To Umbra's discussion about selective caring, I would add that things are SO MUCH BETTER than they were just a year or two ago.   The tide of awareness has turned.   When energy is at the top of many political to-do lists, and cities vie to be the most green and young evangelicals believe that they are called to take care of the planet and organic products are on ordinary grocery shelves and major manufacturers are making green cleansers and you can see bamboo clothing in mainstream catalogs....you can see hope turning to action.   People are recognizing the impacts of their daily lives.   And,the first step is recognizing you have a problem, right??  

Combine that with some amazing technology and engineering we have available RIGHT NOW in energy, alternative product manufacturing, and many other areas... take heart.  We are on the way, and we are far from alone in rolling up our sleeves to do the good work.  Then, roll up your sleeves with people you like...

Two of my favorite authors, Peter Senge and Parker Palmer, talk about the gap between the way things are and the way we would like them to be.  Senge calls it a creative gap, Palmer calls it a tragic gap.  

Even tho much of society takes a head-in-the-sand approach to facing current reality, (and there is even some reason for hope in what is going on right now)the information about our multitude of complex dilemmas and missteps is out there to be seen, heard and to some degree understood if anyone cares to look.

What is missing is an articulation of the way we'd like things to be 10 or 20 years from now.  "Reducing carbon emissions" for example is not a positive, aspirational vision of the future we'd like to create. It will no doubt mean reducing carbon emissions to get there, but where is there and what will it look like when we get there?  What do we want the future to be like?  Specifically.  Not many people I know are good at convening this kind of conversation; there's too much fixation on short-term problems, a find and fix mentality driven by fear and crisis.  I think we motivate too much by fear and do way too little to inspire action through hope and possibility.

I think what will catalyze dealing with short-term serious problems is a clear, no-kidding, this-is-what-we-want-to-create-together-and-this-is-what-its-going-to-take-to-get-there vision, created thru meaningful conversations community by community.  

To me, leadership does not mean finding and fixing problems.  It means asking the right questions and generating transformational thinking that creates new solutions and new possibilities.  

So, if we continue to take a cold, hard look at current reality, and commit to a process that cultivates a shared vision of what we want to create and what it will take to get there, I think we'll generate a lot more positive energy, hope, and commitment for the long term in ourselves and others.  And, I think its much more likely that we'll get a future we want to live in.

Hardly!

Serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
and the Wisdom to know the difference.

I've realized that taking action and inspiring others is one way to deal with self-judgement.

I've decided to talk to my company procurement officer to stop supplying free disposable plates, styrofoam cups, plastic forks, coffee cups etc rather than trying to reach a limited number of my friends. If successful, I would be making a difference of eliminating junk generated by 500 people everyday. This success should encourage me to be more active and inspire others as well.

Anybody tried anything similar in the past? Please share your experiences. It would help me to talk to my Procurements manager.

I think Umbra should put a reminder on every post of her to make people understand where to put your  efforts. I think she did give an advice like that before (fulcrum, leverage point etc) but I couldn't find it again.

My 2 cents!

I believe staying positive and supporting each other will continue to be a critical priority for environmentally concerned citizens as we join together to develop a sustainable planet.

Things have been very dark during the last few years, as resource depleting fossil fuel oligarchs had taken over our government.  Over many years as an environmental activist I have turned to meditation and other forms of personal development.  More recently, however, I have developed a growing "audacity of hope" due to the many new ideas that are forming.

Much of my hope centers on the growing emergence of new fields of research such as Ecological Economics.  A couple of days ago a leading Ecological Economist, Robert Costanza, spoke at a nearby University on the importance of "true costing" our economic system so that everyone will participate in converting to resource conserving technologies that pollute less.

We can "true cost" or economic system by removing taxes on labor while charging user fees for extracting minerals and pollution.  Revenue raised could be put into Earth Trust funds to pay for public services, individual safety net accounts, and to restore and protect wildlife habitat.  In this way the unearned increment (or windfall profit) of diminishing scarce resources such as oil can be returned to the public instead of into the pockets of people who already have billions of dollars.

Meanwhile I am very excited about the different kinds of emerging technologies that a "true-cost" economic system will catalyze.  There are many wonderful resource conserving and clean energy producing technologies waiting for the true cost of oil and coal to hit us. This includes floating windmills (Magenn), Mag -Lev windmills in China (both large and small), plasma gasification (to safely eliminate the toxic garbage we produce), and a potential quantum leap in developing transportation technologies such as the PRT (personal rapid transit).  

We certainly have a long way to go before humans can say we have created a sustainable planet, but I do have hope.

GeoArk
Arkansas

Just out of idle curiosity (I have a lot of that), before we decide that our ancient LPs are the work of the Evil Empire, what exactly are CDs and DVDs made of? And for that matter, what are the "jewel cases" they come in made of? My LPs, which I'm not parting with until they cart me out feet first, are in nice, biodegradable cardboard envelopes, though I hope right-thinking people will want to adopt them and preserve them long after I'm gone.

Quote from Walter Mosley, from "What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace"

"Every day that we wake up is a good day. Every breath that we take is filled with hope for a better day.  Every word that we speak is a chance to change what is bad into something good."

I reread sayings by other people.   I always go back to Einstein's sayings about giving and service to others:

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."  and

"A person first starts to live when he can live outside himself."

and to put things into perspective, this next one reminds me to "smell the roses"

I think over again my small adventures,
              My Fears,
Those small ones that seem so big
For all the vital things I had to get
           and to reach.
And yet there is only the great thing,              
          The only thing.          
To live and see the great day that dawns,        
And the light that fills the world.    Inuit song

I saw this at the end of the movie "Never Cry Wolf"