How Integral is Ecology and the U.S. Green Party to the Themes of the U.S. Social Forum?
Green Horizon Foundation is sponsoring a Workshop at the United States Social Forum in Detroit on Friday, June 25.The time: from 3:30 to 5:30.
The place:Woodward Academy, Room 1469.
Presenters are John Rensenbrink and Steve Welzer.
Title of Workshop:
How Integral is Ecology to “Another World Is Possible” and How Integral is the Green Party to “Another United States is Necessary?”
Two Hours
Sponsoring Organization: Green Horizon Foundation
Full Description:
The Workshop will introduce the relevance of ecology to major themes raised by the U.S. Green Party’s Ten Key Values –Social Justice, Grass Roots Democracy, Ecological Wisdom, Non-Violence, Decentralization, Community-centered Economics, Diversity, Gender Equality, Global Responsibility, and Thinking To the Seventh Generation (Sustainability). The feasibility of a third party dedicated to these values will be explored; strategies will be identified for convincing a substantial portion of the U.S. public to look to and use the Green Party as their vehicle of choice to change the direction of public policy fundamentally. Three small groups will be formed to discuss these themes. Their conclusions will be the subject of the last portion of the Workshop.
Short Description (for printed program):
The pertinence of Ecology to Social Justice, Democracy, Alternative Party Building, Public Education, Community Resilience, Sustainable Economics, and Human Survival.
What format? Panel and Small Group Discussion
Background Exposition for the USSF Workshop
Title: How Integral is Ecology To
“Another World Is Possible” and How Integral is the Green Party To “Another U.S. Is Necessary”?
The question posed in the title can be taken up from several, or all, of the following vantage points.
>>The vantage point of social justice.
>>The political vantage point.
>>The economic vantage point.
>>The vantage point of human association.
>>The cultural vantage point.
>>The anthropological/paleontological/evolutionary vantage point.
The Vantage Point of Social Justice
Nature shows that members of a group may or may not be hierarchical in their internal organization; but in few cases is the gap very large between those who have more and those who have less. Nature has figured out that the resilience of the group as a whole in large part depends on a thriving life for all members of the group without exception. Leadership in the natural world is valued for its ability and commitment to the needs of the group as a whole. Ego – or what we tend to describe as ego -- has little to do with it; and when it plays a role, it is used to bolster the well being of the group as a whole. Human organizations and civilizations have often departed from these models of sustainability and have done so to their detriment and eventual destruction.
The Political Vantage Point
Ecology teaches that in nature two principles are at work and that these are directly applicable to the human condition: the experimental and active force of the individual and the resilience and prosperity of the whole. These two principles work best in harmony (avoiding self-destructive behavior and results) if there is widespread participation in power and in access to power on the part of all individuals. All those with a stake in the outcome of any decision must be included in the processes of reaching that decision.
Thus democracy of a participatory quality is the appropriate political philosophy and practice. The political institutionalization of hierarchy works directly counter to the benefit of each and of the whole. Ecology is the opposite of tyranny and the opposite of the exploitation of some to the benefit of others.
Furthermore, though force occurs in nature, such force occurs almost always in contexts where carefully worked out negotiations of eco-niches have broken down. In human societies, the principle to pursue ecologically is to promote collaborative processes, discussion, and debate. If such does not work out, only defensive behavior makes any sense, not aggressive, pre-emptive recourse to force and violence. This is especially true now that the evolution of technology is such that the available weaponry makes resort to violence a predictable invitation to self-destruction of both the individual and the whole.
If it is posed that violence and force occur in nature, two points are pertinent. In almost all cases, the violence is defensive. The attacking animal needs the food; the animal that is attacked acts to preserve itself. A second point is that humans engage in a constant process of force on animals in order to eat them (slaughtering them). The issue therefore is not one of force versus no force, whether in “nature” or in “human culture”, but for what purpose the applied force is being used. Following nature, ecology insists on moderation, sufficiency, limits on consumption, and respect for the life being consumed.
Politics is the key substitute for violence, discovered through long history of human interactions. In politics, the ballot box, along with open discussion beforehand, is a sacred vehicle through which fair and effective decisions affecting the life of every part of the whole are conducted and legitimized. Efforts to undermine and nullify voter participation destroy the essence of politics and constantly push society back to a state of violence.
The Green Party may be noted as being the one political party in the United States which decisively stands for and promotes social justice, participation by the citizens in decisions that affect them and everyone (self-government), community-centered economics, diversity, personal liberty and responsibility, multicultural society, and sexual and gender equality. The Green Party may also be noted as the one party that decisively stands for and promotes non-violence, whether that be physical non-violence or the corrupted use of speech in which words are used to undermine and destroy others.
The Economic Vantage Point
Three key factors drive economic processes: capital, labor, and land (or nature as original source and resource).
Capitalist thinkers hold that entrepreneurship and capital accumulation is central. Socialist thinkers hold that labor is central -- at the core of which is the labor theory of value. Henry George and John Stuart Mill – as well as contemporary eco-philosophers -- hold that land (or nature) is central. Greens hold that the thinking and practice of capitalism in treating labor and land (natural resources) as “externalities” is wrongheaded. Greens hold that socialist theory tends to exclude the vital focus on land/nature and the over-arching eco-systems of the planet. Both reveal a strong anthropocentric bias which result in the evisceration of the natural foundation of both capital and labor.
Thus ecology, which teaches that the human race is part of nature, not above it, requires an economics that fully operates within the bounds of ecological sustainability -- both the sustainability of particular eco-systems and the sustainability of the planet’s resources as a whole. Small business entrepreneurship is more adaptable to particular eco-systems’ needs than large corporations. Eco-systems also thrive from the protection of working people from harm and from their participation in decision making in the productive and service industries. Cooperatives and non-profits are directly congruent with ecological expectations and requirements.
The Vantage Point of Human Association
Ecology holds that human populations are not separate from the natural eco-systems is which they live. Community must be understand not just as a set of relationships among human beings, but as a set of living beings, including human beings, that occupy a given portion of land together. Capitalism must be overcome if human beings are to recover the natural connectedness they have with one another and with all of nature. The integrity of nature is key and we who are a part of that nature must respect and nourish that integrity or we who loom so large within nature will perish along with the rest. “:Community” and “nature” must henceforth be understood, grasped, and celebrated as interwoven aspects of our common life.
The Cultural Vantage Point
Just as nature of itself produces, often exuberantly, a vast variety of things and beings – diversity is its middle name!—so too must and should human cultures be seen as manifestation of variety and diversity. Monoculture, whether in plants or animals or among human cultures, is contrary to health and to the life prospects of each and all. Multicultural society must and can be the goal and sustaining practice of human beings henceforth.
The Vantage Point of Evolution
Ecology teaches that humankind are part of a long development and that its development has not reached an end. Evolution is a continuing process. However, there is no guarantee that humankind will continue into the future. Particular civilizations of human beings have self-destructed and it is not a given that the human species on planet earth will survive. Yet evolution offers humankind lessons for living with and within nature in a mode of partnership with nature and its evolutionary processes. Human society on planet earth will only survive and thrive if these lessons are learned and applied.
John Rensenbrink
Spring 2010
Do you want to limit the size of your workshop? Yes – between 25 and 50.
Check which day your event fits most appropriately. Friday, June 25th – Solutions, Alternatives, and Visions