[SustainableTompkins] Gelbspan, Lappe & Gramsci

[Margaret McCasland]

Thanks to Elan for the original post, and to 
Jeanne and Katie for their comments.

Once again, I think of a quote that has been 
giving me courage to remain active in community 
work since the 60s:  Antonio Gramsci's "Pessimsm 
of the intellect, optimism of the will." (I 
believe this was the title of an article in the 
New York Review of Books).

I switched from national/global activism in the 
60s to local activism in the 70s.  However by the 
late 90s I decided that it had been foolhardy to 
ignore global issues for so long.  So now I think 
we need to build community--and activism--on both 
the local and global levels, both because our 
global ecosystem and global corporations are the 
context in which everything else is happening, 
and because net-working with communities around 
the world can be an important resource for ideas, 
inspiration, etc.

Margaret


>Lappé <http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2117> & Gelbspan
><http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/12/10/165845/92>'s articles
>struck me as essential reading - in two very different ways; we need the
>brutal honesty of the latter and the call to courage of the former.
>
>It is rare for individuals in the sustainability mov't to take on the
>possibility/reality of being past the tipping point, yet most of us
>admit that the collective global reponses are just tinkering around the
>edges of the problem.  Myself, I think it's a moot point whether global
>warming is already engaged in irreversible positive feedback or if we
>cross that threshold in 8 years - either way it's a done deal.  Humans
>aren't going to re-engineer global society in 8 years.
>
>That leaves us where?  Here in Tompkins County.
>
>Myself, I think the Vermont idea of having a Harvest and Courage
>Celebration that Lappé attended is a good one.
>
>  From Gelspan's article:
>/
>"The key to our survival as a civil species during an era of profound
>natural upheaval lies in an enhanced sense of community. If we maintain
>the fiction that we can thrive as isolated individuals, we will find
>ourselves at the same emotional dead end as the current crop of
>survivalists: an existence marked by defensiveness, mistrust, suspicion,
>and fear."/
>
>-- Katie Q-J
>
>
>senecajean at aol.com wrote:
>>  Thank You for this. Although I have 
>>reservations about the "abundance" approach, a 
>>perspective su h as this provides a real 
>>antidote to despair which can have such a 
>>paralyzing effect. Another example of the bleak 
>>could be Ross Gelbspan's latest article, linked 
>>below:
>>
>>  Beyond the point of no return
>>
>>  It's too late to stop climate change, argues 
>>Ross Gelbspan -- so what do we do now?
>>
>>
>>  http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/12/10/165845/92
>> 
>>
>>  Or perhaps the two articles taken as a pair 
>>point up the vital necessity of the sustainable 
>>way.
>>
>>  I would like to read Lappe's longer article. I 
>>know Greenstar has a lot of magazines of this 
>>type: I'll check and see if they have Shambhala 
>>Sun.  The link to the magazine which 
>>unfortunately does indeed NOT link the Lappe 
>>article is http://www.shambhalasun.com/ 
>>
>>
>>
>  > Jeanne
>>