The world needs more than thoughts and words

The thoughts of a friend and the words of a writer suggest more Australians should be aware that we live in the political slums of mediocrity.

Anthony Giddens
 book, "The
Politics of
Climate Change".

Shepparton’s Alan English just recently said, “The present political noise over asylum people is a great distraction from (the) lack of policy on essential services, not to mention climate change which is being put in the too hard basket.”

Alan did not mention “the political slums of mediocrity” and nor did Anthony Giddens in his book “The Politics of Climate Change”, but both were suggesting we inhabit something of political shantytown in which the poverty of considered thought is rife.

Alan, who is among those who gather Beneath the Wisteria each month in Shepparton, is another concerned about the quality of discussion among our politicians and often writes to our local representatives airing his disquiet.

The arrival of Alan’s note coincided with the reading Giddens’ observations about the inadequacies of present day pugnacious politics in addressing the most overwhelmingly difficult problem the world community has ever faced – climate change.

Writing in his book, “The Politics of Climate Change”, the British sociologist, who has been a prolific writer, said: “One should remember that global warming is no ordinary risk. It is an awesome prospect to acknowledge that, as collective humanity, we are on the verge of altering the world’s climate, perhaps in a profound manner.”

Giddens argues that the complexity and implications of climate change exceed anything we might consider normal and so any worthwhile response supplants the usual political paradigm.

Any success we might have in countering the evolving climatic changes that will bring an array of extreme weather events, hinges on us stepping beyond our usual confrontational and point-scoring politics to reach a concordant style through which humanity can muster its resources to address a climate that is quickly slipping beyond that which is adequate for human survival.

Giddens talks about the need for societal planning at a state level, aware that such is an anathema to many, but feels a workable solution depends upon us intellectually, emotionally and physically crossing ideological boundaries.

“Responding to climate change will prompt and require innovation in government itself and in the relation between the state, the markets and civil society,” Giddens wrote.

He writes: ‘It is normal and acceptable for political parties to claim that they, rather than their opponents, are the one to turn to for firm action on global warming.

“Yet beyond a certain area, and beyond the rhetoric of immediate party politics, there has to be agreement that the issue is so important that the usual party conflicts are largely suspended or muted”.

Rather than thoughts and words we need innovative society-wide alliances free of political pretence.

 

Desperate people need help, not a cold-shoulder

I'm uncertain why people object with such vigour to new arrivals, but oddly understand it perfectly.

We need to work
 together and share.

Humans, that is you and me, are tribal by nature and inherently suspicious of any newcomer who treads upon our territory.

The complications of new arrivals have lately filled our media leaving the world with the impression that we are jingoistic and hostile and so reluctant to share our largesse with anyone not of our "tribe".

The time is past, if it ever existed, when we could shunt people off to some remote island, rather than reconsider our societal structure and make these desperate people useful members of our community.

Obviously someone from a different culture will see life in a way with which we are unfamiliar, but rather than sidestep our responsibilities and humanity, and turn to the Australian tradition to give them a "fair go".

Most, it is known fear not so much a new idea, in this case asylum seekers, rather letting go of a known and understood tradition with which they are familiar and comfortable.

Those seeking asylum are obviously of a different culture and so view life through a markedly dissimilar prism than those already here and who are embedded in the traditional Australian way.

Declarations that we should “turn back the boats” or decisions that those same people should never make it to the Australian mainland and so be redirected to Papua New Guinea are simplistic political responses from a now dead era that pamper to a misinformed and shallow electorate.

The world is full, and will become even tighter until our number begins to plateau this century at about nine or 10 billion and so if we consider ourselves responsible world citizens then we should be prepared to make room on the bus.

Writing in his 2013 book, “Population 10 Billion”, Professor Danny Dorling said: “Humans can be at their most inhumane when they use geographical borders to define how other humans can be treated”.

We enjoy something of a privileged life in Australia as it is safe, economically secure and those traits engender a sense of hope and if nothing else we should be flattered that others in the world see it as somewhere worth fleeing to.

It is simply mean-spirited and child-like to want to keep it all for ourselves for as humanity is catapulted into a wholly different paradigm with the finitude of our finite world tightening its choker-hold and the certainties of our uncertain climate evolving to become pressing realities, survival will mean sharing.

Asylum seekers should not be sent to Papua New Guinea, rather we should be integrating them in our society, managing their arrival with intelligence and compassion, and sharing what we have.

 

Judgement is irresponsible folly until you understand and accept the realities

It is both impossible and irresponsible to make a judgement about something until you understand the circumstances that gave rise to and sustain that “something”.

Shepparton's Maude St Mall.

Emotional responses to and judgements about anything are always suspect and “facts” are about as reliable as the question, who asked it and for what reason.

Beyond that, tip into the equation realities presently engulfing our world that left unattended will leave our built environment and social landscapes in disarray and unrecognisable, and the outcome is then decidedly uncertain.

Further, there are parochial contemporary troubles that appear resolvable with a quick fix that take no account of those overarching and unfolding changes.

Shepparton’s Maude St Mall has long been the heart of the city, at least in a business sense, but commercial development has, in the last decade or so, aided by compliant Local Government decisions made in a vacuum of an understanding or recognition of a changing world, leaked from the city centre.

Rather than attack the symptoms by re-opening the mall to road traffic, the city council should be looking beyond this finite issue and working to create a city that will be both viable and resilient in a world which will be different from what exists as a blink is to a wink.

When the mall was established in the ‘80s, most thought oil was plentiful and the intent was to spread out, using motor vehicles to cement communities.

Creation of Shepparton’s mall was part of a nation-wide trend that was in fact socially correct, but suffered because of powerful commercial drives and the largely unaccountable, but strangely predictable, behaviour or people

Oil and water shortages, aligned with the wild uncertainties of the world’s changing climate, say to us “Don’t re-open the mall to road traffic, rather restructure the city’s rating arrangements to allow for and encourage mixed used in areas such as the mall (that’s living and light commercial) along with a vastly better local public transit scheme linking to an enriched intra-town/city public transport system”.

Historical and contemporary evidence points to the vitality of closely settled towns and cities, producing communities that are “fine-grained”, multi-use and socially rich.

The emphasis should be on re-shaping and re-designing Shepparton to ensure that human energy, walking or cycling, is the principal method of movement, meaning that everything important on a day-to-day sense was within a 10-minute walk.

Should that be considered utopian or impracticable, consider for a moment the difficulties of maintaining the status quo with severe restrictions on oil, scant water supplies and wrestling with a damaged climate delivering both wild and unpredictable weather.

The solution is in the recognition and acceptance of the facts, and in leaving our pedestrian mall alone.

Centuries of 'doing' have blocked our escape

Easter Island's civilization
 is on that historically
 famously collapsed.

Centuries of “doing” have fostered for us a way of living from what is now nearly impossible to escape.

It is understood that the acceptance of a new idea is not what frustrates change rather it is the letting go of that with which we are familiar.

Considering that and conscious that we have become so emboldened by, and addicted to, tradition – a familiar and established way of doing – that the vitality and excitement of change is no longer attractive, interesting or inspiring, and so instead, in the extreme, frightening and so something to be avoided.

Society has changed immeasurably in the past few centuries, but those differences have always been within the relatively narrow confines of cultures driven by wants rather than needs.

The difficulty confronting humanity, particularly in the past two or three centuries but in reality for millennia, has been differentiating between wants and needs.

History is littered with examples of civilizations being sacrificed on the altar of a perverse wants, a want that could be answered only through the pointless and needless death of millions and, ultimately, the collapse of the civilization of which there were an integral part.

The current trajectory of modern life has, it seems, just one destiny; a point where the developed world will fall to its knees, exhausted, from the weight of its own largesse.

Rather than live in hypnotic-like trance in which we tirelessly pursue profit and growth in our materialistic, confrontational, consumerist world and in which happiness and contentment is at best chancy; we need to reassert fundamental human values of collaboration, sharing, generosity, friendship and a connection with nature.

Humanity’s present aspirations are perverted in that they appear unrelated to the broad betterment of people, regardless of their socio-economic standing, except, of course, for those among the super-rich minority.

Happiness is not connected, despite our present mindset, to wealth and consumption with many studies demonstrating how the relationship between happiness and wealth ends about the time our needs are answered.

Work and human wellbeing are intimately connected and yet the former has gained such primacy that the latter is left in disrepair with most of us medicating our unease through consumption.

Humans are innately social and instead of bonding through shopping, we should be investing our time and energy, and resources, into building stronger and more resilient communities in which our neighbours become our friends.

We should be advocating for public transit; sharing everything from vehicles to various house appliances and garden tools; working with neighbours to build and repair our homes and grow and share our food; re-inventing our neighbourhoods, enabling them to become places in which we live, in every sense; and, importantly, remain engaged with our fellows.

Rudd was right, but forgot to mention what really matters

Stepping back into to what is colloquially known as Australia’s “top job”; Kevin Rudd said “politics has failed Australians”.

Kevin Rudd - right, but he
 missed what mattered.

Our new Prime Minister was right, but forgot to add that it was not just politics that had faltered, but politicians themselves.

Politicians are embedded in a political paradigm that is broken; a paradigm in which there is a vacuum of ideas about encouraging Australians to prepare for a decidedly different future.

Australian’s have the opportunity on September14 (well, that is presently the date) to change that and elect people who can help us understand and make-ready for that difference.

What is missing, however, are the people, the personalities and the leaders with the intellectual athleticism and the courage to make the essential decisions we need if Australia is to endure the unfolding global differences.

Australians elect their federal representatives in September this year, but their choice, if it is that, is little more than deciding between a Jonathon or a Pink Lady –both are apples, about the same colour, taste pretty much the same and have similar nutritional value.

Irrespective of who we vote for on September 14, little will change and the dynamics of impending disasters that have the world in their thrall will continue to close in.

The agonies of the Labour Party are equally irrelevant, although it seemed Julia Gillard had some grasp on what was needed if Australia, and the world, is to puncture the envelope of difficulties in which we are trapped.

We need leaders who accept and understand the implications and complications of the world’s changing climate; who will lead us through the arising maze of difficulties it will produce; those who will change government priorities to build a country in which emphasis is on small and local; who are sufficiently independent thinkers to comprehend that the paradigm of the past is not feasible in a future in which collapse will be driven by financial disarray, burgeoning population growth, a looming energy crisis, and food and water shortages.

Questioning the effectiveness of our politicians or at least those of her home country, American finance and energy commentator, Nicole Foss, said: "The only things that are likely to come from the top down are problems, not solutions."

“Fixing this situation goes beyond politics; it requires leadership at all levels of society. But politics has a role to play. Both politicians and the electorates they serve must have the courage to enact sweeping policy changes that shift the course of the deep current, not just stir up the surface eddies”, Ms Foss said.

Our politicians continue to waste valuable time as they verbally joust about issues they consider serious, but in reality matter nought when it comes to preserving circumstances in which our communities can flourish.

Rather than worrying about digging up, using and exporting more coal; making us wealthier through financial wheeling and dealing, which by any measure is less than honest; or implicating us further in existing market systems; our politicians should be building resilience in our communities and shaping the lives of Australians in way that would allow them to endure a very different future.

Our present political trajectory driven by bickering and misunderstood wants takes us closer to the abyss, and although we demand courageous and innovative leadership we, as citizens, face an equal ultimatum.

Profit, growth and sexualization of our childredn tied together

Profit and growth are responsible for the sexualization of our children.

Melinda Tankard Reist.

That is the implication of the well-researched views of Canberra author, speaker, media commentator, blogger and advocate for women and girls, Melinda Tankard Reist.

The essence of her views is that the rude drive by companies and corporations to become bigger and more profitable combined with almost total community silence ensures our children will be psychologically damaged and grow to be equally damaged adults.

Ms. Reist, known for her work on the objectification of women and sexualization of girls and working to address violence against women, presented her thesis about the erosion of children’s values recently to nearly 100 people at the Lakeshore Church on the Sunshine Coast.

Her presentation was part of an on-going program introduced to the church by its pastor, L.T. Hopper, to engage his congregation, and others, with contemporary societal issues.

Introducing the church’s second parenting seminar, Pastor Hopper, said: “As a church we are obviously just a bunch of ordinary people who have issues that are common to everyone and so particularly as parent myself I know that I’m a bit like a beggar myself looking for crumbs when it comes to getting help when it comes to being a parent.”

In introducing Ms. Reist, he said most parents were really at a loss when confronted with the issues about to be discussed..

Her concerns were primarily about girls, but she was also alarmed how contemporary society treats boys, who she said were being raised in a “very brutal and callous version of masculinity”.

Ms. Reist began with criticism of a society that celebrates violence, but then considers fining parents who allow their children to become bullies.

She looked at the cultural landscape in which people were struggling to raise happy, healthy and resilient children and asked why is it so hard to raise children? – “It’s the toughest gig in town,” she said.

In what was probably the most daring presentation ever hosted at a church, Ms. Reist took those listening on a tour of the realities of contemporary society showing the acutely sexualized images that children are confronted with every day.

She explained how many international corporations that are either based on sex or profit from sex, portray themselves innocently, but profit handsomely from the corruption of young minds.

She argued that it was the silence of the community that allowed this perverse profiteering to continue.

Many examples of the sexualization of youth were collected by Ms. Reist in Queensland, but frequently from companies that are represented throughout Australia. An example was a padded-bra, which she held up, for a four-year-old.

Ms. Reist argued that all those listening should immediately talk with their local politicians and demand changes to protect our children from sexualization.

 

Hypocrisy and Spaceship Earth solutions

Hypocrisy riddles my writing.

"Spaceship Earth" - rebuilding it in
flight demands courageous leadership.

Frequently I lament public behaviour that furiously depletes earth’s finite resources and worsens the damage to our atmosphere and yet I stand with those my criticisms target.

That’s hypocrisy or in more colloquial terms, is the pot calling the kettle black.

My only defence, and it is rather weak, is that at least I am aware of the damage, why it is happening and what societal responses are necessary to mitigate the trouble, or at least how we should prepare ourselves for what is ahead.

A friend discussed the dilemma just recently and he too feels like something of a hypocrite in that he frequently espouses the challenges of climate change, but in the broader scheme of events is doing little, or at least in his view.

Personally, my life and that of my family, is embedded in the consumer society and although the courage to step aside from it is absent, that alone does not appear to be the solution.

Individual actions are wonderful and deserve applause, but without society as a whole shifting and realigning its priorities, we simply end up with a bunch of individuals living in way that might be sustainable, but absolutely inadequate in context to counter the behaviour of most.

The honourable work and intentions of that absolute minority is simply not enough to support society’s “free-riders” – that’s me, you and a whole bunch of people we know.

There is no immediate or easy solution to climate change – something unimaginable to generations of people who have grown up in an era in which technology could solve anything – as a two-degree increase over pre-industrial temperatures is certain  and three, four and five degrees is almost certain this century.

And so what does a hypocrite do?

Admit to the problem, find like-minded souls, set about creating a community conversation about the unfolding difficulties; ready, as best you can, local communities for what is ahead; and hopefully have some impact on Local, State and Federal politicians in the expectation that they may have vision and understanding of the coming challenges; and, subsequently, the courage to introduce legislative changes that will significantly alter society’s behaviour before nature steps in, forcing despotic changes, without appeal.

The idea of retreating from society to survive has its appeal, but ultimately it is strangely defeatist and it is worth remembering that climate change plays no favourites and while withdrawal to a well-stocked bolt-hole might allow momentary preservation, it will not, in a truly altruistic sense, do much for the overall salvation of society.

Rebuilding an airliner in flight would be an impossible undertaking; spaceship earth is in flight and with all systems failing, we now need courageous and innovative leadership to take us through this delicate refurbishment.