This is your invitation to activism.

This is a book that has been over three years in the making and it is amazing to see what can happen in three years time. In 2006, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth was released in theaters, enlightening people to the issue of global warming.

While the theater turnout was pretty minimal, it was the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that awarded him the Oscar for Best Documentary. Within the past two years, there has seen a remarkable—if not unprecedented in all of history—move to “go green”, “live sustainably”, “be eco”, “eat organic” and every other neo-hippy term and phrase imaginable. This has brought an onslaught of magazines, guides, how-to’s and books dedicated to this cause. It seems, by George (or Al), we American’s got it.

I, however, realized that I may have missed this bandwagon and the ideas for a book were two years too late. This was made especially clear when I went to my local Barnes and Noble that had a whole table solely dedicated to “Go Green” with everything you could want in this new genre that helps people recreate the little piece of earth around them. Mulling over the sight I was taking in, I quickly realized something. While all of the books and publications on the table before me encouraged some of the same ideas, tips ,and thoughts I will be sharing in this book, I realized there was something severely lacking.

While everyone and their veggie-lov’in, compost-garden’in grandma might be in on the green culture fad, I found myself wanting to vomit. Have we really dissected caring for the earth down to an advertising science of color-schemes and catchy over-beaten word combinations? Have we been so blind as to miss the rest of the color spectrum begging for attention of its own, to have “go red” or yellow or fuscia? Taking these thoughts a lot farther, I began to question: What is “beyond green”? Ten years from now or even one or two years once the hype has worn off and the books and publications are themselves in the local landfill, will we still be looking for hope? Was caring for God’s green earth enough or is there an even bigger perspective we should be living from? One that is color-blind to the new adverts and instead sees not just the earth, but all of humanity. Not just the water supply, but the human condition. Not just saving the whales and polar bears, but the orphans and widows across the earth who too are starving. Starving not just for food or water, but starving for a world filled with dreaming and imagination, of becoming an entrepreneur, a teacher or finding the cure for AIDS.

Reflecting again on that table of green books and green covers, I reminded myself that there was more to say and more work to be done.

Case in point:

Barto’s world changed in the summer of 2007. As the owner a plantation of rubber trees in Indonesia, he lived with his family near the country’s border with Malaysia. One morning he went out to his plantation only to find that all his trees had been cut down. All because of the new demand for biofuels.

In early 2007, the European Union made way to replace 10% of its transport fuel with biofuels by 2020. These biofuels include palm tree oil and the nation of Indonesia has sought to be on the forefront of it’s production. His village is only one of the many where the Indonesian government has given the land rights of the local indigenous communities over into the hands of profiteering palm oil companies.

“I went to my land one morning, and found it had been cleared. All my rubber trees, my plants had been destroyed,” he says, fighting back the tears. “Now I have to work as a builder in Malaysia, so I can feed my three children.”

The villagers did not give up without a fight and even made attempts to block the bulldozers and trucks, but to no avail. The government says they gave them compensation, though at the time, they still had received nothing. The reality is that this story is not unfamiliar across Indonesia. As the West looks for sustainable fuel options, the rising price of palm oil a lucrative market and it seems best for a poverty-stricken nation to cash in—at the expense of it’s own people.

In this book, I hope to explore what it means to find your activism, everyday. Not the activism that wreaks of the self where we can destroy corporate property (that we didn’t pay for and is usually right-fully owned), where we can judge and hate everyone else for what they aren’t doing (but forget to check our own heart and motives for what we are doing) and to waste time playing the blame-game with governments, institutions, companies and business models (while we forget to enjoy the simple moments we are given each day to really make change, wherever our feet find themselves).

Rather, this is about compassionate living through practical ideas. It is about creating a lifestyle for ourselves that recognizes the grand view of the universe, earth, creation and humanity, but breaks it down to the places where you live and dwell—work, school, home, family, recreation and more. Why? Because it is not about building a utopian society, but rather it is about embracing every moment, right where you sit and read this, as a moment to make things a little better.

Each section of spaces and places will highlight and feature holistic views of action. Yes, part of this will mean we must care for the environmental world around us. But like the article I opened with, we must be sure that while we are making positive changes to rethink our fuel supply in the West, we must make sure it is not at the expense of the family in the South Pacific. Parts of the book will bring in other social justice movements such as AIDS, forced labor, human-trafficking, water and non-violence, just to name a few of the topics. Interspersed throughout the book are also commentaries on topics like Connecting Ourselves to the World, Buying Local, Fair Trade, and Banking and Finances. We will also link you to all of our resources online and offline, so that you are completely educated and resourced to live out your compassionate action.

May you find your place by reading the ideas in this book. It is not about being the savior of the world, creating a grueling system where all joy is removed in order to have action. But compassion is rooted in love and we all know that pure, unadulterated love is so full of joy and life that it becomes infectious. I have some friends that like to say “another world is possible”. I like to say, it is these ideas that are about revolting towards a new (and hopefully better) way of living. Let your compassion be infectious.

—
Joel Stephens

Notes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6927890.stm