from presentation wider audience
Public Interest Organizations
PIOs [public interest organizations], groups refer to 1000s of organizations that exist to address a wide range of environmental, social, economic, political, public health and even spiritual issues. They can play a critical role in helping to bring about a preferred future. They already perform important work on behalf of people and planet.
Some PIOs have a dozen members, some have millions of members. Some are local, some are national. Some have professional staff, some are ad hoc and totally volunteer.
PIOs have assets to work with. They have organizational structure, faithful members, communication/outreach capacity, networks with other organizations and often relations with community leaders, elected officials, faith and business persons. The can also be a “nursery” for gestating new activists.
Caution, cold water alert. Much thanks to the work of PIOs! From this perspective, most of these groups are functioning at a grade school level when the need is to operate at high school, college, graduate, doc, post doc, continuing education and beyond.
Organizations - Here’s why the cold water
Few people or organizations are thinking beyond the confines of the consumer culture and capitalism as we know it. Just about all the approaches from just about all these organizations assume that capitalism, the existing political system and the consumer culture is all we have to work with. Limited thinking means limited success in solving these problems.
Imagining a future not controlled by the same economic and political system that is responsible for all these familiar problems may be a challenge but none the less, that opportunity is there, its called the preferred future. Recognizing that opportunity can liberate a great deal of creative and positive thinking, and even action.
The current political, economic and social system values money over the health and well being of people and planet. It is not capable of anything different. A sustainable and uplifted future depends on creating social, economic, political and lifestyle alternatives to capitalism as we know it.
Organizations and Paradigm Shift
These are principles organizations can share with their members.
Recall the human potential footprint. Our social engineering has diminished our capacities to imagine a preferred future with a very different set of personal and society goals and ideals that would appreciable address the social, environmental, economic, ethical problems we so familiar with at present.
The contention here is, we can enjoy many of the healthy benefits of our modern lives and, at the same time, reduce much of the unwanted baggage. We do not have to suffer a package deal. That is a core premise of the Primer. Another core premise, we can take positive action for a preferred future as soon as we care to. No permission needed.
A sustainable future will not be a green version of what we have now. Much of what is familiar now will not exist in a preferred future. Recall the comparison in Part 3 of the Primer. With a lot of work and luck, the benefits of a preferred future will far outweigh what is left behind.
Organizations And Paradigm Shift
Paradigm shift is the purposeful act of moving towards a preferred future. It is an adventure. We do have a compass.
And we have untold allies and assets to work with in common cause. The more we develop paradigm shift, the more allies and assets we will create and find. The current system has many products and services to assist paradigm shift. A huge part of our task is to make thoughtful and purposeful use of what helps this transformation and leave the rest behind.
1000s of public interest organizations and millions of their members can make the enormously critical leap from their current important work to paradigm shift. Their issues remain the same, but their zeitgeist is elevated.
Zeitgeist - A shift in how we see ourselves and the world around us. We should learn to not only consider ourselves climate change, social justice, public health and many other kinds activists, we should also identify as paradigm shift activists.
Organizations And Paradigm Shift
There are lots of moving parts for bringing about a preferred future. Our success
depends on how effective we are with the choices we make with our time and money as individuals, public interest organizations and as a society. The more cohesive we are as friends, neighbors, organizations and networks, the better.
We want to move from grade school to junior high, high school and beyond. The following understandings are very important. People can put them to work in their own lives. An organization's leaders or members can take the initiative for the group to embrace and advocate these understandings and actions.
Imagine the Sierra Club, AARP and 1000s of other PIOs calling on their members to reduce their eco footprints, go veggie, transform their suburban property and take paradigm shift info to their neighborhood association meetings.
PIOs can share these zeitgeist/paradigm changing principles with their members, each other, the wider world, their contacts in government and business. These principles can be the point of departure for unlimited articles and educational content to the wider world.
Virtually all progressive public interest organizations are on the same team. Virtually all these organizations exist to repair some kind of damage caused by capitalism, its consumer culture and shortage of political will to effectively respond to the damage. Verily, all these organizations exist because the government and business are not responding because they are too busy making money from these problems.
This organizational leap in zeitgeist is an historical undertaking and calls for someone in each group to step up and initiate this leap. It could be a member or members, maybe leadership, maybe an outside influence from another group already taking action. Expanding our imaginations beyond the confines of the current system can liberate enormous energy and action. And we can be a part of that as soon as we make that choice.
A preferred future will mean a very different and widespread set of social, economic, lifestyle and environmental conditions. Few people will be unaffected.
Here is a look at several selected social, political and economic constituencies and how their interactions with paradigm shift might look like participating and making adjustments. These descriptions combine hope with a touch of possibility. Again, if enough people want to see all this happen, these short stories can happen.
Labor
Labor has lost much of its influence over the past 3 or 4 generations, but ironically, at the same time there is more reason than ever to push back against bit business. What better way to revitalize labor than for workers to become champions of environmental and social justice. Teamsters and turtles.
The economic pie does need to be divided more fairly but on behalf of a sustainable future, that economic pie needs to be a lot smaller.
Even with a large adjustment in how the pie is divided, all workers, like the rest of the population, will experience decreased buying capacity as described before. Reducing eco footprints will become less a choice than a new part of life.
Add to the buying power issue, many products that employ millions of people at present will not make the cut to a sustainable future such as in the auto industry, construction, many kinds of familiar products and services.
Labor will be faced with some enormous challenges. Changing conditions may open new opportunities for cooperative ventures, worker ownership, economic democracy and more. The ideals of worker solidarity, civic responsibility a history of social ideals and experience dealing with big business provides labor with a unique capacity and opportunity to play a critical role in paradigm shift.
For certain, labor’s task to build solidarity for looking after each other and the larger community in changing times.
Homeless
Given the increasing size of the challenge with homelessness and that our national wealth is close to peak, one might rightly ask, what are we going to do if we all have to downsize. How would we approach the homeless issue with even less resources?
From a non human services professional who has never know homelessness, this response may sound simplistic. We approach the issue like paradigm shift. We do not limit our thinking to the conditions of today.
A core part of taking care of the homeless would include the expectation that they receive care for the causes of their homelessness. They receive the basics for healthy living and they are expected, as they are able, to perform work for the good of the community.
How to pay for this? A progressive income tax would be become steeper as the strength of paradigm shift moves forward. Referring to what happens with the two major political parties, as PS moves forward. We do tax the well off and products that do not fit sustainability and by re directing money now spent on the military, highways and other current destinations that dont fit sustainability.
Paradigm shift will call on everyone who can, to help bring about a preferred future that will have to do better looking after all its members.
The Two Major Political Parties
Already evident, our society's deepening trends and problems such as climate change, social disequity, public health and many others are converging. At the same time, our economic system and its government caretakers are behaving as normal and that means more of the same problems and worse.
Can the mainstream economic system and the consumer culture exist without extensive damage to people and planet? Can we expect the source of these problems to fix them? The mainstream parties behave like there is no alternative to their dis function.
At present, dozens of percents of citizens don’t vote at all. Hopefully, in the coming few years, votes for both the major parties will decline and add their numbers to the ones who don’t even bother, leaving an opening for new candidates with progressive out of the box thinking to fill in the void.
The task of paradigm shift as a movement is to build a consciousness and capacity to fill that void by producing candidates who have a healthy vision and a broader population that finally has candidates they care to vote for.
A disaffected constituency
at present, with great loyalty to one recent single term president, may find they have more to like from the Primer and its admittedly down home agenda with its various conservative and community minded ideals and push back against the status quo in a constructive way.
Paradigm shift may appear way out on the margins right now but will look far more attractive as conditions change, especially when capable people can take healthy paradigm shift ideas and translate them into a form and visibility where more people can recognize and respond to their value.
A preferred political scenario, new leaders for paradigm shift are boosted by changing times, an increasingly conscious public, first at local, then state, then national levels and at some point, they gain enough power to start reprioritizing government spending. Very hopeful. We either make these changes or wish we had.
Military
The military is a vast establishment in terms of service members, civilian employees, geographic deployment, budget and economic impact. Thats 1.3 million active duty personnel, ¾ million civilian employees and then many more 100s of thousands who produce products and services for the military.
What do they all do with paradigm shift? Here are some preliminary thoughts. Over time, there are a lot fewer people in all those categories. Over time, the budget declines a great deal. But none of these numbers go away completely anytime soon.
Virtually all these trends described in the Primer are world wide. Just about every country has its trends and conditions counterparts to the US. Yes, the US has further to downsize but has plenty of company with the need to deal with many deepening challenges
The hope is, the countries of the world come to realize they simply cannot afford their militaries and there are choices to allocate military spending that can deliver much greater security and stability. Like the progressive organizations described earlier,,, some country has to go first, even if a small amount to significantly reduce their military spending. Perhaps they do this in coordination with other countries.
The hope. More countries engage their own versions of paradigm shift. Perhaps treaties can be put in effect that allow international inspectors to make sure countries abide by the conditions if military reduction. And there could be agreements in place for what to do if a country transgresses.
And like the US, emerging leaders and public support will allow progressive political movement to downsize the overconsumption of the military industrial complex and put remaining soldiers to work on public projects as they are available.
All these ideas hopeful. Again, humans as individuals and with others, will either make the appropriate changes in how they behave, or they will wish we had.
Social Media
Hundreds of millions of people use social media. These on line platforms can bring the ideas of paradigm shift to millions of people. Social media includes facebook, youtube, whatsapp, instagram, tiktok, snapchat, reddit, pinterest, reddit, linkedin, twitter, meet up and many more.
Existing progressive organizations and movements have a special part to play in paradigm shift. They are already in the vanguard towards a preferred future. Indeed, Post Carbon and the Transition Movement agendas are already fully into paradigm shift and have much to offer.
Transition Movement
The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability.
https://transitionnetwork.org/
Post Carbon Institute
Post Carbon Institute is a think tank which provides information and analysis on climate change, energy scarcity, and other issues related to sustainability and long term community resilience. Its Fellows specialize in various fields related to the organization's mission, such as fossil fuels, renewable energy, food, water, and population. https://www.postcarbon.org
Both TT and PCI are out front advocating the same paradigm shift described in this primer. They are both excellent sources of information relating to social, economic, lifestyle and environmental issues and what to do about them. Highly recommended.
Truth and Reconciliation
In modern times, a fair number of nations have made use of truth and reconciliation. The most common reason for using truth and reconciliation has been to acknowledge the mistreatment and wrongdoing one population has imposed on another to reach some kind of reckoning for that condition and accountability for those responsible.
Typically a stronger and more forceful political and economic entity imposes un just and damaging conditions on another population group, often over many generations of time.
Many countries have made use of this process including South Africa, Canada, Australia, Norway and Sweden. Often the initiator is technically advanced and those on the receiving end are indigenous people whose culture, traditions and livelihoods are systematically damaged.
Capitalism, the consumer culture, its owners and helpers have imposed a set of remarkably damaging conditions on the entire planet and billions of people for many generations that deserve to be the focus of truth and reconciliation.
A truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body and its course of action is
(1) investigates a pattern of events that took place over a period of time;
(2) engages directly and broadly with the affected population, gathering information on their experiences;
(3) is a temporary body, with the aim of concluding with a final report; and
(4) is officially authorized or empowered by the will of the people
The contention from this perspective is that capitalism, as we know it, has imposed a set of conditions, let's call it the consumer culture, on many millions of people over time, that has caused immense damage to the well being of those people and planet they depend on.
The list of damages caused would include actual, and largely avoidable, physical damage to personal and public health such as automobile accidents, all kinds of air and water pollution. Products in particular, would include cars, gasoline, junk food, the external costs of building suburbia, tobacco. Damage can be physical but also social, human potential, psychological as described earlier.
The degree of concentration of economic, social and political power is striking.
This economic system and its government partners have knowingly imposed and failed to prevent unhealthy social, political, economic and environmental conditions on hundreds of millions of people, severely damaged an entire continent and beyond for generations and can claim a leading role in causing climate change. Even more egregious, the singular reasons for creating this damage was simple economic gain and personal vanity.
Apartheid was simply part of life in South Africa for centuries. It was accepted as normal. It was familiar, it was the social and economic state of affairs. Certainly many people resisted and disagreed and after many years of struggle, those who suffered finally prevailed, to a considerable, degree in their own paradigm shift.
Moving towards a preferred future is a social and psychological transformation just as much as land use, transportation, public health and all the rest we have looked at in the Primer. As history shows, conditions that at one time were considered normal and were widely accepted can become recognized for the damage and wrong doing they were responsible for so there can be some kind of identified, accurate & agreed upon accountability that will allow all involved to move forward in positive ways.
Paradigm shift will cause millions of people to look back and see their life's experiences within the consumer culture in a very different way. It almost certainly will be a disturbing review of the past. Our nation's history will have to be rewritten in many ways. Truth and reconciliation can help with the healing process. Not to focus on revenge and punishment but for accountability and moving on towards a preferred future.
Review Part 4
We’ve had a nice look at putting paradigm shift ideas out to a wider audience. That starts with our own priorities of time and money. How can we play a part? We consider what assets and allies do we have where we might put these ideas out to the wider world.
We should not be shy about advocating paradigm shift and a preferred future but we should be literate and articulate with what we say.
Progressive public interest organizations, are already hard at work to address many kinds of issues and damages caused by the consumer culture. They might consider adding to their current goals and messaging beyond the confines of existing politics and economics into a new zeitgeist of human possibility.
These organizations are on the same team and with greater coordination and ambition in messaging and tactics, they might amplify the outcomes of their efforts to help bring about a broad cohesive movement for paradigm shift.
Paradigm shift would mean big changes for all kinds of entities such as the military establishment, the homeless, faith groups, labor, social movements, the major political parties and more.
Truth and reconciliation may look to be a far fringe idea now but in time, it will only look more reasonable and eventually, people will wonder how we allowed capitalism and the consumer culture to rule our lives and cause so much damage for so many generations.
Primer highlights
Here we are at the end of the Primer's four parts. We have touched on a great deal of content. One could write a book. Let’s review the highlights of the Primer. Watching it once is good, twice or more is even better.
The Primer is intended to enhance and fortify our advocacy for a preferred future both for new advocates and experienced. These following highlights are all great talking points and you can add to them.
One of the greatest challenges to bring about paradigm shift is to identify the barriers to making it happen. These barriers are institutional and generations of social engineering. They are a bit heavy. Then a look at the highlights of the Primer that are decidedly positive and finally, a listing of important words and concepts from parts 1, 2 and 3.
Review of the Primer
Capitalism as we know it, and its most notable product, the consumer culture, celebrates & encourages overconsumption of energy and resources. At the same time, it degrades our capacity to manifest our own positive human potentials and imagine healthy alternatives. The existing mainstream economic system is the common denominator of practically every social, environmental, political and economic problem of our time. The economic system shapes society's values and ideals to enrich those who own and control that economic system.
The existence of external costs, the damage caused by the use of cars, oversized homes, factory farming and just about every other product and service is not included in the price we pay. That is proof the economic system is dishonest. External costs allow cheap prices and large profits. Damage to people and planet becomes profit for business.
Our society is managed by political and big business interests who have the most to gain for maintaining the status quo. We know where the damage to people and planet come from – excess consumption from lifestyles with oversized eco footprints - yet these same products persist and problems worsen year after year.
At the same time, people who buy the products all need to be accountable for their own overconsumption.
Fabrications such as like the American Dream, patriotism, manifest destiny, the sanctity of capitalism and American Exceptionalism are all core mythologies of social engineering.
Review continued
The consumer culture takes up a lot of our time and money. Thats time to make money to buy stuff, more time and money to use the stuff and even more time and money repairing the damage. We can use that time and money instead to invest in a healthy planet and future.
Millions of jobs exist to repair the damage caused by millions of other jobs. For example, medical care for victims of car accidents or unhealthy food. Again, money saved by avoiding un healthy products could be used instead to invest in a healthy present and future.
The ideals and goals of a preferred future may appear far off on the margins at present but will certainly look more and more attractive as time passes. Meanwhile, the behavior of our current dominant politics, economics and consumer culture will look increasingly disgraceful to those paying attention.
That is all pretty heavy. But the condition of our society and planet is heavy. Knowing the problems and what we can do about them can motivate and boost our effectiveness to create healthy lifestyles and society for the good of people and planet.
And now, we have a look at the positives.
Final Words
Paradigm shift is an adventure. The more people with healthy ideas and ideals who participate, the better as we move further and deeper into an uncertain future. There has never been so much push and shove in the world as now.
Major economic and political powers have interests contrary to the well being of people and planet and they are not capable of anything different.
We are not required to buy into their story. We can create a healthy cooperative story and an increasing number of people already are. Downsizing our eco footprints and upsizing our civic culture are points of departure. The Primer describes many aspects of moving towards a preferred future.
There has never been a time in history when humans have had so many positive tools, assets, allies and opportunities to help bring about a healthy, fair and sustainable world. We deserve better, we are capable of better. There are many benefits to be gained and they will far outweigh what is left behind.
Public Interest Organizations
PIOs [public interest organizations], groups refer to 1000s of organizations that exist to address a wide range of environmental, social, economic, political, public health and even spiritual issues. They can play a critical role in helping to bring about a preferred future. They already perform important work on behalf of people and planet.
Some PIOs have a dozen members, some have millions of members. Some are local, some are national. Some have professional staff, some are ad hoc and totally volunteer.
PIOs have assets to work with. They have organizational structure, faithful members, communication/outreach capacity, networks with other organizations and often relations with community leaders, elected officials, faith and business persons. The can also be a “nursery” for gestating new activists.
Caution, cold water alert. Much thanks to the work of PIOs! From this perspective, most of these groups are functioning at a grade school level when the need is to operate at high school, college, graduate, doc, post doc, continuing education and beyond.
Organizations - Here’s why the cold water
Few people or organizations are thinking beyond the confines of the consumer culture and capitalism as we know it. Just about all the approaches from just about all these organizations assume that capitalism, the existing political system and the consumer culture is all we have to work with. Limited thinking means limited success in solving these problems.
Imagining a future not controlled by the same economic and political system that is responsible for all these familiar problems may be a challenge but none the less, that opportunity is there, its called the preferred future. Recognizing that opportunity can liberate a great deal of creative and positive thinking, and even action.
The current political, economic and social system values money over the health and well being of people and planet. It is not capable of anything different. A sustainable and uplifted future depends on creating social, economic, political and lifestyle alternatives to capitalism as we know it.
Organizations and Paradigm Shift
These are principles organizations can share with their members.
Recall the human potential footprint. Our social engineering has diminished our capacities to imagine a preferred future with a very different set of personal and society goals and ideals that would appreciable address the social, environmental, economic, ethical problems we so familiar with at present.
The contention here is, we can enjoy many of the healthy benefits of our modern lives and, at the same time, reduce much of the unwanted baggage. We do not have to suffer a package deal. That is a core premise of the Primer. Another core premise, we can take positive action for a preferred future as soon as we care to. No permission needed.
A sustainable future will not be a green version of what we have now. Much of what is familiar now will not exist in a preferred future. Recall the comparison in Part 3 of the Primer. With a lot of work and luck, the benefits of a preferred future will far outweigh what is left behind.
Organizations And Paradigm Shift
Paradigm shift is the purposeful act of moving towards a preferred future. It is an adventure. We do have a compass.
And we have untold allies and assets to work with in common cause. The more we develop paradigm shift, the more allies and assets we will create and find. The current system has many products and services to assist paradigm shift. A huge part of our task is to make thoughtful and purposeful use of what helps this transformation and leave the rest behind.
1000s of public interest organizations and millions of their members can make the enormously critical leap from their current important work to paradigm shift. Their issues remain the same, but their zeitgeist is elevated.
Zeitgeist - A shift in how we see ourselves and the world around us. We should learn to not only consider ourselves climate change, social justice, public health and many other kinds activists, we should also identify as paradigm shift activists.
Organizations And Paradigm Shift
There are lots of moving parts for bringing about a preferred future. Our success
depends on how effective we are with the choices we make with our time and money as individuals, public interest organizations and as a society. The more cohesive we are as friends, neighbors, organizations and networks, the better.
We want to move from grade school to junior high, high school and beyond. The following understandings are very important. People can put them to work in their own lives. An organization's leaders or members can take the initiative for the group to embrace and advocate these understandings and actions.
Imagine the Sierra Club, AARP and 1000s of other PIOs calling on their members to reduce their eco footprints, go veggie, transform their suburban property and take paradigm shift info to their neighborhood association meetings.
PIOs can share these zeitgeist/paradigm changing principles with their members, each other, the wider world, their contacts in government and business. These principles can be the point of departure for unlimited articles and educational content to the wider world.
Virtually all progressive public interest organizations are on the same team. Virtually all these organizations exist to repair some kind of damage caused by capitalism, its consumer culture and shortage of political will to effectively respond to the damage. Verily, all these organizations exist because the government and business are not responding because they are too busy making money from these problems.
This organizational leap in zeitgeist is an historical undertaking and calls for someone in each group to step up and initiate this leap. It could be a member or members, maybe leadership, maybe an outside influence from another group already taking action. Expanding our imaginations beyond the confines of the current system can liberate enormous energy and action. And we can be a part of that as soon as we make that choice.
A preferred future will mean a very different and widespread set of social, economic, lifestyle and environmental conditions. Few people will be unaffected.
Here is a look at several selected social, political and economic constituencies and how their interactions with paradigm shift might look like participating and making adjustments. These descriptions combine hope with a touch of possibility. Again, if enough people want to see all this happen, these short stories can happen.
Labor
Labor has lost much of its influence over the past 3 or 4 generations, but ironically, at the same time there is more reason than ever to push back against bit business. What better way to revitalize labor than for workers to become champions of environmental and social justice. Teamsters and turtles.
The economic pie does need to be divided more fairly but on behalf of a sustainable future, that economic pie needs to be a lot smaller.
Even with a large adjustment in how the pie is divided, all workers, like the rest of the population, will experience decreased buying capacity as described before. Reducing eco footprints will become less a choice than a new part of life.
Add to the buying power issue, many products that employ millions of people at present will not make the cut to a sustainable future such as in the auto industry, construction, many kinds of familiar products and services.
Labor will be faced with some enormous challenges. Changing conditions may open new opportunities for cooperative ventures, worker ownership, economic democracy and more. The ideals of worker solidarity, civic responsibility a history of social ideals and experience dealing with big business provides labor with a unique capacity and opportunity to play a critical role in paradigm shift.
For certain, labor’s task to build solidarity for looking after each other and the larger community in changing times.
Homeless
Given the increasing size of the challenge with homelessness and that our national wealth is close to peak, one might rightly ask, what are we going to do if we all have to downsize. How would we approach the homeless issue with even less resources?
From a non human services professional who has never know homelessness, this response may sound simplistic. We approach the issue like paradigm shift. We do not limit our thinking to the conditions of today.
A core part of taking care of the homeless would include the expectation that they receive care for the causes of their homelessness. They receive the basics for healthy living and they are expected, as they are able, to perform work for the good of the community.
How to pay for this? A progressive income tax would be become steeper as the strength of paradigm shift moves forward. Referring to what happens with the two major political parties, as PS moves forward. We do tax the well off and products that do not fit sustainability and by re directing money now spent on the military, highways and other current destinations that dont fit sustainability.
Paradigm shift will call on everyone who can, to help bring about a preferred future that will have to do better looking after all its members.
The Two Major Political Parties
Already evident, our society's deepening trends and problems such as climate change, social disequity, public health and many others are converging. At the same time, our economic system and its government caretakers are behaving as normal and that means more of the same problems and worse.
Can the mainstream economic system and the consumer culture exist without extensive damage to people and planet? Can we expect the source of these problems to fix them? The mainstream parties behave like there is no alternative to their dis function.
At present, dozens of percents of citizens don’t vote at all. Hopefully, in the coming few years, votes for both the major parties will decline and add their numbers to the ones who don’t even bother, leaving an opening for new candidates with progressive out of the box thinking to fill in the void.
The task of paradigm shift as a movement is to build a consciousness and capacity to fill that void by producing candidates who have a healthy vision and a broader population that finally has candidates they care to vote for.
A disaffected constituency
at present, with great loyalty to one recent single term president, may find they have more to like from the Primer and its admittedly down home agenda with its various conservative and community minded ideals and push back against the status quo in a constructive way.
Paradigm shift may appear way out on the margins right now but will look far more attractive as conditions change, especially when capable people can take healthy paradigm shift ideas and translate them into a form and visibility where more people can recognize and respond to their value.
A preferred political scenario, new leaders for paradigm shift are boosted by changing times, an increasingly conscious public, first at local, then state, then national levels and at some point, they gain enough power to start reprioritizing government spending. Very hopeful. We either make these changes or wish we had.
Military
The military is a vast establishment in terms of service members, civilian employees, geographic deployment, budget and economic impact. Thats 1.3 million active duty personnel, ¾ million civilian employees and then many more 100s of thousands who produce products and services for the military.
What do they all do with paradigm shift? Here are some preliminary thoughts. Over time, there are a lot fewer people in all those categories. Over time, the budget declines a great deal. But none of these numbers go away completely anytime soon.
Virtually all these trends described in the Primer are world wide. Just about every country has its trends and conditions counterparts to the US. Yes, the US has further to downsize but has plenty of company with the need to deal with many deepening challenges
The hope is, the countries of the world come to realize they simply cannot afford their militaries and there are choices to allocate military spending that can deliver much greater security and stability. Like the progressive organizations described earlier,,, some country has to go first, even if a small amount to significantly reduce their military spending. Perhaps they do this in coordination with other countries.
The hope. More countries engage their own versions of paradigm shift. Perhaps treaties can be put in effect that allow international inspectors to make sure countries abide by the conditions if military reduction. And there could be agreements in place for what to do if a country transgresses.
And like the US, emerging leaders and public support will allow progressive political movement to downsize the overconsumption of the military industrial complex and put remaining soldiers to work on public projects as they are available.
All these ideas hopeful. Again, humans as individuals and with others, will either make the appropriate changes in how they behave, or they will wish we had.
Social Media
Hundreds of millions of people use social media. These on line platforms can bring the ideas of paradigm shift to millions of people. Social media includes facebook, youtube, whatsapp, instagram, tiktok, snapchat, reddit, pinterest, reddit, linkedin, twitter, meet up and many more.
Existing progressive organizations and movements have a special part to play in paradigm shift. They are already in the vanguard towards a preferred future. Indeed, Post Carbon and the Transition Movement agendas are already fully into paradigm shift and have much to offer.
Transition Movement
The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability.
https://transitionnetwork.org/
Post Carbon Institute
Post Carbon Institute is a think tank which provides information and analysis on climate change, energy scarcity, and other issues related to sustainability and long term community resilience. Its Fellows specialize in various fields related to the organization's mission, such as fossil fuels, renewable energy, food, water, and population. https://www.postcarbon.org
Both TT and PCI are out front advocating the same paradigm shift described in this primer. They are both excellent sources of information relating to social, economic, lifestyle and environmental issues and what to do about them. Highly recommended.
Truth and Reconciliation
In modern times, a fair number of nations have made use of truth and reconciliation. The most common reason for using truth and reconciliation has been to acknowledge the mistreatment and wrongdoing one population has imposed on another to reach some kind of reckoning for that condition and accountability for those responsible.
Typically a stronger and more forceful political and economic entity imposes un just and damaging conditions on another population group, often over many generations of time.
Many countries have made use of this process including South Africa, Canada, Australia, Norway and Sweden. Often the initiator is technically advanced and those on the receiving end are indigenous people whose culture, traditions and livelihoods are systematically damaged.
Capitalism, the consumer culture, its owners and helpers have imposed a set of remarkably damaging conditions on the entire planet and billions of people for many generations that deserve to be the focus of truth and reconciliation.
A truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body and its course of action is
(1) investigates a pattern of events that took place over a period of time;
(2) engages directly and broadly with the affected population, gathering information on their experiences;
(3) is a temporary body, with the aim of concluding with a final report; and
(4) is officially authorized or empowered by the will of the people
The contention from this perspective is that capitalism, as we know it, has imposed a set of conditions, let's call it the consumer culture, on many millions of people over time, that has caused immense damage to the well being of those people and planet they depend on.
The list of damages caused would include actual, and largely avoidable, physical damage to personal and public health such as automobile accidents, all kinds of air and water pollution. Products in particular, would include cars, gasoline, junk food, the external costs of building suburbia, tobacco. Damage can be physical but also social, human potential, psychological as described earlier.
The degree of concentration of economic, social and political power is striking.
This economic system and its government partners have knowingly imposed and failed to prevent unhealthy social, political, economic and environmental conditions on hundreds of millions of people, severely damaged an entire continent and beyond for generations and can claim a leading role in causing climate change. Even more egregious, the singular reasons for creating this damage was simple economic gain and personal vanity.
Apartheid was simply part of life in South Africa for centuries. It was accepted as normal. It was familiar, it was the social and economic state of affairs. Certainly many people resisted and disagreed and after many years of struggle, those who suffered finally prevailed, to a considerable, degree in their own paradigm shift.
Moving towards a preferred future is a social and psychological transformation just as much as land use, transportation, public health and all the rest we have looked at in the Primer. As history shows, conditions that at one time were considered normal and were widely accepted can become recognized for the damage and wrong doing they were responsible for so there can be some kind of identified, accurate & agreed upon accountability that will allow all involved to move forward in positive ways.
Paradigm shift will cause millions of people to look back and see their life's experiences within the consumer culture in a very different way. It almost certainly will be a disturbing review of the past. Our nation's history will have to be rewritten in many ways. Truth and reconciliation can help with the healing process. Not to focus on revenge and punishment but for accountability and moving on towards a preferred future.
Review Part 4
We’ve had a nice look at putting paradigm shift ideas out to a wider audience. That starts with our own priorities of time and money. How can we play a part? We consider what assets and allies do we have where we might put these ideas out to the wider world.
We should not be shy about advocating paradigm shift and a preferred future but we should be literate and articulate with what we say.
Progressive public interest organizations, are already hard at work to address many kinds of issues and damages caused by the consumer culture. They might consider adding to their current goals and messaging beyond the confines of existing politics and economics into a new zeitgeist of human possibility.
These organizations are on the same team and with greater coordination and ambition in messaging and tactics, they might amplify the outcomes of their efforts to help bring about a broad cohesive movement for paradigm shift.
Paradigm shift would mean big changes for all kinds of entities such as the military establishment, the homeless, faith groups, labor, social movements, the major political parties and more.
Truth and reconciliation may look to be a far fringe idea now but in time, it will only look more reasonable and eventually, people will wonder how we allowed capitalism and the consumer culture to rule our lives and cause so much damage for so many generations.
Primer highlights
Here we are at the end of the Primer's four parts. We have touched on a great deal of content. One could write a book. Let’s review the highlights of the Primer. Watching it once is good, twice or more is even better.
The Primer is intended to enhance and fortify our advocacy for a preferred future both for new advocates and experienced. These following highlights are all great talking points and you can add to them.
One of the greatest challenges to bring about paradigm shift is to identify the barriers to making it happen. These barriers are institutional and generations of social engineering. They are a bit heavy. Then a look at the highlights of the Primer that are decidedly positive and finally, a listing of important words and concepts from parts 1, 2 and 3.
Review of the Primer
Capitalism as we know it, and its most notable product, the consumer culture, celebrates & encourages overconsumption of energy and resources. At the same time, it degrades our capacity to manifest our own positive human potentials and imagine healthy alternatives. The existing mainstream economic system is the common denominator of practically every social, environmental, political and economic problem of our time. The economic system shapes society's values and ideals to enrich those who own and control that economic system.
The existence of external costs, the damage caused by the use of cars, oversized homes, factory farming and just about every other product and service is not included in the price we pay. That is proof the economic system is dishonest. External costs allow cheap prices and large profits. Damage to people and planet becomes profit for business.
Our society is managed by political and big business interests who have the most to gain for maintaining the status quo. We know where the damage to people and planet come from – excess consumption from lifestyles with oversized eco footprints - yet these same products persist and problems worsen year after year.
At the same time, people who buy the products all need to be accountable for their own overconsumption.
Fabrications such as like the American Dream, patriotism, manifest destiny, the sanctity of capitalism and American Exceptionalism are all core mythologies of social engineering.
Review continued
The consumer culture takes up a lot of our time and money. Thats time to make money to buy stuff, more time and money to use the stuff and even more time and money repairing the damage. We can use that time and money instead to invest in a healthy planet and future.
Millions of jobs exist to repair the damage caused by millions of other jobs. For example, medical care for victims of car accidents or unhealthy food. Again, money saved by avoiding un healthy products could be used instead to invest in a healthy present and future.
The ideals and goals of a preferred future may appear far off on the margins at present but will certainly look more and more attractive as time passes. Meanwhile, the behavior of our current dominant politics, economics and consumer culture will look increasingly disgraceful to those paying attention.
That is all pretty heavy. But the condition of our society and planet is heavy. Knowing the problems and what we can do about them can motivate and boost our effectiveness to create healthy lifestyles and society for the good of people and planet.
And now, we have a look at the positives.
Final Words
Paradigm shift is an adventure. The more people with healthy ideas and ideals who participate, the better as we move further and deeper into an uncertain future. There has never been so much push and shove in the world as now.
Major economic and political powers have interests contrary to the well being of people and planet and they are not capable of anything different.
We are not required to buy into their story. We can create a healthy cooperative story and an increasing number of people already are. Downsizing our eco footprints and upsizing our civic culture are points of departure. The Primer describes many aspects of moving towards a preferred future.
There has never been a time in history when humans have had so many positive tools, assets, allies and opportunities to help bring about a healthy, fair and sustainable world. We deserve better, we are capable of better. There are many benefits to be gained and they will far outweigh what is left behind.