a rebel with a cause

There is, however, one major difference between now and the conference 20 years ago: a new powerful actor called the civil society. Although, despite all the climate change and the everyday evidence of what’s happening, we are still lacking global awareness, global citizenship, global loyalty, and.. continuous commitment.

It just seems like a scenario that’s grown increasingly rebellious, like a social movement that rejects the forces of corporate global power.

Battle lines seem to have been drawn along age-old lines of resentment and domination. The battle for a more equal sharing of the world’s resources is linked directly with the survival of the earth. Feelings of entitlement on both sides may lead to our own demise.

While we sort out our allegiances whether it be to our small, brief lives and what we can gain in them, or an allegiance to the planet, compromise and pragmatism would lead all sectors of society to engage in actions that they may at other times avoided.

Oppositional thinking will not be the path to our salvation. It is not ‘the economy’ or ‘the planet’. It is not ‘the north’ or ‘the south’. It may not even be ‘the rich’ and ‘the poor’.  These disparate concepts may be the very things standing in our way to being creative and flexible and seeing all human structures and systems as changeable and possibly as chaotic as the planet on which they have evolved.