Start a Local Sanity Salon

So much is happening simultaneously in today's globalized world that it's hard to make sense of it all.

Everyone on our planet is now being affected by the economic, political, social, psychological and environmental consequences of the profound imbalance between resources and need. At stake is not only the continued survival of humans, but also many other species.

How can we deal constructively with challenges of this enormity?

A friend and I have been thinking about the idea of creating a local Salon ( a Sanity Salon?) to offer a safe place for people to process their feelings and thoughts about what actions we may feel called to take, in light of current circumstances.

Of immediate concern to many people is the unstable economy. Making ends meet at personal and local levels, as well as at national and global macro-levels, is an increasing challenge -- one that many of us don't really understand in any depth.

Eco-economist Herman Daly offers one explanation for our current unsustainable situation: "The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment."

The dysfunction in the relationship between overpopulating humans and our life support systems is now affecting not only the rest of nature, but also the opportunity for most human beings to live a decent life. An economy based on unlimited extraction of nonrenewable planetary resources and "outsourcing" of climate-affecting waste is becoming more and more unstable, pushing billions around the planet and at home into deprivation and suffering.

We know from our own personal finances that it's unwise to live on principal rather than interest, but that's exactly what we're doing with our individual and collective resources.

Dealing with these realities can feel overwhelming. How can we help those in need? How can we even take good care of our loved ones, friends and neighbors? How can we stop the collective madness? What is our part in the solution? Is there a solution?

The good news is that at this moment in time environmental, psychological, political, social and economic issues are converging, as the true nature of our collective challenges becomes clear. The time seems right for small groups to come together in many different places to support each other, both in coming to a deeper and more wholistic understanding of what's really happening, and also in taking small or large steps towards creating a harmonious, equitable future for all living beings.

How about starting a local Sanity Salon in your area?

 

 

 

Comments

[puzzled500]

07:42 PM on 03/27/2011

What's happening to our environment, the vanishing species, ocean pollution, and on and on is so damn painful to face that the only salon that could help would be handing out lobotomies. I'm not entirely unhappy to be on the final glidepath.

[RMankovitz]

08:46 PM on 02/09/2011

Great post, Linda. I agree that the model upon which we have built our financial system and the model we have used to exploit our environment share a common flaw that makes both unsustainable - unfettered growth.

As most experts in the field of environmental studies are aware, an ecological model based on uncontrolled population growth is unsustainable for any species, including us. It is not rocket science to reach the really inconvenient truth that over-population is at the root of human-caused environmental ills, from climate change to energy, food, and water shortages. Population growth occurs at an exponential rate, in the same manner that interest on money grows when it is compounded.

The unfettered growth problem with our ecological model also plagues our present implementation of capitalism, so that it too is unsustainable. Exponential growth of interest accumulating on even a modest sum of money over time would eventually exceed the entire net worth of our planet, if such could be measured. The fuel for economic growth is debt, and uncontrolled growth leads to massive debt. Debt can take the form of a monetary deficit or an ecological debt, as in the case of any industry that exploits non-renewable raw materials from the earth to fuel its growth. In either case, the bill finally comes due, whether in the form of financial crises that reset debt, or climate change that resets our population.

Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com
A research organization