Redemption

In the spring of 2004, I had the privilege of spending 2 1/2 weeks in South Africa and Bostwana scouting study abroad programs for the college I was working for at the time.

South Africa was a revelation for me. I knew a bit about the history of South Africa as divestment in the apartheid regime was a hot topic as I was graduating high school and entering college. The injustice I read about and saw on television was a psychic link to the battle for Civil Rights in the American South. Here, I was living through what seemed confined to the black and white films of an earlier time. My senior year in high school, Victor, a young black activist from South Africa, came to our high school as part of an international peace program. The police had imprisioned Victor in South Africa and my friends and I spoke late into the night with him about the situation in South Africa and about Bishop Desmond Tutu, who he knew and looked up to as a leader.

So, I knew a bit about South Africa when I got off the plane in Cape Town. What I wasn't prepared for was the spirit of transformation that permeated the country. South Africa is in many ways still a desperate place. Life is still far too cheap. Violence is still far too common. When I was there South Africa had the highest rate of sexual assault in the world. And yet, around every corner it seemed was a country that was consciously trying to re-invent itself, a country trying to find redemption by looking the pain of the past in the eye, by bearing it all.

It's difficult to visit South Africa and not come away hopeful about the capacity of human beings, both as individuals and as a species, to turn a corner. There is a story in today's Los Angeles Times about Amy Biehl, an American student killed by a mob outside Cape Town and how her parents dealt with this tragedy. The story is remarkable and the article doesn't do it justice.

When I was in South Africa I visited the township where this happened. I spent a night there and played checkers with a young girl for over an hour as her family fed me dinner. Outside the smoke of the township was thick and sooty. What the Amy Biehl Foundation represents should never be forgotten -- a courageous and compassionate heart can cut through the smoke and open up the sky.

Time for Direct Action?

During a discussion last month at a gathering of the Clinton Global Initiative, Al Gore called on young people to engage in civil disobedience to stop new coal-fired power plants from being built. Reports indicate that President Clinton, who was moderating the discussion, quickly moved the discussion on to another topic.

I was able to find a partial transcript.

Also of note is Gore's hammering of "clean coal" as an illusion. Joe Biden recently said something similar in a rope line, but was then quickly reigned in by the Obama campaign that is courting votes in coal-producing states, such as Colorado.

I think everyone is holding their breath right now waiting for the election to see which way the energy debate is going to tip. Obama has said that Gore would be a close advisor on climate issues. A recent article in the Durango Herald discussed "clean coal" and its nebulous meaning.

What do you think? Is civil disobedience a good strategy to stop coal-fired power plants? What about China's plans to build numerous power plants to spur their economy? What should young people do? Is there potential for students in the U.S. to work with students in China to stop what Gore called at the Clinton Global Initiative "insanity."

Wither the Global Economy

The financial crisis that's dominated the news this week and the conflicting prescriptions for how to deal with it make one thing clear. No one knows how the global economy works anymore. Sure, some people have some ideas. But no one really knows exactly what to do. The most straightforward explanation of what's going on that I've read comes from Paul Krugman at the New York Times.

But the entire episode highlights what many environmental authors have been saying for some time: the global economy based on cheap energy is extraordinarily fragile. Today folks dismissed as doomsday scenariarios, predicting financial collapse and a return to backyard gardening, seem a lot closer to reality than those extolling the virtues of global cosmopolitan culture. If this last week is the beginning of a true shift in the structure of our economic lives, what will the future hold? What aspects of the global economy will remain in place and which will become distant memories of a bygone era?

There is a great longing for economic security in this country, a security based on a reliable supply of life's necessities. Here in La Plata County, our local food movement is spirited but still far from providing anything close to what we need to survive. The counties and towns that I think will thrive in the future are those with a re-invigorated commons that provide for food production and materials for housing. This is the basic structure that will allow communities to make the most of their natural, social, and financial capital.

What do you think? Should what will be the structure of the economy in the future? How will we define "wealth" and what is responsible action today, at this very moment?