Policy is people, People is policy

I've been going over one of the standard ecological economics texts throughout the past week and have been contemplating a concept that helps to explain 'why' politics are the way they currently are.

For summary purposes, here in Alberta, the political landscape, much like the current condition blanketing the Capital region, seems saturated with a rotten, blinding smog. With internal re-shufflings and entropic disintegrations plaguing the incumbent Progressive Conservatives, the rise in popularity of an ill-defined band of not-progressive conservatives, and the capitulation to corporatism by the provincial Liberals – the public sphere is none too enlightened with a genuine critical conversation and it shows in the policies that appear to be securing a future of not-so-soft collapse.

In the chapter on Ends, Means, and Policy in Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications (Island Press, 2004), the authors suggest this most poignant of observations:

The level of policy in a democracy cannot rise above the average level of understanding of the population. In a democracy, the distribution of knowledge is as important as the distribution of wealth.

Immediately in reading these words, I am reminded how what we see as corruption, pettiness, and self-serving manipulation within the world of politics are merely tangential reflections of the immaturity and attachments of the average citizen. The social impropriety surrounding deep critiques of public figures, institutions, and trends reflects the average citizen's unwillingness to confront static patterns. This in turn prevents policy from being designed as an orderly adaptation to the multi-dimensional crisis we are faced with. Bluntly: the distribution of knowledge is restricted and power-dominated because the humans who are the carriers of knowledge behave in close-minded and ego-oriented ways. What we think about in our day-to-day consciousness, how we carry ourselves in relation to the community of Life, and our attempts (or lack thereof) to optimize and deepen our lens of realty – all determine the level of policy which directs our common trajectory.

In my experience, it is difficult for the domesticated primate's identity construct to consider notions and paradigms which delineate fundamental flaws within its exhibited beliefs and behaviours. Who we think we are and what we think we are here to do is the result of a complex web of notions and proclivities with strands in our deep past. To trace the impulses and properties of our consciousness throughout its evolution to that of our current level of understanding is a daunting task. To go further than we are today is to further question, integrate, and transcend that which has come before. When taken in this context, it is no wonder that to those whom vie for public office or hold positions of important decision-making do not recognize many material, immediate benefits in confronting the root causes of ecological, economic, and cultural crisis.

It seems that there are two identifiable blockages that must be overcome. First, to question the validity of the consensual reality tunnel is to throw the doors of one's mindscape open to large, complex forces that seem foreign and threatening to the preservation of the 'known' and 'desired'. Secondly, when a certain individual voices their concern at the need for a systemic purging and reboot of the operating system of our civilization, they are promptly attacked by the immune cells of business as usual. What then, does it take to remove such blockages? How do we cease adhering to the expected myopia and instead, increase, the 'average level of understanding of the population'?

Well, there are, at least, as many ways out of ignorance as there ways into it. Primarily though, if we as individuals and social groups but choose to turn the lens of observation in the direction of that which we find most disconcerting, we will gradually come to hypothesize and experiment with appropriate responses to our individual and collective problems (intractable though some may be). It is this theme that I hope to explore in my next post while using the concepts of peak oil and ecological debt to reflect on the proper place of humanity in this evolving worldspace.

Response to Reboot Alberta's "What is a Progressive?"

To be a progressive is a time and place sensitive thing; to know it is to be relational and relative to the uniqueness of what is called for in this moment of history. That said, there seem to be certain characteristics which generally differentiate the progressive from the static and the regressive.

The contributions on the topic of "What is a Progressive?" on Reboot Alberta whom have preceded this one have done a good job of relaying some of the 'universals' of a progressive and some particular suggestions regarding different changes to items of governance. Paula Kirman's observations about progressives' differentiating between people and the institutions/special interests that have taken a central role in the today's socio-political balance of power (corporations), is crucial. Likewise, the succinct, clear delineations of Jonathan Teghtmeyer and Sue Huff's articulate exemplifications of how progressives tend to be and act awake towards possibilities, help to generalize what we can strive for as a growing movement.

What follows is my attempt at merging such general qualities with some specific approaches to ecological, economic, and cultural challenges we are faced with as individuals and as a society beginning to experience what history will probably come to see as the collapse of an age and the transition to another.

Here we go...

To be a progressive is to question the validity of society's current terms and trajectories of "progress" and act in consideration of a truer, more integral realization of who and what we are, as individuals and as collectives.

The Progressive:

- turns conventional wisdom up-side down by not taking for granted the means and modes of the dominant paradigm: by consistently questioning the fundamental approaches, institutions, and operational procedures of power, the progressive is free to re-imagine, re-define, re-boot what progress should mean in one's present time-space. For our current situation, this may entail viewing and meeting critically the notions that we are separate from nature and must be material managers at the apex of a phenomenological pyramid. Economic growth as progress indicator, industrial civilization as the 'end of history', technological innovation as panacea – these cherished ideas and a host more are agreements of a consensual reality tunnel which must be examined more thoroughly so that creative responses to their lackings/demise may be brought about.

- seeks the objective; the tao; the design of the kosmos; and, in adhering to the limits of natural process, works to mimic the patterns which have made the biological evolution of life on earth so productive, diverse, and resilient.

- observes tendencies within our shared past and emerging present that hint at the path ahead and is willing to let go of limiting logic, maladaptive organizational methods, and technological 'advancements' which result in seen and unseen externalities.

- practices and refines psycho-spiritual and inter-subjective development techniques so as to remain balanced in the face of excess, ruthlessly truthful when comfortable lies abound, and openly inviting of constructive criticism and alteration within their own continuum of belief and behaviour.

- acknowledges that social change - the succession within the ecosystem that is human civilization - occurs over many generations and that patient experimentation, precautionary planning, and dynamic systems adjustments will create a probability landscape which favours individual and community stability whilst allowing for responsible choices to emergent trends.

- permits possibilities that are, as yet, blurry or entirely undefined to play important roles in the political theatre of today and tomorrow. Likewise, those tendencies which represent danger to the status-quo are not labelled outright as fallacious conspiracies nor is the attempt to avoid them made; contradictions to 'business-as-usual' and portents of crisis are consciously integrated into the deliberations of the active body politic and responded to with equal parts courage and disinterest.

- strives to put the occurrence and happenings of the individual, community, nation, species, and biosphere into an evolutionary cosmology and worldview. In so doing the errors of anthropocentric pursuit, societal manifest destiny, and the hubris of mistaken significance within a progressive's actions and policies may be avoided.

- never forgets or diminishes their capacity to facilitate change as a self-aware, linguistically-inclined social animal. Where others will become stuck in the vortex of social depression, political apathy or the stagnancy of ideological certitude, the progressive remains strong in their capacity to flex their will dynamically. To aim context-rich, precise arguments for intelligent alternatives at the weak-points of entrenched interests and to confront the purveyors of wasteful static patterns through provisions of wise and enriching sacrifice, the progressive allows the reality of tomorrow to make itself through the focused attention of today.

A beginning

So this is a beginning of sorts. Inspired by the writings of a few stalwart thinkers - primarily Ran Prieur, John Michael Greer, and Jeff Vail - and the emergence of an interesting online gathering of progressives here in the Canadian province of Alberta, I have decided to put down some blog roots.

May they go deep and bring to the surface that which is of dynamic quality.