New Clear Vision

From the Commons to Our Constitutions

by Jay Walljasper

There’s a nagging misconception that all significant environmental progress begins in wealthy nations, which then shoulder the noble task of aiding and arm-twisting poor nations to do their share in taking care of the planet.

While it’s true that limited financial resources hinder environmental protection throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia, it’s not at all accurate to paint the developed nations as green and developing ones as a brown splotch of ecological ruination.

Indeed, looking at per capita rates of greenhouse and toxic emissions, you might think just the opposite — the overdeveloped nations of the world need to follow the example of their poor neighbors to the south, which dump far fewer pollutants into the global commons. After all, these are the places where precious biodiversity, rainforests and other ecological treasures still exist — the natural ecosystems of Europe and North American were largely ravaged a century ago. (more…)

America’s Perpetual War, and How to Stop It

by Michael True

“The same war continues,” Denise Levertov wrote in her poem, “Life at War.” Her lament is even more appropriate for 2011 than it was when she wrote the poem forty-five years ago.

Columnists and academics, including international relations professor Andrew Bacevich of Boston University, are finally acknowledging facts familiar to anyone “awake” regarding failed US policies, wasted lives and wasted resources during this period. Willfully ignoring such facts, as Bacevich wrote, “is to become complicit in the destruction of what most Americans profess to hold dear.”

At the beginning of the new year, consequences of “life at war” stare us in the face: the victimization of military and civilian populations and a huge national debt, including an annual military budget that is larger than all military budgets in the world combined and includes $5 billion that remains unaccounted for in Iraq, as well as aid to Pakistan that has wound up in the hands of the Taliban. (more…)

Time for a New Clear Vision

by Randall Amster

For the coming year, rather than short-term resolutions, I’m issuing an ongoing challenge that is at once both personal and political. Despite much evidence to the contrary, and notwithstanding the relentless news cycle that we frequent, I believe that 2011 will be the year that the majority of people in the world demonstrably turn away from the brink of destruction and embrace a spirit of positive innovation and creative intervention in their communities. This may seem like a preposterous conclusion, but then again if someone told you in early 2001 that we would be living in a perpetual state of terror/war and that our rights would be wholly eviscerated in short order, you might have said the same thing. (more…)

Let’s Get It Started!

We’re launching this new blog for 2011, and here’s why:

The world is at a crossroads, and much of the news is bad. But that’s as much a matter of perception as it is a construct of the mass media. While undoubtedly many of the major issues of the day — from politics and culture to economics and climate — are seemingly in a downward spiral, it’s also true that this is a time of great innovation, community-building, and creative visioning. We respect the critical perspective that aims to deconstruct the challenges before us, yet also acknowledge that without an equal emphasis on the constructive potentials in our midst, pure critique can foster pessimism and become disempowering.

Here at NCV, our aim is to highlight the positive actions and emerging visions, from local efforts to global initiatives. (more…)