More links and some movies

Yesterday I watched a 45 minute documentary about the global financial crisis. It gives a good overview of how we got into this situation- a recipe for the greatest depression yet- for anyone interested in an introduction to these topics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ECi6WJpbzE&feature=player_embedded#!

On that note, the following is a link to 3 posts about hyperinflation from a very good blog. I'm not going to say much about it yet, because I need to reread it. It is full of information, but difficult for me to follow at times, hence needing to reread it. If you take the time to digest this, I'm sure it will fill your mind with constructive and important thoughts.

http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/09/just-another-hyperinflation-post.html
http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/09/just-another-hyperinflation-post-part-2.html
http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/09/just-another-hyperinflation-post-part-3.html

Aside from this, I recently watched a movie called Fire, set in India, directed by Deepa Metha. A couple years ago I watched her film, Water, which was also deeply moving. Both films deal with taboo issues in India and people who remain forced into the periphery. Water was about how widowed women, or even children, are sent basically to "widow camps" where they are required to remain for the duration of their lives. This affects even children who may have been married off at very young ages. Fire dealt with the cultural intolerance towards lesbianism. Both of the films displayed the pervasive inequalities that women in India endure. She has made another film, Earth, that I hope to see after seeing these two pertinent, thoughtful and highly emotional films.

Surface giving versus life changing

Wendell Berry discusses the inherent flaw of giving money in place of action as a method of doing good in the world. I have come to understand the importance of beginning within the self as opposed to working to smooth over the damage in the external. One method deals with the results, while the other deals with the causes. To create real change, we must work to solve the systemic problems. This involves a much deeper, more complex and extreme change. The act of giving money is an example of attempting to contribute positively to the consequences of a system within the context of the very system that is causing the damage.

"The giving of money has thus become our characteristic virtue. But to give is not to do. The money is given in lieu of action, thought, care, time. And it is no remedy for the fragmentation of character and consciousness that is the consequence of specialization. At the simplest, most practical level, it would be difficult for most of us to give enough in donations to good causes to compensate for, much less remedy, the damage done by the money that is taken from us and used destructively by various agencies of the government and by the corporations that hold us in captive dependence on their products. More important, even if we could give enough to overbalance the official and corporate misuse of our money, we would still not solve the problem: the willingness to be represented by money involves a submission to the modern divisions of character and community. The remedy safeguards the disease.

"This has become, to some extent at least, an argument against institutional solutions. Such solutions necessarily fail to solve the problems to which they are addressed because, by definition, they cannot consider the real causes. The only real, practical, hope-giving way to remedy the fragmentation that is the disease of the modern spirit is a small and humble way- a way that a government or agency or organization or institution will never think of, though a person may think of it: one must begin in one's own life the private solutions that can only in turn become public solutions...

"If a consumer begins to think and act in consideration of his responsibilities, then he vastly increases his capacities as a person. And he begins to be effective in a different way- a way that is smaller perhaps, and certainly less dramatic, but sounder, and able sooner or later to assume the force of example." (Berry, 23, 24)

The perspective presented here is aligned with the Buddhist philosophy. When we are unaware, or disconnected from ourselves, we can only bring harm to the world around us. An untamed mind is like an elephant tromping through a forest and causing destruction without thought (only a metaphor, not an actual criticism of elephants obviously). There are many examples of people in this condition. People with a specific hatred for another way of living are a good and unfortunately common example. Whether they choose to direct their hate based on race, gender, class, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religious beliefs, etc., these people lack a base understanding of themselves and in turn, cause pain in the surrounding world. Turning inwards and leading by example is the only true form of creating change. This path is not limited to the saints and monks. Every individual can achieve this heightened awareness with time, understanding, patience, practice and dedication. The first step is looking beyond the assumptions and restraints placed upon us by society. The assumption of money as necessity is one such externally placed value of this time and place. I am not trying to advocate for a money-less society, but merely considering the possibility will open our minds to other ways of living.

Although it can be intimidating to choose a path diverging from the security of the main road, I hope to not let myself be overrun by this taming to normalcy that occurs on the large scale. I also believe that Americans and global citizens alike, will soon be forced to challenge their old systems of security, when they begin to crumble and expose their hollow, unsustainable, exploitive nature. Unfortunately, we tend to accept what appears to work, without the much needed reflections, until what used to appear to work, eventually fails us.

New America: No farms allowed?

Great, a man has been fined $5000 for his 2 acre organic farm... what is this world coming to? Wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT9qKnmBqy0&feature=player_embedded

For more information, go to Celente's blog at:

http://geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com/

The September 18th post.

More reasons to avoid more things

Please read this article bringing to light that the majority of antibacterial hand soap contain triclosan or triclocarbon, which cause hormone changes, possible infertility and abnormal development. There is no need to buy these products that may be causing serious, long term damage to ourselves, our species, animals and the environment.

http://cryptogon.com/?p=17733

Looking within

Here is a video from Max Keiser, an economist who hosts two excellent and very insightful shows, the Keiser Report and On the Edge. Keiser discusses the markets, debt, money creation, the banking crisis, global economy, gold prices and other such topics. In this episode, Keiser interviews William K. Black. Black gives a clear picture of the banking and economic situation and scandals going on. I was so impressed by William K. Black from this episode that I am presently trying to read his book, The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry. One of the most memorable and terrifying (but understandable and clear at the same time) concepts from this interview is that our economic system is designed to reward the most immoral people. Here is the link:

http://maxkeiser.com/watch/the-keiser-report/keiser-report-68-12-august-2010-guest-william-k-black/

Also, I just listened to another interview with Gerald Celente. One point that really resonated with me from this is that to make change, we have to start with ourselves. We have the power to change what businesses and corporations we support. We have the power to inform ourselves or remain ignorant, to buy crappy food from huge chains or support the local economy, and so on. I believe in this concept fully. The only way that we can make change is by starting from within ourselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNWqKzw-P_s

Pending collapse

I recently watched this 4 part interview with Gerald Celente on King World News. Gerald Celente is a trends analyst, who is well respected for having predicted many incidents accurately (economic collapses, housing bubbles, terrorist panics, etc.) He publishes the Trends Research Journal, in which he analyzes many trends, for example, religious, economic, political, agricultural, scientific, social, pharmaceutical, etc.

In this interview, Celente discusses a range of topics such as the need for a resurgence of small business, equal opportunity, actual capitalism, as opposed to the current system of continually bailing out the "too big to fails," which therefore prevents capitalism from correcting itself and existing as it is truly supposed to. This is equivalent to the merging of state and corporate power, aka Fascism. Big corporations have legal advantages left and right and in the end, as we can see with the Freddie Mac and Fannie May example, they are not at all solvent but due to the fact that they have become SO big, the government and federal reserve sees their failure as a possible detriment to our economy and therefore gives trillions of tax payers dollars to them in attempts to "save the economy." This is not the capitalist ideology of allowing equal competition and collapse of failed businesses and advancement of success. It is so important to realize that this method is not at all going to "save the economy." Providing money to insolvent corporations is merely going to continue the faltering system and cause a more violent end in the future. There is going to be a collapse of America soon and the people at the top will try to do everything in their power to continue the system of profiteering. Celente equates those top business and Wall street men to "junkies," "money junkies." The unemployment rate is up to around 19-22% now, reaching pre-Great Depression numbers. America's class gap is now the widest of the industrialized nations. He gives more details about this and other issues, some of which take a bit of context, but a lot of it is readily digestible and worth considering.

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNiAAiSMu9Y
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mwFwEkYZVs
3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEtqPBEpt5M
4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS6UApZHsW8

GMO implications

This is a video I watched a couple weeks ago about the consequences of genetically modified foods which really took over in the 1990's. It is really incredible how, since that time, numerous health conditions have escalated at high speed. Definitely an informative video about the subject.

http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-08-26/fat-america.html

Check the source

This is just another great example of corporate funding to distract the public. BP is funding an environmental program for public schools in California. In this video, they discuss "green-washing" where deliberate attempts are made to advertise "good environmental policies," by companies that are clearly not concerned with environmental outcomes, but profits. It should be obvious that no research can be trusted if it is being funded by corporations with agendas.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/10/why_is_oil_giant_bp_helping

Exchange value

I had an incredible day at work yesterday. I would like to preface my experience with a thought. I recently finished the book by Wendell Berry titled, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. I would like to write much more about this book later, but for now I will highlight one idea that I am using to think about daily life and the future. I am conceiving of a world that functions not on competition, as it does in this society to the fullest extent, but on cooperation. This may seem like a very simple or possibly idyllic and Utopian concept at first glance. However, you can really delve into this very deeply upon further reflection. It takes a minute to recognize the true and complete saturation of competition into every level of our society, from the individual to the Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, corporate giants and the government.

The ideal of society is very clearly, more, more, more. As individuals, no matter how much we wish our lives, interests, goals and self worth to be separate from our money, we are judged and judge ourselves based upon the ideal of self-sufficiency. Directly, this correlates to, among other things, our savings account. We grow up monetarily dependent upon our parents. We go to college, in middle class and up range of people generally, to specialize and to gain a career which will earn us monetary security and a "worthy" position we are proud of. There is rarely a time when a person on this path willingly decides to do without income for some time, because there are always more "needs" (a new dishwasher, new carpeting, stereo, etc.) and more expensive things to be had (car, television, house, couch, family requiring food, children wanting further education, phones, etc). The goal is an unreachable one, gain more money and higher status until you can no more or until you have built enough security to retire. It is beyond most of us, that this is a cultural assumption, not a given. There is a way to be centered upon the idea of enough as opposed to ever more.

Entangled in the principle of enough is the value of community and not self sufficiency, but acknowledging and respecting our mutual dependences. Our dependencies on each other, on the land, plants, animals, sun, and entire surrounding community. Instead of recognizing these direct, supportive and mutually beneficial relationships around us, we are increasingly separated from our Connection. The word "dependence" in this time and place, carries negative connotations. We don't want to be "dependent" on anyone or anything, which is a direct contradiction to life. The irony here? As our society's aims guide us away from our healthy connections with people and the land, the goal of ever more, which has led to the creation of corporate giants who want to make the most profit with the cheapest labor, create for us a slew of new dependencies governed by them. We are dependent upon pharmaceutical creations with almost half the people you know on some kind of prescription; upon our closest, biggest grocery store, which is dependent upon the petro-chemical industry to create cheapened food products meant to last as long as possible, which leads to monocultures, which are dependent upon ever more chemical fertilizers, which requires synthesis in labs, which requires energy and waste, and on and on the list of dependencies goes. And don't forget about possibly the single biggest, overarching dependence on the limited resource of petroleum. Even ignoring every other aspect of cultural dependence, this one should be evident to all. Every single aspect of every single industry and life here and now is dependent upon this diminishing resource. You can ignore my assertions that society needs to shift from values of competition to cooperation, but you cannot ignore the fact that this society, if for no other reason than petroleum dependence (and there are actually so many more reasons than that), is at some point, going to have to be completely reformed. Not kind of, not just on the edges, but an utter, total and in an absolute core way, this society will change. It simply cannot be maintained on any level.

Back to my great day at work. The woman who supplies the co-op with our local, organic wheat flour, popcorn, flax and wheatberries came in Saturday evening to drop off some of those items. This was the second time I had met her. I liked her the first time I met her, because we were able to have an engaging, though somewhat brief, conversation. Again, we got to chatting about basically everything I just wrote about above and more. When I asked if she would be open for volunteer help, she was, well, nearly ecstatic and that was what led us into our conversations about cooperation, community, connection, sustainability, diversification, the complexity of farming and the future of America and agriculture. She opened her arms to me, excited to teach and to see a young person understanding these issues of imminent importance. There are tons of projects going on at the her farm and it is a year round effort utilizing as many reusable energy sources and practices as possible. She offered me delicious meals that her friend (who was also with her and conversing with us) cooks regularly. And food of all sorts- walnuts, soybeans, wheat, corn, cajun red beans, pinto beans, black beans, and many other crops including fruits and vegetables. It seems that among a small group of close knit friends she has, they work together to provide for each other in various ways. Her friend has a quaint cottage overlooking a small lake, which she gladly offered for me to stay in as I pleased, with my friends too if anyone wanted to come with me. The lake is good for fishing and they are trying to incorporate that into their system of sustainable agriculture. I think we were both equally enthusiastic about the idea. I am happy to say I am starting to live what I believe in, with understanding Connection at the core.

Here is the link to the farm!
http://fieldsofagape.com/

Another non-monetary and exciting exchange I am partaking in is with a new friend from Mexico. We are both fascinated with languages. She is tutoring me in Spanish in exchange for being tutored by me in Japanese. We are meeting twice a week, once for Spanish and once for Japanese. It's a fantastic set up. She speaks English and Spanish, but has also studied 4 years of Latin, some Japanese (but apparently the teacher was horrible so we are starting from square one), and she can understand anything in French, Portuguese and Creole, though she says she has a more difficult time with the speaking aspect. Beyond this even, we are both fascinated by every tangent of language, every overlap between language, culture, philosophy, behavior, society and so on. She is considering starting a blog on these topics exactly and I very much hope that she does!

Life in Richmond is turning out to be quite rewarding indeed. It's all coming together...

Rethinking incessant growth

This article gives a good, clear picture of the reasons big businesses have become so powerful, the problems with it and what could actually function better in its place. The article covers the various industries, such as science, technology, agriculture, transportation, pharmaceutical, oil, banking, etc. He goes on to show how across the board, all industries are centered upon the principle of growth and beating out the little guys. The bottom line is that this kind of non-stop growth cannot possibly continue infinitely. When we start to realize that we are all suffering from this growth complex, we can start to rethink our societal structure and what might be a better path. The end of this growth complex could come in different forms, but we do have a choice to let it grow until it reaches its own violent end or work now towards a sustainable future.

http://vermontrepublic.org/the-curse-of-bigness-or-business-as-usual-in-america-the-vulnerable

A silent danger

Think about how many products you use on a daily basis. Dish soap, laundry detergent, chapstick, make-up, shampoo, and any number of cleaning supplies or cosmetics. The fact is there is very little regulation here. Placing things like "organic" or "natural" on these non-food products has no legal requirements. If you don't feel like taking the time for yourself, think about the loved ones (animals too!) around you who you may be subjecting to harmful things such as petroleum, lead and tar. The bottom line is, the aim of all companies is profit, not your health, so if you don't take the time to look into your products, you are putting faith into companies who do not at all have you, your family or your pets' (or the environment's) interests in mind. Here are a few links to start off.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/21/lead_in_lipstick_coal_tar_in

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/07/21/2010-07-21_story_of_cosmetics_paints_an_ugly_picture.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/annie-leonard-story-of-cosmetics.php