In our busy lives, we often lack the time or energy to think and reflect as much as we probably should.  We sometimes use political labels as a substitute for thought.  If Smith is a "fascist" or a "left-winger," then of course everything Smith says is wrong and we need think no more.  I'm completely sick of the tired concepts:  "liberal" vs "conservative."
         To further liven up and round out these pages, my editor seeks a "right-wing,
conservative columnist," but he's also open to "liberals, libertarians, anarchists, and just plain sensible people."  Sensible is best!  We need a new political party--the Sensible Party.  The first sensible thing for us to do will be to listen to one another.
         One label has especially varied connotations:  some people are proud to be
"environmentalists," but to others it's almost a dirty word.  Whatever we feel about the word, the sensible thing is to remember that we are completely dependent on earth's life support systems.  Every breath or bite of food reminds us of this, if we stop to reflect.  We should give thanks at mealtime.
         In the past, we humans and our technology were a small force that had relatively little impact on the larger living earth.  This is no longer true, as evidenced by major changes we are causing in the atmosphere.  A complacent physiology professor once scoffed at my concerns, telling me "the environment is very resilient."  I wasn't quick enough to respond:  "the human body is resilient too, but if you smoke enough cigarettes, you will die."
         I don't see any evidence that we will be able to live viably and happily underground or on the moon anytime soon, so the sensible thing is for us to take care of our nest, mother earth.  This would be the right thing to do anyway, even if we were ready to colonize space.
         Taking responsibility for our actions is an old-fashioned value that is currently in short supply.  We foist the price of our behavior upon the larger living world and upon our children and descendants.  On a personal level, taking responsibility means asking:  "is my day-to-day life good for the planet and for human society, or am I part of the problem?"  Unfortunately, we have so structured things that it's difficult to exist in American society without doing significant harm.  The American baby consumes forty times more of the world's resources than a child in India, yet we smugly condemn their population problem.
         What about our jobs?  Does our product or service make the world a better place?  In our specialized world, we can become enamored with the intricacies of our work and forget to consider its relation to the larger whole.  I recently read a great saying:  "something not worth doing, is not worth doing well."  Being "paid" doesn't necessarily imply that the work is worthwhile.  What is the ultimate result of that expenditure of time and energy?  Is it good?  Sometimes it's hard to tell.  Legality doesn't necessarily imply goodness either:  many harmful things are legal--such as promoting cigarettes or making and then selling weapons to warring factions in poor countries.
         There is plenty of work to be done, so "jobs" really shouldn't be a problem.
Unfortunately though, the work that we really need is often unpaid, while there's
sometimes more money available in destructive or manipulative activities.  Some may consider it naive to think our work should actually be good for the planet, but I think it's naive to believe we can survive if it isn't.
         "I'm just doing my job," we sometimes say, passing responsibility up the chain of command.  But this moral burden has no impact on the company:  the corporate structure by its very nature is a way of evading responsibility.  Corporate officers and shareholders have "limited liability."  Rarely does anyone go to jail when crimes are committed.  This sometimes leads to an utter disrespect for the law.  Fines may be levied, which are treated as business expenses.  Payments of fines are tax-deductible, as are legal and public relations costs associated with the crimes.  Business accounting also evades responsibility by ignoring costs which are "externalized" outside the company.  McDonald's doesn't pay many of the costs associated with billions of hamburgers; for example:  medical care for heart disease (often a taxpayer expense), or the environmental damage caused by an
agriculture geared for excessive beef production.  These costs are shifted to the rest of us and to future generations.  The McDonald's corporation exists to maximize shareholder wealth.  This is simply its nature.  It will "externalize" its costs whenever possible.
         Under our founding fathers, corporations did not have the power they have today.  They were granted a "charter" to conduct a specific business for a given period of time, and the charter could be taken away by the people.
         Politically, the sensible thing now is to rethink the role of giant corporations in our lives and on the planet, instead of just assuming that the current arrangement is correct and inevitable.
         If we can't expect our corporate employers to take responsibility, who will?  Only we can.  We need the courage to honestly assess whether our lives are helping to make the world a better place.  If not, we must find a way--perhaps quickly, perhaps gradually--to shape our lives into accordance with our best, deeper values.
 

 
            "Natural Capitalism" is a very good article by Paul Hawken that appeared in Mother Jones magazine in the spring of 1997.
            The Economics page within the site of The Center for a New American Dream has some pretty powerful stuff.  Click back on the main menu for loads of related material.
            The People Centered Development Forum has numerous articles, including parts of David Korten's powerful book "When Corporations Rule the World."  David Korten has a business doctorate from Stanford, taught in the Harvard Business School, and worked for years in large "international development" agencies.  He has an inside view of how things work.  His book is logical and well written, bringing clarity to very complex issues.  Click on the book cover, read, and scroll down to find extensive selections from this remarkable document.  Also, click on the globe just below the book to read any of hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics by Donella Meadows, a professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College.  Her column is called "The Global Citizen."
                The Institute for Global Communications is a tremendous resource. Subsidiary sites are:  Peacenet, Econet, Womensnet, Labornet, and Conflictnet.
            The EcoFuture website has an astounding amount of information and internet links.
                Envirolink.org is a large clearinghouse for information on environmental concerns.
            Corporate Watch is an online magazine and resource center which provides tools to investigate and analyze corporate activity.
              The League of Conservation Voters keeps close track of how the US Congress treats our global life-support system.  Find out specific information on whether your representatives are selling out the future, right here.
           "Disgruntled" is the on-line "business magazine for people who work for a living."  There are lots of articles here about downsizing and a multitude of frustrations people have as employees.  There are many pieces submitted by readers via e-mail, very well organized in this site.  The "links" section is voluminous.
             Noam Chomsky is a hard-working genius who has done extensive research, writing, and speaking on corporate power, US foreign policy, and thought control in democratic societies.
            The Northcoast Environmental Center is a remarkable Humboldt County institution which publishes the monthly "Econews."
             Here's a bit from an interview with Jerry Mander:  "The new trade agreements eliminate all controls. Even giant countries like the United States have no ability to control the rulings of the WTO (World Trade Organization) and the GATT. We basically left the era of national sovereignty and have entered the era of corporate sovereignty, of corporate global control."  Mander edited a 1997 book collection of articles on "The Case Against the Global Economy, And For A Turn Toward the Local."
          An organization called "Communications for a Sustainable Future" has material on Ecological Economics here, along with a good list of "Recommended Sites."