[ Episode #51 // Culture of Dying ] **Editor’s pick**

In Extraenvironmentalist #51 we speak with Stephen Jenkinson about our cultural difficulty with death. Stephen draws on lessons learned from decades of working with death to describe how we can frame our civilization’s trajectory. We ask how to find sanity in a time of alienation and if we can be a human in difficult circumstances. Stephen describes the distinct jobs given to us as our family members die. Also, John Michael Greer joins us briefly to talk about the death of Western culture.The globally dominant culture is suffering from an economic, ecological and social crisis that has deeper roots than failing budgets and environmental degradation. Do we have a role to play if our culture is headed towards its eventual death? Though our economic system has trained us to be needy, can we approach these challenges as if we were needed?

[ Episode #54 // Love + Marriage ]

Our cultural institutions face such immense challenges from economic and environmental factors that even our assumptions about love and marriage on the table. What does recent research into early human sexuality say about our ideas of love as practiced by our early ancestors? In hard times, did our predecessors practice fierce egalitarianism to ensure group survival?

In Extraenvironmentalist #54 Chris Ryan joins us to talk about evidence of prehistoric sexuality in the book Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality co-written withCacilda Jetha. Chris discusses his research into why so many marriages fail. We try to develop a conversation about sex and love between all guys without turning it into a boys club. Is that even possible? Examples are given of rituals from ancient societies that bypassed jealousy to defeat feelings of scarcity amongst hunter-gatherer bands.

[ Episode #68 // Better Than Normal ]

Society dramatically underestimates human potential, placing our imagination within a limited range of possibilities. What are the psychological limits of our species? Is there reliable scientific evidence of supernormal human capabilities? What areas of scientific study could replace the failing aims of a materialist scientific paradigm? Would compelling evidence for special abilities change our beliefs and institutions?

In Extraenvironmentalist #68 we speak with Dean Radin about his new book Supernormaland his decades of research into telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance for our 2013 Halloween Special. We ask Dr. Radin if the stories of ancient yogis were exaggerated superstitions or if they may have some basis in reality. Dean describes his process for studying controversial phenomena and how he is working to build a reliable non-materialist scientific process.

Terence McKenna: Extra-enviromentalism

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Can shopping save the world? The Story of Change urges viewers to put down their credit cards and start exercising their citizen muscles to build a more sustainable, just and fulfilling world.

storyofchange.org

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OccupyTheMovie.com a short film series & full length documentary coming late 2012. Support us and pre-buy your copy today, or have us email you when film is done.

Made in collaboration with: occupy.com

Speeches at the Occupy LSX protest @ St Pauls Cathedral, London here

Director’s Statement

‘It is possible to be militant and nonviolent.’ Martin Luther King

If one considers occupy in militaristic terms, like a nonviolent army, maybe we can borrow from a destructive discourse to organize constructive dissent.

This led me to the question: What would a nonviolent blitzkrieg look like? Who would rush the front lines? Who would orchestrate it? And is occupy capable of such a task?

I found occupy is one of the most creative social movements the world has ever seen. In under 6 months they lit up a thousand cities with general assemblies, flashmobs, light shows, strikes and marches. These are the nonviolent weapons at Occupy’s disposal.

We have yet to see if Occupy can use them in unison to win a large battle, something like Martin Luther King’s Montgomery Bus Boycott, which required a blitzkrieg-like focus fire on a single civil service for over one year. To date Occupy has fired at random times on random targets with random intensities. Occupy has opened up many battlefronts, but it has yet to focus on one at a time. This of course is due to the horizontal, non-hierarchical approach, which it seems would not be compatible with Blitzkrieg. But maybe this would be an exception to the rule, in order to win a big victory.

The blitzkrieg tactic, used in a nonviolent way, seems to be a worthy model to pursue this spring. What if, for example, there was a campaign of simplicity that everyone can get behind:

ONE TARGET – ONE DEMAND – ONE MONTH

Imagine if all the elements of occupy – organizers, protesters, flashmobs, whistleblowers, donors, filmmakers, journalists, hacktivists, etc etc – could focus fire on just one government official, one bank, one corporation, one institution, all at once, for one month, with one simple demand. Whoever the target was, they would be shaking in their boots, and would be more likely to give in if they knew they were Occupy’s single target.

Blitzkrieg simplifies the complexity of the battlefield for the attacker, focusing every weapon on one target at one time. This made it the most ground breaking strategy in the history of violence. Maybe it also has a place in the history of nonviolence.

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The Artist Taxi Driver Speaks

More here

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Occupy Wall Street is Growing!

Occupy London This Saturday!

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Western countries are described as ‘auto-centric’ because the car has become the ubiquitous mode of travel. Today, there are approaching 1 billion cars worldwide. This is set to triple by 2050 as the developing world adopts the same model of transportation.

Readers are most likely familiar with the environmental impacts of making and using these millions of cars, climate change being the ultimate fall-out. However, the mass reliance of the car is also a causal factor in a wide range of other ills facing modern society, for example, the problems of urban sprawl, delocalization and the loss of community space.

Car use has spread out key elements of our lives beyond the human-scale. Rather than walking to the market people drive to the ‘supermarket’ with less human contact along the way. Many people also drive to work and school which has erodes community.

Car use has radically reshaped our neighborhoods and our lives. As long commutes become the norm, local shops and amenities disappear. With the corresponding increase in the size of shops, distance of travel and amounts of roadway, there is, increasing carbon intensity to the most fundamental elements of our lives and we become ‘locked-in’ to carbon intense, individualistic ways of living.

Today we know far fewer of the people we live near then ever before significantly reducing our well being. The car was supposed to usher in a new era of independence and personal freedom but in fact it has made us alienated and fat.

Undoubtably, moving to healthy, happy and sustainable lifestyles will require the modal shift from cars back to human powered transportation. This will improve people’s health, reduce pollution and help rejuvenate communities.

A major challenge to this shift is the forward momentum of ‘business as usual’. Governments have been subsidizing fossil fuels, roads and cars for generations. Today, many people lives have become totally dependent on the car. For these people there is now and intermediary step to a car-free life: car sharing!

Sharing cars reduces the impact of each journey; reduces the number of cars on the road; saves you money; may be more convenient than public transport and is an opportunity to connect with fellow human beings. Furthermore, it is a chance to embrace the idea of sharing resources a tradition we are going to need to remember as we relocalize, rebuild functional communities and radically reduce per capita consumption.

The car is dead! But before you bury it… share it!

New carpooling website launches

carpooling.co.uk is a new car sharing portal to match make you with the lifts you need. With 600,000 lifts on carpooling.com at any one time it means users are likely to find a compatible lift. And the best thing about it: it doesn’t cost a penny to use the carpool service!

The convenience of being able to travel to your destination with a guaranteed seat and departing at the time you wish is appealing, and carpooling.com can make it even more enticing. Drivers can register on our site free of charge and list a one off or regular lift. Carpooling.co.uk provides a cost calculator recommending the appropriate contribution to petrol and also helps users tailor their searches.

In 2011 they introduced a new booking feature which also means users can rate their passengers and drivers. This makes it easier for people to judge whether their potential driver will be compatible with them. It doesn’t ask if you do your makeup at the traffic light, pick your nose in the car or sit in the passenger seat with your shoes off but it does cover important things such as punctuality, keeping to the agreement and level of comfort.

There are security features which have been implemented to the car sharing portal so users can search for lifts where a user’s identity has been verified by us or if females feel more comfortable with female only drivers they can edit their search accordingly. We find users also sometimes add in their wishes such as ‘I like to drive at a fuel efficient 60mph helping users select their appropriate travel buddy easily. If the idea of small talk with a fellow carpooling.co.uk user fills you with dread it is worth bearing in mind that the portal has forged many friendships of like minded people since 2001 and they have also brought together 10 couples who ended up getting married!

Perhaps the potential saving of up to 75% of the driving costs and the option to select your passengers or drivers from the 3.3 million registered users could make you reassess your willingness to extend the privacy of your car into a public space for the length of your journey? If you really feel the need you can always add to the comments box that you would rather your passengers keep their feet firmly in their shoes and their singing to a minimum!

For more information contact: Abi Moore: amoore@carpooling.com +44 (0) 203 2393022 Skype: carpooling.co.uk

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