The BIG Story

Maintaining the fundamental conditions to sustain life on this planet is one of the challenges we face as we move through these initial years of the beginning of the 21st Century. How we behave, how we channel our energies, where we take our new found or long established awareness and awakened currency of this evolutionary opportunity presented to us, becomes the measure of success for this instrument in a way.

We are part of an amazing Story - that for the first time in the history of humanity, people know of the 13 billion years of time it has taken the earth to form and the span of time it has taken life to develop on this planet. Knowing this and understanding all the complexities of the interdependencies that were needed to occur for life to come to this point. Indeed, Life is still evolving on this planet through visible and unseen global processes, through our human actions both good and bad, all of which brings humanity to a culminating transition place. A place that seems almost like one of transcendence. What are the responsibilities of the story bearer; one of the evolving forces; and one of the elements affected by global evolution? What does an individual do knowing all this? What! So What? Now What? Ah@#$%^&*()(*&^%$

For IF we as individuals are not moved to go out into the world and make a difference, what difference has this experience made in our lives? What difference have we made in each other's lives by exchanging these thoughts and feelings each week? Indeed for all that signed up, a great many simply lurked and did not say anything. IF indeed they lurked. Pity if they cause the closure of the box and don't even show up for the dance.

Have the silent ones been awakened, shaken, stirred by what happened here? Are they responding? Response - Able? Because certainly they have not responded to this evolutionary pond. Except perhaps to sometimes stare at the reflection, seeking an authentic vision.
Perhaps we need to be reminded, during this response-ability moment, of the Precautionary Principle. It applies if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public. When there is an absence of scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, then burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action. The Precautionary Principle is most often applied in the context of the impact of human development or new technology on the environment and human health, as both involve complex systems where the consequences of actions may be unpredictable.

The concept includes risk prevention, cost effectiveness, ethical responsibilities towards maintaining the integrity of natural systems, and the fallibility of human understanding. It can also be interpreted as the transfer of more generally applied precaution in daily life (e.g. buying insurance, using seat belts or consulting experts before decisions) to larger political arenas.
All choosing in the future - especially when it affects the commons - may begin by respecting the Precautionary Principle. Benefits of doing it this way could quickly become visible. Clearer air, cleaner water. Healthier weight babies. Lower birth mortality. Healthier senior citizens. Fewer homeless people. More employment. Equity among people of all classes. Better government. With such a cautious, careful approach, will we be able to put aside the human tendency toward "old style", runaway progress?

People these days slide greasily toward personal economic gain; the slippery slope of runaway progress moves humanity toward poor decision-making on behalf of humanity itself, but in favour of short-term personal riches for a few, often invisible shareholders and toward corporate expansion and development.

Humanity seems to welcome the seven deadly sins: lust, greed, sloth, envy, pride, gluttony, and wrath; and forgetting the seven "healthy" virtues: faith, hope, justice, temperance, courage, prudence, and love. Can the temptation to "the dark side" be resisted, or overcome? Can we find the lighter side of our true nature?

The better angels in our nature needs govern our decisions and not only be responsible for what we dream, think and do but also be accountable to others - for these dreams and actions. Only when we are accountable - when we tell someone else what we are dreaming about and doing does it really matter in the world.

Some assert that responsibility is a natural act, that we come by responsibility as the only animal with choice. I would suggest that many species, including our own choose. The unique character of our choice is that we can give voice and reationalize our choices. Other species cannot. But for the human species, mere choice and responsibility is not enough. Accountability is more important. Tell someone. Account for the dreams, not just write it down in journals - announce it, promise it and then DO it. Libraries are full of dreams. It is our world that is the testimony of the actions of actual accountants. It is time to claim the world from economic accountants and make it accountable to nature again. I heard the words "nature-deficit disorder" recently. I thought it was an interesting way to reclaim a language moment.

Perhaps its time to reclaim our accountancy language moment too. Our natural accounts need refreshing new language: how do we account for the health of freshwater, air, soil, edible species bio-mass? However we wish to account for healthy ecosystems and the services they provide to the earth and all of nature and humanity, we need a new set of words to describe this, measurable accountable language that is meaningful to citizens in simple terms.