Mother Pelican Vol. 7 No. 10 October 2011

Greetings ... just to let you know about my latest blurb ...

*Mother Pelican: A Journal of Sustainable Human Development*

Theme - *Gender Balance for Solidarity and Sustainability*
http://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv07n10page1.html

Summary

It is proposed that gender balance - deeply internalized, not merely a matter of numbers - will be a source of "new energy" to overcome the masculinist culture of violence and domination. Gender balance can help individuals and nations to start considering both self-interest and the common good. "We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own." Wangari Maathai, Kenya (+ 26 September 2011)

Gender balance at all levels of responsibility and authority can pave the way for a sensible transition from consumerism to sustainability. It can make possible the exploration of new initiatives such as transferring tax burdens from earned income to financial speculation, natural resource usage, and environmental degradation; declaring some form of debt jubilee and/or creating debt-free money by central and regional banks; enhancing distributive justice via a democratically set level of universal guaranteed personal income; balancing globalization with financial and monetary localization via local currencies and/or exchange trading systems; adopting business practices such as the triple bottom line; working out the economic and technological issues that must be resolved in order to migrate from fossil fuels to clean energy; consolidating democracy by firm adherence to the wise principles of solidarity, subsidiarity, and sustainability; and giving top priority to sustainable human development rather than unsustainable resource exploitation and wealth accumulation.

So there is no lack of reasonable ideas about ways to manage the transition, but political will is utterly lacking; and political will cannot possibly emerge as long as masculinist patriarchy remains normative. The transition from consumerism to sustainability has already started, even though it remains invisible for many. But attaining gender balance in human affairs, and the process toward energy balance and ecological sustainability, will reinforce each other in many significant and mutually beneficial ways. Gender balance is the catalyst that will brake the current impasse and get the process going. Since the "patriarchs" will seldom pour the catalyst down from the top, it must gently percolate upwards from the grassroots: individual citizens, families, groups, and local communities.

Articles

Editorial Essay ~ Gender Balance for Solidarity and Sustainability
Five Axioms of Sustainability, by Richard Heinberg
Will economic collapse save us from climate catastrophe?, by Dan Allen
The global prisoners' dilemma of unsustainability, by David Lempert
Population, Consumption, and Reproductive Health, by Victoria Markham
Economic Development Leaving Millions Behind, by Kanya D'Almeida
From King Coal to Carbon Tax, by Paul Sabin
The Masculinity Conspiracy - Part 1, by Joseph Gelfer
Land Rehabilitation in Burkina Faso , by Pauline Buffle and Chris Reij
A Proposal to Hasten a Global Paradigm Shift, by Judith Hand

Supplement 1: Advances in Sustainable Development
Supplement 2: Directory of Sustainable Development Resources
Supplement 3: Strategies for the Transition to Clean Energy
Supplement 4: Tactics for the Transition to Clean Energy
Supplement 5: Status of Gender Equality in Society
Supplement 6: Status of Gender Equality in Religion

Please forward this notice to friends and colleagues who might be interested.

Sincerely,
Luis

Luis T. Guti�rrez, PhD, PE
The Pelican Web of Solidarity and Sustainability
Mother Pelican: A Journal of Sustainable Human Development
http://pelicanweb.org

[Martin Lewitt 2011 Oct 1 0710 MDT]

"creating debt-free money by central and regional banks"

Hey, you guys stole my idea. But what does gender balance have to do with it? What will the cost of the "new energy" from gender balance be? If the solidarity and distributive justice can be democratically "set", can it also be democratically unset, or as in Popper's warning about the "paradox of tolerance", is one "democratic" election allowed to coerce all future options? How is such a coercive system not a "masculinist culture of violence and domination."?

How do you guys make up all these just-so stories, and marxist double speak with a straight face?

-- Martin L

···

On 10/1/2011 8:12 AM, Luis Gutierrez wrote:

Greetings ... just to let you know about my latest blurb ...

*Mother Pelican: A Journal of Sustainable Human Development*

Theme - *Gender Balance for Solidarity and Sustainability*
Mother Pelican ~ A Journal of Sustainable Human Development

Summary

It is proposed that gender balance - deeply internalized, not merely a matter of numbers - will be a source of "new energy" to overcome the masculinist culture of violence and domination. Gender balance can help individuals and nations to start considering both self-interest and the common good. "We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own." Wangari Maathai, Kenya (+ 26 September 2011)

Gender balance at all levels of responsibility and authority can pave the way for a sensible transition from consumerism to sustainability. It can make possible the exploration of new initiatives such as transferring tax burdens from earned income to financial speculation, natural resource usage, and environmental degradation; declaring some form of debt jubilee and/or creating debt-free money by central and regional banks; enhancing distributive justice via a democratically set level of universal guaranteed personal income; balancing globalization with financial and monetary localization via local currencies and/or exchange trading systems; adopting business practices such as the triple bottom line; working out the economic and technological issues that must be resolved in order to migrate from fossil fuels to clean energy; consolidating democracy by firm adherence to the wise principles of solidarity, subsidiarity, and sustainability; and giving top priority to sustainable human development rather than unsustainable resource exploitation and wealth accumulation.

So there is no lack of reasonable ideas about ways to manage the transition, but political will is utterly lacking; and political will cannot possibly emerge as long as masculinist patriarchy remains normative. The transition from consumerism to sustainability has already started, even though it remains invisible for many. But attaining gender balance in human affairs, and the process toward energy balance and ecological sustainability, will reinforce each other in many significant and mutually beneficial ways. Gender balance is the catalyst that will brake the current impasse and get the process going. Since the "patriarchs" will seldom pour the catalyst down from the top, it must gently percolate upwards from the grassroots: individual citizens, families, groups, and local communities.

Articles

Editorial Essay ~ Gender Balance for Solidarity and Sustainability
Five Axioms of Sustainability, by Richard Heinberg
Will economic collapse save us from climate catastrophe?, by Dan Allen
The global prisoners' dilemma of unsustainability, by David Lempert
Population, Consumption, and Reproductive Health, by Victoria Markham
Economic Development Leaving Millions Behind, by Kanya D'Almeida
From King Coal to Carbon Tax, by Paul Sabin
The Masculinity Conspiracy - Part 1, by Joseph Gelfer
Land Rehabilitation in Burkina Faso , by Pauline Buffle and Chris Reij
A Proposal to Hasten a Global Paradigm Shift, by Judith Hand

Supplement 1: Advances in Sustainable Development
Supplement 2: Directory of Sustainable Development Resources
Supplement 3: Strategies for the Transition to Clean Energy
Supplement 4: Tactics for the Transition to Clean Energy
Supplement 5: Status of Gender Equality in Society
Supplement 6: Status of Gender Equality in Religion

Please forward this notice to friends and colleagues who might be interested.

Sincerely,
Luis

Luis T. Guti�rrez, PhD, PE
The Pelican Web of Solidarity and Sustainability
Mother Pelican: A Journal of Sustainable Human Development
http://pelicanweb.org