Greetings,

The following is a description of a new resource—a document titled “1000Communities2”—which is now available for free at the website of The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative.

“1000Communities2” (“1000CommunitiesSquared”) is a 161 page proposal advocating Community Visioning Initiatives, “Community Teaching and Learning Centers” with ongoing workshops, and “sister community” relationships, as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times.

Challenges which receive much attention in this proposal include

a) global warming and reducing carbon emissions
b) peak oil and reducing dependence on petroleum based products
c) global inequities and the tragic cycles of malnutrition, disease, and death
d) an increasing world population requiring more resources when many resources are becoming more scarce (with a special emphasis on the increasing number of people who are consuming resources and ecological services indiscriminately)
e) there still seems to be a majority of people on the planet who do not have a clear understanding—well-grounded in personal experience—of which basic elements of community life and cultural traditions lead to mutually beneficial understandings, which lead to cycles of violence—and why it is so important for people to achieve clarity on this subject.

The proposal includes over 150 excerpts and quotes, which are provided to refer readers to relevant sources for further research—and to demonstrate the need for problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before.

Most of the above mentioned excerpts are in the appendices, where this writer provides evidence which indicate the serious nature of the challenges identified above, and where he contributes his views on possible solutions. Here are the titles of Appendices 1-6:

1. A Ten Point Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times
2. About Global Warming, Peak Oil, and Population and Consumption Patterns
3. The Transition to Sustainable Communities
4. Evidence of the Need to Increase Compassion for Our Fellow Human Beings
5. Examples of Humanitarian Aid Which Can be Explored Through “Sister
Community” Relationships
6. Integrating Spiritual Wisdom into the Everyday Circumstances of
Community Life

The main part of the proposal contains descriptions of the proposal, and its various elements, and includes:

1. A 15 step outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (19 pages)
2. 15 Suggestions for Preliminary Survey Questions
3. A section on “Problems That May Arise”
4. A section on “Evaluating the Process”

The goal of this “1000Communities2” proposal is to encourage others to create similar community specific proposals for their communities—and to highlight the potential of this kind of Community Visioning Initiative approach.

The 161 page document is in pdf format at the website of The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (see homepage of www.ipcri.net), and can be downloaded for free. [The document is also in a file attached to this blog entry.]

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative

“The ways we 'invest' our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the 'ways of earning a living' that are available.”

Attached to this post is a twelve page paper on “Spiritually Responsible Investing”—which I offer for comments and recommendations. The paper includes the proposition: “The ways we 'invest' our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the 'ways of earning a living' that are available.”

The paper, titled “Spiritually Responsible Investing: Integrating Spiritual Wisdom into the Everyday Circumstances of Community Life”, was presented* (in absentia—by a graduate student there) at the “Faith, Spirituality, and Social Change” (FSSC) Conference held at the University of Winchester, Winchester, United Kindgom, April 14-15, 2007

* [Note: Two additional quotes have been added to the paper—see 2) “Plan B 3.0” and 3) UN Human Development Report” on p. 2-3]

The introduction to the paper is as follows:

To begin this discussion of Spiritually Responsible Investing, I would like to offer three propositions, and one definition.

The first proposition is:

There are countless numbers of “things people can do in the everyday circumstances of their lives” which will contribute to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts, in their own communities and regions—and in other parts of the world.

The second proposition is:

The ways we “invest” our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the “ways of earning a living” that are available.

The third proposition is:

The most advanced societies are the ones which are successful at integrating spiritual wisdom into the everyday circumstances of community life.

And the one definition:

Spiritually Responsible Investing can be defined as investments of time, energy, and money which increase our capacity to integrate spiritual wisdom into the everyday circumstances of community life.

[Note: This paper “Spiritually Responsible Investing….” has not yet been incorporated into the website of The IPCR Initiative, at www.ipcri.net Many of the ideas in the paper were incorporated into the essay “Peacebuilding in its Most Compassionate Form” (see “Keynote Documents” at www.ipcri.net)]

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative

I have just read the Summary of the “Human Development Report 2007-2008: Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World”. “Human Development Reports are an annual publication of the United Nations Development Programme.

[Note: The homepage for “Human Development Reports” is http://hdr.undp.org/en/). Introductory information, the full report and the summary I read can be accessed from the following address http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2007-2008/. The full report and the summary can be downloaded at no cost. (The Summary is also an attachment to this post). The full report was released November 27, 2007.]

I have excerpted some passages from the “Summary” which I believe will be both instructive and encouraging to readers. I realize it is possible that many readers will be familiar with the observations represented by these excerpts. And yet…sometimes we do not appreciate how much good work is being done on many levels of activity in the hopes of contributing every possible effort towards common goals of human welfare, ecological sustainability, and peace. I hope these excerpts will help readers feel that there really are many people making genuine contributions towards the greater good of the whole.

“…non-marginal changes are needed….”

“Several things can be said at the outset: First, non-marginal changes are needed, given the path the world is on. We need big changes and ambitious new policies. Second, there will be significant short term costs. We have to invest in limiting climate change. There will be large net benefits over time, but at the beginning, like with every investment, we must be willing to incur the costs.” (p. 4)

“… distribution of the costs and benefits will be far from uniform.”

The most difficult policy challenges will relate to distribution. While there is potential catastrophic risk for everyone, the short and medium-term distribution of the costs and benefits will be far from uniform. The distributional challenge is made particularly difficult because those who have largely caused the problem—the rich countries—are not going to be those who suffer the most in the short term. It is the poorest who did not and still are not contributing significantly to green house gas emissions that are the most vulnerable. (p. 5)

“(global warming could)…stall and then reverse progress built-up over generations….”

“Looking to the future, the danger is that it will stall and then reverse progress built-up over generations not just in cutting extreme poverty, but in health, nutrition, education and other areas.” (p. 7)

“It raises profoundly important questions….”

“Climate change demands urgent action now to address a threat to two constituencies with a weak political voice: the world’s poor and future generations. It raises profoundly important questions about social justice, equity and human rights across countries and generations.” (p. 8)

“Future generations will pass a harsh judgement on a generation that looked at the evidence on climate change, understood the consequences and then continued on apath that consigned millions of the world’s most vulnerable people to poverty and exposed future generations to the risk of ecological disaster.” (p. 8)

“The real choice facing political leaders and people today is between universal human values, on the one side, and participating in the widespread and systematic violation of human rights on the other.” (p. 10)

“Winning that battle… will require far-reaching changes at many levels….”

Winning that battle (against the threat of global warming) will require far-reaching changes at many levels—in consumption, in how we produce and price energy, and in international cooperation. Above all, though, it will require far-reaching changes in how we think about our ecological interdependence, about social justice for the world’s poor, and about the human rights and entitlements of future generations.” (p. 13-14)

“… rich countries account for almost half of emissions of CO2.”

“With 15 percent of world population, rich countries account for almost half of emissions of CO2.” (p. 14)

“The automobile sector accounts for about 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions….”

“The automobile sector accounts for about 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries—and the share is rising.” (p. 22)

“… estimate… will require rich nations to cut emissions by at least 80 percent….”

“Using plausible assumptions, we estimate that avoiding dangerous climate change will require rich nations to cut emissions by at least 80 percent, with cuts of 30 percent by 2020.” (p. 15)

“… current trends (suggest)… emissions could rise by more than 50 percent… by 2030.”

“On the basis of current trends and present policies, energy-related CO2 emissions could rise by more than 50 percent over 2005 levels by 2030.” (p. 15)

“(What is needed is)… an unparalleled collective exercise in international cooperation.”

“Avoiding the unprecedented threats posed by dangerous climate change will require an unparalleled collective exercise in international cooperation.” (p. 19)

“Successful adaption policies cannot be grafted on to (dysfunctional) systems….”

“Successful adaptation policies cannot be grafted on to systems that are failing to address underlying causes of poverty, vulnerability and wider disparities based on wealth, gender and location. Dialogue over Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) provides a possible framework for integrating adaptation in poverty reduction planning. (p. 27)

“The world lacks neither the financial resources nor the technological capabilities…”

“The world lacks neither the financial resources nor the technological capabilities to act.” (p. 8)

“Perhaps most fundamentally of all, it challenges the way that we think about progress.”

“The starting point for action and political leadership is recognition on the part of governments that they are confronted by what may be the gravest threat ever to have faced humanity. Facing up to that threat will create challenges at many levels. Perhaps most fundamentally of all, it challenges the way that we think about progress. There could be no clearer demonstration than climate (change) that economic wealth creation is not the same thing as human progress. Under the current energy policies, rising economic prosperity will go hand-in-hand with mounting threats to human development today and the well-being of future generations. But carbon-intensive economic growth is symptomatic of a deeper problem. One of the hardest lessons taught by climate change is that the economic model which drives growth, and the profligate consumption in rich nations that goes with it, is ecologically unsustainable. There could be no greater challenge to our assumptions about progress than that of realigning economic activities and consumption with ecological realities.” (p. 27)

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative

The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative has added a new 30 page “Links” pdf document to the IPCR Website (see the “top of page” navigation, at www.ipcri.net). (Note: The "Links" document is also an attachment to this post.)

There are 24 categories of links included in the document. There is also information, often from the “About Us” section of the “links” website, which may help readers appreciate the “link” as a useful resource. Hopefully, the categories chosen, and the more-than-brief introductory information provided about the links listed, will help readers see more of the connections between different elements which are part of the same “big picture”.

I was wondering if there could be an active thread here at The Relocalization Network on useful links, and useful categories for organizing links. Brainstorming on this subject could be a constructive step towards the goal of helping people with common interests make connections.

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative

Many years ago there was a tribe of people who were experiencing challenges that were threatening their very existence.

During this “time of fear”, a young woman experiences a vision—of a bird which says to her “You must all leave where you are, and travel to a place far away… You must look for the tree at the center of the sacred hoop. You will know when you have found this tree when you hear birds singing on the branches of a tree, and you understand their song.”

The tribe of people eventually begins this “great journey”. Do they find the tree at the center of the sacred hoop?

“The Spirit of the Sacred Hoop” is a nine page short story which recognizes intuition and spiritual wisdom as important elements of community and cultural sustainability.

“The Spirit of the Sacred Hoop” story is accessible at the website of The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (at www.ipcri.net). Look in the “Core Documents” section of the IPCR website homepage for a link to the pdf file.

All IPCR documents can be downloaded for free, or requested as an attachment to an e-mail.

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti
The IPCR Initiative