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On Survival, Survivalists and the New Community Cook-out. Group Interview from the Sustainability Age with Rachel Kaplan, Jan Steinman, Catherine Walker, and Pride Wright by PlanetShifter.com Magazine
On Survival, Survivalists and the New Community Cook-out. Group Interview from the Sustainability Age with Rachel Kaplan, Jan Steinman, Catherine Walker, and Pride Wright by PlanetShifter.com Magazine

"Transition US is definitely NOT a survivalist group!" Raven Grey, Co-founder & President, Transitions US

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Introduction: Jan Steinman, EcoReality.org -

"I think Homo sapiens, although currently the climax species of the entire planet, is an endangered species. We want to work toward the sustainable, long-term survival of humans in harmony with nature.

"Survival" seems to have a "Mad Max" implication, of wide-spread insurrection, rioting, looting, etc. I think humans are just as likely to go out with a whimper, rather than a bang -- "boiling frog" syndrome. I would like to see EcoReality serve as a pool of knowledge and resources that can out-live a long, slow decline as well as a quick, chaotic one. The former is actually much harder to cope with than the latter!

Fear is certainly a bigger enemy than anything tangible that may come down the road. EcoReality is currently at a nexus, a precarious point between giving up our dreams while suffering a huge financial loss and being able to carry on in a way that will serve humanity. That is a fear I constantly battle.

Fear is perhaps the biggest enemy. President Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," and Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides quoted the Bene Gesserit mantra, "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

This is the path I constantly struggle with. At each decision point, I ask myself, "Which choice is furthest from fear? Which choice is driven by fear?" And then I strive to take the fearless path. But it is difficult. Richard Feynman said, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool." The easy path is to fool yourself into making a fearful decision by denying the fear factor in it.

In summary, I think "survival" is not a term I like to use nor to identify with -- if for no other reason, the associations with fear that you cite."

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Survival, survivalist or just plain surviving? Such a can of compost!

We asked folks connected to DailyActs.org who recently did solo interviews for PlanetShifter.com Magazine to dive into this critical subject. Click on their names to read their solo interviews.

(RK) - Rachel Kaplan

(CW) - Catherine Walker

(PW) - Pride Wright

"Our vision is to create a healthy, just and reverent human culture, one act at a time. By providing inspiring sustainability education and media, we empower people to harness the significant impact of simple daily actions rooted in care for people and planet." dailyacts.org/about

1. Is DailyActs.org a "survivalist" group? Why or why not?

RK: "No, absolutely not. DailyActs.org is a group of people who are committed to a positive, generative future. We are not bunkering down with our canned goods and our guns, fearing others. We are reaching out our hands and our hearts to bring the new world into being. I think of survivalists of people who are thinking first of "saving" themselves, and who are not particularly socially generative. Me first and all for me, kind of thinking."

CW: "I do not consider DailyActs.org a survivalist group, as the premise of a survivalist is based on distrust, fear and paranoia. The polarized perspective of 'us vs. them.' Daily Acts' premise is based on trust, inclusiveness, openness and generosity of spirit that inspires empowerment."

PW: "Survival may be a byproduct of the DailyActs.org vision, were it to be implemented on a large scale, but "survivalist" obviously connotes camo and firearms. I haven't seen Tra in camo, so for the moment I'd have to say no."

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2. What intentional or sustainable communities can you suggest as good examples of transitionary community values?

RK: "I think many intentional communities are good examples of transitionary community values. Mariposa Grove in Oakland is a small urban intentional community where people share and conserve resources, help raise one another's children, befriend one another, activate social projects together, etc. All of these are transitionary community values. Co-housing in general reflects transitionary community values, in so far as co-housing communities cut down on resource use in building, sharing of food, chores and tasks of living, growing gardens together, etc... There are other intentional communities of which I am aware that also have transitionary community values--Kayumari (well, now defunct, but still...) was a spiritual community in the Stanislaus forest. Residents were committed to a spiritual path that reflected at the deepest level transitionary values--a renewed earth, and peace with creation.

There are undoubtedly many more, both here in the Bay Area, and around the world. The best way to find them is through the Communities Magazine folks based in the mid-West.

I think living in community is one of the best ways to challenge our ingrained notions of private property, what we think we need as individuals, and the hegemony of the nuclear family (which is a freaking disaster, let's face it)."

CW: "Earthsong Eco-Neighborhood in Waitakere, New Zealand.

PW: "In my experience, Arcata comes pretty close, although I haven't spent much time up there in the last few years. The "voluntary lower middle class" thing has been prevalent up there for a long time. (Lower per capita consumption.) Buying local is a religion. No chains. Purely as an economic construct, it's the closest thing I've seen for a community of that size. Culturally, art (including music) is a participation sport, not a spectator sport. Pedestrian friendly. Tolerant in the extreme. Strong land stewardship ethic. All of the hallmarks."

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3. When we consider survival, it can bring up things like fear for our children and property, media control, isolation, government policies, revolution? What does the term mean to you at DailyActs.org?

RK: "I can't really speak for all of DailyActs.org , but I would say that for myself the idea of "survival" or more specifically, a THREAT to survival doesn't make me feel particularly sanguine. I tend to worry most about my daughter, and what she and her peers will experience as living on planet earth gets ever more sketchy. But that's a story I tell myself, and not a definite reality. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. Maybe the work we are doing now will pave the way for a better way for people to live together.

Many people and creatures on the planet are already in "survival mode." The emergency is already happening. And we already have children and their parents being sacrificed to media control, social isolation, fascist government policies, and in some parts of the world, revolution.

I have more fear about the degeneration of social systems and the continued unwinding of the social code: i.e., i fear the bad behavior of people more than anything. I think we live in a country where people are largely conditioned to have what they want when they want it, are not schooled in compromise or sharing. We are largely bought and sold by the high quality of our material lifestyle. As this slips away, how will people respond? That's my fear."

I am sure that everyone at DailyActs.org would have a different read on this question, so please do not represent this as a DailyActs.org position."

CW: "From my perspective as both a spiritual practitioner and a Daily Acter, the term 'survival' reflects the most rudimentary aspects of living on earth. That human beings require clean water, healthy food and a form of shelter are the most fundamental of corporeal life. A focus on corporeal survival doesn't address the most generative need of all human life ~ that of love-of loving and being loved. The Beatles weren't kidding when they said 'all you need is love.' How far does one's love extend without inner work?

What is the difference between one who loves only himself and his immediate possessions and one whose love extends to all living creatures of the earth and perhaps beyond? The quintessential challenge of our time is not actually about how to survive-it's about how to evolve. Humanity must evolve beyond survival to include all living things that share this planet with us. It is about developing the inner capacity to personally experience that all of nature is alive and therefore alive WITH us. As Colin Tudge of the London School of Economics said, 'If we get food right, everything else we need to do can fall into place. But first, we have to re-think the world.' So, what we're doing at Daily Acts is about Quality of Life for all living beings. It is an evolutionary, generative perspective."

Ref: journeytoforever.org/bflpics/feedingpeople.pdf

PW: "Can't speak for DailyActs.org, but in my opinion, the words "survival" and "survivalist" are ones we should steer clear of. And I say that as someone who believes a Cormac McCarthy-esque future in my lifetime is entirely plausible, if not probable. While fear can be a catalyst for action, and in some cases productive action, the undertones and harmonics are completely counter-productive. We need extreme engagement, not withdrawal."

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4. Is Transition US as "survivalist" group?

RK: "I think Transition US is a realist group, but I imagine there are survivalists in its ranks."

CW: " In that Transition US is involved in more political dances in its work to re-engineer existing systems, there is inevitably some element of survivalism. Transition US is essentially about transforming the way people think and re-envisioning the world through socio-economic localization. Tapping on the edgy vein of peak oil is sure to stir up quite a lot of deeply-rooted survivalist perspectives. That's exactly what it's supposed to do."

PW: "Not in my view."

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5. Don't we all have to experience a transition before the green values can take root?

RK: "No, green values are already taking root. I just almost got hired to write "The Complete Idiots Guide to Urban Homesteading." Green in mainstream. It would be great if people could experience a real transition, like understanding and working for a "new world order" that is based on less resource use and abuse and an understanding of the finitude of the globe. For now, we are stuck with people trying to "keep up with the greens", without necessarily changing their relationship to personal economy, stuff, or their use of time, but it's way better that people continuing to "keep up with the Jones'", just buying shit they don't need and wasting resources right and left."

CW: "Yes. The transition is an inner experience. When one places one's attention on the extended connectivity of an 'aha moment' of let's say, the intrinsic value of eating organically, it is in that moment that one actually begin to evolve beyond the isolation of survival."

PW: "If we're talking about individuals, "awakening" might be the word I would choose in this context. (Hackneyed, I know.) At some point there has to be an examination of some long held assumptions (in our culture) about consumption and its alleged relationship to well-being. We have also become far too comfortable with acquiring at the expense of others. So to me, it's likely to be more of an epiphany than a transition for the individual, and the word "transition" is perhaps more appropriate in a community or institutional context."

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6. Can you give me some current songs or stories that bolster the DailyActs.org path to a better world, beyond survival?

RK: "Here, i am going to give you something I wrote for DailyActs.org a while ago. It's also going to be in my book. It's long."

Bee Haven

My partner Adam is called to the bees, and holds a vision of a beehive in every yard. Spring is the glory time for beekeepers, as one swarm after another races across the sky in search of a new home. Last weekend, Adam was getting the mail when he heard a loud buzzing sound. He looked up and noticed the cloud of bees overhead. He came running, gleefully shouting, "A swarm, a swarm!" We all piled onto the street to watch the bees until they settled on the branch of a Monterey pine across the road. The neighbors who own the tree weren't home so Adam hesitated to start gathering the bees, but another long-time neighbor said, "Go ahead. They won't mind." Adam took out his ladder, his bee veil and brush, and began.

Beekeepers generate interest wherever they go, because of current concern about the plight of the bee and because bees are fascinating creatures. Most of us never get to watch a bee colony in action, but if you do, you'll notice that the bees form an integrated, non-neurotic, cooperative mass. Every bee knows its purpose, and wastes no moment wondering about its career choice, its "soul's code". Compared to bees, we have a lot of problems working together and figuring stuff out. We can look to bees as a great model for rising to our purpose (be it: Worker, Drone or Queen) to get the job done. The bees remind us that each role is important, every task part of the whole.

As Adam methodically moved about his beekeeping tasks, neighbors from up and down the road began clustering like a human swarm. Some were nervous, but most were curious to watch the bees. The air was full of their buzzing, and everyone stepped closer to see them hanging in the early evening twilight. It was dinnertime, and soon a picnic table had been dragged to the edge of the road, a bottle of wine opened and people began to share an impromptu dinner. All the while, Adam's climbing slowly up the ladder and carefully brushing the bees into his swarm box. Eventually, the bees gathered together, Adam came down from his perch, gratefully accepted a glass of wine, and the adventure was complete. After dinner, everyone drifted back home, satisfied and newly connected.

When we answer to the call of the earth, surprising conjunctions of love and possibility happen. A spontaneous conjunction of bees and people came together to bring us a moment of true conviviality and friendship. The bees teach us that we have a purpose, a role, in making what is already sweet-life-even sweeter. Who knows what kind of collective solutions to our current dilemmas we might find as we set ourselves with a good will to the task? All I know for sure is: it's time to find out. Look around your own neighborhood-what can you grow with the people you share it with? Like the bees seeking the right place for their colony, it's time for us to claim our own place. Maybe that means swarming to a new spot where there's room to spread out, but I think it's more likely that it means settling into where you already are and learning to work with your neighbors, your own human swarm."

CW: "Michael Jackson's 'Heal the World'"

PW: "The song that's running through my head in association with these questions and images is CSN's Wooden Ships. I'm old, so it's still current.

Stills: "Say, can I have some of your purple berries?"
Crosby: "Yes, I've been eating them for six or seven weeks now."
Stills: "Probably keep us both alive......"

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7. Localization is all about surviving - and then redefining social principles and tools to a better space. Yes?

RK: "Localization, at least at present, is more about thriving than surviving. I think of localization really in terms of reclaiming the means of production which has been stolen by corporate America, so I have a bit of a Marxist take on it--we have to reclaim the means of production or we will continue to be bludgeoned by corporations that do not hold values you can live with. I think the process of localization holds within it the redefinition of social principles, as well as the evolution of physical, personal, emotional and communal tools we will need to live a local life.

Keep in mind that many people involved in the transition movement are comfortably well off, and are making changes because they can and because they feel a sense of urgency about the world situation. This is different than survivalism, where people change because they literally, materially, MUST."

CW: "Actually, the truth is that localization is a reflection of self-reorganization-which is activated by an inner recognition of a better way for all life forms. The cocoon the butterfly emerges from is a place of self-reorganization. It creates the perfect environment for the caterpillar's imaginal cells to morph into the butterfly. Without these imaginal cells being activated, the caterpillar would not transform into the butterfly-an entirely new life form whose purpose is to pollinate. In pollinating, the fructification of the future of food is established.

Self-reorganization has the potential to transform the individual to a higher state of consciousness. It actually depends on what one imagines; in other words, what one would like to see be."

PW: "I would contend "surviving" is at the very least a strand, if not a stated goal, in all social, cultural and political movements. I might substitute "rediscovering relationships" for "redefining social principles". I'm not sure what a "social tool" would be! Is that like a Facebook thing? So I'm still resistant to the "survivalist" imagery, but I know what you're getting at, and I'm in general agreement."

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"Permaculture teaches us that all is transition, and that stability is an illusion. So I guess any place worth its salt is "transitionary." I certainly plan to be "in transition" as long as I'm breathing! "

Jan Steinman, EcoReality.org


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