We all want simple solutions to our current dilemma…buy a new “green” gadget, recycle, pass a law, hope that somebody else will solve it. The fact that climate change, economic instability and resource depletion are gargantuan problems that belong to all of us is definitely not what we want to hear, but it is the reality we’re facing.
Our culture’s values of consumerism, individualism, limitless growth and total reliance on fossil fuels have produced a crisis. It’s going to take a cultural change to get us out of it. We need a shift in awareness and social values–and we need it NOW.
The world has changed. We need to rethink our attitudes, assumptions and beliefs as well as how we live our lives. It’s very important to become climate literate and energy literate so that we understand the need to reconsider the way we perceive the world and ourselves. One way to create the beginning of a consciousness shift is to read The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible by Charles Eisenstein. Attending an Awakening the Dreamer Symposium will also help to create that shift.
As for what is holding us back, the following statement from Steve Agnos (SustainableMan) sums it up nicely:
“The reason we have been unable to move in a sustainable direction collectively is due to an outdated worldview that values and rewards competition instead of cooperation, selfishness instead of generosity, entitlement instead of gratitude.
A sustainable world requires each of us to undergo a personal transformation that transcends ego and its identification with the material form. Along with this transformation is an elimination of judgment, both of others and ourselves.
As long as we live in the stories of the past that tell us that it is human nature to be greedy, self-interested, pleasure-seekers, the world will reflect those values. We need a transformative shift from the ideas of ownership to access, competition to cooperation, separateness to connectedness.”
The Transition Town Media community is actively working on both inner and outer solutions. We invite you to join us–we need your participation! We’re all in this together and this is an all hands on deck situation.
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