[WEC-All] Fwd: Acting on climate from ground up, SPI, 20071221

[Mark Robinowitz]

Elitist, self-selected cliques that are not welcoming are merely  
illusions to pretend these crises are being addressed.

"Stakeholder" is a term that refers to an employee of a casino (who  
holds the "stakes" of bettors), it is not an accurate synonym for  
"citizen."



Begin forwarded message:

From: Tim Hermach <zerocut1 at forestcouncil.org>
Date: December 21, 2007 8:17 AM : Dec 21
To: StumpsDon'tLie <Stumps at lists.forestcouncil.org>
Subject: [Stumps] Acting on climate from ground up, SPI, 20071221

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/344392_climatedialogue21.html

Acting on climate from ground up
Last updated December 20, 2007 4:32 p.m. PT

By PAUL MITCHELL
GUEST COLUMNIST

Isn't it odd?

My friend said, the other day, "I'm too busy to save the world. But I  
hope someone else does."

Isn't it odd that (if you believe the scientists) we're on the verge  
of fundamentally disrupting the climate patterns of our planet, and  
yet no one has called us? Our phones are not ringing off the hook.

Renowned venture capitalist John Doerr says, "I'm scared. I don't  
think we're going to make it."

Isn't it extremely odd that we're not meeting every night, that  
neighborhoods are not organizing by block, that the bells atop town  
halls are not clanging, that our elected leaders have not called us  
into special emergency sessions to plan a mobilization? If you believe  
the scientists, as I do, this silence is so odd, so ridiculously  
absurd, that it must mean we are finally coming face to face with some  
profound blind spot.

The fact is, we don't know how to govern the commons. Our governance  
model is broken. We convene "stakeholder processes," and try to  
squeeze compromise out of those with the most hardened, vested  
interests -- a recipe for frustration and inaction, not for  
discovering what is in the public interest. We are failing to protect  
the common wealth that underlies our prosperity.

According to 12 of our top generals, climate change poses a serious  
national security threat, acts as a threat multiplier for instability  
and could "create sustained natural and humanitarian disasters on a  
scale far beyond those we see today." Yet adequate national climate  
legislation is still far off. What is it going to finally take for us  
to rise to this challenge and seize the "insurmountable opportunities"  
that are pooling up around our ankles?

Perhaps it's going to take the greatest innovation of them all, even  
greater than cheap solar panels, cellulosic ethanol, and transgenic  
cows that don't eructate. It's going to take innovations in democracy  
that let the voice of the public good rise above the clamor of special  
interests.

We know what these innovations look like -- they've been tried and  
tested around the world for decades. They are citizen juries and  
citizen assemblies: well-facilitated processes where a cross-section  
of the public engages an issue with deep learning, dialogue and  
deliberation. Like a jury in a criminal trial, these groups hear  
evidence and ask questions, and out of a rich diversity of  
perspectives come to common sense conclusions that put the public  
interest first.

It's obvious now that only citizen participation on a large scale is  
going to make bold climate action politically possible. But will we do  
it in time? You can join us in getting this started. The Greater  
Seattle Climate Dialogues is a grassroots, science-based process that  
aims to bring the whole community into this crucial conversation. Find  
us at www.ClimateDialogues.org.

Phil Mitchell is the director of the Greater Seattle Climate Dialogues  
and the founder of 2People.org, an online citizens network for climate  
action.

© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

-- 
Tim Hermach
Native Forest Council
PO Box 2190
Eugene, OR 97402
541.688.2600
541.461.2156 fax

web page: http://www.forestcouncil.org
DEFENDING NATURE, SAVING LIFE
* Using Honest & Fully-Costed Accounting &
* Honest, Uncompromised Education, Advocacy & Litigation,
* Demanding Real Protection for 650 Million Acres of Publicly Owned  
Land, Rivers & Streams
* No More Deals, No More Sellouts, Saving What's Left, Recovering  
What's Been Lost, ZeroCut!


See the evidence at:
http://forestcouncil.org/learn/aerial/index.html

Donate what you can now online or you may call or mail us at the  
address above.
http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=93-0977788

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