'Forms of Activism' talk from 2nd Main Event

[muza...@gmail.com]

Dear Friends,

 

I hope that you've had a chance to enjoy the lovely weather!

 

Following on from the 2nd Main event, Julia Khadija has kindly written up a transcript summary of Derek Wall's talk. You can read the first few lines below, and the rest can be read via the Fast for the Planet blog (link below) where comments are welcomed.

 

with warm wishes

 

Muzammal Hussain

on behalf of the Fast for the Planet Team

 

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Talk on ‘FORMS OF ACTIVISM’  (Sun March 22nd)

A transcript summary of Derek Wall's talk

 

Derek Wall’s inspirational talk, at the 2nd Main Fast for the Planet event, was most thought-provoking in that it was full of original ideas and in a short time, and dealt with many issues in an innovative way.

He began by mentioning the Zen approach which would be to ‘say nothing for 10 minutes’, echoing one theme of his talk, that we often rush in with solutions that don’t work.  He stressed another theme by mentioning the verse in the Qur’an: ‘"But waste not by excess, for God loves not the wasters." (Qur 'an: 7:31)

Dogmatic solutions are often not the answer to environmental problems and we need a variety of approaches.  One typical approach is that as the situation is so urgent, we should not waste time thinking about solutions, but this usually leads to unworkable ‘solutions’.  Two examples he cited here were carbon trading, which only passes on the carbon to somewhere else, and bio diesel, which has led to huge damage to indigenous peoples and environmental destruction.

What is needed is a strategy that leads to transformation of the basic economic system, which is based on growth and expansion unsustainable on a planet with finite resources....  Read More>> http://fastfortheplanet.blogspot.com/2009/04/forms-of-activism.html