Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World

Screens Tuesday, 2nd October, 7:30pm at the Waiheke Island Community Cinema

When food is being poisoned with additives known to be harmful, and the food authorities stand by and allow it, one has to ask the question: "How is this possible?" We'll come back to that question, but first let's set the scene for this film.

A major figure in US politics also holds an influential role in a company producing an artificial sweetener. Studies are undertaken but the results are hidden through overlooking some of the data and focusing only on the data that allows the FDA to approve the product going to market. Add to this the rising cost of sugar, and the ability to use a cheap (albeit dangerous) substitute and, before you know it, the coded numbers and variations on trademarked names start appearing in unlikely places on the labels of commonly purchased food and drinks, poisoning their unsuspecting consumers.



While this reads like a cheap suspense novel, it is all sadly true. "Sweet Misery" takes us into the world of both independent and official researchers of the product called Aspartame. It also speaks with sufferers who have discovered the reason for their ailments -- some of them severe.

My mother always told me, "moderation in everything," and while I went on to learn that this philosophy could also embrace excess, I wonder at the addictive nature and intelligence of our species, and our ability to consume large quantities of a single product, and then wonder why we don't feel well. Just as in healthy ecosystems, when diversity appears in our lives and society in general, we tend to see healthier and happier people. Yet we are living in a time when we losing much of our diversity and the resilience that accompanies it.

Humans are currently causing the greatest mass extinction of species since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. If present trends continue, one half of all species of life on earth will be extinct in less than 100 years as a result of habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, and climate change. But the lack of diversity doesn't end there. . . it is evident in virtually every aspect of our society, and can be seen dramatically in the areas of corporate domination and a two or three-party political system which assumes economic growth and capitalism as its foundation premise.

The very nature of a corporate entity demands that it attempts to survive and thrive by swallowing up its competitors. Thus we get bigger and bigger corporations, to the point that the top 200 multi-national corporations now have a combined turnover greater than a quarter of the world's economic activity, and greater than the annual combined GNP of 180 countries.

Which leads me back to the question: "How is it possible that we have allowed our food to become a threat to our well-being?" With power and money concentrated in the hands of corporations, and a system that has elevated money almost to the status of a religion, it is not hard to buy the research results you want, and position yourself to profit enormously from a chemical replacement for sugar -- especially if you have the political influence of Donald Rumsfeld. . . but I am letting you into too much of the film now.

Come along on Tuesday night (at the new time of 7:30pm). Watch "Sweet Misery," and be informed.

Try Revolution @ Cinema

Try Revolution tells the story of how the protests surrounding the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand impacted on South Africa. In this one hour documentary South Africans from Archbishop Desmond Tutu through to ordinary rugby fans talk about how the games, the images, the reports and the conversations that surrounded "The Tour" affected them personally and helped to change the apartheid system.

The 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand had been greatly anticipated by the rugby mad white community of South Africa. New Zealand was their most cherished rival and this tour was going to be live on television…a first for South Africa. So when they tuned into the first broadcast, the Hamilton match, and saw hundreds of protesters standing on the field they went into a kind of collective shock.

Try Revolution explores what happened over the ensuing months and indeed years as the impact of the "The Tour" was fully realised. From a prison mate of Nelson Mandela to the Captain of the '81 Springboks, the documentary uncovers how the actions of the New Zealand protesters were perceived, understood, and used to help in the struggle against the apartheid regime.

"To see strife between families in New Zealand and how it really ripped the country apart, well I think that's quite bad and then realising this isn't the way it should be… that was a big eye opener." - Wynand Claasen, Springbok Captain 1981

"You really can't even compute it's value, it said the world has not forgotten us, we are not alone" - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Produced and directed by Leanne Pooley

This is a must see for anyone who was involved in or aware of the struggles by ordinary New Zealanders who could not stand by and accept the Apartheid regime. If you thought it was a wasted effort, watch this film and you will think again. We will have a dialogue circle after this film to share stories and feelings about this event and about protest or civil disobedience as a method of effecting change.

Screening at the morning session time of 10:00am and the evening session time of 7:00pm on Tuesday the 4th of September at the Waiheke Community Cinema in Artworks.

Uncovering the Web

A seniors workshop on getting more out of the internet, by James Samuel

On Wednesday the 22nd of August (from 10am) I am offering a two hour workshop to anyone who wants to learn how to get more out of the internet and use some of the new computer technology to best advantage. These days more and more services are only available online, so it helps to know how to access them. If you can navigate and find your way around the vast information pool we call the worldwide web, it can save you hours of time, and also reveal things you may not have otherwise known. While the web can be overwhelming, with good searches and a disciplined approach, it is possible to get to the information you want quite quickly.

We will visit some Google Maps and see how they are being used to share information in interesting ways. We'll look at YouTube and Google Video, and what they have to offer. We'll go to some news sites and at our local Council pages - you may be surprised at what is available there. We''ll touch on internet phone calls, sharing photos, backing up files, and more.

Why now? It is my sense that there is a growing awareness amongst the seniors in our community, of the overlapping issues of Peak Oil, Climate Change, and Local Governance. I am delighted to observe this and support its growth, because I feel that there is so much that can be offered by you. You have more time to talk with others, to do the work of digging out information that is of help, and you have the life experience of a simpler way of life that will be of enormous benefit to the entire community as we make our way down the slope towards a lower energy future.

How it will be run? The internet will come alive on the big cinema screen so that everyone can follow the process as it unfolds. There will be time for questions at the end of each section, and we will do a short review at the end to see if everyone got something of value from the morning, and find out if any follow up would be helpful. A handout will be given at the end, so you have some reference material to take home with you. Contributions towards costs will be welcome in the form of Koha.

Zeitgeist the movie

"They must find it difficult. Those who have taken authority as the truth,
rather than truth as the authority."

- Gerald Massey

Watching it for the second time the other night with my partner Kim, gave me an even greater appreciation of the gift of this work. The film Zeitgeist was created as a not for profit expression to inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the population at large think they are. The information in Zeitgeist was established over a year long period of research and the excellent source page on their website reflects this.

We now have the ability to produce films with inexpensive cameras and desktop computers, with these tools and huge databases of film footage, the ability to share information via film has come into the hands of the people. This is significant, because we are no longer dependent on the dominant forms of corporate controlled media. This film is one example of people providing others with knowledge that would otherwise be accessible to only a few privileged individuals. While CNN or TVNZ are not likely to play this documentary any time soon, you and I and our friends can watch it, view it online, and even make copies and share it around.

Throughout the ages small groups of people who had access to knowledge that the masses were not privy to, made decisions which affected the lives of many. Sometimes these rulers, or ruling elite, were wise and benign though some times their decisions make them look less compassionate and generous. Today is no different. Despite today's widespread rhetoric about democracy and freedom, the sad fact is that very few people are aware of how the power structures function in today's society. This film is changing that. It has the potential to rock the foundations of your belief systems so much you will never be the same again. At the very least it will leave you with some questions, and reveal that all is not as we have been told. Either way it is too important to let it pass you by.

Please note this two hour film will start at the winter screening time of 7:00 pm (August 7th). Feel free to bring some food or refreshments to share at the 15 minute intermission.

If you don't make it to the cinema on the night, you can watch it (in lower resolution and without the pleasure of the good company who will be there) on my blog.

Thriving in a low energy future

A film night at the Waiheke Cinema - July 3rd, 2007 - 7.30pm

Had enough of the 'reality picture' of the world and the madness of the consumption and competition paradigms? Seen enough of the documentary films that detail the effects of self-interest and greed especially when it manifests at the level of global leadership? Do you feel as though you have a good sense of the issues and implications of peak oil, climate change and a human population that continues to grow exponentially? And you are making (or wanting to make) changes to your way of life in response to what you understand?

If you identify with any of these feelings, then this months People's Cinema night (the first Tuesday of every month), is for you. I am showing two uplifting films that are showing what people are doing across the world are doing to take care of their own needs.

The Synergistic Garden, a wonderful story of Emelia Hazelip and her French raised-bed gardens. She has been inspired by Permaculture and has created a no dig system which is building in fertility despite no addition of fertiliser or compost. She speaks eloquently and with authority in describing the details of the system she has created.

Then we will screen one of a four-part series by Bill Mollison, co-founder of the Permaculture concepts. This shows Bill in his home garden, and in locations in Africa and India.

This is not so much a how to 'do' Permaculture as it is a how to 'think' about systems that use nature's integrated Some of the stories refer to the side-effects of a globalised world, and offers the solutions, showing how at least some people are making a better world for themselves.

The films will run for about one hour. After which we will re-arrange the couches into a large circle and have a round (using a talking piece) where each person has an opportunity to hear and be heard.

I promise that you will walk away from this evening of film and dialogue, with renewed faith in the human spirit.

James
www.yesterdaysfuture.net

A Crude Awakening

A Crude Awakening - Tuesday Documentary at the Waiheke Community Cinema

"If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst."
- Thomas Hardy

The film 'A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash' is the noble successor to ‘The End of Suburbia’, whose crown it steals, becoming, for me, the best exposition of the peak oil argument yet committed to film. Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack’s have done a magnificent job of putting the subject matter into a wider historical context, with beautiful and sometimes shocking imagery, and many respectable speakers. Unlike The End of Suburbia’ this film goes beyond the US experience, being more of a global film. Crude Awakening keeps its focus on peak oil, and presents a well argued, well-paced, and well-edited summary of what peak oil is and what it will mean for us all.

It begins by discussing what an amazing material oil is, how it was formed and how much energy it contains. The message is simple; oil is a one-off extraordinary legacy left to us by history, a material which is so extraordinarily energy-dense that it is little wonder that we have sucked it out of the ground and built an entire society out of it in little over 150 years. As the film goes on to point out, this absurd degree of dependency cannot continue, due to the imminent peaking in world oil production. This is the first film to contain archive film of M.King Hubbert, it is fascinating to see the great man himself on US television in 1975.

It is a film which avoids over sensationalising the material, allowing the facts to speak for themselves. It isn’t overly explicit about what the impacts of peak oil might be, allowing the viewer to follow those trains of thought in his or her own head. For those who feel that technology will provide the solutions, the statistics relating to the various tecnological alternatives to oil, put them into perspective. The film takes you to a place where the enormity of the challenge sets in and leaves you there. It is a powerful place to visit.

I have been following this issue for the last couple of years, and been willing to look at both sides of the argument. As such I experience times when I wonder if the whole Peak Oil matter is a non event, but then a film like this comes along, and wakes me from my slumber, reminding me that the time to prepare is now.

The film will begin promptly at 7.30pm, Tuesday 5th June at the Waiheke Community Cinema. Entry by koha.

See this National Geographic article on this subject.

Food and Oil

We are animals, like it or not - and we require food to live. For most of us the local supermarket is our garden, and our farm, and we rely upon its well stocked shelves. Despite our reputation as one of the great food producing nations of the world, we import more food than almost any other OECD country. In a 6 month period last year, NZ imported $84 million dollars worth of food from China alone?

Whether grown locally, or brought in from elsewhere, our food started its life in the soil - something that is easily forgotten as we stroll down the aisles of colourful packaging in the supermarket. In his book A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright demonstrates that empires which collapse show similar behaviours: sticking to entrenched beliefs and practices; robbing the future to pay the present; and spending the last reserves of natural capital on a reckless binge of excessive wealth and glory - and soil degradation and loss specifically, has been the most frequent cause of total civilisation collapse. Of the earth's surface, about 3% of it is arable land. The entire world's population relies on the food grown on the thin covering of nutrient rich soil on that 3%, which is presently being lost at the rate of 25 billion tonnes per year (UNEP, 1992b). If you watched the film at the Waiheke Community Cinema last Tuesday night - One Cow, One Man, One Planet - you will have seen what devastation is being wrought by the indiscriminate use of chemical based agriculture methods. The result has been soil degradation, leading to massive crop failures, indebtedness and tens of thousands of farmers committing suicide by hanging, or by drinking the chemicals they are now realising are poisonous. Thankfully all is not lost, and in the same film you will also have seen what can be done when life-positive practices are applied.

Our’s is the first and only fossil-fuelled civilisation. Our entire economy and standard of living currently rely on the burning of fossil fuels as a cheap, convenient form of energy. In the last 100 years or so, it has allowed the development of a fossil-fuel based industrial agriculture. But this resource is not endless. Global Oil discoveries peaked about 40 years ago, and now Global Oil production is at or near its peak. Assume for one moment that the boats stopped running to and from Waiheke, and no goods were being brought over to stock the shelves. While this worst case scenario is unlikely it may be useful to notice that at present we have very little by way of food production occurring here. If there was a squeeze, we might find ourselves scrambling to get some seeds and be looking for some good land to grow them in. Then there would be a need for compost materials to feed the soil, and nurture the plants, and some help from those more knowledgeable than ourselves about what to grow and when.

Right now we are heavily reliant on trade and transporting our basic food necessities onto the island, and I am finding more and more people who not only think this is unwise, but are making the necessary gestures in the direction of greater self-reliance. There is lots we can do, and preparation for future change is easier and more effective than responding to a crisis. In relation to food production we have the beginnings. There is a small but active seedsavers group, the first community garden was established over a year ago and more are being mooted, and food exchange stall operates every weekend at the Ostend market. There are food growing plots with a history of cultivation - now idle because the people who used to grow on them are too old to do the work, or have moved on, and there are many under-utilised fruit trees which offer their abundance every year. These would respond well to a little nurturing and care. The energetic physicist, ecologist, activist, editor, and author Vandana Shiva, put it very succinctly stating that "When countries have pulled back from large scale industrial farming for a variety of political and economic reasons, and especially when they've also paid attention to indigenous knowledge, they have experienced benefits in terms of food production that are nothing short of astounding."

We have the land, we have the need, we have the knowledge, we have the willingness.

What will we be eating?

It is only recently that our dietary choice has expanded to the dazzling array of possibilities it is today, yet how quickly we come to take this for granted. Whatever was in existence when we were born, we assume is normal. So moving our bodies around using cars that run on fuel sucked out of the ground, living in ever-larger houses, buying our food from big box stores, are things we have come to expect. And woe-betide anyone who dares challenge our "right" to all this.

We live in an age where our nourishment can be measured by its food miles. Did you know that on average every calorie of food uses 10 calories of oil to produce and bring it to your table. Based on a considerable amount of research, I suggest that this is not sustainable. To put it simply, there will come a day when we will, out of necessity, see a substantial growth in locally produced organic food.

"While the use of oil dominates the production end of the food system, electricity (usually produced from coal or gas) dominates the consumption end. The oil-intensive modern food system that evolved when oil was cheap will not survive as it is now structured with higher energy prices. Among the principal adjustments will be more local food production..." - Lester R. Brown, Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble

Does this mean we will be forced to live on local potatoes and puha, and won't have all those refined and processed industrial foods that we have come to enjoy so much? Perhaps there is a middle road between these extremes. We are a creative species, and will probably find all manner of ways of using the resources we have to provide a diverse, interesting, and healthy diet.

Here on Waiheke we are off to a good start. There are lots of individuals, and several groups, who have this future clearly in their sights. These people are actively supporting the locally grown food option. The Waiheke Seedsavers group has been meeting for seven years and has a small but diverse bank of heritage variety seeds - those from plants that have developed, evolved and proven to do well in our local soil and climate. Then there is the more recently established Community Garden and the Food Exchange stall at the Ostend market. The Food Exchange stall is based on the observation that there is an abundance of food which, if not shared with others, will go to waste because it tends to come on suddenly and for a short season. So people bring their excess, and exchange it with others.


This Saturday (Dec 2nd) from 1:00 to 5:30pm, there is a workshop being held, on suburban permaculture. If you have sensed that growing some of your own food might be a good idea, but you don't know where to start, this workshop is for you. Robina McCurdy and her partner are coming up from Golden Bay to do some work with another group of people Publishon the island and they have kindly made their time available for this. They are highly qualified but their approach is very accessible. You will learn how to use the principles of permaculture and apply them to small suburban lots. The afternoon will include slides (lots of examples to get your imagination going) and time looking at Steve and Sophia's home on Ridge Rd. You will get to exercise the planning process, so when you get home you can dive into your garden with some greater confidence. For more information on the workshop, call James on 372 8737 or Steve and Sophia on 372 6640.

Imagine Waiheke

In a world where 1,000's die daily due to a lack of fresh water, where women poisoned by Depleted Uranium are giving birth to "jelly fish" deformed babies, and resource wars are raging across the planet as world leaders seek to gain control over finite resources, we are incredibly blessed here on Waiheke.

We live here in good health, in a culturally rich, highly tolerant society. While we sometimes see things differently, there are sufficient things we all hold dear, that hold us together. We recognise this island as a rare treasure, with its clean water, mostly unpolluted earth, and sparkling oceans. We may also sense what a resource-full island we live on, with abundant water and land, a benign climate for humans and plant life. And a population of people with varied skills and talents, people with big hearts, with vision, with money, and a desire to leave our children a world they can grow and blossom in.

There are signs that people are sensing a need to transition quickly into a more nurturing relationship with the planet which sustains us. What that means to each person is their own unique journey, which begins when we recognise our part in creating the reality we live in. Everyday I see people discovering new, fun and exciting ways to become part of the change, and cocreating a sustainable future together. People are finding their gifts and bringing them to the table to share them. Change comes about by numbers of us acting differently, and it starts with one, and if we can't do it here on Waiheke, where else?

The cornerstones to our successes will likely include communication, innovation and experimentation, supported by the necessary economics which can be both conventional and alternative. A good starting point maybe to stock-take all the talents and resources we already have here on the island. Then we can get going on the juicy stuff, like designing the types of energy production that would work best on the island. Wind and solar are immediately possibilities, while we keep an eye on developments in tidal energy systems. Septic tank collections can be taken to a bio-digesting plant to harness the gas while the waste is being properly composted. There are some great off the shelf plants available, and the Waiheke specific research is already underway.

Transport solutions are exciting because there are so many good options to choose from. Naturally we want clean convenient public transport. Imagine a fleet of efficient bio-diesel minibuses and couriers combing the island's arterial routes complemented by cabs that get people to those routes and cover after hours needs. With cycle racks on the buses, and less cars on the road, cycling would become realistic for many more people. If we get local energy production pumping on the island then electric vehicles become more viable. At the Imagining the 21st Century events in the cinema last year, a whole new model of ferries was spoken about, that could take commuters to different destinations on the island – further reducing the need for road transport.

This kind of talk whets my appetite, so where is the local kai which is so essential in good times and bad? What about getting a license for the sale of locally caught fresh fish – it's been done in Lyttelton. The Saturday markets are an immediate asset for enabling trade of local production, and the food exchange stall will soon have outgrown the Ostend Hall.

Imagine an increase in apiaries and a few decent flocks of free range chooks. And we could be harvesting all that local edible seaweed for my gomashio. Why, I'll bet there's even salt out there. To support food production ventures a fund could be built for micro lending. A 500 member food club investing $1,000 each will create a fund of $500,000. This could also be created by 500 people acting as guarantors for a loan from Prometheus Ethical Finance could manage the fund. A local currency would be a great addition.

These are just a few ideas, big and small, immediate and long term. Greater regional self reliance impacts big global problems while making our community a more secure and enjoyable place to live.

This article has been co-written by James Samuel and Laurence Boomert.

Life, Money and Illusion

"'Life' refers to the biological processes by which living things maintain themselves over time. 'Money,' to the present economic ideology which says that as long as the volume of money changing hands increases, all will be well. 'Illusion' refers to the fact that these two perspectives are directly opposed in terms of how they would solve current problems." - Mike Nickerson.

The previous article reffered to the mechanisms of our economic system, and why it is degrading our society and our environment. Here are two examples of responses to the challenges we face. The first is a personal account from a trip that I made with Kim, my life partner, to the Kufunda Learning Village in Zimbabwe early this year. The second describes Willits, California and why they are gaining worldwide respect for their efforts at localisation.

Zimbabwe is a country in crisis. The four day petrol queues are one obvious manifestation of an economy on its knees. Inflation was 740% per year, leaving the poor to fend for themselves. Now imagine 700,000 people - made homeless last year in a government mission known on the street as "The Tsunami." Bulldozers were used to clear entire shantytowns forcing people to move out into the country. Unfortunately after years of colonisation and reliance on large scale commercial farming, they have minimal tools for this new life.

Step in the Kufunda Learning Village. A group of a dozen passionate Zimbabweans working to demonstrate and teach self-reliance: Composting toilets ensure nutrients are not wasted but used to grow fruit trees. A substantial herb garden and processing room allow healing ointments and solutions to be made for their people who live with a 30% HIV infection rate. Bee hives bring offer wax for some of their ointments, and honey. A pre-school is getting a rammed earth building erected, and the teachers are taking care of the children admirably. There is a large kitchen with efficient wood-fired cooking facilities. The library boasts books on subjects ranging from food growing to geo-politics. Dwellings and meeting rooms have been made using earth bricks and local thatch. Permaculture style vegetable gardens and young fruit trees offer greater food security. And a local currency based on hours of time is being traded in their broader region.

With the environmental, social, political and economic landscapes changing ever more quickly, people everywhere are looking for ways to organise to meet our needs locally. The Kufunda community has made amazing progress over four short years, while simultaneously assisting half a dozen other communities in their country, to do likewise. The persistent feeling Kim and I shared was that we were being given a glimpse of how our society may look as cheap oil becomes a thing of the past, along with the artificial or temporary affluence it has given us. We are most grateful for their examples.

The progressive community of Willits can best be described by the projects it has begun. Due to space constraints I had to omit half of the list, some of which we are already doing on Waiheke. The City of Willits has voted “Yes”, to the building of a solar (photovoltaic) array to offset the City of Willit's electricity usage. A Vehicle Share Demonstration Project is intended to provide a model for a citizen-based transportation in which a variety of vehicles, each serving a different need, would be purchased, maintained, and shared by a number of residents. A Barn Raising Project gets people from the community to help out on projects previously submitted (by anyone in the community) - such projects could include such projects as the home repairs of an incapacitated resident. The School Gardens Project involves siting and creation of teaching gardens at the schools within the area.

Many people in the US have been inspired by their efforts at localisation and self-reliance and are engaging with others to give birth to their own localisation solutions.

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Is raw capitalism the best possible outcome for our well being? Or can thousands of diverse, locally-rooted, grassroots economic projects form the basis for a viable democratic alternative to capitalism? What really sustains us when the factories shut down, when the flood waters rise, or when the paycheck is not enough? In the face of failures of market and state, we often survive by self-organized relationships of care, cooperation, and community - Dollars and Sense by Ethan Miller

The next article will look at Waiheke initiatives as we seek to find ways to respond to the challenges of this evolutionary moment. Please contact me (jms@ihug.co.nz 372 8737) and tell me about your projects.

Hey Honey, they shrunk the money!

Looking at the bright new shiny, and shrunken, coins I wonder if any one else notices how much they have devalued? The new copper 10c piece looks remarkably like the 1c coin we used to have – except it now has an additional zero on it. Is that how much value the money has lost, and why?


Money is issued by commercial banks at little cost to themselves and then lent to people and businesses against interest – the money creation process is essentially an entry into an accounting ledger. Because money is loaned into existence against interest, and interest is not created ahead of time, there is always scarcity of money. Thus, in order to have enough money to be able to pay the interest required, more loans need to be issued. A larger mass of money leads to a gradual loss of value of each monetary unit. Hence the house that cost $40,000 when 1 cent pieces were common now costs $400,000.

I hear the cry: "It's too complicated – how are we to understand these serious and complex economic issues, and if we did what could we do about them?" We quickly pass on the responsibility to others who know better – after all they work in our best interests, no? A paragraph in David C. Korten's latest book "From Empire to Earth Community," answered this very succinctly for me.

"These financial games [money creation, interest bearing loans, manipulated interest rates, financial speculation, and more] contribute nothing of value to the larger society. They do, however, significantly increase the buying power of the ruling elites and their claims on the real wealth of society relative to the claims of those persons who contribute to the creation of that wealth by producing real goods and providing real services. They are the most successful of financial cons because the mechanisms are invisible and the marks—the object of the con—rarely realise they have been conned. Even if they were to recognise they have been conned, there is nothing they can do about it because the con is both legal and culturally accepted."

As shocking as that can sound, we see it all around us. Many of the productive people in our community, are living on incomes similar to what they lived on 10 years ago when our money bought much more. Now almost everyone is working longer hours, taking less holidays, or part of a two income family – just to maintain the same standard of living, if that.

The picture is the same in most countries across the planet, and in a globalised world we are not isolated from the world economy.

"Today the world is run by three of the most secretive institutions in the world: The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, all three of which, in turn, are dominated by the U.S. Their decisions are made in secret. The people who head them are appointed behind closed doors. Nobody really knows anything about them, their politics, their beliefs, their intentions. Nobody elected them. Nobody said they could make decisions on our behalf." – Arundhati Roy

In order for national and international banks to justify issuing more loans, economic activity needs to expand, or more areas of life need to be monetized. But this growing economy is gobbling up natural resources and producing lower quality goods. It is leaving many people without the necessities of life. Unfortunately this grand experiment in economic growth will never self-regulate, because then the interest-based money system will fail.

As I was writing this article a friend informed me that the New Zealand national debt – to "overseas entities" – at the end of December 2005 was running at $33,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. At 5% interest and 2.4 children per family that's $7,260 of an average family's taxes going offshore in the form of interest before we even begin to pay for governmental services!

Despite facts like this, and David C. Korten's somewhat bleak conclusion in his quote above, I am not so certain there is "nothing we can do about it." However, it will surely take considerable intention, based on first understanding how the present system operates, and then through cocreating and evolving new models which work. It is a bold task, and we can't know all the answers before we begin, but if ever there was a time to step up and be agents of the change we wish to see, it is surely now.

Coming in the next article (28 September): Models of exchange and mutual support.