Peer2Politics

While much of the momentum to fight climate change is focused on political channels, there are parallel efforts using law to force government to take specific, enforceable actions to reduce carbon emissions. It’s a difficult battle, but in recent weeks two notable initiatives have gained further momentum – a court ruling relying on the public trust doctrine and a new human rights declaration that has broad international support.

As host of the weekly C-Realm podcast, KMO holds a singular position, acting as facilitator for a wide range of perspectives on economics, consciousness, resource depletion, techno-utopianism, climate change, etc. KMO’s own evolving worldview combines all of the above into a very unique and nuanced analysis that informs the underlying, and not always immediately evident, C-Realm narrative.

Even though we live in an age of economic decline and collapse, do our expectations for the future act similarly to the thought patterns of religious faiths expecting the end of the world?  For the last 3,000 years, our species has used the meme of apocalypse to create the expectation for a utopia that never arose. Beginning with the Zoroastrian religion, the monotheistic faiths have contained the notion of an end to the world. Our historical record contains many events where a date was set and nothing happened. How did it feel to be one of those that had sacrificed everything to be swept away by a deity that never arrived?

"Things have to get worse before they can get better." To scratch this kind of talk is to reveal an old heresy beneath the veneer of common sense.

Hard hitting commentary from Chris Hedges on the futility of appealing to corporate-bought regulatory agencies and bodies.

Common wealth trusts address the two greatest flaws in contemporary capitalism—its relentless destruction of nature and widening of inequality.

The country of Jauja is a typical example of the popular utopias of the Middle Ages and the beginning of Modernity. It’s a good reflection of the aspirations of the lower tiers of society, which were crushed by hunger and misery. Abundance, which is the end of work forced by need, free [gratis] food, and the end of conflicts and violence due to its scarcity, conjures up the image of a world we deserve to live in.

Here’s a very special treat. Originally published on Guerrilla Translation, Movimiento por la Democracia´s “Charter for Democracy” stands out as premier example of citizen-led solution making to the various crises we face. It is a constitution for the commons written by commons.

Another exceptional essay by Richard White. I really like the way he doesn’t shy away from the huge problems we face, yet he doesn’t sink into narcissistic doomer-ism that affects many authors delving into similar subjects. The original essay is quite long but thoroughly documented. We’ve selected a short segment on what he feels needs to be done. It would be really interesting to hold a conversation with him about some of the ideas we document and promote at the Foundation as concrete means to realise some of these proposals.