Posts Tagged ‘Sustainability’

I am reading a bok by John Perkins – The Economic Hitman and so recently I signed up to his newsletter. This is the most recent newsletter andI felt the urge to share it…

Peace

I’m in Istanbul, a city that has seen its share of war. Today Turkey is greatly impacted by the violence in Iraq and Syria and the turmoil over Iran; yet this country is a leading negotiator for peace. I hope you’ll read the below on the topic of peace.

Aggression Begets Aggression

By John Perkins

In our present state and based on the world’s past history we know that aggression only begets more aggression. War creates more war.  Terrorists do not dream as children of becoming terrorists. As we hear the drumbeat of our current US leaders for more “intervention”, I can’t help but think of the line in Catch-22 – the satirical novel of war – “Open your eyes. . . It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who’s dead.” (Chapter 12, pg. 133-134)

And I think of my friend, Kiman Lucas, Executive Director of Clear Path International – http://www.cpi.org ,  a non-profit that works to restore the dignity and self-sufficiency of conflict survivors in many countries. Kiman recently traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia; she wrote:

“ I believe any future in our world must be based on the rule of law, respect and empathy for each other and a tolerance and appreciation for our differences.  But fundamentally, we need to stop glorifying our tribal pasts — whether they are what you think of as colonial masterminding or what I think of as tribal divisiveness.  I do not want to bring the world back to the glorious conquering days of the colonial powers any more than I want to bring the world back to the headhunting days of the Shuar. 

It may serve our egos to remember the good ole days of our own people’s triumphs, but it also serves to perpetuate the myth that aggression is honorable.  Perhaps it will be “female” thinking – based on nurturing rather than killing – that can bring the people of this world together to stand up for what is right and to recognize that the “enemy” has always been the ideas we have about the other, not the other.”

Nurturing peace, planting seeds of harmony, wisdom, co-existence and respect for all is the only way to preserve a future that will be different for our children. Repeating the mistakes of the past and arming ourselves with bigger and better weapons only provides new anguish to those who are the targets of those weapons –  children, villages, women and men who, just like us, are trying to do the best for their offspring. When we cut out all other options of human existence and rely only on aggression to solve our problems, we become the PROBLEM.

Today think of one way you can sow peace in your community and watch it bloom worldwide. Take at least one action for peace every single day.

END 

John

John Perkins

New York Times bestselling author

Please subscribe to my newsletter at

www.johnperkins.org
Hoodwinked
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
The Secret History of the American Empire
Shapeshifting
The World Is As You Dream It
Psychonavigation
The Stress-Free Habit
Spirit of the Shuar

The Booby Prize for Packaging Waste goes to O2.

We became fed up with the coverage of the Vodafone mobile broadband modem, we had become quite frustrated with the intermittent coverage that we had changed over to O2 and got one of their little modems instead. I have to admit that we are very satisfied with the coverage and glad that we changed.

Recently we needed another modem for a guest that was staying and for my use when I travel by myself that we unlocked it the unused vodafone modem and ordered an O2 mobile modem sim card to use with it instead.

Yesterday a small box came in the post and we wondered what it could be, we weren’t expecting anything, we hadn’t ordered anything big enough for a box.

Imagine our surprise on opening it…..

Open the box to find...

an itty bitty sim card

I was horrified to read this report, on the Organic Consumers website, about Monsanto being involved in Haiti. Anyone who is a regular visitor to this blog knows that there is no love lost between me and Monsanto.  I have long had a strong disrespect for this company and their bullying tactics to further their aims in spreading the use of gm crops and increasing their profit line.

Haiti is a country that once had a self sustaining agricultural industry and I am not talking about hundreds of years ago, until relatively recently there was a thriving agricultural economy in Haiti.  For more info on this please check out this link.

Obviously Haitians are now vulnerable and really need to get food growing again as soon as possible. If you do a google search on “sustainable agriculture in Haiti” you will find that there are a lot of projects underway to encourage sustainable agricultural industry there.

The hybrid seeds being supplied will produce crops that will not produce viable seed – the Haitian farmers will be unable to save seeds and go on planting as farmers have done for generations, they will be forced to buy seed every year!

I find it insidious that Monsanto are moving to get a grip on Haiti’s agricultural future and the fact that they are being aided by the USAID is reprehensible.

This is being funded by American taxpayers – whether or not they want to fund Monsanto Americans’ hard earned tax dollars are helping this genetic giant to undermine an already vunerable country.  USAID is a tax-payer funded agency that promotes the United States’ interests abroad.

Please read the report about Monsantos involvement  and if you live in the States and you are unhappy about this situation please think about taking some action here.

If you don’t live in the States and still want to take some action then look at the end of the page and click on the link for international supporters.

That’s my tirade over for the moment, thanks for reading

I am really excited about having moved my blog to a new server courtesy of a local business – Irish Solar.

My blog posts have always been written using renewable energy  because that’s the energy I have – we use a home made wind turbine and a photovoltaic array to provide our electricity.

I was always keen to have this blog hosted on a server that also uses renewable energy however it was not easy to find a solution that I was happy with – until now…

A great evening of fun and fashion is happening in Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim on Friday next – yes, it’s the much anticipated Big Clothes Swap Meet.

Come and Swap