Monday 8 December 2014

Ethical Investing

A Response to the Current 2014 12 08, 9:30 am

Dear Anna Maria Tramonti;

Many of your guests were missing the point or downplaying the urgency of the Fossil Fuels divestment movement.  The problem we are facing as a human species is that we have an extremely limited world carbon budget to spend.   In 2012, that budget was 565 Gigatons that could be safely burned and still meet our world-accepted target of two degrees Celsius.  It is less now.  The existing reserves at that time were 2795 gigatons.  That would mean we would have to leave 4/5 of current reserves in the ground and not develop them – at least not for use as fuel.  The IPCC has made this information clearly available to all.

This means that new reserves recently reported in the Arctic must not be developed.  It means we should not triple production in the tar sands.  It means that if the oil sector wants to stay in business in an ethical, sustainable way, it has to take the immense profits our system has allowed them to make out of oil and gas and coal, and use that money to develop our future—a future that does not involve burning oil and gas.  So much of our capital is locked up in these huge extractive industries focused on environmentally destructive megaprojects.  We have to release this capital in order to build a new sustainable way of living that respects the earth and all life.

I want to invest in an energy company that is developing electricity storage systems for renewable energy.  I want to invest in a company that is building the infrastructure for electric vehicles across North America so I don’t have to fill up at the pump with gasoline.  I want to invest in new ways to heat my home, and in any kind of processes that help us conserve and use less energy.  Mr. Yeager from the Wild Rose party pays a disservice to the people of Canada when he says we don’t know where our gasoline comes from.  He accuses us of being ignorant and stupid.  It is the oil industry that has its head in the sand. 

The small bits of tinkering discussed by Michelle Du Cordova of NEI Investments will not be enough.  I agree with her that there will be a place in the mix for oil companies – especially those focused on supplying plastics.  But it will be a much smaller place than what they have now.  We need to take all our capital, and all our creativity and ingenuity and make a transition to 100% renewable energy for as many sectors as possible by 2030.   I hope Ms. Cordova will take her clout as a shareholder and begin to communicate this message to our oil company leaders.

In the meantime, to invest in fossil fuels is to sentence our grandchildren to a dangerous, chaotic, uncertain future.  It is so stupid, when we can already see that an economy based on renewable energy has the potential to create more, better-paying jobs, distribute wealth better all over the world, and do much less damage to the environment.

Working for a better future for all humanity and companion species,

Rev. Frances Deverell
Retired Unitarian Minister in the Community in Ottawa and

Ottawa host, ClimateFast.ca

Thursday 9 October 2014

ClimateFast Report

October Greetings Unitarian Universalists, Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice and Supporters of ClimateFast! 

For the third year in a row a group of dedicated climate activists held a fast and vigil (Sept. 28 - October 2) on Parliament Hill to draw the public's attention to the climate crisis and the need to act now. We continue to urge our political leaders, senators and members of parliament to sign the politicians' pledge for the climate, namely, 1. Put an end to fossil fuel subsidies 2. Put a price on carbon 3.Support the development of a renewable energy plan for Canada. In conjunction with the annual Ottawa Peace Festival we held a number of climate conversations, including an intergenerational conversation at the University of Ottawa, (plus screening of 'Do the Math!' by 350.org climate scientist Bill McKibbon); an interfaith discussion at St. Paul's United Church and an activist conversation at the headquarters of Oxfam.

All the participants agreed that meeting with one another in the flesh, and sharing our individual and collective stories - the highs and the lows - renewed our spirits and was a practical exercise in coalition building. We are part of a growing  people's movement worldwide. Like the Indigenous-led 'Idle No More' movement, ordinary Canadians are starting to stand up and speak out for the rights of Mother Earth. Aside from the climate conversations, organized and led by the Reverend Frances Deverell, we watched two new films at the local library -  'Hands On: Women, Climate, Change' and 'The Change Agents'. a coming-of-age, must-see movie for all secondary students in Canada. 

The 'Climate Fastival' on the Hill brought together a wide array of musicians, including Unitarian troubadours, Chris White         and Tony Turner and their talented back-up performers. And of course, the Ottawa Raging Grannies put in an appearance,         with Ottawa First's Ria Heynen taking the vocal lead. Ottawa First's Chalice Choir also took part in the 'Climate Fastival'.         Our red and white CUSJ banner was on prominent display alongside Citizens' for Public Justice and ClimateFast's bilingual 'Hungry for Climate Leadership' banner. 'Just Voices' community-based Choir graced us with the 'Song for the Climate' and other sing-along songs at our Opening Ceremony on Parliament Hill the first evening and again at the Closing Ceremony.

We were blessed to have Anishnawbe elder Annie Smith St. George and her Metis husband, Robert, lead the Closing Ceremony by candlelight along with the Spirit Flowers Drumming Group led by Gabrielle Fayant. As we went around the circle,               each person spoke from the heart and lifted one other up by highlighting memorable moments from the Ottawa Peace Festival and ClimateFast activities. We were blessed to have the company of fellow climate faster Joseph Boutilier, (unityfortheclimate.ca) the brave young man from Victoria, B.C. who unicycled all the way to Ottawa to raise awareness of the need for personal and political action on the climate. Another wonderful young transgender anarchist from Montreal, Atshak Kanimischt, also joined the ClimateFasters this year. She preached a gentle message of diversity and fluidity of body, mind and heart. She also promised to bring more young people to next year's Climatefast.

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, fasted in solidarity with us and brought along her fellow Green MP, Bruce Hyer, to address the crowd on the benefits of Citizens' Climate Lobby's (CCL) proposed carbon pollution fee, called 'carbon fee and dividend'. NDP Matthew Kelway also urged us to sign a petition in support of his Private Member's Bill on the re-introduction of the 'Climate Change Accountability Act'. Liberal John McKay also spoke of the urgent need to act on climate but with an election coming up in 2015, the Liberal Party has yet to issue a party platform on pricing carbon, perhaps well aware of the fact that one of their own, Stephane Dion, was roundly trounced for his proposed 'ecotax' during the last election. 

If 'political will' is lacking in our national, provincial and local governments to start transitioning  to a green economy, then it is up to us, the citizens of Canada, to do our part and create the political and physical environment to act for a secure and liveable future. Luckily, we are seeing moves in that direction from many quarters. NDP MP, Peggy Nash, commended the Climate Fast activists on the Hill to the House and as a result, Peter Julian, Official Opposition House Leader, invited us to last Friday's National Forum on Clean Energy and Industry. The forum brought together MPs, NGOs, the Canadian public and experts on renewable energies, energy efficiency, sustainable industries and urban centres as well as European experts on international models of energy already in use. Not only was this a perfect way to end our week on the Hill, but we also managed to get four more MPs, both Liberals and NDPs, (and another one since) bringing our total to 123 MPs, who have signed the pledge.          We even found a few sympathetic Conservatives,but,much like the few remaining environmental scientists working for the federal government, they too are muzzled or 'whipped' into silence from above.

It would seem that a healthy democracy depends very much on a healthy work 'environment' in all senses of the word. 
A final word of thanks goes to Ottawa First and all the congregations who took park in ClimateFast's letter writing campaign around the first of October - our ongoing monthly campaign to not only fast (food or carbon) on the first of the month (fastfortheclimate.org) but to write or meet with our elected MPs. Make sure to c.c. the Minister of the Environment,              Peter Kent, and the Opposition Critics and Leaders. We are still waiting for the Hon.Thomas Mulcair and the Hon. Justin Trudeau to sign the pledge. Perhaps you could encourage them to follow the lead from their own caucus members. Speaking of pledge, have you signed the individual or group pledge yet? 

You will find the latest sample letter and October newsletter online at www.climatefast.ca .

2015 will be a watershed year, a major turning point, not only because of the upcoming federal election but also for the world at large.   Ban Ki-Moon, the current Secretary-General of the United Nations, pointed out at the People's March for the Climate, that the 21st U.N. Climate Change Summit, taking place in Paris at the end of next November, has, as its objective, the first binding, Universal Agreement on Climate - an ambitious but necessary goal if we are not to exceed the danger point of 2 degree Celsius global mean temperature rise.     In otherwords, we can't afford not to act in order to avoid runaway climate change. The next decade will be decisive for the future of our children and 'the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part'. (7th Unitarian Universalist principle) The 6th source of our faith 'instructs us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature'. The time for a re-set and a re-balancing act is NOW.

In faith,

Margaret Rao
President, Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice

'Standing on the Side of Love & Justice'

Tuesday 26 August 2014

The Spiritual Imperatives of Our Time - Sermon

Opening Our Eyes to the Spiritual Imperatives of Our Time.

I’ve just spent two months trying to recover my health by soaking up the natural world at the cottage.  What a shock to move from that place of retreat to the pace of the city and a conference of about a thousand people of all ages and types—a Social Forum.

The Social Forum is a wide open process.  Anyone who thinks they have something important to offer schedules a workshop and is given a room.  People go to talk about the issues they think matter.  It’s a very dynamic, creative process.  Then people organize around the themes to create a consensus statement on issues like inequality, democracy, climate change, oppression, and so on.  We try to capture the vision of where we want to go, and build the relationships that will help us to get there.

When you read the program, it is hard not to feel despair.  We have so many pressing problems.  It is clear just from the workshop titles:  Native women – 40 years of struggle;, Resource exploitation and land grab in Afrika, The dismantling of citizenship; Racism; Climate Change; Water --- You get my point.  How do we find the personal strength to open our eyes and look at all these problems?  How do we find the hope that our actions will make a difference?  How do we find the physical strength and stamina to tackle this enormous set of problems?

At the cottage, we have a gaggle of geese that is just huge since the babies have grown up.  ----and we have a beautiful beach – nice and grassy and sandy—the perfect spot for a gaggle of geese on Eagle Lake to go down to rest at night.  A nice large space where they can all be together, yet spread out and relax.  They love it.  But there are so many of them that after a few days the beach is covered in “you know—doo doo--”  and it is no longer sanitary for our children who will come on the week-end. 

So those of us who are here make an effort to keep them off the beach.  It’s quite a battle.  Actually, I prefer to think of it as a strategic campaign.  We chase them off.  As soon as we turn our backs they come back.  We chase them off again.  They come back.  We chase them again, and this time stay and watch until they finally back off and settle some where else—for a while.  Our wins are invariably short-lived.. 

Nobody wants the geese.  Everyone chases them off when they are there.  But then they go away and the geese come back.  After all, it is their territory!  Who owns the beach?  Us who have paid for it?  Or the geese who have been laying their eggs there and raising their young for thousands of years?   PAUSE

Have you ever seen a wild goose chase?  We all know what a wild goose chase means – you expend a lot of effort for no result.  One day we decided to chase them off the beach with the canoe.  We managed to get them half way down the bay, but then they just ducked into the rocks and weeds to eat and wait.  We waited, and they waited.  Finally we gave in and parked our canoe.  Then, when they came back, our neighbour decided to try with his motorboat.  He took 3 or 4 runs right at the geese.  They would divide and regroup.  They would move closer and closer into shore until they knew the big boat couldn’t follow them.  Lee managed to cut away some young gander, just learning to fly, and chased it right across the lake.  Terrified him.  But ultimately we could do nothing with force.  They would just retreat and come back, just as always.  I noticed the group waited patiently for that young gander to reconnect before they moved on.  I came to see that it was a battle of patience, commitment, and determination.  It was a spiritual battle to see who would ultimately occupy the beach.

This is a wonderful metaphor for the challenges we face.  Whether it is our own First Nations, or the Palestinians, or the Roma, or the aboriginal people in South America and Africa who are defending their land, our Western civilization is challenged to answer this question – who owns the land and what are the rights of people who have lived there for thousands of years?  We Unitarians have joined with other faith groups and social activists to become allies of the First Nations.  When we make this choice, we are siding with the geese. 

What does it mean to side with the geese?  In our case, it means something very fundamental. 

The First Nations told us from the first day Europeans set foot on this continent that we had an improper understanding of our relationship to the land.  No one owns the land.  We share it.  Every person and every animal who lives there has the right to what it needs to sustain itself – food, a place to sleep.  Us cottagers have a right to use the beach and to clean up after ourselves.  But it really belongs to the geese.  They have a right to use it, and if we have to clean up after them to make it safe, so be it.  Do it cheerfully and thank the geese for lending you their beach for awhile.  We have to reexamine total ownership and control --over land, over ideas, DNA, seeds -- the air, the water etc. We have to reexamine ownership as a fundamental building block of our society.  We have to change the model to one of sharing, respect for others, and meaningful consultation.

But this raises some very fundamental questions. 

Human civilization has been developing its ability for human beings to join together in larger groups for thousands of years.  We look back at achievements like the Great Wall of China and the Egyptian pyramids and we are amazed at their ability to raise and control armies of workers to do these things by manual effort alone.  Every army in history developed new ways to motivate, coordinate, and control people so they would work together on the task.  Our businesses have been designing and developing many different techniques to manage and control workers, mostly using power over and fear, but occasionally allowing for creativity and internally motivated people.  They have become so good at it they control workers who are producing the equivalent GDP to that of many countries.   The people at the top call the shots and get the benefits, while the people at the bottom do what they are told.

We celebrate the first moves towards democracy in Athens at the time of Plato.  We study the milestones in the development of democracy from the Magna Carta, the French revolution, and the Declaration of Independence.   (I learned, yesterday, that Washington and Jefferson were taught the ideas in that great document by the six nations, whom we call the Mohawk or the Iroquois, who had been practicing democracy for hundreds or even thousands of years.)  In it it states:

 “ ---that human rights are endowed by nature of man’s creation and are inalienable. They don’t derive as a decree from force, nor are they granted by any transitory ruler.  Democracy recognizes the divine right of the ruled, rather than the ruler.  It isn’t a right by virtue of title, wealth, or military superiority, but instead is a profound statement of the essence of man’s nature, defining principles intrinsic to human life itself:  liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

In Canada we have been proud to be part of one of the most democratic countries in the world.  But now, it feels like we are in a time of democratic decline.  Many of our democratic institutions are under attack.  The fall of the Berlin wall and the Arab Spring gave us great hope for democracy in developing countries but it has proved difficult to make it work.  Governments are signing away their sovereignty and their power to make change in free trade agreements.  We can imagine a future where we will be ruled by these autocratic supercorporations. 

We wonder.  Will we continue to grow and develop the democratic processes for people to work together?  Or will we lose our knowledge and skill in this area as the world becomes more and more totalitarian?  This is especially problematic because of the potential for chaos with escalating climate catastrophes, burgeoning population growth and fierce competition for resources like oil and water.

How do we maintain, develop, and grow democratic practices?  How do we build a society where freedom, liberty, equality, and respect for the earth and all life are the core values of human society? 

In his book, Power vs Force, David R. Hawkins talks about the different energy levels involved in solving problems through the use of force or through the use of power.  Force involves the imposition of negative energies, often motivated by greed, fear, anger, or hatred.  Power comes from your own natural positive energies, often motivated by vision, courage, hope, compassion, and love.  The books and documents that generated the most good for society over the long haul came from such positive motivating forces – the Bible, the Dhamapada, the Quran, the US Bill of Rights.  How many centuries have we been inspired by the sermon on the mount or the Buddha’s vision of escape from suffering?  How many people have dreamed of freedom because of this statement from the Bill of Rights?

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness

We gather together at the social forum to defend, and ultimately to embody, this vision and these values, values we fear are under threat.   In the face of wealth, power and the blatant use of force, —how can we influence society in the direction we want:
·      Toward greater equality
·      Toward a sustainable and respectful relationship with the earth
·      Toward meaningful consultation and shared decision-making

I would like to propose that we take some lessons from the geese on how to deal with the blatant use of force:   
·      First, geese just go about their business every day doing what they need to do to live.  They are meeting their basic needs – being themselves.
·      They stay focused on the goal – to spend the night on that particular beach.  They are not easily distracted with other possibilities.
·      They are patient and persistent.  They just keep doing what they want to do.
·      When someone pushes them away, they wait awhile and come back, often grazing for food while they wait on the sidelines.  Might as well replenish your energy.
·      If they are attacked, they retreat – just as far as they have to, no further.  They take evasive action.  They take time to regroup and collect themselves.
·      They are patient, committed, determined and persistent.
·      If necessary, they use a fallback position and live to fight another day.
·      It is ultimately a non-violent battle of wills and effort.

This is why I so much enjoyed reading “What Then Shall We Do” by Alperovitz.  His idea that we don’t have to wait to use our powers to create the society we want appeals to me.  We can develop the seeds for the democratization of wealth by simply exercising our power and meeting our needs.  We can do it by participating in voluntary associations of like-minded others and we can practice democratic decision-making as we do so.  We can build new democratic institutions by forming coops instead of looking for a job with a corporation.  We can push our cities to empower themselves and us.  We can invite others to join us.  To make democracy work we have to be skilled at building consensus among people who don’t always agree.  No society, no matter how totalitarian it appears, is a monolith.  There are always different viewpoints that have to be resolved somehow in order to move forward.  The more we practice, the better we’ll get.

The democratization strategies that Alperovitz presents are the equivalent of being yourself, building your strength, having a clear goal and going for it.  You have to know who you are and what core values you support.  It requires patience, persistence, commitment, and determination.  To make democracy work you have to be committed. 

If attacked, take evasive action and go back to work doing what you do.  Find new ways to do it.  Rebuild your energy during waiting periods, taking the time to take care of your physical and spiritual needs.  What level of energy are you operating from?  Hope or despair?  Love or hate?  Compassion or vengeance?  Take the time you need to lift your spirits. 

If you have to retreat, retreat only as far as necessary.  Hold on to your courage, your commitment, your reason for being who you are.  Operate from as high an energy level as you can sustain.  If you let your courage fail and your hope falter, then you fall into despair, hatred, anger, and potentially violence.  You may get a short term victory with violence, but in the end, you will be defeated.  Low energy levels are not productive.  The Israeli occupation is a good example.  It is entirely negative.  It produces short-term security but no solutions.  It will take a very different kind of energy based on radical empathy and compassion to build a future of peace and justice in the Middle East.

If necessary, take the time to organize or show up for a protest, or put yourself on the line against something you really oppose.  We must resist bad directions.  But remember: keep building the future.  It will take creativity, vision and a lot of persistence to build the institutions that will eventually replace corporate capitalism;  economic structures that will allow us to live in peace and justice with the earth and with each other.  And one day, when we least expect it, the old ways will take a step back, and the new will emerge—because we had the courage to dream and make it real.

So may it be.

All Our Relations

The Spiritual Imperatives of Our Time - Reading

Opening Our Eyes to the Spiritual Imperatives of Our Time -- Reading

James Luther Adams

“The institutional ingredient [for true democracy] is the right of free association – the freedom to form or belong to voluntary associations that can bring about innovation or criticism in the society.  It is a fragile freedom, often under attack because it represents a dynamic force for change.  It brings about differentiation in the community, a separation of powers. “Voluntaryism . . . refers to a principal way in which the individual through association with others gets a piece of the action. It involves an exercise of power through organization.  It is the means by which the individual participates in the process of making social decisions.  This process, particularly when it affects public policy, requires struggle, for in some fashion it generally entails a reshaping and perhaps even a redistribution of power.”

He goes on to point out that voluntary organizations are a messy business.  Paying for a place to meet, developing leadership and being able to motivate your volunteers, and getting access to the media to get your message out are on-going challenges.  Thousands of different voluntary organizations are doing this, hoping to influence the direction of society.  We hope that the government is listening and will represent the public good and the public consensus, because the state possesses the ultimate authority and power to decide.  “In this congeries of associations we see the dispersion of power and group creativity characteristic in principle of a pluralistic democratic society.”p58  (Will someone tell Mr. Harper?)

Jane Mansbridge (president of the American Political Science Assoc. and Harvard Professor) writes: “People are most likely to come to understand their real interests in a small democracy, like a town or a workplace, where members make a conscious effort to choose democratic procedures appropriate to the various issues that arise.”

John Stuart Mill:  We do not learn to read and write, to ride or swim, by being merely told how to do it, but by doing it, so it is only by practicing popular government on a limited scale, that the people will ever learn how to exercise it on a larger.”


In his book, What Then Must We Do?  Democratizing wealth and building a community sustaining economy from the ground up, Par Alperobitz proposes it is time for us to imagine the alternative to corporate capitalism as a way to organize the economic structure of society.  As the Occupy Movement clearly demonstrated, corporate capitalism is not working for the vast majority of people.  It has not demonstrated the capacity to address the imperatives of our time:  climate change; world poverty; the need for economic institutions that are not required to grow; democracy and peace; Justice and freedom.  But how do we initiate a true transformation of society, and how do we muster the political will to make this change?

P139 “The modern civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the gay rights movement, [the fall of the Berlin wall, the Arab Spring,] even the modern conservative movement . . . all rose to major power without benefit of pundit prediction.  Indeed, the success of all these movements was quite contrary to the conventional wisdom at the time, which held that nothing serious could change.”  Many happened after years of hard struggle by people with vision who may not have seen the changes in their own lives.

Alperovitz’s  says we are in such a time of change now.  The changes are brewing, percolating, emerging.  His vision is for a democratization of wealth. 

He sees us “Slowly building an alternative basis of the economy in local communities and states through democratization strategies.” – Don’t wait.  Let the seeds of the future be sown in the ground of the present.

Across North America a checkerboard of municipal and state possibilities – are already emerging, demonstrating the potential democratization of wealth.  When the traditional strategies of job creation through tax incentives and infrastructure gifts didn’t work, city after city across the United States has begun to invent new strategies: public utilities, land trusts, private public joint ownership, community development corporations, and outright public ownership of retail and commercial enterprises—even public banks.  Meanwhile innovative workers are initiating worker ownership and control through pension plans, cooperatives, and other means, and farmers and consumers are building the local food movement.

This “possibility of a certain longer-term evolutionary institution-building and institution-shifting strategy—[is] not for the faint of heart or for the short-term, instant-gratification folks among us.”  He calls the process of “building institutions, workplaces and cultures concerned with democratizing wealth evolutionary reconstruction.”


Frances Deverell:  While it is too often necessary to stand up and be counted, whether it be against injustice in Palestine or with our own First Nations, or against building our future on an expansion of the tar sands, it is spiritually draining to be constantly on the defensive, standing up to stop what we don’t want.  It is far more empowering to outline the future you most want to see, and to start building it – step by step.