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Six Ways That Changing Your Life Can Prevent Global Warming

By Peter Michaelson, BuzzFlash. Posted December 9, 2006.


American society isn't doing much about global warming -- are we waiting for Al Gore? Here are six things we can do to prevent it.
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Six Ways That Changing Your Life Can Prevent Global Warming

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All of the reasons for our failure to address global warming are known. But they are not known widely and deeply enough to send us rushing down the street on bicycles or even in four-cylinder cars.

Still, we want something to be done. Are we waiting for Al Gore? Is it possible it all depends on our own little selves?

A very simple axiom is at play: The better we understand our own contribution to the paralysis, the freer we become to act effectively.

Six reasons or conditions that facilitate global warming are presented here, and each is related to the others.

Reason number one is the indifference that so many of us have for our own health. When we don't care about our health, we won't care about the health of the planet.

We eat and drink food that has the life manufactured out of it. We become sedentary and avoid exercise. We trash our minds with trivia and commercial rubbish the way we trash the planet with garbage. We don't know how to protect ourselves from negative influences such as cynicism, dissension, and dogmatic belief systems. If we don't regulate our appetites, desires, and addictions, the planet's suffering becomes secondary to our own.

Problem number two is our fear. Irrational fears abound in the psyche and are projected into the world. We have many kinds of fear, including fear of fear itself, along with fear of change, of loss, of helplessness, of abandonment, and of death. Courage is admired because it moves us through our fear.

We need passion and courage to address global warming. To generate this, we often have to move through a fear left over from childhood -- the lingering impression that we're powerless and helpless against the authorities who rule our world. This emotional association also generates a fear that if we go up against them we're in danger of being rejected, unloved, or even annihilated.

The male values of power and domination constitute problem number three. Supreme gratification and egotistical aggrandizement reward man for his conquest of nature. Globalization is, in part, his quest to extend his "triumph" to all peoples and cultures.

The feminine mystique is the antidote. Symbolized by Rachel Carson in her book, Silent Spring, it awakened us in the 1960s to the male-engineered poisoning of the earth through the misuse of chemical pesticides. Women's sensitivity and their alignment with nurturing gave birth to the environmental movement.

The male propensity for power and domination has moved from the infantile level to the adolescent. It needs to be unstuck once more. We need to understand that the possession of true strength and power depends on our having wisdom and compassion, which come to us through the balance of the feminine and the masculine values.

Reason number four finds us plagued with an overabundance of political leaders who won't lead. These men and women tend to be followers. They follow the polls that guide their re-election priorities as well as the economic elite's signals in favor of the status quo.


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Peter Michaelson is a psychotherapist in Pasadena, CA. He is author of Democracy's Little Self-Help Book, and he can be reached at PeterMichaelson.com.

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agh!
Posted by: smuk on Dec 9, 2006 1:07 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I clicked on this link from a wholey unrelated site in the vain hope practical things I could do would be listed - but nah, just a load of banal psychobabble.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Global Warming - myth Posted by: derfb1
» RE: Global Warming - myth Posted by: D_comp
» RE: Global Warming - myth Posted by: particle
» RE: Global Warming - myth Posted by: willymack
» RE: Global Warming - myth Posted by: redjenny
» flash: baboon calls others idiot Posted by: monkopotamus
» RE: agh! Posted by: yeimaya
» I think that's the point Posted by: AdamG
» Great posts. Posted by: ABetterFuture
» smuk head hurts Posted by: monkopotamus
» **sad nodd** Posted by: ~Fiona~
» Birth control is the work of the devil Posted by: thoughtcriminal
» RE: agh! Posted by: cmaukonen
» RE: agh! Posted by: suncatcher
» RE: agh! Posted by: yesman
Dilemmas of discontent
Posted by: BobbyGreyFriar on Dec 9, 2006 1:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Noam Chomsky is fond of referencing a poll according to which the majority of Bush supporters believe he supports the Kyoto protocol. I think that the majority of the public are indeed in favor of measures to avert, or at least mitigate, the looming crisis. The major problem, as Peter admits, is that rescuing the environment is completely incompatible with (actually antithetical to) “predatory” capitalism – this is obvious fact, or should be at least. Therefore, I think we need to be clear that any serious effort to tackle the problem has to realize that political activism is essential – changes have to be made collectively, a minority of individuals even living at the level of subsistence would be completely ineffectual (indecently the attitude that boycotting the Gap (and others) helps Third World labor is, I believe, mistaken for similar reasons).

That the problem is real and serious is incontrovertible, and it has been know about all of my life; it was something, surprisingly considering I come from a small mining town (Elko, Nevada), that I can remember hearing about in school from first grade (ca. 1988). [In fact I won a writing award when I was in first grade for some rhetorical statement or other with regard to saving the oceans from pollution.]

The problem with meaningful activism, however, is that you do have to take a big risk (often your job or career options, at the least). I don’t know how others feel, but I am reluctant to speak to openly about subversive political matters. I would love to hear from other concerned individuals on this matter.

My email is peterhartward[at]gmail.com. Note: I have used ‘[at]’ instead of ‘@’ to help prevent spambots locating my address (I am told this helps…). -- Hatemail also welcomed!

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» RE: Dilemmas of discontent Posted by: Krain61
» RE: Dilemmas of discontent Posted by: ssmit355
Dilemmas of discontent
Posted by: BobbyGreyFriar on Dec 9, 2006 1:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Noam Chomsky is fond of referencing a poll according to which the majority of Bush supporters believe he supports the Kyoto protocol. I think that the majority of the public are indeed in favor of measures to avert, or at least mitigate, the looming crisis. The major problem, as Peter admits, is that rescuing the environment is completely incompatible with (actually antithetical to) “predatory” capitalism – this is obvious fact, or should be at least. Therefore, I think we need to be clear that any serious effort to tackle the problem has to realize that political activism is essential – changes have to be made collectively, a minority of individuals even living at the level of subsistence would be completely ineffectual (indecently the attitude that boycotting the Gap (and others) helps Third World labor is, I believe, mistaken for similar reasons).

That the problem is real and serious is incontrovertible, and it has been know about all of my life; it was something, surprisingly considering I come from a small mining town (Elko, Nevada), that I can remember hearing about in school from first grade (ca. 1988). [In fact I won a writing award when I was in first grade for some rhetorical statement or other with regard to saving the oceans from pollution.]

The problem with meaningful activism, however, is that you do have to take a big risk (often your job or career options, at the least). I don’t know how others feel, but I am reluctant to speak to openly about subversive political matters. I would love to hear from other concerned individuals on this matter.

My email is peterhartward[at]gmail.com. Note: I have used ‘[at]’ instead of ‘@’ to help prevent spambots locating my address (I am told this helps…). -- Hatemail also welcomed!

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"TAX THE RICH": you'll never see those words in an Alternet headine. Why?
Posted by: emmanuel_goldstein_fights_fake_lefties on Dec 9, 2006 2:46 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Instead of trying to unite working class Americans behind populist economics ideas that would reach across race and gender lines, the FalseLeft media (e.g., Alternet, Mother Jones, etc) prefer to divide the workers with Identity Politics. But the FalseLeft elite need even more votes to defeat the FalsePopulist RIght, so they resort to scaring voters with global warming propaganda.

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» cONSPIRACY IS NOT REALLY AN APPLICABLE WORD HERE Posted by: emmanuel_goldstein_fights_fake_lefties
» Fear Posted by: eddie torres
» RE: Fear Posted by: AdamG
» RE: Thank you rwa Posted by: rwa
» "...ilk...." ??? Posted by: equidave
» goldstein Posted by: WhatNow?
» idiot troll calls names again Posted by: monkopotamus
neat
Posted by: rsaxto on Dec 9, 2006 3:05 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A neat list of human foibles that, in sum, could easily result in the death of the human species and numerous other species as well.
Certainly no shortage of things to do fix the mess. Even some of the Bushies are beginning to realize how messy they are.

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sdk
Posted by: sdk on Dec 9, 2006 4:17 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I do believe there are things that we can do to help the environment.

I think that item number one; concerning diet and health, transcends all of the others. What we eat, how we cultivate and produce the abundance of food that we do requires a lot of energy, introduces substantial chemicals into the planets biosphere, and uses a tremendous amout of water.

A vegetarian diet - or at least a substantial reduction in the consumption of meat - would ease all of these things. Eating low on the food chain.

A great deal of energy, chemicals, land and water is used to convert plants into meat. The 'factory' production of meat and fish by developed nations is remarkably cruel and unhealthy. Animals environments are crowded and controlled, their diets geared towards massive weight gain, and supplemented with anitbiotics, hormones, and other "un-natural" ingredients.

Knock of the masculine mystique and female mystique; although there are more female vegetarians than male, there is a need for a paradigm shift in how we see or selves as humans on this planet.

Factory farms are created for economic efficiency only. The treatment of animals or the subsequent quality and nutrition of the product is secondary. And by the way, this is similar to our agricultural industry that produces abundance, but not variety of food anymore.

If we changed our diet, we would affectively alter the course.

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» dutchfarm Posted by: dutchfarm
» RE: dutchfarm Posted by: manray
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
Posted by: Gravitas on Dec 9, 2006 4:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What baloney people don't care about their health; people are obsessed with their health! They are just obsessed with the wrong things. We have made weight, cholestoral and other various measurements BigPharma can profit off of and doctors can easily quantify the be all and end all. People need to stop being manipulated. And while we are waiting for this grandiose evolution of consciousness the author is trying to explain, why not give compact flourescent light bulbs to friends and neighbors as holiday gifts? It is a positive way to get the message across with out the nag that turns so many people off!

"Weight obsession is a social disease. If we cared as much about CO2 as BMI there would still be time."

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» RE: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Posted by: eggnog2464
» RE: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Posted by: Mr. Heathen
a 7th way
Posted by: brandweerspuit on Dec 9, 2006 4:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You are all invited to join us in Australia for our zero carbon dinner event in January 26th.
I manage the zerocarbon network here in Australia.
On the 26th of january we are planning to get as many people around the world to host a zero carbon event.
The idea is simple. You invite 10 people over for a fun event. The challenge is to create a fun happening that demonstrates that we can have fun, have a good life without adding to the carbon in the atmosphere.
If you are interested in hosting such an event then email me zerocarbonfuture@gmail.com and I will send you out by email the kit that will help you organize your event - includes a power point presentation about things that you can do, a zero carbon calculator plus some information that you can share with your friends.
There are no costs involved - all you need to do is to be prepared to to report back on your activity so that we can post on our website all the different, ingenious ways that people have found to live a zero lifestyle.
Depending on whether or not we have raised enough money by the 26th to make the website truly interactive we would like to give people the opportunity to give feedback about the various ways that people have used. Once we start sharing strategies we will be well on the way of getting to a zero carbon future.
If you want to become a member of the zerocarbon network then go to our website (pretty basic at this stage we have only been going for a month or so) zerocarbonnetwork.cc join up - although we ask for a fee of $50 you can become a member see what you think and pay when you feel we are offering something that is worth your investment.
We have set ourselves up as a not for profit organization. We use any money we raise through the website to fund research and development into strategies.
We have already begun our first project - we are currently developing the zero carbon roadmap that will identify what governments need to do. BUT lets not wait for the men and women in suits the more we do at the local level the easier it is to convince the talking suits that this is something that they can support without losing their precious place in congress/parliament.
Meanwhile no need to wait for big Al there is lots that we can do ourselves.
If you are working in a local corporation ask me about our zero carbon economic zone - we can show you how your community can help the environment, maintain your lifestyle and depending on where you live even make money out of reducing your energy costs.
All of this is run on the wikki principle free sharing of ideas and strategies.
Your email address will not be on sold to companies so that they can send you even more spam - like you I have seen enough viagra offers to last me a life time (you get exhausted even thinking about it!)
So join us in Australia on january 26th (it is our national day we are using it to declare independence from our addiction to a carbon liefstyle)

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Solution!
Posted by: raywigton on Dec 9, 2006 5:00 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm tired of hearing every new opinion on what the problem is. We sit around and try to create new ways of expressing what the issues are. We don't need another 6 step program to explain the worlds problems. So we have lame politicians; who elected them? So we have a lame court; who appointed them? So we are a bunch of Fat asses; who put all the high fructose corn syrup in everything?

Next time that you write a piece like this, tell us the 6 things that we should be doing to make a difference.
1 change to energy effecient light bulbs.
2 buy a hybrid car
3 get involved in the political process
etc

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» RE: Solution! Posted by: Sparking Waves
» First Solution! Posted by: ssmit355
» Solution=eco-socialism Posted by: brad
"The feminine mystique is the antidote."
Posted by: WhatNow? on Dec 9, 2006 5:08 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
That's total bullshit! This is not a gender issue. It has alot more to do with ignorance and selfishness.

I guess this author has never been to Alabama. The number of god damned women driving monster suvs here is horrendous. The women here are just as bad if not worse than the men. But really they're not men and women, they're mutants hellbent on the destruction of the globe. A real man or woman would never be so callous.

Most could drive a four cylinder car instead. Or even a V6 Ford Fusion or Chevy Impala will get twice the mpg of most suvs. I have read in automotive magazines that on average a vehicle emits twice it's weight in CO2 per year.

As Al says in An Inconvenient Truth if we use more efficient appliances, practiced a little conservation, used alternative sources of energy and drove more efficient cars we could drive down our CO2 emissions lower than 1970 levels easily. It seems like I read that Al said around 1990 that the internal combustion engine was the greatest threat to mankind. At that time I thought he was kind of loony and he was exagerating the problem. But now I believe he was correct and that he is somewhat of a visionary. Many visionaries and intellectuals are considered loony and/or are persecuted but time often reveals their that their knowledge is correct.

Is Al a female? I have not seen a woman of as much stature as Mr. Gore try as hard to get the message out that something must be done and can be done. So please don't tell me the "feminine mystique is the antidote."

As for cars and suvs, they ought to have the price of gas regulated by the weight of the vehicle. The more the vehicle weighs the more you pay for a gallon of gas. So if some moron wants a suv then they are really gonna pay for it! Instead of the country subsidizing these monstrosities(suvs) by allowing them to skirt CAFE requirements be cause they are classified as trucks when they are used as cars.

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» It'll go further... Posted by: medstudgeek
» Break up the Union Posted by: ssmit355
Don't you mean masculine values of domination?
Posted by: brad on Dec 9, 2006 5:20 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In the article you claim it is the "male values of power and domination...", did you mean to say the masculine characteristics of power and domination? The way it is stated in the article conflates male biological gender with masculinity, which as a psychologist I am sure you know are not the same thing. There are plenty of masculine women and plenty of feminine men. In fact in order for us to abandon our "male values of power and domination" we would have to part with our physical maleness. We could change our gendered behaviour from more masculine to more feminine simply by changing our attidudes and behaviours.

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we are just awful people
Posted by: edith on Dec 9, 2006 5:26 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
basically that's what this article said. the accusations could apply to any problem from labor exploitation to intolerance.

Before I say just say "so what", which is my gut reaction to this "tua culpa"- apologies to Latin scholars if I've screwed up the dative case- I'll just mention that I drive a hybird and enjoy the gas savings. So that's my selfish, Maslovian motive for doing a bit of what the Inquisitor who wrote this article advocates. Beyond that..

* it's clear the author thinks everyone believes global warming is caused by people and by no other factors

* it's clear that if EVERYONE followed the author's advice(100%?) there would be a significant rollback of "global warming"

*it's clear that the author ducks or doesn't want to answer the question as to why our climate has gotten warmer for over 200 years during which cars and coal-based manufacturing had little or no effect on that warming component for a majority of years.

*it's clear that the author is oblivious to the booms in China and the rest of Asia which burns coal and drives cars in ever-increasing amounts despite Al Gore and US hysteria like this article.

*The author is a racist? NO, he's not. But that's the kind of broken connection thinking this article features which damages perceptions of the Left's cognitive capacities. That is too bad because on many issues like worker rights and environmental damage that can actually be linked to human activities(overfishing, oil spills, mercury contamination) the Left is the guardian, as a late, great left newspaper called itself, of reason and health of humanity.

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» something I remembered Posted by: AdamG
» very cool, AdamG Posted by: off-the-radar 2
» Krakatoa, whack your boa Posted by: eddie torres
» Give Me A Lift Posted by: edith
» Full disclosure Posted by: eddie torres
» Hot dust land won't do? Posted by: edith
» The Ring Cycle Posted by: edith
Feminist Clarification
Posted by: Urstrly on Dec 9, 2006 5:34 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm amazed at the negative reaction to this piece, cause I was just contemplating sending to about a dozen people I know, male and female. He certainly speaks to me, to my head and to my heart.

That said, Silent Spring slightly preceded The Feminist Mystique, if I'm not mistaken, and the Feminine Mystique, as Betty Freidan saw it, was a negative thing that kept women at home when they might have had larger lives. She is every bit as big a hero as Rachael Carson in my book.

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» RE: Feminist Clarification Posted by: feduphoosier
» I'm Melting, Melting! Posted by: edith
» bozemanblues = angry mouth slobber Posted by: monkopotamus
» truth hurts blozman Posted by: monkopotamus
» blowzman gives more anger and abuse Posted by: monkopotamus
» blozeman's head blows off Posted by: monkopotamus
» I have to disagree Posted by: WhatNow?
» civil disagreement! Posted by: monkopotamus
» Excellent Posted by: Donna_Darko
maninmoon
Posted by: maninmoon on Dec 9, 2006 5:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The one thing that is strrangely never mentioned is overpopulation, People breed like rats, and every human born will add to the problem. Go get neutered or spade and do the planet a favor, let it regenerate itself. There's probably nothing as disgusting as the welfare queens with 10 kids.
Why is this never discussed? because our government is run by corporations, and all they want is more "consumers".

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» RE: maninmoon Posted by: WhatNow?
» welfare queens with 10 kids? Posted by: asilsfable
» Now this is a good thread Posted by: eddie torres
I could have done a better job than this author
Posted by: AdamG on Dec 9, 2006 6:22 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The article wasn't bad, per se, but it didn't really address the underlying cause for all of humanities faults. Lihe they say, your greatest strengths are also tend to be your greatest liability. In this case, blame should fall squarely upon our neocortex. It is the part of our brain that gives us the capacity for abstract thought.

To see things abstractly, means to take them out of context, out of relation. While this can be valuable, it can also be dangerous. Something seen without context, has no inherent value. It's value is based on it being compared, objectively and subjectively, against something else. In our case, we tend to measure things up to how they affect us and ours.

First we see I. Then we compare other people to how they are similar, or different, then we are. We identify, and group together with, people we find similar. This forms the basis for social divisions. This enables the capacity to percieve "us" and "them".

Next, we percieve that our own mortality and life. We see that it is not permenant. This gives us the perception of time. Time does not exist, it is only percieved. Even Einstein said "We have time so that everything doesn't happen at once". This enables us to percieve "my".

Then, we percieve that we live in a place with other humans. We see available resources. This sets the stage for competition between groups, as we generally see someone else's reaping of resources as detracting from our own ability to procur resources. This enables us to percieve "ours".

All of these perceptions are what enable us to live our lives in a way that pits human needs against those of other humans and the world itself. We are acting to preserve our own little "bubble", our pysche, that we live within. This bubble, while we may think it keeps us comfortable, in actuality it imprisons us. We further imprison ourselves by further constructing human tools and institutions that reinforce this mindset. Brick by brick, we construct walls around ourselves because of our limited perspective. We cannot see far beyond ourselves and so don't understand much of the world. Out of this lack of understanding stems fear. Out of this fear stems anger. From anger comes agression. And so here we are, fighting the physical world, as it is, tooth and nail for self-preservation. Eventually, we find ourselves afraid, and alone, in our self constructed prison.

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» A way out of the prison Posted by: AdamG
» Again, Please? Posted by: edith
» RE: Again, Please? Posted by: AdamG
» Thanks Posted by: edith
» is this a contest? per se? Posted by: monkopotamus
» now adamg understands? Posted by: monkopotamus
» Actually, I'm guilty Posted by: AdamG
» let value shine through Posted by: monkopotamus
Title? a human
Posted by: bobleaf on Dec 9, 2006 7:15 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How many SUV's does it take to cause the melting of the polar ice caps on Mars? Where did all the hurricanes go this year? Yes, the climate is heating up, but is man causing it? It has been heating up for the last 15,000 years. I am glad y'all weren't around 15,000 years ago. We have to stop the warming! Why don't we look into adapting to the higher temps? Go Steelers! That is a football team. The best population control is affluence just look at Europe, but Europe's population will grow again with lots of Muslims.

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» RE: Title? a human Posted by: lynned2002
» Is man causing it... Posted by: ssmit355
» RE: Is man causing it... Posted by: richholland
#1 Cause of Global Warming:Militarism
Posted by: rwa on Dec 9, 2006 7:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Where is the best place to start in correcting our destruction of the environment? Stop funding the DOD. The U.S. is the big spender and aggressor worldwide. We have to end the suicidal march toward mutual destruction. This article seems to be about diversion away from addressing the political system that is imposing this self destruction on the world.

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» america the gunrunner Posted by: monkopotamus
Misleading title
Posted by: Thinker on Dec 9, 2006 8:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
While I accept the gist of the article as more than valid, I find the title misleading. The article points out the reasons for our failure to act to protect the planet. It fails to present tangible actions.

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» tangible action #1 spelled out Posted by: monkopotamus
Hits the Nail on the Head
Posted by: Elise on Dec 9, 2006 8:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All the sound and fury this article has generated shows that the author must have hit the nail on the head. In my experience, the more anger an idea generates, the closer it gets to the truth. Humans seem to have an amazing propensity to not want to look inside themselves. And, for those who have done that already, maybe one way to halt global warming is to develop the positive qualities of which the author speaks and be ambassadors of new ways to live in harmony with the earth in our local communities.

Many of the people with whom we come in contact will listen when we are a living example of these qualities. I have never made any real contact with others when I have come at them beating them over the head with the "right" way to do something. If I show them by example, they often want to know more.

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