“We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it.”
This video by the Huffinton Post, Edmonton, showcases a homeless man playing a beautiful piece on the piano. The homeless are not that different from us, it is only a question of degree, the door separating the homeless from the rest of mainstream society may be only one degree of separation, the difference between surviving and thriving, the difference between collapsing because of a personal tragedy and having the capacity to transcend.
Never has it been more important, with the age of the Internet and social media, to critically listen, read and think about our information sources. This video by Andrew Nikiforuk, tells his story about the pipeline story--the story the press doesn't cover (the underlying economics). He mentions two references you may find interesting, Terry Lyn Karl's the Paradox of Plenty and Harold Innis, The Staples Theory.
One of my colleagues, Yuill Herbert, has talked about mapping the DNA of sustainability. For me, the most crucial DNA is the social imperative and this video on Lonleliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection offers some startling data on loneliness and health. It teases out characteristics of loneliness, isolation and how as a social species, biologically programmed for connection. There are three levels to connection--intimate, social and collective.
January 28, 2014
We have yet to mobilize meaningful social action on many key environmental issues, especially climate change action. Perhaps the time is ‘ripe’ to employ the fun theory to the way we communicate, especially our research outcomes and community engagement. For example, in one of our MC3 case studies, Eagle Island, Tarah Stafford used fun as an engagement technique and successfully mobilized her community around energy efficiency.
The figure below displays the changes in Canadian age demographics over the last forty years, showing that the median age has increased from 26.2 in 1971 to 40 in 2012. The graph shows overall increases in populations of people age 40 and above, where the population of younger adults (20 to 39) has levelled and numbers of youth and infants (19 and less) have decreased. We can clearly see our population is aging, but what does this mean for future Canadian communities?
I haven't been blogging as regularly as my beloved mother fell ill on February 27th and died March 26th. As one of my colleagues said, Ann, you know have fulll autonomy, and even though I am in my sixites, it is a novel and frightening place. As I said in my eulogy to my beloved Mother, we thought we had more time, she would never die, and we took her for granted, for we so we loved you.
Socrates emphasized knowing one’s self, introspection, but modern society needs more outrospection. The ultimate art form for outrospection is empathy. Why is empathy important? Because empathy can be part of the art of living well, it allows us to be more creative thinkers, it can improve our relationships, and possibly contribute to a revolution of human relatedness.
In an article I just read by Margaret Wheatley, she asks two critical questions.