I have just listened, and watched bemused by his erudition, to 14 mins of the 51 mins of this video by Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathetic Civilisation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-7BjeHepbA&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs   or the less detailed RSA animated version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g

AGENDA 4^th FEBRUARY.

(a) 4^th Feb CHARTER – understanding the source of the changes this month – part of our incremental progress

(b) Crowdfunding –  IT and email systems, Web Site Content Editors, Legal, Launch Deficit

(c) Web Site – date to go online

(d) Update to Communications Strategy Map

(e) Update to Manifesto and Glossary

(f) Email marketing – range of efforts

(g) Report of Café Society Camden and other developments

(h) www.EquilibriumState.org – exploring collaboration

(i) Scott Bader lecture on Trusteeship March 11^th

(j) Responses to letters – Rowan Williams, etc.

“The move from seeing ourselves as separate beings placed on earth (“the world is made for us”) to seeing ourselves as self-reflective expressions of Earth (“we were made for the world”) is an immense transformation in human identity. ”  Discuss in light of Alan Rayner’s work in this field.

Please add your comments on the issues and actions we appraise each week.

 Discussion is determined by those present. We are concentrating at this time on systemic change and the enabling contribution we are making in a bold bid to ‘a noble mission to make the earth ‘ a common treasury for us all’. NOTE various contributions from associates below.

The 2015 Constitutionalists Charter is an incremental, imperfect process of evolving a People’s Political Economy of Trusteeship for the Earth. It must dominate our thought and action in the next few months. Please take time to follow this practical initiative, participating in what ever ways you can. Our achievement won’t be dramatic by, May but we are gathering a large number of people and learning many lessons as we proceed. You will receive by a separate email the rich range of material we are putting together around the 2015 Constitutionalists Charter.

Available now are 43 accumulated reports and papers  aiding us in the communication of this initiative and all it implies for a new involvement by people in a far healthier application of a political economy of global housekeeping. Our London Global Table is a vital enabling partner in this ‘principled pragmatic’ initiative focused first on the Election in May 2015 – now but five months away. The Manifesto is available in its latest draft.

 

NOTES FROM OUR ASSOCIATES

Change:HOW? 2015 is just under two weeks away!  Sunday Feb 8 at Islington
The buzz is building, the choir of 100 action heroes is forming!  The logistics are crunching, the event is shaping up! Anyone able to go – please report/////

The Politics of Stupidity : https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/politics-of-economic-stupidity-by-joseph-e–stiglitz-2015-01

– At an international level, in late 2014 the WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES published The Economy of Life: An Invitation to Theological Reflection and Action, a thought-provoking paper setting the challenges facing today’s world in the context of God’s justice and what it means to be baptised – see http://ekklesia.co.uk/node/21116  SOMEONE TO READ AND REPORT PLEASE!!

– On Rock or Sand?, a book edited by Archbishop of York John Sentamu and published by SPCK in January 2015 (http://www.archbishopofyork.org/articles.php/3202/archbishops-book-on-rock-or-sand), has also caused a stir (see e.g. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/15/uk-economy-tale-two-cities-archbishops, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2912573/Fury-bishops-say-cuts-mean-poor-cast-aside-Cameron-angry-MPs-attack-church-s-two-senior-figures.html). He has called for ‘a just, sustainable and compassionate society in which we can all participate and flourish’, and the slaying of the giant of ‘income inequality – where some few have far too much and the many have too little’. Contributors include Andrew Sentance, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, Julia Unwin, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and Justin Welby.

Dahr Jamail | Mourning Our Planet: Climate Scientists Share Their Grieving Process : Dahr Jamail, Truthout: Can you relate to the grieving process as it relates to climate change? If so, you might find solace in the fact that you are not alone: Climate science researchers, scientists, journalists and activists have all been struggling with grief around what we are witnessing.

Eighty People Control Half of the World’s Wealth and All of the Elected Officials Crystal Shepeard, Care2: Global poverty has continued to rise and it’s only going to get worse. Oxfam has predicted that if we do nothing, the wealthiest 1% of the world will control the same amount of wealth as the other 99% combined do.

Co-operative Commonwealth: Decommodifying Land and Money, Part 1 Today we present the first of 3 parts from Co-operative Commonwealth: De-commodifying Land and Money a paper prepared by Pat Conaty for the 13th International Karl Polanyi Conference at Concordia University, Montreal on 6-8 November 2014. Pat is research associate of Co-operatives …

PLEASE revisit the questions below. Only 25 of our 195 associates have replied. Yet this is the most promising indication of our collaborative potential in all the 18 years of our existence. If all recipients reply, we will have a significant understanding of the way forward. If you feel insufficiently informed of the project to answer, then let me know and I will send the introductory Package.