Inquiry

Here's the kind of "high-impact solutions" that I think we should be seriously considering. Notice the exceedingly dramatic results that Willie Smits reports and how he is including many diverse needs and perspectives to come up with a healthy, system-wide solution to achieve these results. Smits gave this talk at TED in February of 2009 and received a rousing standing ovation at the end. Click here to watch his inspiring presentation. 

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Integral Rising
Integral NHNE
Community Organizers

Dear Climate Change Forum Participants: 

  Please watch Willie Smits presentation referred to by David Sunfellow.  It was so enspiriting it brought tears to my eyes.  I had not heard of him before (shame on me), but after watching his talk, I am fired up about getting more involved in climate change, especially the way he is involved.  After reading/listening to numerous scientific talks and debates on this forum about climate heating, cooling, El Nino, 60 year cycles, statistical analyses of glacier cores around the world, and some egos, whining, conspiracy this and that, blah, blah, blah, I was starting to feel a little disconnected from the whole climate change discussion.

  But Willie's talk hooked me back in.  I'm mainly a problem solver kind of person.  Overall my feeling is this:  Even if I did not believe in climate change, I would still want to do just about everything that has been put forth to stop global warming.  To me it's like: "Hello?  Don't you see you're ruining the earth?"  And I'm not even an eco-nut.  I'm a chemical engineer turned physician.  I like hard science.  But I also love and know Spirit.  And I'm concerned about our children. 

  Thus, the debate to me is not about whether or not there is global warming, but what can we do to stop and reverse the negative things we've done to the earth, especially in the last century or so.  This is why Willie's talk has fired me up.  He is incredibly logical about what he does (any controversies aside about anything else he may have done) and very integral.  First he says: Get a legal foundation, so he buys the property.  Second: Get the native people involved.  Third: Adjust what is done to fit with the local culture/customs.  Fourth: make money doing it (this is the really amazing part).  Fifth: set up a local ownership and justice system involving the native people so they have further investment in protecting/managing the project.  Last: think integrally about successions of plantings and improve diversity while doing it: native plants, mammals, bird, insects, etc.  Spirit loves diversity. 

  He ends up by stating: "Integration is the Key."  I found myself giving him a standing ovation even though I was just sitting in my room at my computer.  I want to be like him when I grow up...

Yours,

mb

* I put this ( … ) statement in as a disclaimer, as I know nothing more about Willie Smit than what I saw during his talk today.  I did this to clarify that what I’m supporting is the overall idea he presented in his talk, and thus am separating it from any other political, legal, or other problems that may relate to his undertaking, since I don’t want any sort of other issue to detract from his message.  I also know that all great undertakings involve controversy.  I’m a “Spirit of the law” kind of person, so that’s what I’m looking at.