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What we eat is a really big deal for the planet.
All of us are concerned about, aware of, or affected by extreme weather, fire, drought, heat waves, floods and hurricanes all over the world, but most of us don’t realize how much our diet affects the planetary crises we’re facing.
For example, did you know that raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars, planes and other forms of transportation combined?
Action is needed to reverse global warming and effectively address climate change. I’ve compiled a short list of resources and facts that highlight how our diet impacts Earth’s health and ability to sustain us. They are sobering and important. You care about Earth otherwise you wouldn't be reading this, so I strongly encourage you to take a look and learn more about what a planet-friendly diet looks like.
Read "Talking Turkey, What's Our Beef?" and "At the Table of Change" in my June and July, 2018, Monthly Columns.
Where does the expression “What gets your goat?” come from?
The most common story is that in older days goats were stabled with racehorses as calming company. A person with ill will and malicious intent might steal the goat before the race and the horse, upset and anxious, would race poorly.
Earlier this month I was driving by a local farm which pastures some 240 goats, and was led to think of what gets MY goat? And inspired to ask, what gets YOUR goat? How do we get them back?
What gets my goat? (Just to mention a few.)
What got my goat on February 15th was our president proclaiming a national emergency so he could build his border wall. My goat erupted in anger and leapt out of her corral, enraged at this new shocking abuse of power and disregard for the rule of law, another insult to what remains of our democracy. As one commentator put it, "It's like calling 911 because your pizza delivery is late."
What gets my goat is that Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader of the House, when referring to the Green New Deal, said, "The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they're for it, right?" This close-minded, dismissive attitude is not only disrespectful, but counter-productive at a critical time for humanity.
Excessive packaging, usually plastic, gets my goat, as does excessive, invasive advertizing.
What brings my goat back?
Good news brings my goat back.
On that same day of the “national emergency," my hair dresser told me that someone had told her, quite correctly, that cattle are a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. She said she would stop eating beef. Just the day before that a bipartisan measure was passed in the U.S. Senate to expand and create new national parks and monuments, and protect millions of acres from development and mining.
What brings my goat back is all the people who are working on all levels of life for justice, democracy, equity, and environmental protection. I am excited by all the students and young people who are rising up to demand action on climate change. See all about The Sunrise Movement.
I bring my goat back by reminding myself that my job is to be as kind and caring and loving and generous as I possibly can be. And do what I possibly can do to bring a new world into being. If I put out good energy in place of negative stuff, or do something caring and kind for someone else or myself or the planet, my goat will wander back to her corral through the open gate.
I should also add that it helps to have a tantrum from time to time: weep and wail, scream, throw things (that won’t hurt anything) to release the built-up energy.
Things are inevitably gonna get our goats. We just need to be sure to bring them home again.
My March Newsletter, Mincing No Words
The most common story is that in older days goats were stabled with racehorses as calming company. A person with ill will and malicious intent might steal the goat before the race and the horse, upset and anxious, would race poorly.
Earlier this month I was driving by a local farm which pastures some 240 goats, and was led to think of what gets MY goat? And inspired to ask, what gets YOUR goat? How do we get them back?
What gets my goat? (Just to mention a few.)
What got my goat on February 15th was our president proclaiming a national emergency so he could build his border wall. My goat erupted in anger and leapt out of her corral, enraged at this new shocking abuse of power and disregard for the rule of law, another insult to what remains of our democracy. As one commentator put it, "It's like calling 911 because your pizza delivery is late."
What gets my goat is that Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader of the House, when referring to the Green New Deal, said, "The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they're for it, right?" This close-minded, dismissive attitude is not only disrespectful, but counter-productive at a critical time for humanity.
Excessive packaging, usually plastic, gets my goat, as does excessive, invasive advertizing.
What brings my goat back?
Good news brings my goat back.
On that same day of the “national emergency," my hair dresser told me that someone had told her, quite correctly, that cattle are a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. She said she would stop eating beef. Just the day before that a bipartisan measure was passed in the U.S. Senate to expand and create new national parks and monuments, and protect millions of acres from development and mining.
What brings my goat back is all the people who are working on all levels of life for justice, democracy, equity, and environmental protection. I am excited by all the students and young people who are rising up to demand action on climate change. See all about The Sunrise Movement.
I bring my goat back by reminding myself that my job is to be as kind and caring and loving and generous as I possibly can be. And do what I possibly can do to bring a new world into being. If I put out good energy in place of negative stuff, or do something caring and kind for someone else or myself or the planet, my goat will wander back to her corral through the open gate.
I should also add that it helps to have a tantrum from time to time: weep and wail, scream, throw things (that won’t hurt anything) to release the built-up energy.
Things are inevitably gonna get our goats. We just need to be sure to bring them home again.
My March Newsletter, Mincing No Words
GROWTH, THE ECONOMY AND HAPPINESS
We know about growth and the economy, but how does happiness fit into this picture? Is there positive growth and negative growth? What kind of growth do we want? Let’s start with growth and the economy. We’ve always assumed, and been told, that it was good to grow the economy. After World War II cheap energy fueled a super growth spurt. More stuff could be produced at affordable prices. We were told to consume as if there were no tomorrow and that our happiness depended on that activity. We became hooked on more, bigger, faster. The pace, and our appetites for more, hasn’t abated, leading to “planetary overshoot,” the reality that we consume more of the planet’s resources than can be renewed.
Gross Domestic Product: We’ve also come to believe that the way to determine our success as a nation is measured solely by our Gross Domestic Product. GDP is the economic value of goods and services produced by the country no matter how they are generated. The cost of cleaning up air and water pollution counts the same as the price of solar panels or wind turbines. Economic growth and GDP became the sole measures of success, a kind of holy principle to live by.
Limits to growth? We have followed the Growth Bible, until now, when we are smashing into the truth. There ARE limits to growth, a fact known as early as 1975 with the publication of a book by that name, but that report was soundly trashed and rejected because we didn’t want to hear that we couldn’t keep having more. Now we are challenged to fit our lives within Earth Systems rather than ignoring and overriding them.
What kind of growth do we want? Can we still have prosperous, meaningful, happy lives and stay within the means of our home planet? Many people and communities are showing another way of being in the world that demonstrates this can happen. One of the most viable solutions to our current crises—environmental, political, social, psychological, spiritual and economic—can be seen in the movement to rebuild and nourish life in local communities with co-ops, public banks, local businesses and farmers’ markets. Local Futures makes a strong presentation of how this works in “The Economics of Happiness.” Instead of the economic domination by giant, multi-national corporations, we turn our attention and activity to our local communities where the well-being of people and place is the priority. I strongly encourage you to see this 20 min. video, the abridged version of their award-winning documentary. It clearly lays out the problems, and solutions that emerge from “localization,” a solution multiplier.
Are their other ways to measure the success of a country besides GDP?
Have you ever heard of the Gross National Happiness Index? The phrase "gross national happiness" was first coined by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972 when he declared, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product.” In 2011, the UN unanimously adopted a General Assembly resolution, introduced by Bhutan with support from 68 member states, calling for a “holistic approach to development” aimed at promoting sustainable happiness and wellbeing. It gives equal importance to the non-economic aspects of a nation.
Gross National Happiness (GNH) is distinguishable from Gross Domestic Product by valuing collective happiness as the goal of governance, by emphasizing harmony with nature and traditional values as expressed in the 9 domains of happiness and 4 pillars of GNH. The four pillars of GNH are 1) sustainable and equitable socio-economic development; 2) environmental conservation, 3) preservation and promotion of culture; and 4) good governance. The nine domains of GNH are psychological well-being, health, time use, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards.
Wouldn’t it be great if all nations adopted such an attitude and plan?
Earlier on I asked what kind of growth do we want? At the risk of sounding corny and too “spiritual,” I would like to see us grow in compassion, in understanding our common humanity and our common home. Let us grow in love, generosity, respect, and wisdom. Let us grow in our care for all life and develop a quality of life that undoubtedly would make us all happier.
April Newsletter, "What's the Big (Green New) Deal?"
Gross Domestic Product: We’ve also come to believe that the way to determine our success as a nation is measured solely by our Gross Domestic Product. GDP is the economic value of goods and services produced by the country no matter how they are generated. The cost of cleaning up air and water pollution counts the same as the price of solar panels or wind turbines. Economic growth and GDP became the sole measures of success, a kind of holy principle to live by.
Limits to growth? We have followed the Growth Bible, until now, when we are smashing into the truth. There ARE limits to growth, a fact known as early as 1975 with the publication of a book by that name, but that report was soundly trashed and rejected because we didn’t want to hear that we couldn’t keep having more. Now we are challenged to fit our lives within Earth Systems rather than ignoring and overriding them.
What kind of growth do we want? Can we still have prosperous, meaningful, happy lives and stay within the means of our home planet? Many people and communities are showing another way of being in the world that demonstrates this can happen. One of the most viable solutions to our current crises—environmental, political, social, psychological, spiritual and economic—can be seen in the movement to rebuild and nourish life in local communities with co-ops, public banks, local businesses and farmers’ markets. Local Futures makes a strong presentation of how this works in “The Economics of Happiness.” Instead of the economic domination by giant, multi-national corporations, we turn our attention and activity to our local communities where the well-being of people and place is the priority. I strongly encourage you to see this 20 min. video, the abridged version of their award-winning documentary. It clearly lays out the problems, and solutions that emerge from “localization,” a solution multiplier.
Are their other ways to measure the success of a country besides GDP?
Have you ever heard of the Gross National Happiness Index? The phrase "gross national happiness" was first coined by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972 when he declared, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product.” In 2011, the UN unanimously adopted a General Assembly resolution, introduced by Bhutan with support from 68 member states, calling for a “holistic approach to development” aimed at promoting sustainable happiness and wellbeing. It gives equal importance to the non-economic aspects of a nation.
Gross National Happiness (GNH) is distinguishable from Gross Domestic Product by valuing collective happiness as the goal of governance, by emphasizing harmony with nature and traditional values as expressed in the 9 domains of happiness and 4 pillars of GNH. The four pillars of GNH are 1) sustainable and equitable socio-economic development; 2) environmental conservation, 3) preservation and promotion of culture; and 4) good governance. The nine domains of GNH are psychological well-being, health, time use, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards.
Wouldn’t it be great if all nations adopted such an attitude and plan?
Earlier on I asked what kind of growth do we want? At the risk of sounding corny and too “spiritual,” I would like to see us grow in compassion, in understanding our common humanity and our common home. Let us grow in love, generosity, respect, and wisdom. Let us grow in our care for all life and develop a quality of life that undoubtedly would make us all happier.
April Newsletter, "What's the Big (Green New) Deal?"
Very few of us make changes easily. We like our routines. We find it easier to stay where we are even if it’s uncomfortable or self-destructive. It’s hard to get out of a rut, whether positive or negative.
Sometimes change is forced on us by circumstances beyond our control: illness, injury, death of a loved one, relationship breakup or environmental disaster,
Sometimes change can be triggered by something we are given: an object (we receive a watercolor set and get into painting); or a book (my sister gave me Frances Moore Lappe’s book, Diet for a Small Planet, when I was 24), and we find ourselves setting off on a new path.
Maybe we fall into change when we fall in love.
We might have to change by necessity: a personal health issue or a planetary health issue.
The latter—an environmental health issue is what I am most focused on now. The absolute, indisputable need for change in the way we do things: the way we think about ourselves, each other, and the Earth. We must change the way we eat, shop, get around. We must change how our economy and government are run. We must make these changes very quickly, within a number of years, if we are to have a healthy future for living beings and the Earth.
We naturally resist making change. But what if we envisioned a future that was good for all of us, not just for the very wealthy few? What if we envisioned a future where the values of generosity, mutual respect, care, justice, equal opportunities and the well-being of all prevailed? What if people, and all life, were more important than power and monetary gain? Wouldn’t we like to go there? Wouldn’t we like to make that happen?
Such a vision is now before us, and before our Congress, in the form of the Green New Deal. If you want our country to support well-paid jobs, investment in infrastructure and clean energy, healthy food and environment, equity and justice for all, a true democracy, then look at the Green New Deal. It’s a vision to get behind and demand that our politicians, our corporate leaders, our small businesses, our cities and communities enact policies and practices that advance the ideas in this vision. Yes, we would have to make big changes in our lives, but wouldn’t it be worth it to have a healthy and sustainable life now and in the future?
To learn more of this vision here are a number of links to inform—and inspire—you.
Summary Page for the Green New Deal
House Resolution
Financing the Green New Deal
The Green New Deal is Not a Choice, by Frances Moore Lappe´
The Green New Deal Opponents are Stuck in the Past, by David Korten
The Sunrise Movement
A Synopsis of the Green New Deal, by Clifford Burke
Sometimes change is forced on us by circumstances beyond our control: illness, injury, death of a loved one, relationship breakup or environmental disaster,
Sometimes change can be triggered by something we are given: an object (we receive a watercolor set and get into painting); or a book (my sister gave me Frances Moore Lappe’s book, Diet for a Small Planet, when I was 24), and we find ourselves setting off on a new path.
Maybe we fall into change when we fall in love.
We might have to change by necessity: a personal health issue or a planetary health issue.
The latter—an environmental health issue is what I am most focused on now. The absolute, indisputable need for change in the way we do things: the way we think about ourselves, each other, and the Earth. We must change the way we eat, shop, get around. We must change how our economy and government are run. We must make these changes very quickly, within a number of years, if we are to have a healthy future for living beings and the Earth.
We naturally resist making change. But what if we envisioned a future that was good for all of us, not just for the very wealthy few? What if we envisioned a future where the values of generosity, mutual respect, care, justice, equal opportunities and the well-being of all prevailed? What if people, and all life, were more important than power and monetary gain? Wouldn’t we like to go there? Wouldn’t we like to make that happen?
Such a vision is now before us, and before our Congress, in the form of the Green New Deal. If you want our country to support well-paid jobs, investment in infrastructure and clean energy, healthy food and environment, equity and justice for all, a true democracy, then look at the Green New Deal. It’s a vision to get behind and demand that our politicians, our corporate leaders, our small businesses, our cities and communities enact policies and practices that advance the ideas in this vision. Yes, we would have to make big changes in our lives, but wouldn’t it be worth it to have a healthy and sustainable life now and in the future?
To learn more of this vision here are a number of links to inform—and inspire—you.
Summary Page for the Green New Deal
House Resolution
Financing the Green New Deal
The Green New Deal is Not a Choice, by Frances Moore Lappe´
The Green New Deal Opponents are Stuck in the Past, by David Korten
The Sunrise Movement
A Synopsis of the Green New Deal, by Clifford Burke