Thisis a vibration from a node along a small connection to the whole, integratedworldwidesocial web. It is "inside-out," "bottom-up," it is -- we-improvement!
This weekend, Saturday, March 27, 2009, at 8:30pm EST,is the third anniversary of Earth Hour. I urge everyone, not only to participate, but also perpetuate participation in this global social event. (Seehttps://www.myearthhour.org/home) (All time zones can be found on the site.)
I had the unique opportunity to graduate from the United Nations mandated University for Peace, witha specialization in Environmental Security. Rector Martin Lees, a man that served 25 years in the UN General Assembly, in his Introductory Address to the students, listed climate change and resource scarcity as two of his six greatest obstacles to a more peaceful and prosperous world. Because of that year, and because of the powerful persuasions of Plan B 4.0, by the Earth Policy Institute (downloadable on the web for free),I buy wholeheartedly into Pulitzer Prize winner Dr.Jared Diamond's assessment, "we are now living in an exponentially accelerating horserace between the decline of the Earth's environment and our ability to respond."
The reason that I work as a CFO at
United Way is based on previous skills combined with a passion for the 3rd generation of human rights -- the UN agenda for human security and development. In UW language, I call that "Live United."In my time in this "social movement," I have had the occasion to ask many times, "why is the environment not a part of the mission?" The most common answers include, "we already have so much to do," plus, "we are a social service organization," and, "we have to leave the environment to others."In contradiction to those responses, I was recently asked by a sociology professor to review a new textbook. He told me, "of all of the chapters in the book (12 or 14), Soc 101 will probably only cover the first 6 chapters." Unfortunately, in the last paragraph --on the last page --of the very last chapter, the author closed the text by professing the importance of sociology --within the next generation, the Earth's environment will prove to be one of the greatest social challenges humanity has ever faced.
Of course, that begs the hardest question: What can any of us really do?
(That is a question that has haunted me ever since Michael, my youngest son, who was 9 at the time, asked, while still staring at a drip of dribbled milk on the dinner table on 9/11, "daddy, what can we do to help?")
Well, we can wait for someone to come up with the big answers; or, in thetrue spirit ofa social movement,a super-lot of us can all do the small things that are possible for each of us to do.My suggestion:This weekend, Saturday, March 27, 2009, at 8:30pm EST,is the third anniversary of Earth Hour. I urge everyone, not only to participate, but also perpetuate participation in this global social event. (See https://www.myearthhour.org/home)
Pass it forward!
John J. Ramirez, Jr.,
2005 Alumni, United Nations mandated University for Peace
