The Emperor Has No Clothes A Practical Guide for Environmental and Social Transformation

A Practical Guide for Environmental and
Social Transformation

By J.F. Hagen

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Those who speak truth to power.

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Title

Dedication

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: The Creed of Greed

Chapter 2: Tracks

Chapter 3: Humpty Dumpty

Chapter 4: Red Herrings

Chapter 5: Regeneration

Chapter 6: Politics

Conclusion

Resources

References

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I was born in the late nineteen forties.
During my life, many of the most significant challenges that
currently face us have developed. Having first hand recollections
of events also provides a perspective on how, as a society, we have
dealt with change. In American society the central cultural
characteristic is greed. It is the well spring of the economic,
legal and political system. The definitive characteristic of greed
is that, not only do those who strongly embody this characteristic
want to acquire, but also retain that which has been acquired and
to continue acquiring more indefinitely. That is, they, and the
institutions that are their instruments can never be satisfied.
Therefore, our cultural and social systems have been and currently
are extremely resistant to any form of change, particularly
anything relevant to our economic system, because deviation away
from these traits would inaugurate a profound reorganization of the
current social structure. However, it is obvious that the way
conditions are developing within our environment, it will not be
possible for this type of culture to continue. The purpose of
writing this is to examine the most significant cultural, social,
and environmental problems facing us and to offer a few ideas and
strategies that may be useful in developing a more flexible social
system that has the capacity to adapt to emerging conditions. The
characteristics of the new environment appear to be one of greater
variation, rapid change, and depleted resources. Thus, a new social
system should have the capacity to provide a reliable and adequate
means of livelihood, be supportive of its members, and reduce or
eliminate the destructive characteristics that currently
prevail.

The way and pace that these shifts should
take place are extremely important. Basically, these shifts follow
three pathways. The most gentle which is being advocated, and will
be presented in greater detail later in the text, could be
characterized as having an evolutionary nature. It should have
several characteristics: avoid being rigid, be able to coexist with
the current system while its maladaptive nonviable traits are
abandoned and provide a system that can be sustained without
degrading or eliminating its resource base. The second possible
scenario would be to wait to be overtaken by events. The probable
response under this scenario, when viewed from a historical
perspective, would be the formation of an authoritarian regime that
would utilize draconian means in an attempt to maintain remnants of
the current system. The third is similar to the second, with the
difference that the current system would be rigidly maintained
until a catastrophic collapse occurs. Scenarios two and three are
only temporary solutions to problems that cannot be reversed and
will continue to progressively decay, ultimately resulting in a
more challenging survival situation. The last two types of
scenarios are generally established by opportunists. The hallmarks
of the methods they employ are to play upon peoples' fears and
offer simplistic solutions. The people who question them are often
denounced in various ways, such as character assassination, being a
danger to society, i.e., pointing out deficiencies and errors in
their program(s), wasting precious time, and proposing
alternatives.

1. The rationales that underlies the main
thrust of this book are as follows: planet earth is a large sphere,
it is not infinite; therefore, the amount of resources available
are definitely finite.

2. That the level of risk produced by our
activities in the environment that supports us should be
proportional to the potential consequences. That is, the greater
the possible negative consequences from an activity, the less it
should be engaged in.

3. Greater weight will be given to relevant
information that is a matter of historical record, and /or produced
by direct measurement of some environmental parameter. Unverifiable
suppositions, unsupported assertions, and half truths will not be
used as source material.

This book will contain five sections. The
first section will examine the various undesirable traits that
currently prevail and how they operate in our society. The second
section will examine a number of past societies that have
collapsed, and some that survived, and identify how a society's
response to factors that stressed them contributed to their present
condition. The third section will present information on the status
of the physical environment, what can be done, and what is being
done. The fourth section provides a realistic appraisal of the
commonly touted solutions to our environmental problems. In order
to do this type of evaluation it was necessary to use quantitative
comparisons, so some simple arithmetic is present to show how they
were produced. The fifth section will present some thoughts on
corrective measures that can be taken to remediate or eliminate
undesirable characteristics in our culture and their detriment to
the physical environment.

I would also like to thank all the listed and
unlisted authors, researchers, internet sources, and the many other
people who provided the basis of this book. I particularly would
like to thank Eliza Freeman and Myra Mueller who edited this book
and Alfred “Roc” Ordman who reviewed it.

Thank You All!!!!

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Better to reign in hell than serve in
heaven.

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Greed has been long and widely recognized as
one of the most undesirable traits. Many of the religions
throughout the world know that it is unwise to foster or tolerate
the expression of greed, and have tenets whose purpose is to
provide guidance to attenuate its manifestation. Attenuation of
this trait is sought because it invariably exerts a corrupting and
destructive action upon the individual and the wider society.

To start, the definition of greed will be
presented, and then a survey of a spectrum of religious thought
will be examined to gain a detailed perspective of its nature.
According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, greedy individuals are
defined as possessing these traits: wanting excessively to have or
acquire; desiring more than one needs or deserves; avaricious,
covetous. Wanting to eat and drink too much; gluttonous, voracious.
Greedy implies an insatiable desire to posses or acquire something
to an amount inordinately beyond what one needs or deserves, and is
the broadest term compared here: avaricious stresses greed for
money or riches and often connotes miserliness: grasping suggests
an unscrupulous eagerness for gain that manifests itself in seizing
upon every opportunity to get what one desires: acquisitiveness
stresses the exertion of effort in acquiring or accumulating wealth
or material possessions to an excessive amount: covetedness implies
greed for something that another person rightfully posses. I would
also like to add to the dictionary's list envy, which overlaps with
covetedness but also incorporates feelings of ill will, discontent,
jealousy, and resentment, with an exceedingly great desire to have
or acquire.

The number of warnings in religions about the
expression of greed, and its more specific derivative attributes,
are numerous; therefore, only a representative sample that is
sufficient to exhibit the basic ideas will be presented.

Christianity

In the Christian religion a general
admonition against greed can be found in 1 Timothy 6:10: For the
love of money is a root of all kinds of evils; and in 1 Timothy
6:9: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a
snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people
into ruin and destruction. This same theme is further elaborated in
Proverbs 28:25: A greedy man stirs up strife. In Jeremiah 5:26-29 a
more specific enumeration of the evocation of undesirable traits
arising from greed is stated: For wicked men are found among my
people, they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap, they
catch men. Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of
deceit, therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown
fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil, they judge not
with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and
they do not defend the rights of the needy. Ecclesiastes 5:10: He
who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves
wealth with his income, this is also vanity. John 12:6: He said
this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a
thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to
what was put into it. Luke 12:15: “Take care, and be on your guard
against all covetousness, for ones life does not consist in the
abundance of his possessions.” All these admonishments are present
in the Bible because its obvious that it isn’t possible to practice
the Christian ideal of brotherly love, and at the same time worship
the golden calf (be a greedy person) with its attendant undesirable
activities.

Native American Religions

A variety of religions exist among the Native
Americans. A few generalizations can be made about how they differ
from the predominant religion in America.. Many of them consider
visions to be important for guidance in one's life journey. Because
of the importance attached to experiencing a vision, they have
various means for inducing them, which are a prominent feature of
some of their religious ceremonies. The interpretations of these
visions are generally performed by individuals who are considered
to be adept in this activity. They also have a greater inclination
to present ethical or moral standards in a positive fashion. Thus,
cultivation of desirable traits about possession is emphasized.
They also consider human beings to be an integral part of the
natural world, and are cognizant that our existence is provided by
the earth. Therefore, caring for the earth is viewed in the same
light, as caring for your own body. The planet is viewed as being
alive, and given great reverence.

The Native American Church of North America
has the largest number of adherents, and emphasizes compassion,
respect, honoring others, and sharing. It utilizes ceremonies that
incorporate peyote to develop personal integrity. Visions are also
considered to be important, but the use of these substances are not
specifically employed for this purpose. It also has adopted
elements of Christianity, with particular emphasis on the
commandments relating to the love of God, and to love thy neighbor
as thyself. During their services, they pray to God in Jesus' name
and consider his life to be one that should be emulated. As can be
seen from the above, their views are the antithesis of greed.
Because the tenets of Christianity are common knowledge, we will
move on and consider some of the different aspects of the lesser
known Native American religions. In general they advocate being
generous to other people, which is the opposite of greed, and to
take good care of planet earth.

The Sioux priest Black Elki described the
larger American society as follows: “I could see that the Wasichus
(whites) did not care for each other the way our people did before
the nations hoop was broken. They would take everything from each
other if they could, and so there were some who had more of
everything than they could use, while crowds of people had nothing
at all and were maybe starving. They had forgotten that the earth
was their mother. This could not be better than the old ways of my
people.”

In the Soulteaux Ojibwa, great stress is
placed on sharing. According to Hallowell“Hoarding, or any
manifestation of greed is discountenanced (P. 172).” Children are
carefully and thoroughly taught that contributing and supporting
the wider community is desirable. Hallowell also found that the
world view of the Ojibwa recognizes that a person's actions affect
the wider environment, in fact they consider themselves to be “the
loci of causality in the dynamics of their universe (P. 168).”