Day 247: Only in a Broken System does Misery equal Profit

Growing up and living in a First World Country where your Basic Human Rights are actually ‘met’ (albeit through considerable compromises) – you are made sure to be reminded of the many places and many people who are not in the same fortunate position as you’re in. “Empty your plate, don’t you know there’s starving children in Africa who don’t have anything to eat?”, “You should be happy going to school, in country XYZ they don’t get even get to go to school because there aren’t any”, “Stop whining, in country SomethingSomething you’d be living on the street by now”.

The message that gets ingrained is “Don’t complain, you should be happy – out there it is HELL”. So not only is one molded into an obedient citizen, made sure to ‘not bite the hand that feeds it’, we also get imprinted with immense guilt for having the niceties we have – knowing fully that if we had been born somewhere else, things would look a whole lot different.

So, what do we law-abiding-guilt-bearing-citizens do? Once in a while, as we get some ‘time-off’ from being a wage-slave – we want to go and do some ‘good’ in the world. We sign up to take care of the poor people, the less fortunate, the parentless, the hopeless, the marginalized and abused ones ‘out there’. We grab together our hard-worked savings and pay some travelling company to go work somewhere for free.

We are getting our holiday, we’re helping those poor people – it’s a Win-Win situation, right?
Is this ‘voluntourism’ phenomenon an expression of our altruism and good hearts? Or is it just another way devised by a crooked system to make money out of whatever will tickle our fancy?

In fact, 'voluntourism', as it's been dubbed, is the fastest growing travel sector, worth an estimated £1.3 billion globally.

Let us have a look at how the market responds to our demand for Guilt-Relief and Exotic Holidays:

'I thought, even if I can make a jot of difference, it's got to be worth it. So I started looking on the internet. Eventually, I came across an orphanage called the Dream House on the borders of Thailand and Burma, which rescued children at risk of being trafficked. There were videos on the website and it all looked amazing.'

A Thai charity, Starfish, was offering two-week voluntary placements at the orphanage for £400, with basic accommodation included.
Caroline paid in advance, and in January this year she travelled to Thailand. On arrival, she met other volunteers, many of them teenagers on their gap years, all signed up to help at the orphanage.
But within days of starting the placement, Caroline sensed that something was seriously wrong. 'I was pretty shocked at the conditions,' she says. 'The children slept on the floor - although there wasn't even a floor, just carpet underlay - with no beds or blankets. The youngest was only two years old.
'At dinner, they had one chicken between 29 children and a few vegetables. All the volunteers were coming in and giving £200 a week. So where was all the money going?'

Ah… the ways of Supply and Demand: you wish to relieve your guilt – and so we shall provide you with the opportunity to do so. The ways of the free market are cold; the market does not look at your intentions, the market does not care about the repercussions of serving demands – all it does is reek money and provide the quickest and best way to cash it in.

We end up with fake orphanage centers with children trained to act according to our idea of what ‘poor orphans on the other side of the world’ act like – because that is the experience we desire, and our money bring to life such an attraction.

The shocking revelation has been that volunteers, who have intentions to give some love back to children in real need, are tragically and inadvertently having the opposite effect.'

Not only are we maintaining the atrocities we would like to see eradicated within the world, we are in effect enhancing them and not in any way whatsoever addressing the very system, the very design which is responsible for them in the first place. After all, what this ‘voluntourism’ point illustrates, is that we cannot address the symptoms of a broken system through utilizing the same broken system as medium towards a solution.

'One volunteer I heard of turned up to teach at a school, and wondered why he didn't get a very warm reaction. Towards the end of his time there he discovered the local teacher had been fired because a Westerner was coming in to teach for free.'

In a world driven and moved by profit only, we cannot expect to alleviate poverty or alleviate the hardship of people through a profit-driven medium, as it is the very profit starting point, the worshipping of profit/money over Life/People – that lies at the heart of the problem, that pumps and thrusts its poison all throughout the body, leaving no area untouched.

While we see the hardship of remote places on our television screen, we want to travel to those distant places in the belief that the problem and solution lie in the same place. There is actually little that can be done by travelling to the other side of the world for a few weeks / a year and trying to alleviate the symptoms of a much darker dis-ease. It’s not by coincidence or genuine will to ‘work hard’ that we’ve created a Safe First World Bubble for ourselves. We need only to flip through history to see that we’ve acquired our wealth and security through the exploitation of others. In the past in direct forms, through conquest, through colonization – and today indirectly through economic ties whose nature and flow had already been determined, shaped and solidified within the previous Era of exploitation, now merely extending the same relationship in a different form – but really, nothing has changed.

Unless we change the values and principles of the system at home that we live by, we are not going to be able to bring about change ‘out there’. We are the power-center that maintains the problem, if we want to bring about change – we are right where we need to be.

The first step towards a global effect is to put into place the values and principles we want to live by and that we want to see others live by. A good place to start, would be the enforcement and safeguarding of Human Rights which can practically be employed through the implementation of a Living Income Guaranteed. Since the Right to Life has been historically linked to the ownership of money, making sure that everyone has enough money/funds available to live a dignified life is an absolute must.

To find out more about the Living Income Guaranteed, please visit:
http://livingincome.me and http://livingincomguaranteed.wordpress.com

All quotes from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2418074/Fake-orphanages-Bogus-animal-sanctuaries-And-crooks-growing-rich-Western-gullibility--gooding-gap-year-holidays-horrifyingly-callous-con.html

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Day 201: The Power of 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 +... in Equal Money Capitalism

The following post was shared on my Facebook page with the title "Never Underestimate the Power of 'One' ":

Lone Indian Man Plants 1,360 Acre Forest single-handedly!!

Please Read, Like, Tag and share!! :)

A little over 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav “Molai” Payeng began burying seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in northern India’s Assam region to grow a refuge for wildlife. Not long after, he decided to dedicate his life to this endeavor, so he moved to the site where he could work full-time creating a lush new forest ecosystem. Incredibly, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acre of jungle that Payeng planted single-handedly.

It all started way back in 1979 when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng , only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. That was the turning point of his life.

“The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested,” says Payeng, now 47.

While it’s taken years for Payeng’s remarkable dedication to planting to receive some well-deserved recognition internationally, it didn’t take long for wildlife in the region to benefit from the manufactured forest. Demonstrating a keen understanding of ecological balance, Payeng even transplanted ants to his burgeoning ecosystem to bolster its natural harmony. Soon the shadeless sandbar was transformed into a self-functioning environment where a menagerie of creatures could dwell. The forest, called the Molai woods, now serves as a safe haven for numerous birds, deers, rhinos, tigers, and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat loss elsewhere.

Despite the conspicuousness of Payeng’s project, Forestry officials in the region first learned of this new forest in 2008 — and since then they’ve come to recognize his efforts as truly remarkable, but perhaps not enough.

“We’re amazed at Payeng,” says Assistant Conservator of Forests, Gunin Saikia. “He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero.”

There are so many areas which used to provide habitats for countless animal species that have been destroyed and mostly - due to human intervention - sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. And here is one man who decided to dedicated years of time towards rectifying one stretch of land - again providing habitats and support to a bunch of plants and animals as an effective new eco-system had been created - where, previously, nothing grew.

Witin Equal Money Capitalism, each company will have an Environmental Department to firstly prevent and rectify human-created problems in our natural environment - and secondly, to provide additional support to nature in times of, for instance, drought. This answers one of the frequently asked questions in relation to how to achieve Full Employment in a way that no meaningless jobs are created. There is so much to be done when it comes to supporting the world that supports us - that there is definitely no lack of meaningless jobs to be done. Secondly - imagine - when one man dedicates 30 years of his life towards one area - he created a jungle that now houses rhinos, elephants and even tigers! Then, consider - the actual change we can manifest if each company dedicates an entire department towards enviromental support.

We have heard many doomsday stories and yes, the situation is terrible and is deteriorating fast. However, if we pull our socks up and organise our society in a way that supports life - we can actually mitigate and correct much of the damage that has been done in a relatively short timespan.

If we wait on Capitalism and governments within a capitalistic dispensation to devise the exact incentives that may perhaps motivate people to go and change their behavior in a way that we don't destroy the enviroment, we'll still be busy for a very long time - instead of just taking the direct approach by recognising the problems and collectively taking responsibility - not waiting to try to establish 'who is responsible for which specific problem' - that is So irrelevant. Imagine you're reading a history book about a civilisation on a different planet - and just as with us, one species started slowly but surely destroying the planet that gave life to every life form on it - and that, they were too late to correct the problems because the civilisation was too busy trying to establish who should do what in terms of who is to blame for what - and where most people felt they were innocent because they never meant to do any harm - and so, the planet kept bleeding dry and eventually died as well as all life on the planet. Now - wouldn't you think: "Obviously they all died - they should've just dealt with the problems already" - I mean, it's common sense. No one reading such a history book would be concerned with who exactly caused what problem - but readers would instead be anxious to see when the civilisation was actually going to DO SOMETHING.

So - we face the same 'choice' - to simply put our heads towards paving a road that leads to an actual future or to just keep wandering into the abyss. It's really up to us. If you agree - please share this blog on your Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites. We have the time to create a better future, but we don't have the time to ignore the fact that it actually needs to be CREATED.

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Day 160 - Stewardship in an Equal Money System

Stewardship

Nature and Symbiosis

When left to operate naturally, the plant and animal world exist in a symbiotic relationship with each other. Symbiosis is, in essence, a giving and receiving – a form of value exchange. When all parts of nature are allowed to exist in a symbiotic way – they together exist as a massive and complex life-support system, which human beings are meant to be a part of.

A profit-driven system has altered how we view and participate in nature, where we have started to take more than we require and virtually stopped giving back, hereby disrupting the balancing effect nature requires in order to be able to perform its function as a symbiotic life-support system.

Monitoring the Well-Being of Animals and Plants

In an Equal Money System the human being will reintegrate himself as a full participant of nature – where nature is not just something ‘out there’ anymore – something we ‘visit’ once in a while when we want to ‘get away from it all’. Instead, nature is part of our world and we are a part of nature. This means a rediscovering of what it means to be a human as a physical being and a redefining of our relationship with our environment. In order to best support ourselves, we require to best support that which supports us: which is nature. The challenge before us is therefore to restore the Earth to a state of being where it can operate in optimal conditions, as a smooth-running life-support system.

Where the human is involved with animals and plants, the human will monitor the well-being of those plants and animals and become a care-taker of the area that they are occupying – because there is a human impact. Any form of problematic development, such as soil erosion or human waste, as a result of human impact – requires to be managed by the human.

Where humans are not a part of the environment, nature will take care of itself. For instance, if a certain animal or insect increases in numbers to such an extent that they become a negative or destructive impact on their environment – the forces of nature will bring about equilibrium through, for instance, some form of natural disaster that reduces the numbers. Those kinds of natural disasters, which bring about a new form of equilibrium, are part of the distribution cycle of nature. Or if, for instance, a rabbit population expands too rapidly in a certain area – it will cause predator birds to have more access to food, allowing more of them to survive and reproduce. Eventually these birds will be so big in numbers that they will reduce the rabbit population back to where it was. Having less food available, the birds will also reduce in numbers again. So, nature has a variety of ways to correct situations of disharmony and imbalance.

Unlike human beings, animals and plants are very proficient in using the least possible resources. They don’t have the tendency to simply hoard for the sake of having. That is why the form of competition that occurs within nature brings about actual equilibrium, whereas this is not happening in our economic system – because animals and plants will only compete for what is necessary and understand that if their environment as a whole exists in the most optimal way – they themselves will benefit most. Therefore, we will not be tracking every animal and plant to monitor the well-being of each life-form, we will, in essence, be tracking the human impact on nature. This will enable us to assist nature in re-establishing equilibrium where it has been lost. Our role as a human will thus be to rehabilitate nature as a steward so that it can correct itself and re-establish its expression into what it is meant to be.

It must be understood that nature, as a life-support system, has inherent value and that its importance does not only extend in so far as it gives us nice experiences – when we go to the beach or go for a safari-trip. Those experiences are of secondary importance and may not interfere with nature’s expression and optimal functioning. As said above, our interaction with nature will change, where we are not just ‘enjoyers’ of nature, where we no longer merely sit back and ‘enjoy the view’ – but where we are active participants – identifying where nature is struggling to maintain itself and step in with rehabilitative programs and projects – and thus, become a part of the flows of give and receive.

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Day 128: What Is Nature Worth To Us?

Check out this slide-show: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/01/world/gallery/eco-sols-text-nature-economics/index.html

What they're trying to do is to put a price on various parts of the Natural world - like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Thailand's mangrove, Colombia's rainforests, etc.

The idea is to put a monetary value on these natural 'assets' to prove to people that it will be more expensive to destroy them than to preserve them.

The problem is in the way the price-tags are assigned. They are assigned in terms of what direct costs these ecological systems prevent to be unleashed on the economy and in terms of what people think and believe to be valuable/important. For instance - how much do they value having nice green views, or the idea that somewhere far away some tiger is being protected?

So - the value of nature is only measured in terms of human interests. Intrinsically - the value of an animal's natural habitat is - to him/her - priceless. He/she needs it to survive and without it, well - the animal dies. There's no money you can give the animal that will make the animal say "oh okay, if you give me so many million then you can destroy my habitat."

And, further, can we even put a price on Nature. Let's take the rainforest - without it, the oxygen levels on Earth would rapidly deteriorate to nothing. Now - let's ask: what would it cost to restore the oxygen levels to the optimal ones? We cannot 'make' oxygen - there's no money in the world that would allow us to do the job the rainforest does as well as it does it. Without oxygen, there will be no life on Earth - how much do we value all life on Earth in money-terms? Can we? People think it's impossible to place a price on how much their child is worth - one human life - are we seriously thinking we can put a price on something as important as the rainforest, which is responsible for ALL life on Earth?

We've got some serious re-considerations to do if this is how we decide to take care of the Earth - by putting a price on it's apparent value and then, accordingly, either protect it or destroy it. Who are we kidding? We will not make it without nature, we will not make it without the animal kingdom - we will die - it's really that simple. We are not independent of nature - we are a part of it and we are affected by it. It's time we realise that the only way we'll save ourselves is through taking responsibility for the damage we've done and doing what we can to correct it.

In an Equal Money System, the only Value will be Life - not Human Life - LIFE itself - that which humans don't even understand yet. Accordingly, no animal or plant will be treated with less respect and reverence than the human - and so, we will find our place in the world again - among those who have supported us for millenia, while we have done nothing but attempted to destroy them in return.

Day 54: Government Intervention - Part 3

I commit myself to expose that any type of intervention within the current economic system completely useless – since we are changing some of the variables in the equation but the equation is still rooted within the same principle – as the principle of self-interest and gain – and whatever changes we implement within the system, will be rendered useless throughout time as self-interest will always prevail – as this is how we set up our system

I commit myself to show that the problem with economics is the very root, as the starting point of economics and the specific character role which has been assigned to humanity – where the starting point is to distribute limited resources in such a way as to attempt and satisfy unlimited wants of humans – where money is the deciding factor as to who gets to satisfy their wants/needs and who doesn’t – and where the human has taken on the role of the self-interested character who is allowed to do whatever it takes in the name of profit

I commit myself to expose that an economic system with the above equation and variables as its starting point can only result in disaster as it is based on unsustainable goals and the reckless/unreliable/irresponsible nature of the human being – having left out all and any consideration regarding any other beings but itself

I commit myself to expose that any action concerning change within the system for the betterment of Life on Earth is not in fact altruistic – as any change within the system is rendered useless by the overpowering authority which has been given to self-interest and the pursuit of happiness and so the only altruistic act, the only act of unconditional love would be the abolishment of the current world system and replace it with a system which is Best for All Life as the Equal Money System which Values Life, that which is real as the physical reality over Mind Delusions as Money

I commit myself to show that standing / support a cause which does not cause the replacement of the current world system is useless and will most likely only bring more suffering as the workings of the current world system as the reflection of the mind is not understood

I commit myself to the education of the human being so all may see/realise/understand how this reality actually operates as it is merely reflecting / mimicking the workings of the Mind


I commit myself to expose that we cannot sustain our current world system as it was not designed with sustainability in Mind and thus the best thing we can do is release ourselves from the current world system as it is a parasite sucking the Life out of Planet Earth and all the living beings as plants, animals and humans – and so I commit myself to remove the parasite and replace it with a system of Support as the Equal Money System where NONE are left behind

I commit myself to the redefinition of economics – where the starting point of economics is no longer that of the limited anthropocentric view of life, but a starting point of Biocentrism* where Life is put as the centre cause and where the Human no longer plays the role of Self-Interested Agent looking out to satisfy his own desires, but is placed in a position of Stewardship*/Custodianship – here to support other Life forms as itself within an Equal and One consideration and respect

*Biocentrism: Biocentrism states that nature does not exist simply to be used or consumed by humans, but that humans are simply one species amongst many,^[4]and that because we are part of an ecosystem, any actions which negatively affect the living systems of which we are a part, adversely affect us as well,^[4][5]whether or not we maintain a biocentric worldview.^[4]Biocentrists believe that all species have inherent value, and that humans are not "superior" in a moral or ethical sense

*Stewardship is an ethic that embodies responsible planning and management of resources.

Day 3: Animals & Plants -- A Valuable Source of Genetic Information

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have established an anthropocentric economic system which values all things in the Universe only in terms of how it can satisfy the human's wants, needs and desires

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to allow an economic system roam and rule the Earth which jeopardizes the existence of animals and plants on earth through the seizing of land for additional output to feed the profit money machine in the ultimate quest for the Holy Grail as Indefinite Economic Growth

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to allow an economic system roam and rule the Earth which jeopardizes the existence of animals and plants and their well being through the environmental impacts and consequences of the continuous feeding and growing of the Profit Money Machine

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only consider these harmful effects towards the Animal Kingdom and Mother Nature upon the realization that the destruction and extinction of animal and plant Life on Planet Earth might result in the loss of "valuable genetic information" which can be used in the benefit of the Human in terms of combating disease

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only value the Animal Kingdom and Mother Nature in so far that I can use them to satisfy my own wants, needs and desires

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to use religion as a justification as to why I use all the animals and plants towards my own self-gratification as God told me that it was okay to do so -- even more -- he told me that that's what they're here for!

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to separate myself from Life as the Earth as the Animals and Plants through subjecting them to measures I would not like to be subjected to myself

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to place myself in the "shoes" of the animals and plants and realise that the way I am being treated is absolutely beyond unacceptable

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only care for my own well-being and within that ignore and neglect the well being of others such as plants and animals -- to the extent where I will deliberately allow their ruin for the sake of adding to my own well being -- only taking and never giving

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that I am not the center of the universe and that I am in fact the opposite -- as it is only through the existence of Planet Earth and the Plants and the Animals that I am able to exist here and live my Life

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to neglect and abuse that which gives me Life

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to teach children and youngsters about animals and plants that their value lies only in their ability to provide us humans with "genetic information" within environmental economics textbooks -- as the only thing which is currently considered as being of any worth, of any value -- is that which can be expressed in monetary terms where the genetic information of animals can be converted into medicinal properties which can be capitalized and sold through the Pharmaceutical Industry

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see myself, the plants and the animals as One and Equal

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to appreciate animals and plants in their totality as LIFE

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to consider animals and plants only in so far that they can be used to generate money


I commit myself to exposing the accepted and allowed atrocities and genocides on Earth as the extinction of animals and plants in the name of profit maximization

I commit myself to re-defining value from that which I can capitalize on to value as LIFE

I commit myself to the re-education of the human in terms of the physical and the relationships in place that allow us to be here as the plants, animals and nature

I commit myself to the deconstructing the current anthropocentric system to that of a bio-centric system where all parts as interrelated and interconnected -- where animals, plants and humans are equals

I commit myself to the re-education of humans as to no longer view other beings only in monetary terms

I commit myself to the re-designing of an Economic System where the sustainability of the environment as animals and plants matters -- based on their right to Life as Life

I commit myself to the transformation of the human function as a slave of an economic system of greed to a supportive function as stewardship of Life

I commit myself to exposing the atrocities and abuse promoted within religion as a justification for Man's self-centered behavior

I commit myself to speak up when being confronted with abuse towards Life as Animals and Plants in the name of Money and Insatiable Greed

I commit myself to the establishment of an Equal Money System where all Life will be in Fact Free

I commit myself to the establishment of an Equal Money System as a system where all Life is treated equally within the starting point of what is Best for All Life