Why is this not on the news?

I received a mailer from Friends of the Earth on Friday talking about climate change and asking for some money to support their campaign to attend the UN Conference on Climate Change at Copenhagen in December.

Reading I came across this horrible fact:

Please help us to promote the voices of people who are being totally ignored. Take Maria Tiimon from the Kiribati Islands in the Pacific – the eastern-most point in the world that was the first to welcome in the new millennium… Now her beautiful homeland is facing complete destruction. Sea levels are already rising to engulf the island, with high tides flooding the capital, contaminating water supplies and killing crops. It’s likely the islands will soon be submerged and more than 100,000 people will have to evacuate. If climate change continues, this is likely to be the first of many mass migrations across the world.

Why on earth are we not hearing about this in the news every day? 100,000 people are going to lose their homes, livelihoods and communities. And this will not be the last of it, but just the beginning.

Why is the mainstream media not discussing this on the main headlines?

Why is everyone not aware of this and trying to do something about it?

Well, I know at least one answer on why they are not covering this in the media. There are no horrific images to grab our attention. There isnt an easy soundbite which can be used by every station from some poor wretch who has lost everything now. It doesn’t tie in with our short attention spans and instant gratification which we need to have now and so they wont tell it to us. People aren’t aware of it because they don’t want to be and are more interested in the latest X-factor/Pop Idol/Football/other opium of the masses.

I don’t know what the answer is, I have signed their petition and donated a small amount of money on top of my usual monthly donation, but what else can I do? This comes back to my previous post about taking action but where do we focus our action in the most effective way? Do any of you take a more active role and how do you do it?

Advocating anarchy

I read two blog posts this morning which have got me thinking, as although on the surface they are covering different topics I think the same issue it at their heart.

Rhonda at Down-to-Earth wrote about how we don’t trust our common sense and she says that

I am not a radical, I am just advocating that you question, be sceptical, and decide for yourself

And in Ego-Yogini’s blog post she talks about punk yoga

Punk has nothing to do with the “look” and everything to do with attitude and belief systems. Specifically Anti-Establishment, Anti-Culture

In contrary to Rhonda’s belief I do think her way of life is radical and many of us are living a radical, punk lifestyle. We try to reduce consumption, or at the least, do so so ethically – but the UK government wants us to spend, even down to reducing the VAT (which is a tax we pay on all non essential items – side issue of taxation on products which women use, but that’s a tangent!) so we spend more.

In USA it was practically non patriotic not to spend post 9-11 – with New Yorkers being urged to spend and I think that attitude still persists to some extent.

We live a radical life by breaking away from our dependence on what we are being told we need by big corporates. Just think if everyone acted like we are all trying to do then we would over turn the big corporations and force them to rethink their ethics and practices. Punk anarchy indeed!

As a feminist I am delighted to ignore the patriarchy which is telling me to spend money on looking beautiful – we must buy the latest product, slather more chemicals on our body and when that doesn’t make us look like the (airbrushed) models do then surgery becomes normalised in our society.

My other half jokingly says I am a “dangerous subversive”,  but really all of us who follow this path are and for me, the slight taste of anarchy on a daily basis – stretching away from patriarchy and corporations-  gives me a thrill.  Viva la revolution!!

Love is the new religion

Photo from creative commons licence, creator: "D Sharon Pruitt"

I found this beautiful manifesto via Phillip Carr Gomm’s blog, Phillip is the head of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids.

Apparently the original version of this had a lot of ‘I’ in it and somewhere along the line of the many rounds of emails and internet memes it has been through, someone has edited it to ‘we’. And made it a lot better in my opinion.

Enough waffling – here it is.

LOVE IS THE NEW RELIGION/ A SPIRITUAL CONSPIRACY

On the surface of the world right now there is
war and violence and things seem dark.
But calmly and quietly, at the same time,
something else is happening underground
An inner revolution is taking place
and certain individuals are being called to a higher light.

It is a silent revolution.
From the inside out. From the ground up.
This is a Global operation.
A Spiritual Conspiracy.

There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet.
You won’t see us on the T.V.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio
We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles

Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes
in every country and culture of the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys,
in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands
You could pass by one of us on the street
and not even notice

We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done
Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way

During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night
is where the real work takes a place
Some call us the Conscious Army
We are slowly creating a new world
with the power of our minds and hearts

We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders come from from the Central Spiritual Intelligence
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking
Poems — Hugs — Music — Photography — Movies — Kind words —
Smiles — Meditation and prayer — Dance — Social activism — Websites – Blogs — Random acts of kindness…

We each express ourselves in our own unique ways
with our own unique gifts and talents
Be the change you want to see in the world
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have
the power of all the oceans combined

Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates
shall be moved in the centuries to come

Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You dont have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it
It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings

Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you
We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have.
All are welcome
The door is open.

(Anon edited version of Brian Piergrossi original)

I think it is amazing and really sums up what many of us do. We create art (in the widest sense of the word) for no reason other than we have to. Something in us makes us want to create – baking, sewing, writing, drawing, singing, playing for no reason. And the scary thing is…we are not getting paid. We are not making money from it. It gives us pleasure, which we control, we rely on no-one else for it. Can you see how radical that is and how it scares people who seek to control us via the television, football, patriarchy, shopping and everything else?

And many of us share our joy in the things we create and do, all for free. I’m not charging you to read this, you wouldn’t think to pay for it. My blog is my gift to me and to you. And your gift to me is to comment, or just to take something from it – a smile, a thought or a radical need to over throw the shackles of oppression!