Provocations

Paul Hawken puts the wonder into perspective

A quote for the season:

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television.

- Paul Hawken, to the Class of 2009, University of Portland

David Simon's 'The Wire' lays it bare

Still think there might be some value to "the war on drugs"? I challenge you to watch this video and still have some justification for that thought.

Think the war on drugs is BS but can't articulate very clearly why? Watch this video.

Wonder why inner-city stuff seems predictable and stuck? Wonder what's going on in the "world's most livable city" - Vancouver - where every few days a gang member is killed?  How will that end up?

Who really cares?

Sick of reading stats and hearing platitudes?

Watch this video. It's well-presented.

Then, you may well decide to watch the second half.

"When television history is written," one critic says, "Little else will rival 'The Wire.'"And when historians come to tell the story of America in our time, I'll wager they will not be able to ignore this remarkable and compelling portrayal of life in our cities.  - Bill Moyers.

OK. Enough said.

James Lovelock on planetary and human survival

Quote for our times:

For the first time in its 3.5 billion years of existence, the planet has an intelligent, communicating species that can consider the whole system and even do things about it. They are not yet bright enough, they have still to evolve quite a way, but they could become a very positive contributor to planetary welfare.

- James Lovelock

Full interview

Joe Bageant interview: US working class and the state of the nation

An interview with Joe Bageant, my favourite commentator on the US scene:

'Class' with Joe Bageant from Australian Broadcasting Corporation on FORA.tv

More from Joe:

• Why so many in the USA have such strange and irrational attitudes towards guns
• Joe Bageant thinks out loud "from the Cheap Beer Zone"
• Where young US liberals get their news
• Television has no effect?
• Joe's blog

Russia invades Georgia - a look behind the obvious

So, where do you stand on the Russian invasion of Georgia? The mainstream media have had no problem in telling us where they think we should stand and, on the face of it, framing the Russians as the baddies is a natural. However, if you'd like to take six minutes and look a little deeper, this talking head (Pablo Escobar) video does a pretty good job of adding a little depth and perspective.

Stepping into the unfamiliar

Here in the northern hemisphere, we're in the "rolling along" time: looking for opportunities to enjoy the sun; taking a break or holiday; enjoying the long days . . . even the tv shows are in re-run mode. When September comes, for many it's time to get serious: a more intense work cycle begins. 

I'm a web designer and September-October is the time when many of my clients take a breather from an active summer, providing those leisure opportunities for many, and update and re-focus their business and their web site.  Whether summer is active or leisurely, autumn is often a time for change.

Today I received my regular e-mail from a friend in Australia who runs The Institute of Heart Intelligence.  Here are a few suggestions from Nicholas de Castella for stepping into the unknown or unfamiliar and the change that comes with it:

1. Don’t get lost in the stories.
Feel into and under the stories to the emotion and stay with those feelings until they pass.
2. Distinguish between scary and dangerous.
90% of our fears are actually quite harmless. (Few people have died from the number one fear - public speaking).
It is helpful to realise that most fears are harmless and therefore having fear of doing whatever is not a good enough reason not to do it.
3. Take action in the face of fear
Don’t wait until you have no fear before you do something new.
Instead, develop the habit of turning and facing what you are afraid of. When you turn and face directly what you are afraid of, the fear will often vanish.
4. Listen to and trust your heart
The only way you are going to be living the life you are meant to live is if you are being honest with yourself and following your heart.
One of the greatest acts of love you can give to those around you is for you to be real and honest with them.
5. Be willing to fail
Mistakes are things you do, they are not who you are.
They are not proof that you are unlovable or unworthy. A mistake is when you get a result you do not expect. Mistakes are learning opportunities. They are only a problem if you do not learn from them. Mistakes are part of every learning process. The most common way to try to avoid mistakes is by not doing anything - which is the greatest mistake of all.
6. Drop Rackets
Rackets are excuses you make up for not taking responsibility for your life.
Our minds are very creative at making up excuses when we are afraid of doing something. Some common rackets are: ‘Its not my fault’, ‘I couldn’t make it’, ‘I don’t know how’... Rackets keep you stuck and dis-empowered. Take responsibility for your life and make what you want happen.
7. HELP!
If you are stuck or blocked you probably need to get some help from someone else.
Look at successful people and most of them have a whole team (or army) behind them, helping them out with aspects that are outside of their area of specialty. The way to get empowered is to learn new knowledge and develop new skills (including learning how to delegate tasks).
8. Go to it
It takes more energy to think about it than to do it.
Whatever it is that you want to develop, start today. Phone someone, get some more information, find out where to go and get the ball rolling. There will never be a better time than now to start taking action. The way you climb a mountain is with one step in front of the other. Even small steps mean you are heading forward.

Netroots: Is Obama's campaign representing or absorbing new thinking?

In US politics, fresh, new, movements tend to get sidelined or absorbed into one of the mainstream parties.  Barack Obama has used the new tools but is he representing the new thinking?

Diminishing role for airports because of growing effects of fuel prices and climate change

It's becoming very hard to avoid facing the fact that we are in an era of major and unavoidable change. Stuck ideas are shaking loose, even among those who relatively recently saw Climate Change and Peak Oil as speculative fantasies.  The ride is getting rougher and we'd better be thinking out of the box because the box is disappearing. One "small"(?) example, significant also because it's published in a fairly conservative mainstream newspaper:

Two factors mean the end of air travel as we know it
Published 17 Apr 2008 by the Vancouver Sun

The world is starting to be affected by the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil, but many involved in transportation planning are looking the other way. Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl say that planning around airport development is folly for cities.
..................................................................................

Britain's Stockholm Institute at the University of York back in 2004 identified increased air travel as one of the most serious environmental threats facing the planet. It recommended travellers be required to use public transit to access airports and that they use rail for any journey under 400 miles.

Carl Honoré on his new book on parenting, Under Pressure

I heard an interview with Carl Honoré about his new book on contemporary parenting, Under Pressure".  It makes a natural follow-up to the consideration of the success of the Finnish school system.  Here's Carl introducing himself and his new book:

Amory Lovins: The Markets

A quote for investors and right-wing ideologues:

The markets make a good servant but a bad master, and a worse religion.  - Amory Lovins

(His clients include Anglo American, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Monsanto, Royal Dutch / Shell,  Wal-Mart, Westinghouse and Xerox)