Big Picture Series # 11

Think Globally <—> Act Locally

This 11 th of the Big Picture series centers on a presentation made to a local county organization, the

Prince Edward County Round Table on the Environment and Economy (PECRTEE) whose motto is Think Globally <—> Act Locally

The organization was established several years ago to raise critical global issues that could be dealt with more effectively if there were higher levels of public awareness: And also to engage the pubic in local ecological friendly activities. The organization carries on a very active clean-up-the-county campaign every spring called trashbash , as describe on our web page. However, efforts with the global issues found little pubic participation, and were soon dropped. This has been the story of many organizations that have attempted to convey information to the public: information that becomes uncomfortable to individuals as fact 1 plus fact 2 = fact 3, where fact 3 challenges our basic beliefs and the relatively comfort of the status quo within our economic and sociopolitical paradigm. Fact 3 has been rigorously avoided - denied.

The reason for making presentation into one of the Big Picture issues is in hope that in 2006 media attention to global warming, peak oil, and recent books about societal collapse, the message may now strike a cord with individuals or organizations who may be close to making the emotional, spiritual to some, transition toward acceptance of fact 3 , and that as responsible cognizant individuals we are a part of a civilization suffering from early stages of collapse. The symptoms and conclusion have been acknowledged by many, and are readily available to anyone with the moral courage to allow themselves to understand.

It's time for individuals and organizations to commit to a stand on the most important issue ever to face humankind .

Gaia Preservation Coalition (GPC) is an international organization, formed in 1992, which will act as a coordinating center for organizations and individuals who agree with the sentence above.

GPC Core Purpose

TO BE A GATHERING PLACE FOR PEOPLE WHO CONSCIOUSLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE HUMAN PREDICAMENT AND WHO SEEK WITH OTHERS ITS RESOLUTION THROUGH THE CREATION AND EXPLORATION OF IDEAS AND ACTIONS THAT MOVE
HUMANITY TOWARD A MORE HARMONIOUS RELATIONSHIP WITHIN GAIA. 
—June 20, 1998

Presentation made to PECRTEE:

Page One : The introduction has a brief description of the Gaia Hypotheses, and how James Lovelock has now given up on humanity as one of nature's rogue species.

Page Two: has two types of graphical presentations illustrating the rapid growth in global human population since the beginning of the fossil age.

Page Three : is a graphical illustration of oil and gas usage from 1980 projected through to 2020, showing he now opening split between likely demand, and likely production.

Page Four: is a book review and summary of PLAN B2 ‘06 , by Lester Brown. Brown makes it clear that we are moving into a period of massive change within civilization, as we know it. With business-as-usual in the current growth oriented social/economic/political paradigm, our societies will likely collapse globally, just as other civilizations in the past have collapsed in isolated areas. But growing public anxiety raises hope that this angst can be turned through anger toward coherent action and sensible solutions that are readily available.

Page Five: gives a few examples of prominent people speaking out about two of the critical issues of our day, (1) human population growth and (2) Peak Oil, closely associated with Global Warming. These taboo-like issues have been rigorously avoided by both public and politicians. But now there are essential beginnings in media discourse.

At this time, January 30/06 we are not yet sure how this presentation was received, or how our local organization may act upon the issues.

This page will be updated from time to time.

• Update # 1: At the February 23 meeting a list of possibly activities having a local/global flavor was presented.  The chair suggested these would be discussed at a special meeting in April, after this year's trashbash.

Don Chisholm
donchism@magma.ca

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