Tag: environment

Global Resources and Challenges for 2016 ©

Posted on by kathiemm

guest author: Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.

The new calendar year is upon us . . . in every sense of the word!  We use the New Year as an opportunity for renewal — a chance for a fresh start. We leave behind the accumulate residue of the past year, and respond now with a blank slate of possibilities — an imagined vision of what could be . . . “If only.”  Yes, it is the “If only,” constraining us and inspiring us.  I once wrote a wisdom bite:  “If!  A two-letter word, simple in sound, profound in consequence.”

So here we are!  Wanting a new start, but clear we have much unfinished business from last year.  There is wisdom in knowing the challenges we face, for life is never free of them. It is also useful to know the resources we possess, even if they may be inadequate to the task. It is useful to explore the dynamics of resource-challenge relations.  There will always be tradeoffs and compromises, and these are disappointing. Yet, they constitute a reality that cannot be ignored.  So what does 2016 look like from the resource-challenge perspective?

ResoursesAnInterdependentConfluenceOfEvents

In my opinion, there are reasons for fear, and reasons for hope.  Has it ever been anything different? Hasn’t history shown us each age was filled with its challenges and resources? Yes, this is true.  But what is different this year – 2016 – is the “global stage” in which the challenges and resources are being tested and contested. We are unprepared for the magnitude of stage.  And, the problem is resources are always fewer in number than challenges. But is their power less?

There is something noble and inspirational about the willingness to assert human and environmental dignity and worth via various resources.  There is something noble about joining causes to bring positive changes.  This may be the most important thing! It is hard to speak of the nobility of the human spirit when we consider the widespread abuses and insults human have engendered.  But perhaps the “process” of responding to challenges reminds us of the essence of life itself – a felt force seeking and pursuing, not only survival, but growth, development, and becoming.  Go for it!

Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822.

Show, by your actions, that you choose peace over war, freedom over oppression, voice over silence, service over self-interest, respect over advantage, courage over fear, cooperation over competition, action over passivity, diversity over uniformity, and justice over all.

What is a patriot?

Posted on by kathiemm
Pikes Peak from the Garden of the Gods. Photo by Mark Gallagher, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

(Pikes Peak in Colorado was the inspiration for the song America the Beautiful.)

According to the Miriam Webster online dictionary, a patriot is a person who loves and strongly supports or fights for his or her country. That means I’m a patriot.

I love my country, particularly its courageous survivors:

*the rolling hills and mountains not yet sheared off by mining companies, still there to be climbed with joy,

*the gracious ancient forests not yet cut down for logging or building, still there yielding shade and replenishing our air,

*the enticing hills and valleys, not yet torn apart through fracking, still home to countless flora and fauna to elate our eyes and ears,

*the lakes and rivers not yet polluted by ruthless despoilers, still gifting us with the foundation of life.

I strongly support my country, particularly

*our basic Constitutional structure, with its balance of powers, and basic rights and assurances–which include freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion but not a right to carry automatic weapons and multiple rounds of ammunition into schools and other public places,

*today’s Constitution, which, unlike its earliest version, recognizes that people of color and women are people too, but says nothing, I would argue, about corporations being people with human rights,

*the millions of my compatriots who speak out against the destruction of our environment and the corruption of our Constitution by a tiny power elite that can elect and buy many (but not all) politicians.

I fight for my country. I do that by

*speaking out against the warmongers, war profiteers, and destroyers of social justice

*contributing to many of the groups that fight to rescue what is left of our natural environment

*writing this blog.

Please join me in this form of patriotism.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

The unpublicized victim of war

Posted on by patdaniel

“Though mankind has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war.”  –United Nations

Tuesday November 6 is International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. First designated by the U.N. General Assembly in 2001, this day each year offers an opportunity to consider the many ways in which war and the environment are inextricably intertwined:

  • Armed conflict, as well as weapons production and testing, lead to environmental pollution and other forms of ecological devastation.
  • Wartime tactics include deliberately targeting ecosystems (e.g., draining marshland or burning cropland) to inflict pain on the opposition and gain military advantage.
  • Military use of fossil fuels is a prime contributor to climate change.
  • Conflicts over natural resources (e.g., oil, water and minerals) are leading causes of war.
  • Profits from the exploitation of natural resources are used to fund armed conflicts.
  • Prevention of war requires protection and stewardship of environmental resources.

Engaging Peace has explored many of these issues in previous posts:

  • The U.S. war in Iraq has left a trail of environmental devastation and adverse health impacts for survivors.  (For example, see post on Fallujah.)
  • The U.S. military is the single biggest contributor to global warming pollution. (See 2011 Earth Day post).
  • Resource extraction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo fuels rebellion and relies on child labor.
  • Nuclear war has the potential to annihilate entire populations of people and wildlife, poisoning their ecosystems for generations.
  • Efforts to unite the peace and environmental movements recognize that preventing war helps to preserve the environment–and vice versa.

A healthy ecosystem and access to natural resources are necessities for a peaceful world. Likewise, eliminating war would significantly impact the health of the planet.

How might your own peace activism embrace the goals of environmental activism?

Dr. Pat Daniel, Managing Editor of Engaging Peace

As protests by millions continue (Quaker reflections, Part 1)

Posted on by kathiemm

[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison:  Today we welcome guest author Jean Gerard, a long-term Quaker pacifist and activist, who worked for the Nuclear Freeze Movement, Women Strike for Peace, and Sane, among other anti-war and pro-peace activities. This is the first of several posts containing her reflections on current and historical trends in peace activism.]

Moroccan protests
Moroccan protest photo by Magharebia; used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Over a period of little more than a year, several national movements in the Middle East have succeeded in displacing dictators, bringing one into an international court of justice.  In other nations authoritarian resistance has been more invulnerable.

The ultimate results are not yet clear as protests by millions continue in spite of great loss of life.

“Occupy Wall Street” was undoubtedly encouraged by these massive protests of young jobless Middle Eastern revolutionists. Beginning  first in New York City, Occupy Wall Street spread rapidly across the country –  “occupying” many public spaces from coast to coast.

As winter weather made camping outdoors more difficult and groups living temporarily in public spaces were ousted by police forces, the movement has temporarily fallen out of media attention, but is still functioning in a reflective mode, waiting for spring.

General “liberal” opinion is that the movement will re-emerge better organized and focused. I, like many others, wait with desperate anticipation, for I am deeply engaged in its success.

Most of my life I have worked for peace and justice causes. I taught college classes in both California and Japan, and tried to prod students into learning about and understanding the world and its many problems.

Despite efforts by teachers and community organizers everywhere, the problems have seemed to worsen and we see too little evidence of positive change. Over-population, rapid technological development, environmental hazards, successive wars one after another, and lagging support for public education have continued for so long that problems have blown up in all our faces.

Even the smallest and most remote of human groups are now brought so close together that they are drawn into conflict faster than they can understand what is happening.