Week Six

Week Six

Let me just start by saying that Paul Hawken’s Commencement Address was absolutely brilliant. I reread his address as I began to write my post and I realized that there were so many great quotes within his speech that I basically just wanted to copy and paste the entirety of it here. Alas that probably would not lead to a 4 on my post this week...

My favorite part of Hawken’s address was actually the paragraph where he briefly discussed having a different kind of economy where the Earth wasn’t exploited for a profit today that will cost us in life, happiness and health in the future. “You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product”. It’s in every person on the planet’s best interest to keep the planet healthy but it’s become so easy not to. Convenience and profit take center stage and everyone finds a way to point the finger.

The article “Social Finance Goes Green” seemed a bit convoluted to me but I do know that I like the idea of private investments and individual gain being able to maintain the common good. As I stated previously I think one of the greatest issues facing the world today is that profits are the bottom line and no one is willing to decrease their earnings (not even for a quarter) especially when their competitors are keeping the status quo. I believe that we as a society need to shift our paradigm in general and that success and wealth shouldn’t be measured simply by money and material assets but if saving the Earth could be viewed profitable it might just be what we need to make some serious changes before it’s too late.

The Mother Jones article “A Guide to Environmental Non-Profits” proved to be quite informative. While the summary’s of organizations that do good for the earth will probably prove to be a good resource later on I must admit that I was most intrigued by the bit on anti-environmental groups with deceptive names. I actually ended up going to a few of the anti-environmental group’s websites and was especially interested in a section on The Institute of Cetacean Research page labeled “Illegal harassment and terrorism against ICR research”. It goes on for pages with pictures and videos of damage done to ships etc. I thought that this was kind of an odd thing to make so public. I don’t know if proving that they’re strongly lacking in public support is really doing them any good.

http://www.icrwhale.org/eng-index.htm

If you feel like checking the website out be careful about downloading the videos, they’re in a strange format.

The McKenzie Watershed Council Annual Report was a real “feel good” read. It was awesome to see how successful this organization has been and how much community involvement they have fostered. I was very impressed with how many different partners they have and the wide variety of their partner’s focuses. Having the understanding and support of a community is really want allows a nonprofit’s work to be a success story.

I’d also like to pass along that The Coalition Against Environmental Racism (CAER) has an upcoming event, Community Circles: What Environmental Justice Means to You. The purpose of this event is to create a safe place in which the campus and Eugene community can come together to explore in depth environmental justice, from meaning to examples to action. This event will be on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 7:00 PM in the Multicultural Center (EMU, Suite 33). 

Not sure if any of you will be interested and available but I figured I’d put it out there anyways. Hope to see you there!