How Do We Encourage Enough Voters to Think Long-Term?
If you are reading this, then you may share my concern for our over-dependence on non-renewable energy sources. You perhaps have begun to conclude that in the near to mid term (within twenty years), we are going to be confronted with rapidly escalating costs of energy. You may also share my concern of the economic and social implications such costs will impose on our society.
The more reading I do, the more consensus I find. It is not a matter of if, but when we shall be confronted with the consequences of worldwide Peak Oil Production. Even the most optimistic prognosticators, such as Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) see world oil production peaking within 20 to 25 years. Government agencies are beginning to recognize they need to confront this issue. Web pages such as The Energy Bulletin, The Dynamic Cities Project or The Post Carbon Institute (to name but three), are full of links to stories about various groups responding to the situation.
About a year ago I started to visualize various futuristic scenarios. I Knew that I needed to improve my skills to help me cope with the post carbon era. In short, I needed to change my lifestyle. I needed to behave as if there were a critical energy shortage, so I would be better equipped to cope when it does happen.
Over the past year I have paid more attention to shopping locally. I switched to my local green energy provider, Bullfrog Power. I gave up car ownership, and started to walk, cycle or take the bus. I attempted to organize my thoughts and communicate my concerns to my community through my personal website. Not only did I feel that I could breathe with a cleaner conscience, but I felt healthier!
However, this slower pace has also provided more time to watch the world speed by. While you and I may be getting it, I must admit to being somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of those who don't. It is not just that Wal-Mart parking lots remain full, and gridlock continues to be the primary complaint of the masses. So often the electors in our various democracies are swayed by promises of short term gain. As I write, the Canadian Finance Minister is delivering an election style budget based on assumptions of continued economic "growth". He opens his speech by saying "Mr. Speaker, Canada is strong today, and we have a plan for an even better tomorrow!"
Sadly, elections are not won by telling voters the truth about what lies ahead. They are won by promises of more, forever. Many Canadians will be cheered when they hear their Finance Minister say:
Canada is great because Canadians made it great. The people who built this country worked hard to realize their vision. They set us on a bold course to greater hope and opportunity.
Only a small minority of the electorate understands the fact that our economy grew as it did over the past 100 years because of the abundance of cheap energy.
I would like to think that the small steps I am taking to change my lifestyle will help me cope with the changes that are coming. I am much more concerned, however, with how the rest of the world is going to respond. I am trying to figure out what I can do to appropriately sound the alarm. The tricky part, is the relatively short attention span of the electorate. The problem we are facing requires very long term solutions.
Some people have the patience and are prepared to accept a plan that asks them to sacrifice today for something that will show results in 2 or 3, maybe even ten years. Occasionally an astute politician can be that persuasive. But how do we convince a majority to accept less for the rest of their lives so future generations can survive? How do we develop an electorate that is that informed, and altruistic? How do we convince ever increasing numbers of people to stop listening to the constant rant of marketers who continually tell us to "zoom zoom" through life, and have it all?
I look forward to your answers.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Buddhist Writings and the Concept of Scripture
I was raised in what I would describe as a "secular" family, in the midst of the typical North American "Christian" mindset of 1960's. Let's just say I don't recall Bible discussions around our dinner table. If the topic of religion did come up, it was usually in the context of how fanatical views often seemed to be the root of world problems. We collectively rolled our eyes upon hearing any public proclamation that "God is on our side."
Perhaps this is what appealed to me about Buddhism. As a non-theistic religion, it isn't centred around belief in a supreme being. It is, instead, a set of moral practices to live by. Ever since Alan Watts told me in the early seventies that "as the ocean waves, the universe peoples", I have been drawn to this non-dualistic way of perceiving reality.
I have read the works of several different modern day Buddhist teachers. These have included the Dalai Lama, Lama Surya Das, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Shunryu and Daisetz Suzuki, to name a few. Thich Nhat Hanh's books are small, and easy to carry, making them easy to travel with. For me, they are as close as I will come to "reading scripture". They are teachings for my heart and soul.
Here is an excerpt from the first page of Touching Peace that spoke to me today:
Our true home is in the present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. Peace is all around us- in the world and in nature-and within us-in our bodies and our spirits. Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed. It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice. We need only to find ways to bring our body and mind back to the present moment so we can touch what is refreshing, healing, and wondrous.
I found myself reading over this early in the evening as I travelled toward Ottawa on the bus from Toronto. I would put the book down, and glance at the passing landscape. I would feel awash in appreciation of the Universe in every glistening speck of melting snow, or in the passing silhoettes of the cedar trees. Everything simultaneously the same, yet unique. The ring of cell phones against the beauty of a spring sunset. All perfect.
The final chapter opens with this:
We come to the practice of meditation seeking relief from our suffereing, and meditation can teach us how to transform our suffering and obtain basic relief. But the deepest kind of relief is the realization of nirvana. There are two dimensions to life, and we should be able to touch both. One is like a wave, and we call it the historical dimension. The other is like the water, and we call it the ultimate dimension, or nirvana. We usually touch just the wave, but when we discover how to touch the water, we receive the highest fruit that meditation can offer.
In the historical dimension, we have birth certificates and death certificates. The day your mother passes away, you suffer. If someone sits close to you and shows her concern, you feel some relief. You have her friendship, her support, her warm hand to hold. This is the world of waves. It is characterized by birth and death, ups and downs, being and non-being. A wave has a beginning and an end, but we cannot ascribe these characteristics to water. In the world of water, there is no birth or death, no being or non-being, no beginning or end. When we touch the water, we touch reality in it ultimate dimension and are liberated from all of these concepts.
To me this reads as scripture. Teachings that touch me, and simply make sense. I don't know all of the terms, I have never been one to follow dogma or ritual. One thing I have learned, though is that there is no where to go, as I am already here.
Perhaps this is what appealed to me about Buddhism. As a non-theistic religion, it isn't centred around belief in a supreme being. It is, instead, a set of moral practices to live by. Ever since Alan Watts told me in the early seventies that "as the ocean waves, the universe peoples", I have been drawn to this non-dualistic way of perceiving reality.
I have read the works of several different modern day Buddhist teachers. These have included the Dalai Lama, Lama Surya Das, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Shunryu and Daisetz Suzuki, to name a few. Thich Nhat Hanh's books are small, and easy to carry, making them easy to travel with. For me, they are as close as I will come to "reading scripture". They are teachings for my heart and soul.
Here is an excerpt from the first page of Touching Peace that spoke to me today:
Our true home is in the present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. Peace is all around us- in the world and in nature-and within us-in our bodies and our spirits. Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed. It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice. We need only to find ways to bring our body and mind back to the present moment so we can touch what is refreshing, healing, and wondrous.
I found myself reading over this early in the evening as I travelled toward Ottawa on the bus from Toronto. I would put the book down, and glance at the passing landscape. I would feel awash in appreciation of the Universe in every glistening speck of melting snow, or in the passing silhoettes of the cedar trees. Everything simultaneously the same, yet unique. The ring of cell phones against the beauty of a spring sunset. All perfect.
The final chapter opens with this:
We come to the practice of meditation seeking relief from our suffereing, and meditation can teach us how to transform our suffering and obtain basic relief. But the deepest kind of relief is the realization of nirvana. There are two dimensions to life, and we should be able to touch both. One is like a wave, and we call it the historical dimension. The other is like the water, and we call it the ultimate dimension, or nirvana. We usually touch just the wave, but when we discover how to touch the water, we receive the highest fruit that meditation can offer.
In the historical dimension, we have birth certificates and death certificates. The day your mother passes away, you suffer. If someone sits close to you and shows her concern, you feel some relief. You have her friendship, her support, her warm hand to hold. This is the world of waves. It is characterized by birth and death, ups and downs, being and non-being. A wave has a beginning and an end, but we cannot ascribe these characteristics to water. In the world of water, there is no birth or death, no being or non-being, no beginning or end. When we touch the water, we touch reality in it ultimate dimension and are liberated from all of these concepts.
To me this reads as scripture. Teachings that touch me, and simply make sense. I don't know all of the terms, I have never been one to follow dogma or ritual. One thing I have learned, though is that there is no where to go, as I am already here.
Friday, March 16, 2007
We Vote With Our Dollars
I recently came across the following quote from John Robbins at http://www.foodrevolution.org/commonground.htm
We vote with our dollars, and we spend a lot of our dollars on food. Yet people don't often see their diet as a political statement. But it is. When you vote for McDonald's, that's one kind of vote. When you vote for organic food, that's another kind of vote. What you support with your dollars is what will exist in the future. Every time you spend a dollar, you are saying to the people who produce that product, "Do it again." That's how it will be read, that's how it will be interpreted and that's how it will be manifested.
There has certainly been an increasing expression of concern for the environment around world in recent months. It is reaching a fever pitch, as various political parties trip over themselves in the rush to the green paint brushes in response to opinion polls saying the environment is the number one concern of voters.. Letters to the editor plead for greater environmental efforts. However, the big box stores remain full, our highways remain clogged, and the masses continue to rush for the latest gadget, fancy food item, or escape vacation. People are telling the pollsters their feelings of concern, but when they vote with their dollars, they continue to increase the pressure on the planet. For most people, it seems, they don't want to consume less, they just want to believe that their consumption habits don't cause problems. As Sharon Astyk says on her blog:
Say it out loud. WHAT I BUY WARMS THE PLANET. MY SHOPPING DEPLETES WHAT FUTURE PEOPLE WILL HAVE. BUYING STUFF HURTS PEOPLE. The problem is that shopping also feels good. Now I'm not much of a regular shopper, but I know that heavy sense of pleasure you get when you wander into a bookstore as much as anyone. I've shopped for comfort, I've bought things and thought momentarily "this will make it better." I understand how much fun shopping is. And it is still the problem.
In other words, we have met the enemy, and it is US! Trying to shop our way out of this problem is a contradiction in terms.
We vote with our dollars, and we spend a lot of our dollars on food. Yet people don't often see their diet as a political statement. But it is. When you vote for McDonald's, that's one kind of vote. When you vote for organic food, that's another kind of vote. What you support with your dollars is what will exist in the future. Every time you spend a dollar, you are saying to the people who produce that product, "Do it again." That's how it will be read, that's how it will be interpreted and that's how it will be manifested.
There has certainly been an increasing expression of concern for the environment around world in recent months. It is reaching a fever pitch, as various political parties trip over themselves in the rush to the green paint brushes in response to opinion polls saying the environment is the number one concern of voters.. Letters to the editor plead for greater environmental efforts. However, the big box stores remain full, our highways remain clogged, and the masses continue to rush for the latest gadget, fancy food item, or escape vacation. People are telling the pollsters their feelings of concern, but when they vote with their dollars, they continue to increase the pressure on the planet. For most people, it seems, they don't want to consume less, they just want to believe that their consumption habits don't cause problems. As Sharon Astyk says on her blog:
Say it out loud. WHAT I BUY WARMS THE PLANET. MY SHOPPING DEPLETES WHAT FUTURE PEOPLE WILL HAVE. BUYING STUFF HURTS PEOPLE. The problem is that shopping also feels good. Now I'm not much of a regular shopper, but I know that heavy sense of pleasure you get when you wander into a bookstore as much as anyone. I've shopped for comfort, I've bought things and thought momentarily "this will make it better." I understand how much fun shopping is. And it is still the problem.
In other words, we have met the enemy, and it is US! Trying to shop our way out of this problem is a contradiction in terms.
My Friend Jim on a Road Less Traveled
My Friend Jim
I met Jim at a tumultuous time in my life. Not yet out of my teens, I was struggling with the concept of adulthood at a time when everything around me was changing. War raged in Southeast Asia. If you hadn’t been to a teach-in, or a love-in, or a sit-in, you hadn’t been anywhere. Everyone, it seemed, had a revolution to follow.
My demeanor was typical of the times. Relatively unkempt, I sported an untrimmed beard, longish hair, and work boots. A full-length surplus military issue wool trench coat kept me warm in the winter. Rebelliousness was my nature.
I was reaching out, trying to discover myself, when I met Jim at a retreat at Camp Iawah. He was the right person for me to meet at the right time. Here was a young man, a few years older than myself, with whom I could share a similar sense of quest. Outwardly we may have seemed so different, yet we both sought truth. From those beginnings north of Westport we developed a kinship that has remained with me to this day. Although I haven’t seen Jim for quite some time, he has always remained close to my heart.
I have many memories, from ‘messing about with boats’ to trips to the east coast, to skinning my knuckles as I tried to keep old Volvos on the road. During this time, I was also learning about Buddhism, and what I learned then, I like to think, has stayed with me. One of those “Buddhist” teaching is to be in the moment. Jim showed me how to be. He did it by eating a peach. When Jim ate a peach, he ate a peach. I almost felt that I ate the peach with him.
Thank you, Jim, for being part of this lifelong journey.
Leonard.
There is nowhere to go, for we are already here.
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