USSF: Possibility and Necessity. Bingo!

Whatever you think about the recent series of social forums, or what specifically went on in Atlanta, their motto sure nails the central issues.

“ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE, ANOTHER U.S. IS NECESSARY”

This is the essence, not only of the large-scale issues, but also of the large-scale mind shift that effective action demands. One of the fundamental blocks in our cultural mindset is that we can’t or won’t imagine or publicly discuss the worst case scenario for the coming environmental crash. We should be thinking about the possibility that Global Warming is only one of several global environmental problems. Water, agriculture, sick oceans, military-industrial diseases: these can and will interact with each other and with global warming to multiply the worst case possibilities. The inverse of that scary scenario is also taboo. We don’t discuss the most just and sustainable world that we could make if we could first imagine it and agree it’s what we want.

If we cannot imagine or discuss the worst cases possibilities, we won’t be alert or prepared if they become real. If we can’t imagine the best case scenario, we’ll never start to build it.

A radically different world must be possible because it is essential to the survival of human civilization; a radically re-structured global economy, and enforceable global standards for human rights come to mind as high priorities. And a radically and rapidly different U.S. will be necessary for any meaningful change to take place at the global scale. We can keep the blinders on, remain in denial, and stay confused about what the real priorities and possibilities are; when all the “news” is filtered through the corporate profitability lens, that scenario is more likely.

But to see the words, to say them, to consider the possibility of the truth: we may begin to adjust our minds and imaginations to the task ahead.