Change the World by Finding Hope
The column by Silver Donald Cameron in this morning's Halifax paper reminded me of your journey of hope across the country.
... Jane
This morning I opened my e-mail to find the above note from my good friend Jane in Nova Scotia. I met her last fall in Annapolis Royal on our cross-country trip “Looking for Hope.” She and three others stood on a busy street corner holding up anti-war signs. For me, it was a sign of hope. And the article that Jane sent to me is another. Due to the length of the article I will post only a portion, but I urge everyone to click to the Chronicle Herald website to read the whole thing. You will be glad you did. We can all use a big dose of HOPE right now. Thanks Jane.
Change the world by finding hope
By SILVER DONALD CAMERON
Sun. Jul 13 - 7:16 AM
'ENVIRONMENTALISM has become a sort of mythology of death -- passionate, lyrical, righteous and hopeless," says Chris Turner. It has "failed as a common language of hope or a ritual of rebirth. It has failed as myth."
Eloquent -- and painfully accurate. Fear and hopelessness are useless -- emotions that make people numb and passive, preventing them from taking useful action. As Turner notes, would all those people in Washington have been inspired if Martin Luther King had stood before them and declared, "I have a nightmare today?"
So Turner set out to find what he calls "the archipelago of hope," places and initiatives where people are aware of the environmental crisis – but attack the problems with imagination, exuberance and optimism. The result is a stimulating new book, The Geography of Hope (Random House Canada, $34.95).
Turner takes as his mantra Kenneth Boulding's observation, "Anything that exists is possible." He sets out to see not only what might be, or could be, but what is. Is there, for instance, a really prosperous city where people normally travel on first-class public transit, where car ownership is restricted and heavily taxed, where the remaining cars are often powered by hydrogen fuel cells? Well, yes, that would be Singapore. And if Singaporeans can do it, so can others.
Go to www.thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/1067346.html for the rest of the article.
... Jane
This morning I opened my e-mail to find the above note from my good friend Jane in Nova Scotia. I met her last fall in Annapolis Royal on our cross-country trip “Looking for Hope.” She and three others stood on a busy street corner holding up anti-war signs. For me, it was a sign of hope. And the article that Jane sent to me is another. Due to the length of the article I will post only a portion, but I urge everyone to click to the Chronicle Herald website to read the whole thing. You will be glad you did. We can all use a big dose of HOPE right now. Thanks Jane.
Change the world by finding hope
By SILVER DONALD CAMERON
Sun. Jul 13 - 7:16 AM
'ENVIRONMENTALISM has become a sort of mythology of death -- passionate, lyrical, righteous and hopeless," says Chris Turner. It has "failed as a common language of hope or a ritual of rebirth. It has failed as myth."
Eloquent -- and painfully accurate. Fear and hopelessness are useless -- emotions that make people numb and passive, preventing them from taking useful action. As Turner notes, would all those people in Washington have been inspired if Martin Luther King had stood before them and declared, "I have a nightmare today?"
So Turner set out to find what he calls "the archipelago of hope," places and initiatives where people are aware of the environmental crisis – but attack the problems with imagination, exuberance and optimism. The result is a stimulating new book, The Geography of Hope (Random House Canada, $34.95).
Turner takes as his mantra Kenneth Boulding's observation, "Anything that exists is possible." He sets out to see not only what might be, or could be, but what is. Is there, for instance, a really prosperous city where people normally travel on first-class public transit, where car ownership is restricted and heavily taxed, where the remaining cars are often powered by hydrogen fuel cells? Well, yes, that would be Singapore. And if Singaporeans can do it, so can others.
Go to www.thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/1067346.html for the rest of the article.
posted by Looking for Hope | 8:34 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home