Connections

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The events and issues going on in Mexico are not limited to that country. In Canada, industrialized farming is also becoming more and more prevalent. We are becoming further and further removed from the people and places that grow and raise our food. During a workshop called Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream, created by the Pachamama Alliance, we looked at the following questions of how we are connected to all of this. The purpose of the Alliance is “to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on this planet”.




Where are we?
  • Since the Industrial Revolution, the population has grown exponentially due to the harnessing of oil
  • At the same time, there has been environmental degradation, a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor, a growth of unfulfilling materialism, and an increasingly failing world economy.
  • The concept of sustainability is the ability of the current generation to sustain themselves without negatively affecting future generations. Currently, we are living in a 30% overuse of our resources.
  • At the current rate of loss, in 50 years 50% of the species on the earth could be extinct, and it would take five earths for everyone to live like North Americans do.
  • There is a idea that we have the “right” not to know or to ignore the effects we create on others simply by living our everyday lives.
  • The world is not only experiencing a loss of resources, but also a disparity of spirit. Perhaps part of the reason that we are so materialistic is that we are lonely and have turned to material wealth for happiness.
  • We need to allow ourselves to feel the pain of the world around us.
How Did We Get Here?
  • Society perpetually separates humans and nature. We are living the dream-world of modern society in the first world. Our focus on the fantasy that everything is ok and that our resources are endless prevents us from seeing anything outside of this dream.
  • We view our world as simply resources, and equate value with money. 
  • We create assumptions such as: resources are here for us to use however we want, competition is the law of nature, the price of an item reflects the full cost of production, success is equal to money, there is a place called “away” where our used stuff goes when we throw it away, technology will solve our problems etc. The biggest assumption is that “we are separate”.
What is Possible for the Future?
  • There are over two million organizations/groups working for change
  • We have the power to change
  • We have the responsibility to fix our wrongs, because we are the ones who created it.
Where Do We Go From Here?
  • We need to stand for something, not only against things. 
  • Ask: what can I do in my personal life to make change?
  • Communicate: speak out to friends, family, etc but also to those in power
  • Work Collectively: see the world as a whole community
  • Find yourself in “blessed unrest”: see what is going on around you and in spite of how uncomfortable it is for you, decide that you need to take action.
  • Use your talents: make a list of things you love to do, and needs that you see in the world community, and then come up with ideas of where your joys meet the world’s needs. Pursue those ideas.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead