Harold Jarche

It wasn’t that long ago that politicians and some scientists were saying that global warming was only a half-baked theory. We now know that we’re going to be completely baked, and Al Gore’s Nobel Prize shows that the world understands.

Dave Pollard created this graphic showing the vicious circle of our industrial/corporate systems and how a more natural approach to work, education and communities is achievable, though difficult.

One of the major causes of global warming is corporatism, or the drive to keep making and selling more stuff, no matter what the cost to the world. Our communities (commuting in cars) and our schools (no critical thought allowed) reinforce corporatism. I believe that there is a true desire to get away from work as indentured servitude, education as propaganda and communities as holding pens. We just don’t know how to do it.

I commented on Dave’s post that some change at the local level has already started:

I see it in the small things, but there is a hunger for a more natural way of life. For example, a young couple recently bought a small farm here, with the idea that in several years it could help spark a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement. They presented this idea to a few families and within a month our Sackville CSA was born, with 20 families enrolled. The operators were amazed at their success and next year we will have 60 families.

We should look to the younger generation for the energy and then help them surmount the barriers with our business experience.

Is the industrial economy starting to crack and are we ready with alternative models and a shared vision?

There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

Leonard Cohen

Filed under: Communities