Resist hypocrisy

Young people have been good at recognizing hypocrisy in the previous generation.

I hope they continue to speak up on this because my generation is no different from previous - we have areas where we just PRETEND to be doing the right thing.  And we hate to admit its true -

One area I know this to be true because my wonderful work area no longer functions as a key cutting edge area, is in alleviating stress amongst eco-communities. The thing you should keep in mind if you are an observer ( not closely involved ) is that

1.  -many who live with risk ignore the risk and therefore aren't able to lift themselves OUT of the situations.One reason why farmers round the world need informed friends like YOU 
2. -the age old enemy of patronizing incompetence is increasing --not decreasing because less caring onsite people are out there .Less willing to stop and listen travellers on the Jericho Road  
3. - we need scientists again to go on site and study biodiversity and ecosystem threats in conjunction with industry ( not acting outside of that relationship!) 
4. - instead of tackling the hard jobs ( our job) we have wannabes solving the problems at a political level ( Something that is just quick fix , has popular appeal and gives the impression that they/ we are "doing something about it". 

Do something good ----study resilience science .The need is huge, the opportunity growing, the work rewarding.  Bless you as you strive to be your best!

Here is my original post to a discussion about the money we spend on specific areas of space research.The same could be said about the way we spend our money in Iraq and Afganistan, buy tanks and armaments of war , instead of armaments for peace - resilience capacity builders  I also posted yesterday on this dilemma as it affects Australian farmers in particular here .

Disturbs me deeply that we talk up spending billions to test whether life would survive outside our planet,  when we clearly ignore the lack of resilience amongst the poor in our own.
Point is---we can do something about this ( my work area) but we chose not to .
You see, we can't as a generation say we  care for animals and the earth if we don't care to share the earths enormous resources with each other- similiar mindset required to BE seriuosly effective here. Just remember too that soem careless talk is using false premise about scarcity ( it occurs and provides limits) to justify indifference to the real and proper challenges here.

Think Global , Act Local

Jesus is far more radically effective in teaching, acting and directing  than you might realise by just going to church . Many of his followers, just like Him, find it hard to be part of an institution - a mere formula for action . The respected underground activist radical reformer thinker and academic Jaques Ellul was like that. His radicalness meant he was very careful to summarize Jesus's  answer to the big question of "who should I help? " in a punchy but clear way. Ellul coined the now famous phrase " Think global , act local" which goes to the heart of how holistic community development  has worked throughout history .You can't do better than follow in the steps of those who have walked the Jericho Road before you ! (Matthew 5 is full of promise to those on the road which does not eliminate poverty but lives within it and beyond it  ).
More recently though, some people, think they can do better  ("Think local , act global" ).  I disagree and I have worked all my life in resilience assessment and action . We outta press effectiveness before we succumb to mere efficiency arguments.  We are surrounded with the debt and debris of quick fix and its costing us dearly .
Politics can look powerful, but when its experimental and quickfiz, its on the road to deeper poverty .This experimental technique trap is the disease Ellul identified ( see below) . I'm especially suspicious when political and other activists use OUR money to experiment with intervention ,coercion and incentive when they have never tested the same with their own money . Aid programs are re-known for their predictably reactionary, but politically correct CEO's agendas ( Change Everything Often ? ) This  radical weakness of current aid programs is something Ellul predicted well in his book about the bigger problems our society are now facing in " The technological society".  I won't any labels but you will know both the old and the new ones.  It doesn't take much poor targeting of help to waste the opportunity of aid , as I think the program on Scott Nesson showed last night on Australian Story .  

What do you think? More importantly perhaps , what is your experience?
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/default.htm

Getting AID and SUSTAINABILITY right

Nothing needs more attention by the next generation of ALL  students than the shallow wishy washy politics of aid and support for the rural poor .  Economic development isn't just about prices - its also about the value of things . Some of this misplaced concreteness is just simply ignorance of extremely complex economic and ecological issues and a quick fix attitude to things like war and drug supply.   Sure we've moved on ( hate that phrase really) from the simple days when handouts to disasters was the only form of aid by governments.
Plenty of positives TOO  in complex effective support for sustainability methods too over many generations with the  missions and their multiple focus which helped to educate the young people so they and their parents can physically and mentally help themselves.
But a huge problem is still with us at home - in our attitude to support competent environmental advice .We don't currently support it . It may seem to you that real support is happening but I can tell you key practical  professional resilience work by our oldest conservation agencies has been decimated. Some of this decimation has been in ignorance , but a lot of it is due to ham fisted arrogance and interference in professional matters by politicians .The Fabians and lefties themselves have forgotten their old mentor G B Shaw  who in writing a book on the subject recognised the huge danger from the evil that can origin itself from good intentions only.
Educated agricultural scientists too STILL get dragged in UNsustainable directions.   Our cultures attitude to agriculture as an industry is far too production  orientated  and DPI agencies across the nation are now decades behind in supporting sound sustainability research in many areas. We even export unsustainability because our approach to technology reflects secondary imperatives rather than primary industry ones.     I know this because my profession of applied resilience research has been decimated even in Australia  by patronising and misdirected concerteness in the area of sustainability .Quick fix by the Green parties too has not been  helpful .
Be green , but ONLY LISTEN to professional independents who study before opening their mouths on the subject.  Otherwise ignorance and speculation may be your master.
Unless the 1% of us who work with the 1% (of our countries rural) , 98% of Australians are prone to getting rural support half wrong . The greens movements too will just have a legacy of straw moves unless they support mainstream science and parliament on matters of conservation . ( the job is simply too hard for pollies but they do try  ) If you have any questions please put them here  ( NSW farmers just got their crops downgraded from profitable to broke threatening them in Dec 2011) You can learn more about a resilience career  here .


Footnote AUSTRALIA 2012
Canberra was never fully in touch ( even in 1980) with the professional edge of rural resilience support but ,  in 2011 it is completely lost,  because the profession is lost . No quick fix NOW by the Feds would be welcome as even the regional support mechanisms  for rural areas in our own Country are on the nose around the country ( we have people who run our hospitals and councils and care centres who leave the area at weekends )  Common patraonising responses to disasters also doesn't help us either because we live with drought and floods .
What we can't live with is more quickfix political nonsense to solve OUR problems, more quickfix about free trade and ignorant   directions on ecological imperatives from half educated city ites. Is anyone really listening ? Hope you are-- that would be great . Let us know U are and all the best with your career.