A few months ago Raj Patel came into my life via his website and blog. I enjoyed many of his postings about world food production, economics and climate change and subscribed to his blog www.rajpatel.org/blog. I ordered his books, The Value of Nothing and Stuffed and Starved and was surprised and delighted to find that he was attending the Sydney Writer’s Festival where we went to hear him speak. He has an engaging way of bringing diverse streams of thinking to bear upon the many challenges facing us today on the planet and while he doesn’t believe that it will be easy, he articulates some of the solutions that communities are creating to meet the specific challenges of equitable land use, healthy food production, economic sustainability and community involvement in decision making.
It is easy to become disheartened by the sheer enormity of the challenges we collectively face. Whether we look to the environment and the impact of climate change, the oil and methane leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, toxic degradation of farmlands and depletion of forests, the increasing poverty in both less and over developed countries, an economic system still teetering on the edge of collapse, our relentless dependence on fossil fuels and the bandaids used because governments can’t take on a more enlightened approach that actually address the roots of the problems because their tenure is short and driven by corporate interests.
We need a global shift in consciousness to outgrow the ‘me’ culture and focus on a ‘we’ culture that is inclusive of the needs of all people and the environment. A shift to a culture based on respect, integrity and compassion. Raj’s books clearly articulate the challenges and offer some insight into a more sane and sustainable approach to meeting them.

• Posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010
• 3 comments