[SustainableTompkins] "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Religious Violence"

[Joel and Sarah Gagnon]

I'd like to come back to this thread, because I think it is important.

  " Merely  managing/containing the violence keeps in
place the intensifying spiral of  consumerism."

Did you really mean that, Gay? It seems to me that a stable environment is 
a minimum essential for developing and maintaining any sustainable system. 
While it is true that stability enables the usual economic relationships, I 
think it is also true that it enables the alternatives as well. It is hard 
to imagine any real progress  in an atmosphere of war/conflict or 
revolution. Investment, both human and economic, is discouraged in such 
environments. Much of the most intractable misery in the world is so 
difficult to address precisely because it is associated with social 
instability.

The original article that you referenced was very interesting. As a 
Christian myself, I found it encouraging that someone was trying to make 
the case for nonviolence being at the core of sustainability. The 
fundamental rejection of force as the way to "settle" differences is at the 
heart of the gospel message, despite the unfortunate historical efforts to 
accommodate reality by justifying its use. Jesus' core message is radically 
nonviolent, and he validated it by demonstrating its application in his own 
life by enduring an unjust and brutal death at the hands of a imperialistic 
empire. That said, it remains true today that the Christian community is 
divided on the situations in which force is justified in response to 
violence and injustice. The author of the article attempted to posit a 
middle ground where we can agree that if violence is resorted to, its use 
should be minimized. In doing so, he joins the ranks of those who (like the 
developers of the "just war" principles) have labored to make Christianity 
relevant to the realities of a violent world. I'm not convinced that 
measured responses to violence are manageable, especially when it comes 
down to war. Once we are into it, the principles seem to be forgotten in 
the effort to win. Witness the disproportionate response of Israel to the 
Hezbollah provocation.

I'm glad we had the posts about keeping these discussions focused on 
sustainability. As others pointed out, the topic is broader than the nitty 
gritty of energy efficiency and localization of the economy.

Joel
>
>
>Yes, I understand your hesitancy.  I had only looked at the part of  his
>newsletter about system dynamics and religious anthropology before  I 
>forwarded
>this site, because that's my particular interest.  Later I  scanned over more
>sections and saw that it was primarily written from a  Christian perspective
>that is trying to integrate the new/ancient values of  justice and 
>compassionate
>community with the emergent paradigm surrounding  sustainability.  It's an
>interesting exercise to see what systems modeling  adds to that effort.  His
>first attempt at the modeling seemed to indicate  that we will only be 
>inspired to
>the "solidarity and sustainability ethos" when  things dramatically fall
>apart and violence is rampant.   Merely  managing/containing the violence 
>keeps in
>place the intensifying spiral of  consumerism.  I think he needs to refine
>the model because it isn't  accounting for activities such as our own at the
>local level, where we are  inspired both by concern for what is going on 
>and by
>the benefits of trying  something new.  I don't know the author, except 
>through
>cyberspace and an  earlier global email conference on integrative sciences --
>but I remember he did  have an interesting blend of a researcher's rigor and
>a humanist's pragmatic  understanding of how people behave.
>
>But your point is a good one.  There always seems to be someone who is
>willing to grab power, even through a theme like solidarity.
>
>Gay
>
>
>In a message dated 8/29/2006 1:33:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>earthdayithaca at yahoo.com writes:
>
>This was  very interesting but, I have to admit that when I see the word
>solidarity it  makes me hesitant.  It takes me back to experience/studies of
>political  ideologies and histories of attempts by various regimes to 
>suppress
>dissent.
>
>GayNicholson at aol.com wrote:  Here's a facet of the  paradigm shift to
>sustainability that we don't often
>explore on this  listserv:
>
>
>Dear friends:
>
>The August 2006 issue  of
>"Solidarity, Sustainability, and Religious Violence"
>has been  posted.
>
>
>
>
>
>***************************************
>Gay Nicholson, Ph.D.
>
>607-533-7312 (home office)
>607-279-6618 (cell)
>
>1 Maple  Avenue
>Lansing, NY 14882
>gaynicholson at aol.com
>
>Sustainable Tompkins
>Program Coordinator  (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/)
>w_ww.sustainabletompkins.org_ (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/)
>
>Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities
>Regional  Coordinator
>Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
>615 Willow  Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850
>agn1 at cornell.edu
>
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