A reckoning is inevitable. It will come one of two ways. Soon, as an act of collective awakening, or too late.
It will involve a fundamental shift in our relationships, with each other and with the planet.

Monday, February 15, 2010

"Robin Hood Tax" !! What next?

Following on the heels of the "Climate Debt" concept touted at Copenhagen, now there are talks of a "Bank Tax" and even a "Robin Hood Tax," which would be levied on all currency, derivative and other speculative transactions. For about five years I’ve been promoting a similar but more comprehensive idea, "Total Global Reparation." I base it on a "zero sum" argument. Big picture: total wealth equals total damage. The accumulated wealth of the world must be more or less equal to the total damage to the environment (cheap and stolen resources, "externalities" and pollution), plus the total human exploitation from slavery and cheap labor. These large scale sums can be calculated, as can the cost of environmental reclamation and the implementation of global human rights. The concept of reparation for slavery is bold and fair in principle, but impossible to apply, to either the payers or payees. But once the principle sinks in, and a legalistic model for implementation emerges, “total global reparation” can be seen as not only justifiable and feasible, but essential. See the funny video, or my "rant" page on "economediapolitics."

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Expectation

How long will it take for "global bank tax" to turn into "Climate Debt," or for that matter, "Total Global Reparation"?
I wonder.
It occupies my attention.

Arg / Rev / Think: 150 wd.

Our tenuous relationship with the planet embodies a critical state, speeding toward a tipping point. Militarism and consumption, the bases of the U.S. economy, represent the cutting edge of the problem. What seem to be many isolated crises are merging and accelerating, pushing us toward global environmental collapse. A “conceptual emergency” stands between us and a remedy. The sheer momentum of the machine has outstripped our ability to understand or control it. Only when we connect the dots, recognize the pattern and see the big picture will a simple, integrated solution become apparent. It’s time to heed Einstein’s warning: “Our significant problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”

This paradoxical moment is defined by cognitive dissonance and fierce urgency. A global paradigm shift would suffice. Achieving that shift, in time, will require re-thinking information, democracy and the limits of cognition.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Welcome to the Reckoning Blog

This is the first post. It was fun talking with Nate today about Power and Love and Cognition and Fear and Desire and Curiosity and Knowledge and Information and Exformation and Childhood and History and Technology and Fragmentation. And Republicans.