ECOLOGICAL INTERNET: NOTHING LIKE IT ON EARTH, FOR EARTH 2009 50K Mid-Year Fund-Raiser Update: $5,060 raised from 83 donors, when matched 20% to goal. Please donate now to support continued Earth Meanders and all Ecological Internet does: http://www.climateark.org/shared/donate/ ****************************************
EARTH MEANDERS 2.0 Radical Idealism: Come Home to Gaia Let me tell you about the birds and the bees, and the flowers and the trees. THEY ARE ALL DYING. Global grassroots protest action -- informed by ecological science, impassioned by green rage, and dedicated to sufficient policies to achieve global ecological sustainability -- our last best chance, together, to avoid ecocide. June 4, 2009 By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet Earth Meanders come from Earth's Newsdesk, http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/ http://www.ecoearth.info/earthmeanders/ FOREWARD: For the past two months Ecological Internet has been micro-blogging on Twitter http://twitter.com/ecointernet (as well as at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ecological-Internet/84943913664 on Facebook) regarding requirements for ecological sustainability. Being forced to capture complex ideas in 140 characters has been good for our biocentric writing by enforcing brevity. Ends up the series of one-liners string together relatively well to present a compelling vision of what is necessary to protect Gaia and our beings. >From these terse pronouncements comes a sense of planetary urgency. As we >ponder whether there are enough funds for Ecological Internet to continue to >use the Internet to facilitate global ecological sustainability, and consider >cutting back or every closing (and whether our "public radio" type funding >appeals remain a viable funding method), this twitter compilation is one means >to make a compelling case for you to support our unique brand of global >grassroots eco-advocacy. Your support broadcasts such biocentric thought and action 24/7 to an ecologically hungry world -- as our portals and writings are used and read by several million people a year. Please enjoy this essay and donate now at: http://www.climateark.org/shared/donate/ . Together we will make it. For Earth, Dr. Glen Barry http://www.ecoearth.info/staff/glen.asp **************************************** (EARTH) - Gaia. Earth is alive. Biosphere is self-regulating. Interactions between ecosystems make Earth habitable. Gaia once vibrant is in mid-death swoon. Humans. Are killing. Gaia. Earth is faced with global ecological collapse, this is an unprecedented emergency, and threatens major upheaval and death of all. Wake up you bloody fools. Earth is dying. We are losing our habitat. Humanity is in deep shit as Earth well past carrying capacity. We and all Gaia's creatures are heading for mass extinction. Radical idealism that profoundly transforms humanity's relationship to natural being is the cure to ecocide. Things are not as they ought to be. Humans dismantle natural ecosystems that are their habitats because they like making money more than truth, justice, equity and continued shared being. We spew into our air, excrete into water, piss in our oceans and foul the land for a pocket full of mumbles and throw-away consumer junk. All but a few are able to overcome their childhood indoctrination and limited lifespan to see this is not how life was meant to be, that humanity has morphed into a disease upon Gaia. Yet as our atmosphere collapses, water grows dear, and extreme poverty epidemic; more are realizing that something has gone dramatically wrong with the human project. Gaia, the Earth System, is alive and self-regulating. Gaia is a super-organism, and as such can die. There is no guarantee of continued evolution after ecosystem collapse. Being can end. Humans are one with Earth and as goes Gaia's health goes ours being. Being is fragile. The biosphere is a thin mantle of life upon otherwise lifeless rock. These ecosystems are more than resources, they give life. All Gaia's life including us is crashing. Humans appear hell-bent to destroy life's biological foundation. Earth going bad with industrial agricultural, dead oceans, strip malls, toxic cocktail, climate weirding and logging old forests. Pandemic disease stalks an overpopulated, poverty wracked and ecologically devastated Earth. Factory farms breed disease sold as food. All must change, be restored. Global inequity in wealth and standard of living is evil. Malignant consumerism devours Earth's being and the only profits to be seen are false. About 2 billion live on under $2/day and 2 billion in relative opulent luxury. These disparities are unsustainable and must end. Our and all creatures' being imperiled as human disease overwhelms all naturalness. Ecological fabric of being unraveling, daily news full of ecosystems failing, yet few put it together. We and our planet are needlessly dying now. Over-consumption from ecosystem liquidation by some while others starve root cause of ecosystem collapse, war and injustice Continued being depends upon escalating protest action. For humanity's shared survival we must broaden our sphere of love and emotional support to include Gaia, all her creatures and the human family. Time for action is now. There is nothing wrong with Earth System that a good healthy dose of radical idealism can't fix. It's simple: humanity cutting and burning Earth to death. These practices must end. We can and must stop coal, logging, tar sands, industrial agriculture, war and poverty. There exists a global ecological imperative to protect and restore whole Earth as our garden. Either you are committed to stopping ecocide or you are the problem. Only road to ecological sustainability is immediate industrial powerdown , and ecological protection and restoration. Time to level with global citizens -- fighting climate change raises energy prices and requires substantial personal sacrifice. The option is apocalyptic planetary disintegration. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is an urgent planetary necessity whether or not it creates jobs as techno-optimists claim. Shame on people, and there are many, who put their opulent consumption and luxury ahead of needs of Earth and the poor. Fatal flaw in Western exceptionalism is its use as justification to overconsume. Climate change and sustainability require simpler lives. How much is enough? Most so oblivious to ecosystem collapse they will only note Earth's demise when they turn on the tap and there is no water, when there is no food, or they gasp for their last breath. Yet, even mainstream media is becoming aware that infinite growth on a finite planet can only lead to ecological collapse. But as we sit cocooned in our drugged comfort, no one is quite sure what to do about it. One third of planet lives in opulence relative to history, and their fellow one third of the human family are starving. Embrace of consumption as meaning of life -- even "communist" China -- means are eating Earth and will wake-up to toxic nightmare. A hard rain's begun to fall, and only personal transformation and social change can make it stop. Whether we continue to be or not to be is being determined now. There are already too many people living on Planet Earth. Speculative, industrial capitalism is killing the climate, the Earth and our lives. Shame on hipster poseurs and those profiting financially from global ecosystem collapse. Solutions to ecological crises will not be engineered, they come from going back to the land, restoring and living simply on an organic Earth. There can be no economy if there is no ecology. Given industrial capitalism's ravenous resource appetite, should rainforests and climate be bound to failing economic markets? It is the land, always, think of the land. So much has been lost so swiftly. We must protect the rest and restore what has been lost. Humanity's advancement screwed up by failing to realize soon enough that energy, water and land are scarce and precious. Food shortages caused by climate change, water scarcity, over-population and dead oceans are poised to bring down human civilization and perhaps eradicate all complex life. Food doesn't come from the grocery, it comes from healthy agro-ecological systems within intact climate, water and soils. There can be no economy, much less art, music, beauty or love; without healthy and abundant ecosystems. Humans are destroying our habitat. Most species know not to shit where they live -- it is time for us to relearn this as well. Where will you go when your habitat is gone and you have no water, food or air? Prophecies of global ecological apocalypse are mundane, true and imminent. Only question remains what willing to do to stop what is otherwise inevitable (or we might as well roll over and all die). Challenge is to unlearn everything we have been indoctrinated with regarding economics, politics, and religion and return to Earth, ecology, community and love. Tragic how few stop to ask why we must destroy Earth. There are other ways to live. We are but one cog in the wheel of life that is increasingly falling apart. It is NOT too late to take climate mitigation measures to avert global heating's worst, but it requires immediate and dramatic emission reduction. Continuing as are will mean assured cruel, apocalyptic end for being. Green rage at senseless end of being is no vice. Feeling Earth's pain and committing to shared survival is virtue. We need hard working, educated and organized resistance. You can feel energy building- - an ecologically informed movement willing to take sufficient actions to save being is growing. There is still time, just barely, to get back to Gaia's garden. Must pursue sufficient ecological sustainability policies; including ending coal, protecting old forests, reforming industrial agriculture and embracing energy efficiency and renewables. Measures taken to pursue global ecological sustainability by governments, business, citizens and most big NGOs are orders of magnitude insufficient. As long as we draw breath there is hope for humanity and Earth. But we must immediately reduce emissions and protect and restore all ecosystems. Either you understand growth in economies and human population are killing Earth or you don't. Even Obama thinks we can grow ourselves to sustainability. Growth in positive feedback always inevitably kills all! We need dramatic people power protests, culminating if necessary in an eco-revolution. The movement for global ecological sustainability is greatest challenge of all time. The Internet offers global citizens its last best chance to come together to take the revolutionary actions necessary to save being. Start now, or start later, but sooner or later we will protect all remaining natural habitats and assist them to regenerate. Now is the time. No time left for ecological compromise. Every little scrap of nature must be protected and helped to regenerate and expand. Survival depends on it. Governments are shirking their duty and in effect abdicating. They won't fix their climate mess. If no Copenhagen agreement, may need to be supplanted to save being. Social change to ecological sustainability begins with personal transformation and ends with informed and empowered action on behalf of being. Those that mine and burn coal and tar sands, log and use old forest timbers and over-use land, water and oceans must be compelled to stop or else. No possibility of renewable energy providing amount of energy now used, much less expected growth. Energy use must decline dramatically. Large intact natural ecosystems are required for global ecological sustainability. Earth can't exist without old forests. Old forest protection and restoration key response to all ecocrises. Their full protection and restoration is global ecological imperative or all life ends. There is no way biomass can fuel industrial society, as terrestrial ecosystems are already collapsing! It is time to seriously consider a revolutionary response to ecosystem collapse. When will enlightened free thinking global citizens coalesce to take action commensurate to the degree of threat posed by global ecological crises? What if democratic consumption unable to reform itself? What If those destroying Earth for profit won't stop? Then up to us to act swiftly and decisively. Well past time for each of us to intentionally align our very being with Earth's needs. It is well past time to go back to the land and serve Gaia and being. Time to plant, tend and defend your garden -- literally and figuratively. So much to do, so little time, for Gaia, and her humanity. The meaning of remaining life is ecological protection and restoration. First rule of transformation: stop digging. Industrial capitalism destroys ecosystems, more speculative, techno-industrialism not the answer. Well past time to let Earth rest and regenerate. When pressure removed, ecosystems recover. Today is the perfect day to start/continue your personal transformation, to be one with the Earth, that is, to feel you connection to Gaia. Reject most you have been taught about humanism and embrace ecocentrism. Have faith in Gaia and her resiliency, even as you take action to protect her, disavowing easy techno-fixes for personal and social change. The time for ever more reports, talking and seeking of consensus is done. The Earth needs passionate advocacy energy and action now or everything dies. We have choices other than allowing Gaia and humanity to die. Tomorrow we could together rush failed authority and be transformed. The Battle against climate change and movement for global ecological sustainability offer YOU the chance to have your existence matter profoundly to humanity and Gaia. Many brave folks are taking protest action to stop climate change and the whole host of related global ecological crises. It is time to coalesce into a radical, sufficient movement. Together we can make dream of global ecological sustainability, justice and equity reality by committing to escalating protest to achieve sufficient ecological policy. Should our entreaties continue to go unheard, we may need to partake in a stewardship revolution. We are fighting for our very lives folks. Pacifism fine until you realize Earth is dying and being ending. If not willing to fight for shared survival, what is worthy of a fight? Constantly marvel at miracle of creation and hope you do too. Human habitat depends upon intact, operable biosphere -- we are called to commit to protecting being. Ecologists and anti-capitalists' predictions are repeatedly right, yet ruling elite continue to exclude green thought from power and pursue economic growth at expense of life giving ecosystems. Earth system needs ambitious policy based upon ecology, protest action and if necessary a stewardship revolution. Anything less is giving up. Successful grassroots eco-activism means not waiting for government and big groups to solve problems, but you yourself learning and organizing for Earth. If you care about you and your family's water, air, food and shelter in the future, you will commit now to ecological protest to save being. It is time to usher in the era of global ecological restoration and protection. Please join movement to achieve global ecological sustainability, the most epic battle ever of good vs. evil, to ensure continued being for all life. Together, we have one last chance to save being and learn to live with Gaia and each other justly, equitably, peacefully and sustainably. Working together, global ecological sustainability starts here now. What a gratifying way to live -- in pursuit of truth and working to support Gaia and family, by which I mean humanity and all creatures. Be strong, seek knowledge and prepare to act. Earth needs courage, wisdom and love. Be, one, with Gaia. Spread the word. --- You are subscribed to ecological_internet as [email protected]. Before unsubscribing, please consider modifying your list profile at: http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/subscribe/[email protected] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] Or click here: http://email.ecoearth.info:81/u?id=84041H&n=T&c=F&l=ecological_internet To subscribe visit: http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/subscribe/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
