Television – the opiate of the masses

I read somewhere recently that the average American watches four hours of television every day.

Four hours!

Like them or not, the singer Rihanna and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. both have videos on YouTube.

One of Rihanna’s songs about not stopping the music has over 87 million views.

87 million!

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s speech at Berkeley about the exploitation of our environment, our own backyards here in the States, just over 2 thousand views.

2 thousand……

I like Rihanna’s music; I am one of the 87 million.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argues in his 2,000 viewed Berkeley presentation that in America we are a culture of entertainment not education.

Are we being sedated? Is television and the Internet the opiate of the masses?

Kennedy’s speech while it is a bit dated now that the administration in Washington has changed, still provides a checklist for what the new administration has to undo.

More importantly, it describes an important link between the environment and democracy.

It provokes thought about land rights, the environment and corporations.

To be sure, if you search the internet you’ll find some incriminating information about Robert Kennedy Jr. But it is the message not the messenger that’s truly important.

His message: We are not only losing our environment but also our democracy. The very freedom that America has represented is being comodified by exploitative corporate-government alliances in the pursuit of corporate profit.

Have a look. The information is entertaining, in a reality TV learning kind of way.

Join me and the other 2,000!

EJ Wensing

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

Earth Day Reflections

My first recollection of Earth Day was back a few years when I saw the B52’s play their song “Planet Z” as musical guests on Saturday Night Live.

I remember the lyrics. Mostly about environmental damage and political miltarianism.

But that negative, while real, is something I don’t want to think about on Earth Day.

This Earth Day 2009 my thoughts are on connectionism.

How we are all connected. To each other, and to the Earth.

We are all part of nature, and we all have a stake in making or keeping nature sustainable.

Not so much as stewards, but more as responsible people, as responsible citizens of the Earth.

This Earth Day I encourage everyone to feel connected to Earth.

Breathe in her air, bask in her profound beauty, take off your shoes and socks to feel the Earth beneath your feet.

Then look at the people around you. They too are part of the Earth.

Happy Earth Day 2009.

Do something different today, something new, for the Earth.

EJ Wensing

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

Some Thoughts On Changing Behaviors Toward Sustainability

Does awareness change behavior? Not always.

Does education change behavior? Not always.

Does identity predict behavior? Yes.

That is why at Ecosphere Net we are looking to change behavior and attitudes toward sustainability through the transformation of identity.

Changing identity is achieved through the process of education called learning. 

Yes, education and learning are distinct processes. 

Learning is the experience of education. Education is about knowledge. 

For all our knowledge we are not co-creating a sustainable future.

We have to add learning through experience.  

Experience helps form and transform identity.

Experience is the teacher. This is also called action learning.

It can be used to change individual identity and corporate identity.

Change those identities more toward an identification in global sustainability and we take a big step toward a sustainable future.

EJ Wensing

US Virgin Islands

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

April 22nd Earth Day 2009

 

Next week on April 22^nd is Earth Day. That's Wednesday.

Please click here to access the Earth Day website.

EJ Wensing

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

The Human Potential

It has always been my interpretation that each one of us contains something very special.

Something very important.

It may not be expressed the same as the next person, but it’s there.

Maybe we can call it “Our Humanity”.

It’s what Abraham Maslow called our human potential.

That spark in each of us, that, given enough oxygen can grow into something truly magnificent.

It is what makes us each individual and connected at the same time.

Separate and connected. Distinct and the same.

My good friend and mentor Fred Abraham once told me that, “Your philosophy is rooted not only in Maslow, but bears some kinship with ideas in the Bhagavad-Gita, for example, Chapter 2, Verse 45:

‘The Veda's concern is with the three modes of nature. Become free from dualities, firmly fixed in purity, free from anxiety for possessions or safety, and be possessed of the Self.’

The I Am connects with the We Are without fear.

In my upcoming book, “We Are Sustainability” I explain this further.

We need to be ok with the I and the We concurrently for global sustainability.

EJ Wensing

ejwensing@ecosphere.net