From a muted sunsent to the outbreak of good sense

The muted sunset of 2010 gathers in the west and then we turn to look east in the hope of seeing a spectacular sunrise marking the beginning of an equally breath-taking 2011.

Hope will be insufficient if 2011 is to be something better than the year about to end, as more than that along with good intentions is needed.
The latter, it has been said, pave the road to hell and so if the year ahead is to be pivotal for humanity we will need to abandon our expansive way of living; the seeming dislike we have of the other; our misplaced distrust in science; our love for addictions that are blatantly fallacious, along with disturbing superstitions many abide by that contribute nought to humanity’s wellbeing; and the perverse belief that force will resolve any disputation.
We simply cannot allow 2011 to be a year of more of the same – the time for chat, research, reports, talk-fests and the seemingly never-ending referral of matters to committees is gone.
The year ahead needs to be one of commitment; we need to commit to limiting our greenhouse gas pollution; we need to commit to a more restrained way of living with our governments leading the way to help us to build self-reliant communities; we need to commit to learning about, understanding and introducing a steady-state economy in which we abandon the growth ideology and embrace a paradigm that is about quality as opposed to quantity; we need to commit to thoughtful reasoning about humanity’s place in the universe accepting that we are here by chance and that in itself being such a beautifully wondrous thing that we should celebrate life and stop the perplexing passion we have for slaughtering each other.
Other things I’d like to see here in 2011 – an understanding and embrace of true equality; a serious move toward republicanism; the erosion of misogynistic religions, in fact the complete shift away from religions allowing for a genuinely secular state; and the outbreak of good sense to see alcohol, our most socially damaging legitimately available drug, take the same route as smoking.