A Trapdoor In The Sun

We Americans are constantly being reminded by the media and our politicians about how terrible things are in this country. In 2008, Obama ran on a ticket of Hope and Change, successfully using the economic troubles of the Bush Administration to convince the voting populace that his administration would be able to turn things around. In the present Presidential contest, Mitt Romney's campaign is pushing it's own "Hope and Change" message, promising that their agenda will usher in a new era of prosperity and economic recovery. What these two self-serving politicians aren't telling you is that the goal is not to change a thing, but to MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO. Have you ever wondered why the fringe issue of abortion always gets bantered around by politicians seeking election, but never is acted upon? Why change things? If Roe vs. Wade was overturned, Republicans couldn't run on a ticket of opposing abortion anymore. They would effectively lose that bargaining chip....

by Paul Hawken When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” No pressure there. Let’s begin with the startling part. Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation… but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades. This  planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously de...