimée. Nous aspirons à la confiance et pourtant, nous sommes entourés mes messages que nous peau jour après jour 1) Nous ne sommes pas sûrs, 2) nous ne sommes jamais assez bon, 3) nous ne pouvons jamais avoir assez, 4) nous sommes entourés par des fous et des prédateurs, et 5) le monde est omniprésente à la pénurie, une concurrence féroce, menaces incessantes, et le danger toujours présent. Vous devez obtenir “les” avant “ils” vous obtenez, quiconque “ils” peut-être.

Est-ce honnêtement du monde que vous voulez pour vos enfants et petits-enfants? Est-ce le monde que vous voulez pour vous-même?

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