Making The Connections

by Zvi Baranoff
Inescapably linked are the global dependency on petroleum, water quality issues, soil depletion and the effects of the dominant industrial and farming methods.

We must develop programs that simultaneously wean the most developed nations from the disastrous over consumption and the self-destructive dependence on petro-chemicals while bringing impoverished communities the opportunities of self sufficiency.  There is a need for an integrated approach to dealing with the issues of ecological degradation and poverty. The two issues cannot be dealt with separately.

Historically, changes in human culture and the technologies that we use have been made without the ability to foresee the long term effects of the new techniques. When we learned to control fire, tame and domesticate animals or plant seeds we could not have even considered the possibilities of coal burning power plants and the internal combustion engine or the deforestation and soil depletion as effects of overgrazing and agriculture.

For the first time in human history, we can now make important collective decisions about the direction of our planetary culture and choose the direction of its development. We have a greater access to the world of knowledge than at any time in our past. With a few keystrokes we can now share a wealth of information. That power necessitates greater responsibility. We must choose wisely.

It is most important to move forward in the implication of a post-industrial society. The more developed nations need to now choose practices that avert disaster and nourish sustainable culture. The undeveloped countries and those living at a pre-industrial level can now choose to essentially skip the intermediate steps and make the jump to a post-industrial society.

We must now recognize the interconnectedness of all human cultures and of all human endeavors. What we each choose affects us all. We have a common mission.

Our mission is threefold.

1. Education and training in transitional technologies: This involves new construction methods, non-polluting energy sources and improved food production using an organic permaculture model. The new technologies are available and it is time to implement them quickly throughout the world.

2. Direct material aid to communities in need: Extreme poverty anywhere in the world affects us all. Those of us with greater access to resources need to foster programs that gather and ship equipment to communities in need focusing on appropriate technology such as solar panels, low impact technology such as bicycles, improved agricultural technology such as drip irrigation and computers to help close the “information divide”.

3. Establishing sustainable programs: We must work with local groups worldwide to assist in setting up sustainable, transformative programs in communities of need. Each community should certainly act independently in their own self interest. Where we have greater strengths, we have a responsibility to share and have a great opportunity to learn from each other.

There are more important choices available to us than paper or plastic, Coke or Pepsi. We have before us the choice to create a future worth handing to the next generation.