Personal Transition

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

We have all heard by now, I should assume, about the Transition Project, the Transition Towns and such, but for us to transition to a new future, a new society, the transition has to start with each one of us and it has to start from the inside.

Unless we, each one of us, has a personal transition to a new way, which to some degree, actually, is an old way, of doing things and working with rather than against Nature, change cannot be brought about. We also, to this end, need to rediscover they way our grandparents and their parents did things and the way they made things from almost nothing.

Gandhi said “be the change you want to see in the world” and this means that we have to become the change and not wait for a change to be brought about from the outside.

The greater transition cannot be brought about until we, as individuals, each and every one of us, have a personal transition first towards the goal of change. You must be the change and also the light. Stop looking for the light but become the light, the light that others can use to see their way out of the dark. But to be the light you have to set yourself alight, so to speak, and shine from the inside out and guide by your example.

Many people believe, it would seem, that they have to do nothing on the inside, so to speak, and that the change of the system can simply be brought about from outside, from changing the system itself. It has been shown that this, however, does not and cannot work.

The system cannot be changed unless and until the people themselves change their thinking, actions, attitude and their approach to things. You cannot put new wine into an old wineskin. The former will disintegrate the latter.

The change of the current system of exploitative capitalism to one where people and the Planet are held in high regard first requires a change in our own attitudes. Without such a change and transition the change of the system is not possible. It cannot be imposed from the outside, as many seem to believe, especially when it comes to political change.

More than once have we seen that an imposition from the outside on the people, without them having undergone a serious change on their insides, a change of system and values is not possible and has to be, then, imposed by coercion.

Thus changing the entire system from one day to the next, or overnight, also cannot be expected. We have to be the change and live the change to bring others along by our examples.

© 2015

Why Economics Needs to Make Space for Nature

Aniol Esteban is head of Environmental Economics at the New Economics Foundation. He is a biologist and environmental economist.  He is the author of, among other things, Natural Solutions: Nature’s role in delivering well-being and key policy goals – opportunities for the third sector, published by nef.  I started by asking what, for him, is the link between nature and wellbeing?

“The link between nature and wellbeing is multiple. At one level, it provides everything we need to live and so guarantees our survival. That’s a very basic condition. At the other level, it makes our lives worth living and delivers multiple benefits. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment produced by the United Nations describes very well the different services the natural environment provides to human beings, using the ecosystem service framework. That’s a very good starting point.

Read more: http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-10-06/why-economics-needs-to-make-space-for-nature

How Cooperation Jackson is Transforming the Poorest State in the U.S.

With a median household income of just over $37,000, Mississippi is the poorest state in the United States. A powerhouse organization promoting economic justice, Cooperation Jackson was born of a need to transform the state, in particular its capital and largest city, Jackson. Cooperation Jackson is a network of interconnected yet independent institutions including an incubator and training center, a cooperative bank, and a federation of established cooperatives. Together, they're exploring the potential of cooperatives to transform local communities.

Cooperation Jackson is emerging as a leader in the global cooperative movement and the struggle for economic democracy. Among other things, the organization teaches people about the importance of worker cooperatives and how to create one. It recently hosted the Jackson Rising: New Economies Conference, to lay a foundation for the transformation of the city and establish it as a center for economic democracy. The event was a great success, attracting international attention and moving Cooperation Jackson further into the spotlight.

Shareable caught up with Kali Akuno, Coordinator of Cooperation Jackson, to talk about the impact that the organization has had on the community, the challenges that it faces from political opposition, and how they’re planting the seeds for wealth equity in an impoverished region.

Shareable: Cooperation Jackson consists of a federation of cooperatives, an incubator, a training center, and a cooperative bank. This pretty much covers the bases for the new economy. Can you talk about the plan for Cooperation Jackson and how it came about?

Kali Akuno: Cooperation Jackson is the realization of a vision that is long in the making. The vision was produced by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the New Afrikan People’s Organization and began to be operationalized in 2005, when these two entities started to develop a long-term strategy to transform the city of Jackson and the state of Mississippi. The vision is known as the Jackson-Kush Plan, and was made public in 2011 via a document with that same title. Cooperation Jackson is the manifestation of the solidarity economy aspect of that transformative vision.

Cooperation Jackson has many ambitious plans. It would probably take a book to deal with them all. But, one of our primary objectives is to have a minimum of 10 percent of the jobs in Jackson be drawn directly from the federation of worker cooperatives that we are producing. And we are looking to have an even greater percentage of the city’s GNP being produced by Cooperation Jackson.

Read more: http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-cooperation-jackson-is-transforming-the-poorest-state-in-the-us