Fast for answers

From: John Champagne

Subject: Starting two day fast

The goal generally is to help draw attention to what I believe to be a profoundly important proposal. More specifically it is an occasion to emphasize some questions I have that I feel have been neglected.

I thought that a proposal to end extreme poverty and limit humans' impact on the environment would be seen as a valuable contribution that people would want to share with others and adopt as policy. But I have noticed that people who have received the proposal generally have little or no interest in sharing it with others.

I feel that I have been an utter failure in my efforts to communicate the proposal, the ideas.

The failure to communicate apparently starts with the sentence, the assertion, that "I have a cure for what ails the planet: a way to end abject poverty AND limit humans' impacts on the environment (the physical Earth and its inhabitants) so that they do not exceed what most people feel is acceptable". I believe that people generally are not aware of another one or two or three (or any) other proposals that make such a claim. This sentence, this assertion may simply be too incredible to be taken seriously. I have to believe that, because in all seriousness, these are important goals. I don't want to assume that people are unwilling to apply some effort to make sure that the best way of achieving the very important goals of a sustainable and just society is being followed or pursued.

Am I wrong about the uniqueness of this proposal? Are you aware of more than one? What is your favorite proposal for achieving these two goals? (And what do you like about that particular proposal that makes it your favorite?)

If you believe this proposal does not merit a response, if it is not worth sharing with others, can you say what is lacking?

Are the goals, restated above, not sufficiently important?

Are there flaws in the proposal that make it unworkable? What are they?

Is there a better way to achieve these goals? What is it?

Is there something I am missing? Some other way to understand why people are willing to allow this proposal to languish?

wondering,

john


An eight-page paper, written at the invitation of the hosts of the International Environmental Association Conference: Gaia Brain theory: A Biological Model for Politics and Economics

This paper was not published with the conference proceedings. The reviewer called it 'eminently clear and intelligible' and said that it brought new ideas to bear in solving environmental problems. But the proposal was also said to require changes in human nature. The hosts never explained what changes in human nature would be needed. I see it as a call for a change in the rules we live by. It is a call for changes in human culture, not in human nature.