Game Changing Actions
This blog post is on the second to last module of the Pachamama Alliance’s training program and is about putting what we now know into action. In my last post I presented the idea that the social injustice and environmental devastation in our world today are the outcome of intentionally designed systems of power and privilege that “rig the game” in favor of an elite minority and then insure that the status quo is maintained. If we want to create “that more beautiful world our hearts know is possible”, we have to address the root causes of the rigged game and engage in game changing activism.
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root”. I’m a huge believer in addressing root causes. As a therapist I’ve learned that deep healing and lasting change require that we address not only the surface symptoms, but the underlying issues — the unconscious beliefs and emotions, bodily constrictions, and energetic blocks and imbalances — that constitute the root cause of mental and emotional “dis-ease”, and ultimately of physical disease.
And, as we heal and transform ourselves, shift our consciousness, and live our lives accordingly, we become agents of transformation in our world. We then do our part to achieve the critical mass needed to shift the collective consciousness to a higher level and thereby promote a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. I believe we do our personal inner “root” work not only for ourselves, but for the collective, as well.
Having said that, I have to tell you as someone whose lens for looking at how we heal and transform our world has been through shifting our consciousness, the realm of activism is a whole new territory for me. As I went through this module of the training I saw that the “inner” part of the work is essential, but not enough. We need collective action and social movements to change the root causes of the institutionalized challenges we’re facing. Activism is the “outer” part of the work.
Striking at critical root causes offers us key leverage points, otherwise the “good work on the branches” is not able to be effective because it’s blocked and stymied by the defenders of the status quo. The Pachamama Alliance has been intimately involved in global activism for many years and they now believe that the two most critical game changing issues and movements of our time are creating a true democracy and addressing climate change.
We the people will not have a say in our government and a true democracy until, as Lauren, a fellow trainee put it, “monied influence loses its stranglehold on our freedoms”. Otherwise it’s more an oligarchy than a democracy. The Pachamama Alliance has partnered with Move to Amend, a grassroots national movement working to enact a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. This would limit the role of money in elections, address corporate personhood and end the era of big money politics.
The second critical game changing issue is climate change. Ninety seven percent of scientists now affirm that climate change is the result of man-made introduction of carbon into the atmosphere. No one can ignore the onslaught of extreme weather events we have experienced in recent years – monster storms and flooding, droughts and rampant wild fires, unstable weather patterns and more. Many believe we are near a tipping point after which it may be too late to reverse the effects of climate change on the planet.
The Pachamama Alliance has also partnered with another grassroots movement, the Citizen’s Climate Lobby. They are working to put a price on carbon emissions and thereby make the fossil fuel companies pay a fee for dumping toxins into the atmosphere. This country has the mechanisms in place to do this and to funnel the money collected from the polluters back to the public thus offsetting any initial increases in rates. As Thoreau also wrote, “Of what use is a fine house if you don’t have a tolerable planet to put it on?”
As someone new to activism, I was so pleased to see that both of these organizations, Move to Amend and Citizen’s Climate Lobby, are designed to educate and support people in how to become engaged in these grassroots movements. There are also a number of other organizations working on these issues. We need them all and they need us. Each of us must ask ourselves where we stand on being a force for change in our world.