Books & Music...

Maybe I've watched too many action hero movies, but I truly believe one person can make an incredible difference against insurmountable odds. But if more people cared, would you really need an action hero?

Our fragile eco-system is the damsel in distress right now and is not only worth saving but her saving is vital to the rest of us who need saving as well. It's so easy to get stuck in the mindset that someone else will bail us out (Wall Street, anyone?), and it seems daunting that we can really make a difference. But if someone somewhere doesn't start, nothing will ever happen.

That's the conclusion that David C. Korten comes to in his book The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. And while he paints an accurate bleak picture on a dark canvas, he weaves in many rays of hope, inspiring people to be that someone somewhere who starts something. He will inspire you with his words:

“It is hard to admit that we have been living a lie, as to do so seems to call into question our intelligence and integrity. Yet we are in good company, for living a lie has been a chronic affliction of most members of our species for thousands of years. Let us celebrate the awakening that is the key to breaking free from Empire’s play-or-die dynamic. …

“The momentum is building. Around the world people are organizing from the grass roots up to take back their lives, reject calls to work and violence, rebuild their local economies and communities, democratize their political institutions, and create authentic cultures.

“Most Earth Community initiatives are small and tentative. Many disappear without a trace. But hope lies in the geometric growth of their numbers, scale, and the linkages among them. Some—like the Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil and the Green Belt Movement in Kenya—have already achieved sufficient scale to inspire people throughout the world. Millions of such initiatives give substance to a shared vision of the world that can be. The faster they grow and link, the faster the human story changes and the faster the life energy of the human species turns away from Empire and aligns with Earth Community.”