Last Updated 3-17-07.

Saving our planet will not be easy. Our addictions to waste and consumerism are too deeply ingrained in our culture and out land-use patterns. The longer we wait, the less will be the chance that we can save our planet and the greater will be changes for high-tech killer violence. This problem is just facing the US, but all the nations around the world. It is the US that is the most inefficient user of our planets resources. China and India unfortunately have caught our disease of waste and consumerism and will soon exceed us as they engage in galloping development.

We have to change the way people think before we can make progress. Blaming others will not help. We have to help people broaden their perspectives and not become overwhelmed by the many diverse lifestyles. It will be necessary to provide incentives for conserving fuel, water, clean air, and other resources. To support such socioeconomic changes, habits, normative behaviors, and governing principles, there will have to be much discussion in a free press and electronic media. Distortion and lies will abound and enlightened leadership is essential.

EGO AND SPIRITUALITY

The judging and blaming of others seems to be a natural trait in which humans get involved. It is found especially among those raised in patriarchal tribal societies that place great emphasis on maintaining the HONOR of the family. The tribal patriarchs head the systems of justice and retribution for each family rather than relying on, and being committed to, a state system that maintains a fair and equitable system of justice.

For example, in America, a street gang provides a sort of tight little supportive community for those teens that see little hope of succeeding in competition for jobs and acceptance by peers in the mainstream of society. Police become their enemy and rap songs focus on strengthening their own identity and pointing out who the enemy is. To solve the problem of teens absorbing gang member identities and loyalties, society has to provide the opportunities and training to help route them toward promising careers and acceptance within mainstream communities. This is attempted through sports activities and special school environments, special interest clubs and the like wherein achievement is well coordinated with the students natural skills and future careers. Yet, the present administration has been cutting funding to such programs.

How do individuals respond to the need for security and a clear identity? For the lucky young person, a favorite teacher, coach, scout leader, mentor, parent, or friend becomes internalized in our mind and replaces the early care-giver as a role model for broadening one's perspective. Among those Christians who follow the teachings of Jesus, the ultimate care-giver is an internalized Jesus, who guides followers to forgive others and not to judge and blame others. Unfortunately, many who call themselves Christians seem not to follow Jesus, but are caught up in a rampant individualism fueled by a fearful ego. We learn about care givers who function from broad perspectives from Bible stories and other activities (youth trips, ceremonies, and the like) and in spiritual communities (congregations) that help broaden our perspectives. The ego tries to manage the self, its identities, and security as the child matures. In doing so the ego often separates concepts and ideas into classes and categories. This segments reality and people often become committed to narrow simplistic perspectives.

Misfortunes in relationships with others can lead to blaming the other, and/or fearing and hating a class of others. Sometimes others do cause problems, but attributing cause should consider reasons behind the cause and lead to communication that clears up any misunderstandings. Judging others often leads to social segmentation and is the opposite of what the ultimate care-giver wants people to do. If we act with true and sincere compassion to others, even others who have different ethno-religious backgrounds, we see them as human beings like we are and we learn about their culture. In this way our perspectives are broadened and we can share their joys and sorrows. That is why acting with caring and compassion rather out of fear and jealousy builds strong communities. In sum, compassion leads to broader perspectives which leads to reducing fear. It helps one climb, what Karen Armstrong calls, "The Spiral Staircase" of ever deeper relationships. At the top of the staircase is a working relationship with the Ultimate Caring Other - Jesus, Muhammad, Moses, just the Divine. Climbing the staircase is the essence of what is meant by the term "Spiritual".

The spiritual side of one's life includes deep feelings, often rooted in unconscious memories. Spirituality relates the feeling side of life to the ideals and goals that are internalized from care-givers, past and present. This side of life must be separated from the fears and dislikes, planning and actions of the ego. Yet, in a national culture that places high value on individuality and self assurance, consumerism and reliance upon status symbols, it is difficult to transcend the ego. Meditation exercises are one skill that is helpful in freeing oneself from the bounds and fragmented mindset of the ego. Relating to the spirit of Jesus, joins people together in supportive communities. It provides a holistic perspective that draws people together. Spiritual leaders are few and far between and include those such as a pastor who is close to his followers, a President such as Lincoln, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other charismatic leaders. Can humans override or subjugate their ego for long enough intervals to relate to and communicate to such leaders and ultimately, to the God within, or His son Jesus, who is easier to internalize?

I feel that it is important to get the churches, mosques and synagogues involved to help spread the word of the coming disaster and helping update interpretations of the sacred books so that people will be easier to lead in constructive responses to waste, inefficiency, and the ego-dominated consumerism that is the driving force in our present way of life. The Muslim faith developed seven centuries after Christianity got its start and therefore their experiences with acquisition, consumer-based identities were real. One of the five pillars in their faith is almsgiving. and being charitable to the disadvantaged. In the absence of bureaucratized social service agencies which we rely upon in the US, the Muslim community gives considerably more per capita to charitable services. It is unfortunate that some of the charitable organizations have been infiltrated by terrorist groups, but this will end when peace comes to the Middle East.

In the Middle East as in the US, many religious clerics, Christian and Muslim, lack the knowledge and will to broaden perspectives of their followers. Instead, they select passages from the sacred books that cater to regression to literal simplistic interpretations, that generate hatred of those who have broader perspectives. Followers with narrow perspectives, in parochial and often patriarchal groups, are prone to violent reactions, against family planning gay rights in the US, and women’s rights and progressive ideas in the Middle East.

Progressive Muslims and Christians are increasing involved in interfaith meetings and this is a sign of hope. For example, the patriarchal tribal cultures that preceded the coming of Islam still persists in the Middle East and having many sons are valued to help support the family and especially the grandparents in their old age. Yet, in America where assimilation occurred within three generations for many families, the birth rate was lowered and grand parents are now thinking about living in retirement facilities. In Europe where assimilation has not been as rapid, this cultural change is taking longer. I separate the tribal phenomenon from religion since it has been part of the general culture for over two thousands of years.

THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO THINKING

One question that came to my mind is that scientists who work with complex systems, such as: weather prediction models, economic models, and simulating the motions of an aircraft flying through turbulent air, separate the whole system into components to measure aerodynamic forces, populations, savings and investments, and many other variables. Then, when they develop computer models for use in predicting outcomes of the separated system components, they must recombine the effects of all the components correctly so that their simulation is accurate and replicates the overall system responses in the real world. It seems very difficult for specialized scientists to change their manner of thinking from a technical mode of classifying and separating systems to a holistic form of thinking when working with human and societal systems. Many socialistic communities avoided the spiritual aspects of every human's life and failed because their recombined system did not satisfy the relational - spiritual needs of every human. In a Section on "Hardwiring of The Brain,..." in my E-book Reality and Faith I discuss how every human seeks relationships with caring others throughout their lives - individual self sufficiency notwithstanding.

To understand this hardwired seeking, it helps to remind one how they felt upon meeting a new friend who feels like a soul mate. I believe that such a deep and rapid feeling of relationship as that upon meeting a soul mate occurs partly at the unconscious level. This level is where ones soul exists. The soul, in my view, is closely related to the early relationship to a caring mother and remains in the unconscious to provide the motivation to climb the "spiral staircase" throughout one's life until one has found the ultimate caring other, the ultimate soul mate.

Another question is the idea of Competition. Competition is an ego thing. Tribes competed for land, access to crops and hunting grounds, and control of their environment. They focused their competitive energies on protecting their turf. Such was primarily the concern of men in the tribe. The question is how do we, especially in the West, control competition to make it constructive instead of divisive? In a consumerist society, competition leads to bottom-line thinking and selfishness. It fuels the ego side of life.

The foregoing concerns have brought our postmodern world to the abyss. Global warming, the spreading of drought, and the pollution and lack of good water and air, overpopulation, youth who lack access to good role models and see little hope of a satisfying future, and regressive fundamentalist reactions to the increasing complexity of postmodern consumerist societies all interact to bring us toward the abyss.

A book that is very relevant here is: The Good Society by Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen, William Sullivan, et al. It focuses on defining institutions and the need to change institutions. It includes a good description of applied social science merged with individual and community action, conversation, expanding pluralist perspectives, and the like. Chapter 3, The Political Economy: Market and Work, written over 16 years ago, includes much discussion about the decline of a public economy, indirect consequences of private economic activities, consumption and the like.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO SAVE OUR PLANET?

Each of the foregoing can be alleviated or ameliorated, if the world population is given a chance to become well informed and given the political power to overcome the distortion, lies, and misinformation spread by corporate interests wedded to the bottom line and narrow-minded political leaders. The last empire, America, seems to be dependent on a politico-economic ideology that says, the free market process by itself will match supply with demand, yet they have become dependent upon advertising, competition, and competitive sports to motivate increasing a form of demand that is wasteful and superficial. Immoral music, literature, movies and television are used to further create demand and addict humans to inhumane exploitation. These so-called art forms must be regulated.

In early, 2007 the American Psychological Association released findings of a study that points out how American girls have been sexualized. An executive summary is accessible at their web site: [http://www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualizationsum.html]. Many girl pathologies - eating disorders, low self esteem, and depression - can be linked to obsession about body image and objectification of themselves. Their report ends with good and useful resommendations on: Positive Alternatives to the Sexualization of Girls, and others on: public awareness and policy, education and training. There is much that religious communities can do in this important area of public policy.

Owning a trophy home and a large SUV does not display an authentic, well-founded personal identity. Identities must be based upon serving the needs of others by educating them to broaden perspectives in a diverse globalizing world and working together with them rather than exploiting them. By helping others and working with them, one reaps human rewards of shared joy. Automation has reduced much of the satisfaction with work that the small store clerk and bank teller had. Gaining technical knowledge and applying it for the well-being of human kind and Mother Earth is satisfying. Yet when technology is used for increasingly destructive killing instruments, technology is destructive of the good life.

What is implied in the foregoing?

The American way of life contributes a very significant amount to carbon dioxide and global warming. In a world where oil is becoming scarce, it is very risky to be addicted to a way of life that consumes so much oil. To assure access to oil in the future, we have gotten into war in the Middle East, though this is seldom said by our leaders other than to say that peace in the Middle East is in our national interest. It seems that our leaders believe a wasteful high rate of consumption is essential to the health of our economy. It makes for jobs. A hundred years ago, our economy was not so dependent on manufacturing, selling and advertising jobs. In 1907, a third of our labor force was involved in agriculture. In 2004 it was less than 1.61 percent. From 1920 to 1960 40 percent were working in Blue Collar manufacturing. In 2004 it was under 12 percent. The job categories that have grown the most are finance, services, leisure and hospitality, education and health, and government jobs which in 2004 totaled 56 percent of all jobs.

Status display is an important part of presentation of self, or one's identity in an anonymous society such as ours where people in urban areas seldom know their neighbors. Owning a trophy home and/or a large SUV does not display an authentic, well-founded personal identity. An authentic personal identity must be based upon serving the needs of others by educating them to broaden perspectives in a diverse globalizing world and working together with them rather than exploiting them as we do in our consumer society. By helping others and working with them, one reaps human rewards of shared joy and builds authentic communities as Scott Peck defined them in The Different Drum and it builds social capital, described by Robert Putnam in his book Bowling Alone. Nowadays, capital in terms of manufacturing plants and technological knowledge is being supplemented by a non-competitive market type of capital that " ... refers to the investing one's energy and commitment to strengthen the norms and networks that enable collective action. Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion - social capital - is critical for poverty alleviation and for sustainable human and economic development." It can also be helpful for mobilizing popular actions for eliminating the causes of oppression and exploitation. Automation has reduced much of the satisfaction with work that the small store clerk and bank teller had. Gaining technical knowledge and applying it for the well-being of human kind and Mother Earth is satisfying. Yet when technology is used for increasingly destructive killing instruments, technology is destructive of the good life.

Implicit in the foregoing is that if we are to survive the increasing price and scarcity of gas and oil and their effect upon our economy, we have to learn to live together and build caring and compassionate relationships with our neighbors. We will have to be comfortable associating with neighbors and others on mass transit. Car-pools, park-and-ride facilities and similar gas saving schemes will have to be expanded. Higher density and high-rise buildings will be the new style. Vegetable garden plots will expand in relation to high rises. Many of these arrangements are already in existence at retirement villages such as the Good Samaritan Village where I live in South Loveland.

We need to remake our land uses to place small grocery stories on every street corner as was the case in many cities as recently as the 1950's . Families can learn to live comfortably and conveniently in high density dwellings. We need to control the immorality of the mass media and present imaginative and constructive dramas about cultural change to help people envision their future . Television, in now catering to adolescent audiences, gives the impression that working for careers, gaining an education, reading, going to meetings, and the like is not anywhere as important as finding the ideal sex partner and exploiting that partner. Sexual desire seems to dominate the few careers that appear often in prime time TV dramas, legal and medical.

High birth rates are no longer needed to counteract high death rates from disease and epidemics or to provide agricultural helpers. Our economy included a better mix of ego (self-oriented)and spiritual (serving others and self together) activities when radio did not have a quarter to a third of its program time consigned to advertising. During the economic depression of the 1930's youth were employed and given structure and training in their lives by working with the CCC and WPA. Today, we could expand the Peace Corps, National Parks maintenance workers, and AmeriCorps.

To lead our society to resolve all the problems cited above we need leaders who have a broad perspective of whole societal systems and who can account for the many varied interactions among subsystems to guide development to a holistic solution. Unfortunately, this was not the case with President G. W. Bush and his neocons.

Can a two-party political system generate the bipartisan effort to reach broad-based solutions? If politicians rely on single-issue tactics to get elected as the far right has done to the extreme, then there will be a number of very parochial minds in our legislatures (state and federal). Such minds seem to be incapable of exercising the kinds of broad-based, non-partisan perspectives that are so essential for a working democracy.

We need elected officials who have the courage to impose taxes that will act as incentives for people to switch to solar energy, reduce automobile driving and fuel consumption, have less children, and live in high density residential corridors that can be effectively served by rail rapid transit. We need to speed up research on nuclear power sources, both fission and fusion. We need to replace landscaping with vegetable gardens so that green areas are more fruitful. We need more bicycle trails tied to rail rapid transit as in Vallingby, Sweden.

The foregoing will entail huge changes in our way of life. A range of incentives will be needed to motivate such cultural changes, in the community, within the home, caring for others, and mentoring and tutoring others. Such changes will not be accomplished in a few years. But, we need to start discussing such changes now. There are many other alternatives.

Fareed Zakaria has written two articles in Newsweek magazine, Feb. 5 & 19, 2007, that preview a Post-U.S. World and Global Warming. They summarize a number of works that support the urgency of starting now to save our planet.

SIGNS OF HOPE

A sign of hope lies in Michael Lerner's book The Left Hand of God - Taking Back Our Country From The Religious Right He has done a lot of research on many of the issues that I have written about in my books and postings. The basis of spirituality and the Left-Hand of God, as I see it is being: caring, compassionate, kind, generous, working for justice at all levels, grateful, and sharing joy with those we help. In contrast, the ego-dominated style of response is involved in competitive striving to accumulate symbols of status achievement, material goods, and the like for the purpose of countering fear and insecurity. The ego style of response is common among alienated selves. It is this fear that leads the ego to seek security in power and money, and to ignore how competition harms others. Lerner implies that bureaucratic social and human services lack the interpersonal interactions that bring joy to the helper and the one helped. Most government agency care givers have too large a case load to give the joy and experience shared joy from their giving.

Another sign of hope is a new world-wide movement that aims to alert and inform people (so far about 147 groups in 12 nations) how global warming and the decline of oil as a major energy source, coupled with disastrous effects on economic systems, will force the advanced industrial-consumerist societies to learn to live in new ways, wasting and consuming less. See their web site at: [ http://www.relocalize.net/about/relocalization ].

For example, the growing of food, processing it, and transporting it to centralized grocery stores consumes a lot of energy and generates associated pollution. This does not include what the consumer expends when he or she drives to Wal-mart or Safeway, etc.. In addition, work commutes consume a lot of energy as I have already implied. Associated changes in land-use patterns will encounter great opposition in a nation that values private property rights. Canada and Sweden have it a bit easier since their cultures are a bit closer to those of other Western European nations where community needs and good planning have led to land-use patterns that are more easily served by public transit.

An example in Colorado, The Boulder Valley Relocalization organization (BVR) was the 17th such organization to be organized. It has several meetings a month wherein food growers, businessmen, horticulturists and others are involved in discussing how to prepare for the crisis and expand local provision and dissemination of essentials. Their web site has much detail and is accessible at: [www.boulderrelocalization.org].

Last week I was fortunate to hear an excellent presentation on the movement in the Senior Center of Estes Park, Colorado. It was given by Michael Brownlee, cofounder of BVR. He had already spoken to many groups and in schools. The student age group will be those who have to live most of their lives during the coming cultural transition and the earlier they understand the crisis and how best to respond, the easier it will be for them to be involved constructively in their transition.

The Boulder organization initiated a social venture - BOULDER GOING LOCAL. Business and partner organizations will launch a campaign March 15, 2007. Their goal is - Building Community Self-sufficiency, Strengthening the Local Economy.

See also similar movements in Ohio and Utah. The Ohio URL is: [http://www.ohiopeakoilaction.org/action-communitycurrencies.html]. Ohio Peak Oil Action Committee for a Just, Sustainable, and Sacred Planet - “Complementary currencies could become a key tool to buffer a region from the shocks caused by failures and crises in the official money system.” Ideas are from: -Benard Lietaer-

The Utah URL is: [http://www.slowfoodutah.org/main_organizations_utah.html]. Organizations in Utah including cooperatives, community resource, social action and out–reach, cooking instruction, and government agency organizations, with a common theme or aspect relating to food.

An exciting and detailed article on environmentally and animal sensitive farming appeared, surprisingly, in the January 23, 2007 issue of Christian Century, pp. 8 & 9. It is called Barnyard Dance by Norman Wirzba. He wrote that the present farming system is "obsessed with control and maximum profit." It "relies on monocultural crop production, extensive use of fossil fuels and chemicals, massive injections of growth hormones and antibiotics, expensive capital investment, the confinement of animals, standardized production, farming practices that erode soil and deplete groundwater, and a deceptive way of calculating gains and losses." The article goes on to describe Josh Salatin's Polyface Farm in central Virginia. Salatin works in harmony with a broad knowledge of "God's Creation - plant and animal. Chefs throughout Virginia can not get enough of his eggs and meat. I recommend the article highly. There is much detail about Salatin's approach.

A good introduction to the problem is a DVD, "The End of Suburbia - Oil Depletion and The Collapse of the American Dream" (78 Minutes). I recommend it highly. See Comments by Ken Franklin at: Comments. In line with Franklin's and my concern over population growth, is an article in the October 2006 Smithsonian (p. 96). It is by Joel Garreau 300 Million and Counting.

An excellent article by Jay Wrolstad updates research on Growing A Bio-Based Future and he doesn't mean corn. It appears in the Cornell Engineering Magazine for Fall 2006 (pp. 22-25). The following web sites supplement info in the Cornell article.

[http://www.aben.cornell.edu/WalkerLab/index.htm] About: the lead Professor: Dr. Larry J. Walker and Director of The Northeast Sun Grant Initiative.

[http://www.nesungrant.cornell.edu/]

NOTE: The following are quotes from the foregoing websites.

The Sun Grant Initiative is a concept to address America's energy needs and revitalize rural communities with land-grant university research, education and extension programs on renewable energy and biobased, non-food industries.

The Northeast Region Sun Grant Initiative partners are taking important strides in industrial biotechnology, agricultural biotechnology, and the development of biobased "green" products. The Sun Grant Initiative programs hold the potential to bring a second green revolution to the USA and the Northeast Region rural communities by reaching into the intellectual and research capacity resources of our nation's great land grant institutions to address America's energy needs.

The SunGrant Mission

*Enhance national energy security through development, distribution and implementation of biobased energy technologies;
*Promote biobased diversification and environmental sustainability of America's agriculture;
*Promote opportunities for biobased economic diversification in rural communities.

Agriculture can contribute greatly by producing feedstocks for production of fuels, electrical power, lubricants, plastics, solvents, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, building materials, and numerous other biobased products. This biobased shift would reduce our reliance on petroleum-based products.

Motivation for Transition to a Biobased Economy

*National Energy Security: Biobased fuels that can be produced within the United States will decrease our dependence on foreign sources of petroleum.
*Economic Development: New industries will be created in the production, processing, and manufacturing of biobased products.
*Environmental Quality Preservation: Use of biofuels will reduce greenhouse gas production.
*Science and Technology are Ready!: Recent advances in molecular biology, genomics, and nanobiotechnology provide the tools for significant advances for a transition to a biobased economy.