Opening Letter

To whom this may concern: 
 

The planet, and the people on it, are undergoing a period of tremendous change. Few can argue against the benefits of the scientific revolution, democracy, industrialization, internet, and the rise of globalization...

... but there are two sides to every coin. We are just starting to learn of harmful side affects of our technological advancement. The negative consequences of our technologies stand to have an equal or greater impact on future generations as the technologies themselves. 

 If we don't act soon, we should expect see many of our greatest social and technological achievements, which in some cases took the whole span of known history to create, vanish-- or even reverse--in our lifetimes. 

Imagine snow in the middle of August, followed by a 3 week flood and then an eternity of dry heat days that cook the earth into a fine powder before 110 mile an hour hurricane winds carry the arkansas' topsoil 3 states west to smother the entire spinach crop in nebraska? What kind of effect do you think this will have on our economy? Even moreso, what kind of effect will this have on you? What the hell will you eat? I high doubt we would be able to function as a democracy. The governments of the world would swoop in on the grounds of national security and assume even more control over our country's processes.

To prevent this from happening: we have to act soon and we have to act quickly. Everyone is going to have to make this a number one priority in their lives, not just institutions, if we want to preserve the earth and human civilization for our grandchildren.  

Making it everyone's 9-5 is the most logical first step toward that end, but it can't end there.  

It's going to take all of us. 

I want to take the current decision-making process for social reorganization out of the ivory towers and mahogany halls of the elite, and put the effort on the street. We need to utilize communities, not just the G-20 leaders, their think-tanks, and a small number of well-established organizations.  

Everyone, not just the supposed "experts," need to be dedicating their mental energies to this end. Experts are now saying that thanks to the internet and Google anyone can be an expert. Ironically, experts also say that a relatively uninformed person is as good of a problem solver as a person labeled as an "expert."   

Being an expert is not what you know, or what you can prove that you know, but what you can create. The intersection between knowledge and the Now is much more important than the knowledge itself. In light of that, we need to make it our goal to make every person in the world an expert on global warming by creating a structure that taps into each person's creative capacity and makes it readily available to professionals who can implement it. 

What we are in a serious shortage of right now is not only habitat, trees, water, and arable land. Even more-so it's the shortage in creativity, community, wonder and passion that lead to a shortage in the first 4. Get the smell of the earth in their nose. Make their hearts pump green and red. Make their minds sparkle like the rivers USED to. Now is a good time to reorganize society in light of the realities of global warming AND the information age. 

How can we create a paradigm shift? 

I sense we have become to accustomed to underestimating the power of A Person. A single, solitary, Person is prepared to do a lot more than charge a few light bulbs or attend another lecture or workshop.When you ask yourself what you can go out and do-- tell yourself to get out on the streets and aspire to do what the world's greatest leaders and achievers are doing and/or have done. 

The ultimate goal of We. is to create a dense network of institutions- a meta-institution or organizm- that can organize and support an army of full-time change agents dedicated to re-envisioning society. 

For those of you already involved and doing your part, I urge you to do more: ask more of yourselves and ask more of others. Set a good example for others to follow. 

If and when a young black lady in the 8th grade from Dunbar Junior High asks you what she can do to help, push her limits on what she thinks she is allowed to do by pushing the limits on what you are allowed to tell her.  

Let it boil over into a mass-movement, a mass re-organization of society. A major societal transformation--- Like the white man did to the indians, only the other way around. Do everything you can to achieve that. When they ask you what they can do, don't tell them to join a vo-tech school... 
 

...tell them to be like Gandhi. 
 
 
 
 

Thanks, 
 

Andrew McSwain