Frances Moore Lappe is a great thinker and a fantastic speaker.
At Seattle's Green Festival Sunday, Lappe called the American’s exploitation of resources, a failed, dangerous experiment, pointing out that we’ve used twice as much of the earth’s resources since 1944 as in all of history.
There are ideas in our society that need to be shed, she said, then she offered new ways of thinking and actions that are needed:
The party’s over; we need to power down. It’s scary to think about watching the world’s institutions shut down because we have to give up fossil fuel. Fossil fuels haven’t freed us, they’ve constructed us. We can get 1,500 times the energy from the sun that we’ve received from fossil fuels.
Waste is the norm. Our society is generating waste and destruction. It runs on a system of waste-making economics. The highest returns go to the wealthiest people, which leads to a concentration of political power. In 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt said if private power is stronger than government, you have fascism. The concentration of power unleashes cruelty. We need to talk about the goodness of nature. People like to cooperate and share with others. Fairness and justice aren’t options. Fairness is just another piece of us. We can get much, much better.
Regulations are bad. We need rules, if they make sense. Corporations need charters to look out for the common good. The need for risk should be one part of rule making. This is done in Germany and several other countries. In San Francisco, plastic bags are banned. This has cut the use of plastic bags by millions. It has sparked a “wildfire of common sense” in other cities.
We have no time. In the last 10 years, we’ve seen the most dangerous degradation of the environment. The environmental crisis is a democratic crisis. We need a living democracy. We can begin with small actions we can take that make a difference and inspire others to do the same. We can educate children about environmental practices and support companies supporting sustainable living and fair market practices.
Lappe’s latest book is “Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage in a World Gone Mad.” She’s written 16 books, including her 1971 three-million-copy best seller “Diet for a Small Planet.” Lappe and her daughter Anna Lappe lead the Small Planet Institute, a network for research and education on democracy.
Tomorrow's Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide will report on Amy Goodman's talk at Seattle's Green Festival, "Bush and the Media."
Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist