Independence is a big and important word in this country. A noble concept in and of itself, it reaches far and deep into the American psyche. The U.S.'s independence as a nation is supported by a rugged individualism among her people that has enabled many to do things that would otherwise be considered impossible. Accordingly, to immigrants like myself, the U.S. is known as the land of unlimited possibility in our native countries.
However, in the last century this independence, rooted in material freedom and mobility, has come at an ever-increasing cost: The dependence on fossil fuels and all the problems associated with it. From fighting wars in oil rich countries, to epic oil spills, to climate change, our ostensible emancipation from the constraints of nature that enabled us to go it alone is coming back to bite us.
In tonight's EcoAdvocates, I'd like to wander past the "dependence vs. independence" paradigm and discuss a third and perhaps middle way of how we might live in balance with the earth's ecosystem without losing our creativity and autonomy: Interdependence
Tonight's EcoAdvocates edition includes posts by citisven on how to connect with your community, Rebecca Solnit on how kindness trumped chaos in New Orleans, boatsie on where to get involved on 10/10/10 and the ongoing work to re-think, re-tool and re-skill your neighborhood, and an action alert by Jill Richardson to keep the FDA from approving unlabeled genetically engineered "Frankenfish" |
To be sure, a declaration of interdependence is no more than stating the obvious, for no matter what we do, we humans cannot survive independently of each other. We may think we are doing it all without anyone else's help — by driving to the store, picking up some food, paying with our credit card at the automatic checkout scanner, driving back into our remote controlled garage, popping the food in the microwave, then eating dinner while being entertained by the television — but we're really just fooling ourselves. Just that seemingly simple process of getting food in our tummy depends on literally thousands of processes and interactions, from getting the oil extracted to fuel and build our car, to growing and distributing the food we're buying, to powering the microwave, to producing the shows we're watching.
It is, in fact, a very complex and anonymous system of interdependence that has allowed us to revel in a false sense of independence. These very complex systems have not only sheltered us from the staggering amount of energy that goes into them but the huge mountains of waste they produce. It's only during blackouts, phone and internet disconnections, and periods of rising oil prices on an elusive world market that we realize how dependent we've really become on mechanisms that are beyond our control.
Since clearly we are interdependent creatures, not only amongst each other but in relation to all living things and beings on this planet, why not own it? Why keep that stubborn individualistic front when its hidden baggage has brought the ecosystem we depend on to the brink of collapse?
Resilience and Interconnectedness have become big buzzwords in the movement to transition to a post-carbon world, but they're really just ideas for cutting out the big, bloated fossil-fuel-pushing middlemen. They're tools for relearning and sharing valuable skills that we've been made to forget in the name of progress, and inspiration for regaining trust in our own and each others' abilities to create the kind of support system that fuels not only our bodies but our souls.
The latest issue of Yes! Magazine has a survey where you can test how resilient you are. It's a good way to see how openly interconnected your life is.
Here's the section on how hooked in you are to your community, for the purpose of this diary.
DO YOU HAVE A SUPPORT NETWORK?
Take this test to find out. Use this scale to score each stament:
1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree
- I have friends and acquaintances in my local community (and I know their faces, not just their Facebook pages).
- I am comfortable asking my neighbors if I can borrow stuff (e.g., tools, ingredients).
- I could easily call on nearby friends and neighbors for help in an emergency.
- I offer support to people in my community when they need help.
- I’m active in community groups (like neighborhood associations, potlucks, churches, soup kitchens, gardening clubs, arts organizations, or local political groups).
to do the whole test and add your scores, go here
(full disclosure: I contributed two articles to the issue, one about A Hand-Built Home and the other about Low-Impact Urban Living.)
In New Orleans, Kindness Trumped Chaos
by Rebecca Solnit
What happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is more remarkable than almost anyone has told. More than a million volunteers came to New Orleans to gut houses, rebuild, and stand in solidarity with the people who endured not just a hurricane but a deluge of Bush Administration incompetence and institutionalized racism at all levels of government, which temporarily turned the drowned city into a prison. Supplies were not allowed in by a panicky government; people were not allowed out, and a wholly unnatural crisis ensued.
Even so, an astounding wave of solidarity and empathy arose. At Hurricanehousing.org more than 200,000 people volunteered to shelter evacuees, often in their own homes. And then there were those legions of volunteers, many of them white, working in a city that had been two-thirds black.
It’s hard to say that there is a recipe for solidarity across race and class lines. During crises, the official reaction from government and media is often widespread fear—based on a belief that in the absence of institutional authority people revert to Hobbesian selfishness and violence, or just feckless conduct. Scholars Lee Clarke and Karon Chess call this fear of the public, particularly the poor and nonwhite public, "elite panic." Because these "elites" shape reaction as well as opinion, their beliefs can be deadly.
But the truth is that most people are altruistic, resourceful, and constructive during crisis. A disaster is actually threatening to elites, not because the response is selfish but because it often unfolds like a revolution, in which the status quo has evaporated.
Civil society improvises its own systems of survival—community kitchens, clinics, neighborhood councils, and networks of volunteers and survivors—often decentralized and deeply empowering for the individuals involved. What gets called recovery can constitute the counter-revolution—the taking back of power.
Perhaps the biggest question for a disaster like Katrina is to what extent this transformed sense of self and society lasts and matters: Can it be a foundation for a stronger civil society, more solidarity, and grassroots power? It has been so in many ways in New Orleans, with groups like the Common Ground Clinic—a free health clinic that was started days after the hurricane and is still going strong five years later.
One important tool for future disasters, and social change in the absence of disaster, is simply knowledge of what really happened: how many people in the hours, days, weeks and months after Katrina behaved with courage, love, and creativity, and how much they constituted the majority response. Such human capacities can be an extraordinary resource not just in crisis but in realizing our dearest hopes for a stronger society and more meaningful lives.
New Orleans will never be quite the city it was. People there lost what many of us have not had for generations: deep roots in place, a strong sense of culture, and an intricate web of social ties to family and community, whether it’s a church, Mardi Gras krewe, musical group, black social aid and pleasure club, or neighborhood group. Much was reclaimed; many returned, but some did not or cannot.
Traveling through a vibrant New Orleans not quite five years after the city was pronounced dead means understanding what dedication, will, solidarity, and love can achieve. This year of disasters—the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the volcano in Iceland, the spill in the Gulf, the floods and heat waves and droughts and rising waters—remind all of us that we are entering an era where disaster will be common and intense. Survival will be grounded in understanding our own capacity for power and resilience, creativity, and solidarity.
after 10.10.10, then what?
by boatsie
From BlackRock City's 10.10.10 HEAT THE STREET FaIRE! to the grand opening of Los Angeles' CicLAvia 7-mile carbon free zone (they aim to attract up to 50,000 Neg.CO2ers on 10/10) to Oakland's mega-mega-mega Get Down & Dirty Day of Events, there's just doubt about it... As the countdown to 10.10.10 continues, we are gaining M-0-M-E-N-T-U-M!
But, if you haven't yet thought about what you and your community could do on 10.10.10, take a look at 1BOG (One Block Off the Gird, where talking to your neighbors about forming a group for discounted solar paneling is one kool suggestion! "One Block Off the Grid gives you access to our exclusive pre-arranged group discounts on solar energy. There's no more negotiating with the installer in your living room or worrying about costly add-ons." (Here's a link to the 1bog fieldkit (you can even download some of these oh-so-annoying door hanger thing-a-majiggies.)
Actions
Sign up NOW at 350.org or 10:10 global. Find an event near you or register an event. Hang around either site for awhile and take in all the fabulous energy percolating behind the scenes.
Think Big or Different: If your involvement in 10.10 doesn't look or feel something like this ...
... well maybe you're just not doing enough or you're doing it wrong.
"10:10 right now feels a bit like this co-ordination, hard-work, flair and just a little bit of lunacy required." A recent tweet by 10:10 Global's Cian O'Donnovan
Commit to Community: Join with other members of your community in ongoing work to re-think, re-tool and re-skill your neighborhood, watershed or foodshed. For starters, download the Community Resilience Toolkit. Designed by the Bay Localize, the toolkit is adapatable guidelines to assist groups in preparing for economic and climate instability. Resources include actions to build resilience around the areas of food, water, energy, transportation and housing, jobs and economy and Civic Preparedness and Social Services. Check out the tips for adapting the toolkit to your region.
"Frankenfish" Take-Action Alert
by Jill Richardson
When the FDA announced it found the genetically engineered AquAdvantage salmon safe just before Labor Day, news headlines and even Alaska Senator Mark Begich called it a "frankenfish."
If approved, AquAdvantage will be the first genetically engineered animal to directly enter the U.S. food supply -- a fact that raises the stakes of the FDA's approval process, as it sets a precedent for all future GE animals. Because of a regulatory decision in the 1980s that no new laws are needed to regulate genetically engineered foods, the FDA is actually regulating the GE salmon as a drug.
Leave a written comment with the FDA.
The next step in the approval process will be a series of public meetings held September 19-21. Already, a number of groups, including Food & Water Watch, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Organic Consumers Association have written to President Obama, urging him to discontinue the approval process for the GE salmon.
Sign the petition to stop genetically engineered salmon from reaching your plate!
There are a few more issues for consumers to consider should the GE salmon come to market. Under current law, genetically engineered foods are not required to be labeled as such. In fact, the only labeling one can expect on a genetically engineered salmon fillet is country-of-origin labeling, which is required on most (but not all) seafood. Since all of the AquAdvantage will be produced in Panama, an uncommon location for farmed salmon, consumers can be on the lookout for -- and avoid if they wish -- salmon from Panama. The exceptions will be salmon sold in fish markets and processed salmon, such as smoked salmon, which do not require country-of-origin labeling.
For more info, read The Creepy Science Behind Genetically Engineered "Frankenfish" About to Enter Our Food Supply Unlabeled
EcoAdvocates is a new series initiated by Meteor Blades and Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, who are contributing editors. This series focuses on providing more effective political pressure and taking action on environmental issues.
Contributing writers provide a diversity of perspectives including wind/energy/climate change; water; agriculture/food; mountaintop removal mining/coal; wildlife; environmental justice; and indigenous/human rights/civil rights. Contributing writers include: Bill McKibben, Jerome a Paris, mogmaar, boatsie, Aji, rb137, Ellinorianne, faithfull, Oke, Jill Richardson, Patric Juillet, Josh Nelson, beach babe in fl, Ojibwa, Muskegon Critic, Desmogblog, A Siegel, gmoke, DWG, citisven, mahakali overdrive and FishOutofWater.