More stories

>>Children, cute little furry white polar bears drowning because Global Warming, whales getting killed by senseless and thoughtless sonar blasts, wars due to oil.
What are others?...

I've been doing some reading about the abolition movement as I mentioned, and their techniques were similar to ours, but I think more developed. For instance one thing they did was really highlight how slavery is/was a blemish on the American soul, a country which was formed for the sake of human freedom, equality and justice. They took people's patriotism and helped them see that America was not yet in consonance with its own ideals. It took decades, but a critical mass of people was finally made aware, through that and other mechanisms. So Americans were moved by their own story.I totally agree that a lot of people need stories of extinction, children poisoned, etc. But the story of our own moral development is very compelling.

To answer your question about what other stories do we have to motivate people to change, I could offer that, since I visited Guatemala, I found that fair trade is not always fair enough. For instance, coffee growers really need to make $3 a day to feed, house and educate their family (probably doesn't cover health insurance!) but they usually net out at about $1 a day. Fair trade coffee pays the farmer about twice the world market rate, but to live above subsistence level, farmers really need to make another 70% above that amount. So when you hear stories on the radio about countries where the income is $300, or $600 just know that these people are starving. They do not make enough to live on, even in their mostly agrarian culture. Probably no one in the world except those in very remote areas can make less than $1000 per family and survive without lots of malnutrition and illness, and certainly can't educate their kids. We can start connecting the dots between where we shop and the"globalization" violence offshore.

Another thought is Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer's statement last night that we CERTAINLY only have ten years to profoundly change how we live. Raising the temperature of the earth by 5 degrees within this century doesn't sound like that much, but he said it would put us back to a climate of 3 million years ago, where the seas were 80 feet higher. 1 billion people live on these lower altitudes and will be displaced. Talk about the potential for conflict. Maybe the Armageddonists will get their world war after all. But doesn't that light a fire under you? I have really been looking for ways to shrink my carbon footprint.

Regarding the potential for violence if we don't change our climate habits fast enough, we have to find a way. A lot of us know what non-violence is in action, such as discussion, seeing the humanity in your enemy, etc. How would YOU describe the implementation of non-violence? And have you taken any trainings?